Bleeding Hearts

Love.

A four letter word describing a feeling that most children grow up surrounded by. I didn't.

Until Asher Gray. The guy always up for a good time. The friend I could always rely on. The man who also happened to be my brother's best friend.

He made me feel more cherished than anyone else ever had. I'd gotten used to our friendship, regardless of how attracted to him I was. I never thought we could be anything more.

Until the look in his eyes changed, and I realized that maybe we were never really friends at all. Maybe the love I always longed for was standing right in front of me.

But now my past is coming back to haunt me and suddenly I don't know how to protect the man I love from it. I don't even know how to protect myself. All I do know is that I want him by my side through it all.