You may notice me but you will never know
me.
I prefer it that way.
I am the daughter of a
monster.
Born from blood and lies.
Dead before I have truly
lived.
But Elian tells me that I’m
different.
He tells me that I’m
beautiful.
That I’m an enigma wrapped in irresistibly complicated
skin.
Elian says that he loves
me.
These words terrify me.
I can’t trust love.
Or hope.
Or truth.
Because I fear the beast
inside.
It threatens to drown Elian and his sweet, unconditional
love.
It’s a beast that will destroy
everything.
Elian
pulled at a loose string at the hem of his T-shirt. He
dressed like he hadn’t
done laundry in a while. His jeans were stained and his
shirt faded and
threadbare. His brown work boots were scuffed, the laces
untied and trailing in
the dirt. He reminded me of a little boy scared and
running.
“I’m
surprised you’re here,” he commented, shifting my focus from
his shoes to his
face.
“Why
is
that?”
“You
just don’t seem like a live music kind of girl.” He laughed
nervously, as
though wishing he could take back his
observation.
“You’re
right. This isn’t normally my scene at all,” I admitted,
leaning into him just
slightly.
Elian
snapped his fingers together. “I knew it!” As though he had
just made a
monumental discovery. These were tiny, inconsequential
pieces that I gave away
without effort. Safe.
Painless.
“So
why are you here?” he asked, pushing his hair off his
forehead. I stared at him
for a moment, taking in all the parts of him. His green
eyes, the first thing
that I really noticed about him. His dark hair that fell in
a haphazard
disarray across his
forehead.
The
scars, thin and shiny, crisscrossing along the length of his
neck. They were
brutal and violent. And when Elian was nervous he rubbed his
fingers over the
slightly raised skin as though trying to wipe them away. I
wondered about the
scars. I wondered about his false
smile.
I
wondered about Elian Beyer and his many, many
secrets.
The New
York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Contemporary
and Paranormal
romance including The Find You in the Dark and Bad Rep
series as well as the
upcoming stand alone romance, Reclaiming the Sand, and a
dark new adult series
for Gallery
Books.
A.
Meredith spent ten years as a counselor for at risk teens
and children. First
working at a Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault program and
then later a program
for children with severe emotional and mental health issues.
Her former clients
and their stories continue to influence every aspect of her
writing.
When not
writing (or being tortured with all manner of beauty products
at the hand of
her very imaginative and extremely girly daughter), she is
eating chocolate,
watching reality television that could rot your brain and
reading a smutty
novel or
two.
A.
Meredith is represented by Michelle Johnson with the
Inklings Literary Agency.
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