WICKED LIES (Wicked Bay #3)
EXCERPT REVEAL & GIVEAWAY
BY L A COTTON
EXCERPT REVEAL
“I…” The words lodged in my throat. I
wanted to go to college with Kyle. To be at his side. To be his everything. And
there had been a time when I felt that I was. But he was hiding something. I’d
suspected as much for a while now.
Water sprayed around us and Lo and I
shrieked as the guys, wet from the waves, howled with laughter.
“Jesus, Kyle, you got us all wet.”
“That’s kind of the point, babe,” he said
around a breathtaking smile and heat pooled low in my stomach. God, how I
missed that, feeling close to him. “Come for a swim?”
“Lo?” I turned to my friend, but she was
preoccupied with Maverick. “We’ll be in the water.”
Kyle pulled me up and wrapped me into his
arms, peppering my salty skin with warm wet kisses. “You know I love you,
right?” His declaration seeped into my bones, washing away some of the
lingering doubts.
“I know. Now last one in buys ice cream.” Ripping
out of his hold, I took off in a spray of sand and air. It didn’t take him long
to catch up. His arms went around my waist and we stumbled into the ocean in a
tangle of limbs.
“Kyle!” I scolded, running two hands over
my hair to drain off the excess water but when my eyes landed on his, my legs
clenched together. “What?”
Eyes fixed right on me, Kyle stalked toward
me through the water. When he reached me, he dipped down, snagging my hand and
pulling me with him. My legs went around his waist as his arms steadied me and
he moved us deeper until the water reached my shoulders.
“Kyle, you’re freaking me out right now.” I
quickly scanned the area around us. People were minding their own business.
Groups of kids enjoying their summer break. The odd family chasing their
toddlers in and out of the gentle waves.
“I just need a minute.” He rolled his hips
into me and I understood his words the second something hard connected with my
stomach.
“Seriously.” I slapped his chest. “Here? In
the middle of a crowded beach.”
“It’s not like I can help it. Have you seen
you?”
Rolling my eyes, I fought to hide the smile
tugging at my lips. “You’re a pig.”
“But I’m your pig.” He gave me no warning,
slamming his mouth to mine. I gasped at first, overwhelmed by the intensity of
his kiss, but as soon as his tongue traced the seam of my lips, my body
relaxed. The familiarity of his touch soothed some part of me. Kyle’s fingers
pressed into the flesh around my hips, searching, seeking, as our tongues
swirled together.
“Kyle, I…”
“What?” He broke off the kiss, touching his
head to mine. “What do you need?”
Our eyes locked, and I saw the secrets
glittering in his eyes, a reminder of his betrayal. I didn’t doubt he loved me,
I didn’t doubt his loyalty to me, but Kyle was keeping something from me. So
why didn’t I push it? Why didn’t I demand answers? The truth?
“I love you,” I rushed out, sealing my
declaration with a kiss to his lips. Hungry and desperate, he kissed me back,
his tongue licking and stroking every inch of my mouth.
“Wahey, get some, Stone.” A chorus of
cheers broke out around us and I buried my face in his shoulder.
“At least one of us is, Berrick,” Kyle
yelled back to his friends. Maverick’s basketball friends, to be precise. But
Kyle fit in just as easily. Even though he was a year their junior, even though
he was a Stone, not a Prince, they still loved him.
Everyone loved him.
That was half the problem. When we went off
to college and he joined the Trojan’s football team, and the USC masses joined
the Kyle Stone fan club, where did that leave little old me? At least people
knew me here. I’d grown up with them. I wasn’t only Kyle Stone’s girlfriend,
but if I followed him to USC, it was a label I wouldn’t be able to shake.
“I’m going to go say hi to the guys,”
Kyle’s voice ripped me from my thoughts. “Want to come?”
“No.” I forced a smile untangling myself
from his body. “You go.” I started to swim back to shore, but his voice stopped
me mid-stroke. “Laurie?”
“Yeah?”
“It’s you and me. You know that, right?”
Trey Berrick launched himself at Kyle and
the two of them disappeared underneath the crystal blue water. With a resigned
sigh, I walked the rest of the way back to the beach. Maybe it was a good thing
I didn’t get time to reply because what would I have said? That I didn’t know?
That I knew there was something coming between us? That as long as he had
football there would always be
something coming between us?
I didn’t want to be that girl: insecure and
jealous of her boyfriend’s future. But it was hard to love the very thing that
would one day take the person you loved more than anything, away from you.
BLURB
To the outside world, seventeen-year-old Kyle Stone has it all. A future playing the sport he loves, money and status, and his forever girl by his side. But Kyle’s good at pretending; hiding what he doesn’t want others to see. Because Kyle has secrets, the kind that can change everything.
Pretty, popular, and dating one of Wicked Bay High’s rising football stars, Laurie Davison is living the life most girls only dream about. But behind closed doors, she feels like a fake. Keeping up appearances is exhausting, and the one person she should be able to turn to is the person pushing her away.
They say love conquers all, but lies destroy. And when the truth comes out, hearts don’t only get hurt.
They get ruined.
***
Note: Wicked Lies can be read as a standalone but will be better enjoyed when read in series order
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Author of mature young adult and new adult novels, L A is happiest writing the kind of books she loves to read: addictive stories full of teenage angst, tension, twists and turns.
Home is a small town in the middle of England where she currently juggles being a full-time writer with being a mother/referee to two little people. In her spare time (and when she’s not camped out in front of the laptop) you’ll most likely find L A immersed in a book, escaping the chaos that is life.
Home is a small town in the middle of England where she currently juggles being a full-time writer with being a mother/referee to two little people. In her spare time (and when she’s not camped out in front of the laptop) you’ll most likely find L A immersed in a book, escaping the chaos that is life.
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