Meet Bri & Luke in Sustain!
iBooks:
http://apple.co/18BFe2I
Blurb
I
had a simple life.
I
worked two jobs, made ends meet, and hung out with my mom and twin brother. The
other part of my life was about avoiding him, but when SWAT raided my
boyfriend’s home, that was the last straw. The boyfriend got tossed and to help
me keep busy, my brother talked me into joining their old band again, but I had
to be honest. It wasn’t a hard sell. Playing drums was in my blood. I used to
be addicted and that craving hadn’t been satisfied in three long years. The
only problem was their lead singer.
It
was him.
The
drums might not have been the only thing I was addicted to. I think I was still
addicted to him too.
Excerpt one: (Bri's pov)
Luke hit a jarring note on
his guitar below, drawing me from the past and back to reality. Seriously. I’d
been ready to take on two thugs beside a dumpster for my stupid-ass cousin, but
this had ice filling my veins.
I rolled my eyes upward.
What was wrong with me?
The melody was addictive. I
felt it reach deep inside me and take root. My breathing wavered as he kept
playing. He moved down a chord, and the sound of it seeped into me, smoothing
out the haunted memories. Then he began singing. His voice was soft and low,
but I could hear it as if I were in the room. He was weaving a spell. It was
like he threw a spear that had a rope attached to it at me from a hundred yards
away, and it embedded deep into my stomach. Then he began pulling on it. I
couldn’t fight because it would yank out my insides, but damn, I didn’t want to
go with it. This whole thing with Luke was both painful and exhilarating at the
same time. I had two urges going through me at once. One was to crap my pants,
and the other was to start doing cartwheels.
I was just messed up, which
is why I started down the stairs. I still had no clue what to say, but I had to
do something.
He was hunched over the
guitar in his lap with a beer at his feet. His eyes were closed, and his head
hung over the guitar as he hit another chord, his thumb beating out the base.
Since he was only wearing jeans, I saw some of the scars on his back. A storm
of regret, shame, and longing all swirled inside me. I wanted to go to him, run
my hands over those scars, and make them disappear. I couldn’t, though. We
weren’t close anymore.
So many ghosts within you
So many haunts to pull you away
You look, I reach out and there’s nothing to do
They take you from me again, far away
I can’t, I can’t, I can’t take your hand
He kept singing, and my
heart felt like it was splitting into two, but then he faltered. His eyes
opened, and he looked up. He didn’t stop playing, but he stopped singing.
I felt like he was
strumming me. I couldn’t look away from his gaze. His thumb stopped hitting the
bass, and his fingers slowed on the guitar. “What are you doing here?”
Right. I was pretty sure I
was seeing lust in his eyes. With that thought, a fever took over my blood,
heating me up. “I,” my tongue wet my lips, “um, I’m here to talk about you and
me.”
His gaze clouded over, and
his eyelids lowered. He bent his head back over his guitar, but he didn’t start
strumming again. “There is no ‘you and me.’ You’re in the band. That’s it.”
I swallowed the lump in my
throat. “Luke,” I started.
“No.” He stood up abruptly,
setting his guitar to the side. He advanced toward me, his eyes were
smoldering.
When my back hit the wall,
I realized I had nowhere else to go and could only watch as he closed in on me.
A part of me wanted him to keep getting closer; the other part of me was still
thinking about crapping my pants.
He leaned a hand against
the wall beside my head, keeping a few inches between us. His eyes were hard as
he said, “There is no you and me. That died long ago, remember?”
Excerpt two: (Luke's pov)
I’d been tense from
watching Bri on stage, and it hadn’t lessened as we ran through the woods. If
there was another remark about her, I was ready to swing. I didn’t care how big
they were.
Gunn had been watching me.
He moved close and said under his breath, “If it happens, I’ll do it.”
“Why?”
“Because we need your
pretty face for the fans.”
I looked up to see if he
was serious. He was, but he relinquished, “Kidding. If you have a busted face,
I think Priss would piss her pants from excitement.”
Braden had overheard him
and laughed. “No, shit. That’d be leaked to the gossip shows in two seconds
flat. I swear, she has all the numbers for the gossip channels on speed dial.”
The football players had
gone ahead, but stopped and waited for us. The third one asked, “What’s going
on?”
“Nothing.” I shoved past
him. While seeing the road through the trees, I saw the headlights for Braden’s
car at the same time. When we cleared the trees and headed up the ditch, all of
us panned out and walked in one line for the car.
When we got there, Bri
opened her door and leaned against the car. Her hair was whipping behind her
face and one hand was resting on her hip. She tugged her shirt and then
adjusted it back, but it didn’t stick. It fell down, showing her black bra. Bri
was clueless, scowling at us. She was the picture of fierce and alluring at the
same time.
We were greeted with, “What
were you guys doing there?”
She took in the whole line
of guys before letting her eyes find mine, making me feel seared. It was the
same effect every time. My insides felt yanked out, but I still wanted to touch
her.
I looked away instead.
“We came to see you.”
Braden motioned to the guys.
“Are you insane? How was
tonight supposed to go down any other way? You guys are celebrities. You can’t
be coming to house parties anymore.” There was a clipped bark to her voice, but
it faded on the last word, and I glanced over. She sneaked a look at me.
“Yeah, we didn’t think
ahead.” Braden threw a hand to the football guys. “Got some extra room?”
She shook her head. “There
is no way this little car can fit all of you hulks.”
The guys laughed and one
mentioned, “We can wait here. A bunch of our buddies are coming. They can pick
us up.”
I should’ve thanked them
for saving us from the chaos, and I heard Gunn and Braden doing exactly that,
but I looked back at her. Her hand was still on her hip, but her shoulders were
slumped forward. She was kicking at some gravel on the road.
The football guys headed
farther down the road as Gunn and Braden got into the car. We were alone now,
but there was still an audience.
She wouldn’t look at me
anymore. I wanted to turn those dark eyes to me. I wanted to say something, but
I had no idea what. I ended with, “You’re still really good.”
Her head lifted, and I saw
it. There was so much there. Fear, caution, excitement, warmth, and another
expression I couldn’t place. No, I did. She was still haunted.
“Thank.”
She was mine.
No. She wasn’t.
She had gone to him that night.
Ah, fucking hell.
“We should probably talk.”
Her eyes opened at my tone,
which was rough, and panic flared across her face for a moment. “Oh. Okay.
Author Information
I
didn't begin writing until after undergraduate college. There'd been storylines
and characters in my head all my life, but it came to a boiling point one day
and I HAD to get them out of me. So the computer was booted up and I FINALLY
felt it click. Writing is what I needed to do. After that, I had to teach
myself how to write. I can't blame my teachers for not teaching me all those
years in school. It was my fault. I was one of the students that was wishing I
was anywhere but at school! So after that day, it took me lots of work until I
was able to put together something that resembled a novel. I'm hoping I got it
right since someone must be reading this profile! And I hope you keep enjoying
my future stories.
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