“Even though I don’t deserve her—not now, not ever—I can’t see myself letting her go.” Beyond these prison walls an entire life waits. A daughter I barely know. A twin brother I miss. A lifetime of penance to be paid. But regret consumes me, and what-if’s haunt me. How do you forgive the irreversible errors of a boy, trying too hard to be a man? Emerson Lane. She’s my how. Warm. Passionate. Unexpected. She’s everything good in this world. She makes me feel dangerous things. Hopeful things. Redemption isn’t something I thought I’d ever find. Until the keeper of my second chance found me.

"When I can't hear you and see you, I can't want you–and I can't want you anymore." Sasha was the girl next door, and at fifteen I was sure she was my forever. She was my constant, and never let me down. Until she did. She broke me, yet I still found myself longing for her with a debilitating desperation. Then came Taylah. A crazy and chaotic hurricane of beauty and bad decisions, she breathed life back into me. For her, my heart began to beat a new rhythm. She was whimsical, and I was level-headed. We were mismatched in the most perfect of ways. Two women. One decision. Sasha was my first love, but could Taylah be my last?

"Even if he doesn't want to be with me, he will always be one of the best things to ever happen to me." We weren’t just young, we were stupid and reckless. He was the beginning of every bad decision I made, the enemy of everyone I’d ever loved. I was a pawn in his game. A prize to be claimed, and a trophy to be flaunted. Now we’re two adults with crooked pasts, trying to straighten out our future. His heart belongs to his daughter, while mine is too tattered to give away. Neither of us believe in happily ever after. Not after everything we’ve been through. So, why are we desperately trying to chase ours?