Un-Shattering Lucy (The Lucy & Harris Novella Series) (Volume 4) (25 page)

“Are you complaining? Because I can leave, if you want.” My hold on him only tightened, and he winked down at me. “Thought so.”

“I’d never complain about seeing you, Daddy. Thanks for coming.” It only made the day better to have him and the rest of my family there with me.

Downstairs, I heard the band getting ready to start their show. Still standing with my dad, we moved closer to the balcony to watch. Roanna, Aubree, Genesis and London took the stage, ready to rock the club. It never failed to amaze me at how effortlessly they commanded everyone’s attention. These four chicks were meant to go places with their music, especially Roanna with her killer vocals.

“It’s good to see all your faces tonight,” Roanna said into the microphone as she moved around the stage. Every eye in the club was turned straight at her now, and she knew it. It was odd because up there she became a goddess and she knew exactly what hold she had on people—and she thrived on it. Offstage, she tried to blend into the background, making her beautiful self as small as possible to avoid the attention. “Before we rock your panties off, we would like to take a moment and say a very special happy birthday to the one and only Lucy Thornton.” Roanna looked right at me and grinned, even though I was sure she couldn’t see me with all the lights trained right on her and the other Bombshells.

The fans below followed her gaze and I heard hundreds of them wish me a happy birthday. I felt my cheeks heat with the attention, and I cuddled against my dad a little more.

“Happy birthday, to you,” Roanna’s sultry voice started and her bandmates joined in. “Happy birthday to you.” The crowd below started singing along. “Happy birthday, dear Lucy.” I wanted to kill my friends and family as they started singing as well. “Happy birthday, to you.”

I groaned against Dad’s chest. “Is it over yet?”

He chuckled and turned me away from the band and the fans below. “Almost,” he murmured, but I heard a funny catch in his voice and I looked up at him. His eyes, however, were on something to his left.

Following his gaze, I found Nate and Barb stepping off the elevator with a huge cake, already alight with candles, being wheeled toward us on a table. Laughing, I stepped forward with everyone else to look at the cake. My heart lifted at all the thought Harris must have put into this little surprise and I wanted nothing more than to hug him right then, but he was still MIA.

Pushing through the small group of family and friends already standing by the cake, I finally got a good look at it. As I read the message written in a pretty purple, my heart stopped and I took a shocked step back.

Oh. My. Gods.

It all made sense now. Why both our parents were there with the rest of my closest family members. Oh, gods, this was surreal and so exquisitely beautiful I couldn’t catch my breath.

Strong arms caught my hips and my head slowly lifted from the cake to the man standing behind me. Tears filled my eyes as I met Harris’s aquamarine gaze. I could see the anxiety staring back at me, the uncertainty mixed with the hope. Unconsciously, my gaze went back to the cake and I read the words again.

Will you marry me?

With his hands still at my waist, Harris dropped to one knee and the entire club seemed to grow silent. I couldn’t find my voice, couldn’t breathe. All I could do was watch as he released my hips and took my left hand in his own. “Lucy, I’ve loved you for so long I can’t remember a time when I didn’t love you. You are my peace and my sanity. Without you, nothing makes sense. I know you’re mine, but will you take one more step with me and become my wife?”

Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

I wasn’t sure if I’d said the words aloud or not, so I nodded my head wildly. It must have been enough because through my tears I watched as Harris slipped a marquise diamond on my finger and then I was finally where I’d wanted to be all day—in his arms, with him kissing me and telling me over and over again how much he loved me.

I didn’t hear the congratulations from our friends and family and the many VIP patrons who had been in attendance. I didn’t feel the pats on the back or hear my mom and Natalie crying.

All I could see was Harris.

All I could hear were his words of love.

I had everything I had ever wanted right there, and I wasn’t ever letting go.

Self-harming is there when it feels like no one else is, but there is always light in the darkness. Reach out when you are ready. You’re not alone.

Self-Injury Hotline

SAFE (Self Abuse Finally Ends) Alternatives Program www.selfinjury.com

1-800-DONT CUT (1-800-366-8288)

National Adolescent Suicide Hotline

800-621-4000

National Association for Children of Alcoholics

1-888-55-4COAS (1-888-554-2627)

National Child Abuse Hotline

1-800-422-4453

National Domestic Violence Hotline

1-800-799-SAFE (1-800-799-7233)

National Youth Crisis Hotline

1-800-448-4663

Al-Anon/Alateen Hotline

Hope & Help for young people who are the relatives & friends of a problem drinker.

1-800-344-2666

Alcohol/Drug Abuse Hotline

1-800-662-HELP

Panic Disorder Information Hotline

1-800-64-PANIC

www.projectsemicolon.org

INTERNATIONAL

Lifeline
 (Australia)

13.11.14

Canadian Mental Health Crisis Line
  (Canada)

888.353.2273

Samaritans
(United Kingdom)

08457 909090

About the Author

Terri Anne Browning is the USA TODAY bestselling author of The Rocker...Series. She started writing her own novellas at the age of sixteen, forcing her sister to be her one woman fan club. Now she has a few more readers and a lot more passion for writing. Being dyslexic, she never thought a career in writing would be possible, yet she has been on best selling lists multiple times since 2013. Reese: A Safe Haven Novella was her first Indie published book. The Rocker Who Holds Me changed the tables and kicked off The Rocker... series featuring the sinfully delicious members of Demon's Wings. The Rocker... Series has since expanded to OtherWorld with Axton Cage and his band members. Other books by Terri Anne include the Angel's Halo MC Series as well as The Lucy & Harris Novella Series.

Terri Anne lives in Virginia with her husband, their three demons---err, children--and a loveable Olde English Bulldog named Link.

Terri Anne's Reading Order:

The Rocker...Series

The Rocker Who Holds Me

The Rocker Who Savors Me

The Rocker Who Needs Me

The Rocker Who Loves Me

The Rocker Who Holds Her

The Rockers' Babies

The Rocker Who Wants Me

The Rocker Who Cherishes Me

The Rocker Who Shatters Me

The Rocker Who Hates Me

The Rocker Who Betrays Me

Forever Rockers

Angel's Halo MC Series

Angel's Halo

Angel's Halo: Entangled

Angel's Halo: Guardian Angel

Angel's Halo: Reclaimed

(4 more books coming in this series featuring Raider, Colt, Matt & Tanner)

The Lucy & Harris Novella Series

Catching Lucy

Craving Lucy

Rocking Kin (Out Summer 2016)

Un-Shattering Lucy (Out Summer 2016)

More to come from Terri Anne

Tainted Knights Rocker Series--4 Book Series

Tainted Kiss (TK Book 1)

Coming Soon

Defying Her Mafioso (The Vitucci Mafioso, Book 1)

Tainted Kiss (Tainted Knights, Book 1)

Angel’s Halo: Atonement (Angel’s Halo MC, Book 5)

Now turn the page for an exclusive—and unedited—first look at
Defying Her Mafioso
!

Prologue

Scarlett

The aching that was pulsing throughout my entire body woke me. The first thing I realized was that I was in a bed that wasn’t my own. The sharp, worn springs were digging into my back, making it ache that much more. Slowly I lifted my eyes, but the dimness of the room didn’t help determine where I was. I barely made out a chair beside the bed and a sink across the room.

I blinked, trying to adjust my eyes a little faster so I could see what else was around me—what kind of danger I was in. The blurring of my vision slowed the process down, the ache in my head and the nausea rolling in my stomach telling me I probably had a concussion. I couldn’t feel the presence of another person, but given the amount of pain I was in, my senses could have been off.

Carefully I shifted my arms and moaned before I could call the noise back. They ached the worst and I realized why almost immediately. They were tied above my head on the bed. There was no slack to let the blood flow freely through my limbs and the slight shifting of them had sent a shot of agonizing pain straight down my arms to my shoulders.

Ciro.

His name was like a balm to my mind if not my body. I wished he was there, but knew if he had been I wouldn’t have been experiencing the pain I was currently in. The person who had foolishly taken me would be dead for even daring to think of doing the things that had been do to my body.

Tears stung my eyes, but I forced them back as I bit into my bottom lip to keep any more whimpers or groans from escaping as I took stock of the rest of my body and their aches. My father and brother had taught both my sister and I to stay calm should anything like this ever happen. I had to keep a clear head. It could be the difference between life and death.

My legs were tied to the other end of the bed but they didn’t hurt nearly as bad as my arms. My chest was throbbing, especially on the right side and as I sucked in a deeper breath I realized that I probably had a broke rib or two. Lowering my head to the bed once more I tried to think through the fog caused by the concussion.

How had I end up here?

The last thing I remembered was dancing at some club downtown with my sister. I’d needed to go to the bathroom but she’d been so lost in her own misery that I’d left her at the bar before going alone.

Was she okay? The thought had a new fear piercing my chest.

Had they taken her as well? Was she in another room hurt and afraid?

Just thinking about the possibility had my nausea threatening to overtake me and I nearly retched.

I closed my eyes, silently praying for help as I listened for signs of life outside the room I was in. Nothing. No creaking boards. No TV. Not traffic. No birds chirping. If Victoria was there she wasn’t making herself known. Where the hell was I? The lack of noise was almost deafening and for a moment I had the real fear that they had fucked my head up so bad that I’d lost my hearing.

Another moan left me and my heart lifted slightly in relief as the sound echoed off the walls.

Damn it. I had to stop that.

Ciro.

I swallowed back his name, knowing that if I spoke it aloud then there would be no force in the world to keep my tears at bay. I wanted Ciro. Needed him more in this moment that I’d ever needed him before. I knew he would come. Ciro would save me.

I had to keep thinking that.

He would save me.

Ciro. I need you.