Unlucky Like Us (Like Us, #12)

by Krista Ritchie

“Dad told me that it’s okay if I never had friends. He said that I’m the queen of my own galaxy, and after so many years, I’ve realized there are people in the universe who make you feel at home. Donnelly has made me feel like my galaxy is the happiest, most exhilarating place to be, even if I’m the only one there.” I drop my head and gaze back at our photo. “He treats me like I’m his moon. His stars. Like I’m the person who makes him glad it’s today and there’ll be a tomorrow, and I don’t know if I’ve ever been that for anyone who’s not my family.” I’m important to someone. I’m not a failure. I’m not a fuck-up or future screw-up to Donnelly. I’m someone worth something. And he’s worth everything to me.

Being on Lo’s shitlist, I can handle, but if I’m on Lily’s, I dunno…I think I’d still go fling myself off this planet and sob.

She’s the only girl who wants, truly wants, what I can give, and how unjust is it that I have to wait to give her all of me? Fuck me, right? Always, fuck me.

“I won’t let anything hurt her.” I just say it. I believe it. I’d rather be bait and roadkill than let a single soul harm Luna Hale. And I plan to prove it. “Just don’t give up on each other,” Lily suddenly says, and I realize she’s gazing at the last sight of Luna too. “Even if it’s hard to wait it out. It’ll be worth it in the end.” Before I can reply, she gives me a warm smile. “Night, Donnelly.”

Question of the Day: Can I take Luna to the Fanaticon Convention in December? Is a butterfly kiss considered a real kiss? Is Ryke Meadows’ secretly Loren Hale’s hit man?

“We can do everything alone, you and me. Because we have done everything alone, Donnelly. See, I always thought our independence was a strength.” He pauses. “But it’s not always one. We’ve just learned how to live without the things we really need.”

“Lo knows I can’t have my family thinking I’m in love with her.” “Love?” Eliot’s grin has exploded. He buttons his slacks with an amused, delighted laugh. Tom is grinning now too. He told my best friends he’s trying to date me. That he loves me. It’s sinking in, and I feel my smile mushroom. Donnelly shares the grin. “You think I would do all of this just for a girl I sort of like?” “This is beautiful,” Eliot says, “and tragic all at the same time.”

I fall into his gaze, his touch, my lungs alight. “In the Star Wars mythos, you’d be a Jedi Knight, but in our universe, you’re something else.” “What am I?” His lips are so close to mine. “Some noble hero of another galaxy? An alien warrior? Or well-traveled bounty hunter?” “You’re human,” I whisper. “You’re my human hero. And there is no one stronger than you.”

Question of the Day: Is Loren Hale a human lie detector by proxy of Connor Cobalt? How many broken promises are too many? Why is thinking about Qunnie’s belly button lint the best boner killer?

“I can’t lose you,” Lo sobs. “You’re okay. Come on, love. You’re okay. Wake up. Please, wake up. Lily…Lily.”

“You’re my kid. I do love you, you know.” Nah, I don’t know. The love he had for me was buried underneath his love for drugs, and I didn’t spend time trying to dig it out. Now, it feels different. It’s like he’s been unearthing that love himself, without asking me to do any heavy-lifting, and it’s making this hard—sitting handcuffed in jail beside him, knowing he’s taking the fall for me.

“While you slept, the world changed.” - Xavier, House of X #6

“Their mess isn’t yours.” He points down the hall. “Your family is here. You’ve never been a dumb motherfucker, so I know you get this. Your family is here.”

“I tried…” I hear my voice shake. Lo puts a hand on my shoulder. And he pulls me into a hug. It almost breaks me. Then he whispers, “I know.” I start to shake my head. “You did enough,” he breathes.

“I’ve made a bunch of shitty selfish choices in my twenty-nine years, and I can’t say that I regret a single one.” Xander frowns. “How?” “‘Cause it’s okay to put yourself first and chase after the things you want or run away from the things you don’t. Life’s too short to try to be perfect for everyone else.”

“Wait here. I’ll be back to talk about Luna.” Lo turns to me. “Take a good look, Paul. Maybe you’ll understand what it means to wait.”

“Don’t put too much stress on yourself over it. I’m a knower of things, and I have this super annoying husband who practically drilled in my brain: Stress Bad, Relaxing Good.”

Question of the Day: Has Rose Calloway ever farted in front of Connor?

“The world can be shit.” He sits with me, his arms hanging on his knees. “But living in it can also be amazing. Like ate the best ham hoagie of your life amazing, danced your heart out at 3 a.m. amazing, kissed an alien and shot to the moon amazing.”

Don’t leave me behind, Luna. Deepening our kisses, my fingers thread through her light brown hair, and I step onto the chair with her. The instant I tower above Luna, her breath hitches. Swiftly, I place a hand on the small of her back, holding her body against mine. Stabilizing her. Then I carefully kick the desk, and we spin. Rotating 360 on her chair, we haven’t stopped making out. My heart is hammering in a hypnotic tempo. We share a lethal attraction, and I’ve never fully understood Romeo and Juliet till I found a love I’d rather die inside than live without. Remember me.

“When I was younger, I used to wish everyone would just stop.” His reddened eyes are off to the side. “Stop goddamn worrying about me. It was…suffocating. Even the days where I wasn’t fucking up, they were a reminder that I could. That I have. Then, as I got older, I wondered what it would’ve been like to never have people looking out for me, and I know I wouldn’t be here.” He shakes his head once. “It would’ve been easier to grab a bottle. My brother went to the ends of the earth to stop me from drinking myself into oblivion. But he shouldn’t have had to do that. There are people, family, friends, who spend their lives fighting for their loved ones. Worrying about them. And I can say that sometimes their worry isn’t enough. All it does is make me want to drown it out.”

“This disease is won and lost with me, but I can’t tell anyone not to worry, and if I do, it’s a lie—because I’m just as afraid of the moment they stop.”

“I’ll put it in my calendar. Doodle stars and planets next to it.” “With glitter pen.” “Only glitter pen.”

“Aren’t Cobalts all like, we all kill and die together, hoorah?”

“My heart is a chasm of everything I know and love, and it will always be filled with you.” I can’t look away from her. “I love you, Luna. I love you so bad, not having you just hurts.”

“He didn’t,” I whisper to myself, and with my finger, I trace the printed words that Donnelly spoke to me. My heart is a chasm of everything I know and love, and it will always be filled with you.

I’ve lifted her up in a front piggyback, my hands on her ass, and her legs are wrapped around me. Deep, hungry kisses. “Do not desecrate my lawn!” Our heads turn, but the voice came through a window. Her dad.