Booktree.ngIt-Starts-with-Us-Colleen-Hoover

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I have to hold back my irritation. I pull his empty plate of food and hisglass toward me, and I stand up. “I didn’t know about you until today, Josh.I swear. I would have been around if I had.”He eyes me from his seat, studying me. Wondering if he can trust me.“You know about me now.” He says that like it’s a challenge to do better. Toprove his low expectations of the world wrong.I nudge my head toward the doors to the kitchen. “You’re right. Let’sgo.”He doesn’t immediately get out of the booth. “Where to?”“My house. I have a room for you as long as you stop cussing so much.”He raises an eyebrow. “What are you, some kind of religious nutjob?”I motion for him to stand up. “An eleven-year-old muttering cuss wordsall the time seems desperate. It’s not cool until you’re at least fourteen.”“I’m not eleven, I’m twelve.”“Oh. She said you were eleven. Still. Too young to be cool.”Josh stands up and starts to follow me through the kitchen.I spin and face him as I push back through the doors. “And for futurereference, you spelled asshole wrong. There’s no w.”He looks surprised. “I thought that looked funny after I wrote it.”I put his dishes in the sink, but it’s almost three in the morning and I’mnot in the mood to wash them. I flip out the lights and have Josh lead theway out the back door. When I’m locking it, he says, “Are you going to tellSutton where I am?”“I don’t know what I’m going to do yet,” I admit. I start walking downthe alley, and he rushes to catch up with me.“I’m thinking of going to Chicago, anyway,” he says. “I probably won’tstay more than one night at your place.”I laugh at the idea that this kid thinks I’m going to allow him to run offto another city now that I know he exists. What am I getting myself into? Ihave a feeling my day-to-day responsibilities have just doubled. “Do wehave any other siblings I don’t know about?” I ask him.“Just the twins, but they’re only eight.”I stop in my tracks and look at him.He grins. “I’m kidding. It’s just the two of us.”I shake my head and grab the back of his hoodie, pulling it down overhis head. “You’re something.”
He’s smiling when we make it to my car. I’m smiling, too, until I feel asharp stab of worry in the center of my gut.I’ve known him for half an hour. I’ve known of him for a fraction of aday. Yet I suddenly feel like I’ll be protective of him for a lifetime.
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Thank you for downloadingthis Simon
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Dear reader,This book is a sequel t
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anything that came back to the kitc
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question I’m answering.” I focu
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The order is for a bouquet of roses
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But are we worth it? Is us potentia
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custody. Unless I was willing to dr
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consequences is that Ryle will alwa
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etiquette?”It surprises me that h
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Chapter FourLilyMine and Ryle’s s
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I’m about to take another bite of
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I know the answers to these questio
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I rewind the footage even more unti
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“Am I dying?” She repeats my qu
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“Yes, he is a god,” Allysa whis
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She’s digging through her purse f
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“Atlas…” I say his name like
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She looks momentarily satisfied by
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He shrugs. “Kinda.”The discussi
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Chapter EightLilyIt’s almost 9:30
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“You don’t look exhausted.”I
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something that won’t embarrass me
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Atlas clears his throat, leaning fo
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Chapter NineAtlas“Let me see a pi
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My phone begins to buzz in my pocke
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“Yeah. Both restaurants are close
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I open my office door and find Brad
Page 58 and 59: other sick months ago, since it hap
Page 60 and 61: Chapter ElevenAtlasI wanted the day
Page 62 and 63: “I’ve never been there, either,
Page 64 and 65: I love that she’s asking me such
Page 66 and 67: He shrugged. “I don’t know. I w
Page 68 and 69: It’s obvious she has no clue how
Page 70 and 71: Chapter TwelveLily“I can’t beli
Page 72 and 73: that one day, that one meal, that p
Page 74 and 75: She left the door open for me while
Page 76 and 77: All I did was ask to move home. I d
Page 78 and 79: the city and ordering burgers has b
Page 80 and 81: “Do I get a redo?” I ask.“A r
Page 82 and 83: dead giveaway that he’s angry. I
Page 84 and 85: the stairwell. I take a nervous ste
Page 86 and 87: “Everything would be so much easi
Page 88 and 89: “Oh.” His eyes dart around, as
Page 90 and 91: Chapter ThirteenAtlasIt’s amazing
Page 92 and 93: She rolls her eyes. “I’m not he
Page 94 and 95: “Where do you live?” I ask her.
Page 96 and 97: Chapter FourteenLilyI’ve been out
Page 98 and 99: I close the door and press my foreh
Page 100 and 101: it flourish and grow. Like what Lil
Page 102 and 103: sever. I feel like he could go spen
Page 104 and 105: little girl from the homeless boy w
Page 106 and 107: “You’re holding it wrong.” My
Page 110 and 111: Chapter SixteenLilyYou lose your mo
Page 112 and 113: “Look at this adorable outfit,”
Page 114 and 115: It’s a kid.A kid who looks just l
Page 116 and 117: He exhales. “I should probably ge
Page 118 and 119: He takes a bite, and one of his eye
Page 120 and 121: number and put the phone to my ear.
Page 122 and 123: Josh reluctantly takes the credit c
Page 124 and 125: and I was about to send him right b
Page 126 and 127: “What are you wearing to Lucy’s
Page 128 and 129: “He’s not, really. Not to me.
Page 130 and 131: I immediately blush, and that makes
Page 132 and 133: Chapter NineteenAtlasI have no idea
Page 134 and 135: About an hour later, the kitchen is
Page 136 and 137: Chapter TwentyLilyIt’s challengin
Page 138 and 139: Atlas touches my hand that’s cupp
Page 140 and 141: My lack of response is enough confi
Page 142 and 143: other again, I could cry.
Page 144 and 145: Lily tonight, it was hard to focus
Page 146 and 147: Chapter Twenty-TwoLilyI’m trying
Page 148 and 149: were younger. The desire, the thril
Page 150 and 151: looks me up and down. I’m still a
Page 152 and 153: Chapter Twenty-ThreeAtlasI should d
Page 154 and 155: danger by showing up at your house
Page 156 and 157: Chapter Twenty-FourLilyThere’s a
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I blow out a calming breath, reliev
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She hasn’t spotted me yet, so I t
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There may come a day when I officia
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Chapter Twenty-FiveAtlas“What tim
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She sighs. “That’s the thing. I
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Josh can’t see us from the dining
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I’d never admit any of this out l
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seeing, so they use their child as
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Chapter Twenty-SixLilyYou disappoin
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I’m so sick of his remorse. I wan
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Chapter Twenty-SevenAtlasIt’s onl
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“You think I don’t know the law
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know I can make Lily, she’ll neve
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guess this is the best possible out
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“Then when?”It’s not really a
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makes a beeline for me, sidesteppin
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He nips at my ear, sending chills d
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I make it to the doorway of his bat
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squeezing water out of it with both
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we have to pretend like we don’t
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Chapter Twenty-NineAtlasI can’t g
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“Where is he?”“At a friend’
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Lily does it for me.She starts to w
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plate of breakfast. I sit across fr
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“I found your dad’s address.”
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Chapter Thirty-OneAtlasIt’s a thr
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remain from the shit I endured livi
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make this decision for him.I just s
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Chapter Thirty-TwoLilyAre you at ho
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She’s giggling as soon as he make
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Ryle’s jaw is twitching. His expr
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“I did. It’s coconut shrimp.”
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have been really difficult for you.
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I unfold the note and trace the lit
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and I had to swallow before I could
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I’ve written in this letter. And
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Chapter Thirty-FiveAtlas“Aren’t
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Marshall glances over at the car th
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Chapter Thirty-SixLilyI’m curled
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But his question about leaving with
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home from work early and the two of
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I pull the page out of my pocket an
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Optimistically speaking, we could l
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both more than words can say, and e
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About the AuthorCOLLEEN HOOVER is t
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LaylaVerityReminders of HimAlso by
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First published in the USA by Atria
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Booktree.ngIt-Starts-with-Us-Colleen-Hoover

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