Con Riley > Quotes

“MORGAN: Help me out here.
THEO: What's up?
MORGAN: Don't make me spell it out, Theo.
THEO: Oh.
MORGAN:Just talk dirty for a while.
THEO: Blue-sky thinking. Thought shower. Full spectrum leadership.
MORGAN: NOT corporate dirty. Sex dirty.
THEO: I wouldn't know where to start.”
― Con Riley, After Ben

“We all need people, Theo. It doesn't matter how we find the people who matter to us; it just matters that we hold on to them”
― Con Riley, After Ben

“THEO: You should walk a fucking mile before you judge a situation. You should put yourself in someone else's shoes before you blame, or judge, or pity. It takes a long time to wear down someone's confidence, and it takes much more strength of will to walk away than it does to take another punch.”
― Con Riley, After Ben

“Maggie wasn't without her concerns, though. "What if he's crazy?"

"Yeah, that's a definite possibility," he agreed.

"What if he's not your type?"

"Then we'll only hook up in dark places.”
― Con Riley, After Ben

“That was a classic anger boner. Always a shame to waste one of them.”
― Con Riley, Salvage

“Are you still making that man sing? It must be love, dude”
― Con Riley, After Ben

“Hi,” Jace said again, his smile soft, his eyes sparkling, and Sol’s world restarted.”
― Con Riley, Sol

“THEO: Who do you picture when you think of me?
MORGAN: Papa Smurf.
THEO: Do you have a camera in here somewhere?
MORGAN: Yes, Theo. I watch you jerk off to smurf porn every night.”
― Con Riley, After Ben

“THEO: There are times that I hate you — you and your pesky logic. MORGAN: There are times I picture you naked. We all have our crosses to bear.”
― Con Riley, After Ben

“You're not a slut. You're an extremely generous person with perilously low standards.”
― Con Riley, Charles

“Jon tells the truth, and it’s simple. “For as long as you want me.”
― Con Riley, Must Like Spinach

“But that’s how we recover. We take small risks⁠—like small stitches⁠—until we’re sewn back together.”
― Con Riley, Be My Best Man

“Charles, you make life sound like a celebration.”
― Con Riley, Charles

“So you ended up with that… thing… because it was what he wanted? He insisted?” Morgan pulled him close, dark eyes searching his face intently.
“No, I bought it for Ben as a reminder that even when we were ugly to each other, we were still okay.”
― Con Riley, After Ben

“It was a first that he almost wanted to dig a hole in the sand to bury, hiding Hugo’s words like they were treasure—hoard them to unearth when his time here was all over.”
― Con Riley, Charles

“Ah, we all die in the end.” Ben had paused before continuing, eyebrows raised as he questioned his word choices. “But sometimes the cast is compelling enough to make living through loss again worth it.”
― Con Riley, After Ben

“He would bottle this moment, if he could. Bottle it to pour out later when these days off the clock came to an end.”
― Con Riley, His Compass

“You said you’d forgotten something. What was it?” “How being a pushy wanker feels so much better with someone strong enough to push me right back.”
― Con Riley, His Last Christmas in London

“It was simply that Morgan was right for Theo in ways he couldn’t begin to explain. From little things such as Morgan already knowing so much about Theo—like the fact that he had no siblings—and accepting the way that Ben was still a very important part of his life, all the way through to arguing about absolutely fucking everything, Morgan was just right for him. It wouldn’t have mattered if he’d been twenty-one or sixty-one instead of twenty-eight. He was perfect for Theo.”
― Con Riley, After Ben

“There was a resonance in taking part in someone else’s reunion, an echo of a lonely time he hadn’t known could still chime loudly.”
― Con Riley, His Haven

“And wasn’t this exactly what he used to wish for? Someone here for him? Not someone. It was always him.”
― Con Riley, Luke

“We’re chest to chest again in a mansion-block bedroom, slow dancing without music, and it’s the best thing I’ve done in London.”
― Con Riley, His Last Christmas in London

“Theo finally did something purely for his own pleasure. Pulling his laptop toward him, he logged into his guilty secret—a local political debate forum—and looked for people who were wrong.”
― Con Riley, After Ben

“Doesn’t that make us friends with amazing benefits?” No, it makes me lonely.”
― Con Riley, Luke

“Come with me,” I tell him, adding more words to my actions, aware that’s what Mum taught me, because you never know when it might be your last chance to tell someone that them being around matters to you. “I’d like that.”
― Con Riley, His Last Christmas in London

“If double-deckers rumble past or black cabs honk, I don’t hear them, or much of anything else, apart from Guy saying, “So that’s how you lost your glove.” It isn’t a usual greeting, but he reaches for the glove that must dangle from my pocket to tuck it in deeper, leaving his hand on my hip so we’re connected.”
― Con Riley, His Last Christmas in London

“Liking Rob this much would only make leaving at the end of the summer so much harder.”
― Con Riley, His Horizon

“I could put my glove back on.” “Yes. You could.” Neither of us let go of the other’s hand, or move, even though the angle’s awkward.”
― Con Riley, His Last Christmas in London

“I’m not weak.” I repeat Patrick’s quiet mantra from days when getting my head off the pillow was a struggle. “Even a stone breaks when water drips on it for long enough.”
― Con Riley, His Last Christmas in London

“He fumed, his eyes narrowing. “I could still arrange some revenge. I know where he lives, and I know scary people.” “You know a class of five-year-old kids. Pretty sure Miss Godawful would have something to say about you turning them into miniature vigilantes.”
― Con Riley, His Haven