The Sharpest Lives Ch. 14

You will always get * * * * * from me. Fuck, that sounds like something out of navy recruitment literature. (Like - 'salute and take out your penis. Steady...wank.') All stupid jokes aside - your writing is crazy enough to keep me gasping and heavy enough too keep me thinking and thrilling right to the last sentence. Much love!

Again, thank you for the reviews. I know I can count on all of you to get my enthusiasm up again :)

As I said before, I was very worried about this chapter. And yes, I agree about getting an editor for the little mistakes and plot holes) but I'm more stubborn than the most stubborn old man you can find, so , so I don't think I'll work well with an editor, but the thought remains).

So, to clear a few doubts:

First, the scene with Kim and co. DID happen. There's this little part where Liam imagines all that was a bad nightmare, and hopes Kim won't understand what he was talking about implying that it was all in his head. But Kim replies she's glad he has learnt his lesson (means it wasn't a dream, it was a real event).

Second, a reference of time- The events at home happened on the same day, after which Liam leaves immediately. In the bar, he's thinking "...where is Liam, and Mom would say, I don't know, he hasn't been home in four days..."- so he has been away for 4 days.

And for the record, Kim is at the end of her 8th month of pregnancy.

I understand about the series going too fast. But as I said, Lit is not a place where I wish to tell the story in full. This has always been a very abridged version of a terribly long story. I just used Lit to see how it would be received.

Now about Liam:

Here is a person, who has always gotten what he wanted, by hook or crook, to the point that he more or less thinks he's some sort of God. He's not stupid, but he knows he will always get away with it, somehow- through sweet talking, status, money, connections, or just plain old manipulation.

Kim KNOWS Liam, maybe even better than he knows himself. I know I haven't had space or time to explain this, but take my word for it. Why else would she have forgiven Liam after that incident? Yes, it broke her- yet, she's ready to be with him again.

But she knows just forgiving him is not enough. She is in a position Rachel or even Liam's mother never was in: what she does will affect him. She can do something, and do something she will, even if it kills the both of them. Eve is right when she says both are messed up- like I said, any normal people would have walked away, at least for their own sanity. Come on guys, did you think for a millisecond these were normal people? Kim is just better at hiding it than Liam. She was never 'spoiled' he way he was, being allowed to do anything she wants without repercussions- and I would also add because you have been seeing it from her point of view, it 'makes sense' in a way.

Anyways. Like a commenter said before, any kind of revenge against Liam is like throwing rocks at a grizzly bear. Either you'll be lucky and be ignored, or get ripped to shreds. Most people don't because it's safer to move away. But Kim doesn't see that as an option. She has made her bed, and now she will lie on it. But she needs to fix it first. Sooo, how DO you fix this thing? Hence this method.

No, I haven't watched suicide squad, at all. Is it worth watching? Please don't say I copied it somehow.

Liam is an asshat. A douche canoe. A hemorrhoid, just a pain in the ass. He serves no purpose save that he does what he wants unaware that even his friends are mocking him. Selfish, self centred, arrogant and blinded by his own pride...and pride goeth before the fall.

The writing was amazing and while I hope he gets castrated, I like his character. He is a villain you hope pays for his crimes. As for his threats against his "friends", I hope he appreciates how much hurt he inflicted on the people around him and understands some of their pain, pain he deserves. I found it enjoyable as he talked about how sorry he was when his apology was more about him than about making amends.

I look forward to reading the other 13 chapters.

I'm back again, and for a third time I will try not to argue with the author. And this time I have a concern but I will save that point for last. Let me start with a comment about many of the stories that often get posted in this category...

Most stories here are brutal, or childish, or too romantic, or written from the perspective of revenge only, and while this location is the right place for many of them, some that appear here should have been in romance or Novels and Novellas instead. Based on this I appreciate authors who write in this category take their time to to build deep rich characters that fit properly into this NON-CON / RELUC space. Characters that (one or both or many) must be brought to a place where they understand that they have to freely sacrifice, surrender some part of their former selves to gain this HEA result. This story has been exceptional in doing that. Personally I think it's going too fast but maybe that's my appetite for more about these characters interaction with the world around them that has been missing to the last few chapters. Again as noted previously here and in other posts of mine in this category Waterburn was another great author who used tens of chapters to deliver an ending. Also I hate to see good things, like this story, end.

Now to the beginning of the story...it bothered me. Just when I got to thinking he was going to have to come to her...Lord and Master Liam returned ignoring rabbits request, overwhelming and deriding her family to once again give their daughter over to him, and imprisoning her once again in his world. Worse in the same room his father wasted away in...brutality at its delicious best. The last chapter ended with the words "Things were not going how I wanted them to go". So obviously he fixed that. I floundered right there between is he truly too stupid to know what he is doing? Or does he honestly not care? We clearly know in the first paragraphs of this chapter that NOTHING was learned by Liam from the events of the last chapter.

So I read on because I honestly love these characters and his peckish flaws (let's be honest...by now Liam ain't changing so these issues I point out are peckish at best) should not stop me from moving forward.

BAM...its argument time and they argue about nothing important. And thats okay they should argue like this. The author has given us two amazing, sadistic people (one sadistic to others, one to sadistic to herself and no I don't mean masochistic) who's relationship is NOT BASED ON LOVE but codependency. At the end of this argument Liam can think of nothing more than biting her lip as he takes her sexually. And she screams for him to get out when what she really wants is for him to show he cares and just take her but only if it is as an equal. Both failing again to express themselves properly to the other. LOVED IT!

Before I go to far I wish I knew what time it was in their relationship. How long have they been like this at his place? How far along in the pregnancy is Rabbit? Etc. Timing is critical here and I sorry I don't have that reference point.

The mom scene...everyone loves the slap. MORE importantly is was good to get a deeper background on mom. Who she really is and some of the "why she is the way she is" put into perspective for the reader. And I too just admit I LOVED the slap the first reading this story...but not the fifth time I read it. Now instead of believing it was possibly another opportunity for a learning moment for Liam. It became a missing moment. Because this slap had no effect. One of the best lines in this section was the thought Liam posed... "If you know how I think, woman, I know how you think too...". With her hands on his face holding him and looking into his "mom's eyes" he drops his bomb first...then a deserved slap and then.... then... then...what? Did Liam laugh in her face, did he cry, did he slap her back, did he walk away, did she hit him again...what???? Again did this happen same day of the argument, same week, same month...when? Timing is so important now and I'm losing critical perspective. Tom Baker, David Tennat, Matt Smith, someone help I need a Doctor! Gratuitous Doctor Who reference simply added for my own poignant attempt at humor..but I digress.

The bar scene..time balances out both Rabbit argument and mom slap happened same day as the club scene but I still don't know the when in the story. In the end Sam suggests a bad thing and Liam gets upset and Benjy breaks it up. But the problem is they are focusing on the wrong thing they are stuck on the fact her fucked another girl in front of Rabbit. So what. That was one event in a THOUSAND. It was one he told her he would do. It has NO BEARING on the story even if it's the one that broke the camels back. Rereading every chapter over twice this is a 3 out of 10 on the relevance scale. Sadly all three of these idiots make it a big deal and are soon about to compound it severely.

Let's talk about revenge, even if used to get the blind to see, come in three forms. One you can try to make someone feel a deeper hurt or suffer a greater loss than they inflicted on you to make you feel better. Two you can try to make someone feel a deeper hurt or suffer a greater loss than they inflicted on you to make them feel worse. Third you can get both results at once. But no matter what you need to make sure the target of your vengeance doesn't survive because escalation is the next response. And we have seen the hand of Lord and Master Liam in past chapters.

Let's talk about, for lack of a better word..."the Big Bang". Again "time" passes and nuclear war breaks out. Sam cons Rabbit into a gang bang and Rabbit likes the idea so much she amps it up to 3 plus Sam. And again they just don't get it. It's not about the sex! Liam doesn't care about someone violating Rabbit's pussy, he cares about someone violating HER! He doesn't care about her losing her virginity, losing the baby, losing her mind, or even him losing his mind or for that matter his body. He cares about losing HER! And this was the absolute worst way to try to drive home that idea they could have simply taken her home, had her have the baby away from him, had her re-enroll in school and become independent again without him and still delivered the same impact...but no they chose the nukes. And God please forgive me, but maybe, maybe it was the right way. I can't believe I typed that. God I love these characters.

Now I reserve judgement on just how well I think this worked when I read the final chapter. Whether Sam, his sister, and his 3 friends live or die is part of how I will feel. But I will save that for another day. Also if the author weasels out with the "it didn't really happen" or "dream sequence" I'll be just as pissed but so far this author hasn't wimped out and relied on any cheap literary constructs.

So nukes work...mutual assured destruction achieved. But now we are left with the after effect of this nuclear war. Is there enough of her left that he cares about? Is there enough of him left for her to want?

As a final thought, I do not know if you have seen Suicide Squad. But if you did the amazing relationship between the Joker and Harley Quinn was, to me, the best damn part of that movie to me. I see Liam in his house reprising the scene where the joker lies on the floor surrounded by ... everything from knives and guns, to roses and onesies, just languishing lost with the absence of his property, daddy's little monster. I found myself cheering for them to make it, for them to simply have the chance to have everything everyone else doesn't think they deserve to have. I cheered for the psychotic codependent couple who somehow made each other happy...to win. I hope that happens here too.

An editor would have helped. But I get it, the author wanted to get the story out quickly. Dolls need recognition, so do authors. You've been working hard on this long series. The pain you describe is real. Does one condemn Liam and ban him for his stupidity and callousness? Will parents be held responsible no end for their acts? Men want dolls and they get people, real humans with wants and needs.

Will the next chapter be the coup-de-grace? Can one get out of the endless cycle? Will we perhaps see a happy end? Intrigued!