‘I don’t love anything. —Parker ‘I know.’ —Everett

I was naked under his gaze. Skin was just that: skin. But to see your soul stripped, laid bare for the eyes of someone you barely knew-that was terrifying.

Words could bite. When I spoke to strangers, I wanted my words to have fangs.

I’m not talking about the scars that separate your skin, Parker. I’m not blind, I can see those. I’m talking about the scars much deeper than that. The scars that exist within you. The ones...