See? Things are already looking promising.

Dmitri was at a total loss. It was a common reaction for people when I agreed to do something reasonable.

Yeah, I was at the Masquerade of the Damned.

I'm getting better at avoiding this, but when something sets me off, I tend to punch first and then find out who I actually his later.

Love is . . .” An old memory with Adrian came back to me, and some of the turbulent emotion I always carried within me these days welled up in my chest. It was stupid, feeling so lovesick when he’d been gone less than a day, but I couldn’t get him or the ways he described love out of my head. “. . . a flame in the dark. A breath of warmth on a winter’s night. A star that guides you home.

My mother wasnʹt sleeping with anybody. She doesnʹt even sleep with my father.

Longing surged up within me. I wanted it. Oh God, I wanted it. I didn't want to hear Jerome chastise me for my "all lowlifes, all the time" seduction policy. I wanted to come home and tell someone about my day. I wanted to go out dancing on the weekends. I wanted to take vacations together. I wanted someone to hold me when I was upset, when the ups and downs of the world pushed me too far. I wanted someone to love.