Title: Scorn of Secrets Author: B. Truly Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Romance
I must keep it locked away—the memory of my darkest secret….
When the rising tides of my life peak, I’m left struggling with the currents of the storm. The first dilemma is my dad’s gambling debt. Mama bounces back quickly from the ramifications it causes. She proves this by getting a new man. Her Rico Suave is just the tip of the iceberg—she moves us across state to live with him and his two sons.
My outgoing, older sister fits right in—she’s the total opposite of me. I am Madison Guillory, the shy, quiet type. Taught to make the best of even the worst situations, I contemplate giving my new family a chance.
Living with my future stepbrothers is interesting, to say the least. They’re like night and day. I have more in common with the laid-back brother, and we become instant friends. I’m adjusting to Taylor High, and the arrogant brother is even starting to grow on me. Maybe everything will work out after all.
My life finally seems to be falling into place until a dreadful night shatters my dreams. My world is flipped upside down because of the consequences I must now bear.
The memories of that night lurk in the shadows to torment me. If I think of what happened, I’ll succumb to my fear. His face has scorned me. No one will believe me if I confess, not even my own sister. I hold the key to my darkest secret, desperate to keep it locked away.
The trip to the airport terminal is rimmed in silence. Gigi is driving us. She’s been supportive, saying encouraging words like, “it will all work out” and “everything happens for a reason.”Deep down, I don’t think Gigi is thrilled about us leaving. But she probably feels it’s not a bad idea for us to get out of town, worried about the robbery and how my father was murdered.
The airport is busy, and it takes a while to check in. Gigi waits with us until they announce its time for us to board our plane. Gigi hugs Tanya first, then she embraces Mama, who pats her back awkwardly. Charlotte has never been the touchy type—Regan being the exception these days. She is all over him whenever they’re together.
Gigi hugs me next. “Take care of yourself, Madison.”
“I’m going miss you, Gigi.”
“I’ll miss you, too, dear. Just be yourself and everything will be fine.” Her lips curve upward, not reaching her eyes. “It won’t be as bad as you think. Just remember life is what you make of it.”
Gigi has always taught me to roll with the punches. “I’ll try to make the best of it.”
“That’s the spirit. Call me when you get settled.”
I wave good-bye, then head to the check-in line to board.
Our seats are all together. Mama and Tanya are out like a light not long after we take off. My mind is too busy to sleep. I ponder on my new life. A new home, father figure and, basically, stepbrothers. Ugh! Everything is so foreign and causes my stomach to roil. Staring out the window, I study the white puffs of vapor. Clouds can form countless shapes. There are so many possibilities. I imagine them to be what my life could be if my father hadn’t died and I got to stay in Baton Rouge. The thoughts keep my mind off what’s to come, imagining my life turning out with a happy ending.
My daydream is a fantasy and reality sets in when the plane starts to land.
B. Truly has wanted to be an author since she was fifteen years old. She is grateful to have accomplished this dream. B. Truly has very vivid dreams and a wild imagination. She likes to read, watch tons of TV shows, and movies. She’s addicted to romance and gets a thrill out of suspense and sci-fi. She writes young adult, new adult, and adult romance, sci-fi, dystopian, and paranormal genres.
B. Truly likes to explore conflicted plots of romance with thrilling twists. She also loves creating impossible situations for her characters to grow from and try to overcome.
B. Truly has three wonderful children, and a husband who defines the person that she is today. She works full-time as an Ultrasound technologist in Houston, Texas.
You know that awkward moment when your lava-hot boss says “marry me?” Not for love. Not for real. Not without a mammoth payoff. Of course, this fortune comes with a ginormous snag—Ward Brandt.
Call me bananas. I must be short of a full bushel rejecting Chicago’s finest billionaire. Who knew he was my boss when he crashed my worst date ever? Oh, but he found out. He swore I wasn’t fit for Brandt Ideas, chewed me up, and spat me back out. I vowed I’d prove him wrong—and sabotage a metric ton of his coffee.
Then tragedy strikes, upending his limitless ego. Guess who needs an image makeover to shore up the family business. Big fat hell no. King Snarlypants has a peanut-sized heart and a chip on his shoulder bigger than a redwood.
Find another sucker, Ward-hole. Even if I agreed, my shields are up. No magnetic kisses. Zero butterflies. Nix the blushing when everyone gushes over what a “perfect couple” we’d be. Then again…it’s just ninety days and mama needs a windfall. What’s one little white wedding lie with a bossy grump built like a god?
When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is check my email.
I’m expecting Miss One Glass to send back some whiny message about how unfair it was for me to bury her under an avalanche of projects.
There’s nothing like that, but a slideshow of the final bid in its current form attached to a blank email with the subject line Done.
Damn her.
It’s incredible how she maintains her scathing sass with a single word.
At the office, Nick stands in front of Miss Holly’s desk, sipping his sugar rush mocha and leering over her. Probably trying to look down her shirt.
Careful, you idiot. This girl knows Illinois employment law by heart. She’ll have your balls stapled to your jacket.
Muttering silently, I stop on the way to my office and my eyes meet hers. “I take it my coffee’s waiting on my desk?”
She looks up and glares a second too long, those green eyes glittering like a jungle cat’s.
“Nope.”
“No?” I spit back.
“Shocking espresso shortage. The Bean Bar only had enough left for a mocha and one double shot, and Mrs. Beatrice Nightingale Brandt takes seniority. If I’d waited for them to resupply, I’d have missed your oh-so-important deadline. Mrs. Brandt told me to let you know you could see her if you had a problem with it, though.” She flashes me a murderously triumphant “gotcha” grin.
“The Bean Bar does not run out of espresso,” I snarl through clenched teeth. The coffee shop has its shit together better than anything else in this city—the whole reason we love it and treat ourselves to Chicago’s finest dressed-up caffeine overload a few times every week.
“Sorry. We’re one cuppa joe short, but I figured the project was more important, so…” Holly just smiles and shrugs like a schoolgirl who’s gotten away with cherry-bombing a high school toilet.
The motion sends my eyes lashing down her face to the low cut of her blouse.
For a tortured second, I’m no better than my idiot brother, my eyes glued to a pair of ample tits I’d like to boss around with my tongue, my teeth, my—
Damn her to the moon.
With nothing else to say, I turn around and nearly slam into Nick.
“Whoa, where’s the fire?” He greets me with his usual lopsided grin.
“Nowhere, apparently.” I level a glare on him. “Shouldn’t you be in your office working?”
He holds a hand up. “Bro, if you’re jonesing that bad for coffee, I can run down to the bar downstairs and get you an espresso. My treat.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
I need to move it before my humiliation is complete, so I push past him, go to my office, and slam the door shut. Then I remember, I’ve only seen one completed project this morning.
Where’s the other?
I open the frosted glass door and stick my head out. “Where’s the Winthrope comp catalog?”
Miss Holly looks up, twirling her blond hair like spun gold. “I’m working on it now! I can send you what I have. The final should be ready before lunch.” She points to her computer.
My eyes narrow and I fold my arms.
“It was due at eight a.m.”
Nick watches us for a minute and huffs loudly. “Yo, Ward, give her a break. It’s still her first week.”
“No excuse to miss deadlines. She has the credentials and work ethic, when she applies them,” I say.
“Aw, c’mon, the last girl took at least a solid week to make those catalogs,” Nick fires back. “There’s so much crap in them—”
Miss Holly jumps in. “Most of it I’ve been able to copy and paste, which is why I’m done with the North American hotels for comparison. Since Mr. Winthrope is coming by for a check-in this week, I thought the slideshow was more important. I’ll be done with the catalog today, like I said.” Nick’s eyes trace from Paige—Miss Holly—to me.
Nicole Snow is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author. She found her love of writing by hashing out love scenes on lunch breaks and plotting her great escape from boardrooms. Her work roared onto the indie romance scene in 2014 with her Grizzlies MC series.
Since then Snow aims for the very best in growly, heart-of-gold alpha heroes, unbelievable suspense, and swoon storms aplenty. With over a million books sold, she lives for the joy of making two people fight with every bit of their soul for a Happily Ever After.
Current fan favorites include her Enguard Protectors series, accidental love novels, plus long beloved MC romance thrillers like the Grizzlies and Deadly Pistols.
A double cross sends a couple of friends on the adventure for their lives.
A chance run in with an old friend becomes a run for their lives when Sherry Rose and Benny Freeman have a misunderstanding with local drug dealers. Witnessing the massacre of friends of Sherry’s double crossing boyfriend leads them to be hunted down by corrupt law enforcement.
Having a near death experience gives them a chance to start a romance they never knew the other wanted.
Will they survive when the bad guys close in on them and finally find the love they always wanted?
It was the first time I saw her at ‘The Fred’ in that two-piece. Her body had just developed overnight. She’d gone from wearing a onesie bathing suit with tree trunks for thighs, hanging below her to the most stunning woman this side of Dominique Chinn with tree husks for thighs and a treasure chest flowing out the top and sides of her bikini looking like she had two floatation devices. She wore a powder blue swim cap that looked like a JiffyPop popcorn tin ready to explode with popcorn. The lifeguard on duty at the deep end was a customer. I had come to let him know Ray and I were open for business and the Cherry Punch strain wouldn’t last long. He hopped out his chair, asking me to hold down the fort. He’d be right back as he dashed into the men’s locker room where Ray was waiting for him.
It wasn’t more than ten seconds after he disappeared that Sherry burst out the water like a mermaid onto dry land. The strap for her cap must’ve loosened as it floated deep into the waters as she stepped onto the concrete. Her curly hair glistened in the rays of the sun from whatever moisturizer she was using.
“Your cap,” I pointed out as I stretched my fingers to waters behind her.
Water cascaded around her as the most glorious figure emerged from the pool. Her arms had the tone of a gymnast, she was ripped from her wingspan to her calves. I knew she spent a lot of time in the water, but damn. Her face had a glow as the sun tried to crack through her darkness while water beads rolled to the ground.
“Can you get it for me, please?” she asked sweetly as her fingers rushed to her bushy hair.
I stepped back away from the life guard stand as fear instantly consumed me overtaking the shame I felt as I didn’t dare admit I didn’t know how to swim.
My eyes darted back and forth for someone to retrieve the plastic cap before it floated any further and sank below.
“Please, Benny, get it for me?” she pleaded and I was stunned. She knew my name. Like Charlie Brown’s little red head girl, she knew my name.
I took a step forward, bracing myself, telling myself it wouldn’t be that bad. I could make it out into the waters and maybe turn back. Or at least toss Sherry her cap and signal for her help after she secured the cap in place on her head. Sheesh, how long would that take? I hesitated.
“Really?” I heard from behind as Ray in a pair of red and white Speedos ran past me. A back splash of water rained upon me as he dove into the water saving the day and securing another satisfied customer.
“Marvin Mason has arrived as a refreshing new storyteller with this fun adventure of young people and African-American Midwest life, the seemingly quiet but oh-so interesting world that molded me but rarely shows up in the media.” Kalisha Buckhanon, American Library Association ALEX Award-winning author of Upstate and Conception, winner of the Friends of American Writers Literature Award.
