Blurb
The only thing inevitable in love
is despair.
I knew from the start that he was going to wreck me.
Nothing could have prepared me for the day he walked into my life…
or the day he walked out of it.
I self-destructed.
All that remained was a shell of the girl I once was.
SHATTERED.
And I don’t know if I’ll ever recover.
Unedited Phoenix POV
I must admit I’m impressed. I have only seen house parties of this magnitude on the silver screen. There has to be at least a hundred and fifty people here with the majority of them being girls. More than enough beer. Ridiculous music. And a rather lively crowd. I give it another hour or so before the cops show up. Only the Sullivan brothers could kick off a bachelor weekend with a party of Animal House proportions.
Standing on the back porch, I check out the crowd looking for her again. It feels a little stalkerish, but I don’t care. I have to talk to her. I need to know her. And maybe that comes off as a little desperate, but I have no choice in the matter. Since I first saw her, there was never a choice and I haven’t been able to shake her from my mind. I take a swig from my red cup knowing that I’m going to need all the liquid courage I can get.
I am such chicken shit when it comes to hot chicks.
“Sup, Nix?” Sully climbs the stairs of the back porch and looks out over the party, acting like he owns the fucking place. In a way he does, I guess.
I tilt my head to acknowledge him and a blur of red catches my eye. It’s her. And judging from the way she’s storming back into the party, she’s pissed off.
Sully turns to see what, or rather who, I’m looking at.
“Blondie over there caught your eye? Yeah. She’s pretty cute.”
“No. Not the blonde.” I watch her intently as she throws her arms in the air, talking with her friends. “Her. The brunette.”
“Yeah? She’s okay.” He takes a long draw from his beer and I scoff. She’s more than just okay. She’s fucking gorgeous. And when she walked into the kitchen earlier, it was like every other person just melted away and only she existed.
I don’t even know her but I already know she’s perfect. And I have to grow a pair and go talk to her.
“She looks a little familiar, actually.” I don’t like the curious tone in his voice and whatever insinuation he’s trying to make. I turn to look at him. He’s eyeing her like he’s about to pounce on his prey and it makes me uncomfortable. “Did you see her theatrical performance few minutes ago?”
“No!” The words slip out with a little too much enthusiasm.
“To make a long story short, she got into it with some dude and chucked her beer on him.”
A feisty one. I fight back a smile and return my gaze to her. She is absolutely captivating.
“What’s with the shit-eating grin?”
Apparently I didn’t fight it hard enough.
“Nothing.” I take another pull of beer to hide my mouth.
“You’re pussy whipped and you don’t even know her name?”
“No,” I growl. But I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t an instant connection. From the moment I saw her, I knew I needed to be near her. Sometimes you just…know.
“Well…I could, uh, help you with that, you know?”
God. Not this shit again. If I had any wits about myself I’d just get it over with and punch him already. One of these days I’m going to and it’s going to be so fucking satisfying.
“Your idea of helping is going to land your sorry ass in jail one day. And none of us are going to bail you out.”
His callous laugh grates on my skin. What a douche bag.
“C’mon! How long has it been since you got laid? One…two years?” He elbows me in the ribs; I bite my tongue giving a quick evil eye. He still believes I haven’t slept with anyone since Annie. The boy is a damn fool.
I want to hit him where it hurts.
And tell him two days ago.
With Hailey.
His ex.
But I don’t even want to deal with the ramifications of that confession. And I won’t throw her under the bus like that. It’s hard to gauge just how much he’d care, if at all.
“Relax, man!” He raises his arms in mock surrender. “I just want you to have fun this weekend. Release some of that sexual tension.”
He is such a prick. I know precisely what is going through his mind right now and it disgusts me. The determination in his eyes is unnerving.
“Don’t even think about it. I will fucking kill you.”
That’s not a threat.
I throw back the last of my beer and crack my neck.
“All right, man. But at least let me give you an introduction. I know how you are about approaching girls.”
“Whatever, Sully. I’m going to hit the head.”
He grabs my shoulder just as I turn to walk back inside.
“Ten minutes. Give me ten minutes before you come back out.”
“Fine. Ten minutes.” I clench my teeth fearing I will regret every moment of the next six hundred seconds. Ten minutes is more than enough time for him to fuck everything up.
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About the author
B.L. Berry is many things. A New Adult author. A self-proclaimed music whore. A long-course triathlete. A marketing savant. And a full-time working mom. While there are never enough hours in the day, she does the best she can to get things done and hopes for technological advances in human cloning.
When she’s not hiding behind her computer writing, you can find her spending time with her family or catching up on her favorite TV shows. Rumor has it she’ll sleep when she’s dead.
She is Canadian by birth. Mexican by marriage. Chicagoan by heart. Kansan by choice. Jayhawk purely by common sense.
Residing outside of Kansas City, she lives with her husband, two children and black pug. Each day her family thanks the makers of e-Readers, because without which they would be living amongst stacks and stacks of romance novels. Conversely, each day B.L. Berry thanks the makers of e-Readers for hiding her book-hoarding tendencies.
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