Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 116(@200wpm)___ 93(@250wpm)___ 77(@300wpm)
Tate has always kept his head down, but when the new beauty catches his eye, it’s like he’s seeing for the first time. He’ll do anything to shield her from harm… as long as he gets to keep her.
*Warning:*For those that loved Shielding Lily this is another swoon-worthy tale in their world. Grab your coziest blanket and settle in for a taste of something extra sweet.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Chapter One
ROSEMARY
I put my hands over my ears to try and drown out the sound of the headboard hitting the wall, but still I catch small grunts. My only choice is to turn on the light next to my bed and find my headphones. After I do that, I scroll through my phone and find the playlist of my favorite piano pieces. With a few clicks, “Moonlight Sonata” fills my ears.
Glancing back to my bedroom door, I double-check that it’s secure. I not only locked it but shoved a chair under the handle. I’m not sure who my mom might come stumbling home with, but lately it’s been the same man. There’s no telling how long it will last, and she could have a new one in there right now. I won’t know for sure unless I run into him in the morning, but it doesn’t matter. None of them stick around. The most recent one is creepier than the others. I hope she gives him the boot sooner than later. He likes to stay around in the house, but not in a good way.
Stupidly I thought that moving to a nicer part of town would force my mom to fish from a pool of men that wouldn’t make my skin crawl. I guess it doesn’t matter where she is because most men are the same. They use her, but at least my mom uses them right back. It’s only when I get caught in the crosshairs that I care.
I flip the light off and try to catch some sleep. Tomorrow is my first day at a new school. It’s bittersweet because here no one knows us. We’re over a hundred miles from my old school, so the word whore won’t be carved into my locker and boys won’t make comments that I’m a slut like my mom.
At least not for now. One year is all I have left. I just have to make it through my senior year. I’m sure a lot of the anger and bullying I got at my last school is because my mom slept with more than a handful of other students' fathers. While some of them were very married. My mom isn’t picky when it came to those details. All she cares about is what she can get from them.
A few times she got tangled with a man she thought might give her everything, but that never played out. That hasn’t happened in a while, and a chill has settled inside her to make sure she doesn’t fall for any of them anymore. My only hope is that none of the men she’s met over the last few months are fathers of anyone at my new school.
She settled into Noblesville rather easily. It’s a big-small town where you don’t know everyone but you recognize their faces. When we lived in the city, that wasn’t the case. This could make things messy for not only her but me. If gossip can travel in the big city, it will be a wildfire in this town.
A year, I remind myself. That’s all I have left. Then, well I’m not sure, but I won’t have to go into a building every day where people glare and whisper. Once I’m finished, I can take whatever path I want. How I get there, I’m not sure.
When I was little, I loved Noblesville. It was a cute town, and my mom would sometimes drop me off to stay with my grandma over the summer. That came to an end a few years ago when my grandma didn’t want to let me go back with my mom. When she showed up at the end of the summer to collect me, my grandma tried to keep me. My mom took me away, and after that, I didn’t get to see her again. Not until she was in the hospital with days to live.
I grip the locket around my neck and think about my grandma. She gave it to me before she passed, and I miss her so much. My world was completely different when I spent my summers with her, and I wish I could have stayed.
My mom isn’t the best, but she loves me in her own way. Now I’m back in the house I longed to live in, but my grandma is gone. It’s not the same. It’s my mom and me, and our new life is already starting to feel a lot like our old life. I’m not sure why I thought anything would change.
I haven’t spent a full day inside my new school, and I can already see the cliques around town. To make matters worse, I had a strange run-in with a guy and a few of his friends. I could tell by the letterman jacket he wore, even while it was 90 degrees out, that he was on the varsity football team. The numbers on his shoulder let me know we were both about to be seniors.