EXCERPT
Fighting
Silence
*Sexy
Excerpt*
“Hi.” I
stood up off the bed as he started climbing through the window.
His eyes
went wide when he saw me, causing him to momentarily lose his balance on the
windowsill and go crashing to the floor. “God. Damn,” he cursed as he rose to
his feet while taking in my new wardrobe. “You… I…um…” His hand went to his
lip.
He was
rooted in place only a few steps away, but his eyes traveled over every inch of
my body and back again.
Till was
speechless. I had never felt so empowered in my life.
“Are you
okay?” I feigned concern as I slowly approached.
“Not even
close,” he told my breasts, making me giggle.
After
sliding a hand under the edge of his T-shirt, I raked a fingernail over each of
his abs before dipping it into the waistband of his jeans.
“I’m sore
today,” I announced, closing the distance between us. My breasts were pressed
against him, but he still hadn’t even attempted to touch me yet. I had plans to
remedy that. I smirked then stood up on my tiptoes, kissing the base of his
neck. “Make me sore for tomorrow too.” At the last second, I darted my tongue
out to the hollow dip at the base of his neck. It was meant to tease him, but
as the taste of his skin hit my tongue, I was flooded with memories of taking
more of him in my mouth. The moan escaped before I’d even felt it coming.
A loud
rumble shook his chest, but that was the only warning I received. Suddenly, I
was off my feet and sailing through the air. Just as I landed on the bed, Till
crashed on top of me. His mouth roughly landed on mine.
“Tell me
we can’t do this again,” he demanded as his hands found my breasts.
“We’re
definitely doing this again.” I arched into him.
“It’s
gonna get so messy, Eliza. Please.” He groaned as I reached into the front of
his jeans.
“I’m okay
with messy,” I breathed, guiding his hand from my breast and into my panties.
“Fuuuuuck”
he cursed when he discovered just how thorough I’d been with the razor earlier.
His finger pressed inside me as his body traveled down the bed and settled
between my legs, stripping my panties off during his descent.
He added
another finger in a less than gentle but overwhelmingly intoxicating, rhythm.
“Tell me
to stop, Eliza. We can’t do this again.” He grazed his teeth on the inside of
my thigh.
“We’re
already doing it.”
“Tell me
to stop.”
“No.”
“It’s
going to ruin us.”
“If you
don’t stop talking, you’re going to ruin this.”
“I’m
serious.” He kissed the inside of my other thigh, his fingers never faltering
in their steady pace.
“So am I.
Stop trying to talk yourself out of this while your fingers are buried inside
me.” I threaded a hand into his hair and gave it a gentle tug.
“Goddammit.
Tell me to stop!” he demanded one last time, but his fingers sped before
twisting in the most delicious way.
I decided
to give him what he wanted, but only because I knew he wouldn’t follow through.
“Stop.” I
rolled my hips forcing him even deeper.
“Well,
it’s too fucking late now.”
I would
have laughed, but his mouth sealed over my clit and stole my breath, words,
thoughts, and orgasm. My body shook as he pushed me higher even while I was
falling. It shouldn’t have worked like that, but whatever voodoo magic Till
Page was working with that night was all right with me. He didn’t stop swirling
his tongue until I used his hair to pry his mouth away.
“Too
much!” I cried.
He looked
up with a wickedly proud grin. His hand disappeared, and seconds later, his
cock replaced it.
Fighting Silence
*Excerpt*
“I swear to fucking God,” I
snarled as I stomped a pattern around Eliza’s hospital room. She had just been
wheeled out, but my anger and anxiety filled the room in her absence.
“Calm. Down,” Slate said
from the doorway. “It’s no big deal. I’ll get it back.”
“Fuck you.”
“You’re welcome. Now, get
your shit together and remember who the hell you are talking to.”
Eliza didn’t have
insurance, and she had freaked when the doctor told her that he wanted to run a
CAT scan because of the trauma to her face and head. She’d flat-out refused,
spouting off some crap about not going into debt by racking up a huge hospital
bill she’d eventually have to pay. She’d sworn she was okay, but I’d absolutely
not been anything even resembling okay.
So I’d lost it. I’d snapped
at her like a fucking asshole. Then I’d shouted at the doctor for reasons that
didn’t even make sense. In turn, he threatened to call security, which only
pissed me off more. It was a clusterfuck in that room until Slate came in and
physically pinned me against the wall. While I was trying to get my shit under
control, Erica was apparently informing administration that she and Slate would
be financially responsible for Eliza’s hospital visit. While I was relieved as
they wheeled her out of the room, I was sick and fucking tired of feeling like
a broke-ass, worthless dick all the time. As it often was, my anger was aimed
in the wrong place, and Slate was the only man in the room.
“Get my shit together?” My
heart pounded in my chest, and every muscle in my body strained under the
mounting stress. “I’d like to see how the hell you’d react if Erica looked like
that and there wasn’t a fucking thing in the world you could do to help her.”
Slate’s eyes turned dark as
his jaw clenched. “It was different. But I’ve been there,” he stated
matter-of-factly. “It was the worst day of my life. I wasn’t even the one who
got to make the piece of shit pay either. But honestly, Till, sometimes you
have to accept that it’s not the way things get done or who does them. As long
as, in the end, they are done. She’s
getting that CAT scan right now, and you can sleep easy tonight knowing that
she’s okay. It doesn’t matter one bit who signs the check that pays for that
kind of peace of mind.”
“It matters to me. You have
no fucking idea how it feels to be so goddamn helpless all the time. I can’t do
this anymore. I’ve only truly had her for less then twenty-four hours and I’ve
already failed to fucking protecting her and
provide for her. My boxing trainer had to pay for her medical bills. It’s
embarrassing!”
“It’s only embarrassing if
you let it be.” He shrugged and settled into the chair next to the door.
I continued to pace. I
couldn’t get over the heavy weight of failure compressing my chest. “Why the
fuck would she want to settle for someone like me? I failed out of high school.
I work sixty-three hours a week for minimum wage so that I can barely pay the
bills on a shithole apartment. For fuck’s sake, I have two brothers I want to
give the world, but last week, she had to buy us groceries. Oh, and there is always that fun fact that I’m going
deaf. One day, she really will have to take care of me! I can’t handle knowing
that she has to settle for a future filled with struggles just to be with me. I
love her. I really fucking do. But at what point do I let her go because I know
she’d have a better life with someone else?” I finished my rant on a yell.
“Wow. You have a really
gone off the deep end. She’s not some puppy you can find a better home for.” He
stretched his legs out and crossed them at his ankles.
If possible, it managed to
piss me off more. I was in emotional upheaval and he was getting comfortable.
“Just leave me alone. I
can’t deal with your shit right now.”
“You want to go pro?” he
asked randomly.
“What I want is for you to
leave.”
“Is that a no?” He crossed
his arms over his chest.
“What the fuck are you
talking about? Nothing has changed. I still don’t have the time. Honestly, I
think I need to give up boxing altogether. Maybe try to find another job or
something.”
“I’ll bankroll eight
hundred a week. Quit your jobs and come work for me in the ring. It comes with
health insurance for you and the boys too.”
I stared at him, awestruck.
That was double what I was bringing home each week.
I’d always heard that you
couldn’t judge a man’s character by the balance in his bank account. Thank fuck
for that because character might be the only place I wasn’t overdrawn. And
right then, Slate’s offer sounded a whole lot like pity. No matter how
appealing it sounded, I wanted to make it without having to rely on anyone
else. I couldn’t afford to sacrifice character.
“Why are you doing this
right now? What part of that conversation confused you? I don’t want your
charity.”
“It’s not charity. I’m
gonna make a shit-ton of money off your ass. This isn’t a free ride. I’ll get
all of your winnings until you’ve paid me back. Then anything you make over
that, I get thirty-three percent. Erica’s been eyeing this condo on the beach
in Florida
Outstanding.
Slate wants to buy a condo on the beach and I just want to keep the electricity
on.
“It has to be hard being
you.” My voice dripped with sarcasm, but it only made Slate smile.
“I guess you won’t know
until you try. I made every single penny I have from boxing. If you think money
will solve all your problems, then put whatever preconceived notions you have
about my motives aside and take my offer. But if you decide to refuse, you
should know I won’t make it again.”
“Why now? Less than a month
ago, you told me I wasn’t ready. Where was your offer to bankroll me then?”
“I’m not going to lie to
you. You’re not ready. Not if you want to be great. But with enough time, I can get you there. You’re raw right
now, and despite whatever you think, you’re driven by something greater than
the almighty dollar or dreams of stardom.” He stood up and walked over to me.
“To answer your question about why now, I was wrong. You’re not hungry for more
in life. You’re fucking starving. I
can work with that.
“Did you even listen to yourself while you
were talking? Not one single thing you said was because Till Page wanted more
money or a nicer car. You were concerned about Eliza and the boys…but never
Till.” He poked my chest right over my heart. “I’m making an investment in you,
Till. It’s no handout. I believe you’re going to set the boxing world on fire,
because every time you put on those gloves, you’re doing it for them. Say yes. Accept the offer. Quit
your jobs. Take a week off to take care of her. Then get your ass in my ring.”
I had no words. If I spoke,
I was going to look like a sniffling little bitch. So I nodded instead.
“Good. I’m going to find
Erica and get some coffee. I’ll send over the contracts and your first paycheck
in the morning.” He turned and headed for the door.
I stood in the middle of an
empty hospital room where my fantasy and reality had collided. Finally, I had
the break I had dreamed of, but it had taken almost losing Eliza to get it. I
would forever remember the way I felt in that moment. Cracking my neck and
shaking out my arms, I decided I was done letting the world run over me.
Slate had just handed me my
one chance to make a better life, and I was going in with gloves blazing. For
the first time in my fucking life, I was climbing through the ropes.
Pre-order Fighting Silence
RELEASE
DATE: February 23rd, 2015
Blurb
Sound is an abstract concept for most people. We
spend our lives blocking out the static in order to focus on what we believe is
important. But what if, when the clarity fades into silence, it's the obscure
background noise that you would give anything to hold on to?
I've always been a fighter.
With parents who barely managed to stay out of jail and two little brothers who
narrowly avoided foster care, I became skilled at dodging the punches life
threw at me. Growing up, I didn’t have anything I could call my own, but from
the moment I met Eliza Reynolds, she was always
mine. I became utterly addicted to her
and the escape from reality we provided each other. Throughout the years, she
had boyfriends and I had girlfriends, but there wasn't a single night that I
didn’t hear her voice.
You see, meeting the love of my life at age
thirteen was never part of my plan. However, neither was gradually going deaf
at the age of twenty-one.
They both
happened anyway.
Now, I'm
on the ropes during the toughest battles of my life.
Fighting
for my career.
Fighting
the impending silence.
Fighting for her.
Every
night, just before falling asleep, she sighs as a final conscious breath leaves
her.
I think
that's the sound I'll miss the most.
About the
Author:
Aly Martinez
Born and raised in Savannah , Georgia South Carolina
After some encouragement
from her friends, Aly decided to add “Author” to her ever-growing list of job
titles. Five books later, she shows no signs of slowing. So grab a glass of
Chardonnay, or a bottle if you’re hanging out with Aly, and join her aboard the
crazy train she calls life.
THANK YOU!!
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