Built From Broken Novels & Stories

She walks with elegance and prudence but could speak a curse that would leave you both lost and confused, shattered and broken but most of all deeply in love. That's how I ended up here in this situation I am in now, losing everything and everyone closest to me. Leaving me alone, depending on her for love, on her to put a stop to my lust, and on her to fill me up when I’m empty to stick me back together when I'm broken. I should have known that something was wrong, that something didn't quite fit together perfectly, no matter how many times Althea would beg me to look closer and pay attention.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” “I don’t know that. You say you aren’t going to hurt me, but the way you act sometimes hurts me. One day you treat me like you want me. Then the next you’re telling people I don’t mean anything to you. That we are only friends. I can’t take that. Not from you. I’m already broken, Dmitry. But you the power to shatter me.” His eyebrows wrinkled together. “Dani. For days now, I have been trying to tell you how I feel.”

She even secretly nudged Kobe for backup. “Come on Jada, let’s go out tonight!” the man chimed in. “No, thanks! You know I don’t like going out when I’m here,” eyeing Honey for help. “You mean you came back some time ago?” Kobe asked. Jada nodded at him and he frowned, turning to Honey and creasing his forehead at her. “You guys broke up at that time!” she said immediately to defend her friend. "You came back without letting me know? I thought we were friends. I thought I was your second BFF?” he stated dramatically.

Like I was reciting a script I’d been forced to learn. But I said them anyway. Because he’d told me not to break. Because that was the only thing I had left that still felt like mine—whether I followed through or not. My weight shifted, uneven and careful, as I tested my balance. The room swayed slightly, exhaustion pulling at me like chains, but I stayed standing. Barely. Just enough to keep from sinking back down and letting the pain win. “I won’t break,” I repeated, quieter this time, my voice steadier than I felt. “Even if I already feel shattered.”

A sharp crack broke the silence in the living room. The bracelet hit the hard marble floor, and the gem shattered into pieces. At that instant, everything around me stood still. I stared at the broken pieces on the floor, my mind going blank. Susan shrieked and took a step back. Jason swiftly grabbed Susan's hand and anxiously checked the back of her hand and her calves. "Did you get cut by the shards? Does it hurt?" He was finally relieved after making sure that Susan wasn't hurt. He turned around and stared at me, frozen in place, my face pale.

But in the unraveling, something new was being forged. Not yet unity. Not yet trust. But the shape of it. The ghost of it. A fragile bond, woven from shared pain and phantom sensations. The beginning of a symphony strong enough, perhaps, to hold the darkness at bay.

"But Marcus is an old man. He doesn't have the... energy... for someone like you." Noah giggled, a soft, bubbly sound that made Orion’s grip on his thigh tighten. "Oh, don't be silly! He’s in his prime. Not everyone can be a 6'4" Greek god like you, you big brute." Noah teased, poking Orion’s hard chest with a finger. "You're so lucky, you know. You’re a CEO, you’re handsome, you have the world at your feet. You'll find a beautiful woman and have a dozen little giants running around."

Not owned. And not broken. That's what mattered.

“Not⁠ built on r⁠uins, but growing from them.” ⁠Kaelan wa‍s speechless. He saw their enti‍re jou⁠r‌ney i‍n the‌ two piec‍es side-by-s‍ide‍: the p‍a‌inful fou‍ndation and the gl‌orious, living s‍t‍ructure they ha‍d built upon i⁠t.‌

“Why do you build things that break?” The fallen thing’s voice cracked like glass grinding against stone. It sat in the grey garden surrounded by trembling flowers, staring at a child’s wooden toy that had split down the middle. Lena picked up the pieces. “Because building teaches us. Breaking teaches us differently.” “That is inefficient. Above, things are built to last eternally. No breaking. No rebuilding. Just permanence.” “Sounds boring.” The thing’s blank face shifted. Features appeared, disappeared, reformed wrong. Two mouths. Three eyes. Then back to smooth nothing. “Boring is not a concept I understand.”