Introduction
Life is never kind to the broken.
Then again, aren't we all broken?
I've faced the sexists, the egotistics, the rapists, the catalysts; everyone is an asshole in their own right. Sadly, I'm maxing out on how much more hardship I can take.
Griffin Riley used to be my enemy and the cause of my many headaches but now he seems to be my pain medication that takes the aches away. But nothing good can last forever.
Maybe we'll be the exception. A girl can hope.
But between the stress, high stakes, jealousy, fights, trials, the media, school, life changing scares, and most importantly; Lacrosse, our relationship will be put through the ringer.
I just hope we aren't smushed to death.
Chapter 1
I was violently awoken by pounding and yelling at the wooden door of my one bedroom apartment. My eyes were nearly open when I heard the door burst open.
"I swear to God if you two are having sex again I am going to gouge my eyes out and feed them to you!" I didn't even register the voice pounding through the walls of the spacious off campus apartment. Thanks to our fathers, Finn and I had a nice view of the city and floor to ceiling windows in the living room and kitchen.
I was still half asleep when Finn groaned from underneath me and I rolled off of him, clutching the white comforter to my bare chest. The bedroom door was already open so there was nothing to stop the screaming banshee from bursting into our room like death himself.
"Seriously? You guys were supposed to be up an hour ago to get breakfast yet here you are, laying in bed." The monster continued to practically screech. It doesn't matter your state of mind, everything in the morning sounds infinitely louder and more painful.
Finn opened his eyes, looked at his friend and then dropped his head right back down onto the pillow. He let out a groan of annoyance. "Not everyone wants to get up at 3:30am to get breakfast, Jason. Practice isn't until 5 today so leave us alone." Finn practically spat Jason's name like it was venom.
"When your brother finds out what I do to you behind his back we're dead."
"Then maybe I should stay on my knees so he doesn't notice."
Everyone wants to see the sunset. It's something so beautiful and enthralling; so close but so far. I've been running after my sunset like my life depended on it. He's in my bed but not my heart, and I don't think he will ever be. If he was, we would both pay an unimaginably penalty.
Then again, don't the best things come from under dangerous circumstances, waiting for the hatchet to drop?
So I'll keep hunting, but some prizes are never meant to be captured.
We loved Jason, we really did, but at this point in time we hated him. He was a morning person; we were not.
"It's 4:30. We leave in ten minutes." He said plainly before closing the door and walking out of the bedroom.
"Remind me why we thought having a friend 5 years older than us was a good idea?" I muttered. "It's like he's my father."
"We didn't exactly choose him." Finn retorted while sitting up in bed. I dragged my naked boy from between the sheets and fished for some clothing in my drawers. Once I found my official practice uniform, it threw it on and brushed my hair into a ponytail.
Finn was much more sluggish with his movements, but he got it done in about the same amount of time. I brushed my teeth before exiting the large bathroom so Finn could brush his. When I paraded myself into the main part of our apartment, Jason was laying on our black leather couch while scrolling through his phone.
I wordlessly slipped on my cleats. They were the same as everyone else's on the team; white body with a blue tongue and laces, grey plastic spikes, and a red Nike swoosh. I actually had three or four pairs, but I was saving those until these ones got too beat up to wear. Not to mention my two pairs of white Under Armor cleats with Maryland's signature red 'M' on the tongue and the Retro cleats that were red at the heal and faded into white at the toe. The was on top of the Wounded Warrior cleats with one foot in stripes and one in stars. Truth be told, this apartment had around 16 pairs of cleats between the two of us.
I had more cleats than I had friends.
That's sad but true.
Jason stood from the couch when Finn stumbled out of our bedroom only to reach the fridge and down a cup of coffee from yesterday. It must have tasted stale because his eyes went wide for a second before he shook his head side to side in an attempt to forget the taste plaguing his mouth.
I picked up my gear bag from the dark stained wooden floor and my everyday stick. While the national team never had uniform sticks, the Olympic team was going all out. My stick was a d-pole that started red and faded into white at the top of the shaft. The crosse was blue and the netting was white. They even had our last names printed in blue near the top of the shaft.
Finn scooped up his shit and I fished out a protein bar from my bag as the three of us walked out the door. "How did you even get into our apartment?" Finn asked while locking the door.
"Land lord let me up." Jason replied, his voice dripping with boredom.
"How did you-" Jason cut me off as we entered the elevator of the complex.
"I told him I was your brother and it was an emergency, that you just had surgery and needed me." He pressed the 'close' button and the elevator started to descend from floor ten.
My eyes flickered up and down Jason's body and then to his face. "How did you convince him you were my brother? We look nothing alike."
Jason's brown, almost black eyes flicked over my body. See where I was pale and pink toned, Jason had a slight tan and a yellow undertone. My hair was light brown, his was jet black. He was tall and I was average. He was Asian and I was white. Huge difference. Huge fucking difference. Jason snorted at me. "Yeah no shit, hot stuff. I'm the step brother. Besides, he's already seen me here a million times so it's not like I'm a stranger."
"We need a new landlord." Finn muttered under his breath as the steel doors slid open.
Last Chapters
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On Christmas Eve, I aborted the CEO's child
On Christmas Eve night, my husband brought his mistress home and demanded that I, his pregnant wife, leave with nothing.
On this day, I lost my husband and also lost the child in my womb...
I Loved You in Silence, You Betrayed Me in French
At my birthday party, my husband whispered to his mistress in French that he missed her. His voice was low, but I heard it all—the black lingerie, the bit about how pregnancy makes you more sensitive. His French clients around us were laughing. He turned and put his arm around me, claiming he was just helping his clients come up with sweet nothings.
He doesn't know I understand every single word. Just like he doesn't know that inside my body, I'm carrying his other surprise. And his mistress—she's pregnant too. Two wombs, one secret.
Confrontation would be too cheap. Tears are worthless. I quietly started cataloging the hidden networks my father left behind, activating the Swiss accounts.
In seven days, Zoey Smith will cease to exist. And what will my husband's reaction be?
When I Disappeared, He Regretted It
The moment the screen lit up, my entire world came crashing down.
The woman on the bed was Calista - that girl who grew up with us since we were kids. And that hand caressing her skin was wearing the wedding ring I had personally put on Matteo's finger.
"I've missed you so much..."
"You drive me crazy, baby..."
Those sweet words I knew so well completely destroyed me.
Everyone said we were the perfect couple, but who knew this marriage was built on nothing but lies?
Since he's so good at acting, I guess it's time I gave him a show of my own. I'm going to make sure everyone sees what this "perfect husband" really is...
The Family Sacrifice
I simply said one word: "Okay."
My parents and Gilbert were stunned. They rushed to have me sign the voluntary donation form, afraid I’d change my mind.
Some days later, they sent me to the operating room.
Dad said, "Yvonne will finally be saved. We're so proud of you."
Mom said, "After the surgery, we'll make it up to you."
Gilbert looked tenderly at Yvonne and said, "When you're better, where should we travel?"
What they didn't know was that the day I agreed, I'd just received my diagnosis, stage four cancer. Three months to live.
As I lay on the cold operating table, as the anesthesia began to take effect, I only wanted to know one thing:
If I die on this operating table, will they regret it?
He Never Loved Me, Until I Left
I put away the divorce agreement with a wry smile.
When he and my son completely disappeared, he finally panicked.
Three months later .
He knelt down on the streets of Chicago in despair, begging me to remarry him.
My six-year-old son looked coldly at his biological father and said, "Get lost, you bad uncle! You don't deserve to be my dad!"
He Thought I'd Never Leave
When he said he was being bullied, I believed him. When he kissed me on that rooftop, I thought he felt the same. When he asked me to transfer schools with him, I said yes without hesitation.
Then I heard him bragging to his friends: "She'd save her first time for me. Hell, she'd still be thinking of me on her wedding night."
The bullying was staged. The kiss meant nothing. He just wanted me gone—so his new girl could feel more comfortable.
He thought I'd beg. He thought I'd cry. He thought I'd never actually leave.
I left the country.
And ran straight into his stepbrother.
I Died While They Threw Her a Party
Their real daughter came home. She'd only been back two years. That's all it took to erase twenty-four.
When kidnappers grabbed us, I used my body as a shield. They beat me until something inside me ruptured. I was dying from internal bleeding, but no one could tell.
My parents wouldn't even look at me. "This is your fault! None of this would've happened if it weren't for you!"
"Get downstairs and apologize to your sister. If you can't, pack your things and get out."
They threw her a party at a downtown hotel while I died alone in my room.
I thought they'd be relieved. Maybe even glad. I thought they'd just move on like I never existed.
But when they finally learned the truth, they fell apart.
Bury Me in His Regret
The kidnapper pressed the gun to my temple and asked, "Choose your wife or your sister-in-law?"
Zachary didn't hesitate. "Let Valerie go," he said.
He actually chose to save his sister-in-law! In that moment, even the baby in my belly seemed to stop kicking.
Later, they locked me in the basement. Drugs to delay labor were pumped into my veins over and over. Zachary wanted to save the "firstborn son" status for his sister-in-law's child.
When warm blood finally soaked through my skirt, I dialed the number I knew by heart with shaking hands.
"Zachary," I whispered into the phone, "our child... can't wait any longer."
The Kidney That Killed Me
A few months ago, my sister was hospitalized with kidney failure. The doctor said she needed a transplant. My family's first thought was me—the backup daughter they'd kept around all these years.
When my husband Allen took my hand with tears in his eyes and said, "Only you can save her," I agreed without hesitation.
When the doctor explained the surgical risks and potential complications, I smiled and nodded my understanding.
My parents said I'd finally learned what sisterly love meant.
Even Allen, who'd always been cold to me, held my hand gently and said, "The surgery's safe. You're so healthy, nothing will go wrong. When you recover, I'll take you to Hawaii."
But they don't know that no matter how the surgery goes, I won't be around to celebrate.
Because I just got my own test results—I have terminal brain cancer. I'm going to die anyway.
After the Affair: Falling into a Billionaire's Arms
From first crush to wedding vows, George Capulet and I had been inseparable. But in our seventh year of marriage, he began an affair with his secretary.
On my birthday, he took her on vacation. On our anniversary, he brought her to our home and made love to her in our bed...
Heartbroken, I tricked him into signing divorce papers.
George remained unconcerned, convinced I would never leave him.
His deceptions continued until the day the divorce was finalized. I threw the papers in his face: "George Capulet, from this moment on, get out of my life!"
Only then did panic flood his eyes as he begged me to stay.
When his calls bombarded my phone later that night, it wasn't me who answered, but my new boyfriend Julian.
"Don't you know," Julian chuckled into the receiver, "that a proper ex-boyfriend should be as quiet as the dead?"
George seethed through gritted teeth: "Put her on the phone!"
"I'm afraid that's impossible."
Julian dropped a gentle kiss on my sleeping form nestled against him. "She's exhausted. She just fell asleep."
Shattered Girl
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. Was that too much?” I could see the worry in his eyes as I took a deep breath.
“I just didn’t want you to see all my scars,” I whispered, feeling ashamed of my marked body.
Emmy Nichols is used to surviving. She survived her abusive father for years until he beat her so severely, she ended up in the hospital, and her father was finally arrested. Now, Emmy is thrown into a life she never expected. Now she has a mother
who doesn't want her, a politically motivated stepfather with ties to the Irish mob, four older stepbrothers, and their best friend who swear to love and protect her. Then, one night, everything shatters, and Emmy feels her only option is to run.
When her stepbrothers and their best friend finally find her, will they pick up the pieces and convince Emmy that they will keep her safe and their love will hold them together?
The Pack: Rule Number 1 - No Mates
"Let me go," I whimper, my body trembling with need. "I don't want you touching me."
I fall forward onto the bed then turn around to stare at him. The dark tattoos of Domonic's chiseled shoulders, quiver and and expand with the heave of his chest. His deep dimpled smile is full of arrogance as he reaches behind himself to lock the door.
Biting his lip, he stalks toward me, his hand going to the seam of his pants and the thickening bulge there.
"Are you sure you don't want me to touch you?" He whispers, untying the knot and slipping a hand inside. "Because I swear to God, that is all I have been wanting to do. Every single day from the moment you stepped in our bar and I smelled your perfect flavor from across the room."
New to the world of shifters, Draven is human on the run. A beautiful girl who no one could protect. Domonic is the cold Alpha of the Red Wolf Pack. A brotherhood of twelve wolves that live by twelve rules. Rules which they vowed could NEVER be broken.
Especially - Rule Number One - No Mates
When Draven meets Domonic, he knows that she is his mate, but Draven has no idea what a mate is, only that she has fallen in love with a shifter. An Alpha that will break her heart to make her leave. Promising herself, she will never forgive him, she disappears.
But she doesn’t know about the child she’s carrying or that the moment she left, Domonic decided rules were made to be broken - and now will he ever find her again? Will she forgive him?
