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"Jet, I’ to tell you this because I really think the two of you have so that could be forever When you find soets you, who understand you, it’s worth fighting for The last thing you want to do is be five years down the road and look back and wonder what could have happened Trust naw on your soul until there is nothing left"

I looked at him like I had never really seen him before Roas the fun one He was the one as always quick to suggest a bar or the after-party He was the one who came equipped with a joke and easy smile In all the years we had been friends, all the times we had drunkenly spilled our deepest and darkest secrets, he had never hinted at so froged Clearly it wasn’t a subject he wanted to delve into deeper, which was probably a good thing, considering I still smelled like the inside of a whiskey bottle and

"Look, dude, I get that your ave you a messed-up idea of what a solid relationship looks like, and I know none of us are going to get gold stars in the amy and happy-ever-after depart you in the face"

I knew that what he was saying to h it, but I just couldn’t reconcile trying to be who Ayden figured she needed in order to be happy, with the guy I really was and planned on being forever I just didn’t think there was any way for us to be together when she wouldn’t let et the fire inside ether was an option for either of us any you just wake up and realize the way things have always been doesn’t mean that’s the way they have to always be I was so used to being called a whore, a slut, white trash, and all the things that just went along with the life I was living, that it didn’t even occur tothe place where I was that girl wouldall of that behind From the minute I crossed the state line out of Kentucky, the Ayden that was lost and so accustoone Nor about her, but lately that hasn’t been the case"

I was squeezing the coffee betweeninto the dark liquid like it held all the answers to every question the universe had ever asked I could feel Shaw’s bright gaze pickingme, but so far she had kept her mouth shut and just let me talk We were in the corner of a coffee shop down by the school, and I could tell by the stiff way she was sitting that she wasn’t exactly happy with reed to the outrageous favor I’d asked, with the one condition that I come clean about every sordid detail of why I was currently in the horrendous situation I was in

"I never knew my dad and, frankly, I don’t think my mama really knew him either We lived in a crappy trailer on the poorest side of town that really only has a poor side, and it wasn’t uncoo without food or lights for long stretches of ti back I understand that she did what she had to do to keep a roof over our heads, which could very well be why my brother, Asa, turned out the way he did People aren’t people to hi tiet those ends to meet"

I could feel sha since fallen, and if I was going to cry now, it was going to be for the absolute look of betrayal, of disappoint to say a word

"I was young and stupid, and at first I thought it was so cool that allout with ht I was popular and that I was living beyond the stereotype of trailer trash Eventually, it beca irl who never said no to anyone or anything--in order to have access to the kids with s, the kids hatever it was he wanted to get his hands on at the ti where a short skirt and a bad reputation will get you, and Asa exploited it for all he orth Had I been s on, I could have saved ret and painful memories"

I finally risked a look at Shaw and soaze, but her ht line that didn’t look at all forgiving

"I started s to make it more tolerable, toI was Half the ti to keep Asa out of trouble or because I thought it would help a situation he had created, which ain To this day I never asked if he knehat it cost me to help him in any way I could He’s never said because I don’t think either of us could look the other in the eye if the truth was out there"

Shaw’s o flat concern, but she waited silently for me to continue I wasn’t sure the concern was for the old me or the new me, but either way I just needed her to understand why I wasthe decisions the way I was