“Keeping my smile raised like a shield between us, I curtsied and quit the room.”

“As these images were going through my head, my breathing suddenly went still. I looked at Jamie, then up to the ceiling and around the room, doing my best to keep my composure, then back to Jamie again. She smiled at me and I smiled at her and all I could do was wonder how I’d ever fallen in love with a girl like Jamie Sullivan.”

“And then the line was quite but not dead. I almost felt like he was there in my room with me, but in a way it was better, like I was not in my room and he was not in his, but instead we were together in some invisible and tenuous third space that could only be visited on the phone.”

“I like two beautiful women on my arm- as human shields"
”

“Brenna’s eyes widened. Raising a hand, she brushed his hair gently off his forehead.“Why do I keep telling you things I swore I’d take to my grave?”The contact shot electricity through his nerves. “Because you know I’ll always be your shield against the nightmares.”

“I have my booksAnd my poetry to protect me;I am shielded in my armor,Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.I touch no one and no one touches me.I am a rock,I am an island.”