Beautiful Burn

Also by Jamie McGuire

ALSO BY JAMIE MCGUIRE

THE PROVIDENCE SERIES

Providence

Requiem

Eden

Sins of the Innocent: A Novella

THE BEAUTIFUL SERIES

Beautiful Disaster

Walking Disaster

A Beautiful Wedding: A Novella

Something Beautiful: A Novella

THE MADDOX BROTHERS BOOKS

Beautiful Oblivion

Beautiful Redemption

Beautiful Sacrifice

Apolonia

Red Hill

Among Monsters: A Novella

Happenstance: A Novella Series (Books 1-3)

Sweet Nothing

Beautiful Burn by Jamie McGuire

Copyright © 2016 by Jamie McGuire

Copyright © 2016 by Jamie McGuire

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

ISBN eBook: 978-1310232152

Dedication

To Sweet Cheeks,
Amber Cheeks and Sarah Sweet
Thank you for always putting a smile on my face.

Contents

CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

When I was a child, I’d sit for what seemed like an eternity, staring into an open flame. My family thought it was a peculiar pastime, but almost twenty years later, I was gazing at the end of my cigarette, the ashes as long as my finger, the end burning orange as the fire climbed the paper.

The house was crowded, so full of sweaty, stumbling drunks and debauchery that a deep breath wouldn’t matter; all the oxygen had been sucked from the room. My bones were saturated with the sounds of the bass drum, yelling, and cackling girls, most too young to buy a can of beer much less be on the verge of puking the six-pack of Mike’s Hard Lemonade they’d just consumed.

I sat back in Mother’s favorite overstuffed imported chair, taking in the chaos and feeling at home.

Daddy was convinced I was a good girl, so it was easy to be a witness to bad behavior without guilt, even if I occasionally participated.