Loving You
Promising You
Forever You
Finding Us
Becoming Us
Always Us
Garret: A Jade Series Companion Novel
The Kensingtons
(Romantic Suspense)
Needing Her
Keeping Her
Protecting Her
Only Her
Contemporary Romance
Next to Me
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If you like new adult romance, be sure to check out Choosing You. Here's the description and prologue.
Choosing You
When Jade is given a scholarship to an elite private college in Connecticut, she sees it as a chance to finally escape her painful past and get a fresh start. She's determined to succeed and that means keeping her focus on school and not guys. But that plan falls apart her first day on campus when Garret, a wealthy prep school boy with swimmer abs and a perfect smile, offers to help her move in.
Jade tries to push him away but she can't deny her attraction to him and Garret won't let her. Things quickly heat up between them, but then come to a sudden halt when reality hits and Jade realizes that a relationship with Garret may never be possible. He comes from a world of wealth where there are rules, including rules about who he can date. And not following those rules has consequences.
As the two of them try to overcome the obstacles working to keep them apart, Jade is confronted with another challenge. On her 19th birthday, she receives a letter that her now deceased mother wrote years ago. In it are revelations that explain her traumatic childhood but also make her question the past she's been running from.
PROLOGUE - Choosing You
October 30
The lines on the track are like a map telling me where to go. I follow their orderly path, my arms and legs moving in a rhythmic pattern. My body repeats the motion effortlessly, leaving my mind to replay what just happened.
I see a girl at a party. She's drinking. She never drinks. Ever. But there were no other options. It was history repeating itself. Like the script had already been written and she just had to let the scene play out. For 18 years, she promised herself this would never happen. And then it did. She lost all control within a matter of seconds.
That girl was someone else. I will never be her. And I will never be her mother. I refuse.
My legs take longer, quicker strides as I become aware of my body again. I pump my arms because I'm not going fast enough. I still feel all of it. The confusion. The rage. The pain. And I just want it to go away.
The cold night air clings to my skin, cooling the sweat and sending an icy chill through me. My arms and legs ache and my lungs burn from inhaling the frigid air. But I keep going. Because I like feeling this pain. I understand it. And it keeps my mind off the pain that I can't understand.
A drop of rain hits my face. Then two, then three. Soon rain pours from the sky, stinging my skin.
"Jade, what the hell are you doing out here? I've been looking everywhere for you! Jade!"
It's Garret, the boy who made the girl live out that scene at the party. The scene that was never supposed to happen.
My eyes remain on the lines in front of me and I run past him like he's not even there.
"Jade, stop! Wait!"
I make another loop around the track as he continues to call out my name. As I approach him again, he moves into my lane and I veer to avoid him.
There's a sharp tug on the back of my shirt and I stumble forward to a stop. I'm gasping for breath as Garret turns me around and holds me against him so tight I can't move despite my efforts to break free.
"Stop." He says it quietly now as he presses my head against his chest. "Just stop running."
I give up trying to fight him and let my body collapse into his.
A minute ago I never wanted to see him again, but now I don't want him to let me go.
"Tell me what's wrong," he says. "If it's something I did, I'm sorry. I'll fix it."
The cold rain continues to pour down in a steady stream. My shorts and shirt feel heavy against my skin and I shiver as the wind blows around us.
He runs his hand along my arm. "What are you doing out here? It's freezing and you're soaking wet. Let's go inside."
My legs aren't ready to move. My entire body is aching, leaving my emotions numb, just the way I want them.
"Jade, talk to me."
I look up and see him watching me, waiting for some kind of answer. Before he can speak again, I reach up and press my lips to his. I shouldn't be kissing him so I don't understand why I'm doing this. But I don't understand anything right now.
Garret gently pulls away. "Tell me what's going on. Why are you out here? Why were you at the party? And why were you drinking?" His voice is filled with so much worry and so much concern. After seeing him at the party I don't know why he even cares. But I know he does. I can feel it and I can see it in his face and it pisses me off. I don't want him to care about me. Not now. Now after what he did.
I push away but his arms tighten around me. I won't look at him. Because when I do all I see is the image of him coming out of that room. With her. And then I see the vodka bottle and it reminds me of my mom and that letter she wrote.
It's too much. It's too many emotions. I want the numbness back.
The rain continues to pour and I shiver again.
"We're going inside." Garret's tone is forceful. He finally lets me go but grabs my hand, pulling on me to go with him. "Jade, come on. I'm not leaving here without you."
My mind is still racing, trying to make sense of things that make no sense at all.
When I don't move, he picks me up and carries me up the hill to our dorm.
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Choosing You is book one in The Jade Series and is available in ebook, paperback, and audiobook.
Next to Me Page 31