He laughs, sucking his lip ring into his mouth. "I promise I'll go easy on you." A naughty feeling dances inside me. "What if I don't want you to go easy on me?

I can handle scars, especially ones that are on the outside." I understand his meaning from the depths of my heart.

I can handle scars, especially one's on the outside.

I've never walked home wearing just a pink robe and a pair of slippers.

Okay, I'm going to be completely honest here." I take a deep breath, because what I'm about to say is very real and more honest than I've ever been. "I don't want to be awayfrom you for that long.

So I let my shame own me, kill me, wilt me away into a thousand dead flakes, knowing if I kept it all in, she would never have to learn the dirtiness that was forever inside me--the bad, the ugly, the twisted. She could go on living her life happy, just like she deserved.

You left me, ripped out my heart, and then came back acting like a robot, and you know what? We made it through. You and I, good or bad, belong together. We make each other whole.