J. Sterling

“When you only dream of doing one thing for the majority of your life, it's almost unfathomable to think about doing anything else. You don't know how. It's all you ever wanted and you'll not only fight like hell to get there, you'll fight like hell to stay.”

“But when I told you I loved you, I meant it. I didn't mean that I'd love you only if it was easy, or only if it was drama-free. I think we both know life isn't like that.”

“Don't," she snapped and I stopped. No fighting back, no response, no arguing. I simply turned my ass right around and sat back on her bed. If I had a tail, it would sure as shit have been tucked between my legs.”

“I can’t wait to knock you up and have a whole team of little baseball players around this place!”

“Coach Smith poked his head into the dugout. “If you ladies are done with the warm and fuzzies, I’d like you to get your asses on the field with your team.”

“Thank God for little brothers, especially those who can talk around a mouthful of cheeseburger.”

“Cassie's Rules for a Happy Life:#1 - Don't Lie#2 - Don't Cheat#3 - Don't Make Promises You Can't Keep#4 - Don't Say Things You Don't Mean”

“Forgiveness is the attribute of the stong.”

“All I know for certain is that smile lit up even my darkest days.”

“Kitten,Letting go of someone who owns your heart is hard.Sometimes holding on to that person is even harder. Iknow I'm not the easiest person to love, but you are.I'ts not that I can't live without you; it's that I don't want to. There's a difference. We all make choices in life and I choose you.My heart belongs to you. And I'm not asking for it back, even if you don't want it anymore. I'm just asking for the chance to have yours again. I promise I'll be more careful with it this time.Love Always,Jack”

“Jack: I’m going to kiss you.Cassie: This doesn’t change anythingJack: It changes everything.Cassie: Prove it.”

“Don’t make me beg, Kitten. Don’t make me beg in front of all these people. It’s embarrassing.”

“I changed my mind. Get out of my house now. I'll set your things on fire and mail you the ashes.”

“Half of me wanted to punch his gorgeous face, and the other half wanted to make out with it.”

“Chrystle? I'm back!" I refused to say that I was home because Cassie was my home. But I'd lost that, and her, forever, so I'd never truly be home again.”

“It’s like looking into a full-length mirror and seeing nothing but pure beauty in the reflection…and then watching helplessly as it shatters into a thousand pieces before your eyes, knowing that you can do nothing to keep it from breaking…”

“Love isn’t all rainbows and unicorns all thetime. And neither is life. Sometimes life is reallyfreaking hard.”

“Do you know how crazy that made me? I’m trying to concentrate on my fucking fucking ball baseball game and all I can think about is why the hell the girl I’m in love with is ignoring me. I knewsomething was wrong when you never called. I tried to shake it off, but I couldn’t. You can’t do that tome. Don’t you understand? You can’t fucking do that to me when I’m trying to play ball!”

“I looked into his eyes and then down at his mouth before continuing. “Have you ever noticed how pretty and beautiful words can be? How easy it is to say the things you think someone wants to hear. How you can affect a person’s entire day with just a few measly sentences?”My slight smile dropped. “But when you don’t follow them up with any action, they’re completely pointless. They’re just sounds and syllables. But they mean absolutely nothing.” My gaze glossed over as my mind wandered.”

“No relationship can survive without trust, honesty, and communication, no matter how close you are.”

“She seriously looked like a fucking angel. And I wanted to be her devil.”

“I never realized how exhausting it was to turn women away. It was one thing to hook up with them and then call it a day, but to be off the market completely was something I'd never dealt with before. To put it simply, girls don't like being rejected, especially if it's because of another girl.”

“Life is too short..and nothing is certain. Nothing. Just because you tell someone you'll talk to them later, or you'll see them tomorrow, there is no guarantee that either of those things will happen. You hope they will. Hell, we all assume they will. But we don't really know. Life can change in an instant. A single instant.”

“Life was too short and too precious to waste making decisions you didn't really want.”

“Sometimes life gets ugly before it gets beautiful”

“Oh my God! You little slut! You want to have a good date with him and want to have ten thousand of his little baseball babies! Cassie!!!”

“I can't live without your Touch.You'll see that I've provided enough money to pay for at least twenty or so.”

“That anyone could father a child, but a real man chooses to be a dad.”

“And I know that the past version of me is someone you would never trust. But who I am when I’m with you” he paused, “isn’t who I used to be. I don’t think I’ve been that guy since the night of our first date, so it’s not fair that you judge me like I’m still him.”

“Kitten, I’d break my fucking pitching arm if it meant keeping you safe.”

“My head questions everything and believes nothing.""So your head wants proof and your heart wants reassurance?”

“But when you don't follow them up with any action, they're completely pointless. They're just sounds and syllables. But they mean absolutely nothing.”

“I was almost awestruck when I realized that like this meant without a condom. Jack's vulnerability shone through him in that exact moment like a lighthouse beacon in a raging storm. Somewhere along the way, we'd crossed an imaginary line where feelings and emotions blurred into the unknown. A place neither of us dared to go before.”

“Because once you give your body to a guy, there's no taking it back. And once you've done that it opens up feelings, emotions and vulnerabilities you never knew you were capable of having. I'm not ready to give him my heart. What if he breaks it?”

“Sometimes letting go is the only way to find out who you're meant to hold on to.”

“Letting go of someone who owns your heart is hard. Sometimes holding on to that person is even harder. I know I'm not the easiest person to love, but you are.”

“Sometimes other hearts have to break in order to keep your intact.”

“I know I'm not the easiest person to love, but you are.”

“It's not that I can't live without you; it's that I don't want to. There's a difference. We all make choices in life and I choose you.My heart belongs to you. And I'm not asking for it back, even if you won't want it anymore. I'm just asking for a chance to have your again. I promise I'll be more careful with it this time.”

“You're something, alright." I laughed into his bare chest, my eyes closing. "I'm your something..." His voice trailed off into a wisper as I drifted off.”

“There will come a time in your life when you lose something that matters to you. You'll fight for it and you won't win. But what really matters isn't the war you're waging, it's that you don't lose the person you are in the midst of the battle.”

“She smiled and her whole face lit up. Or maybe it was mine. All I know for certain is that smile lit up even my darkest days.”

“You're both so screwed up alone that together you're like the perfect mess.”

“I know I don't deserve you, but I need you”

“I don't know how to recover from this...from you”

“I am so fucking in love with you I can't see straight. I don't love her. I'll never love her. But I fucked up and now I have to pay for it. I'll never forgive myself for hurting you," he said. "Or losing you.”

“F*ck, Cassie. What do you want to hear? How much I hate myself for getting drunk that night and losing the only girl in my life I've ever trusted and truly loved? How I called Dean fifty times a day for weeks begging him to tell me how I could get you back? Do you want to hear how fucking weak and pathetic I think I am for not being able to tell her no that night, when I knew what was at stake? His eyebrows pinched together and his jaw tensed as his emotions spilled out into the night air. "Do you want to hear how I tried to talk her out of keeping this baby so that it wouldn't fuck everything up? How I begged her not to keep it, told her I'd pay for everything, I'd drive her there and give her money after it was all over, just to please not to this to me. And then how much of an asshole I felt after that too? Who tells someone that?”

“You think I don't know that? Our story wasn't supposed to end at all”

“I don't know how to get over you”

“You're not the only one who has to try to make it through each day. I lost us too, ya know?”