Abigail Winter has always lived a shy, secluded life, until she meets and falls in love with bad boy Lucas Westmore. While hanging out with her best friend, Emily Collins on her twenty-sixth birthday, Abigail is directed to Lucas' path and she soon finds out that there is more to him than there is on the surface. Events quickly roll into one another and they find out that they are connected to each other in various, unexpected ways. As events unfold, Abigail is left with a very hard choice to make, a choice that could possibly change her life forever. But, will it be in a good way or a bad way?
"Come on Abby! Just do this for me! It's my birthday are you really going to be such a killjoy on my day?" Emily pouts, showing her googly eyes in front of me. "Pretty please?"
"You're already drunk, Emily. God, why are you so weak in alcohol?"
We're currently inside a famous bar in the city. Since she pleaded to take me with her to celebrate her birthday, how could I say no?
I let out a sigh in disbelief.
It's only been a few drinks yet I still can't seem to believe how my best friend always gets drunk so fast. It's not that I didn't want to do her dare, but my best friend of 20 years is basically trying to dare me to seduce an impossible man at the bar table right in front of us. Multiple women already tried to flirt with the dude but all of them ended up getting humiliated and ended up running for their lives in tears. We didn't know the guy but he looked powerful enough to send a few ladies out of the bar with just a raise of a hand.
I sighed, why am I still surprised at this point? Emily Zhang never fails to create a memory whenever she gets drunk, and if you don't go with her wishes, she turns crazy and we somehow end up in the police station. Yes, it's true. It has happened, not once, not twice! But plenty of times already that I'm not even scared to hang around the police station anymore. Most of the time I'd play along with her, but if the dare was too hard, I end up faking the deed to calm her down.
I glanced at the guy facing away from us.
He had a sad back for some reason and it was easy to tell that he was going through something by the way he was chugging the alcohol like water.
That my friend... is a Red Flag.
"Right!" She jolts up, "Didn't you say that you wanted a child on your own at this age? I remember you said that when we were in high school! We're already 26 years old Abby, might as well get the good genes of a stranger that you always fantasized about! I mean look at the guy!"
Ha... here she goes again.
"You don't even see his face, his back is literally facing us, Emily."
"Whatever! He has a sexy back and I'm here for all of it! Sexy back means handsome guy! I bet a hundred dollars that he's hotter than any celebrity that you've seen in your life!"
"You said that with every guy you try to hook me up with."
"And you always say no whenever I hook you up with a hot guy! It's my birthday. Come on, the last thing I'd want is my best friend turning into a 30-years-old virgin." She embraces me, playfully shaking my body while pleading. "Think about it, you get the baby with good genes and also get to experience great sex on your first night! How great is that!"
"I don't know..."
"Come on Abby! This is the last time I'd ask this for you!"
She was wriggling my body a bit too much that I had to stop her at some point. I raised my hand in surrender to her persistence and stood hastily from our table. I wasn't going to win against her whims anyway, so might as well just let her have her fun on her birthday... right?
Can I really trust a drunk person? Well, it's not like I was being forced to do this, when in the first place, Emily just knew how I wanted to be a single mother even before senior year. I vividly remember how she laughed at me when I said that. Who'd believe a woman to say so anyway?
In my case, I don't really believe in marriage or the love that everyone speaks about. For me, love is filled with lies and unhealthy devotion. One way or another, it's always going to be more painful than it was ever so blissful. Thinking back, I learned those things the hard way. I had to watch my mother believe in the lies of my cheating father with her whole heart.
She was simply blinded. That's why I'm not.
going to be married in this life, nor I'm going to be like my mother. In the end, seducing a guy isn't much of a big deal. After all, it's not serious and it's just a one-night stand to get what I want in life.
"Fine!" I sighed in frustration. "But if he's not as hot as I think, I step out, okay?"
"Deal!" She shouts, raising her glass in the air in excitement. "Don't worry bitch, I've always been good at distinguishing handsome men even in a baseball stadium! I'm sure you'll like this one!"
As I walked toward the bartender's table, my heart started to pace faster. There's this weird air of cold-heartedness around the guy that it makes it hard for anyone to approach him after all the scenes he just made earlier. At that moment, no one else but me was on the way to approach him. The women dispersed on time that I had the space to sit beside him.
Yet I don't plan to do that since I don't want to get my ass dragged out of the nightclub so I had to be careful. I slowly made my way to a nearby seat close to him, with a chair between us, I ordered a martini and waited. It was then I had a sudden realization as I sat there dumbfounded.
Oh no, being single all my life... how could I forget that I suck at flirting?
I cursed under my breath. How do I even dare forget? The reason I also keep rejecting the blind dates my best friend sets me up with was that I suck at pretending to be nice! I was praying that he would not be my type and I could just run back to my best friend. However, for some shitty reason, my jaw almost dropped when I saw how he looked.
He had blue eyes, a perfectly chiseled
nose from my view, even his jawline looked like it came right out of a magazine. I blatantly stared at him in disbelief as he continued to drown himself in alcohol. I simply couldn't believe that my drunk best friend's prediction would come true. But... this is beyond my expectation! This guy's out of my league! Maybe he's a celebrity or model? But wouldn't he be famous if he was?
Without knowing, I didn't know I was already blurting out some nonsense that I thought was all in my head.
"How could a guy like you exist? God, you're perfect!"
In the quiet town of Silver Peak, Luna Blackwood, a werewolf is hoping to abandon her life and start a new one altogether but her past quickly catches up to her when a string of murders happen in the town just a few days after her arrival. A local detective named Alex Carter quickly jumps on the case and his path eventually crosses with Luna's own. Two of them are immediately attracted to each other but they have to confront their pasts if they want to have a future together. And for that to happen, Luna has to embrace a side of her that she has been trying to run from while going against an enemy far more ruthless than anything she has ever faced.........
Sophia Drake braced herself for the worst when she was forced to move across the country in the middle of her junior year. Desperate to escape her shattered home as soon as she turns eighteen, her plans are disrupted by the enigmatic and captivating Ashford twins. Sophia can't fathom the intense attraction she feels for the twins and tries to avoid them at every turn. As she's thrust into an unfamiliar world, her past demons resurface, making her question her true identity. Will Sophia flee from her past's secrets, or will she embrace her destiny and take control of her future?
Madisyn was stunned to discover that she was not her parents' biological child. Due to the real daughter's scheming, she was kicked out and became a laughingstock. Thought to be born to peasants, Madisyn was shocked to find that her real father was the richest man in the city, and her brothers were renowned figures in their respective fields. They showered her with love, only to learn that Madisyn had a thriving business of her own. "Stop pestering me!" said her ex-boyfriend. "My heart only belongs to Jenna." "How dare you think that my woman has feelings for you?" claimed a mysterious bigwig.
Her fiance and her best friend worked together and set her up. She lost everything and died in the street. However, she was reborn. The moment she opened her eyes, her husband was trying to strangle her. Luckily, she survived that. She signed the divorce agreement without hesitation and was ready for her miserable life. To her surprise, her mother in this life left her a great deal of money. She turned the tables and avenged herself. Everything went well in her career and love when her ex-husband came to her.
Janice, the long-forgotten legitimate heiress, made her way back to her family, pouring her heart into winning their hearts. Yet, she had to relinquish her very identity, her academic credentials, and her creative works to her foster sister. In return for her sacrifices, she found no warmth, only deeper neglect. Resolute, Janice vowed to cut off all emotional bonds. Transformed, she now stood as a master of martial arts, adept in eight languages, an esteemed medical expert, and a celebrated designer. With newfound resolve, she declared, "From this day forward, no one in this family shall cross me."
It was supposed to be a marriage of convenience, but Carrie made the mistake of falling in love with Kristopher. When the time came that she needed him the most, her husband was in the company of another woman. Enough was enough. Carrie chose to divorce Kristopher and move on with her life. Only when she left did Kristopher realize how important she was to him. In the face of his ex-wife’s countless admirers, Kristopher offered her 20 million dollars and proposed a new deal. “Let’s get married again.”
" Don't say anymore word than you already have, don't..." I stuck a finger out at him, sauntering away on my heels when a hand wrapped itself around my arm. Breathlessly he whispered, "You know that I do love you and...fine, what exactly was I supposed to do?" "Protect me and stand up for me. That is what you do for someone who you claim you love!" ************ Out to spite her ex-boyfriend after he had broken up with her on her birthday, Daphne slept with a stranger who turned out to be his uncle while trying to rebuff his words that she was unwanted by others. Was she ready for the wild chase that followed when he found out years later that she had been pregnant with his heirs and that she had been hiding the truth all this while? Faced with the ruthless CEO, known as the beast, who wasn't ready to back down, Daphne does everything possible to make sure her kids wouldn't be taken from her, but what happens when love gets in the mix of it all? Would she be able to conquer these weird feelings and give in her all amidst her scars? And with how deadly he turned out to be? And faced with her ex who still wants her back, what choice is she going to make?