Still Beating (Lost Boys, #2.6)

by Jessie Walker

I’m not fine, Way. I’m not fucking fine, and neither are you, and this, right now, saying goodbye to you, knowing just how not fine you are, but not being able to see you, kiss you, touch you, and breathe you in… It’s straight up agony.

“Because sometimes, the only thing that keeps us holding on, is holding on for someone else.”

“It’s better to need someone than to have no one to need,” Shawn says, his fierce gaze holding mine. “Trust me.”

It’s insane. Loving him this easily… Like every piece of me was made for every piece of him.

Nothing else exists but this. Our eyes collide in the steam-streaked mirror, hooded and fierce with love and unbridled wanting. Hunger like nothing I’ve ever felt before consumes me, and it’s a damn crime it took this long to get here. To this moment, where he is me and I am him, and I will destroy anything or anybody who tries to sever us.

Unhealthy, my ass. This love is just straight up primal. Our need for each other ingrained in us as deeply as our need for air. Inescapable. Losing him would literally kill me, and I don’t care what anyone has to say about that.

“I might love you harder when you’re at your worst, but that’s only because you need it harder then. But my love for you when you’re at your best?” I release a breath, smiling. “It’s unmatched. It consumes me.”

“That for as much as I need you when shit’s all dark and fucked up in my head, I love you just as much, if not more so, when I’m clear-headed. When I feel strong and capable, and not strangled by the fear that I’m going to lose you, or by the voices that try to convince me you deserve better.” “Way…” He inhales deeply, bringing us impossibly closer. “My love for you when I’m sad and scared is very selfish. Even a little ugly. But when I’m happy, it’s pure. Easy and simple as breathing.”