Very Bad Things (Briarcrest Academy)

by Madden-Mills, Ilsa

  I tip toe to get my shoes, hooking them in my hands. I slowly open the door, peering right and left down the hall. I see no one, so I quietly make my way down the stairs. It seems like the front door is a mile away and I can’t get through it fast enough. Just as my hand reaches the knob, I hear talking in the next room.

  “I wouldn’t brag, Soren, I had her last week.” A deep voice laughs. “Actually, you might be the last to have her.”

  “She a great lay though,” Jeff Soren says in return.

  “I told you she was,” the other male agrees. “Ever since…the incident, she has become the college slut.”

  “I know. It’s kind of sad though.” Jeff’s voice actually sounds concerned. “I wish…”

  “Dude. You can’t save girls like that, you just enjoy what they give you,” the other voice replies back.

  I close my eyes, taking a deep breath. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Mascara is stained in long lines down my face and my long honey-colored hair looks like a bird made it their home. My lips are swollen red, and I can’t help but think I resemble a hooker on the corner waiting for her next trick.

  I turn the knob to the door slowly, hoping Jeff and his buddy don’t hear me. I sneak out, walking across the street to my sorority house. I am happy to find that everyone is either still asleep or out. When I crash into my bed, I take the picture out of my drawer that’s been hidden away since last year. I clutch it hard against my chest, while sobs escape my mouth. Curling up into the fetal position on my twin bed, I can’t help but think how I have disappointed him. I need to change the direction of my life. Make him proud of me.

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  Forbidden Forever

  by Christy Dilg

  Laney Collins has been a wife to Michael for the past 15 years. Even though his love disappeared and turned cruel because of her weight problems, she remained his faithful, loving wife. After years of not working, Laney gets hired as the secretary for Dr. Chance Turner. The chemistry between them is electric, but their marriages keep them apart until one painful evening changes everything. A steamy affair, hidden with lies and secrets, turns into a love no longer forbidden.

  AFTER A RESTLESS sleep, I get up and get ready for my day at work, a place people normally want to get away from, but I want to run to. Chance is standing at my desk when I walk in and shut the door. It's earlier than a normal business day so not many workers are here. One look at him and I can't control the need I feel inside. I basically throw myself at him as he wraps his muscular arms around me. I feel the static that always draws me to him. I lift my head up and our eyes meet as I feel the firmness growing in his pants pressed against my leg. The longing for him is making the pleasure of being this close much greater. The sexual desire has been building up for month and is as heightened as it could be without just coming apart on my own. I want his hands on me. I need him to taste me. I need to feel him in me.

  I grab his face and he presses my back to the wall. Grabbing my face in his hands, he looks deeply into my eyes making sure this is what I want. He knows by the look on my face that I am ready to completely give myself to him. His hand slides up my back and pulls my light blue blouse out of the pants, never taking his eyes off mine. I pull off his doctor’s coat and start unbuttoning his dark-purple, long sleeve shirt. Taking in the deep smell of him, I know I have just begun to feel how amazing this is going to be no matter how wrong it is. He has opened my shirt by this point as I drag his off and toss it somewhere below us. I see for the first time a sleeve of tattoos that hold a special theme, like some remarkable work of art as it flows to his back and down his chest. It is truly the hottest thing I've ever seen. It looks like a history of pain and happiness, something I would study later when I have more time to think clearly.

  He starts undoing my pants, and then his hands slide my pants down to the floor. He grabs my bare ass.

  Cocking his head, he grins. "Commando? Naughty girl, you should be spanked! It's so fucking hot."

  Blushing, I stand pressed against the office wall in my bra and work shirt. He pulls back, holding me at arm’s length and looking at me more closely than I would prefer.

  Up and down glances with a hint of something sinful is in his eyes as he whispers in my ear, "You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. These legs, those feet.” He glides his fingers over my bra and releases my breasts. “Baby you are everything I've ever wanted."

  I’ve stepped over a line I said I would never cross. But this man makes me feel beautiful and smart. I feel empowered by him. In this moment, I know I’ll never be the same person; I’ll be a stronger one.

  He said, "I have wanted you for so long, and I never dreamed it would be even more than I hoped. Let’s not think about what's next; let’s just think about now." I lay my head on his chest, and we sat for what seemed like eternity, but really we had thirty minutes before our day had to begin as boss and employee.

  Thankfully, the day goes by like a blur. I don't want to think about what I just did with a married man. I’m the unfaithful married woman. I smell like Chance, and his smell is more intoxicating than ever. All I want is more, but I know we have to go home to our spouses, the people that make us so unhappy. Michael probably deserves being treated like this, but what about Chance's wife? What have I done to her marriage? Now, I’m the monster.

  My thoughts consume me for the remainder of the evening: this poor woman and what my actions would do to her. I start to wonder what she is like and then I step into reality with my own husband. The man I vowed to love and cherish, through the good and the bad times. I broke our vows because I was being selfish. Selfish…something Michael always said I was because I wouldn't lose weight for him. What a jerk, I whispered to myself. Why do I defend him for his actions and feel horrible about my own? He did this just as much as much as I did. He pushed me away. His words wounded my spirit, my soul. He wounded me.

  What have I done to my family?

  How is this going to affect Callie and Kaleb?

  What am I going to do?

  Fear has washed over me, and now all I can do is decide what to do with what I’ve done. Affairs. I thought they were supposed to be exciting from all the books I read and instead I feel like I killed someone. Me. What will it be like when I see him tomorrow at work? Questions fill me up like a cup of overflowing tainted water. Sleep. I need sleep.

  *Excerpt has been modified

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  Read the New Adult excerpt from, Hidden,

  by author Selena Laurence.

  Available now

  Nick Carlisle comes to Hawaii to hide—from what happened during his military service in Afghanistan, from relationships, from his future. Lyndsey Anderson came to Hawaii to hide too—from the man who abused her, from the sacrifices she made, from her dark past. But when Nick meets Lyndsey, Hawaii gets a whole lot hotter, and they find they can’t hide their hearts. As Nick fights to come to terms with what he’s done, Lyndsey struggles to forgive herself for the choices she’s made. But when the dangerous past threatens the beautiful present, can they survive to learn how to love? And who will finally reveal what’s hidden?

  “SAY YES, LYNDSEY,” he whispered as he moved even closer, his lips now mere

  centimeters from mine. My answer was really just a breath as he closed that last tiny distance and his warm lips touched mine like two butterflies meeting in mid-air. The tip of my tongue came slowly out of my mouth as I licked my lips.

  “Mmmm,” Nick moaned as he drew me up tight against him. His tongue reached out and met mine before dipping into my mouth. I felt electricity jolt through me, and my racing heart nearly pounded out of my chest. Our open-mouthed kiss de
epened and his hands moved around to cup my ass. I ran my fingers down his chest, touching on every smooth bump I felt beneath his T-shirt until I reached the hem and slowly moved my hands up underneath to meet warm, smooth skin.

  Nick’s breathing was ragged, and his fingers moved up and around to the front of my body where he tugged on my Hanalei Bar and Grill T-shirt to untuck it from my shorts. Then he placed his big heated palm on my stomach and I jerked at the contact. I felt him smile through our kiss. “A little jumpy are we?” he whispered as he kept exploring my mouth. I responded by pressing even closer to him as his hand moved up to my breast and everything inside of me went haywire. I was panting like I’d run a race, and Nick’s fingers rolling my nipple through the lace of my bra were only making the situation worse. I ran my hand down his abs, stopping to slide them across the silky hair that trailed down below his waistband. Then I dropped my hand lower to stroke his erection through his shorts. He was big and hard. Everywhere. The urge to grind against all that hardness was overwhelming.

  He groaned and pulled back a fraction of an inch. “Christ girl, if you’re going to keep that up we’ve got to go rent a room or something.”

  I paused and tried to catch my breath. I slowly moved my hand back to his waist and put a few more inches between our bodies. He leaned his head down on my shoulder, burying his face in my neck and nuzzling there for a moment.

  Finally, he lifted his head and looked me in the eyes. “Sorry,” he murmured. “It’s uh, it’s been a while, I might not have as much self-control as I should.”

  I smiled weakly, still overwhelmed at the feelings coursing through my body.

  “Same here,” I said, my voice somewhat hoarse.

  “I also don’t want to get to all the good stuff before our first official date.” He grinned as he took my hand and led me to the kitchen. “Anticipation is half the fun.”

  I raised one eyebrow at him, feeling calmer as we put distance between us.

  “Don’t get your hopes up, Romeo, it’s only one date.”

  We entered the kitchen where Jack was waiting for me to take him home. “That’s all it takes, Goldilocks,” he answered. “Just once.”

  For more information about Selena and her books, visit:

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  Read the New Adult romance excerpt below from

  Precious Consequences

  by Tamsyn Bester

  All it took was one night to change the rest of my life. One night that created irrevocable consequences. But some consequences aren’t all bad. They can be amazing…beautiful… Precious.

  I willingly accepted those consequences and wrote a new plan for my life. But that plan didn’t include Cameron Argent – the sexy-as-sin tattooed playboy who got under my skin the moment I laid eyes on him. I was headed down a dark and dangerous road where he was concerned and in the end, our relationship was inevitable. Despite our dark secrets, our feelings for each other burned

  brighter than a thousand stars and left us both naked, vulnerable. But when my past came rolling back into my life like a Summer storm, I wasn’t sure if his love for me was enough. Was he prepared to deal with the consequences of a past I couldn’t regret or would he walk away with my beating heart in his hands?

  EXCERPT:

  ~Hayley~

  I couldn't pretend that my life hadn't changed. But I also couldn't bring myself to regret the irrevocable consequences that forever changed me.

  I learned the true meaning of selflessness and what it meant to love someone so much, you'd give up everything for them. I finally understood what it meant to sacrifice your own heart, just to allow another to beat.

  One night.

  One stupid decision.

  And the most precious of consequences.