“One day you will kiss a man you can't breathe without, and find that breath is of little consequence.”
“I was about to look away when he reached across the seat, touched my jaw with his long, strong, beautiful fingers, and caressed my face.
Being touched by Jericho Barrons with kindness makes you feel like you must be the most special person in the world. It’s like walking up to the biggest, most savage lion in the jungle, lying down, placing your head it its mouth and, rather than taking your life, it licks you and purrs.”
“His hand was on my throat, and he was crushing me back with his body into the cold steel beam behind me. "Yes, I have loved, Ms. Lane, and although it‘s none of your business, I have lost. Many things. And no, I am not like any other player in this game and I will never be like V‘lane, and I get a hard-on a great deal more often than occasionally." He leaned fully against me and I gasped.
"Sometimes it‘s over a spoiled little girl, not a woman at all. And yes, I trashed the bookstore when I couldn‘t find you. You‘ll have to choose a new bedroom, too. And I‘m sorry your pretty little world got all screwed up, but everybody‘s does, and you go on. It‘s how you go on that defines you." His hand relaxed on my throat. "And I am going to tattoo you, Ms. Lane, however and wherever I please.”
“I couldn‘t tell the difference between the two of you anymore!" he roared.
I smashed my fist into his face. Lies roll off us. It‘s the truths we work hardest to silence.
Then you weren‘t looking hard enough! I‘m the one with boobs!"
I know you‘re the one with boobs!They‘re in my fucking face every fucking time I turn around!”
“Every time I think I’m getting smarter I realize that I’ve just done something stupid. Dad says there are three kinds of people in the world: those who don’t know, and don’t know they don’t know; those who don’t know and do know they don’t know; and those who know and know how much they still don’t know.
Heavy stuff, I know. I think I’ve finally graduated from the don’t-knows that don’t know to the don’t-knows
that do.”
“Was he a good kisser, Ms. Lane?” Barrons asked, watching me carefully.
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand at the memory. “It was like being owned.”
Some women like that.”
Not me.”
Perhaps it depends on the man doing the owning.”
I doubt it. I couldn’t breathe with him kissing me.”
One day you may kiss a man you can’t breathe without, and find breath is of little consequence.”
Right, and one day my prince might come.”
I doubt he’ll be a prince, Ms. Lane. Men rarely are.”
“He swapped the fistful of my shirt for one in my hair, and ground his mouth against mine.
I exploded.
I shoved at him, and clawed him closer. He shoved me back, and yanked me tighter to his body. I pulled his hair. He pulled mine. He didn‘t fight fair. Actually, he fought exactly fair. He didn‘t extend courtesies, not a single one.
I bit his lip. He tripped me and pushed me down to the stone floor of the cavern. I punched him. He straddled me.
I ripped his shirt down the front, left it hanging in tatters from his shoulders.
"I liked that shirt", he snarled. He rose over me, a dark demon, glistening in the torchlight, dripping sweat and blood, his torso covered with tattoos that disappeared beneath his waistband.
He grabbed the hem of my shirt, tore it straight up to my neck, and inhaled sharply. ”
“I see God in a sunrise, not in repetitious ritual.”
“Although it may not seem like it, this isn’t a story about darkness. It’s about light. Kahlil Gibran says Your joy can fill you only as deeply your sorrow has carved you. If you’ve never tasted bitterness, sweet is just another pleasant flavor on your tongue. One day I’m going to hold a lot of joy.”
“I’m asking the questions tonight.” One day I was going to write a book: How to Dictate to a Dictator
and Evade an Evader, subtitled How to Handle Jericho Barrons.”
“Maybe you need to get a grip on your libido, Barrons!"
Fuck you, Ms. Lane!"
You just try. I‘ll kick the shit out of you!"
You think you could?"
Bring it on."
He grabbed a fistful of my T-shirt, and dragged me up against him until our noses touched.
I‘ll bring it on, Ms. Lane. But remember you asked for it. So don‘t even think about trying to tap out on the mat and quit the fight."
You hear anybody crying ‗Uncle‘ here, Barrons? I don‘t."
Fine."
Fine.”
“What are you Barrons?”
“The one who will never let you die, and that’s more, Ms Lane, than anyone in your life has been able to say to you. More than anyone else can do”
“Home, Ms. Lane?” His deep voice was gently amused.
“I have to call it something,” I said morosely. “They say home is where the heart is. I think mine’s satin-lined
and six feet under.”
“It's a strange new world out there and the rules have changed: It's every princess for herself.”
“I get off on a man with strong moral fiber. The closest Barrons ever gets to fiber is walking down the cereal aisle at the grocery store.”
“Punch me."
"Don't be absurd."
"Come on, punch me, Barrons."
"I'm not punching you."
"I said, punch--OW!"
He decked me.”
“Burns from dropped matches, Ms. Lane? Matches one might have dropped while flirting with a pernicious
Fae, Ms. Lane? Have you any idea the value of this rug?”
I didn’t think his nostrils could flare any wider. His eyes were black flame. “Pernicious? Good grief, is English
your second language? Third?” Only someone who’d learned English from a dictionary would use such a word.
“Fifth,” he snarled. “Answer me.”
“I'm sorry your pretty little world got all screwed up, but everybody's does, and you go on. It's how you go on that defines you.”
“Fire isn’t good or bad. It just burns.”
“There are only shades of gray. Black and white are nothing more than lofty ideals in our minds, the standards by which we try to judge things, and map out our place in the world in relevance to them. Good and evil, in their purest form, are as intangible and forever beyond our ability to hold in our hand as any Fae illusion. We can only aim at them, aspire to them, and hope not to get so lost in the shadows that we can no longer aim for the light.”
“Even I don't know what you're doing, and I know everything.”
“Deals with the devil, Ms. Lane, never go well. That‘s a given. You will not make one again. Do you understand me? If I have to chain you to a fucking wall to protect you from your own stupidity, I will!" He glared at me.
I rattled my chains. "Wrists. Beam. Chained already, Barrons. Come up with a new threat." I glared back.”
“One day you may kiss a man you can’t breathe without, and find breath is of little consequence.”
“Right, and one day my prince might come.”
“I doubt he’ll be a prince, Ms. Lane. Men rarely are.”
“Flirtation doesn't have to go somewhere; it certainly doesn't need to end up in bed. I like to think of it as a little friendlier than a handshake, a little less intimate than a kiss. It's a way of saying hi, you look great, have a wonderful day. A tasteful flirtation, played out people who understand the rules, leave everyone feeling good and can perk up the bluest mood.”
“there are three kinds of people in the world: those who don't know and don't know they don't know; those who don't know and do know they don't know; and those who know and know how much they still don't know.”
“Barrons Books and Baubles had been ransacked!
Tables were overturned, books torn from shelves and strewn everywhere, baubles broken. Even my little TV behind the counter had been destroyed.
"Barrons?" I called warily. It was night and the lights were on. My illusory Alina had told me more than an hour had passed. Was it the same night, nearly dawn? Or was it the night following our theft attempt? Had Barrons come back from Wales yet? Or was he still there, searching for me? When I‘d been so rudely ripped from reality, who or what had come through those basement doors?
I heard footsteps, boots on hardwood, and turned expectantly toward the connecting doors.
Barrons was framed in the doorway. His eyes were black ice. He stared at me a moment, raking me from head to toe. "Nice tan, Ms. Lane. So, where the fuck have you been for the past month?”
“The wisest man is the silent one. Examine his actions. Judge him by them.”
“I want us to be... what is your word? Friends."
"Psychotic rapists don't have friends."
"I was unaware you were a psychotic rapists or I would not have offered."
(Mac & V'lane)”
“If he’d been any other man and i'd been any other girl, I’d have called the narrowing of his heavy-lidded dark eyes lust. But he was Barrons and I was Mac, and a blossoming of lust was about as likely as orchids blooming in Antarctica”
“Have you ever had one of those moments when time just freezes? You
know, when the world suddenly goes deathly still, and you could hear a
pin drop, and the squishing sound your heart makes is so loud in your
ears you feel like youre drowning in blood, and you stand there in that
suspended moment and die a thousand deaths, but not really, and the
moment passes and dumps you out on the other side of it, with your
mouth hanging open, and an erased blackboard where your mind used to
be?”
“And how many episodes of being “not yourself” do you get before people figure out this is who you really are? I”
“If Vengeance has a mother, her name is Patience.”
“What’s done cannot be undone. What’s set into motion takes on a life of its own.”
“If it isn’t a clear yes, then it’s a clear no.”
“We became friends, I suppose, because we lived close to each other and it suited us and because when you are young friendships go unquestioned.”
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