Thrive (Addicted #4)

by Krista Ritchie

“The world is never going to understand us,” he tells me, his eyes so impassioned that I can’t look away. “But it doesn’t matter, Lil. We have each other, and I get your pain, I understand how badly it hurts, so I need you to block out the other people today, okay? They don’t exist in our world.” Our world. There is no going back to a life with just Loren Hale. Even though it’s harder to have real friends, real connections with other people, it’s the right thing. But it’s what causes so, so much agony inside. Every day in their presence, we stare at reflections of what we should be and know that we can never become them. My shoulders relax, and I whisper, “Do we have superpowers in our world?” “Yeah,” he says, “but you’re not invisible.” Damn. “What can I do then?” “Fly,” he says, “with me.” He lifts me up quickly, onto his back like we always do. And he races towards a door, my hair blowing behind me. My lips rise in a weak smile. He says, “Want to get lost with me in a palace?” I rest my chin on his shoulder, a couple tears dripping but they come from a fuller place in my heart. “Yes.” It’s a good kind of yes. The best kind. One filled with a thousand I love yous, the type of love that can make you fly.