Things We Hide from the Light (Knockemout, #2)

by Lucy Score

“Your gun is digging into me.” “That’s not my gun,” I said through clenched teeth. Her mouth curved wickedly. “I know.” “Then stop moving.”

“You know what no one tells you about standing in the middle of a pissing contest?” Cherry said to me with a toss of her blond curls. “What’s that?” I asked. “You’re the one who ends up smelling like pee.”

“Feel like I’ve been waiting for Daze and Way my entire life. I’d go to the courthouse tonight if I could talk them into it.”

So what if his hands on me made me feel melty and decadent like a gourmet grilled cheese? This was one challenge I didn’t need to meet. One mystery that didn’t need solving. The smart thing would be to avoid him. Just stay out of his way, get the job done, and be on my way.

it’s not a crush,” I argued. “It’s…an awareness.”

“I moved on, but my parents didn’t. I guess there’s something about seeing your only child nearly die in front of your eyes that changes a parent. So they worry. Still. Chalk that one up in the Things We Never Got Over column.”

Whenever you’re close, everything is better. The closer you are, the easier I breathe, the less I feel like life is just a never-ending pour of lemon juice into an open wound that won’t heal. You take away the dark, the cold. And you remind me what it’s like to want to be here.”

“I just wish I woulda kept trying to look to the light instead of sinking into the dark,” he said. “A man can learn to live in that dark, but it’s no life.”

Nashhole.”

You’re not responsible for how you were brought up, but you are responsible for your actions and reactions once you’re an adult.”

And if you don’t realize what a strong, capable badass you are, you haven’t been paying attention.”

“Being vulnerable doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means you trust yourself to be strong enough to handle the hurt. It’s actually the purest form of strength.”