Nearly Broken

We’d both gone missing at one point, but Claire had one thing I didn’t. Someone to notice. So why was I the one still here and she the one still gone? Nineteen year old Megan Smith has spent the past year working in a small town diner in the middle of nowhere. Life is quiet, simple, safe. Then comes the news that her look-a-like has gone missing. Claire. Still damaged both physically and mentally, Megan's not looking to be noticed. Wherever she goes from here, it's a road she needs to take alone. But when Nickolas Ellis takes the job as the new nightshift cook, it scares her how easily her defenses crumble down, down, down for him. But there are secrets she can't bear to share with just anyone, unspeakable acts that continue to haunt, and when the similarities of Claire’s abduction couples with the fear of an unwanted visitor in town, the urge to run before it all happens again intensifies, threatening the only happiness Megan's ever found. New Adult Romantic Suspense / Dark Realistic Fiction Recommended for 17+ for mature and disturbing situations, language and sexual content.
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Excerpt

I could kiss those warm lips forever, as I could never get enough. Content to just stay in that position all night, I reluctantly allowed him to pull me into motion and out from between the cars, whining my disapproval.

I don’t know what happened next. There was a quick sound, like an engine backfiring somewhere in the garage. I understood why Nick startled, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why he stopped dead in his tracks.

“Nick?”

His grip on my hand loosened. I screamed once I realized he wasn’t just bending, but keeling over as he hit the car on his way down. Now slumped on the ground, he no longer obstructed my view and I inhaled so sharply my lungs strained in pain.

Him! How did I miss that? The garage was empty, but here he stood, not fifteen feet away with a gun pointed straight at my chest.

But I didn’t care. All I could see was Nick crumpled up on the pavement. I fell to my knees gasping, completely losing it when I couldn’t turn him around to assess the damage. Was he even breathing anymore? I screamed, heaved and cried all at once like a fucking tsunami hit my chest, but I managed to feel the slightest rise when I placed my hands on his back. For a split second, relief rushed my senses.

My chest constricted when a pair of black sneakers stepped before me. I fearfully looked up, noting the sleek gun held at his side. It was a long look up, and a blurry one at that due to gushing tears. My head shook endlessly, completely disbelieving the sight before me. I had been checking everywhere I went, always looking over my shoulder, thinking that if I just remained vigilant about my surroundings, then he’d never get the jump on me. But here that lunatic stood over me with a gun. And that fucking bastard shot Nick instead of me! In total disbelief, I somehow managed a strained, “Why?”

My eyes were drowning and the world blurred around me. I couldn’t really see him, but I recalled his most distinctive features from memory: dirty blond hair, hazel eyes, sharp cheekbones, dimple in the chin. When his gun angled towards me again, a short squeak of terror burst from my throat. 

I’m a mom, wife, a lover and a fighter, coffee addict, wicked knitster, Microbiologist, baker of fine yummy treats, and someone who will fight you to death for that last twinkie bag of M&Ms during the zombie-apocalypse. Seriously, my addiction is that important to me. Oh yeah, and writing is cool too!
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