Leaving us with Eric is like hiring a babysitter who spends his time sharpening knives.

Fine," he says. "Then I love you.

Instead I just let the silence stretch out between us. It's the only adequate response to what he just told me, the only that does the tragedy any justice instead of patching it hastily and moving on.

The only reason I haven't shot you yet is because he's the one who should get to do it," I say. "Stay away from him or I'll decide I no longer care.

I forget that he is another person; instead it feels like he is another part of me, just as essential as a heart or an eye or an arm.

The person you became with her is worth being.

This is what I wanted most to avoid: for my rises and falls to become Tobias's rises and falls. That's why I can't let him step in to defend me now.