The Ex Effect (Washington Wolves, #2)

by Karla Sorensen

For the women out there, just like Ava (and me), who often clutch their big feelings tight to the chest. Find the people who allow you to let those out, the ones who meet your emotions with love and acceptance.

I wanted to keep the words inside where I wouldn’t have anyone to judge my feelings or my thoughts

she deserved to be loved. The way I loved her. The way she didn't even know about yet. Only she would know, not just by me saying the words but by me showing her.

watched the light in my bedroom turn from black to soft gray to pale pink to bright, blinding, violent, omen-of-death yellow.

keeping my face forward on the bluish-gray water outside the boat, the white-tipped waves moving along with the gusting wind the farther we got away from shore.

I remember climbing onto the bus, telling myself that she'd get one later when I got home because moms always took the first day of school pictures, right? She didn't. At least, not that year. Not of me.

so sad

Their words were like pouring a honey-sweetened vinegar over a dried-out sponge that had been left in the sun too long. My soul was parched for words like that from them, a husk I'd ignored for years out of necessity,

That was the thing no one told you about being lied to, about the little things, the things that added up, that snowballed, that grew and grew until that one white lie became a giant wall of ice. It should be cold. Feel cold.

I’d never learned how to be loved in the right way. The healthy, forgiving, accepting way.

You don't get extra points for how long you hold on to the feeling of being wronged.

I can't sacrifice what I need out of a relationship all the time because my instinct is to always make things easier on you.

I need to know that you'll stand up for me the way I'll always stand up for you. I'll do every Christmas, every strained, uncomfortable holiday as long as I know you're right there with me, not lessening what we have to make it easier for everyone else.