by A. M. Hardin
Marked
The Last Princess Series
A. M. Hardin
Contents
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Acknowledgments
About the Author
© A.M. Hardin, 2018
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Dedication
To my beautiful daughters. I love you all so much <3
Chapter One
Cherish
I bite my lip as I look at the store’s limited choices in prom dresses.
“We really shouldn’t have waited until the week before prom to get dresses,” I groan.
Lucy laughs. “You’re the one who was complaining about going shopping in the first place. You said that you didn’t know if you even wanted to go to prom.”
“That’s because Adam’s been acting really weird lately,” I say absently as I pull a random dress off the rack and put it over my arm to try on. There’s really not shit to choose from anyway. I can always go with eenie meenie minie moe.
“So, what’s the deal with him?” Zoe, asks while rummaging through a dress rack.
“Hell if I know,” I mutter, trying to hide my annoyance at my boyfriend’s behavior.
“Yeah, he’s like, never around anymore,” Lucy points out, like I don't already know that my boyfriend’s being an ass and acting weird as hell. “Is it because you won’t give it up?”
I have to roll my eyes at Lucy’s question. The girl is obsessed with getting laid.
I purse my lips. “It’s not that. We’ve had sex a few times. It’s just lately, he’s been acting weird. He’s not answering his phone, not answering his texts or calling me back. I don’t know what to make of it.”
Lucy shrugs. “Maybe he’s cheating on you. I mean, if he hasn’t been acting strange until after you slept with him then maybe that’s what his deal is. He got what he wanted, but now he’s decided that he’s done with you and going for the next one.”
“Lucy!” Zoe snaps. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Lucy stares at her for a heartbeat before looking at me and wincing. “Shit. I have no filter, and I’m officially the worst friend ever.”
I can't help but smile at my friend. She's always been blunt and doesn't think before speaking, so things kind of just fall right out of her mouth as soon as they're thought.
"You're not the worst friend ever," I assure her. "Come on, let's stop worrying about Adam, and focus on getting fantastic dresses for prom!"
Zoe nods. "Hell yeah!"
Lucy chuckles. "You're not fooling anybody, Cherish. You're hungry and don't want to be dress shopping, you'd rather be eating."
I shrug. "Uh, duh. Food's awesome. Dress shopping, or shopping at all, that's kind of annoying."
"Are you sure you're a girl?" Zoe asks with a teasing grin.
"I'm definitely sure I'm a girl, Zo’. I just don't like dress shopping for a dance. Regular shopping I can do without complaining. Usually," I add before Lucy has a chance to say anything.
They snicker at me before going back to looking through all the dresses.
I try on three different dresses that I absolutely do not like and give up. "I think I'm going to see if mom can work some magic for me. I don't like any of this."
Lucy scoffs. "You know that your mom already has a damn dress made for you in case you can't find one or don't like any that you find. And, it's always the perfect dress, so you come out looking absolutely fantastic."
"I don't do that enough for my mom to have to make me a dress." I pause to think about it. "Do I?"
"Yes," they answer together, throwing us all into a laughing fit.
"Whatever. Pick your dresses, so I can get food. I'm starving." I rub my hands over my flat stomach.
"It's disgusting how much you can eat, but you stay constantly skinny and gorgeous. You're not fat, you have boobs, and an ass, but it's all perfect," Lucy whines playfully.
I laugh. "I've got good genes. You can't blame me for that."
"You're right. Your parents are gorgeous, too," Zoe says, laughing at Lucy's pout.
It takes another hour before Zoe and Lucy find the dresses they like enough to wear to prom. At that point, I'm dramatically strewn across the chair in the dressing room, bored out of my mind and even more hungry than I was before.
"I'm dying," I mumble when Zoe kicks my shin.
Lucy snorts, and Zoe snickers, "You're not dying. You're being a drama queen is what you are doing."
"Just leave me to die," I groan. "Hey!" I snap at Lucy when she grabs my feet and tugs me off the chair and onto the floor in an unceremonious heap.
"Get up," Lucy laughs.
I chuckle and grab Zoe’s hand that she offers to help me stand. Wiping my hands on my jeans I ask, “So, are we getting food now?”
Lucy rolls her eyes at me, and Zoe wraps her arm around my shoulder, leading me out of the dressing rooms, laughing.
“You guys are such awesome friends,” I say sarcastically, biting back my smile. “You totally almost let me starve to death.”
“You’re so damn dramatic, Cher.”
“I have a high metabolism. It’s not my fault that I burn off food faster than you.” I stick my tongue out at my friends and clap my hands when I see that there aren’t any other customers standing in line for the cashier. “Sweet. Let’s pay for your dresses and get the hell out of here.”
“Are you sure you’re a girl?” Zoe asks sweetly, repeating her words from earlier. I swat her arm and scowl at her.
“Hush, you.”
It doesn’t take us long to pay for the dresses and make our way out of the store.
Looking out at the people walking around the mall, I frown when my gaze lands on a beautiful woman. She isn’t doing anything specific, just talking on her phone. That’s not what snagged my attention, though. It’s the fact that the air is shimmering around her, almost like a shiny blanket.
What the hell is going on with me?
A shiver crawls down my spine as I think about the fact that this has been happening way too often lately.
“Hey,” Zoe’s soft voice breaks through my thoughts. I meet her gaze. “You alright?”
I look back towards the woman only to see that the shimmer that surrounded her is now gone. I nod my head and flash a smile at her. “I’m good. Sorry. I just zoned out for a minute there
or something.”
“You’ve been doing that a lot,” Lucy points out.
“No I haven’t,” I deny.
“Yeah, you have.” She shrugs. “Whatever, live in denial. Let’s get food.”
I roll my eyes. “Now she wants food.”
Lucy winks at me. “Of course. I’m a growing girl; you know, birthday girl.”
I groan and cover my face with my hands. “It is so not my birthday today, Luce. My birthday is tomorrow.”
“And your lame ass is choosing to go to school,” Zoe says with a shit-eating grin on her face.
“Well, yeah. I need my besties with me on my birthday.”
“We aren’t all in the same classes all day,” Zoe points out.
“Whatever. We’re in a majority of classes together. I’d rather hang out with you guys at school than just sit on my ass at home listening to my parents fight, anyway.”
“They’re fighting again?” Lucy asks.
I nod absently. “Yeah, it’s weird. They never fought then the last few weeks they’ve been fighting nonstop.”
Zoe gives me a reassuring smile. “I’m sure it’s nothing, Cherish.”
“No, yeah, I know that. It’s just a little frustrating because it’s been upsetting Ella whenever they fight.”
“How is Ella doing, anyway?” Lucy asks.
“She’s doing great, as long as mom and dad aren’t fighting. She’s starting to make friends instead of keeping to herself all the time. I think she’s actually over at a friend’s house right now.”
My little sister hasn’t had an easy time making friends. She prefers the company of the characters in her books. Granted, I’m the same, but I’ve never let my love for reading come between me and making friends. It helps that Zoe, Lucy, and I have all been friends since we were in kindergarten, though.
“I’m glad that she’s finally coming out of her shell,” Zoe says.
“Me, too.” I tilt my head to the parking lot. “Are we going to drop the dresses off at my car and then eat here, or are we going to eat somewhere else?”
“Let’s go eat somewhere else,” Lucy says as she walks to the doors, not bothering to wait for our response. Zoe and I trade an amused glance at each other before following after her.
After we eat, I drop them off at Lucy’s house before making my way home. Sighing at the time, I bite my lower lip, knowing my dad would probably be ready to bite my head off since I’m later than I told them I’d be.
Walking into my house, I brace myself to hear my dad yell at me, but it’s deadly silent when I enter. I frown when I see my mom sitting at the kitchen bar with her face buried in her hands.
“Mom?” I ask softly.
She sniffles then lifts her head to look at me. “Hey, honey. Did you have fun finding a dress?”
I screw up my face, and she chuckles. “Of course not. The dress that I made for you is in my closet. I’ll show you on the big day.”
“You rock.” I look around the living room and notice that dad’s jacket is gone. “Where’s daddy?”
“He went for a walk. He’ll be home soon.” She eyes me carefully. “How’re you doing?”
“I’m fine.” Judging by the look she gives me, she knows that I’m so incredibly full of shit.
“You’ll be eighteen tomorrow,” she muses. “Anything you want to do?”
“Just wanna spend a night home tomorrow after school.”
“You’re the only teenager I know that actually wants to go to school on their birthday.” I shrug, and she snickers. “Just going to see your friends or is there a certain boy you’re hoping to see?”
I narrow my eyes at her. “I don’t like how well you read me.” Although, I’m more eager to beat some sense into my asshole of a boyfriend than see him if he doesn’t freaking tell me why he’s ignoring me.
She grins, though there’s a touch of sadness seeping in around her eyes that I’m not understanding. “I’m your mother. I’ve been there for you, and I know you better than anyone else could ever hope to.”
Chapter Two
Cherish
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
I groan and reach my arm out from under the covers to smack at my alarm clock on my bedside table. Once the incessant beeping stops, I slowly peel open my eyes and peek at the time. My eyes widen.
“Fuck!” I untangle myself from the covers and scramble to get ready. I’m so fucking late.
Shockingly, I manage to take a five minute shower, brush my hair and teeth and get dressed within fifteen minutes. My mom chuckles at me from her seat at the table while I search through the pantry for a breakfast bar.
“You slept in again, didn’t you?”
“Ugh. Yes, I did. I don’t see how I can sleep through my alarm like that.”
“You actually don’t. You wake up enough to hit snooze then you pass back out.”
I stop rummaging and stare at her. “I do not.”
She nods, taking a sip of her coffee. “I’ve seen you do it, Cherish.”
I frown as I think about that. Shaking my head, I groan when I can’t find the breakfast bars. “Are we out of cereal bars?”
“I think your sister had the last one before school yesterday. I’ll pick more up tonight,” mom promises.
I sigh and grab an apple out of the fruit bowl. “Whatever. I’ll take an apple. I don’t have time to sit down and eat.” I lean over to give my mom a quick kiss on the cheek. “Love you. I’ll see you tonight.”
“I love you too, honey. Happy birthday!” she yells after me, just barely getting the words out before the door slams shut behind me.
I cringe at the noise before hopping in my car. I pull out of the driveway and attempt to get to school as quickly as I can without speeding.
Okay, without speeding too much.
The bell rings the second I climb out of my car, and I groan. So close!
Oh well, there’s no sense in rushing now that I’m already late. I toss my keys into my backpack after locking the doors. I purse my lips as I make my way into the school. Walking into the office to sign in the receptionist shoots me a dirty look.
“Late again, Cherish,” she tsks. I do my best not to roll my eyes.
“Yeah, I know. I slept through my alarm.” I grab a pen and sign the annoying sign in sheet that I will probably sign at least twice more this week. As is my unfortunate habit. If being late were an Olympic sport, I’d have a shit load of gold medals.
“Again,” Ms. Johnson sneers.
“Yeah, add it to the other million times I’ve been late this year,” I snap, not interested in hearing her bitch about being late for an entire fifteen minutes like she’s prone to doing.
She narrows her eyes at me then hands me a pink slip of paper to give to the teacher, letting me know that I’m late–because, you know, me just walking in doesn’t already clue their asses in–and gives me a dismissive wave.
Resisting the urge to flip her off, I turn and my eye catches on three guys standing with their backs to me in the principal's office.
Ms. Johnson snaps her fingers at me, stopping me from trying to see who the new kids are that are coming in with only three months left in school. “Miss Marsh. Get to class.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, I’m going. I’m going.”
The first half of the school day has been pretty uneventful. Thankfully, I was only late to my first class, and the teacher is usually late, too.
My one annoyance today has been that I haven’t seen or heard from Adam. Which is strange since we have our first and third classes together, and I saw his car in the school parking lot when I walked in.
I take two steps into the lunchroom and stop, ignoring the person cursing at me for stopping so suddenly from behind me. I grind my teeth as I make my way to my boyfriend. He’s currently doing nothing to push away Gloria, who’s in his space and clearly pressing her breasts against his arm.
“Adam,” I say softly, doing my best to keep my anger out of my tone. “Can I
talk to you a minute?”
Adam looks at me for a long minute before sighing heavily. “Sure, babe.”
I ignore the way my stomach twists when he stands and leads me out of the lunch room. He takes me to one of the empty hallways away from the cafeteria.
“I think this is far enough,” I finally say, stopping him in his tracks. I cross my arms over my chest as he turns to face me. “Care to tell me what the hell is going on with you?”
He shrugs. “I don’t really know what you mean, babe.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “How about the fact that you’ve been ignoring my calls and texts?”
He meets my eyes for a second before glancing away. “I’ve been busy, Cher.”
“Doing what?” I ask, an eyebrow raised. He says nothing. “Gloria?”
He looks up at me, shock plastered across his face before he blanks his expression. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the fact that not only have you been ignoring me, but you just had Gloria’s nasty ass sprawled all over you a minute ago and did nothing to stop her.” It’s definitely no secret that Gloria and I hate each other.
He rubs his hand across his forehead and lets out a breath. “I don’t want to be with you anymore, Cherish.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. Even though I knew this was coming that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt like hell. We’ve been together for over a year. “So, instead of talking to me about it and telling me that you don’t actually love me. That you don’t want to be with me, you start ignoring me and bumping uglies with fucking Gloria of all people?”
