Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 67355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 269(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
From the moment we met, Jackson Champion made my life a living hell. He was my enemy, tormentor, and the source of my greatest anxiety. I thought I’d gotten away from him, but he found me and now he has me where he wants me. He wants to become the one thing I must resist: my lover.
She was my dream come true…
From the second I laid eyes on her sweet curves, I was determined to make Zora Knight mine. Just the thought of her being with anyone else filled me with a burning rage. I would do anything to have her, even if it meant destroying everything around her in the process. No matter where she goes or whom she runs to, I intend to be her endgame.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
1
ZORA
“This was a mistake.”
The chilling urge to turn around and not look back sends a quiver up my spine, yet my feet remain firmly planted on the ground. The grand white pillars of the palatial manor feel as if they’re mocking me, telling me I don’t belong here.
When we’d made it past the wrought iron gates of this estate and farther up the hill, I found myself staring at the stately red French doors adorned by a lion’s head brass knocker. Intimidating was too tame a word for how I felt at that moment.
Noble Hills is a gated community where all the rich kids who’d made the last four years of my high school existence, miserable. The streets are lined with million-dollar homes and expensive foreign cars. Each jade lawn is well manicured without a blade of grass out of place. These are the kind of houses you buy when you hit the lottery and yet they all pale in comparison to this house on the hill which everyone refers to as Champion Manor.
It's twice the size of every house in this subdivision, large, white, and pristine. This is where all the good parties had been thrown, where the towns’ social elite come to schmooze. Even state politicians come by for events to be seen and receive donations for their latest campaigns.
But this is also the home of Jackson Champion. The demon spawn who has made my life a living hell. The fact that I even came here is a testament to my stupidity. But a promise is a promise.
I managed to avoid stepping foot on this property all my life, not that I had ever been invited before now.
I note a few people lingering on the wrap around porch with bright red cups in hand. I instantly recognize a few of them because we’d shared classes together but I wasn’t particularly close to any of them. At least they don’t belong to the group of my tormentors.
Still, the anxiety that has taken hold of me in its tight grip kept me paralyzed with an irrational fear I couldn’t quite explain. I only had to make it an hour and I could turn around and go home. What was the big deal? I’m 18. An adult. I can vote, sign my own legal documents and fight for my country if I’m so inclined. What’s one stupid party?
A thin, bangled arm links through mine, and my friend leans her head against my shoulder. She stares at me with bright hazel eyes and bats her enhanced lashes. “Zora, you promised me two hours. We can just mingle for a bit, chat with a few people, and maybe have a drink. Then we can go back to my house and stuff our faces with junk food and watch Rom Coms until we pass out.”
My best friend, Lea is one of the few people I would bend over backward for. But this was a big ask, even for her. “I have a suggestion, why don’t we skip this and do exactly that. I’d much rather be at your place than this den of iniquity.”
Lea giggled. “You sound like one of those judgmental church ladies. Come on, hon. It’s graduation night and this may be the last time we see some of these people. Besides, your Dad was happy when I told him that you would be coming to the graduation party. He wants you to have fun. You don’t want to disappoint him do you?”
I pulled myself out of her hold and narrowed my eyes. “That’s low.” She knew my dad was my soft spot. I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a Daddy’s Girl but my Dad possesses the biggest, kindest heart of anyone I know. He works his fingers to the bone to provide for me and my ungrateful brother without complaint and wants nothing more than to see us happy.
When I wasn’t at school, I often helped him at the local diner that he and my mom used to own together. That place was like a second home to me, but my dad insisted that I hang out with my friends and have a normal life like my brother did.
But I preferred helping him out at the diner. So when my big mouth friend told him that we’d be attending the senior gradation party held at Champion Manor he’d beamed from ear to ear.
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I’d rather swallow glass than step foot on this property, yet here I was because of the machinations of Lea and my fear of disappointing my Dad.
Lea held her palms to the sky with a nonchalant shrug. “You’ve managed to avoid nearly every single party since we started high school. And you already promised me you’d come with me.”
“I only promised you because you didn’t tell me what I was agreeing to first and then when you told my Dad about it, I really wish I would have strangled you.”