Joshua Hanover is rich,
handsome, athletic, and popular with the ladies—until he is paired up with his
beautiful but shy lab partner, Rosa. As the chemistry grows between them, Josh
realizes that his player days have come to an end. But not only is Rosa leery
of his reputation, four vindictive ex-girlfriends are on a rampage. When he
ignores their threats, his tires are slashed, someone tries to poison him, and
one of the girls turns up dead. Josh doesn’t know who to trust, but one thing
is certain—being a player isn’t worth the price.
Excerpt
Josh
was trying to be enthusiastic, despite the fact that his stomach and his head
were killing him. In fact, he was so busy offering Rosa his congratulations on
her expert pinball skills that he didn’t see that an angry girl with wild
strawberry curls had just stormed into the arcade. Her hazel eyes were flashing
underneath layers of thick black eye makeup. Josh didn’t notice her long,
leather-clad legs carrying her across the crowded game room. He didn’t even
notice when she was standing directly behind him with her pierced lips set in a
tight frown. Josh didn’t realize she was there at all, until she roughly tapped
him on the shoulder. When he finally turned around, he found himself face to
face with a furious gothic beauty.
“Jazz!”
Josh exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
With
a cry of pure animal rage, Jasmine lifted a hand covered in silver rings and
slapped Josh hard across the face. Black fingernails as sharp as talons scraped
his skin, leaving behind a small trail of blood. He wasn’t ready for the
surprise attack, and his neck snapped back painfully, sending fresh waves of
agony through his already pounding head.
“Pig!” Jasmine screamed so loudly that several
arcade patrons glanced over their shoulders to see what was happening.
“Surprised to see me? Not as I surprised as I was when I ran into my old friend
Elena a few days ago. We hadn’t seen each other for a few months, and we got to
talking about school, and life, and boyfriends.
You can’t imagine how surprised I was to find out that we both had the very same boyfriend!”
“Jazz, I. . . .” Josh was so surprised that he
could barely stutter a reply. At the same time, his aching stomach was making
it difficult for him to care. More than anything, he really just wished she
would go away, taking the gawking spectators with her.
“But
I still had an even bigger surprise
in store for me!” Jasmine went on, crossing her arms over her black tank top.
“Last night, Elena called and told me that we weren’t your only two victims.
You had two more, four girls in all! Is this one of them?”
she asked, gesturing to Rosa whose mouth was hanging open. “Or is she a fifth?”
“Jazz,
listen to me,” Josh started to protest. “I never. . . .”
“Don’t
tell me you never said we were exclusive, like you tried to pull with Elena!”
Jasmine interrupted. “That’s a load of crap and you know it. Don’t think I’m
going to let you dump me either. This time I’m
the dumper and you’re the dumpee.
It’s over between us, Josh. And if I have my way, you won’t be getting laid
again until your college years. When I’m through with you, no girl in this
county will come within a hundred yards of you.” She turned to Rosa, her face
still flushed with fury. “Let me give you a little free advice, hon. Ditch this
jerk before he ditches you. He’s a dog, plain and simple.”
With
that, Jasmine turned on her heel and stormed away, her head raised high in
victory. Josh watched her go with a mixture of shock and horror. It had all
happened so fast, he thought maybe he had imagined the whole thing. But his
cheek was still stinging where Jasmine had scratched him, and if that wasn’t
proof enough that the encounter had been real, the look on Rosa’s face
certainly was. Gone were the sweet smile and the slight flirtatious blush to
her cheeks, replaced by a trembling lower lip and watery brown eyes. Her
fingers were still gripping the sides of the pinball machine though the balls
had long since vanished.
“Rosa,”
Josh said desperately. “Please let me explain.”
“I
can’t believe what an idiot I’ve
been!” Rosa said in a harsh whisper. The arcade patrons had finally turned
away, and she obviously had no interest in capturing their attention a second
time. “I can’t believe I ever trusted you! To think, for a little while there,
I actually fooled myself into believing you cared about me. I’m so stupid.”
Josh
hated himself when he saw one tear sneak free. He wanted to reach out to comfort
her, but he was starting to feel dangerously shaky. He knew that if he let go of the video game
that was supporting his weight, he would probably hit the ground. The room started
to spin, and it seemed a lot smaller and stuffier. It was getting harder to
breath, and his stomach was hurting so badly, he could barely stand up straight. He knew something was really wrong with him,
but he didn’t care. He only wanted to convince the girl he was in love with
that he wasn’t a player. Not anymore. He had changed. She had changed him.
“Rosa,
I . . . I do care about you,” Josh
managed to stutter, even though it felt like his throat was closing up.
“Oh
yeah, I just bet you do!” she replied sarcastically. “Just as much as you cared
about all those other girls you were messing around with? You need one of
everything, huh? The cheerleader. The goth. And now the nerd?”
Josh
couldn’t even speak to defend himself. The pain was making it hard for him to
think clearly, and Rosa wasn’t waiting anyway. She shook her head in disgust
and moved to take the same path out of the game room that Jasmine had taken.
Josh forced his arm to move. He tried to
grab hold of her hand, but she tore away so violently that he nearly stumbled
backward into the wall.
“Don’t
touch me!” She spat.
He
was so dizzy that he was seeing two of her at once, but somehow Josh managed to
form a coherent sentence. “Rosa, please! Give me a chance to . . . to explain.”
“I
only promised you one chance,” Rosa
told him. “And you blew it!”
She
headed toward the exit again, and this time Josh didn’t have the strength to stop
her. In fact, he didn’t even have the strength to stand anymore. His legs
started to wobble underneath him just as the pain in his stomach reached an
unbearable crescendo. Even as his knees hit the dingy carpet of the game room,
he clutched desperately at his stomach. His throat was so constricted he
couldn’t even cry out for help. After only a few seconds, he vaguely noticed
that concerned people were starting to surround him. The faces were swimming
and blurring into one as waves of dizziness washed over him.
“Are
you all right, kid?”
“Someone
call 911.”
Josh
heard the anxious voices around him, but he couldn’t answer. He could barely
breathe. He wheezed as he tried to force air into his rebellious lungs.
“Josh?
What’s wrong? Josh, answer me!”
Josh
immediately recognized Rosa’s voice. He was grateful when he felt her arms wrap
around him. She cradled his head against her chest, and he felt her delicate
hands smooth his hair out of his eyes. He wanted to say something. He wanted to
thank her for coming back, even if it was only out of pity. But speech was
impossible, and consciousness was slipping away as the pain became more and
more unbearable. Even through the agony, Josh noticed that there was another
familiar face watching him from the crowd of curious onlookers. She was
impossible to miss, draped in black and covered in silver. The last thing Josh
saw before he finally lost his battle with awareness were Jasmine’s black lips
curled into a wicked, satisfied smile.
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