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Back Stolen Soulmate
Chapters (66)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Keep Reading
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Sixteen
  20. Seventeen
  21. Eighteen
  22. Nineteen
  23. Twenty
  24. Twenty-One
  25. Twenty-Two
  26. Twenty-Three
  27. Twenty-Four
  28. Twenty-Five
  29. Twenty-Six
  30. Twenty-Seven
  31. Twenty-Eight
  32. Twenty-Nine
  33. Thirty
  34. Thirty-One
  35. Thirty-Two
  36. Thirty-Three
  37. Thirty-Four
  38. Thirty-Five
  39. Thirty-Six
  40. Thirty-Seven
  41. Thirty-Eight
  42. Thirty-Nine
  43. Forty
  44. Forty-One
  45. Forty-Two
  46. Forty-Three
  47. Forty-Four
  48. Forty-Five
  49. Forty-Six
  50. Forty-Seven
  51. Forty-Eight
  52. Forty-Nine
  53. Fifty
  54. Fifty-One
  55. Fifty-Two
  56. Fifty-Three
  57. Fifty-Four
  58. Fifty-Five
  59. Fifty-Six
  60. Fifty-Seven
  61. Fifty-Eight
  62. Fifty-Nine
  63. Sneak Peek
  64. Find Me
  65. Books by Mary Catherine Gebhard
  66. Acknowledgments

A champagne bottle popped, and I jumped. Grayson dug his fingers harder into my chin as melodious laughter followed, mingling with that of my heart trying to break out of my chest.

Pound. Pound. Pound.

“I don’t like anything about you.” He rubbed my lip. “And yet I still own you.”

No. No he doesn’t.

Does he?

He pushed his thumb into my mouth, pressing my tongue down. Tingles erupted along my skin, hot and cold.

“Because you have nothing,” he said. “You think wanting something is hard work.”

Then, with his thumb still pressing on my tongue, he put his cigarette out on my shirt. My chest bottomed out. Utterly mixed up and lost in the pleasurable feel of him against my tongue and the acrid smell of burned fabric and ashes.

“You really shouldn’t be worried about Abigail right now, Snitch.” He slid his thumb from my tongue, roughly wiping the spit off against my cheek. “When I get back, you better have some useful information about the girl I like.”

I rubbed my lip, stuck on Gray as he talked with his sister. I don’t know what’s going on with me. Gray is a briar. Each layer you pick at, you cut and bleed.

But I can’t stop wondering what’s at the center. What if there’s something beautiful?

Or maybe I’ll just continue to bleed.

My eyes locked with Abigail’s.

I should’ve looked away.

I know I should’ve.

But I couldn’t.

I saw surprise on her face, confusion, then anger. Could she see the humiliation on mine? It was almost like Grayson knew she could see us. He stepped directly in our line of sight, blocking her. For a stupid moment, I felt something. It fed into that part of me that kept grabbing at his thorns. Maybe he stepped there on purpose. Maybe he was trying to keep me for himself.

I shouldn’t want that.

And yet…

I shook out of it, making sure to walk away before she looked back in my direction. I’d just looked Abigail Crowne in her eyes. Somehow I was more of a servant than I’d ever been before, shackled to Grayson Crowne, and yet the lines had never been blurrier.

I wandered from the beach back into the Hall. I had to find something to give Gray, something that would fix what I broke, or in two months I would give him everything. But I wouldn’t find it up in the light and sparkle.

Crowne Hall had many secret doors that led to a labyrinthine underbelly. Maids and servants and cooks and servers worked under the house, while people like Grayson stayed up here.