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“Rationing is for people who only want to endure.”
When the devil chuckles, the world tilts a little on its axis, and somewhere, someone makes a fatal mistake.
He picks up the robe and follows me like a dark shadow, silent and close.
I’m an exotic creature to him. Everything I do is interesting.
Goals
“I know you would, you little psychopath.”
My pussy gleams, as smooth and soft as a fresh spring peach.
Ya doing too much.
Venus, rising from the sea-foam.
TOO MUCH
He makes one thin slash on my inner thigh, so quick and sharp that the pain flares and vanishes all in an instant, before I even register it. Blood wells up, darker than wine. He catches it on his tongue, lapping the shallow wound, and then closing his mouth over it.
Bitch-
“Where is everyone?” I whisper to Cole. “There is no ‘everyone.’ You’re shopping with the one percent—there’s not that many of us.”
“Thank you, Cole,” I say humbly. “Not just for the clothes … for everything you’ve done for me.” “Feeling grateful, are you?” he says, those dark eyes glinting wickedly. “I was …” I reply, already regretting it.
Cole is illuminated with the purest, brightest amusement I’ve ever seen. It lights up his whole face, making him beautiful on a level that awes me. I can only stare. Then I start to giggle as well.
“Why are you so awful?” I snort. “I don’t know,” he says, with real wonder. “I only want what I’m not supposed to have.”
Some mistake has been made: I died, heaven exists, and they let me in.
“I’m not just going to tell you … I’m going to show you.”
Sir?
I enjoy telling her what to do, correcting her, encouraging her. She has to obey me or risk running someone over.
I'm dead
She loves to be praised—she can’t get enough of it. She’d probably take a compliment over a body-shaking orgasm.
Relatable
“It’s like he hates me, and I don’t know why. I don’t know what I’ve done. He used to kiss my fingertips and tell me I was the most exquisite thing in the world. Now he snarls if I even touch him …”
He didn’t care for the arts at all. He only donated to them because he knew philanthropy was part of empire-building.”
She trails off as if realizing that, to her, roller skates had seemed as unobtainable as unicorns.
I am sad
“None were women,” I say, as if that will comfort her. “Why not women?” she asks faintly. I shrug. “Men deserve it more.”
She’s always more surprised by kindness than by cruelty.
I need to experience his strength, his power, his ruthlessness, because that’s what I need in a man. It’s the only way I feel safe. He has to terrify me so I know he’ll terrify everyone else.
The real Cole takes what he wants.
“Stop,” I gasp. Then, more frantic, “Stop!” The word comes out in a croak. My throat is too constricted for speech. No air, no blood can get through. Still he chokes me.
Jesu christ i am anxious
“It’s alright, Mara,” he says. “It’s always better to tell the truth. Lie to the world, but not to yourself.”
He’s early—even more annoying than being late.
Our boy Hawks is ambitious. That’s the haircut of someone who wants his promotion badly.
When the fuck did I make this rule for myself, not to murder people I respect? It’s inconvenient.
“I love you,” I say. If I’d thought first, I would have been too afraid to say it. Cole looks down at me, his eyes black and flickering, full of reflected flame. “What does it feel like?”
“It feels like I’ll do anything for you. Jump off a bridge for you, turn myself inside out for you. It feels like madness, and I never want it to end.”
“Then I must be in love,” he says. “Because that’s what I feel, too.”
DHSSOFNRIOZKXXHOALA
It’s still a little disturbing hearing Cole talk with his usual level of animation, while his face remains flat and smooth. He doesn’t bother to make expressions when he’s on the phone and the other person can’t see.
It’s my shriek of excitement, my sprinting around and around him in circles that makes him grin.
They're the cutest
“What’s the point of this project, anyway?” I ask. “Like, what’s it supposed to represent?” “I dunno, unity and peace or some bullshit.” Cole shrugs. “I’m just doing what I want.”
And just as I expected, I’m fucking hating it.
Felt
Like a computer that can run several programs simultaneously, I keep tabs on Shaw and Officer Hawks, supervise the construction of the sculpture, and think of every possible way that I can wrap another rope around my sweet little Mara and pull it tight.
I’m learning how different the world appears when everything you do is for someone else.
I never knew how good generosity could feel.
I don’t know if I have any real kindness inside of me. But Mara believes that I do.
What is loving someone? From all outward appearances, I’m very much a man in love. I shower her with gifts, praise, attention. But I’m all-too-aware that everything I do for Mara benefits me. I feed off her joy like a vampire.
It’s an underground garden, a riot of life and color, locked away in the heart of the earth.
Now I do look at Mara, already knowing what I’ll see on her face, because I’ve seen it before, in the only other person I ever loved. It’s the look of a woman gazing upon a monster.
“I fucking love you. Your life starts here, today, now that I’ve told you.”
Cole and I had just spent the whole day together and fucked in the car on the way to the party.
WHILE DRIVING?!
I stand on one side of a chasm. Mara has to join me. It’s the only way we can truly be together.
Welp
He’s tailing us instead.
Very interesting how she said "us" and not "cole"
“Cole,” I say, breaking the still silence. Immediately he replies, “Yes?” “We have to kill Shaw.”
Okay then
“I would never let you down with food,” Cole promises solemnly. “I know it’s your top priority.”
Goals. As he should
“I better quit making it my top priority. I think I’ve gained eight pounds since I moved into your house.” “I like it,” Cole says. “It’s making your tits bigger.”
“I’m gonna feed you so much fucking cheese,”
