Showing results by author "Heather Long" in All Categories

Over the past few months, I've watched the men I once called my captors become something else entirely—my fiercest allies, my deepest weakness, and the only ones I trust when everything goes to hell. They move like a unit, fight like wolves, and bleed like men who've been broken and rebuilt too many times. And now they're fighting for me. For us.

Emersyn Sharpe was nothing like I expected and everything I could have ever dreamed of. She stayed and she changed everything. She put the guys in their place. She had fire and spunk, a ferociousness I wished I possessed. Her darkness called to mine in a way that felt like home. But hiding secrets is hard work, and even the people who think they already know the worst can’t be fully trusted. No matter how desperately you want it.

Life doesn’t come with a script, but some moments don’t need one. Senior year pushed us all. It dared us to embrace wonder and chase love. It challenged us to find out who we were as people, as partners, as a family. We’re so much better together. Graduation isn’t the end of our story by any stretch. It’s the next chapter.

The pop princess with her bright blue hair, pouty lips, haunting eyes, and the voice of a siren. She’s always been too busy for us. Music seems to be the one language we both speak. It’s not enough. For her. For them. For anyone. I’m not enough.

My name is Emersyn Sharpe. Until a few months ago, I was the lead performer for a traveling show finishing up a contract. I had been beaten, but never broken. Then they took me. I didn’t belong in their world. Still, they took me and I didn’t know why. They promised to protect me and to keep me safe, but they had to know I’d run. They had to know.

I’d been called so many names over the years. None of them mattered. My mirror cared more than I did. But he never treated me as less. None of them did. My brothers were the Vandals. They didn’t always understand, but they never judged and they always had my back.

Jake, Archie, Coop, and Ian were my best friends, and three of them still are - but they’re also now my lovers, my boyfriends, and pretty much the anchors keeping me from getting washed away. I’ve had great moments, and I’ve had horrible ones. One thing is for sure, I’ll never forget my senior year. It’s the year everything changed. It’s the year I found them. I lost one, and now he wants me back, but I have no idea how to trust him again.

When the year started, I had one goal - make my AP classes count and keep my grades up. Both my focus and my grades started wobbling. Dating my best friends came with perks like hugs, kisses, and invitations to dances, but it also came with cons in the form of vindictive posts, hate mail, and vandalism of my car. I asked if it could get any worse, and I guess I got my answer.

It’s a new year. It’s a new me. Or maybe I should say a new us. We’re out there. We’re not hiding the fact that I’m dating all of them. PDAs are back on the table. The final semester of high school kicks off with a bang. I have to keep my eye on the prize though - make every AP class count, keep my grades up, and find a way to balance life with my guys. My best friends. My boyfriends. My lovers.

Vienna doesn’t ask for loyalty. She demands it without a word. And I gave it—freely, stupidly, completely. Even with Rick, her broken guardian angel, breathing down my neck. I should hate him, but the man can cook, clean, and kill with surgical precision. Besides, he loves her too. That’s enough for now.

It’s not true. It can’t be. Four DNA tests. Only one positive. The man claiming to be my father is quite literally the worst option imaginable. This isn’t happening to me. For the first time in my life, I know who I am and where I want to be and, in the blink of an eye, everything is spinning so utterly out of control. I thought the fight with Maddy was the worst thing I faced. It’s not. I’ve grown up in a house of lies, and it’s all crashing down on the five of us, and I have no idea how to protect the ones I love best from the fallout.

From the moment I learned she was coming to our school, I had a gut feeling it would end in disaster. Out of all the schools in the world, why did Kaitlin Crosse have to choose ours? Her presence confused my brothers and created tension between them, but I soon realized my initial assumptions about her were completely wrong.

My name is Liam O’Connell. Hellspawn is mine. Emersyn is ours. We aren’t going to wait around for the next attack. No, we’re taking the fight right to them.

When did we become the adults? When did we become the ones who had to make the hard calls? One by one, we’ve all left our teenage years behind. College brought new challenges even as Bound Hearts brought us more. Whether we’re making music, love, war, games, or trouble, we’ve found a good balance. We’ve learned that even being apart doesn’t mean we aren’t together. Life has a habit of throwing curveballs. School, careers, new hobbies, friends in need, and family demands are hitting us from every angle. We’re going to need each other more than ever.

I’ve worn a lot of labels over the years. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to escape. I hid in my dance. I ran away from my life as much as I could. I fought to be somewhere else, even if I couldn’t be someone else. One night, after my partner lashed out at me and I’d been hurt, the Vandals took me and never looked back. They introduced me to a world I had no idea existed and a family so much greater than the one I’d been trying to survive.

My name is Frankie Curtis, the four men I love more than anything else in this world want me to marry them. They want forever.

In the course of a year, I have had my heart broken, re-forged, only to be shattered again. The tears won’t come. Not anymore. No more looking back. No more asking what if. Coop wants me to let myself feel it. Jake wants to distract me. Archie wants to put the world at my feet. Ian wants me to not make choices, until I’m ready. I’ve got family ready to catch me, but I refuse to fall. No more waiting. No more holding my breath. The future is now. We have a chance to forge the path we want, and I’m all in.

Autumn in New York promises a turn in the seasons as we kick off the next stage of our lives. Colorful leaves falling, dropping temperatures, and the first days of classes loom even as the lingering summer heat and humidity make the city stifling. Summer was a time to get away, to just be us, and what a magical time it was, but we can only run away from our lives for so long. We have family, careers, friends - new and old - as well as commitments waiting for us.

One-hundred-seventy some odd days left in my senior year, and everything has changed. I went from untouchable to dating my best friends to making out to being betrayed. Why can’t they understand humiliating and controlling me doesn’t say I care?

Madness runs in my blood or so my family history would suggest. For more than thirteen years, I've been driven by one quest. One desire. One goal. It's about more than just DNA and legacy, it's about a promise. One I swore I would never give up. I never could have planned for her. For Lainey B. For how the girl who kept my secret became a woman who is truly my partner. I've been running alone for so long, I didn't think I could be with someone.