She grew up in a broken home- a mother grinding a 9-5 just to survive, and a father who gave her the world... before prison took him away. As an only child, she learned two things early: from her dad: how to want more from her mom: how to get it herself. But when she refused college, her mother slammed the door in her face, leaving her homeless at eighteen. With nothing but a duffel bag and stubborn pride, she crossed state lines and rebuilt her life from the ground up, earning every dollar under the neon lights of The Velvet Whisper. Comfort. Independence. Control. She thought she finally had it all- until Grim, the silent, dangerous owner of the club set his sights on her. And when Grim wants something? He always takes it.

In these streets you either thought 2 steps ahead or got left behind in a body bag. Love was filled with nothing but false hopes and dreams. I could never have that. I could never let myself experience that. It's a rough world we live in, filled with hunger and survival. I am willing to survive, no matter the cost, no matter the outcome. Next in line to run the streets, Chance.. A cold lethal killer who made the world bleed, who didn't believe in love.. That's until he met her. But The Streets claimed him first.

Rhodes is an intimidating man, with no expression to match your attempted humor. But his art is like no other, a talented tattoo artist he gave people their wishes but better, making something permanent, merely impossible to regret. There was only one thing to make Rhodes soft, a gorgeous woman he studied like a student did before an exam, analyzing who she hung with, who she spoke to, hoping none of the interactions were genuine although they were. With the kindness that reminds one of a warm summer day, Cecelia serves Rhodes merely everyday at the local pub she waitresses for, his order the same every time to where she forgot his voice completely after the first time. After finding out where he works, she's determined to get him to speak, after all, he was the only one who she thought to be a bit strange. Little did she know he'd been watching her for months. Loving her from afar.

[previously titled Charlene] "Even after we die... you can kiss me for all eternity." ● The summer of 1945, The Watson's and their daughters spend a majority of their time enjoying the heat and other fun things life had to offer. A week in, they hire an old friend and her daughter to work their house for summer pay. The oldest Watson's daughter finds love in a nearby farm boy but hidden behind closed doors, he finds love in someone he should not.

New to the small southern town, brown-skinned Evalyn Brown answers an ad for domestic help. Enter her new employer, the disagreeable and decidedly white William Davis, who works for the town's police department. As time progresses, their relationship to each other, their small town, and the people who inhabit it changes. In the mid-1900s in a place so easily described as backwards, change can very rapidly become a dangerous friend. x He said nothing but continued to approach, and I started backing up, my hands in front of me to create space. He advanced until I had nowhere to go, and the stories of southern Negro women being lynched, beaten, raped, and on swirled in my mind. There were some battles to fight, and this was not one of them. I just wanted to appease whatever angry beast I had stirred within him and go back to my role as his quiet housekeeper. "William, I - ." Idiot! His whispered name slipped from my mouth before I could stop it. Today was the worst possible day to mistakenly call him by his first name. I closed my eyes as tears escaped out their corners. I didn't want to watch whatever was going to happen next. "Look. At. Me." His words were a constrictor that wound around my neck and tightened. His heady, hot breath fanned over my face. I opened my eyes and peered through my tear-blurred vision. His orbs were almost black as onyx, but tumultuous and frightening. He studied me and my pulse thudded deafeningly in my ears. "I want you to stop." His voice was low and threatening.

"You want me to be a genius or do you want me to fuck you?" • • • The Alexandrettia is the finest school in the state, known for producing the smartest, and most talented kids in America. 21 year old keen painter Mia Hanson managed to get a spot. She worked her whole life to get inside, to see the hallowed halls her biggest idols once walked through. But those very same halls gets vandalized one wild night, and the person responsible gets sentenced to do community service, working as a janitor to clean up his mess. With his brooding eyes, filthy mouth and body covered up in ink, Eli the type of guy you run away from; The type who only lives for the trouble; The type you just know packs a brain the size of a peanut. But when one of Fermat's biggest unsolved mathematical problems gets solved by an unknown source, rumors start as to who and where this genius might be... Well: Three guesses who?

"We could be more than just friends, Soph." • • • He was a player with the brain of a genius. She was his best friend, the only one who could resist his charm. And yet... - Hold on to your panties, because a genius is loose.

"What do you want?" Silas asked in a low voice. His blue eyes raked over my frame causing me to lose my breath momentarily. "You," I breathed, my eyes darting between the two men in front of me. "I want both of you." Aries smirked, a smug look on his face. "And who are we to stop you?" ⋙ Twenty three year old Natalia Maruo moves into a new apartment unaware that her two roommates are incubi fresh out of hell.