Unlucky Like Us (Like Us, #12)

by Krista Ritchie

“I want to do seriously bad things to you.” I suck on the base of her neck.

“Eat me alive.”

“Careful what you wish for. I could so easily devour every last inch of you.” I clasp her cheek. “Then what’ll be left?” “Us,” she murmurs. “You with me. For longer than a minute. Longer than a moment.”

Forever, I hear, and the pain of this faraway desire translate...

“I need you.” I whisper against her ear, “I’m gonna fuck you alive.” “Please,” she whimpers. “Donnelly.”

“I’m fucking you because you’re mine,” I rasp into a grunt. “I’m fucking you because I’m the only one who’ll keep you alive, and no one else will ever fuck you like this again.”

Quickly, she stands, both of us still naked, and she wears a full head mask from Scream. Alright. I’m down.

“My fics. The printed ones.” “The only ones you have left,” I say the unspoken thing. “Yeah.” She sits up off me. “I want you to have them.” Her eyes are earnest but a little scared. I start to shake my head. “Luna—” “You’ve read more of my stories than anyone else. Maybe even more than Charlie. He doesn’t reread them like you do, I don’t think. I just thought…you’d want them, since I have no use for them anymore.”

“Then I’ll be your only reader, and that’s alright.” I want to say more, but my phone buzzes. She looks away from me quickly. My chest contracts while I reach for my phone.

Donnelly and I think she’s powered by Cobalt fuel. It’s inexhaustible stuff. But strangely enough, Thatcher is wired the same way. He acts fine with only a few hours of sleep.

If I stay out of sight for longer, then there can’t be any “Luna likes Donnelly” theories in the mainstream media. I’m making Donnelly’s task of infiltrating his family much easier.

“None taken,” Jane says breezily. “I’m not taking sides. I love my brothers equally, and they both can equally exude dickish behavior.”

I can see Beckett enjoying being able to spend more time with Sulli. I wonder if Charlie didn’t like it because it meant he’d have to share his brotherly time with Sulli too.

DAD It’s what dads do. And I love you more than chicken tacos Spicy chicken tacos From the food truck outside S&S

“I don’t know exactly what’s going on between you and Donnelly, aka Wonder Bread”—I heard she found out about our Fanaticon usernames—“but he better know I am still your Number One Protector.” I smile. “Always.”

I want to believe her, but she’s my mom—a kind, amazing mom who will always try to lift me up, especially when others are kicking me down.

hair. My chest

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

“Someone get Ryke on the phone.” “He’s alrea...

Ryke Meadows is rushing past us, his motorcycle helmet beneath his armpit. “LO!” he calls out to his brother.

Lo is the next to board the ambulance, but as he twists around, his destroyed gaze catches mine. “Donnelly?” he calls out as wind whips through this dead-end. I approach, just as he says, “Luna—” “I’m gonna get her. I promise you.” Lo has no clue I’ve broken every promise I’ve ever made to him, but this one, I can’t break. Because this is the promise that will break me if I do.

The last thing of Loren Hale I see is his hope in me.

I’m not leaving without her. It’s the only certainty I’m carrying.

“Donnelly.” Her voice shatters, overwhelmed tears slipping out. She’s intaking the sight of me like I’m just fiction inside her head. “Donnelly.” “I’m here. I’m here. I’m here.”

“I’m right here.” I clutch her cheek again, pink and purple streaks swiped on them. “I’m not going anywhere.” She tries to hold my gaze, but her eyes are flooded with tears. “I’m really scared,” she cries. My heart breaks into a million serrated pieces. She was never supposed to be in this house. She was never supposed to meet my family. She was never supposed to be swept into the darkness of my childhood. I’d left it all behind me, and to think that the one girl, the only girl, I’ve ever loved is hurtled to this place is fucking sickening. I hate it more than I’ve ever hated anything.

I’m a second from shouting how she needs a fucking doctor, and then in sprints my best friend. Farrow is running straight for Luna, his trauma bag already half-unzipped, and for a brief second, his eyes flash down to me. I’m handcuffed. On the ground. His focused gaze is suddenly stabbed with pain.

“Concrete. The ground. She fell.” The cop is pushing me towards the door. “Check her ribs!” It’s all I can release before the cop carts me outside.

Guess that’s changing. Oscar steps forward, then halts, looking tormented. He can’t help me. It’s alright, I wish I could tell him. I was always going to survive. I’m not the one he should be worrying about.

“Sorry about the

cuffs. We have to treat you like the others.” His brown eyes meet mine through the rearview mirror. “We can’t let anyone know you’re the informant. You understand?”

“It’s important that no one in your family knows you drew us here. It’d put you at risk, and that’d put the Hales at risk again. And frankly, your involvement is an asset we can’t lose right now, so just hang tight.”

There’s a vehicle waiting for you out back. Press can’t see you’ve been released this quickly, or else it’ll blow your cover.” I’m shocked they decided to release me at all then. She sees my surprise. “Your security firm has ensured us you’ll enter the hospital undetected.”

“We’re headed there. You did a really good job tonight.” “No,” I tell him, my insides crushing with this cold reality. “I was too late.”

A hoop piercing in his lip, barbells in his brow, a black dangly earring—I think I know him. The tattooed skull and crossbones on the tops of his hands seem familiar, as do the inked swords on his throat and wings on his neck.

I do recognize him. Farrow. Farrow.

Farrow is here. Farrow is here. Why is he here? I intake a sharper breath. Where’s his dad? Dr. Keene? The questions blip in and out of my brain.

Next to a red sparrow is a name. Inked clearly. Visibly. Maximoff. My brother’s name.

I suppose that if I can’t see my family right now, Farrow is the next best option. He’s a person I’d choose to be with me.

What. The. Fuck? Does that mean…? The ring. The new tattoo…? Is he married to my brother??? When did this happen?! How could this happen?!

“I’m your doctor, and I’m also Maximoff’s bodyguard.”

“Hey.” Oscar catches my shoulder before I turn. “You found her. You just got arrested and sat in jail to protect the Hales. You are a shirtless motherfucker right now, but you’re not a villain.”

“I’m cleaning up a mess I made. Does that seem very heroic to you?” “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.”

Suffocated by it, I turn around to leave. “Stay,” Lo says, his voice sandpapered but sharp.

“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. My hand flies to my pained face. Been thinking I could never do enough in his eyes, so I can hardly believe it. “I didn’t.” She might never wake up.

He pulls back. I pinch my wet eyes and face him as he says sharply, “You didn’t put her there. You got her out.” He sounds as choked as I feel. “And I know…” He trails off, his throat thick with emotion. His brows are cinched. He runs his tongue over his molars, collecting himself. “I know what that took.” He’s trying to be grateful, but it’s buried beneath a lot of anguish. “They’ll make it out. Luna. Lily. They look small, but they’re tough.”

“I said no, and I should’ve been there. Then you might’ve been in the car with us. Everything would’ve been different. Better.” “We don’t know that,” I breathe. “Yes, I do,”

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.”

It all hurts. I say, “I wanna see yours too.” His tears surface as he looks back at me, but I just tell him the truth, “I hope I can be there, whatever happens. I wanna be there.” “You’re not going anywhere?” he asks.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I say.

Lo comes forward. “Unless your name is Garrison Abbey and you’re bringing breakfast bagels in ten minutes, you’re not allowed in here. I don’t care if you have goddamn proof that Lily called you. I know Lil better than anyone. She won’t want you here, and over my dead body will you be the first face she fucking sees when she wakes up, you understand?”