"All of it," he croaked, "The help with my brother. The way you're always level-headed in heated conflicts. You had no money to give Marley, when you spent two hundred dollars on us at the arcade. The desperation for a scholarship. How well you understand my triggers and you never allowed all of my faults and mistakes to push you away, because you can see better than anyone how much of it's a mask for pain. It's seeing that message and believing the worst so you could leave before I could. Marley..." his fingers tightened around her hair before he released her in one fell swoop. She dropped her hands and watched him pull his knees to his chest, an action so odd and unordinary that she didn't know what to do with herself watching him, "If I ever...when we kissed, f**k," he growled out, his