Blurb:
Girl, Interrupted meets Beautiful Disaster in this thrilling and sexy debut novel, in which a college student learns her perfect life is a lie and finds new love where she least expects it—a mental institution.
Freaks, misfits and Jayden McCray. Jayden has his own set of rules for life at Newton Heights, and in this contradictory guy Lucy finds a way to live with the events that left her cheating boyfriend and best friend dead and Lucy in the middle of the investigation into their demise.
The problem? Jayden makes her want things she's not supposed to have, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality and making Lucy feel more at home in Newton Heights than she ever did at home. But this isn't how her life is supposed to be-or is it?
Read an excerpt:
"You planned this," I said.
Jayden looked up from his case. "I plan everything."
"You had Flynn create a distraction."
He grinned and looked down at the croquet balls. "What color do you want to be?"
"What did you slip that security guard?"
"Did anyone ever tell you that you worry too much? Yellow would work, I think." He straightened and held the canary-yellow ball out toward me. "It's a bright, cheery color, and I’m in a celebratory mood."
I looked at the ball, then at him, trying to process everything that had happened. "We are going to get in so much trouble."
He twisted his lips into a half-smile. "My little worrier. If you keep dwelling on the future, you'll have no time to enjoy the present.” He inched the croquet ball closer. "Take it."
I hesitated, then grabbed the ball from his hand. "In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that I'm pretty good."
Jayden took the red ball and grinned. "Like I said, you haven't played with me."
It didn't take long for me to realize that Jayden wasn't lying. He was not only good but also a master at distraction. He would jump from topic to topic as I aimed my shot, timing his questions so that I'd hit the ball too hard or soft and miss the target.
"You're cheating," I accused him after he won the first game.
He waved his hands to the sides in mock surrender. "How?"
I opened my mouth and shut it again. The truth was that he wasn't breaking the rules, just bending them. I glanced at the last rays of sun as they settled over the horizon and considered my options. Well, if he could bend the rules, then I guess I could, too.
I was a quick learner. With practice in the timing of my random questions and comments, I was able to rattle Jayden’s confidence. I had to admit that it was fun getting him all riled up. Throughout the second game we were neck and neck. I remembered the Ping-Pong tournament and felt a little sorry that our only audience were the crickets, fireflies and other night life that had come out to play. If the psych ward liked Flynn’s banter with Jayden, then they would have loved the one-liners we hurled at each other.
Finally, it was time for Jayden to take his last turn. If he hit the stake, he'd win. If he missed, then I'd win.
I was determined to win.
I positioned myself next to a large bush behind the final stake and waited until he started to aim.
"Don't think you can distract me with questions this time," he said as he lined up his shot. "I'm totally focused."
"Oh yeah?" My mind raced. This was do or die. I had to do something big or I was going to lose. Suddenly, I felt something land on my neck. "Oh my God, Jayden. Something's on me." It was a bug, a big bug, with legs.
"Not working." Jayden pulled his mallet back for the stroke.
"No, seriously." I began to fidget. The creepy-crawly wiggled under the collar of my shirt and was making some sort of chirping noise. Its prickly legs dug into my skin, making me want to itch. I dropped my mallet and clawed at my clothes, trying to find whatever the hell was crawling over my skin. "Shit, it's in my bra!" I shrieked and tore off my shirt and bra, then slapped at my skin. A cricket jumped off my chest and landed in the grass.
Jayden glanced up and widened his eyes at the spectacle I was making. He straightened, causing his mallet to tap the ball. It rolled forward the length of his foot.
With the cricket gone, my heartbeat quieted, and I turned back to the game. "I won!" I said, pointing at his ball. "That counts as a stroke. I won." I couldn't believe it.
Jayden didn’t bother looking at the game. “Good job.” His gaze became more heated and hungry by the second. It was then, in that moment, that I realized my breasts were completely naked. I had exposed myself to him.
I yelped and grabbed my clothes. I kept my gaze averted from his and started babbling to cover up my embarrassment.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that. A cricket crawled down my shirt, and those legs were gross, not to mention those wings . . . I probably shouldn't have been standing so close to that bush."
Once I had my bra and shirt in place, I risked a glance at him. Our gazes met, and my entire body heated with awareness. The air around us crackled with energy as I dragged my gaze down his body and saw that he liked the little distraction I had provided. He liked it a lot.
I decided that I liked his reaction to my half-naked body. It had been a long time since I had felt desirable, but here, under the moonlight and Jayden’s hungry gaze, I felt like a goddess.
A slow, seductive grin spread over Jayden's lips. "Now, that was impressive."
"Jayden, I—"
Jayden cleared his throat and picked up his croquet ball, breaking the spell. "I thought I played dirty, but man . . . that was epic." He chuckled and swung his mallet over his shoulder. "You're right. You win. You absolutely deserve the win."
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At fourteen, Ava snuck her first romance novel into bed and read it by flashlight. There she met her first "book boyfriend" and has been hooked on reading ever since. She often prefers book-boyfriends to the real thing, and believes that a gooey, fudge brownie is a little piece of heaven on earth. When she's not writing, she's stumbling through her Zumba class (have to work off those brownies somehow), obsessing over the latest PINK song, or feeding her addiction for reality television.
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Note: Ava also writes erotic romances for her over-eighteen fans as Suzanne Rock. See her kinkier side by checking out her website http://www.SuzanneRock.com
Thank you so much for featuring my story. I appreciate it!
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