'"If she's somehow convinced you that she doesn't control you then she's exercised the greatest control of all," she says so tiredly it makes me immediately conscious of how naive I've been. "She decides your every move."' When the adult population of the Herel Plain, a small country known equally for its film industry and repressive government, is decimated by a civil war, the state sets up an auction system to distribute the newly orphaned youth into American foster homes. The so-called "Pageant" separates Savannah from the brother she has raised and places her in the hands of a violent, brooding entrepreneur and his wife, a callous and alluring college professor, who enlist her - along with their thirteen year old daughter Laurencia and their irreverent, young assistant, Nasrine - as a dealer in the high-end American drug trade. When Nas comes to her with an unthinkable scheme to take off with the money, Savannah sees her opportunity to be reunited with her brother and give him the life they never had. To run away is all she ever wanted, but when the moment finally strikes, something about her new employer makes her want to stay. COVER ART by the wonderful @celaestial; thank you thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart, friend!

English teacher Brooke Chandler can't help who she falls for. She can't help it that she always falls for players, she can't help it that she's fallen for a woman who simultaneously drives her crazy, and she certainly can't help it when she falls for her seventeen year old student, Chelsea. The infatuation begins innocent, but when Chelsea actually begins to return Brooke's attraction, will she shake up her entire life to chase a fantasy?

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!

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