Perfect Contradiction

by Peggy Martinez

  My life was beautiful.

  Had the journey to get to where I now found myself been what I’d always thought it would be? A straight and perfect road, planned out in detail and followed exactly? No, it hadn’t. But I wouldn’t have traded my curved, unplanned, and imperfect journey with anyone else’s.

  Just like life… I found I actually preferred my journey with all its detours and glorious imperfections.

  Perfection was overrated and imperfection was reality.

  Life was imperfection.

  Life was a… perfect contradiction.

  The End

  Peggy Martinez is the author of The Sweet Contradiction Series, which was picked up by Crimson Tree Publishing in early 2014 and is scheduled to release under this new imprint in the Summer of 2014. Martinez's New Adult Contemporary Romance series will include Sweet Contradiction, Perfect Contradiction and Beautiful Contradiction.

  When not writing, Peggy can be found spending time at home with her husband, her teen son and four little girls. She loves reading, writing, soap making, aromatherapy, gangster movies, prepping for the zombie apocalypse and downing insane amounts of Twizzlers and Kazoozles.

  As if being a wife and homeschooling mom of five doesn't keep her busy enough, Peggy Martinez is a full time Author who has six published books, including The Time Warper Series and State of Decay. Peggy's dream is to own a small homestead where she can raise some chickens along with her five kids, tend to a large garden and one day take her dream vacation's to Ireland, Greece and Scotland.

  Read on for an exclusive look into the next Contradiction novel—Beautiful Contradiction.

  Releasing via Crimson Tree Publishing in 2016

  Chapter One

  Charlie

  “C’mon, James, I don’t want to let this jerk win,” I said in exasperation. James put a hand on his hip, a sure sign he was agitated.

  “It’s not about winning or losing, Charlie. It’s about keeping you safe,” he snapped, his crystal blue eyes daring me to argue further with him. James MacAvoy, my agent and longtime friend, was quite a bit older than I was, but not so much so that people didn’t have fun writing articles about what all we did or didn’t do together behind closed doors. That would have been a decent story, except for the simple fact that James not only treated me like a younger sister, but he didn’t exactly have a thing for the opposite sex of which I was a part of either. We shared a Chicago condo, which I was sure added fuel to the fire, but it worked for us since our schedules were so busy. He hated to let them think we were sexually involved, but I told him I didn’t mind. After all, if they were so sure he and I were banging boots, then they wouldn’t dig deeper into my personal life or his. In my eyes, that was a win-win.

  “I know… it’s just that I feel like getting away for a few weeks is the same thing as running from this.” I slung an arm out toward my bedroom, where several policemen were still writing notes and taking pictures. I’d been getting weird messages lately on my phone and in my fan mail. I chalked it up to some weirdo trying to freak me out. When you were in the public eye, these things happened… I knew that. But when I got home from shopping that afternoon and found my apartment door ajar, things had escalated to a whole new level. James had also happened to be out of the apartment, and we were still trying to figure out how whoever had broken in had gotten into our building in the first place. We had tight security, and we were in an upscale neighborhood. But that didn’t stop my stalker from getting into my home and then making his way back to my bedroom. The police officers had been at the scene for several hours when they finally began packing up to go home. James saw them to the door.

  I walked over to my room and looked around at the mess. My room, my personal space, had been violated, and I wasn’t even sure if I could ever sleep there again. All my lingerie had been artfully arranged on the bed, snapshots of me doing so many different things, regular everyday things, were spread on top of the satin and lace. At any other time, the photos would have been pretty, artistic even, but they were too intimate, the photographer catching my moods, the way I held my head when I was listening to someone, the way I chewed on my bottom lip while trying to make a decision. The photographer had been watching me for a very long time and knew my habits well. I shivered and rubbed my hands up and down my arms. At first, I had been angry. I’d seen red over the incident, but now… now I just felt violated and scared.

  “Charlie?”

  I sniffled and turned toward James. His face was scrunched up in concern and in anger. When he saw my face, his anger vanished.

  “Come here, hun,” he said softly. I put my head on his chest and let him wrap me into his embrace as I cried. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. The police will find this creep, and you’ll be back in Chicago and back in front of the camera before you know it.”

  I nodded my head as he kept telling me how everything was going to be okay and how I could use a nice trip to the country anyway. I went to sit down on the couch as James did what he does best and took control of the entire situation. Before I even knew what was happening, the mess in my room had been cleaned up, my bags had been packed, and I had a ticket in my hand for the first flight out of Chicago the next morning. I was going to be flying under an alias, which happened to be my birth name, a name that not even the press knew—Charlotte West.

  The high-profile, world-famous, real-sized runway model Chey Weston was about to disappear.

  Jackson

  “That’ll be fine,” I said into the telephone. My good friend, whom I happened to owe a favor to, as he reminded me several times, had some rich kid from Chicago needing a place to lay low for a few days.

  “My friend in Chicago says this kid, Charlie, is some kind of high-profile client of his. He’s having trouble of some sort and wants to get out of the city until everything blows over,” John said apologetically. “I would have him at my house, but I’m in the middle of ripping down half the kitchen for renovations.”

  I sighed. The truth was, I didn’t like someone in my house all that much. I was a private sort of man. I did have plenty of room out here all to myself though, and the agent was willing to pay a nice little sum for a week, so I was tempted.

  “How do you know this guy?” I asked.

  “We met a long time back when I’d moved to Chicago thinking I could hack it livin’ the city life,” John said with a chuckle. “James wasn’t such a big deal back then and when we met at a mutual friend’s wedding, we found we had a lot more in common than an inner city kid and a boy from the country should’ve had. We had lunch weekly after that to talk and keep track of one another.”

  I shook my head. If John liked him, it meant James MacAvoy couldn’t have been all that bad of a guy. I sighed again.

  I did wonder why this guy, Charlie, didn’t talk to me himself. A twenty-four-year-old man could surely make a call on his own. Aw, hell. I hoped he wasn’t one of those uptight, rich city guys who wore all black and only listened to heavy metal, trying to defy his rich daddy at every turn.

  “Not to offend you or anything, John, but this guy, Charlie… he ain’t into drugs or anything bad, is he?”

  “No, no. He ain’t into drugs or anything like that,” he answered.

  So, maybe Charlie was just a spoiled rich kid. I could handle that for the extra money. “Good, then I don’t see a problem. I’ll have a room ready for him when he gets here, and I’d be glad to pick him up from the airport.”

  “That would be perfect. Thanks, Jackson! I appreciate this, man,” John said in a rush. “Charlie will be there bright and early in the morning at seven-thirty via Astor Airlines, flight 202. I’ll call you tomorrow to see how you and Charlie are gettin’ on.”

  “Sounds good,” I answered before ending the call. Rubbing the back of my neck, I went to put away the bills I’d spread across the table.

  Looked like I was getting’ a housemate in less than twenty-four hours and a little extra cash to take care of a few of these bills.


  I sure hoped the guy wasn’t a slob.

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  If you enjoyed Perfect Contradiction, we recommend you read the Time Warper Series by Peggy Martinez. This exciting young adult paranormal romance series will be releasing in October 2015. Order your copy today!