by Amarie Avant
She’d worn the dress her mom had begged her too, all because Verdrena said Donavan would love it. But as she looked down at the dress, she noticed it had flashes of bright yellow, which went with the silk handkerchiefs that her boys were wearing.
She got up as Greg began to mumble and drone on. Avery kissed his forehead. “Nice job stalling. Next time turn around. Just give me a sec,” she told him, eyes still on the guys.
Antonio caught up to Avery easily as she ran to the guys, with one hand cradling her belly, laughing the entire time. He had an expensive camera that he had gotten for Christmas but rarely used. His reason to follow her didn’t dawn on Avery until she’d ran into Donavan’s arms. Donnie Junior, confused as to what to do, got down one knee as his father swooped her up into the air, the camera clicking.
Donavan growled. “Avery, why the hell did you just run over here?”
“I don’t know?” She grinned, excitedly knowing exactly what was going on. Once he spun her in a 360, she noticed Donnie Junior on the ground holding a ring.
“Oh my gosh!” She grinned.
“Thank you,” she signed to her child, giving a curtsey before DJ put the ring on her finger.
This was the best moment of her life.
Her son smiled brightly as he said, “I love you, Mommy.”
The engagement ring was perfect: a simple platinum band with infinities scrawled around it. When she turned around to kiss Donavan, he was his usual brooding self.
“Okay, this sucks.” He shoved a hand through his hair, ruining the handsome perfection, but only making himself look even more like sex in a tuxedo.
“How does it suck, Donavan? You really know how to ruin a moment.” Avery shook her head, still grinning. “Do you know how happy I am that you returned to my life? I would probably be dead right now—”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I would. I’m stubborn, and Salvador would’ve gotten tired of me. I would’ve fought until my last breath, but dead was the only conclusion to that story. So, can I have you see the bright side,” she asked while marveling at the ring. It was precious, and nobody in the world had a ring like it. When he didn’t respond, Avery growled, “This is just like with the spaghetti.”
“It’s not like with the spaghetti. My son just proposed to my soon-to-be-wife.” Donavan cracked a half smile that sent desire spiraling from every ending of her body to her core. “Awkward, very awkward, AC.”
“Um, the two of you.” Antonio got Avery’s attention and signed, “I don’t give a damn about the spaghetti, but this photo is . . . this is the shit!” He held out the camera to show them Donavan picking Avery up—quite like Patrick Swayze picking up Jennifer Grey—albeit Avery’s stomach was larger. But Donnie Junior had a prime spot in the background, kneeling, with his top hat just so, beaming from ear to ear with the ring in his hand.
“Damn, I like that!” Donavan patted Antonio’s shoulder.
“See, this is what I do.” Antonio held his chin high.
From the picnic area, Jessica and Verdrena shouted, “Did she say yes?”
“No,” Donavan shouted back.
Avery pushed him like she would do when they were kids, and he’d almost been held back again, which would’ve made him in a class lower than herself. “Yes, dummy, yes! But you still have to ask me!”
“Oh, fuck,” Donavan opened his mouth, “Marry—”
Tears of happiness started to flow down her cheeks as she kissed him passionately to the sound of a camera shutter clicking. She hugged Donavan Junior and took a photo with him. This was their second chance, and that chance included the son they had no clue survived. As Antonio muttered about being paid for his services, Avery held the two men in her life and thanked God. She’d never thought she’d get over the time she had spent at Sunnymead, but with Donavan and DJ at her side, she was revived. Avery knew that the love she gave Donavan, along with their two sons would be the reason he stayed.
Author’s Note:
Make Me Stay has been sitting on my computer for over a year now. I stopped writing it the second I realized that Donavan wouldn’t give up Avery the moment they crossed paths again. Oh, and Salvador . . . well, I initially intended the storyline to be a love triangle of epic proportions. I love love triangles! Nevertheless, I found myself drawn to Avery and Donavan, not Avery and Donavan and Salvador. If you’ve been reading my work from the first day, you’ll know that villains are my forte. So, with Donavan fighting for Avery’s heart, my hot, sexy Salvador had to become a sociopath. However, more than I love to write about a crazy man, I have a major weakness for Young Adult Romance. And that being said, if you continue to scroll the pages, you will read the first book I have ever written—period. Fear is the first book I wrote as Amarie Avant, but Covet: Deceptive Desires–Book 1 is the first book I fully fleshed out prior to the birth of this alias. Anywho, Covet has two young love birds, Raven and Liam.
I ruined their lives.
Much like Donavan and Avery, their romantic tragedy, which actually lasts four books, ends in a Happily Ever After. I hope you enjoy Covet. But before you fall in love with Raven and Liam in the Deceptive Desires Series, please review MAKE ME STAY on Amazon, I would really appreciate it.
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WOW! Every time I see this book cover, I feel like resurrecting Liam and Raven’s lives and putting them through more turmoil. But the first thing Liam ever loved was Raven, now they’re grown, happy, and raising kids, so I better stop . . .
P.S. Don’t turn the page until you’ve reviewed Make Me Stay on Amazon. It can be a few words, heck, Goodreads too if you’re feeling generous.
P.P.S. If you really loved Donavan and Avery’s story, adding your review to Amazon will increase the chance of others finding and having the same opportunity to love this book as well. (This is the part where I feel like saying “Be Kind, Rewind” So be kind . . . and write a review LOL.
P.P.P.S. I actually read all my reviews, too. So, I’m begging here. I learned that Black Queen, Dark Knight had too much cussing. Guess what, I was cognizant of that in this book, and I met a new editor
CHAPTER 1
Raven grew up angry.
Liam was her river.
And then his laughter, his scent, everything about him which had the ability to pacify her faded away. They’d known each other since the tender age of two, making it hard for her to grasp the fact that he vanished at age fourteen. Not literally into thin air, but his mom sent him away without a word.
Raven was now seventeen. As a child she never knew abandonment. Not the gut-wrenching side of loneliness. With the exception of her grandparents, everyone had disappeared like they'd mastered the magician's trick. Yeah, she'd been left by a faceless, nameless father. Charlene, her mother, she only knew from a stolen photograph from the attic and a journal she was too damn scared to finish reading.
Raven had mastered the art of appearing happy, and she tried to be in the moment while walking in the mall with her friend.
“None of these shoe stores have my stilettos,” Monica grumbled, shoving a hand through her micro braids.
“Well, you want that exact shade of hot pink…” Raven mentioned, which she felt was unnecessary since they both had full length gowns for the Winter Formal.
Something caught Raven’s eye at the vendors lining the center of the mall. “I’ll catch up with you in a sec,” Raven said.
“’Kay.” Monica shrugged, starting into the next shoe store.
Raven turned toward the jewelry boutique, and chose a mermaid charm bracelet off the rack. “How much?” she asked the shop clerk.
“Seventy-five,” the Chinese man replied.
Why did I even ask? It might as well be a thousand bucks. She was about to return the bracelet, wh
en she heard an unfamiliar, masculine voice call her name.
“Raven?”
Turning around, she looked up. With her five-foot-two stature, her gaze had to continue traveling upward in order for her brain to register the amount of sexy standing before her. He was tall as hell, possibly one of those Hollister models, with sun-kissed skin. A polo shirt tugged slightly at the broad plane of his chest, but not too much so that it made him seem self-indulged. His jeans curved just right. Raven knew he wasn’t one of those guys who devoted more attention to his upper half.
Instantly, she became mesmerized by warm, hazel eyes and a beautiful smile. A vague familiarity attempted to chisel at the normal numb feeling around her heart. But she had never been mesmerized before, and internally warned herself that this fluttery butterfly in the stomach feeling was new, unwelcome.
Her brow arched. “Yes?”
“You don’t know who I am.” Those honey eyes sparkled with a smile, though something in his tone made Raven feel as if she should know him.
The sexiness of his eyes began to show genuine hurt. Raven realized he sought an answer. Hell no, she had never met the sexy stalker. She blinked at him and shook her head.
“It’s me, Liam.”
“Oh my God, oh my God,” she whispered, afraid to move. Then the name she kept tucked away, the name she hadn't expected to utter ever again, brushed like a kiss across her lips. “Liam?” Her voice shook, eyes instantly watering.
She jumped into his arms. Surprised, she realized she was hugging a man with more muscles in his arms than she ever thought possible for her old best friend. She inhaled his citrus and cedar cologne. Tears stung her eyes as he held her with the same fervor.
Raven had only two constants in her life: Grandpa Otis, and Granny Annette. Until she was fourteen, she had three. Jonathan Liam Delacroix Lemaître Junior. They were once eye to eye, and though he had been sorely overweight, Raven bossed him around. Not to be mean, she wanted the best for him. He had always wanted the best for her. They just had two different routes to the same goal. Hers included fighting anyone who had something bad to say about a mother she didn’t know, and how awkwardly fat her friend was. His included keeping her from said fights.
“Do you want the charm bracelet?” The cranky voice of the jeweler separated the reunion.
“Oh, I don’t have that much money. Sorry.” Cheeks warm, Raven handed back the bracelet that was still in her hand. There was no way in hell she had enough money for it, after all she’d spent on Winter Formal.
Liam pulled out his wallet. “We’ll call this an early birthday present.”
“You don’t have to.” Raven pulled his arm, but the jeweler was already taking the hundred-dollar bill.
~~~
After they caught up with friends and all ate at the food court, Monica followed Liam’s ’79 shiny black Chevy Chevelle with lime green flecks of paint. In the passenger seat, Liam's friend Shawn was just as charismatic and Southern. Monica jabbered about how cute Shawn was as they pulled into the parking lot of the dorm building at Brinton Boarding School. Raven held back her astonishment that he’d lived so close. And for how long?
Raven tuned in with, “We're just staying for a minute or so…”
Her friend gave a sappy grin before maneuvering into a parking space. Monica’s car stuck out in between Audis, BMWs, Mercedes, and other expensive vehicles. “Raven, don't worry about me. Catch up with Liam.”
Truth was, Raven didn't worry about Monica. She worried about the stupid shit people said about her.
“Shawn is very cute, but…” Raven tried, but Monica was already getting out of the driver’s seat. Raven supposed the best advice to give came with a condom, but she didn’t have any rubbers, having never had sex.
As Monica and Shawn walked ahead, Raven dawdled.
“Has your mom seen this car?” Raven gave Liam a sarcastic smile. The image of Elise, heir to the Delacroix fortune, allowing her son to ride around in a muscle car with shiny black rims was farfetched at best. Import, yes. Muscle, no.
“Elise’s coming around to my way of thinking, seeing that I’m stuck at this school.” Liam gave her a tour around campus as Shawn and Monica, unable to keep their hands to themselves, disappeared into the dorm rooms.
“This place is as big as a university,” Raven said, as they walked along a pebbled path towards a mass of red mulberry trees. “Are you taking me into those woods, Jay? I don’t know if I’m that comfortable with you.” She smiled, using the nickname his friend had called him during lunch. “Haven’t seen you in almost four years. Can I trust you?”
“You don’t have to call me Jay, Raven. Nobody calls me Jonathan Junior. Jay is just something someone started calling me while playing high stakes poker. It stuck. And yes, I’m taking you beyond that wooded area. There’s something I want to show you. Do you trust me?”
“Not sure yet.”
“We will work on that,” Liam replied. They passed by large mulberry trees and they took a seat close to the creek, with its green mossy boulders half submerged in the clear water.
“Almost reminds me of where we used to play.” Raven thought about being in the meadow–their meadow–and daydreaming about him. She’d been there just a few days ago, lying in the grass, eyes closed, the soft wind from the willow trees and the smell of sweet grass reminding her of him. That sadness began to creep into her, until her eyes landed on his, which were warm pools of honey. Even without words, Liam seemed to know what she was thinking.
He was so close; Raven could taste his scent. It clung to her until she forced herself to look away. Damn, this almost felt like tapping out.
“I come here sometimes when I’m homesick.” Liam spoke as if understanding her fear of intimacy. Liam lay down next to her, scooting closer, and propped up his head onto his hand, looking at her intently.
Instantly, a rush of questions came to her, questions about him during the past three years. Instead of giving him the third degree about where he’d been, she listened.
“When I started at Brinton, I was angry and I wanted to come home. But Shawn became my friend, and you can just imagine how crazy he is, you saw him at the mall. He helped me get through the fact that my parents got rid of me... I’m the captain of the football team… My dad finally talks to me instead of just seeing me as my mother’s property. To one side of my family, I’ve always been a legacy-in-progress. To the other?” Liam shrugged. “Guess it’s nice to be acknowledged by my father. Not about law and stuff, but about football. Jonathan's even come to my games.”
“That’s great,” was all Raven could say as she tried to concentrate and be happy for him. She propped herself onto her arm, lying on her side, still ecstatic about being so close to him. She didn't understand what he meant by legacy, didn't need to. There was only one vital piece of information necessary. But is he the same person?
Just like that, this became their meadow as they began to laugh, chatting about the time Raven got Liam to eat a mud pie at the age of five.
“Sorry,” Raven chuckled “but you craved chocolate, and your mom told Granny not to feed you any.”
Liam stifled his own laughter. “Man, why did everything bad always happen to me while I was with you?”
She could barely get the words out for laughter. “In my defense, you didn’t die.”
They started another round of “remember the time,” ending up with the story of when Raven thought he’d almost gotten a concussion while trying to do the same stunts as her. They’d stayed out in the marsh until late, with Raven making sure Liam didn’t go to sleep. Watching so many action-packed movies with her grandfather, she had been afraid he'd had a concussion. Even if he did, Liam was more afraid that Elise would notice the big gash on his forehead and forbid him from seeing his best friend. Their stomachs growled so bad, that by sheer deduction, Liam claimed he hadn’t gotten a concussion anyway.
“How’s it going still, looking for your mom?” he asked out of the blue.
“It’s not going anywhere,” Raven admitted with a shrug. Why can’t I just say that I stopped searching for her the day you left?
CHAPTER 2
How could he tell her that she was the closest thing to a family he’d ever known? There was no other who matched her beauty, not when Liam was two years old, and not even when he’d went away to travel the world. Raven had thick, long black hair that she always had to shove away from a face so gorgeous, he would bet God sculpted it. She had gold brown skin, and he loved those heart-shaped lips even when she had an attitude.
And then there were those blue eyes of hers. The color of the sky on the first day of summer, and one of the reasons Raven had gotten into so many fights when they were kids. The small town was controversial, everyone wondered who was this black girl’s father…
He’d given her that long-winded speech about his mending relationship with Dad, but that hadn’t been what he wanted to say.
Liam plucked a long blade of grass, twisting it with his fingers into the shape of a heart, and handing it to Raven.
“I can’t take this,” Raven murmured. Her teeth dragged over her bottom lip as she handed him back the heart-shaped blade of grass.
The old Liam would have cockily asked, “Too soon?” but his eyes were glued to her enticing mouth, thick, pink, perfectly curved. All thought evaded him.
“I’m still with Chris.” She got up.
He remembered the douchebag like it was yesterday. Chris came around when they were in the eighth grade. Liam stood up quickly, towering over her. Inside he was fucking pissed, Chris had stolen their first kiss. He held his composure saying, “He isn’t important, Raven. All I was trying to do is catch up with an old friend. Can I do that? Will you allow us to catch up?”
“Us…” She seemed to sigh the word.
Raven’s hesitance was almost more than he was able to bear. They’d gone from creating their own universe in the North Carolina meadows, damn near killing themselves while challenging each other at the gorge, to this? Of all the girls he’d crossed paths with in three years, none held a candle to the one he’d always loved. But before he had the chance to utter a word, big fat droplets of rain began to fall. One wet drop landed on the sweetness of Raven’s lips. Then caught in her long eyelashes, then landing on him.
