“When he inches into me, I feel the pain, but I also feel the invisible chains around my wrists break and shatter.”

“I like the sober Callie, the one that I can talk to. The one that is so sweet it's fucking adorable. The one that trembles use from the feel of my breath. The one that I want to kiss and touch so fucking badly it drives me crazy. The one that makes me feel things...”

“I take my time because I love how it feels to carry her, the way she needs me, the way I need to protect her.”

“That okay. I'll go find somewhere else to sleep."Her fingers wrap around my arm. "You don't have to go anywhere. I feel safe with you.”

“I pause, examining her eyes, and then move forward with caution. “So if I kissed you right now, I wouldn’t be taking advantage of you?” “No, but I might be taking advantage of you. Your breath smells about as bad as the bottle.” She fans her nose with a smile. “Trust me. You can take advantage of me and I won’t mind, even when I sober up.” I press my lips to hers, feeling my heart thump in my chest as her breath catches. It grows silent as we lie with our foreheads touching and our breaths mingling. I place my hand on her hip, shutting my eyes, feeling the intensity of the moment like an open wound.”

“But I trusted him once and I decide to do it again. I just pray to God he doesn’t shove me down and break me, because I’m already in too many pieces and I just don’t know how much more breaking I can take.”

“He stops rocking the cage. "Oh, come on, Callie. It won't be fun if we don't rock it. In fact, the more we rock it, the better it'll feel." His voice drops to a deep whisper. "We can rock it nice and slow or really, really fast."..."Do I have your permission to rock away and give you the ride of your life?" Why does it feel like he's secretly talking dirty to me? "Yeah, go ahead, rock it nice and hard," I say without thinking, then bite down on my lip as the dirty section of my brain catches up with me. Honestly, I didn't even know that side existed.”