"Grief is not as heavy as guilt, but it takes more away from you." - Veronica Roth
***
I turned my head away as fresh tears ran down my cheeks. "You don't understand. I'm not good for you. I'll ruin you. I'll--"
He shook his head and gently took my hands into his. "I understand. I do. More than you'll ever know."
"No one would want the broken girl. That's not how it goes."
His emerald green eyes shone as they bore into mine. "I want the broken girl."
*
*
*
18-year-old Nova Collins has had a hard life. She expects nothing to wake up to but monotone days, and nights of black nothingness. Memories plague her day and night, following her no matter where she goes, no matter what she does.
And she's alone. So alone.
Her whole world, or what is left of it, is slowly crumbling around her, and it's all her fault.
All because of one fateful day almost 6 years back.
Ever since then, she's become a mere shell of the bright and happy girl she once was, with the burden of her sorrow only made worse by others who refuse to allow her to heal. And piece by piece, she's breaking away, a withering autumn leaf buried by winter snow, a fragile china glass on the brink of coming apart completely.
She is falling, fast, and she needs someone to help her up again. Before it is too much to bear.
Enter Daniel Faust. He's like the sun, with the entirety of the school community revolving around him.
His pristine features, cocky smirks and utmost popularity all add up to the one thing he's spent years to master: The perfect mask.
But has no one yet seen the cracks in the porcelain?
And now he has seen her. Her tired sighs, her quiet calls for help.
And she has seen him. Under the act, and the cracking porcelain mask.
Two incomplete puzzles: Would they be the piece each one is missing?
As Dallas and Drayton navigate life in the spotlight, Spencer is navigating intense feelings for Nathan - her best friend's brother.
*****
Dallas and Drayton are planning their wedding, talking babies and learning how to navigate life in LA now that Drayton is a hotshot football player in the big leagues. Meanwhile, Spencer and Nathan are back at home in Colorado, coming to terms with their feelings for one another and learning how to co-parent with Grayson, the father of Spencer's daughter. Will the realities of adult life strengthen them - or will their relationships break?
[Sequel to The QB Bad Boy and Me]
[[word count: 150,000-200,000 words]]