Where We Belong (#2 of 4: Shattered & Mended Series)

"Sometimes it's better to heal apart, than break together ."

Jude Hawthorne has always struggled with love. Growing up with parents who were addicts, he never experienced affection and was cut off from his extended family. When his father dies of an overdose and his mother is deemed unfit to care for him, Jude is sent to live with his uncle, aunt, and young cousin, Celeste.

Thrown into a new home, school, and environment, Jude battles the same cravings that consumed his parents. Amidst this chaos, he meets Lila Bennett through a school project, and everything he believes about himself begins to change.

Lila Bennett loves deeply, giving to others what she never received from her emotionally distant parents. When she's paired with Jude, she's determined to break through his guarded exterior. As they grow closer, Lila opens her heart, only to learn that Jude is leaving for college in Los Angeles. She doesn't realize the truth-he's being sent to rehab after his addiction nearly costs him everything.

Five years later, Jude returns with a plan to win Lila back. But her modeling agency complicates things with an unexpected obstacle: a dating contract.