"You're atheist," I remind him. "You don't believe in god." "I believe in you," He murmurs, letting the cigarette hang from his lips. "I believe in whatever you believe." He says, letting the confession roll off his tongue as if it were that simple. As if god, the devil, heaven, hell-as if none of it really had meaning to him. "That's not how it works," I mutter as we walk down a few more alleyways-the city of Manhattan coated in a light blanket of snow. Henry Vitiello had never had anything to pray for, that is, until he met me-the only thing that had ever opened his mind up to the possibility of religion "Isn't it?" He argues, taking the cigarette by his middle and pointer finger before blowing the smoke out. "I'II dip my hands in holy water if it means I could touch you." "You'd probably burn." 𓆩♡𓆪 𝐇𝐄𝐍𝐑𝐘 𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎, the reaper. He's a prick. An asshole. A pretentious son of a bitch. He's not perfect. He's not even decent. But he's hers. She could be a bottle labeled poison but he was an alcoholic, and he had drunk her empty. Now he was hungover. 𝐉𝐀𝐍𝐄 𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒, the healer. She's known to be the perfect good girl, with perfect grades and a perfect life with a perfect family. They didn't know that behind the gated doors of their billion dollar estate, she was strapped down to a chair every night and picked apart just to be put back together in time for supper. 𓆩♡𓆪 star-crossed; adjective (of a person or a plan) thwarted by bad luck. 'star-crossed lovers' and that, they were. So they fucked under those very stars that tried so desperately to break them apart. 𓆩♡𓆪 ‼️DISCLAIMER ‼️ BOOK REFERENCES TO MARA DYER, SHATTER ME, MIND FUCK, ETC ARE ALL INTENTIONAL SO DONT BE RUDE. AS FOR TRIGGER WARN

| a true story about a boy who hides his pain behind his smile and a girl determined to see it | - FREE story with paid Exclusive Chapters and Writer Reveals - Twice Featured - Taylor Ming is trying to cope with the aftermath of her twin brother's suicide, and her depressed mother and avoidant father aren't really helping. With one of her friends' self-harming while another deals with a chronically ill boyfriend, being diagnosed with Diabetes and forced to use insulin thrice a day is Taylor's worst nightmare. When she catches the school's golden boy Shane Gray popping pills in a bathroom, then, Taylor is sure she's in a living hell. Is he depressed? Is he using drugs? She's afraid of losing more people and strikes a deal with Shane. He'll tell her if he ever has the urge to hurt himself and she'll keep his secret. What neither of them knows, however, is that he's already hurting himself without knowing it. And Shane's life is falling apart quicker than Taylor's. Because life isn't black and white and, sometimes, seeing gray can make all the difference. Warning: The story talks about suicide, self-harm, drug use, and mental health problems which may be triggering for some readers.