STAY

𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.
𝗛𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲.

Aunika Cladwell has spent her whole life building walls-walls thick enough to bury the echoes of an abusive childhood, the flashbacks, the nights she doesn't talk about. Love? That's a language she never learned.

Emeris Voss has been counting his days ever since the diagnosis. Terminal cancer. That's what they told him. But before he goes, he wants to feel something real. Something that makes this life worth all the aching.

When they meet in a quiet beach town where the waves never stop crashing, it's supposed to be simple. Temporary. But nothing about them stays quiet for long. Passionate, chaotic, and loud, they fall hard. And with every broken piece they uncover in each other, they start to wonder if love-raw, honest, and imperfect-might be enough to heal.

But time isn't kind.
And the past doesn't stay buried.
And sometimes, staying is the bravest thing of all.

💔 𝐀 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐠𝐨, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲-𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐬.
Trigger Warnings: PTSD, terminal illness, childhood trauma, emotional intensity.