Christina Lauren

He closes the door with a determined click, and I hear him call to a flight attendant, and I sink down onto the toilet seat, resting my elbows on my knees and my head in my hands as I listen to him through the

You sure you don't want me to bring you back something?" Her eyes moved in the direction of his office. "A hit man? Some holy water?

So here were the facts: I felt possessive of her. Not in a romantic sort of way, but in a "hit her over the head, drag her off by the hair, and fuck her" way. Like she was my toy and I was keeping the other boys in the sandbox from playing with her. How sick was that? If she ever heard me admit to that, she would cut off my balls and feed them to me.

He could only do rowdy because he felt what I felt: that whip-crack unleashing that comes when you meet the person who frees you

I just want to see you come apart."I wanted to tell her that she was witnessing it now, and in all honesty she'd been watching it happen for weeks.

For the first time in my life I was admitting defeat.

Pity.""You're serious? You just met me.""And already I have a strong urge to devour you.

I'd never wanted to consume another body as rabidly as I did when he was inside me, but even like this, I could never seem to get close enough to the parts of him I wanted to feel. And it was with that thought in my mind that the delicious ratcheting tension along my skin and in my belly crystallized into an ache so heavy I slipped my legs off his shoulders, pulling all of his weight on top of me and pleading, "Please, please, please," over and over.

Honestly, he'd said more perverted things to my face. To my boobs. Did he really think he was school-ing me in being sexy right now?Really? You're completely unimpressed?Zzzzzzzzzzz, I wrote back.

Do people call you Ollie?_ Lola asked.Oliver looked at her, completely dumbfounded by the possibility of this nickname. She may as well have asked him if people call him Garth, or Andrew, or Timothy.__o,_ he said flatly, and the only thing charming about him was the way his accent seemed to run through every vowel with one syllable. Lola__ eyebrow twitched in her single tell__ildly annoyed__nd she lifted her flashing LED drink cup to her lips.Lola wears mostly black, including her glossy dark hair, and has a tiny diamond pierced into her lip, but, even still, she__ never been able to pull off the full physical manifestation of the angry Riot Grrrl. With her perfect porcelain skin and the longest eyelashes in the world, she__ simply too delicate. But once she decides you__e an asshole, it no longer matters to her what you think. She gives good glare.__he flower suits you,_ she said, tilting her head to study him. __nd you have pretty hands, kind of soft. Maybe we should call you Olive.__e grunted out a dry laugh.__nd a really beautiful mouth,_ I added. __entle. Like a woman__.___w fuck off._ He was laughing outright by then.

My voice of reason is always Lola. "You're a jackass.""You only say that when I'm being your voice of reason.""Out of my head, witch. And don't piss me off, I tell her. "I'll buy you underwear one size too small for Christmas and make you hate life.

The enormity of this started to sink in and I all but collapsed back into my chair. This, here, was life. This was life beginning for us: weddings and families and deciding to step up and be a man for someone. It wasn't about the fucking jobs we had or the random thrills we sought or any of that. Life was built from the bricks of these connections and milestone and moments where you tell your two best friends that you're about to have a child.

Inside my chest, my lungs are wild animals, clawing at the cage."Oh, man," Autumn mumbles from beside me. "His smile makes me stupid."Her words are a dim echo of my own thoughts: His smile ruins me. The feeling makes me uneasy, a dramatic lurch that tells me I need to have him or I won't be okay.

Figure out how to balance Oliver with a career you__e wanted your whole life,_ he tells me. __ecause you__l end up with neither if you think you have to choose.

Julia", I answered breathlessly. "Chloe, are you in the bathroom fucking that nice slice of man cake?" "I'll be there in a second, okay?" I ended the call and shoved the phone back into my bag. I looked up at him, feeling my rational side return after the small interruption. "I should go." "Look, I-" He was cut off as my phone rang again. I answered without bothering to look at the screen. "God, Julia! I__ not in here fucking the piece of man cake!" "Chloe?" Joel's confused voice sounded through the phone. "Oh... hi." Shit. This could not be happening to me.

There are moments in life where I wonder whether things can get worse. I'm on a plane, with my new husband, whose enthusiasm for this whole thing seems to be flagging, and it's in this deep moment of self-pity that I register__ith absolute horror__hat I've also just started my period.I look down at my white jeans and stifle a sob...