Come to Me Quietly

I see beauty and pain. Joy and sorrow. I see the good and I see the bad . . . and I love it all.

And it killed me because I could never forget him. Couldn't because he'd permanently etched himself to me, left a part of himself forever within me. For so many years I'd loved him, but when he'd gone this time, he'd taken a part of me captive too, a piece that could never be retrieved because it would always belong to him...

I don’t get to have this. I already told you… you deserve someone who can love you, someone who will be good for you, and you know that’s not me.

And it killed me because i could never forget him. Couldn't because he'd permanently etched himself to me, left a part of himself forever within me. For so many year I'd loved him, but when he'd gone this time, he'd taken a part of me captive too, a piece that could never be retrieved because it would always belong to him.

Hearts have a way of finding their way home.

Mom once told me Aly had me wrapped around her little finger. She’d been wrong. Aly had held me in the palm of her hand.

You’re going to forget about me and find happiness. You’re going to find someone who can love you exactly the way you deserve to be loved.” I lowered myself so I could directly meet her face. “Do you hear me?

I never wanted you to see me like I was tonight,” he said, “but it was inevitable… all of this is… inevitable. And still I stay because I don’t fucking know how to walk away from you. Last night… ” He wrenched a trembling hand through his hair. “Fuck, Aly… last night was the closest I’ve come to feeling something real in so long.

If I believed in soul mates or any of that shit, I knew she was mine. I could feel it, this connection with her I couldn’t possibly share with anyone else. Like we fit, this fucked -up puzzle that made no sense until we aligned the pieces.

It was always you, Jared. Always. I can’t remember a day in my life when I didn’t love you.

You were my first crush.” She sobered, her voice strained as sincere green eyes slanted up to me . “And my only love.” Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, almost painfully. “I’ve been waiting for you my whole life.

Never in my life had I felt as exposed as I did right then. Her fingertips softened as they traced along the outline of my sins, as she caressed the markings of every mistake I’d ever made as if this girl somehow found some kind of beauty in them.

I’m going to walk away and I’m going to forget about you, Aly. And you’re going to do the same.

And God, it kills me to think of hurting you.” I grasped his face between urgent hands. “Then don’t.

Don’t, Aly.” He ran his thumb over my cheek. “You think I can’t feel this? How badly you want the things I can’t give you? That’s why it makes me sick that I’m doing this, because I already warned you… you can’t fix me, and you can’t say or do something that will change my mind or fill up the void in my soul

It made me fucking crazy, and I fucking ruined it. I’m sorry I ruined it, Aly, but I warned you that I would.

How could I not?” My hand fluttered in her direction, wishing I could make every fucking inch of space separating us disappear. “I lied to you, Aly. That night… ” I swallowed hard as my attention shot to the place where I’d left her behind before I angled it back on her. “I left knowing I could never forget you, but praying somehow you could forget me. And I know I shouldn’t be here. I know I should give you a chance to forget, but, Aly… I miss you.

This—this was our deception, where I wanted to live until the day I died. Where nothing was real but the secrets we whispered in the night.

I ruin every fucking thing I touch, Aly, and I refuse to ruin you.

I don’t get you, Jared. Did you think you could stay here and I’d just ignore you? I care about you.” “Don’t say that,” he whispered

The boy was painted in his pain

It isn’t worth it if it doesn’t hurt a little.

Jared, no. Please don’t do this. Don’t leave me. I love you.

A still heart quickens as beauty graces the foul.

I bet whatever you keep hidden in the pages of those books is absolutely beautiful, Aly .” He swallowed, diverting his gaze to the far wall before he dropped it to meet mine. A tender palm came to rest on the side of my face. He caressed his thumb over the apple of my cheek. “How could it not be? Look at you . . . you have to be the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.” Pain reverberated in his words. Still they wrapped around me like the warmest embrace. My fingers ventured to his chest, twisting in his shirt. The strong throb of his pulse thundered under them. “Everything I love is in the pages of those books, Jared.

Could either of us ever forget the connection we’d shaped, one carved out in those perfect hours spent alone in my room? No. Not me.

You grew up on me, Aly,” he murmured, the words rough, almost in awe.