Be My Hero was so last week! Now it's time for...Loving Lies!
Tess Simpson absolutely cannot handle seeing anyone suffer. When she volunteers to work as a candy striper after the Granton University school shooting, she is only supposed to coax the amnesiac in room 312 to eat his supper. Yeah right. After learning no one's come to visit him since he woke from a coma and can't remember who he is, Tess needs to make him feel loved, ASAP. Telling him she's his girlfriend isn't part of her plan, but that's exactly what blurts from her mouth.
Except one little lie made from the purest of intentions can still rattle the hardest of hearts.
Loving Lies
Book 2 of The Granton University Series
Omnific Publishing
Available Now!
Next in Series After This
Bailey's Story - Craving Crazy
Exclusive Excerpt for Loving Lies
“Let me go!”
“I need some help in here,” she yelled toward the doorway.
“You need to back off.” Jonah’s IV tore from the flesh in the back of his hand as he struggled. He just about had the upper hand when the wild-eyed nurse dug her nails into his thigh wound, subduing him.
He roared out his pain as a handful of people in scrubs flocked into the room, pile-driving him onto the bed.
Half a dozen voices screamed at him, telling him what they wanted him to do, and he hollered right back, trying to tell them he just wanted to be left alone. All the while, his body turned into one huge ball of shrieking, throbbing agony, each nerve ending pulsing unyieldingly. But he was so mad and scared and hurt, he continued to fight against the bodies holding him back, against the voices telling him what he couldn’t do.
He knew he must look wild, and he knew he was acting crazy, but he couldn’t help it. He had to escape. He needed to be free from all this. Everything became about the fight, the will to not give up.
Bowing up his back while both of his arms and legs were being pinned down, he lobbed his head back and forth, cursing the entire room full of orderlies as he caught sight of one nurse sucking a syringe full of juice from a tiny clear bottle and then pulling it free before turning his way.
“No! Don’t you ---- get that thing close to me. Just leave me alone.”
“Hold him steady,” Needle Nurse demanded of her cohorts, and she approached, the gleam in her eyes scaring him ----.
Jonah did not want that shot. Managing to wiggle his arm that was bound up in a cast free from its captor, he slapped the syringe away. As it flew across the room, pretty much every person holding him down groaned and cursed.
They recaptured his arm, using so much force this time the pain actually paralyzed him. His mouth opened in a silent scream as another needle was filled.
When someone else filled the doorway, he jerked his attention that way, to tell whoever it was to ---- off. He didn’t have another body part left for a new tormentor to restrain anyway. But when he saw who had arrived, the fight instantly drained out of him.
It must’ve startled his captors into thinking they’d killed him or something because as soon as his body went limp, about fifty hands jerked off him as if refusing to take culpability for his death.
Sinking deeper into the bed with his newfound freedom, he stared at the redhead frozen, petrified in the doorway, her blue eyes wide with shock as she gaped at him over the hands she held against her mouth.
“You came back,” he croaked, his voice so hoarse it barely cleared the air. Then a sob seized him, and it didn’t matter how much he blinked, he couldn’t see her through all the wetness clouding his vision. But he knew she was there.
She was here. Nothing else mattered. He needed her to draw him back away from all the fear.
He mopped at his face with trembling fingers. “You came back.”
She dropped her hands and took a hesitant step forward. “Of course I came back.” Her gaze skipped to the nurse with the half-filled syringe. “What’s going on?”
The nurse’s lips pinched thin with disapproval. “Who’re you? Are you family?”
“Yes,” Jonah rasped before Tess could answer. His hand trembled as he reached for her. “Yes. She’s family.”
As if sensing his need, she rushed the last few feet and gripped his fingers. He couldn’t take his eyes off her, was even too afraid to blink for fear she’d disappear if he closed his lashes for even half a second. She was like his angel, showing up just in time to save him from the very brink of despair.
“Are you okay?” she asked, worry lining her beautiful eyes. “What happened?”
“I just wanted to walk,” he confessed. And, damn it, his eyes were no longer just moist. Now they were streaming, and his burning hot cheeks were flooded.
“He’s not allowed to try that yet until his physical therapist comes in on Wednesday,” Needle Nurse announced haughtily while the others in the room made a mass exodus for the door.
Tess wiped his tears away with her bare fingers before she glanced at the nurse. “What do you mean try? Isn’t he capable of walking?”
Jonah glanced at the nurse, wondering that himself. He’d never come right out and asked because he’d been afraid of hearing the answer. And his orderlies had never been very forthcoming with updates because he wasn’t the most model patient.
In his opinion, the woman still wasn’t being very helpful when she answered, “The bullet that hit his thigh broke his right femur. And since it took so long for a medical team to get into the area after the shooting, and then transport him to a hospital, and then work on his more life-threatening injuries first, it didn’t get set properly. He has two pins holding it together.”
----. Did that mean he was going to be able to walk or not?
“I need some help in here,” she yelled toward the doorway.
“You need to back off.” Jonah’s IV tore from the flesh in the back of his hand as he struggled. He just about had the upper hand when the wild-eyed nurse dug her nails into his thigh wound, subduing him.
He roared out his pain as a handful of people in scrubs flocked into the room, pile-driving him onto the bed.
Half a dozen voices screamed at him, telling him what they wanted him to do, and he hollered right back, trying to tell them he just wanted to be left alone. All the while, his body turned into one huge ball of shrieking, throbbing agony, each nerve ending pulsing unyieldingly. But he was so mad and scared and hurt, he continued to fight against the bodies holding him back, against the voices telling him what he couldn’t do.
He knew he must look wild, and he knew he was acting crazy, but he couldn’t help it. He had to escape. He needed to be free from all this. Everything became about the fight, the will to not give up.
Bowing up his back while both of his arms and legs were being pinned down, he lobbed his head back and forth, cursing the entire room full of orderlies as he caught sight of one nurse sucking a syringe full of juice from a tiny clear bottle and then pulling it free before turning his way.
“No! Don’t you ---- get that thing close to me. Just leave me alone.”
“Hold him steady,” Needle Nurse demanded of her cohorts, and she approached, the gleam in her eyes scaring him ----.
Jonah did not want that shot. Managing to wiggle his arm that was bound up in a cast free from its captor, he slapped the syringe away. As it flew across the room, pretty much every person holding him down groaned and cursed.
They recaptured his arm, using so much force this time the pain actually paralyzed him. His mouth opened in a silent scream as another needle was filled.
When someone else filled the doorway, he jerked his attention that way, to tell whoever it was to ---- off. He didn’t have another body part left for a new tormentor to restrain anyway. But when he saw who had arrived, the fight instantly drained out of him.
It must’ve startled his captors into thinking they’d killed him or something because as soon as his body went limp, about fifty hands jerked off him as if refusing to take culpability for his death.
Sinking deeper into the bed with his newfound freedom, he stared at the redhead frozen, petrified in the doorway, her blue eyes wide with shock as she gaped at him over the hands she held against her mouth.
“You came back,” he croaked, his voice so hoarse it barely cleared the air. Then a sob seized him, and it didn’t matter how much he blinked, he couldn’t see her through all the wetness clouding his vision. But he knew she was there.
She was here. Nothing else mattered. He needed her to draw him back away from all the fear.
He mopped at his face with trembling fingers. “You came back.”
She dropped her hands and took a hesitant step forward. “Of course I came back.” Her gaze skipped to the nurse with the half-filled syringe. “What’s going on?”
The nurse’s lips pinched thin with disapproval. “Who’re you? Are you family?”
“Yes,” Jonah rasped before Tess could answer. His hand trembled as he reached for her. “Yes. She’s family.”
As if sensing his need, she rushed the last few feet and gripped his fingers. He couldn’t take his eyes off her, was even too afraid to blink for fear she’d disappear if he closed his lashes for even half a second. She was like his angel, showing up just in time to save him from the very brink of despair.
“Are you okay?” she asked, worry lining her beautiful eyes. “What happened?”
“I just wanted to walk,” he confessed. And, damn it, his eyes were no longer just moist. Now they were streaming, and his burning hot cheeks were flooded.
“He’s not allowed to try that yet until his physical therapist comes in on Wednesday,” Needle Nurse announced haughtily while the others in the room made a mass exodus for the door.
Tess wiped his tears away with her bare fingers before she glanced at the nurse. “What do you mean try? Isn’t he capable of walking?”
Jonah glanced at the nurse, wondering that himself. He’d never come right out and asked because he’d been afraid of hearing the answer. And his orderlies had never been very forthcoming with updates because he wasn’t the most model patient.
In his opinion, the woman still wasn’t being very helpful when she answered, “The bullet that hit his thigh broke his right femur. And since it took so long for a medical team to get into the area after the shooting, and then transport him to a hospital, and then work on his more life-threatening injuries first, it didn’t get set properly. He has two pins holding it together.”
----. Did that mean he was going to be able to walk or not?
Congratulations, Linda! I love the cover of Loving Lies. It's simply beautiful. :) I wish you much success with it.
ReplyDeleteOh my! This sounds like an amazing journey! Being in the hospital is bad, but especially if no one came to visit. I'll have to drop in, too! : )
ReplyDelete