uncle was a former military man who was now a successful entrepreneur. He didn’t take shit from anyone who wasn’t his pint-sized wife or his wild, mouthy firstborn. My cousin Remy was even more of a handful than my little sister and twice as rebellious. She was always in one kind of trouble or another, but she was probably the most loyal and passionate person I’d ever encountered in my life. Both Daire and I idolized her when we were growing up, and she was often the one we turned to when we needed help managing our relationships with our parents. She was one of our group who left the state when she ventured out into the real world. I think we all expected as much from her.
Remy was a wanderer. A free spirit. She was also irrevocably in love with Hyde Bishop-Fuller, the oldest dude in our inner circle. Unfortunately, Hyde had never returned her adoration, and when he enlisted in the military a couple of years ago, Remy really saw no reason to stay in any one place for too long. I missed her like crazy, and I knew Zowen worried about her endlessly, but she always seemed happy and as carefree as ever when she finally materialized. I always envied her easy-going attitude. Nothing seemed to ruffle her feathers. Well, nothing other than Hyde.
I’d never been that relaxed and unaffected. I took myself far too seriously.
It was still early enough in the morning that I didn’t have to fight traffic when I pulled into Austin. It was hardly a surprise that the girl I came all this way to see was just now getting home when I parked my truck at the end of her driveway. She didn’t even blink when she saw me climb out of the cab and make my way toward her.
Her black and purple hair was piled on top of her head in a messy ponytail, and her dark eye makeup was smeared around her honey-colored eyes in a way that I couldn’t tell if it was deliberate or not. She had on a pair of skintight, red leggings that looked like they were made of leather and a pair of shiny black boots that were laced up to her knees. Her T-shirt had the logo of a band I was sure no one besides her had ever heard of scrawled across the front of it, and the bottom was chopped off so that it skimmed her pierced belly button. I always thought she looked like she had just climbed out of the pages of a comic book, and today was no exception.
Instead of walking into the cute but tiny mid-century modern home that sat just off South Congress street, she waited until I was standing directly in front of her before she crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at me.
I was waiting for her to demand an explanation as to why I was suddenly standing on her doorstep. I was ready for her to pick a fight. I’d spent the last hour of the very long drive bracing myself for her to rip me apart and ask all the questions I didn’t want to answer.
Instead, I whispered the words, “it hurts so bad,” and almost immediately lost all the composure I’d tried so hard to build. I aimlessly made my way toward the girl who was my sworn enemy.
She didn’t push me away or make fun of my complete and utter breakdown.
No. She didn’t do anything I expected her to do.
Bowe Keller never did, which was why I never knew what to do with her or how to handle the conflicting ways I felt about her.
All I knew was she was the person I needed the most at this moment.
First and foremost, thank you to each and every one of you who picked up this book.
And an extra-large thank you to anyone who has or will take a few minutes to leave a review. I hate sounding like a broken record every time I release a book, but reviews really do help, and leaving one is the very best thing you can do for a new release and an author. And in case you hate the book and worry about a bad review being unwelcome, that isn’t the case. Any honest review is a big help and super encouraged. Never trust a book with no bad reviews…lol.
I’m sure this year has been challenging in a lot of ways, and the fact you picked my book to escape into for a bit honestly means the world. Both reading and writing were a struggle for me this year, but when I did fall into a story that took my mind off a myriad of things I just couldn’t shake, I was so grateful for the reprieve for the break from reality. It is always my honor to bring that into someone else’s life. If you’re having a hard time for any reason, I hope you know you are not alone, and those feelings are totally valid, always, but especially this year.
That’s a long-winded way to say thank you to all my readers and the amazing bloggers still showing up in Romancelandia during unprecedented times. You are really holding it down, and I am so grateful.
Of course, there would be no book, good, bad, or ugly, without my creative team. One of my favorite parts of publishing a book independently is getting to handpick the folks I want to work with. I think I have the best of the best and cannot recommend Hang, Elaine, and Beth enough. They are worth every single penny. You can find their info at the beginning of this book.
I owe my beta team the world. I think I have this author thing figured out nearly a decade into it, with over thirty books published. But without fail, I learn something new and figure out a way to be better and write better books each time they hand a rough draft back to me. I appreciate them so much. It’s such a huge deal for anyone to offer their time and talent for the benefit of someone else. Seriously, they show up regardless of how tight the turnaround time is or how awful my initial draft is. My beta team really is the best. Pam, Teri, Alexandra, Kelly, Cheron, Sarah, and Karla all bring something invaluable to the table. I couldn’t imagine putting out a book without having them be the first eyes on it.
Last, but certainly not least, is my undying gratitude to my assistant Melissa. She takes on any challenge I throw her way. Believe me when I say there are a lot of them! She forces me to see the glass as half full, even on the hardest of days. I feel like we’ve accomplished so much and grown together. We’ve worked together for a long time, and I think all the best parts of both of us have rubbed off on one another. She remains one of the kindest, most compassionate humans I’ve ever met, even when the world feels like it is constantly on fire.
I mentioned it in the Author’s Note, but this book wouldn’t have been written if it wasn’t for my awesome reader’s group Crownover’s Crowd. They are just the chilliest, most encouraging group of readers on the interwebs, and I’m so happy we have a safe place to gather and interact regularly. If you haven’t joined, I highly suggest you do.
Below is a list of all the places you can find me: