“He'd laugh in my face, then I'd slice him to ribbons and then he'd break my neck”

“I turned my peeled-apple face to him. I'd make myself look at him. I owed him that. His touch lingered on my neck as though he'd left a handprint of melted light.”

“When I was a boy I used to love pizza, and whenever my father took me to the pizzeria I'd order two slices. And I'd sit and he'd watch me wolfing down the first slice with my eyes on the second. I wasn't even tasting that first slice. And one day my father said to me, "Son, you need to learn that while you're eating the first slice of pizza, eat the first slice. Because right now you're eating the second slice before you've finished the first.”

“If there was a God, he'd guide the winds, let them blow for me so that, with a tug of my string, I'd cut loose my pain, my longing.”

“My price was his oath that he'd never lay a hand on you again. I told him I'd forgive him in exchange for that."She wished he'd punched her in the gut. It would have hurt less. Not trusting herself to keep from falling to her knees with shame right there, she just stalked down the hall.”

“Do you think he would?""I think he'd give his left nut to get in your pants.""Very nice," I told him. "So elegantly put."Dan laughed and leaned forward to nuzzle my neck again. "Yes, Elle, I think Jack would love to fuck you.”