Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 62737 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62737 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 314(@200wpm)___ 251(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Ronnie is everything Jude didn’t know he was searching for—wild, fearless, and the addiction he’ll never quit. The more he learns about her, the deeper he falls. Their connection burns fast and fierce, impossible to ignore. Every late-night gaming session, call, or text ignites a spark that pulls them closer.
With her, for the first time in Jude’s life, love seems possible.
Just when he thinks everything is falling into place, his past comes crashing into his future. Turning his world upside down. But will Jude know what forever feels like, or will it be too late?
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
PROLOGUE
JUDE
One Month Earlier
The moment I wake up, my body catapults to a sitting position as gasps of air leave my lungs, rough and ragged. My hand clutches at my chest, trying to calm the beating of my heart. Sweat is pouring from every inch of my body while all my senses go on high alert, and I can hear every noise in my otherwise quiet home. The only good part about waking up like this is that I’m out of my nightmare.
For now.
You’d think almost twenty-seven years later, I’d have overcome my past, but I haven’t. I’m haunted in my weakest hours.
When the world is dark.
When I’m the most vulnerable.
When I’m asleep.
I’m transported to the here and now. No one is here, and there’s not one single fucking reason for my past to enter my future.
I toss the covers from my drenched body, throw my legs over the side of the mattress, and take a deep breath. My elbows hit the tops of my thighs, head hanging down. The clenching and unclenching of my fingers help center me from spiraling to do something stupid. I leave my eyes open while attempting to calm myself down and try to think about other shit, shit that doesn’t suck me into the vortex of my fucked-up childhood.
“Get it together, man.” I run my fingers through my hair, look at the clock on the other side of my room, and watch the time change from two fifty-nine to three o’clock in the morning. There’s no going back to sleep, not after the nightmare I just had, one that still has me ready to crawl out of my skin.
“Cam, disable the alarm.” The software system I created is voice activated yet more detailed than that, capturing the unique tone of my voice. I’m still ironing out the kinks before I make it available to my friends, their business fronts, or the public.
“Good morning, Jude. Alarm is deactivated,” the slightly less robotic female voice responds through the speakers. I wince at even a piece of technology notating that it’s morning at this awful hour. The alarm chimes, a two-beat succession letting me know that a blaring horn won’t sound off and wake up the rest of my neighborhood when I open the French-style patio doors.
I stand up, nab my phone from the nightstand, and check what my notifications look like—trivial bullshit, e-mails, texts that can wait, and another alert about who’s currently online. I drop the phone back on the wood table and grab my smokes and lighter before walking toward the back door. A few seconds later, the deadbolt is unlocked, the door is wide open, and I’m met with the stillness of the night.
The Florida humidity smacks you in the face. Summer is thick in the air, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. It’s never ending, clinging around for months on end. The rare time it drops below fifty percent, you wonder if a cool front moved in, only to wake up the next day with shit going back to normal, and you’re left thinking it was a fever dream. I walk further out on the deck, completely naked. My house may be in a neighborhood of sorts similar to Asher’s, minus the fact that my lot is a little over an acre, but the privacy fence keeps it secluded, so I’m able to use my backyard however I see fit. I drop the nasty habit near the edge of the pool, one I picked up years ago and have yet to kick, probably because anytime I do, the nicotine calms me down from days like these. I drop myself into the pool and dunk my body below the surface, exhaling every last bit of oxygen until I’m nearly to the bottom. I close my eyes for the first time since waking up and am finally in a point of time that does me not one bit of good. I flip to my back to slowly float to the surface. The stickiness of sweat is gone and is replaced with chlorine. I’ve yet to convert the system to salt water, it’s at the bottom of my list for now.