Fighting for Us (Bailey Brothers, #2)

by Claire Kingsley

I wore several rings on different fingers, but I changed those like I changed my outfits. I never took off Asher’s ring.

There was a fine line between angry noises and sex noises, and he was walking it.

She was the moon to my ocean. I couldn’t escape her gravity. But I was sure as hell fighting it. I had to.

“Because I’m her best friend and if anyone tries to hurt her, I’ll murder them, dump the body, then lead the fucking search party.”

“You know how some people totally spoil and enable their children? That’s me. I’m people. I can’t stand the thought of you being unhappy, so I do whatever I have to do to make sure you’re not.”

“I’m not the one being all slutty and showing too much ankle. Hussy.”

“If he canceled, I don’t care what you say, I’m getting a taser.”

“Maybe that’s not how love works. Nobody’s keeping score. I love you because I do. Because of who you were, and who you are now. Because something deep inside me is connected to something deep inside you. And whatever that is, I think it’s worth fighting for.”

“Sometimes I think she’s crazy and has us all brainwashed into believing she’s wise.” “Maybe. Or maybe we drove her crazy.” “True.”

The thing about pain, whether it’s physical or not, it demands our attention. A lot of the time that’s as it should be. We move our hand away from a flame to avoid being burned, or we treat an injury so our body can heal. But when that pain doesn’t go away, and it’s not something we can easily fix, it starts to dominate our life. Add in a hefty dose of anger, especially anger at things you can’t change, and it’s easy to forget how to feel anything else.”