Shelby Loren > Shelby's Quotes

“Ghosts don't haunt people--their memories do.”
― Alexandra Bracken, Never Fade

“Then he was stepping back, away, letting distance flood between us again. His voice was low, rough. "Give 'em hell, darlin'."

"And for the love of God, bitch, don't get stabbed this time!" Vida added.”
― Alexandra Bracken, Never Fade

“I can't--I can't think about anything or anyone else," he whispered. A hand drifted up, dragging back through his hair. "I can't think straight when you're around. I can't sleep. It feels like I can't breathe--I just--"
"Liam, please," I begged. "You're tired. You're barely over being sick. Let's just... Can we just go back to the others?"
"I love you." He turned toward me, that agonized expression still on his face. "I love you every second of everyday, and I don't understand why, or how to make it stop--"
He looked wild with pain; it pinned me in place, even before what he had said registered in my mind.
"I know it's wrong; I know it down to my damn bones. And I feel like I'm sick. I'm trying to be a good person, but I can't. I can't do this anymore.”
― Alexandra Bracken, Never Fade

“—I don't want to lose you
—Then why are you the one that keeps letting go?”
― Alexandra Bracken, The Darkest Minds

“A moment later, Liam's bright blue eyes opened, and he was seeing me. He just wasn't seeing Ruby.”
― Alexandra Bracken, The Darkest Minds

“Breathing him in wasn't enough, I wanted to inhale him. The leather, the smoke, the sweetness.”
― Alexandra Bracken, The Darkest Minds

“God." He shook his head, mouth twisting into a shadow of a smile. "Did you know... you make me so happy that sometimes I actually forget to breathe? I'll be looking at you, and my chest will get so tight... and it's like, the only thought in my head is how much I want to reach over and kiss you.”
― Alexandra Bracken, The Darkest Minds

“What?" he whispered. "What are you smiling about?"
My fingers brushed against his hair, trying to smooth it down. I realized what I was doing a full minute after Liam had closed his eyes and leaned into my touch. Embarrassment flared up my chest, but he grabbed my hand before I could pull back and tucked it under his chin.
"Nope," he whispered, when I tried to tug it away. "Mine now."
Dangerous. This is dangerous. The warning was fleeting, banished to the back corners of my mind, where it wouldn't interrupt how good it felt to touch him - how right.
"I'm going to need it back eventually," I said, letting him run it along the stubble on his chin.
"Too bad."
"...crackers..." a voice breathed out behind us, "yessss..."
Both of us turned, watching as Chubs twisted around in his seat and settled back down, still fast asleep.
I pressed a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing. Liam rolled his eyes, smiling.
"He dreams about food," he said. "A lot."
"At least they're good dreams."
"Yeah," Liam agreed. "I guess he's lucky.”
― Alexandra Bracken, The Darkest Minds

“He's so busy looking inside people to find the good that he misses the knife they're holding in their hand.”
― Alexandra Bracken, The Darkest Minds

“Give 'em hell, darlin”
― Alexandra Bracken, Never Fade

“That is physically impossible," Chubs groused. "He'd be--"
"Actually," Liam began, "Cole once did try to--What?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," Chubs said, "apparently the middle of my sentence interrupted the beginning of yours. Do continue.”
― Alexandra Bracken, Never Fade

“Nope," he whispered, when I tried to tug it away. "Mine now.”
― Alexandra Bracken, The Darkest Minds

“Just shut up and start sucking each other's faces already," Vida grumbled, leaning awkwardly against the stump. She would never admit it aloud, but I knew the burns on her back her eating her alive with pain. "I'm trying to make up for the sleep I lost when you started screeching at each other like cats in heat."
"Miss Vida," Liam said, "has anyone ever told you that you are positively the whipped cream on the sundae of life?"
She glared at him. "Anyone ever told you your head is shaped like a pencil?"
"That is physically impossible," Chubs groused. "He'd be--"
"Actually," Liam began, "Cole once did try to-- What?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," Chub said, "apparently the middle of my sentence interrupted the beginning of yours. Do continue."
"I'm going to guess you probably don't want to hear about the time he pushed my head through the neighbours fence..."
"Was there a lot of blood?" Vida asked, suddenly interested. "Did you lose an ear?"
Liam held his hands up next to his ears, indicating both were firmly attached to his skull.
"Then, no" she said. "No one wants to hear your boring-ass story.”
― Alexandra Bracken, Never Fade

“The most important-' I was almost too outraged to string a sentence together. 'Liam's life is worth more than that stupid flash drive!'
'My, my.' A feral grin spread across Cole's face. 'Little brother must be a good kisser.”
― Alexandra Bracken, Never Fade

“So thought crossed my mind," Liam said suddenly.
"That must've been a lonely journey," Chubs said flipping the pages of his book.”
― Alexandra Bracken, Never Fade

“I'll teach you later, but for now I just need someone to watch the signs for me. Come on up to the copilot chair."
I jerked a thumb in the direction of Chubs.
Liam only shook his head. "Are you kidding me? Yesterday he thought a mailbox was a clown."
I unbuckle my seat belt with a sigh. As I climbed over Chubs's outstretched legs to the front, I glanced over my shoulder, my eyes going to his too-small glasses. " Is his eyesight really that bad?"
"Worse," Liam said. "So, right after we got the hell out of Caledonia, we broke into this house to spend the night, right? I woke up in the middle of the night hearing the most awful noise, like a cow dying or something. I followed the wailing, clutching some kid's baseball bat, thinking I was going to have to beat someone's head in for us to make a clean getaway. then I saw what was sitting at the bottom of a drained pool."
"No way," I said.
"Way," he confirmed. "Hawkeye had gone out to relieve himself and had somehow missed the giant gaping hole in the ground. Twisted his ankle and couldn't climb out of the deep end.
I tried so hard not to laugh, but it was impossible. The mental image was just too damn good.”
― Alexandra Bracken, The Darkest Minds

“Joseph Lister?" Liam said suddenly, cutting through the silence. "Really? Him?"
Chubs stiffened beside me. "That man was a hero. He pioneered research on the origins of infections and sterilization."
Liam stared hard at the faux leather cover of just Chubs's skip-tracer ID, carefully choosing his next words. "You couldn't have chosen something cooler? Someone who is maybe not an old dead white guy?"
"His work led to the reduction of post operative infections and safer surgical practices," Chubs insisted. "Who would you have picked? Captain America?"
"Steve Rogers is a perfectly legit name." Liam pass the ID back to him. " This is all...very Boba Fett of you. I'm not sure what to say, Chubsie.”
― Alexandra Bracken, Never Fade

“After all, tomorrow is another day!”
― Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind

“I clench my fingers. "She's right, huh? The morbid and revolting are such fascinating subjects.”
― A.G. Howard, Splintered

“Now, you listen, Alyssa Victoria Gardner. Normal is subjective. Don't ever let anyone tell you you're not normal. Because you are to me. And my opinion is all that matters. Got it?”
― A.G. Howard, Splintered

“No one knows what he or she is capable of until things are at their darkest.”
― A.G. Howard, Splintered

“Raising one hand, he tilts his hat to that sexy slant. "You want me. Admit it."
Even if he's partly right, I'll never tell him. "Why would I want you?"
He lifts three fingers to countdown. "Mysterious. Rebellious. Troubled. All those qualities women find irresistible."
"Such an optimist."
"My cup is never empty."
"Too bad your brain is." The words bite, but my smile softens with affection.”
― A.G. Howard, Splintered

“Jen said some guy asked you but you didn't want to go. Why not?"
I shrug. "I have this character flaw? Called dignity?”
― A.G. Howard, Splintered

“Tearing down the rest of the world won't make you happy. Look inside yourself. Because finding who you were meant to be? What you were put into this world to do? That's what fills the emptiness. It's the only things that can.”
― A.G. Howard, Splintered

“I hate you," I say, the sentiment muffled against his heart, hoping to make it true.
"And I love you," he answers without hesitation, voice resolved and raw as he holds me tighter so I can't break away and react. "A crossroads, my beautiful princess, that was unavoidable—given our situations.”
― A.G. Howard, Splintered

“Sometimes a flame must level a forest to ash before new growth can begin. I believe Wonderland needed a scouring.”
― A.G. Howard, Splintered

“I hate you."
"Only because of the way I make you feel."
My fingernails eat into my palms. "Only because you bring out the worst in me."
"Oh no, luv. I bring out the life in you.”
― A.G. Howard, Splintered

“Of all the times you've undressed me in my fantasies, I never remember feeling this... unfulfilled."

"Please, Morpheus," I beg upon hearing Jeb stir in the background.

"Ah, but those delectable words," Morpheus says with a provocative smirk, "those are always in the fantasy."

I glare at him. "You're unbelievable."

"And that sentiment is reserved for the end.”
― A.G. Howard, Unhinged

“I was afraid of..."
"Go on..." I press.
"Of unloading my baggage on someone as sweet as you."
I can't keep the smile off my lips. "Oh, wow."
"What?"
"I guess we're both oblivious. That's the same reason I kept running from my feelings for you."
"Because I'm sweet?" That dimpled, boyish grin flashed over his face.”
― A.G. Howard, Splintered

“I go where Al goes, dances-with-bugs. And just so you know, if anything happens to her, I'll pin you by your wings to a corkboard and use you for dart practice.”
― A.G. Howard, Splintered