Thrive (Addicted #4)

by Krista Ritchie

“I don’t want to live if you’re not living with me.”

Lily and Lo. Like it was before. Only better this time. We’re stronger now.

Im scared

Lily rests her hand on Daisy’s shoulder. “What happened? I thought you were spending the night at Cleo’s house?”

Oh nononono, she was going to tell her bout the elevator. Poor Daisy, Im crying

feet. I think, sometimes, we have more faith in each other than we do in ourselves.

She’s sixteen. He’s twenty-three. She can have a crush on him, but it can’t progress further than that.

what am I?” “My fucking friend.”

Dais + Ryke!!!!

She still has that delicate round face, the gangly arms and legs. She’s adorable. In every sense of the word. And she’s all mine to take care of.

I’m going to love Lily how I want to love her. Overwhelmingly, uncompromisingly. Look away if you have to.

My lips part at a sudden realization. Ryke may be actually falling for my sister.

I’m not doing great. I just feel sorry for you, man. For six months, you’re going to watch us drive our expensive cars, attend our exclusive parties, and fly our private jets. And when it’s all over, you’ll go home to your one-bedroom apartment in LA and realize that you’ll never have our lifestyle. You’ll never amount to anything other than a second-rate producer of a garbage reality show.” I touch my chest. “That just makes me feel so fucking sad for you.”

“But we’re in Earth-616, love. We’re going to have our happy ending. It just may take us awhile to get there.”

Ryke is the strongest person I’ve ever met. Stronger than me. It’s why Connor taunts Ryke and praises me. I don’t know if Ryke realizes it or if Connor recognizes how well I understand his relationship with me. But I see how Connor spends his time trying to build me up—so I believe that I’m just as worthy as my brother. I’m not. I won’t ever be as good as him, but it’s nice to have a friend try to remind me of it.

“I’m trying to imagine what Lily will look like pregnant.”

Oh well, you wont have to imagine for long

Maybe she can grow up normal, have a real, peaceful adolescence that none of us really had.

Oh Dais

“You can’t censor a girl who’s nearly seventeen, especially not a high fashion model,” he says to me. “She’s heard and seen everything you have, if not more.” So it’s too late for her then. She’s all grown up.

I click into the results and my heart drops. 22% Loren Hale 78% Ryke Meadows …no. I do not accept this.

Lily Calloway Responds to Celebrity Crush and Refers to Loren Hale as Her Boyfriend, Not Her Fiancé. Is the Marriage a Hoax?

Don’t cry. Channel your inner Rose. Tears are for babies and losers.

People make mistakes every day, some small and some big, but I just wonder when I’ll stop making them. Or is this a lifelong thing? Do we all just wander through life, fucking up and trying to put ourselves back together only to continue on again?

Are we the accumulation of our mistakes? A part of me regrettably thinks so. My failures have defined me more than my triumphs.

I feel so fucking sick.

me too

Any eyeball that pins on her—I meet with the hatred that turns me cold and dark. I could kill right now. It’s not a lie or an exaggeration. It’s a feeling.

This guy…he’s too good for me. I don’t deserve someone like that in my life.

He’s a coward. A guy that I thought was the best goddamn person in the world—is nothing but a fake.

I watch how Connor keeps his blue eyes locked on Rose. With more and more concern. He is in love with her. For once, in his life, Connor is blind.

his scotch-colored eyes

It always comes back to the adiction

Ryke clenches the side of the chair like he’s restraining himself from not standing up and storming the runway. I imagine him walking backwards as he talks to her, desperately trying to convince my sister to do something she loves and not what our mom tells her to. Modeling has never been her passion.

I don’t want him near Lily. She’s like a daughter to me.”

It takes me a moment to speak. “Lily Calloway,” I say, shocked beyond belief. I turn my head towards her. “Did you just defend me by throwing perfectly good booze at a douchebag’s head?” “Yes,” she says with a nod and then tilts her chin up for further effect. I touch my heart. “I’d propose to you, but I already did that.”

Shower. Coffee. Office. It’s like I’m a full-fledged adult. Most days, I feel like I’m still pretending.

The orbiting nerd stars have finally collided.

sweetheart.”

god i wish my kindle had emojis

“Who is Dionysus?” I ask. Rose clarifies, “the god of wine, parties, and basically hedonism.” “He’s a man of chaos and pleasure,” Connor adds. “Sounds about right,” I reply. “Thanks, love.”

Daisy even covers Ryke’s eyes so he has to bowl blind. He’s actually grinning.

The world seems empty whenever I watch her. It’s a peaceful existence. But I know a life with just the two of us, alone, is a future better as a fantasy. Friends. Family. They’re not easy to leave behind anymore.

“What do you want?” She swallows hard like she’s never been asked that before. And then she shrugs.

dais im crying

“I don’t care about sex. I care about you being healthy and not drinking.” I’m suddenly overwhelmed with pride. For her.

I’m falling behind. I can feel myself regressing while she’s barreling ahead. I have to get my shit together.

When she smiles, it’s bright and beautiful, and I wonder how I spent so many years avoiding a relationship with her. Daisy is one of the most soulful people to be around, and maybe if I opened up a little sooner, I’d have felt this joy from the start.

“When did Connor Cobalt become the tooth fairy, granting wishes in the middle of the night?” We’ve known for a long time that Connor Cobalt possesses some form of magic.

Sex Tape of Rose Calloway and Connor Cobalt Sold to Porn Site for $25 Million.

on, I need you to get my daughters out of that townhouse. No more cameras.”

“La Vie en rose,” Ryke suddenly says with a French lilt. “What?” My brows pinch together. “The song,” he says, “it’s called La Vie en rose.” “How do you know that…?”

CAUSE HE SPEAKA ZEA FRENCH OUI OUI OUI

I can’t get over how he said La Vie En Rose, like he understood exactly how to pronounce each syllable in the foreign language.

CAUSE HE FLUENT

“Revenge isn’t a benefit, Lo. It’s self-gratification, an emotional response with very little logic and even less reward.”

Lo was twenty-one when he went to rehab, on Christmas Eve. And now he’s twenty-three.

“What if we get married on 6-16?”

Is this a comic book thing :p

Two addicts constructing a future together: when I think of it like that, it all begins to sound like make-believe.

“Your father is being accused of molesting you.” He keeps speaking, but the words don’t register in my brain. I stare blankly at the white sink. Your father is being accused of molesting you.

“Loren Hale” has always been synonymous with: failure, fuck up, bastard, alcoholic, Lily Calloway’s boyfriend. Those are the titles the world has given me.