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RHIANNON HUNTER worshipped at the altar of no man. Or woman, for that matter.
She never thought she’d see him again, let alone here. Working for the company she wanted to buy? Fate, you bitch.
But no one would have ever described her as sweet, kind, and loyal. Because the world had decided long ago what a sweet, kind, and loyal woman looked like, and it wasn’t her.
“But trust in relationships is like fragile glass. How can you build on a cracked foundation? How can you be sure you’re getting the truth? You have to protect your own heart. No one else will do it for you.”
that meant they’d gotten some advantages other kids of housekeepers didn’t, like fancy private schools. Being able to go to those places didn’t mean they’d fit in. Gabe had skated by a little less scarred, but she’d been acutely conscious of how . . . too much she was. Too much volume, too much melanin, too much ambition. Too much visibility.
Mel liked this
“I am not easy to hurt. I am a stone cold bitch when it comes to men. No rose-colored glasses here.”
“You shut your beautiful perfect mouth.”
“Sometimes, good people make mistakes. It costs you nothing to hear someone out.” “No. It does cost you something.” Because if you believed that person when you heard them out, and then they betrayed you, you ended up doubly hurt. Easier to give people one shot.
“I misspoke. You’re right, no one is entitled to your time and energy and forgiveness.”
He raised a thick eyebrow. All of him was thick, damn it. Or thicc. With two c’s. All the c’s.
“What did you think Netflix and chill meant?” Rhiannon demanded, pausing the video. “Exactly what it says! Watch television and relax.” He shook his head, bewildered. “I didn’t know it was about sex. Why can’t people say what they want to say?” “Because we live in a puritanical society that can’t use the S word out loud.”
Mel liked this
Every time you hurt someone, you break off a little piece of them. Not only do they have to live with that broken piece, then the next person who comes along has to figure out a way to spackle that spot. Your behavior has ripple effects.
He looked down his body. “It’s not even that pretty. No one wants that in their texts.”
“The prettiness of a dick might be subjective.” “Breasts. Breasts are universally pretty.” He shook his head, and she was certain his bewildered expression was genuine and not an act. “Penises are floppy and boring and messy looking. God give me the confidence of a man who thinks the sight of his dick will lure all the ladies to the yard.”
Her yes was almost soundless, but he heard it. That thready, breathless verbalization of consent was sexier than anything on this planet.
“You can’t come from my tongue, I get that. But you came just fine when I fucked you with my fingers, didn’t you?”
Nobody spoke enough about how much bodies could be starved for platonic affection. She knew she gave off strong Do Not Touch vibes, but she needed occasional hugs too.
Infants were like a ball of cheeks and rolls held together with drool, but they were surprisingly sturdy.
Son, I know what it’s like to go from being a part of a pack to being alone.
“My sister tells me stories of the guys out there, man. The bar is, like, set at a negative level for decency.”
14/10 for solicited dick pics.
Once when they’d been dating, he’d told her that men thought in black and white, that they were literal creatures, and she’d taken issue with the flip-side assumption of that statement: that women were emotional, wishy-washy, shades-of-gray ambiguous creatures.
“It’s more fun to ask.” She stroked his shaft down and back up again. A shot of heady power ran through her. “That way you know what’s coming.” She bent forward, letting her hair tickle his thighs. “You can anticipate it.” She licked the tip, delighting in his groan of pleasure. “And I know you want it.”
The man was sweet, but that sweetness hid a streak of filth. Pure filth.
She pressed her cheek to the pillow so she could keep watching in the mirror, gasping when he held his hand gently but firmly against her neck to keep her pinned down while he hoisted her hips higher.
In that sea of rich, privileged snobs, her skin color and working class background had still made her a prime target for the assholes.
“No, I started it to prove myself right,” Rhi corrected. “To prove what I already knew—that I’m right to be proud of my brain and confidence.”
Hell, Peter was probably still spreading lies about her, about how she’d slept with him to get ahead. It was easier for William to believe those lies. They probably confirmed what he’d already thought: that there was no way a woman like her could get as far as she had without cutting corners.
The people I loved, I chose wisely. When I did reach out, they were right there.
Belle, if the tests come back positive, you make the biggest stink the world has ever seen. Don’t let them sweep it under the rug like they tried to do with Aleki.”
You made your industry better for the young men who came after you, and the older men who came before you.
“Your anger is valid. Keep in mind, though, her response may seem unfair and irrational to you, but based on the very little I know, Peter traumatized her. This may all make sense within the framework of her experience.”
“Being vulnerable is a risk. Love—romantic, platonic, familial, it doesn’t matter what kind of love—is a risk.” She closed her eyes tight, tears leaking out. “Because you’re right. They can leave. They can die or be hurt or simply walk away.” Her eyes opened. “But a moment of that love, child, is worth it. If you have a second, a minute, a month, a year, a decade with that person? You count yourself lucky. You can use that love and the lessons it taught you to plant more seeds for love. You can live off that love for a lifetime.
I should have known better, because I was there when he bullied his former girlfriend out of the business. Everyone saw it. We all felt so bad for her. She was an executive, with some power. Why did I think he’d treat me any differently? I was nobody compared to her.
In general, I believe survivors. And when I say that, I don’t mean to say I blindly believe them or that I blindly believe the alleged perpetrator guilty. But the societal impulse is to disbelieve survivors, and we don’t really do that when it comes to any other misconduct. When someone claims they’ve been mugged, we don’t treat them with skepticism. We believe them. We investigate, but we believe them.”
“My reputation was solid gold before I dated that man. And then after I left . . . I was radioactive.”
“When you’re a minority, in any industry, you feel so visible, and like the only way to get ahead is to be tougher than everyone else. You don’t cry. You don’t show weakness. You can’t be a victim.”
“Do you have any idea what it’s like, to be the mother of a prodigy? To know your child is brilliant and destined for greatness but will still have to work four times as hard as people with a fraction of her intelligence? I was furious when your classmates were rough on you, but I figured my job was to keep you calm and focused and not let you lose this opportunity. I couldn’t let you be angry, or at the very least, I couldn’t let you show that anger. Because then you would be that angry Black girl, and everyone would dismiss your intelligence or worse, suppress everything that makes you you.
“Anyone’s violent with the right provocation. I choose not to be violent, that’s different.”
Of course I’m going to protect you. It’s not failure to accept protection sometimes.”
“It’s not a weakness to take care of yourself. Asking for and taking what you need to function should never be considered a weakness.”
“Trust is the only reason the world ever functions as it should. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t, and I know that uncertainty is scary, but that’s the only way you figure out who your closest people are.”
“No one’s universally liked. Beyoncé isn’t universally liked. Has that stopped her? No. Be like Beyoncé.”
“This isn’t for ego. Do you know where my nickname started? The Lima Charm? From my father. When he was himself, before the disease turned him into someone I didn’t recognize. That was all I had of him. And you twisted that. That part of my legacy, you destroyed it.”
People who made penetrative intercourse the whole and sole point of sex really missed so much.
