“I am mad at you, Holder,” I say with an unsteady, but sure voice. “But no matter how mad I’ve been, I never for one second stopped wanting you here with me.”

“All of this time – I need you to answer one thing,” I paused, preparing for the incoming heartbreak that would surely follow. “Did you ever give up on me?” “Never.” Her voice was stern. “No matter how much trouble you may have caused, Taylen. No matter how much you may have hurt me. I’ve never given up on you, love, and I never will.”

“True! - nervous - very, very nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?”

“I have to ask you something—promise me you’ll be open-minded?” She looked tentative.He nodded.“I’ve got some mad skills. Some mad sex skills. I want to do stuff to you, without you worrying about me.” She looked at him with one eye closed.“I can never promise to stop worrying about you,” Cole said, smiling. “You’re all I think about. But I’m sure my body is up to this task. Do as you must. I won’t fight you off,” he said with a resolute sigh.”

“I know you're mad at me," he says, looking down at me. His eyes and his words are full of remorse, but the apology still doesn't come. "I need you to be mad at me, Sky. But I think I need you to still want me here with you even more.”

“But I don’t want to go among mad people," Alice remarked."Oh, you can’t help that," said the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.""How do you know I’m mad?" said Alice."You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn’t have come here.”