It Ends with Us (It Ends with Us, #1)

by Colleen Hoover

“I feel like everyone fakes who they really are, when deep down we’re all equal amounts of screwed up. Some of us are just better at hiding it than others.”

“There is no such thing as bad people. We’re all just people who sometimes do bad things.”

Tell me the most recent thought you’ve had that most people wouldn’t say out loud.” He pulls his hands up behind his head and looks me straight in the eye. “I want to fuck you.”

He shoots me a look of innocence. “You asked for the most recent thought, so I gave it to you. You’re beautiful. I’m a guy. If you were into one-night stands, I would take you downstairs to my bedroom and I would fuck you.”

“The thought of marriage repulses me,” he says. “I’m almost thirty years old and I have no desire for a wife. I especially don’t want children.

A lot of people refuse to admit they might be too selfish to have children.” He shakes his head. “Oh, I’m way too selfish to have children. And I’m definitely way too selfish to be in a relationship.”

“When I have time, there are girls who satisfy those needs. I don’t lack for anything in that department, if that’s what you’re asking. But love has never appealed to me. It’s always been more of a burden than anything.”

“Did you seriously just knock on twenty-nine doors so you could tell me that the thought of me is making your life hell and I should have sex with you so that you’ll never have to think of me again? Are you kidding me right now?”

“You say this will make it stop, but I’m warning you right now, Ryle. I’m like a drug. If you have sex with me tonight, it’s only going to make things worse for you. But once is all you’re getting. I refuse to become one of the many girls you use to—how did you word it that night? Satisfy your needs?”

If the guy wants to have sex with me so bad… he shouldn’t have fallen asleep! If he doesn’t want me to swoon, he shouldn’t buy me flowers!

I didn’t even realize I liked him that way until I saw his hands on some other girl’s ass. I threw myself on my bed and started crying. A few minutes later, he walked into my room and asked me if I was okay. I rolled over and yelled, ‘I like you, you stupid fuck-face!’ ”

I squeal when I feel a piercing sting on my right butt cheek. I spin around and Ryle is grinning, holding two bottles of wine. “Did you just bite me?” He gives me an innocent look. “Don’t tempt the scorpion if you don’t want to get stung.”

All humans make mistakes. What determines a person’s character aren’t the mistakes we make. It’s how we take those mistakes and turn them into lessons rather than excuses.

Life is a funny thing. We only get so many years to live it, so we have to do everything we can to make sure those years are as full as they can be. We shouldn’t waste time on things that might happen someday, or maybe even never.”

Maybe love isn’t something that comes full circle. It just ebbs and flows, in and out, just like the people in our lives.

Preventing your heart from forgiving someone you love is actually a hell of a lot harder than simply forgiving them.