"don't tell me you're fine, you're bleeding." he chuckles and lays his head onto my shoulder. "a little blood isn't going to hurt anything, love." he says, breathing heavily, almost as if he were gasping for air. ____ Atticus will do everything he can to protect her from the people that hurt her the most, but who's going to protect him from the things that he won't let Flora protect him from? They come from different lives, so they were never destined to be together. But somehow they find themselves drawn to each other and unable to let go no matter how much they aren't good for each other.