Series: Like Us Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 241
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
I laugh into a grin. “You hear that? It’s the sound of my fears scurrying away from your poisonous teeth.”
She chomps them, and fuck me, I’m in love. Drop everything, I’ll die for her kind of love. She’s the last name I’ll whisper on my death bed kind of love. The universe makes no sense without her kind of love. It will be just her and me until the end of time kind of love.
So I tell her, “I love you, Luna Hale.” I look deeper into her. “You’ve made me feel more loved than I ever have been, and I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to figure things out.”
“Don’t be,” she whispers. “You were always with me. You never left me alone in our spacecraft, and I know what you went through that night to find me. I can remember, and…” She draws closer into my chest. “You needed time. If you still need it—”
“I don’t need it,” I say. “I’ve got enough clarity.” I look her over. “Having sex with you won’t cause a world war, but it might rock your whole universe. Your planet ready for that?”
Her smile mushrooms. “Beyond ready.”
I nod a couple times, my lips rising. The clouds have parted. I realize whatever darkness leeched onto me from that night, it’s nourished itself through my fears. It can’t grow any stronger if I don’t let it.
I touch the blue kyber crystal around my neck. I haven’t taken it off in a while. It’s still there. It’s been there.
I won’t ever be a reason we’re suffering. We’ve withstood enough, and I only ever want to embrace the light with Luna. It’s right in front of me now.
I’m staring straight into the moon. Her eyes shimmer radiant amber hues. We share an emerging smile.
“I wanna take you somewhere tonight,” I tell her.
She searches my eyes, her eagerness returning. “Where?”
I grin. “The best place on earth.”
53
LUNA HALE
The best place on earth is not his bed.
It’s Wawa.
Donnelly took me to Wawa, which is weirdly enough my favorite part of tonight. I might as well be entering a sacred place with how much Donnelly has talked about it—how much he loves and cherishes it.
Yet, there’s no one in this Wawa. I don’t know why I find that the most surprising thing as we enter the convenience store.
“Is it usually this…dead?” I whisper to Donnelly like I’m in a library.
Donnelly makes a pray motion with his hands. “Place is just holy. Some people aren’t worthy to step inside.”
I smile as we walk down an aisle of juices. “I’m not sure what I did to become worthy.”
Lately, my increased sex drive has felt more like a notch in a bad category. I mean, I just asked Donnelly to fuck me with a pool cue—and while I kinda still think the idea sounds hot, I’d rather have him inside me. We are on the same page there.
I never want my needy-self to pressure Donnelly too much. But it’s nice knowing for a fact that his sex drive is as high as mine, and he hasn’t been icked out by Variant Luna or solely trying to appease me. Pity sex sounds soul-crushing, and I’m relieved he’d never do that to me.
My insecurities went poof in the night, and I really hope I calmed some of his too.
He curves an arm around my shoulder and kisses the side of my head, making me smile. “You didn’t have to do anything to be worthy. You just are.” That hits me extra hard—and I turn my gaze to a bottle of green veggie juice, trying to stop myself from sudden waterworks. I can’t cry in Wawa! It’s a hallowed space.
Donnelly tugs me farther into the store near paper coffee cups. Wawa’s red eagle logo is on every single one. Frog and Quinn must’ve stayed posted at the entrance because I don’t feel them following us.
My boyfriend places two hands on my shoulders. “What’d I say?” Concern inflects his voice, and I realize he thinks he upset me.
It’s the opposite though. “You said I’m worthy by just being me,” I confess. “Some days I feel that too. Other days, I’m sitting in Television and New Media, and everyone reminds me I’m a Hale in a way that makes me feel like I’ll never stop having to prove myself. Even my uncle’s feedback kinda confirmed this. He said there’s no reason why I’m last other than everyone just outperformed me, and it’s like in order to win, I need the Cobalts to fail. Because who I am isn’t enough.” I lift a shoulder and swallow the growing lump in my throat. “But you make me feel like I don’t have anything to prove at all. I am worthy. I think I just needed to hear that today.”
Donnelly wraps his arms around me and draws me into a hug. One that’s bone deep. Everything feels luminous in his arms. Not just this moment in Wawa but the road ahead of us.