by T K Barber
"Awww I knew it wouldn’t be long! You’re too good for this place! This place’s only for sick people. Not a faker like you." She winked and Annalise laughed.
"I’ll miss you. Want me to come and visit sometime?"
Nataly cleared her throat and pulled out of the hug, flopping back down on her bed. She shook her head and smiled.
"Nah. Don’t ever come back here." She frowned and Annalise matched the expression.
"Well, you’d better come see me when you get out, okay? That way I can give you a job!"
****Nataly****
Nataly laughed and nodded. "Ya got yourself a deal, plum." She swallowed down a lump and watched as Annalise hurriedly threw her things into a duffel bag. "Hey. Ya ever decide what you’re gonna call it?"
Annalise stopped and stood up straight, her back still to Nataly. She took a deep breath and looked down at the bag. "Yeah. ‘Tommy’s’.”
Nataly’s eyes went wide, and she fought to even out her breathing.
"Heh. Cool name. I useta know a guy named Tommy." She swallowed as Annalise turned a smile around to her.
"Yeah, hon, I know. Do you remember where from yet?"
Nataly chewed on her lip and shook her head.
Annalise chuckled. "No worries, it was probably a blind date gone wrong and you blocked it from your brain." She turned back around and shoved more stuff in her bag.
Nataly gave a half-hearted laugh and glanced down at the floor. Of course, she knew where. She couldn’t tell Annalise though. She couldn’t tell anyone anything. Not even her real last name.
Anna dragged the overstuffed bag off the edge of the bed, and it hit the floor with a thud. The orderly knocked on the door frame and came in.
"Ms. Holiday, Doctor David is ready for you now."
Nataly smiled and popped up from the bed. Annalise trotted over and gave her another hug, sniffling.
Nataly irritatedly clicked her tongue. "Cut that out. And don’t say bye."
Anna’s eyes went wide, and she blinked. "Where’d . . ."
Nataly swore to herself and shrugged. "From T.V. Long time ago. Anyways, better run on before your chariot leaves without ya!"
She clapped Annalise on the shoulder and strode out the door, headed to Dr. David’s office. As she passed the first door, she chewed at the quiver in her lip.
She’d never get out. Pop’d make sure of that. And with each “treatment” she got from these doctors, she lost another part of who she was. Getting harder to think. To talk right. Not sure how much longer she could hold out, but she just had to try.
Just until her Gavin came to save her.
****
DELETED SCENE TWO
This adorable, utterly unedited section was cut from the apartment scene when the flow demanded it go way more serious. But it was honestly just too precious for me to lose completely. And who could ever have enough Tommy & Anna!?
***
He proceeded to overfill both bowls, practically turning the box upside down and she snorted.
"Those aren’t going to hold any milk now, you know."
"Psshh. Sure they will. I ain’t new on the block. Besides, milk is just a decoration. Cereal’s the main event."
He smirked as he smothered both bowls in milk, right up to the rim. He took a oversized bite and chewed it deliberately, eyeing her. She laughed, crossing her arms.
"Don’t tell me. I bet you also eat out of the box like a Neanderthal!
His eyebrows lifted and he swallowed. Annalise smugly scooped up a dainty spoonful and held it in front of her mouth. He straightened his spine, puffed out his chest and thrust up his chin as he cleared his throat.
"Madam. I will admit I have indeed partaken in eating cereal directly from the box. I am not ashamed, nor will I cease."
She busted out laughing, sending several marshmallows flying off her spoon, which made Thomas guffaw, dropping some off his own spoon.
Eventually, when she could breathe, she wiped her eyes and shook her head. "You’re cleaning it up. It’s your fault."
Thomas cleared his throat again and cocked an eyebrow. "Oh ho, that right? Ya gonna make me?"
Annalise thrust up her chin. Thomas’s smile grew in anticipation, but when she rose up from the bar stool and bit her lip, the entire room vanished. All he saw was her. He blinked and his smile dropped. Her hand disappeared from his line of sight, but he couldn’t move his eyes. When a handful of cereal peppered his face, he sucked in a surprised breath, exhaling on a loud scoff. Her musical laugh sounded again as she crossed her arms in victory.
"Boy." He looked down, flicked a single marshmallow off the collar of his shirt, and cut his eyes to her with a grin. "That was a mistake, short stack. I’m the Master of Food Fightin’. You sure you wanna open that can?"
*****
That’s it! In truth, I have about 20 full-on chapters that were cut and mutilated in some fashion, but none that would still fit the completed version of the book. In fact, the very first take on this book had Ryker as a love interest, if you can believe that! (He’s a much better villain, in my humble opinion. And I fully agree with Jack—he didn’t suffer nearly enough.)
Thank you all so much for reading. Teasers for the next two books will be at the end of The Christmas Collection, which comes out 12/3/19! Timeline-wise, it falls between the final chapter and the epilogue. Make sure you pre-order so you don’t miss these adorable, feel-good stories!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The story you just read wouldn’t be here at all without a few specific people. In fact, were this book not finally finished in a way that made sense, I’m not sure I’d have finished with my career. It nearly did me in. I wept over it, raged at it, gave up, came back, gave up, and wept some more. I set it way on the back burner and moved on, writing books well past this, all while this one refused to cooperate. I seriously wanted to quit and felt like a total failure. How could one book be so hard? Nothing would fit, the characters weren’t right, the timelines weren’t working—essentially useless heaps of words on a page that no one would ever read. Held and Hidden were very early in my writing journey—one I was still taking alone. Until I met a few writer friends, new at the time, though I’ve thanked a couple in my other two books. Janet, Jen, and Lily. Each of them saw this jumbled up manuscript in its rawest possible form and offered different perspectives/ideas/word love that truly helped. Lily was front and center for my biggest breakthrough moments; even sharing tears with me when it all came together. I’ll be forever grateful for their support. And no acknowledgement in Thomas’s book would be complete without mentioning his original hardcore fan, Hannah, who broke her book boyfriend rule to make room for the mob hottie. The way she fell for him made me write him stronger in edits, giving him different traits and tweaking personality bits, which in turn made him capable of snagging even more fans. To my friends who doubled as proofreaders-thank you, thank you. To my hubby, who dealt with my crazy mood swings over this book with compassion and cookies, and to my extended family who continue to enable my writing addiction by loving what I create. To my newest author friends, who’ve lovingly jumped headfirst into this twisty saga, especially Kristin (#medicalknowledgeFTW). And to my fans, new and old—you’re the reason I keep writing. Thank you, everyone, from the bottom of my heart.
UPCOMING BOOKS
Dates are subject to change, unless the pre-order is up! Join my newsletter or Facebook group to stay informed.
SERIES
Deities & Desires
Death On Line One — Available Now
Hell On Hold — 2/14/2020 (Pre-Order on Amazon)
Reaped & Revered — 9/3/2020
Fate On Call — 5/2021
Children of Desire (New-Adult Spinoff)
The Dead Girl’s Guide To Dating — 3/6/2021
How Not To Woo A God — 3/7/2022
The Twin Bay Saga
Held — Available Now
Hidden — Available No
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Twin Bay Christmas Collection, Vol. 1 — 12/3/2019 (Pre-order on Amazon)
Embraced (Novella - Nat & Gavin) — 4/3/2020
Consumed (Novella - Katelyn & Anthony) — 5/5/2020
Promised (Preq. novella) — 6/2/2020
Caught (Killer) — 7/7/2020
Fenced (Vincent) — 10/1/2020
Caged (Jack) — 11/6/2020
Twin Bay Christmas Collection, Vol. 2 — 12/8/2020
Marked (Nate) — TBD
Trapped — TBD
Wild Country Series
Wild Country Heart — 2/14/2021
Wild Country Soul — 2/14/2022
The Heart Guardians
Arrhythmia — 7/1/2021
Pulse — 8/3/2021
STANDALONES
Left At The Alter, Right At The Athame — 5/3/2022
Splintered Echoes — 8/2/2022
The Demon Next Door — 10/18/2022
The Grief Protocol — TBD
And so, so many more to come!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
T.K. Barber is a mom to two boys and two cats, wife to a silver fox, and an multi sub-genre romance author who thrives on making life miserable for her characters before they get their happy ever afters. She survives Georgia’s nearly year-long summers by consuming popsicles in mass quantities, and more Chinese food than is probably healthy.
* * *
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www.goodreads.com/TKBarber
Newsletter:
http://www.bit.ly/TKBNews
Amazon:
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Again, thank you so much for reading my book(s). My fans are the biggest reason I do this, so if you enjoyed this, please, let me know! Shoot me a message, leave a review, send a carrier pigeon—whatever!
