Dangerous Lies by Brooke Page
Synopsis
The nightmares weren’t going away with time like the therapist said.
My ex-husband was supposed to disappear from my life and mind once the trial was over, yet still, he was consuming me, controlling my thoughts and actions.
My best friend across the world had an idea to fix my troubled mind and writer's block. He wanted me to come for a visit, stay with him, and clear my mind from the damage my former husband had caused.
Jake said he’d help me get my writing flow back, but I was afraid, and excited, that it might bring out more emotions than I could handle. I fought the small crush that was beginning to develop for him over time because I was married, but now I didn’t have any rules to abide by.
Is trusting someone you’ve talked to for years on the internet really make them stranger?
I’m told it’s dangerous to meet someone from the internet.
I know Jake. I have for years, and the butterflies fluttering in my stomach are eager to be released.
Chapter One
NZthrillWriter: Sounds like you need a trip half way across the world.
We were taught running from our problems wasn’t the answer from a young age. I followed that rule my whole life, facing the avalanches that crashed into my hopes and desires. Being kicked out of my house before I was legally an adult, living in my boyfriend’s parent’s basement, was the first of my life changing problems. Little did I know, that one decision would cause a domino effect for the next ten years.
AuthorCoraCart: If only I could get away with that.
NZthrillWriter: I’m calling you.
I sighed. It was 3:30 in the morning in my boring state of Illinois, and I had to meet with my publisher in five hours. I hadn’t slept in weeks, and unfortunately it wasn’t because the mangled words in my brain were flowing down my arms and into my fingertips, transferring into sentences of wisdom and passion. No, it was because I’d finally settled a nasty divorce that had sucked the life out of me since I made the stupid decision to disown my family and live with him.
AuthorCoraCart: It’s late, I should try and go to sleep.
Ignoring my request, Jake rang my phone. I grinned, secretly loving his grit at attempting to make me feel better.
Jake didn’t waste his breath on saying hello when I answered. “I personally think you should get away with traveling. The papers have all been signed, you don’t have any children to attend to, and I can almost guarantee your boss would allow it.”
“She wouldn’t care if I took off for a few weeks, but I’m worried it’d look awful,” I said truthfully. My boss might approve of me leaving, but she most definitely would be disgusted if she found out I were shacking up with another man, even if we were only friends.
“How so? You’re not tied to your jackass of a husband anymore.”
Taking my cell into the bathroom, I tapped the speaker phone on, grabbing a washcloth to rinse off the little makeup that remained from court today.
“Ex-husband,” I corrected. “You of all people know I can’t take risks with where I’m at and who I’m with.”
“That’s where you made the mistake of blasting your beautiful face all over the internet, Love.”
I grinned when he called me beautiful and Love. He was good at the pet names, but I doubted he meant more by them. We were friends, and he had never shown a romantic interest in the years we’d known each other.
“Only allowing your back with breathtaking New Zealand scenery will sell male writer’s books, doesn’t work for females.”
“Doubt that, but you’ll only know if you start another pen name. Maybe write something other than that smut you enjoy so much,” he chided.
I dabbed my face with the washcloth. “I haven’t mastered the art of describing an action scene with guns and what not for that to happen.”
“But you’ve mastered the art of capturing a lonely woman's naughty desire?” He laughed into the phone.
I held my hand to my chest as if I were wounded. “Don’t hate on my fan-base. They need love, too.”
“So do newly freed former wives.”
I took a sharp breath. Jake and I had supported each other with new releases and marketing ideas, helping to figure out what worked and what didn’t in the crazy book world when my publisher didn’t seem to do the trick. If I went for an action scene, I’d send him the scraps of ideas, and he’d help me put them together, while if he had a love scene, I’d throw in my two cents. He was a more “fade to black” type of writer, while I put in more detail.
He was a great associate to have, and I cared deeply for him and valued our long-distant friendship.
“Jake, I just don’t know how I’d explain it to Sandra,” I confessed. She was the reason why I’d been so leery my whole life of what I did with my career. She was amazing and brought me into her world, gave me a shot at a true career, but at the same time, she controlled it. Jake was Indie, and seemed to be killing the charts just fine on his own. I hadn’t cracked that kind of magic on my own yet. My publisher was dear to my heart, but what had tied us together was something I didn’t know how to break free from.
“Sandra is your boss and not your mother-in-law. At least, not anymore. If you tell her you’re taking a sabbatical out of the country to get new writing juice, she’ll be fine. Just promise her a new manuscript by the time you’re back.”