Happy New Years Eve, everyone!
Well, another year has come and gone and so many things have changed, yet stayed the same. This passed year I have written over 400,000 words put out 12-15 books, some full length, some not so much.
It's also been a roller coaster of a year with more ups than downs.
I don't really like to make resolutions. With my ADHD brain, half the time everything I want to do and what truly happens are two vastly different things. It's just added stress I don't need for the time being.
But I will promise you this, there will be more of mine and Michele's Apache County Shifter series. In fact, we have written a Valentine's short for our TSU After Dark series. We are still working on Rapier, which is about 60k in, and what I would like to share with you today, Entrapped. The second book of our Leaving the Past Behind series. After that, it's a toss up. I'll have to keep you posted on the rest.
So, until I see you all next year, here is a sneak peek of Entrapped.
Enjoy!
TL
The door
closed behind her. “Who was that?”
Her heart
lodged in her throat. “No one for you to concern yourself with.”
Charisma
gathered her strength and headed into the bedroom. She found her suitcases in
their closet and began throwing her shit into them, uncaring of what went
where. It didn’t really matter; the clothes wouldn’t fit her much longer
anyway. Thankfully, she had a well-padded bank account thanks to the generosity
of her father. Buying clothes and supplies for her or the baby would never be a
concern.
“Hey now,
what’s this?”
She
glanced up at her mate and saw the confusion in his eyes. The way he looked as
though he’d lost his best friend should have torn her apart. Instead, the
resolve deep within her built. Charisma Winters was doing the right thing.
Later she’d grab her personal belonging like books and pictures.
She
grabbed more of her clothes from the dresser and put them into her case. “I am
going to help Penelope for a few days. She’s in need of some sister time. Since
you find it convenient to continue to leave me, though you’ve supposedly told
me the truth, this should make it easier on you to be ‘undercover’.”
Royce
growled. “I have always told the truth, Charisma. I’ve never lied.”
“Is that
before or after you took this job without telling me?” She cocked a brow before
showing him her back. She pulled more of her things from the drawers. “I have
to admit, you’re pretty smooth with the whole soulful puppy routine, but when
it comes down to it, you’re just a dog.”
“I deserve
that,” he said, crossing to her. “I deserve all of your venom. I assumed by me
explaining the situation, it would ease your mind. I miscalculated.”
She
snorted. “You think?” She hurried into the bathroom and grabbed all of her
shower stuff. “It must feel good to believe you’re so convincing, you can dupe
your mate whenever you feel like it.”
He shook
his head. “No, Oasis, it doesn’t. I hate this. I hate how you look at me. I
hate how you’re pulling away from me. I hate the fact nothing I am saying or
doing is convincing you, I’m sorry.”
She
dropped everything into the bag then zipped it up. “Well, sorry doesn’t cut it
anymore. I have wasted three years of my life hoping I’d be given a sign things
were going my way. Now, I’m making my own.” She carried the bag out of the room
and wondered, probably not for the last time, if she should be carrying
anything.
“What are
you talking about, Charisma?” He grabbed her arm, tugging her back into his
arms. The bag she held slipped from her hand and fell to the floor.
“I don’t
know how much plainer I need to be about this, Royce Raferty, but I am leaving
to go stay with Penelope and Saber. They at least will welcome me. At least
there I am needed and won’t be ignored.”
“Charisma,
baby, please tell me who called you. Is that why you’re upset? Did someone call
and say something to you?”
“Why,
Royce, what would anyone tell me that would leave you feeling guilty?” The
sweetness in her voice made her sick. If she hadn’t wretched up the contents of
her stomach a couple of hours ago, she would have then.
“Nothing.
I told you, my dick is yours. Only yours. You’re my mate. I can’t go around
fucking whoever I want to, and I don’t want to anyway.” He ran his fingers
through his hair then gave the short locks a tug. “You’re scared. I asked
because your heart is beating fast. I thought someone tried to harm you.”
She
laughed. “Who’d want to harm me? I’m the fat cow, remember.”
His blue
eyes turned a shade of chilling ice-blue. His lip curled as he growled. When
they first started this ill-fated mating, he’d walk her to and from her
classes, watching over her like a dutiful boyfriend. There were some who made
sounds of approval and then those who mooed at her or talked shit behind her
back. Brooklyn and her bitch friends had been the instigators of it. Tearing
her down bit by bit, until Charisma began taking her classes online to avoid
the hell of community college. The only time she saw Marie was when they were
in the orphanage and, even then, their time together was limited.
“Fuck
them,” Royce snarled. “Fuck all of them.”
Again,
another pang of jealousy reared its ugly head. “You already did. Everyone knows
the legends of the Raferty and Dryer families around here. You’re all lotharios.
You all could fuck knots in trees if you knew it was legal. Spare me your
disdain. Spare me your avenger complex, Royce. You can’t save everyone, and
you’re sure as hell not going to save me. I’ll do it myself.”
Disbelief
filled his features before he buried it. Could she have been wrong this whole
time? Could her self-image issues cloud what stood in front of her? She glanced
up at Royce. No. Not in the least. Three years she played the role perfectly.
She didn’t question, and she didn’t run away. She’d been right there, in this
apartment, a dirty secret until he decided to tell his version of what the
truth may be.
Nope, she
hadn’t made the wrong decision. A sense of rightness filled her. The little pep
talk she’d given herself while trying to find an apartment had been just what
she needed to walk out the door.
“Charisma.”
Pain and disbelief filled his voice. His eyes were red rimmed from unshed
tears. She made a direct hit on everything she said, and a little voice in the
back of her mind whispered, you broke
him.
Yeah...well,
pot meet kettle. He’d done it a long time ago. He finished smashing her to
pieces when he pulled his little scenario of telling the truth. Like she would
believe something so asinine. So unbelievable. Truth went a long way with her.
He could have been up front about it from the very beginning, and she would
have listened. Hell, she might have given him the benefit of the doubt. She
might have helped him. She definitely would have kept his secret.
“Royce,”
she said, trying to muster all the strength she could. “It’s for the best I
leave. You have to pull off this job still. I can’t be here right now. I can’t
even stand being around you or myself. I let you pull me down this rabbit hole,
and now I need to find myself.”
He took a
step toward her, and Charisma flinched. She’d never flinched before. Never
tried to pull away from any of his affection. However, knowing now what he’d
been doing... She had to go.
“I can’t
do this if you’re not here when I come home,” he whispered. “Don’t you
understand? You’re the reason it’s easier to do this job. Coming home to you,
even when I feel the guiltiest, eases the ache in my heart.”
“Well, you
should have thought about what you were doing to me on all those nights I spent
here alone. All those nights I cried myself to sleep. You were out pretending
to care more for a fake girlfriend than you ever cared for me.” She wrapped her
palm around the suitcase handle and stepped around him. “Goodbye, Royce.”
Entrapped will be available on Jan. 9th 2019.
