The passionate story of Tessa and Hardin continues as family secrets, deep betrayals, and career opportunities threaten to tear them apart.

This is the sequel (continuation) of After. Hardin and Tessa's relationship will be tested in ways she never expected, but he knew of all along.

Tessa Young is an 18 year old college student with a simple life, excellent grades, and a sweet boyfriend. She always has things planned out ahead of time, until she meets a rude boy named Hardin, with too many tattoos and piercings who shatters her plans.

Jake and Connor have been through a lot together over the years, and some would say that they are more like brothers than most biological ones. In a lot of ways, they have always been the rocks of their families. But the thing about rocks, is that sometimes they crack. And when that happens, they need someone else to fill in the holes. They've always had each other to do this for one another, but for the first time, they find themselves beginning look to other people for help. Perhaps hurt people are meant to stay hurt. But perhaps more than one broken heart can come together to take their collective hurt away. Jake meets a girl, and Connor meets a boy, that just might change their ideas of what it means to truly find happiness, and themselves in the process. • • • !!! Trigger warning !!! - substance abuse - sexual assault - PTSD, anxiety - homophobic slurs - strong language and mature themes

"Never call a girl a bitch," I glared into his eyes as he opened them, piercing into me, the bright blue drink I had just poured over him still dripping from his dark hair. "Or she just might act like one." I gave him one last sarcastic smile before pushing by him and walking away, practically strutting. Well, this year will be fun... • • • • Crystal Summers; a self-proclaimed expert in all things sarcastic and the human embodiment of destructive decisions. Trying to get away from her troubled past, she moves with her mom to California to start a new life, and potentially not screw this one up. There, she quickly meets Scarlett and Savanah, her new-found partners in crime, and her life finally begins to feel normal again for the first time in years. But she just so happens to also collide with the school's sexy, notorious jackass, Ashton Monroe.. and his pack of asswipes. She loathes him, and the feeling is mutual. But as the poets say, the line separating love and hate is a very thin one. And often times, when two people hate each other, it can grow into much more. Hopeless devotion, if you will... • • • • !!!TRIGGER WARNING!!! • slight mention(s) of suicidal concepts • substance abuse, addiction, anxiety, PTSD • sexual assault, domestic abuse • strong language and mature scenes • • • •