After years away, Marley and Josh return to their hometown high school and fall in love. Can their relationship survive sex, lies and secrets from their past? ***** Forced out of boarding school after her mother's death, high school student Marley Thompson made a promise to never conform to the standards of others. Headed back home after a scandal in Australia, bad boy boxer Josh Baker returns to the same school. Sharing dark pasts and keeping their own secrets, Marley and Josh meet and find a connection they never thought they'd have. Still, Josh's friends and family try to end the relationship before it begins, and Josh has to move back to Australia after he graduates. Having been hurt before, will Marley and Josh let their relationship die? Or will they risk it all and fight for each other? Content and/or Trigger Warning: Sexual Content and Mature Language. [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

In the era where swords rule, where women consider their modesty their greatest virtue. Where a man would kill to find his wife warming another mans bed, a time when women would consider it the greatest of adultery or fornication to warm a bed other than her husbands. A time when an honorable man guards his gaze, for his gaze is solely for his wife alone, as well as his heart. He's feared, ruthless, cold, heartless, manipulative, cunning, a rake. Or so they assume... She's beautiful yet silent, not by a defect, she simply dislikes to mingle with gossip.Yet she has emotional scars that no one sees behind her smile, but a few. Cover by @forcade