by Layla Arts
As I had reached the Empire, I got outside my car with haste. I locked it and made my way to the entrance. As I opened the door – to my surprise it was actually open for employees – I heard a few people being busy training inside the club. The understudies were practicing the routine we needed to do in a week time.
But when I was heading to Hadrian's office, my eyes found the back of someone who I didn't even want to see. It had been days since I was met with the human who was in my vision, and I never thought he would be in front of me again.
William was standing on the balcony, and I slowly followed him when I walked onto the spiral staircase. He knocked a few times on the door from Hadrian's office, only to be let in by a hoarse tone from Hadrian. He got inside of his office, and at that moment I walked to the door. I took the doorknob in my hand, and slowly pushed the door further open.
“So it's about Vicky?” William questioned Hadrian when he had entered the room.
I peeked through the small opening and saw William sitting on Hadrian's desk chair. He was flipping through the files lying in front of Hadrian when he was telling William to keep his hands off his stuff.
“She doesn't need to know.” I heard Hadrian say demandingly.
I was immediately confused, what didn't I need to know?
“After all the shit you gave me about Vicky, you're asking me for help?” William asked Hadrian mockingly.
I crunched my nose just at the bitter thought of Hadrian running to William for guidance. Last time I had heard, Hadrian refused to step within ten feet of William. Why did he invite him to his office?
“What else could I do? I don't have any options!” Hadrian panicked in a whisper. I could hear William chuckle at Hadrian's desperation, shivers ran down my spine in accordance with the sound. “Well, give me some advice,” Hadrian demanded sternly.
I couldn't hear any voices coming from the office for a while. At first, I thought that they had heard me, but William’s voice rang clearly through the silence.
“Dump that skank,” William spoke seriously.
“William, I—” Hadrian tried to say something, but it was noticeable that William had cut him off.
“No, really,” William protested in a very harsh tone. I swallowed the lump in my throat, willing to keep my legs in place and not burst through the door to throttle William. “This is her fault, it's obvious.”
“How can you be so sure?” Hadrian questioned William.
“Please, Hadrian. Since day one it was clear she had a bad influence on you,” William explained, and I became a little self-conscious.
I wasn't a bad influence on Hadrian, was I? He said I had changed him; I thought it was for the better.
“You haven't fucked anyone else, have you?” My eyebrows furrowed at William’s intrusive question, but I became slightly curious about Hadrian's answer. He was hesitating, and I worried that it was because he had been unfaithful; not because he also found the question intrusive.
“Of course not!” Hadrian defended himself, clearly becoming irritated. Relief fell from my shoulders when Hadrian admitted what I wanted to hear.
However, his voice was still full of panic, and I couldn't figure out what he thought I had done.
The anticipation was killing me; I was two seconds from barging into the office, kicking William in the balls, and demanding the truth from Hadrian.
“Then it was her, Hadrian. There's no alternative,” he said.
I got snapped out of my thoughts by William’s voice. Why was he taking advice from the guy who had been trying to sabotage our relationship from the start?
“So she did it?”
“She did,” William confirmed.
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Here is a sample from another story you may enjoy:
Saving Gracie
Talesha Mitchell
Chapter One
Just Leave Me Alone
“Have a great day, sweetheart!” Mum says happily, leaning over to kiss my forehead. I send her a small smile before getting out of the car. Feeling the rain droplets begin to hit my head, I breathe out a sigh and begin to head into the building.
Before you ask, I’ll just introduce myself. My name is Grace Leigh Parkinson, and I’m not your usual seventeen-year-old school student. You see, instead of having the basic brown, blonde, or black hair, my hair is a dark purple. Instead of applying make-up like every other teenager nowadays, I put in my nose and lip piercings. And instead of wearing nice dresses, or jeans, to school, I wear my usual baggy pants and large jumper. Oh, and I’m not one of those girls who just doesn’t care about the school and their rules because I actually do. The only problem here is the people who don’t get that bullying is a crime.
For the past five years that I’ve attended this school, I have been bullied by at least half of the school’s population ever since day one. Don’t bother asking me ‘why,’ because I don’t know either. It may be my piercings, or the fact that I have no friends but either way, I still have no clue. Why don’t I have any friends? Well, it’s because the one friend that I did have got dragged into my problems and started to get hit too by everyone and that’s when she told me she didn’t want to be friends anymore. I don’t blame her though. Ever since then, no one has wanted to be my friend, or even be seen talking to me.
I have to admit though, that it does hurt to know that I have no one to share my thoughts with, or to talk about boys, school and life with. It makes me feel even more alone not to have any friends at all. The only person who does talk to me is usually the principal, or the school nurse. That’s it.
And what’s worse, is the fact that I can’t even talk to mum about anything because she is dealing with her own problems right now. Since she has cancer from second-hand smoke, I don’t bother to talk to her about the things that happen at school. mum is fighting her own battles and hopefully, for everyone’s sake, she wins. Because if I lose her, I won’t know what to do.
You see, mum and I are inseparable. We always hang out when we can, we are always in the same room as each other, except for when it’s time for bed. I think it’s because we look alike that we’re close or maybe it’s the fact that I’m an only child. If you think that because of how close mum and I are, why wouldn’t I tell her about how I’m getting bullied at school? Well, like I said before, she is dealing with her own problems and after she gets through them, I will tell her everything.
“Excuse me, you’re in my way.”
The voice of the person in front of me pulls me out of my thoughts, making me look up at the girl. Noticing that I’m in the middle of the hallway with my books clutched to my chest, I apologize and move to the side but bump into another person, making my heart race.
And at this exact moment, I know she had planned this.
“Ew! You just touched me!” the girl who I had bumped into, screeches, making me apologize and try to move away from her but students nearby have blocked my escape. The crowd surrounds me and the two girls, making my heart continue to race. Then, that’s when I see Nicole.
Now, remember how I said that I once had a friend who had left me because of how she was getting hurt too? Well, this is Nicole: the girl who left me and became one of the popular kids in the school. Also, Nicole is part of the cheerleading team, and according to some of the students, she now rules the school.
“Hello, Grace,” Nicole says, the look of disgust is clear in her eyes.
Before I can speak, I’m kicked to the ground by her and my head hits the lockers, making me wince in pain. I watch as the three girls stand over me, all of them glaring down as they look at my thin, fragile figure.
“When I first met you, Grace,” Nicole begins, placing a hand on her hip. “I thought you were a strong, independent girl, but I
guess I was wrong.”
The girl to Nicole’s left sends her foot into my stomach with her heel, making me bite my lip. If you think the word ‘kills’ describes the pain, you’re definitely wrong—the pain is excruciating!
“P-Please...” I manage to choke out, but this just makes the girl, who had kicked me before, send her foot into my stomach a second time. I groan loudly, my hands moving to my stomach. Nicole smirks, crouching down to look in my green eyes as I stare into her blue ones.
“You’re just a little girl like everyone said you were,” Nicole whispers dangerously, her tone making me gulp. As Nicole stands up, the girl to her right kicks me in the stomach, sending me breathless.
When the bell finally rings, everyone, even Nicole, begins to walk away from me, leaving me to groan and try to sit up. I rest my back against the lockers, breathing out a sigh as I let my head hang low.
“Would you like some help?”
Hearing a voice in front of me, I slowly look up to see a guy who I never expected even to find myself near.
“What are you doing?” I ask, my voice coming out raspy. I narrow my eyes at Luke and let out a cough when I feel something tickle my throat. Luke crouched down, furrowing his eyebrows at me.
“Trying to help. What does it look like?” Luke asks as I stretch out my leg to try and look away. I breathe out a sigh at my failed attempt, deciding to look down at my hands which are on my stomach.
In a few sentences, Luke is the player of the school. You know, blonde hair, blue eyes, and the face of a model? Yep, this is the famous player. Luke is usually known for sleeping with girls and breaking their hearts the next day for his own fun. Everyone says he is trouble, but to me, he is just a pig.
“It looks like you’re trying to either get yourself into trouble, or trying to trick me.” I mumble, my eyes meeting his blue ones. I watch as Luke raises his eyebrow.
“Trick you?”
“Yeah. Like, you offer me a hand, and when I go to take it, you pull away and run off laughing,” I explain and Luke chuckles. He holds out a hand and smiles at me.
“I won’t do that,” Luke says, and I roll my eyes, not believing him.
“Just leave me alone,” I say, earning a simple shake of the head from Luke.
“I’m just going to take you to the nurse,” Luke says, and I watch him for a few seconds, trying to find a little bit of humour on his face. Suddenly, without thinking, my hand reaches out and grabs onto his, making me breathe out a sigh.
“Ow!” I groan, as I feel a sharp pain in my stomach. Luke wraps an arm around my waist, and I wrap my arm around his shoulders to hold myself up. As we begin the slow journey to the nurse’s office, I can’t help but ask myself: am I dreaming?
I feel my heart begin to flutter as the sudduden realisation hits me. I’m not dreaming! Someone has actually offered to help me, and is now taking me to the nurse’s office.
Am I happy? More like ecstatic.
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Saving Gracie
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Other books you might enjoy:
Playing the Field
Kay Sh
Available on Amazon!
Enigma
Anna Kendra
Available on Amazon!
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Acknowledgements
This is for every reader who sat down and read my stories in their free-time. Thank you for choosing the world I created, to be the one you wanted to escape in. You made me reach millions of reads, and I’ll be eternally grateful for your support, love, kindness and patience. Thank you for bringing so much technicolour into my life since 2014.
A massive thank you to Blvnp for giving me the opportunity to get published – a dream coming true. You have given me the confidence to share my work with more people than I already do. After all these years online, it’s available for an even bigger audience.
To all my friends, whether you’ve been around for years or months, all of you are equally important to me. I couldn’t have achieved my dream, if it weren’t for your continuous support and amazing friendship. Thank you for crying, laughing and loving life with me.
I must thank my fellow writers who inspire me every day, and I’m glad I’ve gained beautiful friendships through a love for writing. So thank you A. J. Winter, Ally Williams and Carrin.
A quick thank you to J.Rebelphotography who shot my author portrait. I’m the worst when it comes to standing in front of a camera, but you managed to make me feel at ease.
Obviously I want to thank my family, even if they won’t be able to read this because they don’t understand one word of English. But a special thank you goes to my mom and dad for keeping up with me. I don’t know how you guys do it, but I’m glad to have both of you around in my life. From the moment I started writing, the two of you have been my biggest fans and I love you.
At the end of the day, it still baffles me how I got to this point. Looking back at this whole journey, I must admit the internet is a powerful thing. It gave me access to a world where I found my passion and was able to share it with an unbelievable amount of people across the globe. I’m sure it will continue to surprise me in the future.
See you soon.
Much love,
Layla
Author’s Note
Hey there!
Thank you so much for reading Lush Seduction! I can’t express how grateful I am for reading something that was once just a thought inside my head.
I’d love to hear from you! Please feel free to email me at [email protected] and sign up at layla-arts.awesomeauthors.org for freebies!
One last thing: I’d love to hear your thoughts on the book. Please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads because I just love reading your comments and getting to know YOU!
Whether that review is good or bad, I’d still love to hear it!
Can’t wait to hear from you!
Layla Arts
About the Author
Layla Arts is a student from the Netherlands. Even though people didn’t support her writing, she made sure to surround herself with those who did. Eventually, she has gained approximately 18 million reads over the last couple of years, and she’s still growing every day. One of her biggest achievements is writing the Lush trilogy.
