[Currently being rewritten and updated chapter by chapter]
Book One in the "Hard Love" series.
It's hard being knocked down. And it's even harder getting back up.
Thalia Carter grew up on the south side of Chicago with a dead-beat dad and never real...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Thalia on painkillers is worse than Thalia being drunk.
Or better, depending on how you look at it. But right now, I'm leaning toward worse.
"Your eyes are so pretty." She giggles, batting her eyelashes up at me. "Like a great big storm."
She's definitely good for the ego right now, but she's lacking in discretion and it's making me more than a little on edge considering we aren't alone.
I shoot a glance at her sisters in the front seat, just as I've done every time Thalia starts to comment about how pretty I am, which is roughly, say, every twenty seconds. Luckily for me, they don't seem to mind. In fact, Hadley–the one who doesn't look like she's got a stick up her ass half the time, I've learned after a couple days with both sisters–looks like she's about to fall into hysterics.
"A storm, huh?"
Thalia casts me a loopy smile, dropping a hand to my upper thigh. I shift in my seat when she starts to rub higher, leaning in to whisper in my ear.
"I like storms," she whispers, her breath tickling my neck as she cranes hers up to me. "What about you?" Her hand creeps higher. I look to the front seat again and thank whatever higher power is out there that it's too dark for Thalia's sisters to witness her feeling me up. A few inches higher and she'll be cupping me over my jeans, and that's the last thing we need right now.
I swallow, trying to keep the edge out of my voice. "What about me?"
She leans back, peering up at me with her big brown eyes. "Do you like storms?"
I like one storm in particular.
Nodding, I curve my lips into a smile. "Yeah, I do."
She grins widely, letting out a breathy laugh. Her eyes are a little unfocused and I'm starting to wonder if her doctor gave her the right dosage for her tiny body before we left the hospital.
The car rumbles to a smooth halt, and I look up to see we're parked in Thalia's driveway, right next to my black Lexus. Oliver and Nate offered to drop it off at the hospital for me while I stayed with Thalia, but I didn't want a reason to leave her before I had to.
I did take them up on their offer to get Zoe out of there, though. Dr. Frederick was probably three seconds away from dropkicking her ass out the door with the way she hovered over him, asking him about every single thing he did. She was acting like every doctor's worst nightmare when it comes to a patient's family, but I know it was just because of her innate curiosity.
"Alright, we're home," Laura announces, glancing back at the pair of us from the drivers seat. She locks eyes with me, her lips turned slightly downward. "You can stay, if you want."
She had to listen to me bicker with Zoe for three days while Thalia was bedridden about leaving the hospital. There's still no way I'm going anywhere, so her giving me permission doesn't mean much to me. Even just thinking about leaving Thalia alone in the care of her sisters makes my pulse thud in my ears, causing a wave of nerves to course through my veins. I feel a primal sense of protectiveness over her and I don't give a damn what anyone says; I'm not going anywhere.
