First Look: Chapter One of Nobody Like Us (Patreon)

It's that time! The very first chapter of Nobody Like Us is finally here as a sneak peek for all of you!! We structured the beginning of the book a bit differently, so chapter one is on the short side. But it does open with a mic drop. The rest of NLU will be here before you know it! After our final edits, it actually came out to be even LONGER than Some Kind of Perfect. So that means this is our longest book to date. And we really couldn't think of a better way to cap off the series. Luna and Donnelly are everything to us, and we hope you enjoy their epic, cosmic romance as much as we enjoyed writing it! Happy Reading!! 👽💘💫💜💚

IMPORTANT: Please do NOT screenshot and/or share any portion of the post. This is an exclusive first look for the Patreon and for your eyes only. Thank you!! 💗

I’ve been avoiding funerals most of my life. Didn’t make it to my grandmom’s when she croaked. Skipped out on mass for deceased aunts and uncles. Been to one wake for a cousin. But that was because I was thirteen and hungry and they had roast beef hoagies. I’m not big on death. It feels like the conclusion of something—and I’d just rather keep on running, keep on going, than celebrate any kind of ending.

On the grassy hill of a cemetery a little outside Philly, it hits me like a burst of cold December wind.

My first funeral is for a Calloway.

Not my mom.

Not my dad.

A fucking Calloway.

I’d laugh at the sheer shock of it—but can’t laugh during a funeral. I have manners and all—even if everyone in the cemetery has been eyeballing me and Luna rather than the coffin that’ll descend into the freshly dug earth.

Feels like we were the ones who died.

Like half the people here are lowering us into the ground.

At least I’m with her. In life, in death…at least I’m with Luna Hale.

I scrape a hand through my hair.

Yeah, I’m not dead yet. Luna leans into my shoulder, her warmth radiating against me, and my left arm is already around this girl.

I look down at her. Residual glitter is still stuck in her light brown hair, the strands sparkling, and her round cheeks are rosy from the biting winter air. Her black puffer jacket is too short to warm the length of her body, but I tuck her close to me.

She’s mine. She’s all mine, but from across the wooden casket, I spot a fortysomething woman with deep auburn hair yanked into a taut bun. Luna’s therapist. If she could chuck stones, I’d be pelted to death by now. She would rather I let Luna go.

It’s worse when I spot Luna’s parents. Her mom practically turns her face into her husband’s chest just to avoid me. Like I’m truly disease-ridden and toxic waste.

My stomach clenches.

It’s not about me. She’s just upset about who died. It’s upsetting. This death. This whole thing. I try to convince myself, but it’s also clear she’s doing her best not to make eye contact with me.

Luna senses her mom’s avoidance, and she shifts uneasily. I squeeze her in a side-hug.

A light layer of snow blankets the dewy morning grass. Everyone is standing, hundreds in attendance to pay their respects, and I only feel like a special invitee because I can see the gravesite. I’m not two or three rows behind friends-of-friends and other security.

I am on-duty though. Had to keep the press and paparazzi out of the cemetery, but I managed to sneak up to the front to be beside Luna. I’m Epsilon—been that way for three days—and my fellow SFE brethren are looking at me like I deserve to be shoved in the hole. O’Malley, most especially.

I meet the intensity of his glare with one of my own.

Fuck him.

My blood courses hatefully, and I despise this feeling. I want to release it, but after all that’s happened, I can’t figure out how. I’m afraid to live inside hatred, maybe more than I am to live inside the past.

I glance back down at Luna—she’s worth everything. She’s my everything. But I’m still partially in her world. One foot in, one foot out. Like with a big enough gust of wind, I could be blown away from her.

She springs on her tiptoes to whisper to me, “It kinda feels like we’re being stared at.”

I dip my head to whisper back, “Accurate assessment, I’d say. They’re probably just jealous.”

“Uh-huh,” she says, her voice tense.

We both know they’re not envious of the hell we’ve been going through. No one in their right mind would be.

They’re also not envious of what happened to us three days ago—the same day we learned a Calloway died. Also known as the day another member of Luna’s family walked in on me giving her head. History repeats itself in strange ways, and I don’t know what it says about me that this happened yet again.

What didn’t repeat: Keeping it under wraps.

Her entire family got wind of it today. Hence, being eyeballed during the funeral like we’re the ones in the casket.

I’d say we already had some metaphorical or spiritual death of sorts, but it’s not that easy to put me to rest.

And there it is! What comes next is a THREE DAYS EARLIER page and you will precede to read exactly where Unlucky Like Us ends within the novel. To not completely spoil the death, we won't be posting chapter two. But there'll be teasers coming tomorrow, and we'll be updating Pinterest Boards, so keep on the lookout!! It's almost hereeeee!!! *prepares galactic confetti* 

xoxo Krista & Becca

“Nobody Like Us," Copyright © 2024 by K.B. Ritchie