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He wasn't going to simply sit back and wait for Death to claim him--not Andy. He was going to live life until he couldn't hold his eyes open any longer.
Andy didn't want to die in some sterile hospital and asked me to take him and Emily to the beach. It would be our last road trip together.
Emily. Emily was a problem for me.
I harbored a secret that would have torn our friendship apart. I was in love with Andy's girl, and had been since she'd walked into our sixth grade class, so many years ago.
So what kind of person am I? My best friend is dying, and it's awful--but my heart still aches for his girl. I hate myself for thinking beyond Andy's death and whether there could ever be a future for Emily and I, but I can't help it.
I'm in love with her.
Excerpt
Prologue
Death. It is the only certainty in life.
It’s such a small word that holds such a powerful message. We avoid talking about it and we fear it, because we’re taught to do so, because nobody really knows what happens when you die. It’s that uncertainty that is so terrifying.
It’s amazing how being told you’re going to die puts things into perspective.
How being told your body is going to slowly give up on you makes you reevaluate everything you thought you once knew. Things you take for granted suddenly seem so fragile. The worst part isn’t the thought of dying itself, it’s everything you’re going to be leaving behind.
My name’s Andy Grayson. I’m twenty-six, and I’m dying. God, saying that still freaks me out. I don’t know how long I have left. A month—maybe two, if I’m lucky. For a long time, I was angry: I’ve been fighting this fucking disease since I was seventeen and it’s finally going to win. I have nothing else to fight with because it has taken everything.
Then I realized that this is no longer about me. I can’t save myself, but I can make sure the people I love are taken care of. This became less about what I was losing, and more about what I could gain.
That’s when I decided I was going to do this on my terms.
Em is my girlfriend and I love her with everything I have in me. She isn’t just my girl, though; she’s my one of my best friends, my lover, my confidante, my partner in crime, and there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.
And then there’s Seth: we’ve been best friends for so long he’s like a brother to me, and I know he feels the same. As kids we got into more trouble than I care to mention, and before I die I intend on getting him into some more—for old times’ sake and all that shit.
Without them by my side, I wouldn’t have fought for this long. They sacrificed so much for me and now it’s time for me to return the favor.
I can’t leave them without knowing the two people closest to my heart will be okay. I need that assurance before I settle back and let this fucking disease take me—finish me off for all eternity…
Devil’s Prey (Dance With The Devil Trilogy), by SE Chardou
Synopsis
Magnolia "Mags" Reynolds is no shrinking violet. Her innocence is taken away from her at a very young age. Since she can remember, she's been a ruthless criminal but she's managed to survive to see her twenty-fifth birthday.
Maxwell "Max" Cartier, an expert in his craft, enters her life shortly after a sudden change of circumstances leaves her adrift yet again. He doesn't want to be her lover or friend. He only wants her for one last job that will mean a fortune and his retirement.
The best laid plans are always the first to go awry, and their situation is no different. Both will have to learn the hard way there is no such thing as easy money when they are both merely Devil's prey.
Excerpt
“What do you want from me?” he whispered, her lips drawing closer and closer to his.
“It’s not what I want, baby. What the fuck do you want? Do you wanna live or do you wanna die?”
He laughed; her gorgeous mouth a hair’s breadth from his own. “What a stupid fucking question. What the hell do you think?”
“I believe you want to live,” Mags began in a seductive whisper. “And Dimitri will keep you alive just to allow one person to complete the job. The one person you saved without knowing it. The one person who owes you everything in this world because
without a few tender words from you . . . her life, body, spirit and soul would be no more. He wouldn’t murder you because he knows what kind of person you saved and how she’s loyal to everyone who gives her self-preservation above everything else. It is human nature after all—for us to think otherwise is sheer stupidity.”
