“
If all we are allowed is hours, minutes, I want to be able to etch each of them on to my memory with exquisite clarity so that I can recall them at moments like this, when my very soul feels blackened.
”
”
Jojo Moyes (The Last Letter from Your Lover)
“
There is lonely, and there is alone time. I have found that both have etched character upon my soul.
”
”
Alfa Holden
“
Bridget von Ascheberg was mine and mine alone. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t mine to take. I was taking her anyway, and if I could tattoo myself onto her skin, bury myself into her heart, and etch myself onto her soul, I would. Her eyes widened, but before she could respond, I closed the distance between us and grasped her chin with my hand. “But first, I want to make one thing clear. From this point on, you’re mine. No other man touches you. If they do…” My fingers dug into her skin. “I know seventy-nine ways to kill a man, and I can make seventy of them look like an accident. Understand?” She nodded, her chest rising and falling more rapidly than usual. “I mean it, princess.” “I understand.” Definitely breathless. “Good.” I swiped my thumb over her bottom lip. “I want to hear you say it. Who do you belong to?” “You,” she whispered. I could smell her arousal already, sweet and heady, and I couldn’t hold back any longer. “That’s right,” I growled. “Me.
”
”
Ana Huang (Twisted Games (Twisted, #2))
“
You became the sonnet that was etched in my minds eye. Existing outside the dreams we shared in the presence of our eternal love.
”
”
Truth Devour (Unrequited (Wantin #2))
“
I frowned, gaping at the blond in disbelief. “You’re the grim reaper?”
Tod glanced at me for the first time, his frown practically etched into place. “You were
expecting someone older? Taller? Maybe kind of gaunt and skeletal?”Contempt dripped from his words like acid.
”
”
Rachel Vincent (My Soul to Take (Soul Screamers, #1))
“
I am so Thankful in the knowledge… If I want to learn something I can study it. However, If I want to have something etched in my Soul, I must Teach it. Always remembering that each of us teaches best that which we, the teacher, most need to learn
”
”
Raymond D. Longoria Jr.
“
What place is this,” Drizzt asked the cat quietly, “that I call home? These are my people, by skin and by heritage, but I am no kin to them. They are lost and ever will be. “How many others are like me, I wonder?” Drizzt whispered, taking one final look. “Doomed souls, as was Zaknafein, poor Zak. I do this for him, Guenhwyvar; I leave as he could not, His life has been my lesion, a dark scroll etched by the heavy price exacted by Matron Malice’s evil promises. “Goodbye, Zack!” he cried, his voice rising in final defiance. “My father. Take heart, as do I, that when we meet again, in a life after this, it will surely not be in the hellfire our kin are doomed to endure.
”
”
R.A. Salvatore (Homeland (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #1))
“
you cannot love a person fully without knowing the darkness etched into their soul i want to know his so well it becomes my darkness too.
”
”
Sav R. Miller (Promises and Pomegranates (Monsters & Muses, #1))
“
Whispers of a forgotten shore
When I die, throw my ashes to the wind…
Let it carry me along as my heart will lead my soul,
to the places that took my breath away.
Let it blow me about to return to those places..
That I swore were so magical I would return,
But have not,
Let those forgotten shores, forgotten places,
Be reunited with my eyes,
The splendour and the overwhelming feeling of sheer happiness,
Etch into my soul as I pass through one heaven into the next
Where I shall live for eternity
Knowing I made a promise and kept it,
I forgot nothing,
I left nothing behind,
My loved ones will greet me or follow me,
My broken promises were fixed,
And the screams in my ears of a conscience I couldn’t escape,
Faded to whispers,
Till one day I shall return to Earth in a new vessel,
Reborn to live and suffer and wish this wish of mine all over again,
Knowing the fulfillment of being forever free….
”
”
Michelle Geaney (Under These Rebel Skies)
“
My soul longs for God, but a man is not just his soul, is he? Terrible to say, my clay lusts after the clay of nubile girl. To soothe my guilt, and please forgive my indelicacy, I have convinced myself that I seek to find God again in their arms and their unmentionable places.
”
”
K.J. Bishop (The Etched City)
“
Do it, Octavian” She ghosted the tips of her fingers along the hem of his shirt. “Touch me.”
He growled low in his throat, his forehead dropping another inch toward her shoulder, his hair tickling the side of her face. “Be my angel, Riley, not my siren. Don’t tempt me.”
Moistening her lips with a sweep of her tongue, Riley glided her fingers over his belt, tracing the strip of leather to the silver buckle in the center. She felt rather than heard his deep inhalation and the tremor that raked his powerful body. Driven by his surrender, she used two fingers to walk over the square carvings etched into his abdomen, biting her lip to stop the grin that pulled when he groaned.
“I want to be both for you, Octavian,” she whispered, letting her lips brush the curve of his shoulder.
”
”
Airicka Phoenix (Octavian's Undoing)
“
It’s ripped from the very bottom of my soul, etched in pain and hurt, wrapped in love and grief. It’s horrifying and it’s beautiful, the sound of love that has fought to live on well after a person’s final days.
”
”
Alexa Martin (Better Than Fiction)
“
Art is the conscious making of numinous phenomena. Many objects are just objects - inert, merely utilitarian. Many events are inconsequential, too banal to add anything to our experience of life. This is unfortunate, as one cannot grow except by having one’s spirit greatly stirred; and the spirit cannot be greatly stirred by spiritless things. Much of our very life is dead. For primitive man, this was not so. He made his own possessions, and shaped and decorated them with the aim of making them not merely useful, but powerful. He tried to infuse his weapons with the nature of the tiger, his cooking pots with the life of growing things; and he succeeded. Appearance, material, history, context, rarity - perhaps rarity most of all - combine to create, magically, the quality of soul. But we modern demiurges are prolific copyists; we give few things souls of their own. Locomotives, with their close resemblance to beasts, may be the great exception; but in nearly all else with which today’s poor humans are filling the world, I see a quelling of the numinous, an ashening of the fire of life. We are making an inert world; we are building a cemetery. And on the tombs, to remind us of life, we lay wreaths of poetry and bouquets of painting. You expressed this very condition, when you said that art beautifies life. No longer integral, the numinous has become optional, a luxury - one of which you, my dear friend, are fond, however unconsciously. You adorn yourself with the same instincts as the primitive who puts a frightening mask of clay and feathers on his head, and you comport yourself in an uncommonly calculated way - as do I. We thus make numinous phenomena of ourselves. No mean trick - to make oneself a rarity, in this overpopulated age.
”
”
K.J. Bishop (The Etched City)
“
But then I see his face. See the words he wrote. See them on my computer screen. See them etched into my brain. Feel them etched into my heart. Know them deep in my soul. Remembering. Don’t want to remember. Don’t want to live. Tear rolls down my cheek.
”
”
Sarah Darer Littman (Backlash)
“
I reached into my vest for the idol of my mother and my fingers hit something else. I fished it from where it was tucked against my heart and I held it out before me. A smile pulled wide at my lips, threatening tears. It was a taufr, the talismans the Riki used to protect the ones they loved. Fiske must have slipped it into my vest with the idol. The stone was smooth and black, the words etched into its surface.
Ala sál. Soul bearer.
”
”
Adrienne Young (Sky in the Deep (Sky and Sea, #1))
“
Come to me in the dark, bring me all of your scars. I want to know every crack in your heart, every ache, every memory that haunts you. I want to see the realness in your face, the way your eyes stay light even when you talk of pain, and the way your lips are uneven when you smile. The grooves carved into your soul have made you beautiful and I want to run my fingers across the etches. I know people cover wounds and disguise their damage, but this is what makes you, you, and I want to know you. I want to sink inside of you and feel your depth. Don’t protect me from your story. We all have a story and I’m tired of drowning alone.
”
”
Jacqueline Simon Gunn
“
Think of a potter taking a misshapen bowl from his wheel and pounding it back into the tub of clay. A soul suffers while it is being pounded in this way, and suffers until it ceases to be. You are pounded down, and that which was you gets into something else. God tries again, and tries until the Work is complete. Meanwhile you, my son, are long gone
”
”
K.J. Bishop (The Etched City)
“
I turned faceup on the slab of stone, gazed at the sky, and thought about all the man-made satellites spinning around the earth. The horizon was still etched in a faint glow, and stars began to blink on in the deep, wine-colored sky. I gazed among them for the light of a satellite, but it was still too bright out to spot one with the naked eye. The sprinkling of the stars looked nailed to the spot, unmoving. I closed my eyes and listened carefully for the descendants of Sputnik, even now circling the earth, gravity their only tie to the planet. Lonely metal souls in the unimpeded darkness of space, they meet, pass each other, and part, never to meet again. No words passing between them. No promises to keep.
”
”
Haruki Murakami (Sputnik Sweetheart)
“
She will always be etched in my being, like thread sewn through the fibers of my very soul.
”
”
Trish Kaye Lleone (Finding Anna: A Memoir: The True Story of Child Sexual Abuse)
“
I couldn’t talk about it, about them—not yet. So I breathed “Later” and hooked my feet around his legs, drawing him closer. I placed my hands on his chest, feeling the heart beating beneath. This—I needed this right now. It wouldn’t wash away what I’d done, but … I needed him near, needed to smell and taste him, remind myself that he was real—this was real.
“Later,” he echoed, and leaned down to kiss me.
It was soft, tentative—nothing like the wild, hard kisses we’d shared in the hall of throne room. He brushed his lips against mine again. I didn’t want apologies, didn’t want sympathy or coddling. I gripped the front of his tunic, tugging him closer as I opened my mouth to him.
He let out a low growl, and the sound of it sent a wildfire blazing through me, pooling and burning in my core. I let it burn through that hole in my chest, my soul. Let it raze through the wave of black that was starting to press around me, let it consume the phantom blood I could still feel on my hands. I gave myself to that fire, to him, as his hands roved across me, unbuttoning as he went.
I pulled back, breaking the kiss to look into his face. His eyes were bright—hungry—but his hands had stopped their exploring and rested firmly on my hips. With a predator’s stillness, he waited and watched as I traced the contours of his face, as I kissed every place I touched.
His ragged breathing was the only sound—and his hands soon began roaming across my back and sides, caressing and teasing and baring me to him. When my traveling fingers reached his mouth, he bit down on one, sucking it into his mouth. It didn’t hurt, but the bite was hard enough for me to meet his eyes again. To realize that he was done waiting—and so was I.
He eased me onto the bed, murmuring my name against my neck, the shell of my ear, the tips of my fingers. I urged him—faster, harder. His mouth explored the curve of my breast, the inside of my thigh.
A kiss for each day we’d spent apart, a kiss for every wound and terror, a kiss for the ink etched into my flesh, and for all the days we would be together after this. Days, perhaps, that I no longer deserved. But I gave myself again to that fire, threw myself into it, into him, and let myself burn.
”
”
Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1))
“
Jack,I've messed up enough of you life.There's nothing you can do about Cole.I'll handle him. You don't have to-"
"Enough,Becks.This is what friends do. Before we got together, we were friends, remember? The friendship is still there,isn't it?"
I didn't say anything for a moment. It was so much more than friendship on my side. Despite everything,I'd never stopped loving him.
"Isn't it,Becks? I mean,you didn't completely forget about me in the Everneath,did you?"
"No." Wasn't it obvious on my face? That he was the only thing I remembered? My memories of Jack should've been etched on my skin by now, for all the world to see.
"Okay.Friends talk.Friends help each other."
I nodded.
"Friends don't eat friends' souls."
I smiled. "Got it."
"Can I ask you something else?"
"Of course."
"Why did you finally decide to tell me the truth?"
I traced my finger along the lip of my coffee mug. "It's probably nothing, but Cole seems anxious to keep me away from you in particular. I wanted to see how he'd react, and maybe that would give me an idea as to why."
He grimaced. "I have an idea."
"What?"
"He's in love with you."
I wrinkled my forehead. "No he's not. He's not capable."
Jack leaned forward. "Trust me, Becks. I know exactly what loving you looks like on a person.And he loves you."
My face went warm and I looked away. If only Jack were talking about now,and not before. I shook my head. "There has to be something more to it."
Jack put his chin on the palm of his hand. "Well,let's find out."
"How?"
Jack raised his eyes to meet mine, a shy little smile on his face, so different from his usual confident grin. "We'll spend time together. And let Cole know it.
”
”
Brodi Ashton (Everneath (Everneath, #1))
“
Blood that was warm has now run cold
bled every day have hearts become old
Telling I am the story of my past
and of the ghosts at which it is aghast
Life as a child was a wonderful rhapsody
Free from the fetters of rational prosody
Naively making brute reality a parody
Revelling in a soul filled with life's melody
Poverty struck and child became destitute
wailing and whimpering like a wretched prostitute
Of pleasure and pain does a society constitute
for Man is not for God to substitute
Life is a parody of paradoxical Irony
Fate rules not without a touch of Tyranny
While the rich belch on their goblets of honey
the wretched etch on the tablets of agony
”
”
Prabhukrishna M
“
Every touch of you on my skin has burnt and etched your name on my soul. Whenever I close my eyes and try to feel myself, all I can hear is constant echoes of your name in my head, and all I can feel is the constant longing for the darkness.
”
”
Akshay Vasu
“
Ramblings of a madwoman might be deadly. The same words, spoken in sanity: treason. This truth I have discovered to my woe. Yet, imprisoned within my cell, I find it hard to discern the difference. What is truth? What is lie? God alone knows, for by my soul, I do not. Still, death silences all. And death waits for me beyond this vaulted chamber, its walls etched with the words of prisoners who came before me. Their names haunt me; their pleas for mercy mock me, letters chipped into stone during endless hours.
”
”
Ella March Chase (The Virgin Queen's Daughter)
“
They say that if a writer falls in love with you, you can never die. Summer’s name would never be carved in stone in monuments or tributes, but she had still carved her name onto my soul, and she deserved the same to be done to her legacy – but in a much larger sense. And so, with the windswept notion that I was hurtling toward destiny, I held my hands over my keyboard and preparedto etch my vanished girlfriend onto the storm-scraped surface of history – one keystroke at a time.
”
”
Seth King (The Summer Remains (The Summer Remains, #1))
“
Halvard reached into his vest and pulled something into his hand. When he opened it, a round, flat stone sat in the center of his palm. It was etched with words I couldn’t read, the same as the one I’d seen Iri tuck into his vest before Adalgildi.
“What does it say?”
“Ala sál. Soul bearer,” he said, proudly. “It’s my taufr.”
I picked it up and turned it over in my hand. “What is it?”
“It protects me.”
“How?”
“You give it to someone you want to protect. It tells the gods that you bear another’s soul. My mother made it for me.
”
”
Adrienne Young (Sky in the Deep (Sky and Sea, #1))
“
If you could step inside my world, here is what you would see......
A lifeless soul who is in constant search of not only someone to love but for someone to please show me how to love myself. Someone whose deepest wish is to feel what it is like to truly be loved for who I am.
You would see a desperate being in a constant battle with her emotions. Praying no person could see the obvious envy that consumes her soul as she longingly observes the happiness and the joy that accompanies family and true friendships. A gathering of those who most certainly care about each other, to create cherished memories that will be forever etched in their hearts. Memories they have created to fondly look back on in the years to come.
You would see the forced insincere smile that must be worn when in the public eye because being pleasant is a requirement amongst your peers, even though you are completely dying inside.
You would see how i wake up every morning alone in the barely inhabitable box i reside in that hides me from having to share my pain and sadness with the world. And when the night skies appear, you would see me grateful that it is once again time for me to be reunited with the lonely, yet welcoming call of my bed in that same inhabitable box.
You would see me, most eager to surrender to the sleep that would soon follow, for that is when my pain ceases to exist.
My world....when most of you fantasize and anxiously anticipate what adventures lie before you when the sun comes up, i struggle hour by hour, wishing I could fast forward time, so the pain will cease to exist when the sun goes down.
”
”
Robin Romero
“
My sweet girl,
I will never do anything less than worship you. Every time I feel you or touch your soul, it'll be etched on that beautiful mind of yours forever-and beyond that. I've told you all of this before. There aren't words in existence that could justify my feelings for you. I've persued the English dictionary for hours looking for them- nothing. When I try to express myself, nothing seems adequate. Yet I know how profound your feelings are for me. And that makes reality almost impossible to comprehend.
If you want to take this letter as my official promise to never leave you, then I'll have framedand hung above our bed. If you wnat me to say these words aloud, then I'll do it on my knee's before you.
You are my soul Olivia Taylor. You are my light. You are my reason to breathe. Don't ever doubt that.
Be mine for eternity. I beg you. Because I promise I am yours.
Never stop loving me.
Eternally yours,
Miller Hart
x
”
”
Jodi Ellen Malpas (One Night Unveiled (One Night, #3))
“
If we cleaved ourselves in half to examine our daily mind chatter under a microscope, who amongst us would daringly display the sediment of their innermost thoughts for public consumption? A tattler’s tale reporting the silted musings resembling my tarnished soul is probably the most typical scorecard. Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), an English novelist and poet declared, “If all hearts were open and all desires known – as they would be if people showed their souls – how many gapings, sighings, clenched fists, knotted brows, broad grins, and red eyes should we see in the market place!” My unsavory report card is indistinguishable from the blemished masses. Etched into the end zone of my lifetime playing field are the horrors of gluttony, greed, failure, and humiliation. Recognition of my sinful life led directly to a rash act of despondency. Commission of a ream of sins is a reflection of my weak character. Guilt from leading a sinful life, not strong character, manufactured the overwhelming despair that caused me to seek absolution. The willingness to grade myself as less than a satisfactory human being might be my only hope of ever achieving spiritual salvation.
”
”
Kilroy J. Oldster (Dead Toad Scrolls)
“
. . . sitting up cross-legged and noting the light, how it fills the room in streams, etching out the shape of Zach recumbent, a bold coastline in a clarion sky. I drop anchor here, thinks Rachel. Anywhere here. You are my home, my horizon, my shore. How long is the coast of Britain?
”
”
Emma Richler (Be My Wolff)
“
Her spirit is etched on my soul, which means I will never fully lose her, and it brings enormous comfort.
”
”
Suzanne Redfearn (The Marriage Test)
“
Your name may not be tattooed over my heart, but it will always be etched into my soul.
”
”
Vi Keeland (Stuck-Up Suit)
“
Within the cosmic dance of existence, we are not mere spectators; we are celestial avatars, each carrying a fragment of stardust. Our purpose lies not in conformity, but in the audacity to embrace our unique essence—to ignite galaxies within and illuminate the path for others. As we journey, let us remember the words of the Psalmist: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:13-14, NIV). Our divine purpose transcends earthly limitations; it is etched in the very fabric of our souls. So, let us walk this odyssey with faith, knowing that the Creator's brushstrokes adorn our existence, and our avatars carry a sacred spark.
”
”
Ess-Jee Rautenbach (The Avatar Effect: Discovering Your True Self and Fulfilling Your Destiny)
“
When he was finally done, Margaret responded, "I am so sorry I hurt you. I never had any intention of hurting you. God loves you, and I love you. He loves this village and He wants to bless you. When you get over being angry, will you remember I'm still your friend?" Perplexed, he turned and walked away. In words that are forever etched on my soul, Margaret said, "Satan doesn't know how to respond to the gentleness of God's Spirit.
”
”
Jonathan Martin (Prototype: What Happens When You Discover You're More Like Jesus Than You Think?)
“
Certain moments in life become etched in your soul. For me, I have merely a handful. Buried deep, they’re entwined, tangled, and even disheveled. Living together forever, they create who we are and how we see the world. More so, how we react to it, even live within it. Much like the vines that create my wine, it’s hard to see where one ends and the other begins.
”
”
Brynne Asher (Vines (The Killers #1))
“
It’s as if you were etched into my soul, into my bones. I’ve know for years that you were mine and I yours. Soulmates. That’s what we are.
”
”
Elodie Colliard (Unbearably Yours (It's Always Been You, #3))
“
Her spirit is etched on my soul, which means I will never fully lose her
”
”
Suzanne Redfearn (The Marriage Test)
“
You were the poem I wanted to write,
But could not find words to write
You were the melody I wanted to sing,
But my voice failed me.
You were the dream I wanted to see
Yet sleep evaded me.
But, etched in memory's silent space
You will always whisper like a soul in the body
”
”
Shahid Hussain Raja
“
I put my hand on his arm and squeezed. “Knox.” “What?” he asked the carpet. “Look at me.” When he did, I saw the frustration etched on his gorgeous face. I cupped his cheeks in my hands. His beard was coarse against my palms. “I’m going to tell you something that you and your brother both need to know, and I need this to resonate in your soul,” I said. His eyes locked on mine. Well, more on my mouth than my eyes. But it was good enough. “You’re both idiots.
”
”
Lucy Score (Things We Never Got Over (Knockemout, #1))
“
Thank you, my soulmate! No doubt, you were the only healer in the universe who could have mended the shattered pieces of my soul. But alas, my wounds were so deep, that even the mightiest of healers couldn't mend them, each wound etching its pain into the very fabric of my being
”
”
Shahid Hussain Raja
“
I asked my heart, the meaning of Happiness.
I found my Soul, walking along its route long before my Mind had known.
Because Happiness simply tastes like Love in a bottle of galloping Moments, nimbly fleeting yet wonderfully etched in Time's bosom of Never-ending Smile.
”
”
Debatrayee Banerjee
“
Tears roll down my face, dripping onto my arms as I kneel next to my bed, the pain piercing my heart as I try to keep my sobs quiet. Pain that's etched deep into my soul. Why am I so broken? What have I done to deserve this punishment?
”
”
Andi Jaxon (Bully King (Love is Love, #1))
“
Losing my mother was the defining moment of my life. No other event would ever again so sharply etch its mark upon my soul, or so completely color the way I navigate the world, or leave my heart quite as broken. We had shared only a little over a decade together, yet I missed her with such intensity that she remained on the cusp of my every thought, the echoes of her face reverberating back to me each time I looked in the mirror.
”
”
Natasha Gregson Wagner (More Than Love: An Intimate Portrait of My Mother, Natalie Wood)
“
I ride with my tattoo of three red hearts, intertwined with barbed wire, emblazoned across my lower back, two birthdates delicately etched above each heart. The dates remind me of the day my life changed for the better with each child's birth. The larger heart anchors the two smaller ones, albeit with barbed wire, but anchors them securely to each other - a reminder that a mother's relationship with her daughters is sometimes thorny and sometimes smooth. Regardless of the heartache, she stands securely in between as the anchor, her daughters' her most treasured glory.
”
”
Debi Tolbert Duggar (Riding Soul-O)
“
Despite my returned numbing state he had previously stolen from me, Ollie was everything I wasn’t. He was light in the darkest moments, he was belief when no one else could see, and he was the indication of hope as walls etched with doubt caved around him. But I embodied truth, and the truth was—I could never change. And if I’d let him continue down this path, he would have eventually suffocated under my truth as he attempted to free a cursed soul.
Believe it or not, Ollie, I did that for you.
”
”
Nicole Fiorina, Stay With Me
“
As soon as I got my feet under me, indignant rage bubbled over. “Don’t ever do that again. I’m not your fucking possession,” I hissed at him.
His eyes flashed. “No, you’re not my anything, are you? I’m allowed to touch you as long as I don’t act like it means something, right?”
The emotion on his face twisted my insides. Anguish and despair swirled in his eyes.
I turned back for the bar to escape that look, and his arms were around my shoulders in a second, locking my back against his chest.
His lips went to my ear. “I can see the way you feel about me when you don’t think anyone is looking. I fucking see it, Kristen.” His voice cracked. “I remember what you said to me that night in Vegas. I remember.”
All of the fight drained out of my body in an instant.
He breathed into my ear. “Why won’t you just let me love you?”
A sob burst from my mouth, and I went limp in his arms. He held me up, hugging me to himself, absorbing my surrender.
I turned in the circle of his embrace and buried my crying in his shirt. He put his face into my neck and held me so tightly I couldn’t breathe. But I didn’t want to breathe. I wanted to be his prisoner. I wanted to never escape.
Tears poured out of me. “I can’t, Josh.” I gasped into his chest. “You don’t know it all.”
“Then tell me,” he said. He pulled away from me and spoke to my eyes. “What is it? Because I know you want me. I know you’re acting. Just tell me why.”
How do you share something like that? How could I tell him that my body could never do the one thing he needed it to? I couldn’t. I couldn’t get the words out. I couldn’t bear to see my value drop in his eyes, see him realize I wasn’t actually what he wanted.
Less of a woman.
Damaged goods.
Barren.
Sterile.
I shook my head, biting my lips together. “Josh, you should just forget about me. Get serious with one of those other women you see. Have sex with them. Move on.”
He let out a puff of exasperation. “What other women? There are no other women. There never has been. Do you know what I’m doing when you think I’m on dates? I’m at home, alone, wishing I was with you. This is what you’ve made me into. I pretend to see other people because I know if I don’t, you won’t see me anymore. Why?”
“You…you haven’t been seeing anyone else?” I blinked at him.
“Of course not. I’m fucking in love with you.”
And like he couldn’t stand not to for one more second, he grabbed me and kissed me. His lips were pained and desperate, and I hopelessly kissed him back. I climbed him, combing my hands in his hair. I wished I could drown in him. I needed to extinguish the burning disappointment in my soul, and for a few seconds, I did.
And then I pushed him away.
He let me go and I staggered back in the grass, and he stood there, panting.
“Josh, I can’t see you anymore, okay? This is over.” I choked on the words.
I watched what I said hit him like a smack. “Why?”
I wiped my face with the back of my hand and blinked through the tears. “Because you’re obviously taking this way more seriously than you should be. I told you. I told you from day one that this would only ever be sex. I never lied to you.”
His jaw went rigid. “You’re lying to me right now. I know this isn’t what you want. You fucking love me, Kristen. Just stop—” He reached for me and I smacked his hand away.
He stood staring at me, confusion and hurt etched all over his handsome face. “Why aren’t I good enough? Is it because I don’t speak a dozen languages? I don’t have a fucking master’s degree? I don’t make enough money? What is it?”
It’s not you.
I let the tears run down my face, and I clutched at my facade. “You thought you could change me just like you thought you could change Celeste. You’re changing the rules, just like you did to her. Don’t put your shit on me, Josh. You said you could handle this. You said you could—”
“I’m not fucking crazy! Stop acting like I’m making this up!
”
”
Abby Jimenez
“
Your name was already inscribed on my heart and etched in my soul. The only place it was missing was inked on my skin.
”
”
C.E. Ricci (After Rain Falls (River of Rain, #2))
“
Each photographed tableau is divided and stored in sections of my brain overriding my own soul, acting as a constant vivid reminder. No matter how hard I try to erase them from my memory, they remain etched there.
”
”
Vicki Fitzgerald (Briguella)
“
Bridget von Ascheberg was mine and mine alone. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t mine to take. I was taking her anyway, and if I could tattoo myself onto her skin, bury myself in her heart, and etch myself onto her soul, I would. Her eyes widened, but before she could respond, I closed the distance between us and grasped her chin with my hand. “But first, I want to make one thing clear. From this point on, you’re mine. No other man touches you. If they do…” My fingers dug into her skin. “I know seventy-nine ways to kill a man, and I can make seventy of them look like an accident. Understand?
”
”
Ana Huang (Twisted Games (Twisted, #2))