Her blue eyes were focused on the words on the page in front of her like they always are. I had never known anyone to spend as much time with their nose between the pages of a book as Maggie did. Everywhere she went she had one – in her bag, in her lap, next to her.No one else noticed. And no one else noticed the fact I did.Her brow furrowed, and she sucked her bottom lip into her mouth as she swept her long blonde hair from her face. She gathered it at the back of her head and snapped a band from her wrist, tying it up and exposing the sleek curve of her neck and the skin there. I spinned my pen between my fingers and glanced at my own book.Off limits. That was what Maggie Hope was.I knew the first time I saw her I could never have her. The way she held herself and the sarcastic yet polite comments – she had endless amounts of “screams rich girl”, a class I never had and never will be in. It was engrained in her to treat everyone with respect no matter what you think of them. I w

I was fucked. And it was all my own fault.I had to do it, didn’t I? I had to go over to her and say what I did. I didn’t expect her to do it – I never thought she’d actually come upstairs, but she did. And shit; it felt so wrong but so right at the same time.She was so dangerous. She was the one in this whole damn college, hell, in the whole damn state, that could strip away my devil-may-care attitude and put me on my sorry ass. She was the only girl that could make me feel again. She could take everything I’ve tried for so long to stick back together and shatter it into more pieces than it was in in the first place.I should have stayed the fuck away from her, but I didn’t. And now I know the sweet taste of her mouth as she kissed me. I know the softness of her lips as they moved across mine, and I know the feel of her hands gripping my hair.I also knew what it was like to be so close but so far away. ‘Cause damn it all to hell, she had to stop and walk away, didn’t she? She had t

I glared at Jack. “For the tenth fucking time, I did not sleep with Maggie this weekend.” But not for a lack of damn well trying.Jack folded his arms across his chest. “She seemed more pissed at you than usual in class.”I shrugged a careless shoulder. “Probably because I pissed her off more than normal on Saturday night.”Josh grinned. “She did look like she wanted to wring your balls after you spoke to her at the bar.”“Yeah well, even if she did wring them, I wouldn’t have been hard pressed to find someone to kiss them better afterwards, would I?”“Shit, man.” Jack shook his head and sat down. “Was I really this much of a fucking asshole before Sandra?”Josh threw his cell in the air and caught it. “Yep.”“Difference with me and you, dude,” I said, “is that I can admit I’m an asshole. You thought you were fuckin’ Jesus or somethin’.”“That’s because I am – behind closed doors.” He grinned like the smug bastard he was. “At least you didn’t try it with Maggie.”“I don’t know why you

Time went too fast. Too fucking fast.Since I kissed Maggie, I had slowly retreated into my own mind. Every day brought a fresh set of memories, slicing open a fresh set of scars. Every day cut open a new wound that bled for hours. Every set of memories started a fresh onslaught of cuts inside my mind that would never heal. Each one had its own shape, it was own meaning, it was own pain.Each one was a reminder of why I couldn’t give Maggie what she deserved. Each one was a reminder why I should have stayed away from her in the first place and why I should now.Broken. Shattered. Mismatched.They were the first three words I thought of when I had to describe myself. They sprung to mind instantly.Useless. Worthless. Nothing.They were the next three. The words that were drummed into my mind so many times, by so many voices, for so long. They were the words that crept under your skin, worm their way into you and never left.A good word can linger with you for a few fleeting moments whi

You’re worth nothing. You’re no better than your whore of a mother.Her body against mine. Hand on hand. Skin on skin.You think anyone will ever want you, you brat? They won’t.The softness of her hand against mine.You are nothing.The gentle aroma of vanilla that was settling on her hair.No one will want you. Maggie. You’re no better than her. I’m not there. Little rat. I’m here. With Maggie.Maggie.The warmth of her body against my back grounded me, holding me in the now when all my mind wanted to do was give in and go back. Give in and go back to the time of my life I didn’t want anyone exposed to. The time I didn’t want Maggie exposed to.I knew I needed to leave. Now. I needed to push her window open and climb down that fucking tree.Instead I turned and held her to me.My hands splayed across her back, my fingertips digging into her skin, and she wrapped her arms around my waist. Her face pressed into my neck and she brushed her lips across my collarbone, a feather light tou