Chapter One
Ashley
I wasn’t used to being important.
All my life, I’d been told how useless I was. How I’d destroyed my mother’s figure. Stopped her from finding the perfect man. How men didn’t want a woman with a kid. Before we moved to Crude Hill, I either hid out in my old bedroom when she had guests or left. I’d spent many nights camped out at a park, or down by one of the lakes while she pretended to be a single woman.
I did all of that out of love.
I loved my mother.
So much.
She was the worst and best person in my life. I loved her more than anything. Then he came along. A man with smooth words, and within a matter of months, we’d gone from living a life of struggle to luxury. He was a married man with a family. He didn’t require me to leave. Knew all about the daughter, and for a short time, everything was perfect. Or as perfect as it could have been. He’d told me straight, I wasn’t going to get anything out of the arrangement that he wasn’t willing to give. While he had my mother eating out of the palm of his hand, he had a whole host of other plans for me.
Strange how life turned out.
The same man who held the threat of my life over my head was the same man whose daughter I befriended. I didn’t do it on purpose. Emily was … everything. She was the best friend I never had before. She didn’t have to stick up for me, but she did.
She was the first and last person to put her life on the line for mine. It was because of her that I was alive.
Staring across my room, I couldn’t tear my gaze away from the door. I had no choice but to focus on something. I would be sick if I didn’t.
Earl Valentine.
Emily said she’d seen him. I’d hoped she’d been wrong, but now, for whatever reason, I’d been taken. I was locked away on a boat. Damn it. I hated this.
Why did people think it was so cool to go out in open water?
It was fucking scary.
Sickness swirled within my gut. All I wanted to do was throw myself overboard and vomit.
I didn’t.
I couldn’t.
The door was firmly locked from the outside.
Fucking fuckers.
I hadn’t eaten in hours.
What was this game? More importantly, what was his game? I’d met Earl once, and I couldn’t even be sure if it was the same man.
Seven years ago, at the party that had changed my life, I’d danced with a man. He’d held me, stared at me, and for a short time, I’d felt like the only person who had existed in his world.
Was it the same man?
I’d thought about him often over the years.
This was what I’d turned into. A woman so desperate for attention and affection, she’d imagined a man into some kind of being.
I sucked.
Big time.
After running fingers through my hair, I glanced around the room while wrapping my arms back around my legs and keeping my body right. With how unstable everything was, I didn’t want to let go of anything.
The water.
Why?
Ugh. I was going to be sick.
As if on cue, the door lock flicked open, and Earl Valentine stood in the doorway. Seven years was a long time, but I would recognize those shoulders and hands anywhere. The scar down his face wasn’t scary or ugly, but sexy, showing how dangerous he actually was.
Neither of us spoke.
I watched him.
Waiting.
Terrified.
Curious.
I was a lot of things all mixed into one.
He was right here, in front of me, well, a few feet away.
“You’re awake.”
“I want to go home. This isn’t funny.”
Earl smiled, but it wasn’t a nice one. Something sinister and dark lay behind his gaze, promising. I didn’t want to know this man too intimately.
There was a lot more to this man than what met the eye. After years of seeing my mother move from dick to dick, I’d gotten a pretty good read on them. I recognized a keeper, a loser, an asshole, and the man you really shouldn’t catch the eye of. Earl Valentine was one of those latter men.
“You think I’m doing this for your amusement?”
“What do you want?”
“A lot of things.”
“Last time I heard, it was a cherry you wanted to pop.” I hated speaking the words, but I wasn’t going to cower from this man.
Seven years, Emily and I had formed a life together. She was sad most of the time, but there were always rare sparks of light in our darkness.
I loved her like a sister, and right now, being trapped on a boat with this man, it would leave Emily alone.
Earl tilted his head to the side, and I realized I’d surprised him.
Good. I’d grown up.
Since I’d been alone with Emily, we only had each other to count on. No men. No fathers. No mothers. Just the two of us, and we’d been doing quite well on our own.
Looking at Earl now, even though I didn’t want to believe it, I just knew our time together had come to an end. I was stupid and naïve to have thought it would last a little longer. Happiness was always rare and short-lived.
Having a mother like mine taught me that.
There were times she’d feel guilty for the way she treated me, and for a week tops, she’d be the perfect mother, attentive until boredom hit her, or she believed she’d done what was needed.
Either way, she’d hated me by the end of it.
I was still alive. She was six feet under. Her thirst for a good life had caught up with her and nearly ended the both of us.
“Where’s Emily?”
“I believe right about now she’s back in Crude Hill.”
This made me tense. “No.”
“Yes.”
“No, they can’t take her back. She’ll be killed if she goes back there.” I knew all about the contract the four Monsters had made to keep Emily and me safe. Even though they were completely in love with her, they couldn’t have her. Their fathers made sure of it.
It was why I’d gotten to live. They’d bargained her life and mine.
The thing about Crude Hill and the Monsters’ Crew was that they had a rule. Once a man was a traitor or a rat, everyone in his family was taken down with them. No one was allowed to survive.
I was as good as dead because of my mother’s connection to Emily’s father. We both should be dead. Rotting away somewhere. Instead, we got seven years.
“This isn’t funny,” I said.
“I’m not laughing.”
“Then you’ve got to stop Emily. I know you wanted her virginity once and all of that crap that went with it, but she’s not the same person, okay? Please, do not let her get killed. She’s my best friend.” I hated to beg.
Staring at Earl, I despised feeling desperate enough to ask him to help her, to save her.
“Emily has her hands full, Curves. She doesn’t need my help or my interference.”
I wanted to hit him. The urge swept through me like a sick and twisted wave of desire. I held on to it as I stared at him.
At that moment, my stomach decided to make its presence known by growling. It had been too long since I last ate.
“Follow me.” He turned and started out the door.
Looking around the room, I tried to think of anything that could be used as a weapon. Nothing came to mind.