MADversary
Authors: Jade C. Jamison
MADversary
Jade C. Jamison
MADversary
Megan Walker doesn’
t plan to attend her high school reunion, but her best friend Lisa begs
her to come along. Megan doesn’
t want to risk running into her old boyfriend Tyler Green, a man who has since become rich and famous as the
frontman
of a heavy metal band called
Madversary
. Lisa convinces her that Tyler would never show up for something like a reunion, so Megan gives in, only to regret it. Because when Tyler does show up, the spark
reignite
s, and she doesn
’
t know that she can bear letting him go again.
Megan saw a park bench a few feet away and started walking toward it. She didn’t know what to say to Tyler. She only knew that he harbored no feelings for her, while she still had hidden feelings she’d forgotten about. She just wanted to go home and be alone. Reaching the bench, she said, “Suit
yourself
. I’m afraid I won’t be much company, though.”
She caught his eyes and his were searching hers, looking for something. She felt her lips part as though she wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out. There was a dull, throbbing ache in her core, and she felt like she’d starve the rest of her life without tasting him again. She took a deep breath of the cool night air and closed her eyes. It would be okay. Tyler Green would leave and her life would go back to normal.
But when she opened her eyes, Tyler’s nose was close to touching hers. He was leaning over, his body close, and he wrapped his arms around her waist. “That’s too bad,” he said, “because I was hoping to spend a little more time with you.”
All air escaped her lungs as Tyler’s lips met hers, enveloping them in a kiss. He was warm and electric, and she felt adrenaline rush through her veins, making her fingertips go numb and causing her to wake right back up. This was not the kiss she remembered, though. It was slow and sensual and, like the music he wrote today, more mature. But if she’d read Tyler right earlier, a kiss would be all she’d get.
So she planned to enjoy kissing him until her cab got there. Her hands finally responded to her brain’s demands and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He pulled her body right up to his, and Megan realized the Tyler Green of today was not the boy she’d dated back in high school. There was nothing sweet about his kiss; it was ravenous and greedy.
She was nearly breathless when the cab arrived and she didn’t know how she managed to become aware that it was there. She couldn’t bring herself to pull her body away from his, but she had to.
Tyler unlatched his lips from hers and whispered in her ear, “Should we tell the cab to beat it?”
That was all she needed to hear and it didn’t matter if she was just going to be the friend Tyler loved and left. She needed him and she wanted him
now
.
BOOKS BY JADE C. JAMISON
Tangled Web: A Steamy Heavy Metal Novella
Stating His Case
Fabric of Night
Worst Mother
MADversary
Then Kiss Me
Everything
But
(Tangled Web)
NICKI SOSEBEE SERIES
1 Got the Life
2 Dead
3 No Place to Hide
4 Right Now
5 One More Time
6 Lost
7 Innocent
Bystander
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by Jade C. Jamison
Cover image © Walt
Stoneburner
All rights reserved.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or
dead,
is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
Visit Jade’s website:
Follow Jade on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/@JadeCJamison
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
MEGAN WALKER’S FINGER
slid down the row of cloth-covered books.
She hadn’
t realized how dusty the ones in this section had
become. Without thought, she wiped
the grime from
her finger on
to
the side of her blue jeans. Then she pulled out the book she’d been looking for—a 1948 edition of Dante’s
Divine Comedy
. She saw dust particles begin to fly as she continued to tug
on the book, urging
it
out into the light
. The burgundy
volume
seemed far too comfortable next to its neighbors in its tight spot, and Megan thought that was a shame. This book should have been loved well and often; instead, as she blew the dust off the top of the book where the pages met, she realized it had been neglected like an unwanted bastard child.
She rubbed the cover
with her hand
as though comforting the book and walked down the aisle back to the desk where the teenage boy with shoulder-length brown hair stood joking with his blonde friend. “Here you go,” Megan said, offering the book to the young man.
He took
it from her
and turned it over in his hands.
He opened the cover and squint
ed at the title page.
“Hey, lady,”
he said,
“
y
ou got the guy right, but I said I need Dante’s
Inferno
, not this shit.”
Meg
an ran her tongue over the back
of her top teeth, sucking in a deep breath.
Ignorant little fuck
, she thought, but she flashed a sweet smile just the same. “Maybe your English teacher didn’t
tell
you, but Dante’s
Inferno
is part of
The Divine Comedy
. It’s divided into three sections—
Inferno
,
Purgatorio
, and
Paradiso
.
You’ll find what you’re looking for inside.”
“Yeah…dumbass,” the blonde kid said,
slapping his friend on the back of his head, causing his baseball cap to fly to the floor.
The kid lowered his voice, but Megan heard him say, “Knock it off,
fuckwad
,” to his friend before stooping over to pick up his cap. He stood back up and asked Megan, “Can I check it out then?”
She nodded and walked back to her place behind the
counter
. “Do you have your library card?”
The kid looked befuddled for a moment, but then he reached in the back pocket of his knee-length jean shorts and pulled out his wallet. As he rifled through its contents, he asked, “You guys don’t have any of those
Cliffsnotes
too, do
ya
?”
Megan smiled, logging back into the computer. She said, “No, sorry. You’ll have to go to the bookstore for those.”
The kid handed his library card
to her
while his friend started snickering and jabbing his friend in the ribs
with his elbow
. “How long have
those
been in your wallet?”
Jesus
, Megan thought. Had she ever dated boys this immature in high school? At least
the kid would
have a little challenging reading to help expand his brain, even if he
did
choose to just go with the
Cliffsnotes
summary.
Or maybe he was just checking it out to take to school so his teacher would believe he was reading it, even if he wasn’t.
She scanned his card and his account popped up. He hadn’t checked out any books for over a year, but there was an overdue fee of two dollars and fifty cents from a book he’d turned in then. She told him about the fee. “What book was that for?”
“
The Grapes of Wrath
.”
The blonde kid laughed once more. “You read
that
?”
“It was for another English class. That’s the only time I come here.”
The boy’s blonde friend continued to laugh, and Megan was ready to remind him
he
was
in
a
library
and needed to shut his mouth. Besides that, the
brown haired boy
was now blushing. For some reason, Megan started to feel some sympathy for the kid, and she was afraid
he’d just tell her to forget the whole thing
and throw the book on the counter and walk away. “Look,” she said, “how about I wipe the slate clean for you
?
How’s that sound?”
The kid blinked. “What do you mean?”
Megan fought the frustrated sigh that
so
wanted to blow out of her lips, but maybe reading
the
Divine Comedy
would help this kid stretch his brain enough that he could better analyze situations.
Did she really believe that?
No, b
ut
she could hope
at least maybe he’d stay in school. Good enough. “I mean I’ll take off your overdue fees, as long as you promise to return
this
book in time.”