"Are you... lost?" Someone asked, her tone impatient. I stopped scanning the room to find the woman behind the voice. I blinked. She had the most luminous blue eyes I had ever seen. Even in the dim glow of the bar they glowed brightly, like her pupils were some type of smooth stone at the bottom of a clear blue ocean. Within her blue there flickered tiny speckles of silver, which gave her an icy, somewhat stony appeal. But it was her slight, lopsided smile that erased any signs of wanting to be alone. No wonder this bar was so popular. "Uh, no," I said, holding up the Help Wanted sign I had snagged from the front window. The woman's cool eyes flickered between the sign and me. She didn't say anything, only looked slightly thoughtful as slender fingers raked through her long blonde hair. "What can you do?" She finally asked, definitely not expecting me to be able to do much of anything at all. She'd be right. "Anything and everything," I answered-lied-instantly, hoping I didn't look too desperate, didn't sound too eager. To be perfectly honest, I hadn't worked a day in my life. My hands were used to weekly manicures not hard labor. But desperate times call for desperate measures. The blonde appeared thoughtful again. Those magnificent eyes gave me a once over, slow and steady. You could see the cogs turning in her head as she considered it. I decided to try and sound more convincing. "I have many skills," I added. Okay, so I stole that from Xena, but I was hoping it worked as well for me as it did for her. The blonde lifted a sculpted brow and the smile was, once again, back on her lips. She seemed amused. Maybe she was a Xena fan? "Alright... I'll start you off cleaning the bathrooms, sweeping the floors, doing the dishes..." Crap.

To 18 year old Emma Slater, New York, England, is her whole life. It's where she grew up, the streets she played on, the streets she learnt to walk on, the streets she rode her first bike on. It's home. But it's also the streets where she dealt drugs. The streets where her gambling almost got her killed. The streets where she fell in love with Elise Elderflower, the beautiful art teacher she was sure had been sent from hell to tip her over the edge, sending her spiralling into a black abyss. Until one day, Elise disappears. Twenty years later, they meet again. -- ❝𝘉𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘱. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘌𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴. ❞ --

In a turn of events, Theodora, a second year university student, finds herself completely indebted to her lecturer, Mrs Valentine. The situation only grows worse when a set of dangerous events begin to unfold, leaving Theodora under the protection of Mr and Mrs Valentine. However, Mrs Valentine has a dark side to her that she only releases around her husband, a dark side that Theodora finds she's desperate to be a part of. ------------------------------------------------------------ So I'm really bad at descriptions. But I do encourage you to give it a read.

WATTYS WINNER When her fiancé ends up in a coma and his secret mistress, Halley, shows up, Mary feels like her world is falling apart. What she doesn't realize is she's actually falling in love...with Halley. ***** Eight years after a traumatizing accident that killed one of her loved ones, Mary Kincaid is about to marry her childhood sweetheart when the universe yanks the rug out from under her yet again, leaving her fiancé badly injured and in a coma. Of course this is when his secret mistress shows up, a beautiful person whom Mary should by all rights hate - so why does she find herself inviting her to stay in the spare bedroom? She soon learns that sometimes the person you're looking for comes when you're not looking at all. Content and/or trigger warning: This story mentions violence, addiction, and childhood trauma, which may be triggering for some readers. [[word count: 150,000-200,000 words]]

WATTPAD BOOKS EDITION. You have to step off the trail to find your path . . . When her mother unceremoniously dumps her at Camp Mapplewood for the summer, Emma Lane's hopes of repairing their fractured relationship are gone with the wind. Now she's stuck in the wilderness facing her worst fears. Trees? Terrifying. Spiders? Even worse. And don't even get Emma started on how she feels about camp activities. But Emma's got a plan, and she will do anything in her power to get kicked out of camp, from sleeping in to playing practical jokes on her fellow campers. Yet when Emma draws the attention of her illusive and attractive camp counselor Vivian Black, she has to come to terms with the fact that how her summer starts isn't necessarily how it might end. Will Vivian be the key to unlocking Emma's fears once and for all?

There is only one thing that we can never change, and that is the place from which we come. Though she tries to control everything else in her life, there are three things that Counselor Carrie Everett just can't tame: her growing caseload, her weakness for police personnel, and her increasingly serious relationship with Detective Jenn Carver. While trying and seemingly failing to manage her personal life, Carrie's work life takes a turn for the chaotic when a brand new case threatens the safety of a close friend and coworker, Detective Kim Hayden. A case this serious is mentally taxing for a prosecutor, but that's the least of Carrie's worries. Now, it's personal, and when the detectives of Green Falls seek legal help to solve their case, life becomes a ticking clock for all involved. This is the sequel to my last piece, Black Tie Event, taking place two years after the first story's conclusion. You definitely do not have to read the first one to understand the second, though it may help and make the second piece slightly more enjoyable. You could even read them backwards if you so chose, though it might give some plot away to do it that way. Some new characters are introduced, among the familiar faces, and the situations are brand new. Rated R, just because of its intensity. Enjoy! Cover art again by perfect human @halieghk

Detective Kim Hayden thought that switching from homicide to white collar would be the biggest career move she would make; she was wrong. When she's sent undercover to the epicenter of luxury, the eminent Shaw Manor, home of the city's resident multimillionaire, Kim is suddenly living a life she never knew. She leaves behind the familiar police force, her home, and her on-again-off-again girlfriend, all to become a housekeeper for a man she doesn't even respect. She's forced into an assortment of new relationships, including one with her impossibly straightforward and controlling partner, Allison Beckett, who always asserts her knowledge of what's best. But relationships go from messy to messier, when Kim makes the biggest mistake of all: falling for the boss's wife. This story is rated R for language and sexual content. A.K.A, all the good stuff. Read at your own discretion, and enjoy, friends. :) Trigger warning: DV/IPV, sexual violence Cover by @halieghk, I can't get over it, SO MUCH YES!