Loving War (Sterling Shore, #4)

by C.M. Owens

shrivel up. “What the hell are you doing here?” No. I won’t cower down to him. You stand up to bullies, right? I won’t cry in the corner tonight. I’ll fight back, damn it.

love her

“Here,” he says, walking around the table to come stand behind me again. Damn. Why is he so hard? “You’re doing it wrong. Let me show you.”

ok so even i’m just like wtf? off the bat he’s in love with this girls sister and they have some feud and this he sees her at a bar and he’s like oh she’s hot and he’s like trying to seduce her???

much liquor. It makes me too hands-on. She stiffens under my touch, and I give her ass a squeeze,

what the fuck?????????????????????????????????????????

“I’ll walk you.” I’m a little pissed that she was going to fuck some stranger but not me. At least she knows me.

😭

“So fuck me like you hate me, already.”

WELLLL

Fucking three strokes later and I’ve humiliated myself by getting off so damn quickly. “No,” she groans, pressing back on me, begging me to keep going. “Five minutes is all I need, and then I’ll fuck you like I hate you all night,” I say against her ear, enjoying the chills that rise on her soft skin. “You’d better.”

FUCKING HELL😭

“Or you could go find someone who wants to talk to you.” She leans back and gives me a glare that promises she believes I’ve lost my mind. “Excuse me?” “I have no excuse for you,”

The problem is, there’s no protecting her from me until I stop obsessing over her.

“Come sit down. I don’t bite, Tria. Well, that’s a lie. But you like it when I bite.”

“There’s only one way I want to use you, Tria, and it hasn’t got a damn thing to do with Rain. Now, shut the hell up and use me, too.”

maybe it’s beciase i haven’t read the previous books but like???

I’m the only one at this table she is comfortable with, and I happen to like the hell out of that fact.

“That’s a jerk thing to say,” the argyle-wearing fool says, affronted. “Well, I’m a jerk who doesn’t give a shit,” I grumble

Just knowing that he’s admitting he can’t keep his hands off me is nice. Because for once, it’s me that someone sees.

my baby ♥️♥️

It feels damn good to be wanted by the person you want. It’s also a feeling I’m not accustomed to, but quickly getting addicted to. I feel high every time I’m with her.

Without Tria here, I’m half drunk with no one to take advantage of me.

“Tria, you don’t have to handle it. He gets a little too hands-on when he’s been drinking liquor. But he hasn’t been doing this shit tonight. Sorry. Just go find Rain, and I’ll deal with him.”

Litterally this scence is so fucking awkward and cringey. It’s like this author has no idea what she wants to do with this couple

“Faker,” she says under her breath, eliciting a laugh from me. “I’ve been drinking, but I’m plenty sober. How’s Raya?” Her sigh

She was the only person I tried to be different with. And I tried real damn hard to be just as fucking nice, sweet, understanding, and patient as Dane.

and that’s not you💀

“Nothing—that’s what I feel for Rain. Well, as I said, I still love her, but purely in the platonic sense of the word. Pretty sure I like you a little bit, too, and I’d prefer it if this—you and me—could keep moving forward the way we are.”

ok one things for sure i like how they aren’t doing the whole denying feelings thing and they’re simply moving their realationship toward.

“This deep conversation isn’t what I came here to have,” Corbin continues. “Rain wants us all to go out tonight for Maverick’s do-over birthday. He’s

i haven’t read rains and danes story but they seem like puppy dog lovers and they really annoy me as a couple reading this shit considering how many people seem to put them on a pedestal

“I think he’s gay,” I brazenly and randomly state.

IMFSOAOAAO

It was fun to play when Tria was watching. Now that she’s not, all I can think about is pointing out all their flaws and giving them complexes to last a lifetime just to get them the hell away from me.

“It’s okay, Kode. Really. This is the twenty-first century. And this is a great area that doesn’t judge for such things.”

“Sweetie, Rygan has had numerous women go after the younger version of himself. Most of them are gold-diggers, but you… Why on earth would you be so cruel to such a gentle man?”

LOVE THIS WAR

And I don’t screw the gardener behind his back, either, like you and every cliché there is,”

“Me? Apologize to you? Tria, you started this. I just reacted. You owe me the apology.”

i ticking love them

“Rain has plenty of people defending her and looking out for her. Tria has me. Get me the address. I’ll take him his fucking stuff since he can’t even find the balls to go get it himself.”

no fr

The only way it could be better would be if I could just kiss her without causing a few heart attacks.

“Ah, hell, Rain,” Maverick says as he stands up, making room for Corbin to sit down, “you’ve been a Sterling since you were a kid.” Rain grins over at him, and my heart clenches. I would have killed to have this sort of connection with anyone.

i visibly cringe

“You can get a Sterling tattoo, too,” Kode says, winking at me.

I cringed some more😬

Rain wouldn’t mind so much, but Dane would assume I was stepping on his toes and trying to get Rain’s attention.

ya know it’s pretty pathetic for him to feel even remotely jealous over kode tbh especially bc she’s gonna marry dane and apparently has never felt the same way about kode that she has with dane 🙄. it’s annoying how much people baby this annoying ass couple

“No. I’m not letting him try to accuse you of using me to get to Rain. It’s like no one thinks I’m worth dating without there being an ulterior motive. It all has to be connected to Rain. It’s as though she’s the center of the universe, and I’m the shuttle that gets you there. I’m sick of it.”

EXACTLY

“So he asked you to ask Tria, since he knew you two were together. That’s a dick move. I suppose he underestimates how much Edward hurt Tria.” Right now, Dale is my favorite cousin.

mine too

I’m still dreading Dane’s reaction, but I deserve whatever he says or does. In the end, it has nothing to do with him or his fiancée.

they’re legit assholes if they think it is🙄

Even if you don’t deserve it, she’ll offer forgiveness. Don’t abuse that. She needs someone to care about her the way she cares about others.”

grown man cry like this right now. His sobs wrack his body, and he doubles over, swaying as though he might pass out.

“I swear. I don’t know what to do about him. It’s like he doesn’t think. We’re not kids anymore, but he can’t seem to stop fighting like he’s one. I’ve been talking to the guys, trying to figure out a way to talk to him without pissing him off. I’m the only one of us that he actually listens to, so it’s up to me to figure out how to get him to stop losing his cool before he gets himself into major trouble.” I realize she has no idea that she’s offending me, but it’s still pissing me off. She doesn’t have to do anything with him.

NO BC SHES OFFENDING ME TOO. I simply don’t like Rain

romantic. You know this. Dane certainly knows. But Kode is, well, he doesn’t have anyone besides me and the guys to look out for him. Their parents are great, but they don’t interfere in their lives. I’m good at meddling.”

omg… this bitch.

It’s then I realize that I’m not just falling for her. Tria Noles fucking owns me.

Her name and image make her seem wholesome—someone that a man would dedicate his life to. My name and my image sound temporary and scandalous—like I’m the well-kept dirty secret. Perfect? His perfect girl?

I feel her pain😭 she reminds me a little of nesta

She has sent three text messages since yesterday, wanting to meet up alone. I’m not stupid. She’s pissed about me going after Pete alone, and now she wants to sit me down and scold me like a kid. I should probably change her name in my phone. She’s not my anything. Never was. And I’m learning that perfect is overrated.

Bro honestly wtf does rain gonna say exactly “ don’t do that, it’s stupid etc etc” a truly stupid conversation to have

It’s like I’m always the last on the list, even when my father dies. It’s truly impossible for one person to always be so overlooked.

I abandon my cousins and round the back of the church to move toward the girl who has no one holding her hand right now—the girl too afraid to cry on someone’s shoulder.

he really fucking gets her omfggggffffffffff I LOVE THEM

Dane is staring at me with a murderous glare and a clenched jaw, looking every bit ready to punch me in the face. Rain’s eyes are wide

man fuck them

Dane saw me in that church. He knows I broke. Yet he wants to accost his brother in the middle of the graveyard for being a damn good person, just because he thinks it has something to do with Rain.

EXACTLYYY OMFG RE READING THIS MAKES ME HATEEEEEEEEEWWEWEEE DANE AND RAIN

Yeah… I’m pretty fucking in love with Tria Noles.

“No,” she interrupts. “You don’t get to defend yourself. I fell apart, and you just let me. You knew I loved Dane, and you made me think he abandoned me? And you let me continue believing that you didn’t know I loved him, so I suffered in silence—agonizing silence from a secret I didn’t have to keep. Why? How the hell could you do that to me?”

Litterally what? YOU COULDVE PUSHED UR FUCKING PRIDE ASIDE AND REACHED OUT. yea taking the letter was a dick move but you could’ve just fucking talked to him

“Sorry? Kode is sorry. Imagine that. Well, Kode, you can’t be sorry for this one. I lost six years of my life because of you. I can’t have children now. I lost that chance because of you!”

Yo i really can’t stand this bitch

“No,” I say in a reluctant whisper. “I didn’t want to hurt her, but I also didn’t want to lose you.”

Bro now i’m fucking crying . why is she always secound best

For what it’s worth, Rain missed out. I would have loved to have been loved by you.”