Book 1 | ✓
Sweeping my curls with his hand, he unapologetically held my face, making me look at him as he spoke: "Someone should've gotten you a manual for living here. If that shocks you, then I don't know how everything else will make you react."
I muffled a laugh, though deep down wanted to fall into a fetal position. He was so much more handsome up close like this with the sun behind him, angelic almost―disregarding the tattoo inscribed on the side of his neck. Picasso's full lips parted, grinning at me till my heart started acting funny-fluttering against my ribs.
"I think I've got the hang of it around here. I can handle myself," I remarked, smiling. "Stop worrying about me."
"The thing is I can't stop," he admitted. "And I won't."
Though there was no legal ties to bind him to what he said, I believed what Picasso swore to me on that afternoon. And for that reason, I agreed to his proposition to go out on a date.
❀
Picasso is the polar opposite from the preppy rich girl that is, and always will be, Sydney Webster.
However, Sydney loses it all in an instant when she hears of her father's death, leading their two worlds to collide.
Kicked out of her beach house in Malibu, Sydney is forced to move in with her aunt and her three kids in a tiny apartment. Sydney goes from attending prestigious schools and yacht parties to having to walk through metal detectors before entering homeroom, gang violence brewing inside the school, and a posey of mean girls ready to put Sydney in her place and remind her where she's at on the food chain.
Luckily for her, there's a savior in the chaos: Picasso Hudson.
❀
[this is a companion book to Tethered Hearts. you do not need to read that book to understand this story.]
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He'd never met someone with such a bubbly personality. Not to mention the wildness and odd phrases she'd say every five minutes. He hates it. He hates how he can't stay away from it. He hates what she does to him; it's not like him to chase after some girl. She gets under his skin like no other.
She'd never met someone with such a bad attitude. He's ill-mannered and menacing. The glare never seems to leave his face. Considering it all, she can't help but feel the attraction toward him. Dangerous attraction toward a seemingly dangerous man. Maybe it's the tattoos on his arm that gets her attention. Or maybe it's because she can tell there's hope for good under his rough exterior. And she's about to find that, whether he likes it or not.
It's no secret that the two of them are complete and total opposites.
~~~
"You like being called Sugar, don't you?" I tease, placing my toothbrush back after finishing.
He does the same and gives me a side-eyed scowl.
He grips my chin harshly and kisses me. My body temperature raises a good ten degrees and my right leg goes all wiggly. He pulls away.
"You like it when I kiss you, don't you?" He teases the same way I did to him and I'm left blubbering.
"I think both of our questions are rhetorical," I lower my voice up at him. His lip curls up into a smirk.
~~~
*Warning*
This story contains mature themes (language, scenes, etc.)