The Bad Boy's Girl (Now Available as a Paperback and ebook)

Bonus Part: Extended Epilogue (Now Available)

Hey guys! So this is a long time coming but if some of you remember, I launched two bonus chapters in 2014 which you had to pay to read. All of you who bought them and supported me, I cannot thank you enough <3 It truly means a lot to me! Some of you couldn't purchase them and were disappointed that you couldn't read the chapters. Over the years, I've had a lot of questions about why you can't read the bonus chapters, we had to privatise them for a while but now they're available for free! YAY. I'm so so so excited for you all to read them :D Please do leave a comment if you enjoyed the chapter. There's one more that I will be posting soon and it's Cole's POV of a very special chapter ;) ENJOY my shortcakes <3

He Brought You Kit-Kats, That's My Job Not His

When I remember the events of this date, the 15th of August to be exact,in previous years there's nothing really that stands out. I don't have any spectacular and unforgettable memories tied to this day so it stands to reason that it doesn't hold a lot of meaning for me. Of course there's a bit of lying involved in when I say that. Here's the truth, no matter who you are and no matter how old you are, you'll always have that tiny glimmer of hope inside you on your birthday. The day feels special even if realistically speaking, there's nothing special about it. It's the day you were lucky or unlucky enough, depending on how life's been treating you, to have made your grand entrance in the world. Big whoop right? Who cares, and once you hit a certain age, getting older loses its appeal.

I try and convince myself every year that I will have no big hopes for my birthday. Given my limited social circle and our even more limited celebratory options, there's no space really for going all out. In the past, especially with how my family was in pieces and how they usually forgot the day's significance I would spend hours in a foul mood. My best friends made an effort to cheer me up and would as per tradition bring me chocolate cake with Nutella frosting. The cake would come from my favourite bakery which was an hour away from town so it was special that they'd get it just for me. I'd get touching presents and the day would end on a kind of a high note. But something always felt missing and I'd always have this gnawing feeling in my gut that one shouldn't have on their birthday at least. At the time I thought it was there because of my pitiful and unrequited love for Jason Stone, a childhood crush that had grown into becoming so much more over the years. It broke my heart so him with someone I had once considered my sister, my best friend. I had told Nicole all about how I basically worshipped the ground Jay walked on and that the only thing I wanted was for him to feel if not the same then something similar.

Too bad she forgot about all that the day she decided to rip my heart to shreds by dating him.

Now the all that useless anguish makes my smile because now when I think back to all those nights I spent missing someone who never really saw me for me, I realise that what was lacking was not a person but a feeling.

Love.

I'd been missing that floating on air kind of love that makes your life infinitesimally better just because you're near that person. Your heart's happy all the time, you feel so giddy, so lucky to be experiencing something so wonderful everything feels like a dream. I'm lucky enough to find that powerful, all consuming love and even though it came from a place that shocked the ever loving heck out of me, I consider myself utterly blessed to have it in my life.

Yes, best birthday present right there.

I hear his quiet breathing as he sleeps next to me and observe his stunning face. Even now, reaching nearly a year since he came back into my life it's still hard to believe just how gorgeous he really is. His thick black eyelashes are longer than mine and fan his face, his jaw covered with the perfect two day stubble. A straight nose, high cheekbones and full lips, Cole is devastatingly beautiful if I do say so myself, messy hair and all. But the best part? The best part are the eyes, eyes so blue and stormy that it's impossible not to get lost in them. And when those eyes look at you with so much adoration in them? Well, that's when you realise that there's nothing better in the world than being loved by Cole Grayson Stone.