A Sharp Endless Need

by Marisa Crane

Unfortunately for him and my mother, he was a nostalgic guy—I suspected he only knew how to love something once it was already gone. It seemed like a wretched way to live, but what did I know?

How badly do you have to want something in order to get it? What about someone? Is there a limit to desire? And what happens when you reach it?

What could possibly be more erotic than watching someone take what they want and knowing that what they want is to consume you?

I looked down at the ball. It was the one she’d gotten signed by Tracy McGrady the previous year. A normal person would have locked this ball up in a glass case, but not Liv. I liked that she loved it enough to ruin it. It’s how I wanted Liv to feel about me.

It was the only thing I was certain of in that moment, my desire to get good and drunk so I could forget the snarling animal of my body, its simultaneous bark and whimper.