Showing results by author "Meagan Brandy" in All Categories

For years, I've dreamt of what college life could bring, and while some things changed, there was always one constant. It didn't matter how wild I allowed my imagination to run, it always led me to the same place in the end. It led me to him. My future was clear, and he was it. Until suddenly, he wasn't. Now there's a new man in my life, one who isn't afraid to go after what he wants, and what he wants...is me.

I loathe the day I ran smack dab into the hard chest of Alister Howl, Avix University's second-string quarterback. The moment he smiled my way, I should've run. And, well, I did…straight into his bed. That was before I learned he was nothing but a liar. He ruined everything before it even began. Unfortunately for me, he takes my dismissal as a challenge and comes back twice as hard.

I never expected my best friend's little sister to become the one I craved, but it happened anyway. In the beginning, we were both young, then she was too young, and then suddenly...she wasn't. Unfortunately for me, things got complicated, so I took off, but this girl? She followed....

For as long as I can remember, I’ve had one dream. Go to college with my best friends, earn a starting position on a division one team, and hear my name announced to the world come draft day. The path was clear, and things were falling in place perfectly. Until she showed up. I never meant to fall for my friend’s little sister and by the time I realized I had, it was too late. I am a man in love with a girl … who is in love with someone else. But I can’t compete with a ghost, and her heart was buried along side the boy she gave it to. The father of her unborn son.

On the outside, it looks like I've got it all together. I'm killing it on the football field, pushing harder than ever before and breaking league records. But on the inside, I'm a mess, the pressure of the game too much, the betrayal from someone I trusted weighing me down with every breath. I'm drowning and there's no one to pull me up. Until her. I tried to stay away, to keep my distance so I wouldn't ruin us both, but I was powerless against her. She's everything I didn't know I wanted and more than I could ever deserve.

"You will go to Rathe University, live among the giftless and those of light magic. You, Knight Deveraux, will learn to coexist." I've never heard more wasted words in my life. Then again, the gifted counsel never did have much to say that wasn't. The only members amongst them who speak a thing worth listening to are my parents, the king and queen of the Stygians, the people of Dark magic. Unfortunately for me and my brothers, they've chosen to play nice instead of sinking their talons into anyone who dares demand a thing from their heirs. In this instance at least.

They say to keep your enemies close, but "they" never had to deal with the likes of Alec Daniels, the broody bad boy next door who loved to make my life a living nightmare...up until the day he disappeared. See, Alec was a thief. He stole my happy. My sanity. My first kiss. I told myself I was glad the day he went away, and I'm reminded of why not five minutes after his sudden and unexpected return. Now he stands before me with a heavy glare and hard body. But those greedy green eyes, they're darker than I remember, and brimming with a secret....

After months of silence, here she stands on my front porch, waiting to be let in again. But it's the same play every time, and I know how this ends - I give her all I have, and she carries it with her on the way back to him. I should turn her away, but I won't. Couldn't do it if I tried. Because no matter how many times she pops back up, pulls me in, and drags me under, it will never be enough. I'll always want more. More of her. More for us. And she'll always choose him.

I had a plan, and it was solid. Track down what was hidden away and take pleasure in toying with it. Toying with her. That plan, it worked like a charm. Until it didn't. Turned out, the feisty little thing I found was far from what I hoped for. She was different from all I knew and more than I expected. She was light, and I'm the bastard who led her into darkness. But this girl...she followed with a smile. I told her I break pretty things. She asked me to promise.

“You don’t belong.” No words whispered in anger have ever rung more true. They’re the Kings of Brayshaw with the world at their feet, destined for greatness and in need of control. I’m the girl from the ghetto with nothing to offer and as defiant as they come. They say it doesn’t matter, that I’m one of them now, and nothing could ever change that. Not even me, should I dare try. But they’re wrong. They underestimate how far I’ll go to protect them. Trouble is coming...and they have no idea.

"Girls like you aren't exactly welcomed at a place like this, so keep your head down and look the other way." Those were the exact words of my social worker when she dropped me in my newest hellhole, a place for "troubled teens". I didn't listen, and now I'm on their radar. Too bad for them, I don't follow rules. Too bad for me, they're determined to make sure I do. Inconceivably attractive and treated like kings...these are the boys of Brayshaw High.

I've tried to forget him. He refuses to allow it. Now, here we are, forced to spend the holidays together, pretending everything is as merry as ever. It isn't. I know this. He knows this. Everyone else? Not so much thanks to the man determined to be mine. Despite all that's happened between us, he swears not everything has changed. He might be right.

After months of refusing, I finally agreed to make the move to Alrick Falls. My family thought it was best - that a new scene would be good for me - and I was sick of having the same conversation. So here I am, and the plan is simple. Smile through each day and avoid her at all costs. It's perfect. Until the cocky quarterback comes into play. The last thing I want is his crooked grin and dark brown eyes focused on me. Yet here he is, constantly in my space, pushing me, daring me to care. Telling me what I think and feel, as if he knows. He doesn't know anything.

In the blink of an eye, my world is split at its core, and I’m faced with an impossible decision, one that leads to a single outcome: betrayal.

I'm a Monet. A chameleon. And what I must be is a flawless daughter, a skilled socialite, and the perfect prize to the man who signed along the dotted line. Not that I'm complaining. I'm all for a contractual agreement, a quick and clean catapult into the next phase of rich girl life. One that takes little thought, less effort, and zero devotion. It's exactly what I want. Or, it was until the lights went out, darkness took over, and I learned what it meant to live.

Degradation of the Desperate Daughter. That could be the theme song to my life. Always second choice. Second best. Second born. Maybe that’s what possessed me to track down my father’s most formidable enemy, the infamous Enzo Fikile. He’s the nation’s most eligible bachelor, and the crime world I was born into’s biggest threat, but not because he wants to tear it down. No. This man wants to claim his place within it, and if the whispers working their way around are anything to go by, he’s well on his way. And I just offered him a golden ticket.

"Trust only those who earn it." A sentiment I follow without direction but holds more consequence than ever before. One decision, five lives, three futures. This is what's at stake. One night, one choice, four broken Brayshaws. That is where we're headed. Unless I stop it. I have to stop it. I have to remind him of what he's chosen to forget. My town. My choice. My ending.

The King of Darkness is dead. It’s time for a new one to rise.... London Crow isn’t who I thought she was. She’s worse. My hate for her knows no bounds. My need for her has no end. But it’s my inability to have her that might just end us all, as the fates refuse to be ignored. Now, there’s a darkness sweeping the streets of Rathe, threatening to destroy the Kingdom we know and love, and it’s all because of her. The mate I can’t have. The bond I can’t let go.

Fake. That's what we are. That's what we agreed to be. So why does it feel so real? I thought it would have been harder, convincing everyone our school's star receiver was mine and mine alone, but I was wrong. We played our parts so well that the lines between us began to blur until they disappeared completely. The thing about pretending, though, is that someone's always better at it, and by the time I realized my mistake, there was no going back.

Bastian Bishop. That’s his name. He’s rough, rugged, and utterly unpredictable. He’s not cautious or contemplative. He’s a volcano. Silent and steady one second, and a nightmare in the next. But that’s not the worst of it. This guy? He’s an outsider, and in my world outsiders don’t belong.