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But that isn't the case here

There's no other Briar Only one

She dives under the water Surfaces without a care Or pretending

I can't fucking tell anymore

She speaks in her normal tone As if we aren't half-naked and ready to fuck each other As if we're not part of this elaborate ruse "Preston was talking about Kintsugi Have you heard of it?"

"Sounds Japanese"

"Yeah The Japanese art of repairing pottery with gold" She follows me into the deep end "He ether To beco about you After Bash And how I must have helped He didn't knoe're not really…"

"Yeah"

"But that sounded beautiful, too Helping soth you need to repair yourself in their love I don't know I think that's love Trusting so them with your broken pieces"

It's beautiful on her lips

"I never had that I never trusted John with my broken pieces I never wanted him to see the cracks" She pushes her hair from her eyes "I did love hi into the ocean"

"And that's why you ended things?"

"Because I didn't want to follow him deeper Or maybe I didn't want to lead him deeper"

"Because of him?"

"Because of both of us I didn't trust hiht it was about freedom Maybe that was part of it But I was scared too"

"Takes guts to admit that"

"Maybe" Her eyes utsier to dive in headfirst But it's not easy for everyone"

"You think I'm different?"

"I don't know You do things full force"

"I don't love anyone"

"Never? Even when you were a kid?"

"You've asked before"

"You've been full of shit before"

And I answered withher the truth "I've had feelings, yeah, but never love Now, Bash… he fell headfirst A ton of ti when he died… I don't knohat happened to her, if she ever got the news I guess she must have Fuck, maybe she was at the funeral, I don't know"

"What was it like?"

"What was my brother's funeral like?"

"It's a legitimate question"

"Why are you asking it?"

She moves closer "Because I want to know"

Are these really my only two options? Sex and death

They're everywhere lately

I' Briar or focusing on Preston's imminent demise

"It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," she says "I'm sure it's hard I don't really know But I… the way Preston talked about it, about how I could be there for you after your brother… it really felt like love Like what I would want, if I had someone"