I stared at her, sure I had misheard.
“Jake,” she slurred. “My boy.”
Oh dear God.
“Mama?”
Her fingers trailed to my face and tenderly she drew her thumb across my cheek and wiped away the tear. Then she smiled, only half of her face lifting. “I knew you would come. I’ve been waiting for you.”
Isla knelt beside me and smiled up at my mother. “Hello, Mrs Devine. I’m your daughter-in-law.”
Mum’s hand moved to Isla and cupped her cheek. Instinctively, Isla moved her face into the touch and closed her eyes as my mother moved her fingers across her face.
“She’s blind, Jake,” Isla told me softly.
My heart broke and I gulped. “But she knows who I am.”
“Of course she does.” Isla smiled at me. “You’re her son. She will always know you.”
Mum lifted her other hand to me as she studied both of us with her fingertips. “You also have a grandson,” Isla said softly, moving her face for my mother to ‘see’ her.
My mum smiled widely. “Family,” she said.
“Family,” I repeated as I held her hand in my own before I stood and opened the door to the two private nurses.
“She’s ready,” I told them.
They nodded and walked to my mother. “Mrs Devine, I’m Helen. And I’m going to be helping to take care of you in your nice new home.”
Mother blinked. “What?”
“You’re coming home, Mum.”
Her face lifted towards my voice and her smile broke my heart. “Home.”
“Home,” I repeated. “Home.”
Continue for a sneak peek of
Survival, Kris's Story
And
Night Fires
COMING AUTUMN 2015
Kris
JAKE DEVINE WATCHED ME carefully, his eyes studying me inquisitively as he stared at the bruise on my cheekbone. I watched, stunned and wary when he picked up his book and pen and walked towards me.
“You okay?” he asked casually as he took the chair next to me, the other eleven year old boys in my class staring wide-eyed at us. Jake Devine never spoke to any of us, the chill in his eye making us all steer clear of him as well.
Nodding, I lowered my head attempting to cover the mess on my face with my hair.
“You been in a fight?”
I shrugged, still not looking at him.
He was quiet for a moment before he thrust his fist my way. “Jake.”
“I know who you are,” I replied quietly. I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to talk, my eyes flicking between our teacher and Jake.
He nodded and grinned. “So you know I’ll slice any fucker who touches you again.”
I gawped at him in shock. “What?”
Jake shrugged. “I’ve seen you around. You remind me of me.” He laughed then and I couldn’t help but smile slightly at his infectious chuckle. “Quiet and reserved.”
“I hate school,” I disclosed on a whisper.
Jake frowned and sighed as he picked up his pen and started to copy from the board as Mr Gent started to write today’s work down. “You shouldn’t. School is here for a reason.”
“Yeah?” I scoffed. “So all these arseholes can pick on me. So all the teachers can laugh at my stupidity?”
“Then show them you’re not stupid or that you won’t be bullied.”
I regarded him with a squint. I wasn’t scared of Jake, although everyone else was, but he did fascinate me. “How do you show someone you can’t be bullied?”
He blinked at me as if he thought I was stupid too. “You hit the fucker back!”
“Oh yeah?” I hissed, growing angry at how it was so easy for him. “And does that include my Dad?” I bit my tongue, my cheeks heating at how easy the statement had slipped from me.
Jake stalled, his jaw dropping as he stared directly at me. “Your father beats you?”
I shrugged. I couldn’t deny it now I’d told him but I didn’t want to talk about it, especially with Jake Devine.
Sensing my reservation, Jake sighed and went back to his work, his pen scrawling furiously over the page as he copied Mr Gent’s words.
He didn’t speak to me for the rest of the day and by home time I was once again back in my shell as I slowly made my way home.
“Hey Kris!” My heart skipped a beat when Daisy waved to me as she whizzed past on her bright red bike and slid into her driveway next to mine. Daisy had been my neighbour for roughly two years. Her gorgeous red ringlets were what had made me first fall in love. But it was her amazing smile and bright blue eyes that made my heart continue to beat for her.
“Hi Daisy.”
Her smile wavered when her eyes zeroed in on my cheekbone. I grit my teeth, hating when he’d hit me somewhere so obvious. Usually it was my ribs or my arms and legs but last night he’d been beyond drunk, his anger mirroring the level of alcohol in his system.
“You want to come and study?” she asked with a soft smile. Daisy wasn’t stupid. I knew she heard my father’s screams and shouts but she never mentioned it. Thank God.
“He can’t, he’s studying with me tonight.”
My eyes widened when I spun round and found Jake watching me and Daisy closely.
Daisy smiled widely at Jake. “Hi Jake.”
“Daisy,” he acknowledged with a smile before turning back to me. “Come on then, haven’t got all night.”
I stared at him. Jake Devine wanted to study with me! It was quite surreal. “You sure?”
He nodded his head and sighed. “Come on,” he grinned as he slipped an arm around my shoulder. “We’re mates aren’t’ we? Let’s see if I can get you to actually enjoy studying.”
“Yeah, good luck with that!” I snorted.
But he did. Jake taught me over the coming years that if I didn’t study, I would never make anything out of life, that I would forever be like my father, a deadbeat with no interest other than alcohol. Turned out I had skills for many things.
And it wasn’t until the night Jake and I killed my father that I realised I had two amazing talents.
Knives and destruction.
I See You
A Ker Dukey and D H Sidebottom Dark Novel
Coming summer 2015
I watch you, I see you in ways no one else can, and through my lens I create a life of you for someone to dissect. I capture you in your vulnerability; that smile, your laugh, those tears. I document you and sell your secrets.
When I watch you through my lens you’re mine until I pass you to the buyer. I, like most people, have a fetish for pretty things and in my job I get to be around a lot of pretty things. They pay me to watch them and capture them in a frame for many purposes, and sometimes I like my profession a little more than I should.
I took a job to capture her . . . I wanted to capture and keep her in more than just the image. This time I will take myself away from the lens and become the client because I cannot resist her, she reminds me too much of my first, I need to have her.
Traumatised from a vicious attack, Nina finds herself shut off from the world until her neighbour brings her out of more than just her nightmares. Even after moving and changing her name, she still can’t shake the feeling of being watched. The memories are so close.
And so is the shadow of the creator of them all.
I would watch him watch the ocean. He would build fires and sit, all night waiting.
For her. For his dead wife.
She never came. I never expected her to. But he did. And he never let go.
Even when I fell in love with him he never let go.
Until the night of the storm. The night my worst nightmares came to life.
And I lost everything to her when she finally returned.
For us both.
This book contains scenes of sex, violence and substance abuse.
I didn’t hear what the vicar said. I didn’t hear anything. Not one, single thing. All I heard was the creak of th
e wood when my brother’s coffin landed on top of my parent’s with a soft thud.
I didn’t feel the rain as it drenched me. I didn’t feel anything. Not one, single thing. All I experienced as my family was laid to rest was an overwhelming emptiness.
I didn’t speak what my mind was frantically whispering inside my head. I didn’t speak anything. Not one, single thing. All that left me was a faint puff of air as I shivered against the cold wind that blew through the cemetery.
The taste of death was all I tasted. The smell of death was all I smelled. The sight of my mother, and my father, and my brother disappearing into the ground was all I saw. And death.
Loneliness was all that surrounded me. Loneliness and numbness. And death.
The death of my adoring and perfect parents. The death of my wonderful and healthy brother.
And the death of my own life as I turned and walked away from the only people who had ever loved me.
Ten (My Brother’s Best Friend)
by KER DUKEY
Coming soon
Ten years old I fell in love
Ten years was the price of that love
Ten years later our world’s re-collide
Alexandria (Alex)
My brother Jonah was possessive when it came to the things he owned; this unfortunately included the people in his life. The forbidden love between his best friend and me was just that . . . forbidden.
Our families were from different walks of life and as a sheriff’s daughter being with a Moore’s kid would never be tolerated. To my parents their son and Dalton Moore were on different paths and their friendship would end as soon as college began but it was my brother who had a craving for trouble. He was always looking for danger, committing petty crimes and getting away with it because Dalton would take the fall, blackening his already stained name. When Jonah found out we broke the rules by loving each other, his consequences impacted us all with immeasurable suffering.
Betrayal comes with a debt and it would be paid by all of us.
One with their heart,
one with their mind
and one would pay in blood.
Going back to my roots with a mafia thriller has made me realise how much I love my own characters, Mason and Ava Fox. So somewhat strangely, I am actually going to thank my own characters.
Mason and Ava not only showed me who I was, but who I would love to be—not a gun slinging gangster but a person who, whatever the cost, sticks up for what they actually believe in. They gave life their all and they never backed down from their convictions. And for that, I will always love and miss them.
Also, my girls, Vickie and Nikki. After an illness at the beginning of the year which very suddenly took a dramatic turn for the worse, these girls were there, right beside me all the way. Not only did they help me through, but they looked after and supported my family who very much needed a crutch to lean on during the days I was on the edge.
Girls. I bloody love you!!
Ker Fucking Dukey!! My soul writer. I can’t thank you enough for everything you have done for me. Not only did you step up and make sure the first Devine book was published when I couldn’t do it myself, but your love and support will never be taken for granted. You’re coming to the grave with me, babe!
My family. My Wonderful husband and my amazing babies. You are there with me every step of the way, holding me up through the downs and grinning with me at the highs. I can never put into words how much I love you.
My Beautiful Betas. Each book has a piece of you in and you each hold a piece of my heart.
All the blogs out there who read and review. God! Thank you so much! I wouldn’t be where I am without you!
The ladies in the DH Support group. You give me giggles, tears and encouragement every day and I love you all!
And you, the reader. I am still the most stunned person on the planet when each of you buy and read my books. Life does get better and better and it’s because of you that it does. I owe you all so, so much and I will never ever take you all for granted.
And behind the scenes who make it all come together. . . . . THANK YOU!!!! <3
Betas: Vickie, Charlie, Michelle, Nikki, Laura, Di, Terrie, Ker and Kelly.
Editor: Kyra Lennon
Formatter: Champagne Formats
Emotional support (As important as the above): My family and my girls.
Thank you again, every single one of you!
Other Books by the author
Room 103
Shocking Heaven
Thrilling Heaven
Denying Heaven
NSC Industries
Incineration
Tolerance
Resolution
Atonement
The Blue Butterfly
The Decimation of Mae
The Salvation of Daniel
Deception Series
FaCade
CADEnce
The Shadows of Sin
Fragile Truths
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Conviction: Devine Page 18