Lovers Like Us (Like Us, #2)

by Krista Ritchie

“You could’ve dropped the fucking eggs.”

He’s a Grade A sexy asshole.

She’s still Janie. I’m still Moffy. And we’re best friends until the bitter fucking end.

Jane Eleanor Cobalt is my number one. My ride-or-die.

You call him the bad boy of ballet and he doesn’t bother proving you wrong.

Fair Warning: if you fuck with Beckett, I won’t hesitate to team up with Charlie and rip you limb-from-limb.

And I’m painfully certain that I’ve fallen onto Loren Hale’s permanent shit list.

I’ve seen that craving before. A look that screams, just one drink. For as long as I’ve been alive, he’s never fed that demon. Never sipped alcohol.

You’re kind and compassionate, and I’m so goddamn proud of the man you’ve become.”

“I know you’re a lot like my brother. But you’re still my son. You have all the best parts of Lily—thank God for that. But there’s a chance you could have the worst parts of me.”

“The thing about addiction is that it changes you,” he tells me. “You don’t care about the people you love. All compassion and kindness dissolve in the face of your own wants and needs.”

“You think I care about the company? You could drive my business into the ground, bud, and as long as you’re breathing and alive and happy, I wouldn’t care.”

“I guess I’d just rather love you than hate you. Sorry,”

“I’m aware. She already asked her mom and me to write a three-thousand word essay on why we love her.”

Jane is Rose coded

“That’s what happens when you raise a bunch of geniuses and make your family motto: loyalty to the death.”

“I forgive you—” “You can’t,” she cries but hurriedly wipes at her tears. “I just did.” My chest is on fire again.

“I love you too…I’m so sorry. I’m doing this all wrong again.” She releases her grip, then treks further up the ridge and embraces my dad.

Kinney scoffs. “You’re a guy. You know nothing about periods or the female anatomy. You haven’t even touched a vagina.”

Loren Hale coded

I spent three years around Lily and Lo, and anytime Lo was in a bad place with his addiction, he’d twist his ring.

“Donnelly tattooed Cobalts Never Die on his knee. He’d create imaginary curses for any family but that one.”

“The Hale Curse. If there’s a Hale in the room: what could go wrong, will go wrong to the Hale. Statistically proven.”

“My Cobalt children, slayin’ together.”

I asked the Ouija board if you suck and the ghost told me yes. – Kinney

My eyes drift to each of my cousins. We look like we’re five colossally different people who come from the same unconventional place.

Beckett is dressed in The Carraways merch, supporting Tom’s band, and colorful tattoos sprawl down his arm.

Sulli wears cut-off jean shorts in the winter, a dolphin pendant roped around her neck, and her dark ...

I’m in jeans and a green Halway Comics shirt. Arms crossed, shoulders squared but tha...

Janie is decked out in pastels and sequins, pants snug on her waist. Wavy ...

And Charlie always looks like he just got fucked in a bathroom. Four buttons undone on his w...

Beckett gives his sister a what-the-fuck face. “We look like a hot mess, sis. T...

Don’t act like you’d rather sit next to a Death Eater.

“You were drowning.” And I couldn’t save you.

You know Eliot Alice Cobalt as the king of drama.

Fair Warning: even with all the mayhem he brings, I love this guy, and I’ll drive a sword straight in your gut if you fuck with him.

“Very fucking funny.”

“Everyone but Maximoff Hale.”

Quinn is now Luna’s 24/7 bodyguard.

Thatcher is still temporarily Jane’s bodyguard.

Like Captain America and the Winter Soldier.”

Correction, Akara Kitsuwon beat us to it.

“Her mom has a theory that cake fixes everything.”

“That’s good, Summers. I’m proud of you.” He drops his gaze. “For what?” “Waking up this morning,” I say seriously.

Great, I go through the motions, but I’m cradling a human in my hands. And I’m just twenty-two.

I’m not a superhero. I don’t have the answers or the meaning of life, but I’m fucking trying. All I can do is try. When they want to quit, I’m not going to fucking quit on them.

“One of the main actors was on Teen Wolf.” There we go. “And he’s fucking hot.”

“I have a PhD in Maximoff Hale Studies.”

“What our gremlins don’t know is that they’re ours forever. No matter what geographical location they run off to and whether they like it or not.”

And Ryke picks up Daisy and tosses his wife playfully over his shoulder. So she hangs upside-down, her smile as bright as the sun.

I swear to everything in this fucking universe—you can actually feel their love. It’s in the air and the silence between their words.

The first thing I think is…I love them. The second thing pauses me cold. I want that.