by Piper Rayne
The sides of her lips turn up. She presses her index finger to her mouth. And then, like there’s nothing peculiar about it at all, she flutters off. I follow. And it is above the biggest tent in all of Lusus Naturae on my wedding day where I’m finally reunited with my mother. It is here that I am home.
Find out everything Erin Lee on her website
About the Author
USA Today Bestselling Author Erin Lee is a dark fiction/reality author and feminist therapist chasing a crazy dream one crazy story at a time. She is the author of Crazy Like Me, a novel published in 2015 by Savant Books and Publications, LLC, Wave to Papa, 2015, by Limitless Publishing, LLC and Nine Lives (2016). She’s also author of When I’m Dead, Greener, Something Blue, Freak and 99 Bottles. She also penned Losing Faith, a novella with Black Rose Writing. She is co-author of Black Rose’s The Morning After. She is also author of the “Diary of a Serial Killer Series” and “Lola, Party of Eight Series” formerly with Zombie Cupcake Press and From Russia, With Love formerly with Bella Tulip Press. She is a co-author of the Moving On series, including bestselling The Ranch and Moving On. Other horror and upcoming titles include Pawn Takes All and Scary Mary.
Lee is the founder of Crazy Ink Publishing, a multi genre publisher specializing in multi-genre anthologies for all kinds of crazy. Through this venture, she hopes to give readers and authors alike a taste of other realities and worlds so that they can escape into the words.
Lee holds a master’s degree in psychology and works with at-risk families and as a court appointed special advocate. When she isn’t busy dissecting the human experience, she enjoys escaping from reality through reading and spending time with her muses and canine companions and therapy dogs – Thomas the Terrier and Milo Muse.
Forever Mine
By Joanne Dannon & Faith Summers
Joanne Dannon and Faith Summers
She’s in love with her brother’s best friend. He just wants to protect her from his toxic family.
* * *
Ivy Carson has been in love with Leo Haller for as long as she can remember. And at times, she wonders if he feels the same way. But he’s always kept her at arm’s length—after all, he’s her brother’s best friend, and she knows he wouldn’t want to jeopardize the friendship.
* * *
Leo has nursed a secret crush on his best friend’s sister for years, but he would never consider acting on his affection. His family is toxic—he doesn’t want her getting tangled up in that mess. She deserves better than him.
* * *
After years of loving Leo from afar, Ivy comes up with a scheme to bring them together at last. She’ll invite him to a friend’s wedding as her plus one.
* * *
Leo agrees reluctantly. He’s just doing a favor for a friend, after all—what could go wrong?
* * *
But when the day comes, neither Ivy nor Leo are prepared for the simmering undercurrent of attraction that flares between them. It’s too late to turn back. Can Leo risk everything for the woman he can no longer resist?
* * *
If you love BWWM and friends-to-lovers romance, you’ll love this sparkling read by Joanne Dannon and Faith Summers.
Copyright
Forever Mine
Copyright © 2020 by Joanne Dannon and Faith Summers
Edited in US English
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the authors.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Dedication
To my amazing friend, Khardine!
I am truly blessed to have you as my friend. Not only are you caring, kind and thoughtful; you are a talented author and you inspire me with my writing!
Love you, Joanne x
Chapter 1
Ivy
“Dear Ivy,
Rachel and Patrick request the honour of your presence at their marriage Saturday, the 30th of May, 3pm at Paradise Hall, Ethel Wood, Wisconsin.
Dinner, drinks and killer dance moves will follow at the same location. As this will be a weekend event, accommodation will be provided at the venue. Please RSVP for yourself and your plus one by May first.”
* * *
Oh my God, they’re actually getting married.
My heart thumps hard against my chest as I read the wedding invitation.
Okay… this shouldn’t really be a surprise. Rachel and Patrick have been dating since college. So that’s well over ten years. They were the couple who’d been together forever, but hadn’t taken those final steps to commitment.
There’s not one amongst us that didn’t consider them perfect for each other. They’re the absolute definition of true love.
I read over the invitation again and while I know I’m supposed to be ecstatic— and I am—I know what this invite means for me specifically.
It means seeing Ben Montgomery again, after all these months of avoiding him.
Ben Montgomery my ex. He’ll be at the wedding and there’s no way I can hide from him. He’s one of Patrick’s best friends and most likely going to be one of his grooms’ men.
I met Ben through Patrick. He introduced us because he thought we’d make a great couple. And he was right. . .at the time. We did and our love for sports was the first thing to cement our relationship.
Ben and I were together for five years. When we broke up it was the hardest experience of my life. People talk about acrimonious divorces, our break up was like that. Awful. It knocked me for six, and unfortunately, he took my self-confidence with him, when he walked out the front door.
Ben is a prestigious sports journalist who works for ESPN. Men like him have the best women. Three months ago, Ben got engaged to Claudia Grayson, a Victoria’s Secret angel. You can’t exactly get more perfect than a woman who is always in the limelight and was named one of the most sexiest women in the world by FHM magazine.
At five-eleven, with her flawless porcelain skin, and salon straight hair, slim build and incredibly long legs, Claudia earned the title fair and square. Even I have to admit it and give credit where it’s due. But I won’t lie to myself and believe I wasn’t envious when I first found out they were together.
I won’t lie now and pretend the jealousy went. The woman is the opposite of me. I’m five foot six inches with an athletic, strong build. I’m okay looking but next to Claudia I barely pass average.
I love to go shopping but I wouldn’t say I was fashionable, or into makeup. I save being made up for special occasions. I’m a down to earth kind of girl, but Claudia looks like she’s ready for the runway all the time. The woman probably looks like it in her sleep.
The world knows Ben ended up with the perfect woman and by the same token they also know I was considered a mundane girlfriend. That’s what he told the Chicago News in his interview a few weeks after his engagement to Claudia.
Can you imagine how humiliated I was as I watched him on live TV telling the whole world that Claudia was his silver lining on the dark cloud of his disastrous relationship with me. Me, Ivy Marie Carson, Owner of the Little Adventurers. It was like the man named and shamed me, and it felt lik my whole world collapsed around me.
While he described Claudia as the most beautiful woman, perfect in every way, I came across as a walking disaster.
That stupid interview caused me to lose a few bookings. I was so angry with him. Thank God I had built my business to a sustaina
ble level and was able to withstand the blow. But still, my protective family wanted to take it further and hand him a lawsuit. As tempting as it was, Leo recommended not too. He spent the time going through the pros and cons of legal defamation, before I made the decision not to proceed.
And who is Leo? He’s my brother’s best friend. The guy I’ve had a secret crush on for years.
Leo could see how mortified I was by the incident, but I don’t think he realized how hurt and humiliated I was. It took me months to recover from Ben leaving me, and just when I was feeling better about myself, he embarrassed me in that awful interview.
I was in love with Ben, and thought we had a future together. His betrayal hurt me in ways I never thought possible.
Leo reminded me that his fame intruded on our relationship, and he was right. When Ben and I started dating, he was just climbing up the career ladder. He freelanced for many years before landing that job with ESPN. When he did the fame consumed him and went straight to his head. Suddenly he was God’s gift and I wasn’t good enough for him. He never supported me or my business. He thought running sports parties for boys was a stupid idea.
I love what I do, and it really hurt that he ridiculed my success.
My biggest regret is that I kept hoping things would change. They didn’t.
He resented me asking about his so called ‘business trips’ during the football season. They probably were real business trips, but they were the kind that would always result in some scandal in the tabloids with him and some woman. He maintained he didn’t cheat and if he did he couldn’t remember. And, if he didn’t remember that was as good as it not happening.
I’d never heard of such nonsense in all my life and it was foolish on my part to save what couldn’t be saved.
Ben just changed overnight and I still feel sick when I remember walking out of the house, the house we were supposed to spend the rest of our lives in, saying I’d never get anyone better than him. Ugh. Really?
That was two years ago, and I haven’t dated since.
I’ve barely seen him much since our breakup, so the fact that he would go out of his way to bring up our past in that interview, two years after all has been said and done was a massive hit below the belt.
My tummy tumbles as I reflect on our past. It still pains me that we were once a happy couple, laughing, enjoying life together, and then suddenly it all became pear shaped and I’ve immersed myself in my career. My career is stable and I want to show him that my business is successful.
Silly really, because that interview just proved that there was no need. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t care about me, the business or my success. His focus is on himself, his career and the beautiful Claudia.
I straighten up in my chair and set the pretty yellow colored invitation down on my desk. My heart is racing and I can’t get it to slow down. I take some deep breaths as I attempt to steady my nerves.
It’s not the end of the world, I tell myself, It’s not.
But it sure feels like it, right now, I think with a despondent sigh.
I’ve always been happy that Rachel and Patrick found each other, but I don’t particularly want to go to their wedding on my own. It wouldn’t be so bad if I was dating someone I could class as plus one material, but I’m not.
The door to my office swings open and Jenna comes in with a vibrant smile. It however falters when she sees the obvious distress in my face.
She’s like the sister I never had, or at least like the female version of Cory, my younger brother. Both are very intuitive. Both can always tell when something is going on with me. Both are the most amazing friends to me.
“What happened?” she asks cautiously.
“Oh, God.” My shoulders slump with self-pity. “I don’t even know where to begin.” My voice falters as anxiety makes me feel light headed.
She closes the door behind her, worry filling her face. “What is it?”
I point to the invitation sitting on my desk and she picks it up, reads it and realization forms in her dark brown eyes. Her brown skin suddenly looks dull and I imagine I must look the same because our skin tone is quite similar.
“Oh,” she states. “So I’m guessing that look of trepidation on your face is about Ben.”
“Ugh, yes. He’ll be there.” I groan theatrically.
“Are you gonna go?” she asks, pulling up a chair, so she’s seated opposite me.
I rest my elbows on the desk and bring my hand to my head, and release another frustrated sigh. “I don’t see how I can’t. It’s. . .Rachel. . .and. . .Patrick.”
I don’t need to emphasize this, but I do as I am so focused on this issue. Jenna may not know them personally but she knows how important they are to me. As I said, she’s a sister to me, and knows everything about me.
Jenna and I met at a party planning job many moons ago and we’ve been friends ever since. She became my best friend and the person I share most of my secrets with, so she knows all that I went through with Ben. When I set up business here at Little Adventurers, she was the first person I thought of asking to work with me as my assistant. She’s smart, efficient, and able to multitask. Working together has not affected our friendship, in fact, it’s only made it stronger.
She’s always got good advice and I pray she can assist me now.
“Okay, let’s put things in perspective,” she states, pushing a lock of her jet black hair behind her ear.
“Perspective, really Jenna?” I wince. “You know exactly how this is going to play out. Ben will take every opportunity to show off his trophy fiancée. Look at me, and look at her. I’m a total loser next to Claudia.”
“Stop it, you’re not,” she stresses with a determined look in her eyes. “You’re successful. Look at this place.” She waves her arm in the air, in a circular motion. “I just got off the phone as I was coming in to tell you we just got a booking for the summer adventure camp from St. Peter’s Boys School. How great is that?” She clapped her hands together. “They want to enlist thirty of their students for the placement. That’s your money for the summer right there from just them.” She pointed a finger gun at me, and made a clicking sound with her tongue.
My lips part in complete surprise. “What? Thirty of them?” I bring my hands to my cheeks and gaze at her. “Wow, that’s fantastic.” My heart lifts as my chest puffs out with pride. “That is incredible news.”
“I know,” she says with a huge smile. And that’s just one booking. We’re going to have to hire more sports assistants because I predict we’ll be at capacity this year.” She chuckles. “Ivy you’re looking at well over a hundred thousand dollars if that happens. That’s serious coins for a four-week program.”
“Oh my gosh.” I jump up from my chair, and do a happy dance. I may not be the best dancer but I don’t care. This is tremendous news.
“I know right?” She squeals with delight before joining me with my impromptu dance.
We finish dancing, and I feel ultra-awake and alive, rejuvenated by the adrenaline.
Back in our seats we look at each other, we’re both wearing matching grins. I’m so happy that I could cry with joy because when I came up with the summer adventure camp I didn’t know if people would be interested. I run kids’ sports parties throughout the year. I tested out the summer camp last year with twenty kids who loved it. I thought this year would be another testing year but at this rate I think the camp will be a wonderful addition to the business.
“I’m so proud of you,” Jenna bubbles. “It’s looking like you’ve landed another awesome idea. We’re currently at fifty students and we have a few months until the closing date. I really do think you’ll be at capacity.”
I nod enthusiastically in reply. “Thank you. This is better than what I dreamed of. I didn’t even imagine this.” I thrust my fist in the air with elation, still unable to believe the success of my hard work.
I started this business a few years back, pulling an idea from my mind based on my athle
tic background. The business has taken off in a way I never anticipated.
Ben thought I was going to fail, he thought the idea was silly.
He never believed in me. And everything he said is not what a person, who’s starting a new business, wants to hear.
The love for sports was encoded in my DNA. My brother Cory plays pro football just like Dad did. He’s currently the linebacker for the Chicago Hawks. I, however, took after our mother in her love for athletics. I did everything from sprinting and long distance running to combined events like heptathlons and decathlons. It was my life for many years and I won several awards back in high school.
With my background, knowledge and expertise I was more than qualified to set up Little Adventurers but Ben said just because I was athletic didn’t mean I should open a business.
The worst thing he reminded me of was my failure to secure a scholarship for college. Yeah, I didn’t need reminding of that. . .again. He said if I wasn’t good enough to succeed as an athlete, how could I be a successful entrepreneur?
Not securing a scholarship will always be a thorn in my side. I worked extremely hard to qualify but I just didn’t make the mark. I knew too that not getting it meant my career would have been difficult, but by the time I was told I didn’t get it my hopes for being a professional athlete faded. Cory got a football scholarship. While I was happy for my brother, not getting mine left me feeling inadequate. I never shared that with anyone, not even Jenna. I tried so hard, and failed. I had been shattered when I missed out on a scholarship, unlike my successful brother.
