One moment of hesitation and I lost Maggie forever.
Since then, we’ve spent the last 15 years in this small town circling each other and pretending neither remembers how right it felt when we were best friends.
Now she’s a single mom and she doesn’t need a “broody, grumpy cop” like me complicating her life. No matter how many times her heated gaze scorches my skin, I can never have her in the way I want.
Completely.
So I push her away—but it’s for her own good.
Because if she knew the truth of what I did, she wouldn’t just have hurt feelings, she would truly hate me.
She has a guarded heart and it’s all my fault. But I don’t have a heart at all. I gave it to Maggie O’Brien a long time ago.
Lena Hendrix is the author of steamy, contemporary romance novels. Her love of romance started with her grandmother’s Harlequin paperbacks and now Lena’s stories are full of heart, humor, and plenty of strong Alphas with marshmallow insides-she likes her coffee hot and her heroes hotter!
Lena lives in the midwest with her husband, three children, and two derpy Australian Cattle Dogs. When she’s not writing or devouring new novels, you can find her hiking, camping, fishing, and sipping a spicy margarita!
Title: Double Negative Author: Susan Marshall Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
Injured competitive swimmer Reece never wanted to be Vice Prez of West Hill High. It was her brother Jamie’s idea, just something to do until she could get back into the pool.
She knew that Jamie—who led his campaign with a striptease “election speech”—would be a complete “President Dumbass.” But Reece didn’t foresee that she’d fall hard for Jamie’s Student Council rival, Zain.
Zain is hot and intense, plus an amputee and a basketball star. Between Zain’s disability and Reece’s surgery, they have their challenges, but that deepens their connection—until he drops a bombshell about his accident. Suddenly, everything important to Reece starts to implode.
Struggling with issues of family loyalty, secrets, and scars, Reece must decide if real relationships are worth the heartache.
“It’s a good thing you called,” Zain said, his eyes narrowing. “Your brother needs to be kept in check.”
“What’s with you two, anyway?” I asked, returning his look.
“He’s lived this charmed life. I’ve busted my butt to get good grades, on a winning basketball team, Athletic Council Prez. He takes off his clothes, says ‘Free ice cream,’ wins Prez, throws out the rulebook. He’s not accountable, not for anything he does. And he’ll get into a good school. I know your dad’s some hotshot lawyer with big connections. He’ll pave his way. How is that fair?”
“Nothing’s fair. You work hard, then your shoulder gives out, but you come back even better.” And as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wished I could take them back.
“Really? Not everyone comes back better. Not when someone runs over you with their car and smashes your leg so bad, they have to take half of it off. And you fight just to walk. And then more and more to get back on the court. In the end, I can only go so far. I’m hoping that I might be good enough for college, but adjusting to the prosthesis has taken a toll on my game. Once high school is over, so might basketball.”
“Shit, I’m sorry. When did this happen?”
“Two and a half years ago.” I sighed. “I don’t want sympathy,” he added, looking straight ahead.
“You’re the team captain, right?”
“Captain doesn’t mean you’re the best player. I’m pretty good, I used to be scholarship good, but I’m not so sure anymore.”
I pulled up in front of Zain’s house, a small, tidy-looking red brick bungalow with white trim and a carport. The only difference between his house and the ones on either side was the color of the door. Helped by a large, hanging white porch light, I could tell it was a deep navy blue.
I still hadn’t thanked him for bailing me out. I was grateful that he’d come, stopped the brawl, got everyone out, and helped with the mess. The situation had been tense. Someone could have gotten majorly hurt, not just bloody-nose hurt. We would have been in deep shit.
“I appreciate that you guys came.”
“I’m glad we got there when we did. It could have gone south. Fast.”
“It almost did. You’re not going to rat us out to DiFran, right?”
“I still have to think, but let me say I like having something on Jamie. I’d lose that edge if I blabbed.” I nodded.
Zain opened the passenger door and did his hop-strut thing out of Jenny. He shut the door, leaning into the window. “Come as your favorite sexual fantasy? That’s some theme for a freshman mixer.”
“Superheroes,” I said loudly, blinking. “Remember the shirt? I was Elastigirl? The capes? Superhero, not sexual fantasy.”
A lover of libraries, Susan obtained a Masters Degree in Library Science but found that she was too disorganized for that field. Instead, Susan worked at The Globe and Mail newspaper and then Seneca College. Four kids later, she decided to stay-at-home, spending her quiet moments indulging her love of writing.
The old adage is to “write what you know.” In Double Negative, Susan channels her experience as a parent of a teen amputee and her misguided belief that she was once an athlete. The inspiration for NemeSIS was the complicated sister dynamic in Susan’s estrogen fuelled household in Hamilton, Ontario. An avid reader, she loves e-books and falls asleep nightly to the soft glow, oblivious to what happened on the last page.
Susan lives in Toronto with her husband, three sons, a daughter, rescue dog Bean and Indy the cat.
