by Laura Avery
I had no doubt he hadn’t even gone that far; he was just having his fun.
I moved my hand to the side of my body, trying to hide it in case anyone came back there and spotted me. I was going to kill Jackson for this once I got free. Well, maybe not kill but I would come up with some way to return the favor. It was hard to play with Jackson; he was the master of manipulation.
I heard heavy footsteps around the corner and sighed.
“Missed me already?” I snapped, still annoyed at him.
“You could say that.”
My blood ran cold; it wasn’t Jackson.
It wasn’t Jackson at all.
I shrank back into the corner in fear.
God, help me.
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TREMBLE
AN ENEMIES TO LOVERS DARK ROMANCE
BY LAURA AVERY
Copyright 2018 Laura Avery, all rights reserved.
No part of this work may be reproduced without written consent of the author. This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Tremble is an enemies to lovers dark romance and is intended for mature audiences only. It contains triggers and is extremely possessive and crude. Please don’t read if strong sexual situations, language, violence, drugs, and bullying offends you. All individuals portrayed in this work of fiction are eighteen years of age or older.
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Chapter One
"No one knows you're thinking about him."
WINTER
If looks could kill I would have been dead a long time ago.
The way he stared at me that night was sickening.
Like he was going to destroy every part of me.
I forced the tremble out of my hand and turned the corner of the large space, plastering a fake smile onto my face as I shrugged the coat off my shoulders and let it fall against the back of a lone chair. All grins, no emotions. That was the mask I had created for myself long ago. Positive and upbeat, never scared.
No one knows how bad you fear him, Winter, relax.
No one knows you’re thinking about him.
The poker game was already in full swing by the time I showed up at the warehouse an hour behind schedule. I pulled the fabric of my tight green dress down further; desperately trying to hide the redness of the most recent bruise one of my demon stepbrothers had left on my body.
Always out of sight, always just where the marks could be covered with clothing.
They were nothing if not clever.
I had witnessed my fair share of evilness in the world. Heck, half of the men in that room had probably done worse things than any of my stepbrothers. Hence their need to throw away hundreds of dollars a night on a game of pure luck. I didn’t care about any of the drunks or thieves consuming the illegal games, though. I didn’t even care about my stepbrothers sitting at home drinking themselves into a coma while they planned whatever scheme they had up their sleeves next. And my stepfather sitting in a jail cell just counting down the days until he could make bail and come home to control us all again barely crossed my mind.
My thoughts were too busy being warped and controlled by someone else.
By the one man who hated me purely for existing.
A year without watching him, a year without that look of disgust on his face whenever he happened to glance my way, and my body was starting to feel the withdrawals almost as much as my mind. Too bad the man who captivated my desires so effortlessly was the evilest of them all.
“Winter,” my boss, Drew, rushed over to me. “Where have you been?”
I pushed the thoughts of that perfect face with the intense eyes out of my mind and refused to miss a beat, spreading my fake smile wider. “I’m so sorry, Drew, family emergency.”
“We have a full house tonight, Winter.” He looked at me skeptically. “If you can’t get here on time, I’m going to have to find someone who will.” He glanced around at all the tables packed with numerous men, wasting money and consuming too much alcohol to think straight.
My smile faltered a beat. “It won’t happen again.”
“I can’t keep them betting if they aren’t drinking and how can they drink if you aren’t here to shove drinks down their throat?” He took a step closer to me, looking me up and down slowly. “You know, a lot of women would kill for a job like this, sweetheart.”
I tried not to wince at the nickname. Drew was kind of sleazy but most of the time he was harmless, and he wasn’t wrong. Girls in town would have jumped at the chance to take my place. The money was too good to pass up, the drunker the guys got the more tips they tossed your way.
The difference was that I needed it way more than any of them.
“Drew,” I said firmly. “I’m thankful for the opportunity, really. I promise you it’s not going to happen again.” It wasn’t the kind of thing I should put my word on considering my stepbrother’s habit of picking the worst times possible to use me as their punching bag but it wasn’t like I had much of a choice. Not if I wanted to keep this job and, God, did I need it. No other gig in town was going to put this kind of cash into my pocket.
Drew hesitated only a moment longer before nodding. “Get to it then.”
I didn’t wait for him to change his mind, rushing over to the bar on the other side of the massive space and starting to load up a tray with drinks. I could feel a few drunken eyes on me, trailing up and down my legs and hovering on my ass. I ignored them, reminding myself that I only had another six months of this hell before I could run away for good.
My stepbrothers had no idea I had been working here every weekend for the last six months, stuffing my pockets full of tip money for college tuition. I had applied without them and I was going to pay for it without them, too. I may have only been nineteen but I wasn’t naive enough to think that my life would ever change if I hung around this town forever.
At this time next year, I would be across the country, creating a new life without them. A life where my stepbrothers would never be able to find me. A life where he would never be able to find me.
Once upon a time, the thought of creating a life with him would have sent a thrill of anticipation shooting into my stomach but that was before he made it perfectly clear that he wanted to destroy every part of me.
Slowly.
“Hey, baby, get that fine ass over here and pour one of those shots down my throat,” a drunken voice rang out from the other side of the room, causing my shoulders to stiffen. The drunks got testy when they had to wait. And when they got testy, they got handsy.
I closed my eyes and bit down on my lip, forcing that fake smile I had gotten down to a tee. Six more months, Winter, and then you’re free. A hundred and eighty days and you won’t have to put up with a drunk guy groping your ass while he tries to slobber all over your neck ever again.
I hoisted the huge tray above my stomach and rested it on the top of my shoulder before turning around. I felt the sensation of heat come over me instantly but it didn’t matter, it was too late.
I felt blindsided.
Lost.
Terrified.
I knew he was there even before I spotted his hazel eyes across the room.
I shook my head, trying to convince myself that I had been obsessing over him so deeply that I was imagining his presence, hallucinating the fact that he had come back for me, to finish me.
I blinked a few times but he didn’t go anywhere.
No, he couldn’t be here. Not yet.
He was supposed to be in jail for at least another year.
At least.
Hatred dripped from him as he drifted his hollow greens up and down every inch of my body, so slowly that I felt my heart starting to tighten inside of my chest. When he met my gaze again he titled his head to the side one time, swiftly and fiercely. He was summoning me to him, demanding that I close the distance between the two of us.
It was part the thrill for him, the game.
Always with the games.
Darkness came over his features when he realized I wasn’t responding as quickly as he wanted me to and he narrowed his eyes at me. The message was clear. Don’t make me come and get you.
I responded by dropping the tray of drinks all over the ground.
Caden Dean was back.
And judging from the look on his face he hated me more than ever.
Chapter Two
“On the ground, pet.”
WINTER
Glasses and bottles went flying all over the place, smashing into a million tiny pieces as they surrounded my feet. Some liquid splashed forward, soaking the front of my dress but I barely noticed. I was too busy studying the ghost of a man sitting across the room from me.
Caden never took his eyes off me but I saw a small smirk tug at the end of his thick lips. He was enjoying the reaction he had gotten out of me, getting off on my fear just like always. Time had been generous to him, too generous if you ask me. I swear it was an unfair rule that the better looking got hotter while the rest of us withered away to nothing.
His large frame spilled off his chair, his toned body had grown in all the right places, and his always-muscular arms had expanded so much that they barely stayed inside of the fabric of his shirt. I could see full sleeves of tattoos peeking out from underneath his arm cuffs.
Same defined jaw, signature arched cheekbones, and eyes so deadly that they looked right through you, ripping you to shreds. He ran his right hand through his thick brown hair, acting casual as he continued to dismember me with his mind and burn me alive with his stare.
“Jeez, Winter, are you okay?” Michelle, the other waitress who was on with me that night rushed over to me, grabbing me by the arm and guiding me out of the pile of glass that had formed around my body. “What happened?”
“I…” I trailed off, feeling hazy. “I thought I saw someone.”
Only I had seen someone.
Because Caden was still right where my eyes left him.
“Drew is going to have a fit if he sees this mess,” she hissed, wrapping her long fingers around my wrist and pushing me toward the bathroom. “I’m going to clean this mess up. Do you have an extra dress you can change into?”
I found myself nodding even though I had no idea what she had said.
He was still watching me.
A loud bang rang into my ears from the other side of the room and I jumped, zooming in on Caden’s fist that had pounded into the surface of the table in front of him roughly, sending cards and chips flying all over the place, threatening to spill over onto the ground.
He was getting impatient.
My feet hurried away from her, moving toward him without my permission. My legs trembled heavily and I hugged my arms to my chest, trying to keep my body under control. Just because he knew how terrified I was didn’t mean I wanted to willingly show it.
As if his ego wasn’t big enough.
His sharp eyes trained into me heavier and heavier with each step. I felt like I was hypnotized, a puppet who was well aware she was walking to her demise but couldn’t control herself no matter how hard she tried. As scared as I was to end up in front of Caden Dean after all this time, I was more scared to have to deal with the consequences that came along with disobeying him.
I stopped in front of his chair, barely able to breathe. My air kept getting stuck inside of my throat, unable to make the clean break for the front of my mouth. Being around Caden Dean literally knocked the wind out of me.
And I wasn’t the only one.
Everyone in the room had their eyes on him. The men out of fear, the women out of the need to undress him, and everyone else out of fascination. I wondered if they were wondering the same thing I was.
How had he gotten out of prison so soon after what he had done?
I guess money really could buy you the freedom to get away with anything.
Unlike the rest of the room, Caden only had eyes for me. If it were any other women it might have been a good thing but for me, it was a death sentence. I pushed my dark hair out of my face and pulled my dress down self-consciously again, Caden Dean had never seen me in something so skimpy.
Heck, sometimes I wondered if he had ever seen me at all.
I opened my mouth and then snapped it shut. What was I supposed to say?
He ran his fingers over his tan chin in frustration and leaned back in his chair: as if he were getting ready for a show. The hatred in his eyes grew darker and the evil smirk he was famous for in our city came into play, putting on display a perfect pair of pearly whites. “On the ground, pet.”
It had been so long since I heard his voice, too long.
It was richer than I remembered, smoother and more defined with darkness.
“Excuse me?” I choked out.
“I said…” He raised his eyebrows. “Fucking kneel.”
I felt my mouth drift open. He couldn’t be serious. He wanted me to kneel in front of him like he was my master? In front of a room full of people? Had he gone even more insane since he had been locked up?
“Caden,” I begged, shaking my head. “Please, no.”
“Did I phrase it like it was a God damn request, Winter?” He leaned forward, his eyes piercing at the thought of one of his commands being questioned by me. “It was a demand.” He leaned forward even further, somehow able to look bigger than me from his spot sitting below me. “And if I have to tell you again, I promise it’s not going to be such a pleasant conversation.”
I glanced around the room one more time before moaning softly. The town was watching us like hawks, careful not to make direct eye contact with Caden out of fear for what he might do. I ran my tongue over my bottom lip and held back the tears that were behind my eyes.
I had learned a long time ago the best way to survive was to play along.
I dropped to my knees and focused on the ground, ignoring the low murmurs and gasps from the people around us. I had forgotten what it felt like to be humiliated by Caden Dean. He didn’t just mock you or knock you down a peg or two. No, he crucified you. Slowly. Deeply. Meaningfully.
“Look at me.”
I obeyed, forcing my head up to lock eyes with him. And it was like getting the wind knocked out of me all over again. Caden was breathtaking, movie star breathtaking. It was too bad he was so horrible or he might have had a future in the entertainment business.
Every insecurity I had shed since he left for jail immediately came flooding back into my body. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t awful looking or anything, I was decent. Average. Nothing about me was memorable and that was where I would lose every single time.
No one who came into contact with Caden Dean ever forgot him.
He was 100% out of my league.
Caden reached out so slowly I thought the anticipation would kill me before finally brushing his fingers across the side of my face and sending a firm ring of heat into the pit of my stomach. “Good girl,” he said firmly before pushing a piece of hair behind my ear and letting his fingers linger on my skin.
I despised the part of me that wallowed in his approval.
His eyes held mine for a few more seconds, trying to see through me before he rapidly removed his hand from my face and shoved it underneath my arm, pulling me up of the ground and into his lap. I gasped into his neck as he linked both of my legs around his body so that I was straddling him.
He turned the chair back toward the table so that my back was pressed into the hardwood and clamped his hands firmly on my thighs, causing a sharp shot of pain to consume my legs. “Hello, Winter,” he said low enough so that only I would hear. “Miss me?”
**END OF SAMPLE.
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