“Because he tells me. All the fucking time. I’m precious to him and I know it because he shows me and he tells me. It’s beautiful. It’s real. It’s right.”

“He raped me, Agent Calhoun, he hit me but he didn’t kill me. As long as I’m breathing,I’ve got fight in me and luckily I’m breathing.”It was at that he whispered, “You aren’t like a lot of women.”“Yes I am,” I whispered back. “I’m like all women. You see this but inside there’ssomething else that I won’t let you see or him see but it’s the mess he left me. But that’smine. No one gets to it. Everything you get and he gets is a show. One thing you learn reallyquickly and really well when that kind of thing happens to you is to be a fucking greatactress. You don’t have a choice in that because a man like that does something like that toyou, you lose having choices. The only choice you have is what role you intend to play. Ipicked my role and that… that Agent Calhoun is what you see.”

“I’m not what you want, Sylvie, I get that because it’s the same for you as it is for me. I’m not what you want ‘cause I’m what you need.”

“Beauty,” he whispered. “What?” I asked.“Beauty. It’s pure beauty you don’t wanna be away from me. I don’t like that, baby. I love it”

“When we moved me in and I fretfully shared this with him, he pulled me loosely in his arms, dipped his face close and told me, “This décor isn’t mine either. It’s Ma’s. Do what you want. Anything you want. I don’t give a fuck. Just as long as you’re happy here.”I’d be happy on a deserted island that had nothing but a palm tree and a lifetime supply of sunscreen as long as Chace was there. And it was because of statements just like that I would.I didn’t tell him that.I just whispered, “Okay.”

“I'm with him because when I'm with him, I'm free to be me. I'm with him because he's hot. I'm with him because he lets me blather, since I'm prone to blathering, and he lets me rant when I have a bad day. I'm with him because when I rant, he makes me feel better and he does this effortlessly. I'm with him because I live for the times when I'm on the back of his bike and we're riding together, not even talking, just being free.”

“And girls tell me he’s hot.” He grinned and finished, “I wouldn’t know, seein’ as I’m a guy but I look like him and I’m smokin’ hot so he’s gotta be hot.”