Naaytaashreads’s Reviews > Breath to Bear > Status Update

“Maybe they’ve lost their way and they’re trying to find each other.”

“You say you love me but you don’t even let me get close to you.” He keeps me at a distance. We have a connection, that’s apparent, but there’s a space inside of his heart.

I can feel the tears well in my eyes. “When you love someone, you give a piece of yourself away. You don’t have any more pieces to give, Jack.” It breaks my heart to say it, but I have to.

I am falling over the edge into that crevasse with him, and I fear I will lose myself when he rests his forehead against mine. I breathe him in, the smell of his soap mixed with cigarettes and bubble gum.

I move closer, taking her hand in mine because I just want to touch her. I look down at her fingers linked with mine, the gesture is so small, but it causes a large lump to form in my throat.

Jack will always be Jack, and that’s who I fell in love with. This whole time I’ve been trying to protect myself from Jack when I’m the one I don’t trust.

I’m thinking back to when Erin came into my life unexpectedly. We were both thrust into an intense situation and gravitated towards each other. She was so willing to give up pieces of herself to me, and that is a gift.

“It was a selfish kind of love. I didn’t care if I hurt other people, or if the world burned down around us.”

I played this corner for change, yet these memories make it feel like yesterday. That kind of struggle leaves scars, but it also leaves a roadmap to where I’ve been so I can appreciate where I am.

“Erin, you of all people know I’m a lot to handle.” I lean in close to her, my lips a breath away from hers. She doesn’t move away and so I press them firmly against hers, hoping to convey that I am in this. She lets out a breath as I pull away. “Just don’t give up on me yet,” I ask of her.