Hot Shot (North Ridge, #3)

by Karina Halle

There was really nothing for him to say except, “I’m sorry,” because Fox knew, he knew that he was the reason she died. She was so upset that he said he hated her, that she died from it. From a broken heart. Now Fox had that broken heart. It weighed him down like lead. It would weigh him down for the rest of his life.

Fox was shocked. How on earth could Shane have killed his mother? “He didn’t kill her,” Fox said to the women, both of whom had the faces of wrinkled cabbage. “I was with Shane, he didn’t kill her. He’s only a baby.”

In my book, love is a devastating force of nature, a raw, primal element that threatens all who dare to indulge in its flames. It’s a wildfire that spreads and consumes until all that’s left is a charred heart surrounded by ash and bone. There’s no taming it, no fighting it back. No matter what you do, love will burn you to the ground.

My name is Delilah Gordon, and all my life I have been head over heels in love with the boy next door, Fox Nelson. And all my life I have been acutely aware that he is not in love with me.

I guess I’m hoping that the feelings will go away. They have to, right? Either that or I’ll continue to live with it and deal with it. And by dealing with it, I mean pretending it doesn’t exist. Feelings with a capital F.

The world is too big, this life too short, to want anything less than magic with someone.

Rachel is equally as beautiful, the Veronica to Riley’s Betty,

Reference to Riverdale

Maybe it’s him that’s always held me to this town like an elastic band. No matter what I think or do, I’m always snapping back to him.

Sometimes we do a job despite the hardships, because what we get out of it is worth the risks in the end.

To quote Friends, well isn’t this kick-you-in-the-crotch, spit-on-your-neck fantastic?

Forget love being wildfire. Love is a fucking bitch.

Fire has its own language. It’s only heard by those that have witnessed its beauty, only understood by those who have seen its destruction.

hear malevolence in the tone even though I know that fire doesn’t take sides. It isn’t evil, just as the air or any other element isn’t evil. It’s apathetic in its destruction, it’s humble in the way it renews.

And in that moment, the moment of my death, I realize there’s nothing to fear. It’s just relief. That it’s all over. That I don’t have to worry anymore. That I don’t have to live in pain anymore. That I don’t have to hate anymore. The world burns away and somewhere in the dark skeleton forest, I know there is peace. Just out of reach.

Even on my darkest days, she’s always been the sun.

She has a sweet, unassuming beauty that stirs something in your soul.

You’re my only hope, Del,” I tell her in my best Princess Leia voice, which isn’t very good.

"Love," she says. "You feel love for Fox. And love doesn't go away. You can ignore it, you can bury it, you can pretend it doesn't exist. But it will continue to grow and it won't grow from a happy place. Love gets twisted, tangled. It can eventually choke you if you don't face it."

"Unrequited love is a poison for the heart. Something that works slowly over time, like adding arsenic to milk, little by little, day by day. Undetectable on the surface but destroying you underneath. Love will give and give and give but unless you let it loose, it will only take from you until there's nothing left."

I was the most beautiful girl in the world to him. I was someone who he thought he’d end up with. And now I’m wondering if there’s even the smallest chance he could want me that way again. Hope can be so dangerous.

“It’s like…in my head and my heart, there’s fire that I can’t control. It’s like nothing in this world, nothing that I’ve seen. The flames are black, sticky, and they rage and it’s just this twisting, churning mess inside and I can’t see straight, I can’t think straight and then, then…I’m with you Del and all of that goes away. The pain fades. You bring me peace. It doesn’t last but when I get it…it makes this life manageable. You just make me fucking happy, whatever being happy is.”

I feel like a sponge trying to soak up stars and lightning and everything beautiful, and it’s too overwhelming for this world.

His eyes hold mine at knifepoint, and I’m unable to look away as he slowly pushes himself inside.

Love makes you foolish. Love makes you choose love.

This is the first chance that I’ve ever had to be with Fox and I’d rather have him like this than not have him at all.

I just want you right now, like you want me right now. I’ll take whatever you can give me. I’ll take every part of you for as long as I’m able to.

break down. Into pieces. His arms are the only things that are holding me together, preventing me from shattering into a million more fragments. Fragments of a girl I used to know.

“But sometimes we have to reach rock bottom. Sometimes you have to know what that feels like in order to lift yourself up from it.”

“I’m falling in love with you,” he whispers. “A little bit more each day. It’s spreading, like fire. Like wildfire. I can feel it ignite every part of me, from the deepest corners of my heart to the lost places in my soul. It will eventually consume me and I want to be consumed, Del. I want to love you, burn for you, until there’s nothing else left. Just your heart and mine.”

But still, it’s his job, it’s his role, his identity. The hero with a broken soul.

“Love is like everything I’ve ever lost has come back to me,” I tell them.

“I love you,” he whispers into the top of my head. “I’ve never known love like this Del, never thought I could. But I love you with all my heart. I am madly, chaotically in love with you.

Every day I count my blessings that this is the route my life decided to take though it hasn’t been without it’s struggles. You don’t learn to love yourself overnight and being sober doesn’t become easier either.