I love you all, so much more than you should ever love me.

It’s not wise to rely on a man’s ability to remember anything.

They examine me like I’m a cow at a 4-H auction. I try not to moo.

You know what would be cool, next time?” said a voice behind me. “Black roses.

And then you two go and call attention to yourselves like this,” Ian continued. “Holding hands in a pedalo, for Christ’s sake. They must have been frothing at the mouth at the thought of you two reproducing, wondering if you’d give birth to some kind of metaphysically enhanced creature or a bottomless black hole.

I don’t need to see you to know that you’re beautiful.

He whispered against my mouth. “Wait for me, Aura.

I sat forward and picked up a piece of the jet engine. “I think we get the world we deserve. People who love get love back, and people who hate, or fear, they get those back too.

Don’t tell me no this time, Aura. Please. Don’t make me stop.

Beautiful doesn’t begin to describe it. A flower is beautiful. But this is beautiful the way that a person is beautiful- terrifying with its jagged edges, yet seductive with its crevices that hide so many secrets.