If He Had Been With Me Novels & Stories

Maybe I was fucked. Maybe I was already too far gone. But if I was going down, it was going to be with her. In every way that mattered.

But they were ours. And if he didn’t remember how to be André Vitale yet… then I would stay right here beside him until he did.

Brandon didn’t say a word, just fell into step beside me as we followed her down the hall. He wasn’t supposed to be here. And yet… I couldn't imagine today without him.

But the truth was—I didn’t need space. I needed them. And with them here, by my side, I knew… we were going to be okay.

" I looked at him, my lungs aching with the work of air. Maybe I hadn't had an army backing me. But I had him. And in that moment, that was plenty.

Being with him was worth any challenge I had to face. I wasn’t sure where we would end up, but I knew that we would be together.

he said, sounding defeated. "Will you?" He looked at me, vulnerable. "Will you come with me?" I didn't even have to think about it. Of course, I would go with him.

It would have been lonely, and I would have been sad. Okay, maybe it’s not a bad idea that he was with me. Maybe I shouldn’t do anything that would make him leave me. I hope he hasn't already left.

I do not think I knew that until tonight. He looked at her across the kitchen in the nine thirty light. You have been carrying me since April, he said. With Marcus. He said it without the weight of obligation, just the plain noting of it. You have been watching and holding what you saw and not saying anything until you were sure and then you said it and you carried the saying of it and you have been in the room with me while I sat with it. He paused. That is not the arrangement of a person who can only receive.

“If I have to. As long as I know that you’re with me…” And for the first time since all of this began, I didn’t feel like I was standing alone in the fire. I felt like I had someone willing to walk into it with me.