“I jerked instinctively. I couldn't stay here. I couldn't die in this closet. "No one is going to touch you," Chase murmured into my hair.”

“Let's see that wrist."I held it out, and Chase's jaw tightened."Look at that!" the medic shouted, staring over my shoulder behind us. The moment I turned my head he grabbed my hand and jerked it toward him, hard.A crack as the bones in my wrist realigned.”

“It was you," I say softly. "It's always you I think about."The intensity in his gaze took my breath away. I could feel him. Every part of him. His soul was sewn to mine. His heated blood flowed through my veins. I'd thought that I had been close to my mother, and I was, but not like this. Chase and I barely touched- our hands, mouths, knees- but there was no part of me that was not his.”

“You married me while I was sleeping?" I asked in amazement. They sky was beginning to bruise with the purple haze, and in it, I could see Chase's face glow a little deeper copper."You hit me for kissing you. It seemed in my best interest to marry you while you were passed out.”

“Chase Jennings, I love you. I love the boy you were and the man that you've become and even when I don't like you at all I still love you because you are you, kind safe and good, because you understand me and are not afraid.”

“Hush. Listen now. I need to say a couple of mom things.Listen, because this is important. Eat more- you're getting too skinny. And smile. Oh, and don't believe anyone who says they'll pay you back later; they never do.And one more thing, I have never loved one single thing in my life more than you. You were worth living for, and Ember, you were worth dying for.”

“Losing your family….it puts fear in a different perspective,” he said. “Besides, I got by all right. I stayed on the fringe around Chicago, hoped around tent cities and Red Cross camps. Worked for some people who didn’t ask questions. Avoided case-workers and foster care. And thought about you.”“Me?” I huffed, completely unsettled. In awe at how vanilla my life seemed. In awe of what he’d endured, He turned then, meeting my eyes for the first time. When he spoke, his voice was gentle, and unashamed. “You. The only thing in my life that doesn’t change. When everything went to hell, you were all I had.”