Blast from the Past: MADversary

posted in: Book Excerpts, Various Musings | 0

In a nutshell: They make sweet music together, but can it last?

Megan Walker doesn’t plan to attend her high school reunion, but her best friend Lisa begs her to come along. Megan doesn’t want to risk running into her old boyfriend Tyler Green, a man who has since become rich and famous as the frontman of a heavy metal band called Madversary. Lisa convinces her that Tyler would never show up for something like a reunion, so Megan gives in, only to regret it. Because when Tyler does show up, the spark reignites, and she doesn’t know that she can bear letting him go again.

Trivia: The new cover of the book pictures the same model featured on the cover of Got the Life.

Cool facts: If you’re not familiar with the Colorado Springs area, you might not have known that The Black Sheep is a popular music venue in real life!

How Megan resembles Jade: My very first job was working in a library. Loved it!

Characters:

Megan Walker: A twenty-something assistant librarian, Megan does not want to attend her ten-year high school reunion. She tells her best friend Lisa, “I’ve stayed in touch with the people I’ve wanted to,” which amounts to Lisa and only Lisa. Megan is fed up with dating, but she definitely doesn’t want to chance running into her ex-boyfriend Tyler Green at the reunion.

Tyler Green: Frontman and guitarist for the heavy metal band Madversary. He and Megan had an amicable break up, and he’s looking forward to reconnecting with his old friend.

Lisa French: Megan’s BFF, Lisa is a little insecure and a lot obsessed with her weight. Lisa desperately wants to attend their high school reunion for lots of reasons, but she doesn’t want to go on her own. She wants the support of her best friend.

Tamara Dickens: If anyone could be considered Megan’s enemy, it would be Tamara. She’d dated Tyler back in high school before Megan had. She’d caused problems then and isn’t content sitting back now either.

Randy Butler: Once a basketball player during their high school days, Randy discovers he had hidden feelings for Lisa, and those feelings might be mutual.

Teaser:

Megan kept looking around. “Do you remember Lisa French?”

Tyler said, “Your best friend, right? How could I forget?”

“Well, she doesn’t look much different today. You’d recognize her. Have you seen her tonight?”

“No. Is she here?”

“Yeah. She’s my ride, but I haven’t seen her since we got here.” She stretched her back and then her neck, rolling it around. “Guess I’ll have to call a cab.”

Tyler slid his hand across the table and covered Megan’s hand with his. Oh, sh*t. She’d managed to keep most strong feelings for Tyler at bay all night and had, in fact, enjoyed how sweet he was. She’d started feeling that friends only was just fine, but feeling the heat radiating from his hand…

She looked up from his hand to his eyes. She thought he was feeling the same way now too, that there was a chemistry between them they’d forgotten about, and all it took was one touch. She looked in his eyes and forgot about him as an old high school boyfriend or even as a friend. She felt her pulse quicken and she was surprised he couldn’t feel it through her wrist. Her beating heart felt loud in her ears. She parted her lips to say something, but the words wouldn’t come. He asked, “Do you want me to call one for you?”

Or not. Yep, she was now in the friend zone. F*ck it. “No, thanks. I got it.” She stood and felt the effects of the alcohol. “It was nice seeing you again, Tyler.” She did a small wave and turned around.

Wobbly legs or not, Megan took a deep breath and forced her eyes open wide. She walked toward the doorway that would lead to a hallway. She only hoped she could find her way to the front entrance. It didn’t matter, though. She just had to get out of there…and fast.

“Hey,” she heard Tyler’s voice behind her as she felt his hand on her shoulder. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, you just got up all of a sudden. Why are you in a hurry now? Will your cab turn into a pumpkin or something?”

She forced a smile. She didn’t realize her emotions had been that close to the surface. She didn’t want to be that obvious. “No. I just need to get home. Feeling tired. It’s been a long day.”

“Well, let me at least walk you outside.”

No need to be a bitch. She said, “You can catch a ride with me to your hotel if you want.” She used her phone to find the number of the cab company in town.

“I’m staying here, so no need. But thanks.”

She nodded as they got close to the revolving door. She dialed the number and told the woman on the line where she was and said she needed a ride. The woman said, “We’ll have someone there in about fifteen minutes.”

Megan hung up the phone and walked farther out toward the pavement where someone stood at a podium. “Do you need your car?”

She smiled. “Nope. Just waiting on a cab.”

She saw the attendant staring at Tyler as he walked up behind her. She could tell the attendant recognized him. She looked over to Tyler and said, “Look, you don’t need to wait with me. I’m okay.”

“I want to, Meg. I don’t know the next time we’ll get to hang together, and I’d kinda like to maximize our time alone. The next two days…we’ll probably be bombarded with people. Tonight, though, everyone had certain people they were looking for and we weren’t on their radar.” He. He meant he wasn’t on their radar. Megan didn’t know that there would be lots of people searching for her.

She looked at the ground and kept walking. She didn’t want to be close to the attendant, have him scrutinizing their every move. She saw a park bench a few feet away and started walking toward it. She didn’t know what to say to Tyler. She only knew that he harbored no feelings for her, while she still had hidden feelings she’d forgotten about. She just wanted to go home and be alone. She might cry in her pillow or lie awake for hours, but that didn’t matter. She just needed to be by herself, whether she cried or not. Finally, reaching the bench, she said, “Suit yourself. I’m afraid I won’t be much company, though.”

She caught his eyes and his were searching hers, looking for something. She felt her lips part slightly as though she wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out. There was a dull, throbbing ache in her core, and she felt like she’d starve the rest of her life without tasting him again. She took a deep breath of the cool night air and closed her eyes. It would be okay. Tyler Green would leave and her life would go back to normal.

But when she opened her eyes, Tyler’s nose was close to touching hers. He was leaning over, his body close, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her at the back. “That’s too bad,” he said, “because I was hoping to spend a little more time with you.”

All air escaped her lungs as Tyler’s lips met hers, enveloping them in a kiss. He was warm and electric, and she felt adrenaline rush through her veins, making her fingertips go numb and causing her to wake right back up. This was not the kiss she remembered, though. It was slow and sensual and, like the music he wrote today, more mature. His tongue explored her mouth, and she felt her nipples grow rock hard in response. But if she’d read Tyler right earlier, a kiss would be all she’d get.

So she planned to enjoy kissing him until her cab got there. Her hands finally responded to her brain’s demands and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He pulled her body right up to his, and Megan realized the Tyler Green of today was not the boy she’d dated back in high school. There was nothing sweet about his kiss; it was ravenous and greedy.

She was nearly breathless when the cab arrived and she didn’t know how she managed to become aware that it was there. She couldn’t bring herself to pull her body away from his, but she had to.

Tyler unlatched his lips from hers and whispered in her ear, “Should we tell the cab to beat it?”

That was all she needed to hear and it didn’t matter if she was just going to be the friend Tyler loved and left. She needed him and she wanted him now.

Stats: MADversary is my second-bestselling book and has climbed both the Amazon and Amazon UK charts with moderate success. It got as high as #373 paid in Kindle on Amazon and #303 on Amazon UK. It also topped out at #26 Books > Literature & Fiction > Women’s Fiction > Contemporary Women; #88 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Contemporary Fiction and #67 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Romance > Contemporary. On Amazon UK, it also ranked as high as #16 under Women Writers and Fiction!

*Please bear in mind I wrote these stats pre-BulletBullet‘s numbers put MADversary‘s to shame.

 

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