Riot Rules (Crooked Sinners)

by Callie Hart

“No fucking way, Mendoza. Your fate’s sealed. You belong to me now. You’re just gonna have to learn to live behind a few locked doors is all.” My heart’s a rabbit, kicking at my breastbone. “And what if I don’t like hiding behind locked doors?” “Oh, you will.” “How can you be so sure?” “Because you’ll be locked behind them with me.”

I am a beggar trying to buy the moon with a dollar.

A dreamer needs space to dream. LDL IV

“If the girls here are foolish enough to call me Sun God, then you are the goddess of the moon. Diana. Selene. Artemis. Luna. My pale and ethereal queen.” He smirks softly, acknowledging my eyeroll but not giving in to it. “Y’know, for centuries, they used to think the moon sent men mad. Like the phases of the moon affected a person’s sanity. Lunatic. That’s where the word came from. I can see how they came to that conclusion, Carrie. You drive me crazy. I need you so fucking bad.”

“It’s okay, Stella. We’ll be a permanent eclipse. That way, we’ll always be together.” “That way, the world will always be in darkness,” I argue. He shrugs, flicking my lip with the tip of his tongue. “Who gives a flying fuck about the rest of the world. I only care about you and me.”

“I’d like to tell you something.” My pulse kicks up a gear. “Is it important?” He smiles a small smile, his voice very quiet. “Terribly.” “Then I suppose you’d better go ahead.” His hand rests gently against my neck, his thumb stroking reverently along the line of my jaw. “I am so in love with you, Carina Mendoza. I feel like I might die.”