Jasmine’s Reviews > Mansions > Status Update

“But he's given me an out. He's given me an escape route. He drops his eyes to my legs, to watch the way his hands work over my flesh.

At that moment, I wonder if we're thinking the same thing. It's only a matter of time before I learn to run.”

“It's not love,” she says, her voice so close to my ear.

“Thank Christ. If I loved you, I'd hate to see what I would become.”

“When the time comes, I'm going to get out of here. I'm going to run like hell and never look back, but I'm never going to forget him. There's no way I ever could.”

“God can't save her from me,” I say and the nurse looks at me like I'm a monster. And I am.

“I stared at you in that hospital bed and I realized that you would never run from me again.”

“I can admit that I've kept a museum of sorts, a catalogued library for my own purposes. Every photo of hers that's  ever been published, I have. It's a foolish hobby, collecting her, but I can't stop myself.”

“You're running from me again,” he says, his voice carrying across the empty space. “Do I scare you?”

“There's more productive and memorable ways I could be spending my time, surely.”

“Like snorting a line of coke off a stripper's ass?” I say, before I can stop myself. A devilish light flares up behind his eyes and I know I've probably said the exact wrong thing. Now he's intrigued. Shit.

“They were dead but their bodies were still here, on display. Their lives were still being recognized. That's true power, I always thought. Never being forgotten.”

“His name is Dorian Armstrong. I barely know him, but I know I hate him.”