Blurb:
"I know how to watch my back. I'm the only one that ever has."
India
Maxwell hasn't just moved across the country—she's plummeted to the
bottom rung of the social ladder. It's taken years to cover the mess of
her home life with a veneer of popularity. Now she's living in one of
Boston's wealthiest neighborhoods with her mom's fiancé and his
daughter, Eloise. Thanks to her soon-to-be stepsister's clique of
friends, including Eloise's gorgeous, arrogant boyfriend, Finn, India
feels like the one thing she hoped never to be seen as again: trash.
But
India's not alone in struggling to control the secrets of her past.
Eloise and Finn, the school's golden couple, aren't all they seem to be.
In fact, everyone's life is infinitely more complex than it first
appears. And as India grows closer to Finn and befriends Eloise,
threatening the facades that hold them together, what's left are truths
that are brutal, beautiful and big enough to change them forever…
From
New York Times
bestselling author Samantha Young comes a story of friendship,
identity and acceptance that will break your heart—and make it whole
again.
Click to Buy on Amazon:
.
About the Author:
Samantha
Young is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal
bestselling author from Stirlingshire, Scotland. She's been nominated
for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Author and Best Romance for
her international bestselling novel ON DUBLIN STREET. ON DUBLIN
STREET is Samantha's first adult contemporary romance and has been
sold in twenty six countries.
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Excerpt:
“India,
I’m not using her. I mean, I am, but it’s not like that. Eloise is getting what
she wants out of this relationship, as well.”
“Like
what?”
“I
can’t tell you.”
“You are using her.”
“I’m
not.” His chair screeched as he pulled it closer so our knees touched. His dark
eyes moved over my face and I sucked in my breath at the open appreciation I
saw there. “I’m not using her…but we are in a relationship together. I guess it
just never occurred to me that I might actually meet someone in high school.
Someone I…”
That
feeling in my chest, that thick, hot feeling, threatened to overwhelm me at all
the things he wasn’t saying. “Finn, Eloise is going to be my family.”
He
looked so forlorn it took everything within me not to reach for him.
“What
is it you’re hiding?”
“I
can’t tell you. Please, just trust me.”
Hurt
and frustration swept through me in equal measure but I tamped it down. It
wasn’t my place to demand his secrets.
My
frustration was suddenly mirrored in his eyes as he looked up at me. “I wish
things were different.”
But
they weren’t different. And yet they were the same, history repeating itself. I
cared about someone and they didn’t care enough about me back to be honest
about what was really going on.
I
didn’t know if I was angry at Finn or just angry that nothing ever seemed to be
easy for me. Everything was always a fight.
It
felt like I lived in a constant clusterfuck.
I
gave a huff of laughter. “Story of my life.” I shook my head, grabbed up my bag
and, unable to look at him, said, “Thank you for your help tonight.”
“You’re
not leaving without me.”
His
protectiveness confused and pissed me off even more. “I’m not? Funny, it looks
like that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
His
familiar scowl was back in place at my sarcasm. “You’re also not going home
alone after what happened here. I’ll give you a ride.”
“Finn.”
I slumped, suddenly feeling exhausted. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Sadness
flittered through his eyes before he managed a carefully blank expression. “I
think I can handle driving you home.”
Still
a trembling mess after everything that had happened, I gave in and followed
Finn out to his car.
The
tension that we’d shared before was nothing compared to how it was now. Now
that Finn had in a roundabout way admitted he liked me and I’d realized that
what I was feeling for him was attraction, the tension could not be mistaken
for anything else but sexual.
I’d
never felt anything like it before—it was the most frustrating, scary and
exhilarating feeling in the world.
When
we eventually pulled up outside the house, the guilt washed over me. I
shouldn’t be feeling this way about Eloise’s boyfriend and he certainly
shouldn’t be feeling this way about me.
I
felt like we were to blame for the whole thing but I didn’t know why.
I
hadn’t asked the universe to make Finn like
me.
And
I had definitely not intended to like him in return.
“India,”
he said just as I moved to get out of his car. “I’ve never really cared what
anybody thought of me before…but I really don’t want you to think I’m a bad
person.”
I
stared into his beautiful eyes. “I can’t imagine ever thinking you’re a bad
person. I meant it earlier…thank you for coming for me tonight. I’ll never
forget it.”
“This
feels weirdly like a goodbye,” he said with a bitter twist to his gorgeous
lips.
“Maybe
it is. I guess we’re both just a complication the other doesn’t need.”
Slowly,
so slowly my heart had time to increase in hard, steady thumps, Finn slid his
hand over the center console between us and stroked his thumb along the side of
my hand. I felt that simple touch in every nerve, my body reacting to it in a
way it never had to the touches and deep kisses that had come before it.
I
stared at our hands for a moment, wondering how different my life could be if
Finn wasn’t Eloise’s boyfriend, if we’d just met as strangers at school, felt
the inexplicable bond between us and were free to do something about it.
Suddenly
very aware of how long I’d been sitting outside the house in his car, I fumbled
for the door handle. “See you around, Finn.”
