Her Heart, Her Terms Novels & Stories

She’s really, fucking gone. I heave out a sigh that feels like it comes from my bones. Even if I do something about it, even if I fight, I won’t win her heart with it. If I crush the whole damn city to claim her back, it still won’t work, because her heart belongs to her. And I won’t have any right to take it. Not unless she gives it to me. And right now, she chose to give it to Hunter. Even when she uses me to get off.

She turned around and was about to leave but. “Where is she? I really need Scarlet Heart now! I don’t think I can live without her!” Cullen was shouting at Heart’s boss. Heart’s eyes widened again and her heart was really fluttering hearing Cullen’s rants at her boss. Heart slowly touched her chest and was feeling her heartbeat.

Around it she wrote the terms out loud—clear, precise, words like rope and rope’s knot that could be undone if she chose. He listened as she spoke. “I choose you,” she said finally, voice low and unadorned. “I choose this. But I choose it on my terms. If I say stop, you stop. If it’s harm, it ends. If my life is at stake, you go. You stay with me only because I want you here, not because you cannot leave.” He smiled then, a creature of shadow and flame, and it was the gentlest thing she’d heard in months. “Those are fair terms.” He leaned in, so close she could feel his breath like a promise. “And if you break them?”

she rolled her eyes. Why did my heart stop beating? "There he is. Hey babe, come over here. Look who I found" She waved to someone behind me. Shit.

For entertainment’s sake, I could watch her forever. “You said we have something to discuss,” she says, chin up, voice remarkably steady, but I can still hear the tremor under it. “What is it?” “Terms,” I say, taking off my jacket and rolling my sleeves to the forearms. “You’re entitled to hear them once. After that, there’s only acceptance or refusal.” Her mouth flattens. “You’re acting like this is a contract.” “It is a contract.” I tip my head. “Everything that matters is.”

"We agreed." "We agreed to terms. I'm telling you I'm not satisfied with them." "The terms aren't there for your satisfaction. They're there so we don't confuse this for something it's not." "I know what this is." "Do you?" She crossed her arms. "Because I'm starting to wonder."

he say and her eyes deepen and she stood checking me. “How is that possible? I have heard that the heart eater doesn’t spare any of his prey. He rips out their hearts without remorse.” She follows it with a shock Phiz. “I was surprised as well. I thought I was as good as dead, but then he didn’t do anything. Rather he said that I’m special and there is something about me he can’t really place.”I pause and she placed her hand on my right shoulder.

She thought. Then her memories came back. Her head ached as all her memories flashed back into her mind. Because of the severe pain she felt with her head, she fainted and fell to the ground

"We've been together for five years. You can't do this to me. I love you!" "You love me?" I laughed, as if I had just heard the biggest joke in the world. I stood and walked up to her. "Yvonne, you don't love me. You love who I am and the benefits it could bring you. Unfortunately for you, you were blind and didn't see it." Her body trembled violently, and her face turned even paler. My words seemed to have struck a nerve. "No. That's not it…" she stammered. "I was just… I had a momentary lapse of judgment! I wanted success too badly. I wanted to give you a better life."

I wanted the ache in her voice to quiet. I wanted the search she carries, that endless reaching for something real, to ease, if only for a moment. I wanted to be the thing that did not leave. Those are not thoughts I am allowed to have. They are not mine. I hear her words again, clear as if she is still standing in front of me. “This only works if I get to choose.” She was not asking for reassurance. She was setting terms. And I honored them. I step back from the door.