Loving War (Sterling Shore, #4)

by C.M. Owens

Everything feels off balance, yet exactly right, but I have no idea why.

“It’s when your life makes perfect sense one day, then suddenly you’re knocked on your ass. Everything you thought you knew becomes irrelevant and nothing makes a damn bit of sense anymore because your life is uprooted and shifted on its axis. A sucker punch. Some people call it love.” If this is a sucker punch, I’d hate to know what a knockout feels like.

“People are who they are. They change how they act based on who they’re with.

And Kode is different with me than he is with anyone else. Not because I expect him to be different, but because we’re all different based on who we’re interacting with.

“Well, you kind of can’t help who you fall for, Dane. Falls aren’t usually planned. If they’re planned, they’re called jumps.”

“Life is short. You only have a few glimpses of amazing things. Beauty fades. Life moves at a pace that gives you whiplash.

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

I just want out of here before I drop to the ground and cry myself into dust. If I had realized it would hurt this much to fall in love, I never would have risked it. It’s too much. The knot in my chest makes it hard to breathe. The lump in my throat has me barely able to swallow. And the tears in my eyes are slowly starting to drip out despite my attempts to restrain them.

“Fall apart, Tria. Slap me, punch me, kick me, scream at me until you can’t breathe… Do whatever you want to, but please don’t leave. I swear I’ll put you back together if you’ll let me.”

“I just spent two hours of my life watching that angst-ridden, gut-clenching, long-as-hell movie to distract me from our miserable existence, and he dies right after they finally get together? How can they classify that as a romance? I’m suing them for false representation!”

“If I want reality, I’ll walk outside and breathe in the toxic air, dammit. I’ll take a look at my own miserable life. If I read or watch a movie, I’d better get a fucking happily-ever-after.”

“You haven’t answered your phone all week—” “I have for business related things,” I interrupt, letting her know I’m not that far gone. Is it so wrong to need some space from everyone and everything

“The wonderful world we live in has so many delivery services. There’s no reason for me to leave. And yes. I’m pissed that I ordered a romance and got a sick, Shakespearian twist that made it a tragedy.”

Hollywood doesn’t control your happily-ever-after. You do.” I wish it was that easy. I really do.

Maybe sometimes there’s something good at the end of a major fuck-up.

“I miss you too much when I’m sober,” he confesses, making my heart clench.