by Mia Michelle
It makes me sad that perhaps I hadn’t given him the chance he had deserved, but that was in the past. Sebastian had ruined that for me, just as he had ruined everything else. I would never be anyone’s anything anymore. It is the only way I could protect what little bit of myself I had left.
“Just so you know Lucas, that this can never be anything more. I don’t want that ever again. I just don’t want you looking for something that isn’t going to happen.”
“I understand, Skylar. So… friends then?” he questions with raised eyebrows.
I nod and smile back, before replying, “Friends.”
Lucas
I lay in my bed that night thinking about her. She isn’t getting married. I would be lying if I didn’t say that I was more than happy by her news, over- joyed even. I just wished it had not been at the expense of my gorgeous girl’s pain. The girl I had left back at Kylie’s apartment building was a sad and broken one. It was as if she had no more tears to cry over losing him. I couldn’t help but wonder what he had done that she couldn’t forgive him for. I knew it had to have been incredibly bad, because she was probably one of the most forgiving people that I have ever known.
Had he cheated on her? If he did, he was a fucking fool!
I watch the sun come up across the Austin skyline and blow on the steam of my fresh coffee. I had forgotten just how beautiful mornings are here in Austin. I study my watch again willing the time to move faster this morning.
6 am. Shit! It is still too early to go see her.
I didn’t know how she would handle the news I had, or whether she would even seem interested. I just hope either way she would keep an open mind at what I had to say. I think I have a solution to help her. What she didn’t need to know was that in the end, I wasn’t just doing this for her. I had selfish interests of my own.
When it is finally 9 am, I make my way into Kylie’s apartment building. Hopefully, she will still be here because I have no other way of contacting her if she isn’t. Bravely, I ring the buzzer in the lobby and listen closely as a groggy voice come over the speaker.
“Yeah?” Kylie says through a yawn.
“Is Skylar there?” I ask.
“Who wants to know? Because if you are one of Sebastian’s spies, you can FUCK OFF; she isn’t here!” Kylie’s voice shouts into the speaker with a bitchy tone. I have to laugh, because she is definitely a force to be reckoned with, that is for damn sure. I know she will certainly lay into Sebastian as soon as she gets the chance.
“It’s me, Kylie, Lucas Drake. I just wanted to check on Skylar, and I also have something that I need to discuss with her that’s important. Is she home?” I ask.
“I’ll be down in just a minute,” Skylar’s sweet voice echoes across the abandoned lobby.
I start pacing the lobby for the next few minutes in order to try to work out some of my overwhelming anxiety. While I am waiting on her, I rehearse my speech over and over again, about how I am going to do this. Suddenly, the elevator door chimes and I see her slowly make her way in my direction. She looks completely exhausted and completely breathtaking, all at the same time. She is wearing a pink camisole and white shorts that showed off her sexy as hell legs. She forces a smile at me, but her eyes remain cold and empty. Actually, they hold no life in them at all.
As I motion for her to sit down, I vow with everything in me that I am going to do whatever it takes to put life back in those gorgeous eyes of hers. I will help her put her broken heart back together and hope, at the same time, to put mine back together too.
Mia fell in love with the literary world at a very young age and began putting her active imagination to pen and paper at the age of six. Over the years, she has filled up numerous shelves with her notebooks and journals of her favorite stories. Twelve years ago, Mia began drafting The Rose of Thorne Series and through encouragement of a close friend, decided to finally take the leap of faith to bring her dream to life. She openly admits to having a hopeless infatuation with her Kindle and suffers from the one-click book addiction (No intervention required).
Mia is currently a stay at home mom who has mastered the fine art of making a PB&J sandwich in between laundry and shuttling kids to ballet and swimming. In her spare time (“What spare time?” She laughs), she enjoys photography, traveling, and having a girls night out with her pals. She enjoys the simple things in life: such as sleeping more than 3 hours per night and 10 minute showers without being interrupted by children yelling “mommy” from the other side of the bathroom door.
Mia Michelle resides in Tennessee with her soul mate and husband of 18 years and their two beautiful young children. She is currently working on her Masters in Counseling and drafting her new Chase series.
MIA WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO FOLLOW HER!!
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The words “THANK YOU” seem so inadequate for the gratitude I have for everyone in my life that has helped make this dream possible. This journey has been simply phenomenal and I am so thankful to be given this opportunity! I am terrified I am going to forget to mention someone in this acknowledgment, so if I do, please don’t think I am not grateful…I’m just human.
To my wonderful and loving husband, Jeremy, who believed in me and encouraged me when I needed it the most. I think you believed in me before I believed in myself! Thank you for cheering me on and letting me chase my dream! Because of you, I’ve never been happier! I love you, baby!
To my two precious children, B & B, Mommy loves you more than you will ever possibly know. Thank you for not destroying the house too much or complaining about late dinners when Mommy was typing like a mad woman on the computer. I hope you always follow your dreams and remember I am here to catch you if you fall.
To my mother, words can’t tell you how special our bond is to me. You are my best friend and you have always loved and supported me in every venture of my life. Thank you for always inspiring me and encouraging me not to be afraid to live and to take the leap. I love you so much!
To my amazing Daddy, I miss you more and more with each passing day. You were my rock and my biggest cheerleader. I can still hear your voice cheering me on and it is in that I know you are all around me! I hope I make you half as proud of me as I was to call you my Daddy. I will love you forever!
A special ‘I love you’ goes out to all my family and friends who supported me and loved me through this process. I cannot begin to say how much it meant to have your phone calls and messages of encouragement. I can’t possibly name you all, but know how special you all are in my life!
Sometimes in life, we don’t realize how saying the simple words “I believe in you” can change someone’s world. For me, that came from a person who is like a sister to me. Carey, you have been there for me through all the good and bad times in my life. You have always held me up and believed in me in times I just wanted to give up. This book would not have been published if not for you. Thank you for always being there for me! I love you so much, my dear precious friend!! I look forward to sharing a padded cell next to you one day,heifer! P.S. You better hope I don’t talk in my senile years. LOL.
To my fantastic, amazingly talented best friend Michelle, I can’t begin to say what your friendship means to me. You are the only one who can talk me down off the ledge when I get so overwhelmed and spastic! Thank you for believing in me and showing me what is possible once you truly believe. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! I can’t even begin to thank you for my MAGNIFICENT book cover you designed for me!! You saw exactly what I envisioned and brought it to life. WHITE DESIGN AND PHOTOGRAPHY ROCKS PEOPLE!!!!
To my Jen Jen, where do I begin? Our Cheddar Lunches ROCK! I have laughed and giggled so much with you as we discussed the fun details of our favorite leading book characters. Thank you for all the late night texts and
lunch dates to help me find my way when I was lost in the direction of my characters!! Lucas and Sebastian have their flair because of you! I adore you so much and am so glad we share such love in reading. More than anything, I have to thank you for not laughing at me when I told you I was giving this a try. Instead, you simply asked me how you could help. That is the characteristic of a true friend. I love ya, babe! P.S. Four words…baseball cap and jeans!!
Emmy Montes, you have no idea how inspiring your words are to me every day. You are brilliant at what you do and remember I am your biggest fan, chick! Thank you for everything you have done for me, but most of all for just telling me to stay true to myself. I think that is the best advice I have ever gotten in this business. SUPER HUGS go to you, my friend!!! Can’t wait until we get to meet face to face!
JB McGee… where do I begin, sweet lady? You befriended me and gave me the helpful insight of the path I needed to take in order to make this dream a reality. You are not only an AMAZING writer, but you are an even more AMAZING friend! I hope to meet you one day, my fellow southern bud!
Katie Mac and the Indie Express LLC, I truly think you are an angel sent from above! Without hesitation, you welcomed me in with open arms. I can’t tell you just how much that meant to me. Finally, through your guidance, I was introduced to the most AWESOME GROUP of BETA LADIES! Thank you for everything, sweet lady! Us southern gals have to stick together! KATIE MAC’S INDIE EXPRESS LLC BETA’S ROCK THE HOUSE!!! Also Katie I promise to work on my … addiction! You have been blessing to have as my editor! Thank you for all your hard work to make this happen!
TO MY THORNY BITCHES… WE DID IT!!!! Kristina Amit, Stacia Newbill, Alexis Durbin, Christine Mateo, & Tina Bell, you have lifted me up when I was down and pushed me to give you my all. Thank you seems so inadequate for all you ladies have done for me. Our friendships mean the world to me and even though we have yet to meet, I know that one day we will make that possible. I love each and every one of you to death! Thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to read and help me with this! MWAH! Love you gals! GROUP BETA HUG!
Kristina Amit, my guardian angel above. I love you beyond words. If ever God put an angel in my life, it is you. You have encouraged me every single day and never let me give up on this dream. So how can I say thank you to that? You are a blessing to so many people’s lives and I think you have found your true calling. My face lights up every time I see your name on my phone. I CANNOT WAIT for us to meet! I swear I have found my soul sister! God meant for us to be in each other’s lives and I am more than honored to call you my friend. I LOVE YOU!
To Amber Vaughn, my KICK ASS EDITOR from The Indie Express LLC, you rock sister! I am so grateful this brought us together and I have enjoyed working with you immensely! I thank you from the depths of my heart for all your positive feedback and helpful advice on all my edits of this book. I loved reading your highlighted comments, because they always made me smile. I treasure our new friendship and look forward to a long future of working together! I promise to expand my use of synonyms in book 2. HUGS TO YOU,LADY! Can’t wait to meet you!! P.S. I’ll never look at a colorful unicorn’s hair the same now! Got to love our late night chats!
To my phenomenal ARC Readers, Becky Carter Nichols, America Matthew, Angela Lane, Stephanie Loftin, Julie Deaton, Danielle Plane, Alison Bailey, and Kathy Brosch, you guys are flipping fantastic!! I adore each and every single one of you and I am so grateful for the time you took out of your lives to read my book and review it for me. I am so thankful a little angel by the name of Kristina Amit who helped me put this group together! You are ALL BLESSINGS to me!! I love you guys!! Can’t wait until we start working on Thorneless!!
I have to give a humongous shout out to America Matthew who completely kicks ass when it comes to picture teasers! You nailed every possibly concept in my head and gifted me with amazing picture quotes that literally stole my breath! America, I LOVE our late night/early morning chats and especially our discussions on Sebastian! You get that man better than I can ever express! Like I said, it is like you climbed into my brain and connected with him. I love you to pieces and can’t tell you how much I treasure our friendship! I look so forward to working with you for a LONG time in the future! MWAH!!!
But most of all THANK YOU, MY READERS, for taking a chance on me and buying my book! I can’t wait to take you on a fabulous journey in the THORNE series! Book 2 Thorneless will be coming November 2013!!! I would LOVE to hear from you guys and for you to leave me a review on Goodreads! Thank you again from the bottom of my heart!!
Demons- Imagine Dragons
I’d Die Without You- PM Dawn
Fix You- Coldplay
Love Song- Adele
Sweet Love- Chris Brown
No Ordinary Love- Sade
Kiss Me- Ed Sheeran
Angel- Massive Attack
My Valentine- Paul McCartney
Wicked Games- The Weeknd
Lil’ Freak- Usher featuring Nicki Minaj
Who’s That Chick? – David Guetta featuring Rihanna
If I Lose Myself Tonight- One Republic
Kill and Run- Sia
Arms- Christina Perri