Choices. Everyone makes them. From mundane to unimaginable, one choice can change the trajectory of your entire life.

My mother’s choice was to abandon us with our abusive father.
My brother’s choice was to go to prison for killing the boy who assaulted his soulmate.
Camden Cole’s choice was to fall in love with a shattered girl who had absolutely nothing to offer him but heartbreak.

It was one summer beneath the trees, but with Camden, I had a place where I belonged.
A friend who was always waiting for me.
A boy who I caught staring at me more often than not.

He was mine, but when the world closed in and secrets exploded all around us, it was my choice to let him go.

Choices. Everyone makes them.
But mine would ruin us all.

He wedged his large body beside me in the bed. On his side, he draped one arm across my middle, curling his other under his head. 

I watched him out of the corner of my eye, completely unsure if I was supposed to cuddle into him or what the hell we were doing. 

“This okay?” he asked. “You comfortable?” 

I was a lot of things. Confused. Lost. Overwhelmed by guilt.  

But because it was Camden, comfortable was one of those things too.  

As an answer, I rolled toward him and buried my face in his broad chest.  

His whole body sagged as he began stroking the back of my hair. “Nora. Nora. Nora.”  

In a way, Camden and I were strangers, but as his heart played in my ear, I felt two puzzle pieces clicking into place. A calm washed over me. The dark cloud of my betrayals still existed outside of Camden’s embrace; it just didn’t seem so ominous anymore. He knew all the dirty and broken parts of me and still came back, holding me as though he could keep me together.  

Sliding an arm around his back, I curled in close, shifting to tangle my legs with his. “I’m tired, Cam.”  

“I know,” he whispered, hugging me tight.  

“No, you don’t. Nobody understands. I’m a disease who infects everyone who gets close to me.” My breathing shuddered. “It hurts. Everything hurts.” 

“Do you remember our first summer together when a grasshopper got into the container where we held the extra worms? You screamed so loud when you opened that thing and it came flying out like a bat out of hell. It got on your shirt and then hung on for dear life. With all the racket you were making, the damn thing had to have been terrified, but he never jumped off. I had to peel it off your shirt, one leg at a time.”  

I gagged at the memory. “Thanks for reminding me of that. Awesome timing.”  

He chuckled and pressed his lips to the top of my head. “I’m the grasshopper clinging to your shirt, Nora.”  

Now, if that wasn’t some good old classic Camden Cole rambling, I had no idea what was. 

I tilted my head back, resting my chin on his pec, and peered up at him. “You do realize I have no idea what you’re talking about, right?” 

My cold, hollow chest filled with a warmth I hadn’t felt in years when he grinned down at me.  

“I genuinely thought you’d find your way back to me. A phone call. A visit. Anything. But as time passed and I got older, I realized I fell in love with a girl who had no idea how to be loved.” 

My stomach wrenched, and emotion made my vision swim. “Camden, I—”  

“No, just let me talk. Hear me out.” He tucked a stray hair behind my ear and let his thumb linger at my cheek, sweeping back and forth. “I know you love me, Nora. It’s flashed in your eyes every time you’ve seen me since we were kids. It’s like every light in the house suddenly comes on, but it terrifies you, so you spend the whole time we’re together running around, turning them all off, convincing yourself that you don’t deserve for people to love you back. But we still do it. Joe loves you. Thea loves you. Ramsey loves you. I’ll always love you.”