More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
To this day, I don’t understand why they never got divorced. The one time I asked my mother, she’d looked at me and said, “Where would we go?”
I’ve come too far, been through too much, to feel lesser because of other people. Screw them and their ridiculous words.
“I think it’s time I left. I have a busy night of fucking the entire campus, so I need to get an early start.”
Damn
“If anything, he’ll wind up on a case of Forensic Files because of this chick. She’s awesome, but intense as hell.”
But there are two types of strangers in the world—ones that you’ve never met before, and ones you share memories with.
“I dare you to hate me, Ivy. Because we both know you don’t. You couldn’t even if you tried.”
“Who says I’m loyal to you, Aiden Griffith?”
“Baby, I don’t think you’ve ever stopped.”
They may only be words, nothing that can do any permanent damage, but even cat scratches hurt like a bitch for a few days before they fade.
“DJ, I don’t wake up and strive to be a hardcore bitch every day of my life, but you’re about to see that side of me if you ask me that one more time.”
You can break when you’re alone, I tell myself bitterly, holding back the frustrated tears that well in my eyes. Head in the game.
“No, baby. You’re a survivor.”
“Think with your head, not your pride.
“And no matter how many times you say you don’t want to be claimed by anyone, we both know that’s bullshit. You were always mine, Chaos. Five years doesn’t change the fact that it’s always been me. Nobody else had a chance. So, that’s what I want. You. Not just your body. But you. Your personality. Your mind. Your problems. Your goddamn companionship. Because that’s what I’ve missed since the day I watched you disappear into the night. Stop trying to push me away. It won’t work.”
“You’re going to fucking kill me, Ivy. When the hell did you get so goddamn sexy?”
I don’t like thinking the worst in people because it gets you nowhere in life. But thinking the best of them usually leads to nothing but mistrust and disappointment.
“But sometimes that grates on people. You can’t always be the punching bag so others miss the hits, and that’s what you were.”
“But pretending like that part of you doesn’t exist means you can’t move on from it.
Trust me, the only way to stop letting shit take over your life is to face it head on. That’s when you can find more than a scrap of the control you need.”
Even if you’re making a future right where you are, it’s okay to admit you care about how you got here.
Those sorts of things build and build and build, collecting under your skin and in your soul until you can’t take it anymore. Sometimes the emotions won’t come out on their own and you need to do something about it.
The feelings deep inside me are engraved in my soul. I’ll never fully be better.
His arms tighten around me. “Because baking makes you happy, and I like seeing you that way. And I enjoy spending time with you even when you’re scowling at everyone.”
Even Justin admitted he was shocked I was a “cool chick” after getting to know me better because I always looked two seconds away from murdering someone in class.
“You’re my coach, not my father and not me. You don’t get to make decisions for me, and you don’t get to speak to the people I care for with disrespect.”
I nod once, walking over and pulling her into my arms. I don’t care that my parents are watching, or the people around us. None of them even come close to earning an ounce of the fucks I give about needing this woman in my arms right now. Leaning into her ear, I whisper, “Our hotel room in thirty.”
I’ve never truly stopped loving Aiden Griffith either.
“Above all else,” she says softly, “choose happiness. Not anybody else’s, but yours. Because at the end of the day, you’ll find a lot more of it when you open yourself up to everything life has to offer when you’re truly content with where you are in it.”
“It’s always been you, Ivy,” he cuts me off confidently. “Why shouldn’t we label it? We’re always going to be friends, but we’re also more than that. I don’t want to see some other guy with his hands on you, so I might as well make my claim now.”
