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]]

𝐈𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐛𝐨𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐑𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧. • • • 𝐈𝐧 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐬. 𝐊𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐬, 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐨, 𝐚 𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐓𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦. 𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐳𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞, 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭. 𝐌𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦, 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞. 𝐓𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟.

Even when it gets to be too much, don't jump.

This is not your typical love story. This isn't a regular college book. These aren't your average dogs. Can Key get through college and tame the infamous fraternity of que's without getting caught up? A girl can only lay with dogs so long before catching flea's of her own.

When 17 year old November Jones accidentally burns off her left eyebrow in a freak accident, she brushes it off. Nothing a bit of makeup can't fix, right? But when she finds herself shoved into the backseat of her own car as a couple of very big, very bad, and very dangerous-looking men drive off with it, things can't be so easily fixed...especially since it's not just her missing eyebrow that needs to be covered, it's also the fact that one of the most wanted criminal organizations in the country accidentally kidnapped a teenage girl while trying to escape a drug deal gone wrong. Could things get any worse? Well, with a girl like November in the mix, the answer is yes.