Devastated (Anger Management, #1)

Devastated (Anger Management, #1)

R.L. Mathewson


Dear Reader,

First, I’d like to thank you for giving Anger Management a chance. It’s been seven years in the making and has gone through a lot of changes, but finally, it’s here and I’m pretty happy with the way that it turned out and the direction of the series.

When I first started toying with this series it was actually going to be called the Politically Incorrect series because it was going to deal with raw emotion, a lot of anger, etc. It was the same idea of what I have now, but with more anger. I wasn’t sure if it was something that I could pull off because I really don’t like dark romance, anger, drama, whatever you want to call it, it’s not really my thing. I like humor, kindness, growth, etc. But I wanted to see what I could do mostly because I wanted to give characters who have been through hell and back the happy ending they deserved.

So, I wrote the first few chapters of Furious (the second book in this series). It was about a firefighter who’d had his life torn apart in the worst way imaginable and found himself facing the rest of his life in a wheelchair. When I was an EMT I encountered a lot of patients like him, who had their lives destroyed and were understandably angry. So, I let that character go, let him be angry and didn’t hold anything back. I posted that chapter online with a quick explanation of what happened. The majority of the feedback was positive, understanding and readers were able to put themselves in his place, but a very small percent didn’t understand at all.

So, I took it down and put it away and moved on. Over the years I played with Furious and Devastated, not sure where they were going, but knowing that they were definitely something that I wanted to get back to. It wasn’t until I got to really know why readers enjoyed my books that I realized where I was messing up. My books are known for humor, down to earth characters, and an escape from reality and I don’t want to change that.

With that being said, the Anger Management books are a bit different. They’re a little more serious, dealing with those issues that a lot of us unfortunately have to go through. I wanted to write a series for everyone who has struggled, who has gone through hell, and busted their assess to survive. This is for you. I wanted to write those stories with the same humor, friendship, love, and happy endings.

The characters go through hell and there’s mention of what they’ve survived, but it’s not the main focus. Their survival and ability to move on and finally get their happily ever after is. So, if you’re easily triggered by painful experiences, just know that in this series, they overcome, kick ass, and finally find peace.

-R.L.





Devastated

An Anger Management Novel





Prologue

“Please tell me that you didn’t really tell Judge Peters to go fuck himself,” Ryan said with a forlorn sigh as he leaned back against the other side of the cell’s locked door, acting like this surprised him.

“Fine. I won’t,” Hunter said, trying to get comfortable on the paper-thin mattress before finally giving up on the lost cause and sat up.

“Why do you insist on keeping me on retainer if you’re not going to call me when you get arrested?” Ryan asked, as he flicked an invisible piece of lint off the cuff of his expensively tailored suit.

Hunter shrugged it off as he raked his fingers through his hair. “Because it wasn’t a big deal.”

“It wasn’t a big deal?” Ryan repeated back slowly with a dry chuckle before going into one of his lectures, “You’re facing destruction of property, assault with a deadly weapon-”

Hunter couldn’t help but frown at that. “I didn’t have a weapon.”

“-public endangerment,” Ryan continued as though Hunter hadn’t spoken, “assaulting a police officer, and my personal favorite, resisting arrest.”

“I didn’t have a fucking weapon!” Hunter shouted, pissed that they were trying to fuck him over for something that should have been written off as a simple misdemeanor.

Ryan simply nodded. “They’re classifying your hands as weapons. Of course, if you’d called me, I probably could have fought that,” he drawled before explaining, “They’ve decided that with your extensive military record, and let’s not forget the surveillance video of you beating the shit out of everyone in that bar, that your hands should be considered a dangerous weapon.”

Hunter snorted.

“Thankfully Nancy, you remember Nancy, don’t you? The pretty young thing with great legs that works as a clerk at the courthouse. She gave me a call two hours ago. It seems that she remembered you from last year when you were up on charges for, surprise, surprise, assault. I, being the good friend that I am, left in the middle of my very important meeting to come rescue your sorry ass.”

“Is that what you call fucking your secretary over your desk now? A meeting?” Hunter asked dryly.

Ryan waved it off. “It’s a meeting of the minds. Anyway, I used my charm to get a private meeting with Judge Peters and the Prosecutor that you told to suck your dick this morning and I saved your sorry ass once again,” Ryan announced, sounding a little too smug for Hunter’s liking, but what the hell. If the man managed to get him out of these bullshit charges, then he could dance around in a pink tutu for all Hunter cared.

“What’s my fine and how many hours of community bullshit do I have to complete?” Hunter asked, getting to his feet and biting back a wince when his arms and legs shouted in protest. He was getting too fucking old for this shit, he reminded himself as he walked over to the cell door.