The Guy on the Left

Fucking worth it,” he murmurs. “Every fight, every struggle, the wait, the pain, the ache, loving you, needing you, wanting you, missing you—all of it—worth it to get us to this point, right here.

Whoever said money can’t buy happiness, forgot what misery is like on piss-poor days.

I once read if you stare down a dog long enough, you prove your dominance if the dog is the first to look away. I lift a brow in challenge, refusing to blink. Troy’s thick lips turn up before he drops his gaze to the floor. That’s right, Fido. Now, go lick your ass.

You and Dante, you redefined my dreams. My everything is yours.

Cause I’m your sun, and you’re my moon, and where I go, you’re right behind me.

But that’s what words are, a fool’s gold. Pretty promises make liars out of men and suckers out of the women who believe them.

I want to be a dad, his Dad, not neighbor Troy, and the only way to accomplish that is by earning the respect of his mother.

Karma and all of her friends, especially humility, came and made it known, a man is only as worthy as his last act.

Love requires a little bit of idiocy and a hell of a lot of bravery,

It’s a good thing we don’t build our self-esteem off kid compliments, I’d be under psychiatric care.

He’s so smart, my son. My son. He wasn’t a mistake. I refuse to believe it. I will be whatever he needs. For my son. It’s time to be a father.

I stare at the man who spent months capturing my son’s heart and wholly taking mine in the process. “You’ve bared yourself to me in a hundred ways since you came into my life. I’ve fallen for every side of you, good and bad, I want it all.

There’s a play in football called fourth and inches. And what that means is that it’s your last chance to reach the goal line. You have to make your very best play to reach it, or the chance is gone. When you get to this point, you’re so close that you can taste it, touch it, feel it, but you have a way to get to the goal. You have to work really, really hard to get there. Do your absolute best. And that’s what I’ve been doing since the day you were born.” His voice shakes with his question. “I’m the goal?” “You’re the goal.

Sometimes I wish I could go back, tell that girl that it will be hard, but he’ll be worth it. Tell her just to make the best of those hours because, after that pain, she won’t ever be alone again.

Throwing caution to the wind for just one night to get some much-needed vitamin D had led to an alcohol-induced pregnancy in the back seat of a vehicle.

The best type of friend can linger in the dark with you awhile without trying to shed light.

I love you so fucking much it hurts,” he says softly, “but that’s all it seems to do to me. You keep breaking my heart.” And that’s when my own heart stops. He grabs my hand, pulling my palm flat to his chest. “I would’ve given it all up for you. Everything, ball, everything, if you would have just given me all of you.

There's no story if you give up.

Weird is good,” Dante speaks up in his defense. “Weirdo means you won’t ever be boring.

He’s turned on, and there’s nothing funny about it. “You’re so perfect, lick those lips for me,” he whispers, and I can see his hand descending as I dart my tongue along my lips. “Let me see.” The phone drifts down his ripped torso, and I nearly gasp when he pulls out his rock-hard

Right or wrong, who did what to whom—who gives a shit? Your son is suffering, and here you are, still in love with her. If you were so damned determined to outshine any other man in her life, why didn’t you do the one thing you had to do that no other man has managed?

But I can’t, for the life of me, find the strength to go another round with her. Not now, maybe not ever. Because of the power she holds over me, the carelessness she’s used with my heart, I fear I may never come back the same man.

It was an immature way of revealing how I feel, what I want, by trying to seduce her instead of showing her what I am truly hoping for, not another shot between her legs, but at her heart.

The truth becomes crystal-clear as I drink her in. She’s the only woman I want. And if I want any chance with her, I have a lot more to prove.

Troy, I can’t go down this road with you.” “Why not?” He whispers hoarsely. “You could forgive me. We could start over. We could have something real this time.

The smile on my son’s face and the awe in his eyes when he runs into the living room makes it worth it. He’s worth every sacrifice I could ever make.