The fact that you can't see how much you're worth makes you worth so much more.' She opened her mouth once, her brow bunched, but nothing came out. She didn't know the words to ask. I continued. 'A diamond doesn't know how much it's worth; it's just beautiful because it exists.

"Sometimes I just needed to talk about it, even though it singed like touching the end of a match. I just needed to feel that pain for a moment, to know that it was real. It was my pain. I had earned it by living through it."

Shelly Crane

"I smiled sadly and whispered, 'I would have taken a bullet for you, too, you know.'I know,' he whispered gruffly and lifted my chin, 'and that pisses me off and turns me on at the same time."

Shelly Crane