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“Holy shit, Devon. How are you this stupid?”
I mean we were all thinking it - Maddox and Xavi are the wise ones (kind of wish it was different brothers in each but I guess it makes more logical sense this way what with each set of brothers had to go through)
“Because you’re a piece of shit asshole from Garron Park with a loud mouth and the ability to piss me off like none other…and you’re exactly what I want. What I need.”
this is their "I wish I knew how to quit you"
The strength of the weather had nothing on the raging storm of emotion in my body.
pathetic fallacy
I scared him with that deal, and he didn’t know how else to react to it without including violence and anger.
oh wow he really is a secret genius
Fighting was what we knew, and even though the tone behind our fights had changed, it was the only reaction I expected from him.
So I didn't have to take notes on the subtext because it just becomes the text? I'm actually properly annoyed, but by the same token, I'm glad I was right about everything and I'm a genius, there probably is going to be a BS moral at the end too, disgusting
This was my new way of fighting with him.
I am so smart, plus a good reason to have them constantly boning now lol - is this the new reflection of the opening? Maddox is saying he'll never fight with him the way he did at the beginning so it could be. It's coming at about the right place, and I'm glad it's not the last one (I assume there'll be one last sex scene, maybe really raunchy but also it could be shockingly demure and romantic, so I hope it's something new, even a mash-up of the two would be preferable)
note: I'm a little high and I don't quite know what I meant by raunchy so I'm mostly just mad for no reason, I think I'm kind of annoyed?
also I'm glad to know that when I was right I rewarded with a sex scene
I wanted to fight him for control while he lost his mind to a new sensation.
Shows that caring underneath
I reached forward and did something I never thought I’d do. I pulled on the back of his neck and brought his lips to mine during sex.
Not just about the act, the kissing is basically him totally giving up control
While bottoming.
internalized homophobia? in 2024 or whenever this book was written?
He filled me, consumed me, and controlled my body, mind, and anger.
interesting/confusing word - controlled his anger... surely heart or emotions would have been better?
It was the highlight of my life,
okay slow your roll, they've better been dating for what, two days?
I
I think they mean him?
“You still mad at me?” I half-laughed, covering my eyes with my arm, trying to cool down.
using sex as a way to work through their complicated dynamic and their problems
He was still my biggest rival, and to be honest, he was the only one who ever rose to the challenge.
they both crave the challenge, and they've spent so long learning to challenge one another most effectively, that nobody else can compare out do it as well, they literally made each other the perfect lover.
We thrived on aggression and competition, but we ran on something that felt a lot like love. Harsh love. Something volatile and right.
Yeah he's picked up on all of the things, he's been paying attention
“I guess he showed up at the Kane’s trailer.”
not gonna lie that's actually kind of super anticlimactic
“They said they only have enough proof to lock him up for a year. Max,”
I mean that's book 2, yeah? What idea came first?
“This gives us time. We aren’t ready to face him right now, so this is good.
So it's basically they're going to take this time to prepare?
“People in the park are afraid to speak out against him right now, but give them this year without his threat hanging over their heads and they’ll come around.
Yeah he's getting Ken MccElroy'd
Who was I to think I measured up to a man who’d been fucking Devon over for all his life?
Except that they both have - they're on even playing field and there's also more of them
You’ll be stronger, better, and smarter, and he won’t be able to overpower you anymore.
oh that's superhero-ing him... but like of all people, Devon? Come on now. It should have been Maddox but I guess he's the brain of the operation?
“I had to! Look how fucking sexy you two look together!”
yeah that's weird
We’d been fighting each other for so long it was time to turn that aggression on these assholes.
This is the cutesy ending line - like it's fine and sums them up but I wish that this book had been it's own story and not a two-parter - good marketing decision though, I guess... again, kind of annoyed
THREE MONTHS LATER
oh, so this is like an epilogue? so the story just kind of... ends?
brb I have to go talk about the last sentence of chapter 33 lol
ngl it's kind of disappointing. needed one last race and one confrontation with the dad, even if it's him calling them or whatever, but maybe the epilogue will have some good stuff?
“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” I scoffed, looking at the building we just spent the past three months fixing up.
the time jump let's them hand-wave away how they got the money to pay for this place.
That smug prick worked this building into the deal he made to get me out of prison, and I still didn’t know what to make of that.
I guess I'm glad we didn't have to see that play out
Not only the shop, but all the equipment that came with it, a dock with a few slips, and two fuel pumps.
how appropriate that he's working by the water? will keep him honest
I’d never had prime anything. Except Maddox. He was a prime asshole. My prime asshole.
amazement, realizes he does deserve things - growth
We were having some version of a grand opening party.
a chance for the community to come together - Maddox and Devon's big coming out? If so, how appropriate that it would take place by the water likely at night - in the same place they had their final, most honest, most important talk and realization. it's fitting!
Well, if that fucker loved me so much, he could fess up to that himself rather than having everyone in Garron Park tell me.
oh, yeah, that's going to happen
Yeah, actions spoke louder than words, but Jesus fuck, it’d be nice to hear him say it rather than show it for once. Damn him and his silence.
lol the author is working love languages into this lol - Maddox is acts of service and Devon is words of affirmation
Ever since he started working there two and a half months ago, he bulked up, toned up, got stronger, gained a damn tan, and looked even hotter than usual.
in two months?!?
The guy’s name was Jeff, and he wasn’t really an asshole, but I hated him anyway.
now he sounds like Maddox - he's not just insulting people all the time!
Jeff was a looker, which naturally made me jealous. And insecure. And worried. And dumb. Yeah, all the things Maddox had already tried to beat out of me.
still has issues with self esteem, has not totally recovered, but has begun working on himself (through sex lol)
He really would fuck me or fight me, right here in the parking lot, without a care in the world.
getting a bit porny but it is the epilogue so I guess it's fair game.
he was dragging it out because I wouldn’t outright ask him if he wanted to rent it together.
okay so they both have to swallow their pride and do the other one's love language. Maddox has to tell Devon that he loves him and Devon has to make an offer to move in together with Maddox. Get it, got it, good
it was a battle of wills at this point.
yeah, they need to agree to a tie
“And you’re mine to watch out for. I watched out.”
yeah Maddox is way better at that than Devon is
“I thought you were just stating facts about your claim or whatever.”
oh yeah they are so horny for each other right now, they love that they're doing it let's be real
She could drink all she wanted to as long as she made it to her part-time shifts at the hospital. It was the same deal we’d made with her before, but for whatever reason, it was sticking longer this time.
yeah binge drinkers are notoriously stable employees
She could drink all she wanted to as long as she made it to her part-time shifts at the hospital. It was the same deal we’d made with her before, but for whatever reason, it was sticking longer this time.
Oh, okay, I'm actually not super mad about that, I'm okay with this now
but once I stopped paying for her rent, her booze, and her everything, she shaped up pretty quickly.
before he was giving his mom a fish, now he's teaching her how to
It also made me and Xavi realize how much we enabled her.
oh come on, I just said that!
It wasn’t a forever solution, just like Jim’s one-year prison sentence, but it had to be okay enough for now.
this is him also showing growth - he now realizes that he can't fix everything right away - sometimes you need to have a strategy
“I hope he beats your ass when he finds out, Madd.”
lol he got them a trailer (rent? bought? idk) Devon is going to be PISSED lol
I hoped he’d open his loudmouth soon because if I had to lay in bed and try to relax in the tension of his spinning mind, I’d go nuts.
yeah, that should be "my"
I hoped he’d open his loudmouth soon because if I had to lay in bed and try to relax in the tension of his spinning mind, I’d go nuts.
Devon knows how to punish Maddox, this is an intense game that they play
Lot 62.
name of the next book - it's about them settling down, as it were, in their community?
The trailer was pretty new and in good shape.
So they get the perfect place - surrounded by representations of their many memories of important places in their journey (the woods, the water, both private and public, the beach, it's private) all important places, damn. it's like they're dream house, I wonder who's the messy one. Do we find out in book 2?
I said a lot of emotional shit over the time we’d been together,
But not THE big words
