Showing results by author "J.L. Beck" in All Categories

I didn't plan to ever attend an event, but I needed the money. I thought it was nothing more than an adult version of hide-and-seek. I had no idea how wrong I was. Nor did I know I’d meet my worst nightmare that night: Andrew “Drew” Marshall, popular-as-hell football star and a Greek god among mere mortals. To anyone else, he would appear to be normal, a good guy. But that night I saw the cruel, dark monster hidden underneath. He was the epitome of evil, the leader of the Disciples, and I was his newest obsession.

They call me a playboy. Society’s pretty pet. What they don’t know is I’m so much more. My only directive was to keep her hidden, and safe. After everything she’s been through I’m the last person to offer comfort and care. I have little experience with either. Both of us have been broken by our pasts. But mine is catching up to me, and I would deal with it as I usually do: with total decimation. But that puts her in the crosshairs, and that’s unacceptable.

They call me an animal. Ruled by my base instincts. Owned by the rage roiling inside me. A rage so deep I can’t see my way out of it. Until her. Cilla is a pretty little trap I walk right into. And when the bait becomes the prey I’ll show them how much of an animal I can really be. Bound by deception, ruled by desire, I’ll solve the mystery of little Cilla or we’ll both be consumed by the never ending fury which threatens my very sanity.

I should’ve trusted him, believed him when he told me he was only trying to keep my safe. I thought the worst was behind me. Little did I know the worst was yet to come. Kidnapped by a man capable of the worst kind of evil, I am thrust into a dark and dangerous world where blood and wealth are the only things that matter. I’m a pawn in the war for power. The man I was desperate to escape from is now the only one that can save me. I’ll do anything to be back in his arms. He saved me once; he’ll do it again.

It was such a shame that she was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. She knew that we would come for her. We had seen her delicate face that night, hidden in the shadows, and she had seen what we did, her gasp of horror giving her away. She was perfection, beauty, and oozed goodness but that wasn’t going to save her from us. No one could ever find out our secret, which meant we needed to get rid of her. But killing her wasn’t an option and scaring her into silence wasn’t as easy of a feat as we expected.

After breaking my heart and publicly humiliating me, I vow to forget his existence. He has other plans, though, and vows to make certain I don’t. The only one I can turn to for help is a man I thought to be my enemy. Drew’s best friend Sebastian who claims to be my brother. He promises me security and protection. But no one can protect me from Drew. The faster I run, the more he chases. The harder I struggle, the tighter his grip becomes.

Rivals since before birth, there has never been a time when my family hasn't hated the Lockwoods and their daughter Harlow. But she made it personal, no longer just a rivalry between our parents. Now she's here, at Bayshore University, without her family's protection. There's nothing to stop us from getting our revenge on her, no one to tell us enough is enough. And so my brothers and I have devised a plan. We'll break her, have her falling at her knees for us in no time, and then we'll send her back to her family with a warning: Cross the Bishops again and you'll pay.

Money. It’s the root of all evil and I need it bad. You could call it the wrong place, wrong time. To me the day I met Enzo was the day the old me died. When he kidnaps me thinking I’m the daughter of his enemy, the only thing I can do is pretend to be something I’m not. But the more I pretend, the deeper I fall. Enzo is dark, cruel, and menacing, but he’s protective, fierce, and determined. Soon he wants to forge a contract between our families, making me his bride, but he has no idea I’m not whom he thinks I am and when he finds out … well, I know I’m as good as dead.

He promised me one night and I took it, never expecting anything in return. Then a few months later, I see something I shouldn’t have and fate brings us back together again. I didn’t mean to see it and I wasn’t snooping. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but that doesn’t matter to them. I’m a liability. Now Lex is everywhere I am. Following me, watching me, and making sure I don’t tell anyone what I saw that night.

She was a tiny little lamb who claimed my heart with one fearful look. I was her captor, the man responsible for breaking her, for preparing her for auction. She was taken, plucked right off the street, and brought to me to be sold at the next auction. Rescuing her from my men was never part of the deal, and neither was bringing her up to my room. Yet, night after night I did this, refusing to give up the way she made me feel. When I’m with her I feel less like a monster. I can remember the man I used to be before the mob got to me, before all the bad tainted my soul.

Once upon a time she was my sister’s best friend. I’d always wanted her to be mine, that is until the night everything changed and my love morphed into pure hatred. Now I’m a vile bastard with a chip on his shoulder. Cruel black hate is all I know. My only focus f--king my way through Blackthorn’s elite women and partying. Then she shows up at Blackthorn. She’s different now, quiet and reserved, but just as beautiful as she was the day she disappeared. One look and my focus changes. I decided then that my time for revenge is now. No way does she get to enjoy herself.

They say there is always a calm before the storm. A time when you think you’re safe, protected from the destruction that you know is going to eventually come. Harper was that calm. And I? I was the motherf--king storm. As kids, we were best friends. She was the light to my darkness. I used to protect her from her bullies. But now, I’ll become her most feared one. Seeing her for the first time after three years was like a bucket of ice water being poured on me. It chilled me to the bone, making me irrational, angry.

She was a shy little virgin, looking to rebel. I was a bad accident waiting to happen. I’m the bad boy your parents warn you about. I’ve been to prison, killed for someone I love, and now I’m suffering through college. Then I see her…sweet, so naïve it hurts, and of course beautiful. She’s scared of me the moment we lock eyes, but beneath that fear is curiosity. From that moment on I’m consumed with a need to make her mine, to claim her...but when my past collides with my future, will I risk the chance of going back to prison to protect yet another person I love?

She was a tiny little temptress of a woman that made my blood sing for vengeance. I should be punishing her, breaking her from the inside out after finding her in my father’s clutches. But when I discover the truth that she is just as much of a victim of my father’s wrongdoings as I am, I can’t follow through. I know then that I can’t break my little mouse. Not after she’s lured me in with her big blue doe eyes, strawberry blonde hair, and those pink painted lips that beg to be kissed again and again.

Elyse Silver was never mine to keep. The day I saved her life, I ensured we would forever be enemies. Hating her was easy. Bullying her, as simple as breathing. Stopping myself from falling for her… I had no idea how impossible that would become. The harder I fought, the deeper I fell. Love and happiness have never been part of my plan, but letting Elyse go isn’t an option, either. Unfortunately, the truth always finds a way of revealing itself, and by the time she realizes who the real predator is, it’ll be too late for her to escape the trap I’ve put her in.

Grace was his first love, his forever, and then he lost her. He’d spent years watching from afar, knowing he could never have her again. The violence, the hate, and pain owned him. It took all the good away. It took her away. The mafia was the only thing that could curb his violent tendencies. Choosing to let her go was the hardest thing in his life, but he wanted her to be happy, safe, protected. Then everything changed. The moment someone tried to hurt her he knew he had to step in. Grace might not have been his, but she would always be under his protection.

She was a broken angel who had the light beat right out of her. He was the man responsible for her life, her protector.... He never expected to fall for the fragile woman, with soft eyes and lips that begged to be kissed. He knew what she saw when she looked at him, a ruthless fighter, a man with a broken past, too far gone to be reached, sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness. Still, somehow her light reached him, the innocence inside her called to him and the moment her soul touched his, he was tamed, ensnared in her love.

Nic is so much more than The Devil. The night of the auction changes everything. I thought I knew who he was and what was going to happen next. I had no idea how wrong I was.

She thought her life had changed in the blink of an eye the moment she came home to see her father strapped to a chair, a gun being held to his head. It was my life that changed that day, not hers. The blood of my enemy ran through her veins, and no matter how much she wanted to save me, she never would have. I am a monster. I can't be saved. I would consume the world in a blaze of fire before my need for vengeance was ever fulfilled.

Shattered. Broken beyond repair. I’m the shell of the woman I used to be. The deeper I fall from reality, the worse things get. Only there’s one person who refuses to let me derail. Romero Pierce. Calloused. Sinister. Lethal. He’s my father's second in command, and so goddamn handsome it’s disgusting. Assigned the duty of being my babysitter, aka personal bodyguard, he thinks he can protect me, but I don’t want his protection. What I want is security, safety, freedom. Everything changes when I choose to leave and find myself in the very town where my father grew up.