I anticipated every breath, and every word. Each day, you could only take an uneducated guess at what he would say. What he would do.
My heart tremor as he leaned in.
"I was wrong, sweetheart. I was so wrong," he whispered, the words tickling my ears. "Because with you, there are no doubts. Only love, so, so much love. And, I will spend every single day, every minute, and every fucking second proving that I deserve it."
***
Kimberly Wrighton, the new girl who is desperate to make it through her senior year with as little issue as possible. The girl with a diary containing her insecurities, her secrets, and her true self.
Kade Ryder, the typical popular guy who feeds off of fights, anger, and violence. The guy that gets whatever he wants, no matter who or what he has to destroy in order to get it. The bad boy that girls swoon over. The guy with a heart so cold, he would laugh in the face of someone's insecurities.
This time, though, Kade had gone too far.
What if the most rudest, arrogant, popular, and most beautiful man in your school took your diary? What if he read every thought, every bare emotion, and every word of it? What if, in the venture to get it back, you begin to see the real man behind the cold, hard exterior, the real you, and the real truth?
When Charlotte agrees to fake date bad boy Mason to make her best friend and secret crush, Ben, jealous, she thinks it will be a simple arrangement. The rules are clear and she's certain of her goal: make Ben fall in love with her. So why does it seem like the lines always blur when Mason is around?
***
Charlotte Anderson has secretly been in love with her best friend, Ben Hathaway, since childhood, though he's never seen her as anything but the girl next door. After witnessing Ben kissing another girl at a party, a heartbroken Charlotte accidentally admits her crush to notorious bad boy Mason Reed... who also happens to be one of Ben's closest friends. But Mason isn't going to tell Charlotte's secret; instead, he suggests they fake a relationship to make Ben jealous. They create a set of strict rules for the arrangement: no kissing when Ben isn't around, no sex, and no falling in love. But as their fake relationship progresses, and Mason's walls break down, Charlotte finds herself questioning her true feelings for both boys, and wondering if some rules are meant to be broken-especially when it comes to love.
[[word count: 100,000 - 150,000]]
Cover designed by Gillian Goulet
(This story is a standalone title in the Dependency series)
[[Wattpad Editors Choice: June 2021]]