Revive Me, Part One: The Act (New Haven, #2)

by J.L. Seegars

“Do you honestly believe you’re prepared to take this course?” “Yes, and your colleagues obviously agreed with me, or else I wouldn’t be here.”

And the nightmares ensure it stays that way. They started when I was four, just after my dad came home with the fluffy bundle of pink that was Teresa and no mom.

“Another perk of being the resident man whore, I bet. Doesn’t mean you know what my moans sound like.”

“What else would I have to be worried about?” “I don’t know, but I’m here when you’re ready to talk about it.”

“Yes, she’s always your girlfriend when she does stuff like that. She’s only my best friend when she acts like she has some sense.”

Medicine is in our blood, coded into our DNA just like the perfect amber shade of your eyes is written into yours.”

“I think desires can be born out of any circumstance, good, bad, or ugly, and still be valid representations of the things we want for ourselves. The source of the desire doesn’t matter so much as what we do with the dream it sparks in us.”

She’s an exquisite, perfect thing. With all her secrets and half-truths and anxious habits that make me want to make all her problems go away.

“Mallory, look at me. You’re okay.” Gently, I wrap my fingers around her wrists, pulling her hands away from her face. “Do you hear me? You’re okay.”

“I don’t owe you anything, and just so we’re clear, you being a decent person doesn’t put you in a position to demand anything—but especially answers to questions I told you not to ask—from me.”

“You look beautiful tonight.” My throat is dry, so the chuckle I force out is raspy. “Just tonight?” “No.” His eyes glow. “Not just tonight.”

“Mallory, as long as we’re doing this,” he gestures

between the two of us, “I can promise you that you won’t

see or hear about me being with anyone else. All of my time, attention, a...

“No. I will not remove myself from the class. If you want me out, then you’re going to have to do it yourself.”

“I was there because I trusted you. I was there because a naive sixteen-year-old was the only girl you could trick into thinking you were a good guy.” “I am a good guy.” “You’re a rapist,”

“And you deserve a million times worse, you pig,” I

spit at him, chest heaving from exertion. “You should be in jail for what you did to me!”

“You, princess. Your happiness. Your safety. Your well-being. I take it all very seriously.”

words. It’s the second time in twenty-four hours that someone I care about has told me I’m worth waiting for.

quiet awareness stretching between us, making the air thick.

back again. She bites her lip, and I drop my gaze to the base

“It’s more than nice, Mallory. Your smile is the thing I want most in the world. I spend every waking moment trying to find new ways to get you to give it to me. I wish for it on every shooting star and repeating number on a clock.”

“I’ll probably spend the rest of my life wishing for it to always be mine.”

Mallory Kent could ask me for the moon, and I’d find a way to get it for her. She could ask me for the stars, and I’d steal them from the sky. She could ask for my heart, and, well….she already has that. She just doesn’t know it yet.

“Was this you and your dad’s plan all along? Separate us, orchestrate some scenario where I watch him with Giselle and start to doubt everything I know to be true about us? Let me guess, your whole ‘they belong together’ speech was supposed to be the final nail in the coffin, right?

“Wow. You guys really don’t give a shit about him, do you? First, you do everything you can to keep him from this funeral. Then, you use it as an opportunity to try and poison me against him. Why can’t you just let him be happy?”

“You’re right, Dad. I am protective of the things that matter to me, and Mallory matters to me more than anything in this world. I thought you understood that. I thought you’d accepted it.”

A tragedy. Masquerading as a romance.