Wretched (Never After, #3)

by Emily McIntire

“A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.”

“That’s a shame.” He sits up then, looking down on me. “If you were like her, then there wouldn’t be a you.”

I just want to talk to the girl beneath the mask. The one who smiles so big it softens her eyes and lets me whisper sonnets against her skin.

There’s something so attractive about one person submitting completely to another, being at their mercy, accepting whatever they see fit to give you.

I want to consume him and revel in his surrender.

Almost like happiness is right here, waiting for me to reach out and grab it.

Without her to ground me, I’m just a hollow, rusted shell playing the part of a living, breathing man.

It’s that smile again, her real one. Rare and so beautiful.

This is what I needed. A reminder that while I feel like a fraud in a sea full of people, she’s here, waiting for me to come back home.

She’s overwhelming. Devastating. She’s going to ruin my fucking life.

She’s changing me. Or maybe she’s simply making me feel alive.

A girl who finally has someone to love her back.

That was when I knew. I would pick her a thousand times over, even if it meant rotting in hell.

And with that single smile, I know I’ve made it home.