Tully isn’t alone in her skin. Whenever she touches someone, they feel everything she feels. All her ugliness. All her darkness. All her pain.
The only thing she wants is to be left alone—and to finally get out of her small Oregon town.
But then she meets Chris. He’s everything she’s not. Light. Trusting. Innocent. And he wants Tully.
Tully knows she should spare him the heartache of being with her. But when he touches her, she’s not sure she’ll have the strength to push him away…
From the author of Every Ugly Word comes a poignant, emotionally raw story about the violence that plays out behind closed doors and the all-consuming passion of first love.
Chris just blew me away with his note…
Keep reading to see the full Love Note!
Tully,
I’m not very good with words. I’m afraid I’ll get this wrong and hurt you without meaning to. But I have to try. Because you need to hear this. You can’t give up on us because of what your father put you through.
You aren’t the reason for this darkness in your life, you’re the light in mine.
You aren’t just taking up space, you have a presence. I feel you walk into the room.
You aren’t a problem, you’re the answer to questions I’ve asked for as long as I can remember.
You aren’t here to be used, you’re here to be loved. And I love you. I love you so much.
I love that sharp little grin you get when you’re about to cut someone off at the knees—and the fact that you never do that to people weaker than you. I love the way you keep going, even when people who should be protecting you are the ones doing the hurting. That would bring me to my knees. I admire that strength in you.
I love the fact that you’d give yourself to me completely. Remember: Our time will come. Right now, I need you to believe I love you even without that. I need you to believe in me, not in what you’re giving me. But for the record, when the time is right, I know I won’t be able to keep my hands off you. Because I can’t breathe slow when you’re close. I prickle wherever you touch me. I love taste of the skin on your neck, that spot beneath your ear, and the way you shiver when I kiss it. I love the feeling of your hair running between my fingers, of your warmth against me, of the way you’ll put yourself in my arms and stay there.
I want you more than anything. More than anyone else. You’re precious to me. I can’t say it clearer than that.
Trust me. We can get through this.
I love you,
Chris
Aimee L. Salter is the author of the gut-wrenching Every Ugly Word, a gripping and emotional story about the devastating consequences of bullying. Her second book, Dark Touch, an equally raw story about the violence that plays out behind closed doors and the all-consuming passion of first love, will be released February 23, 2016.
Aimee lives in Southern Oregon with her husband and son where she writes made-up stories that tell the truth about life. She never stopped appreciating those moments in the dark when you say what you’re really thinking. And she’ll always ask you about the things you wish she wouldn’t.
