By Molly McAdams
CHASE ME
A BROKE AND BEAUTIFUL NOVEL
By Tessa Bailey
YOURS TO HOLD
RIBBON RIDGE BOOK TWO
By Darcy Burke
THE ELUSIVE LORD EVERHART
THE RAKES OF FALLOW HALL SERIES
By Vivienne Lorret
An Excerpt from
CHANGING EVERYTHING
A Forgiving Lies Novella
by Molly McAdams
Paisley Morro has been in love with Eli Jenkins since they were thirteen years old. But after twelve years of being only his best friend and wingman, the heartache that comes from watching him with countless other women becomes too much, and Paisley decides it’s time to lay all her feelings on the table.
Paisley
I fidgeted with my coffee cup as I tried to find the courage to say what I’d held back for so long. Twelve years. Twelve years of waiting, hoping, and aching were about to come to an end. With a deep breath in, I looked up into the blue eyes of my best friend, Eli, and tensed my body as I began.
“This guy I met, Brett, he’s—well, he’s different. Like, he’s a game changer for me. I look at him, and I have no doubt of that. I have no doubt that I could spend the rest of my life with him.” I laughed uneasily and shrugged. “And I know that sounds crazy after only a few weeks, but, honestly, I knew it the first day I met him. I don’t know how to explain it. It wasn’t like the world stopped turning or anything, there was just a feeling I had.” Swallowing past the tightness in my throat, I glanced away for a moment as I strained to hold on to the courage I’d been building up all week. “But there’s this other guy, and I swear this guy owns my soul.”
Eli crossed his arms and his eyebrows rose, but I didn’t allow myself to decipher what his expression could mean at that moment. If I tried to understand him—like I always did—then I would quickly talk myself out of saying the words I’d been thinking for far too long.
“Eli,” I whispered so low the word was almost lost in the chatter from the other people in the coffee shop. “I have been in love with you since I was thirteen years old,” I confessed, and held my breath as I waited for any kind of response from him.
Nothing about him changed for a few seconds until suddenly his face lost all emotion. But it was there in his eyes, like it always was: denial, confusion, shock.
I wanted to run, but I forced myself to blurt out the rest. “I’ve kept quiet for twelve years, and I would’ve continued to if I hadn’t met Brett. These last few weeks have been casual, but I know he wants it to be more. But if there is a chance of an us, then there would be absolutely no thoughts of anything else with him.”
Eli just continued to stare at me like I’d blown his mind, and my body began shaking as I silently begged him to say something—anything.
After twelve years of being his best friend, of being used by him as a shield from other women, of being tortured by his pretending touches and kisses . . . I was slowly giving up on us. I couldn’t handle the heartache anymore. I couldn’t stand being unknowingly rejected again and again. I couldn’t continue being his favorite person in the world for an entirely different reason than he was m
ine. I couldn’t keep waiting around for Eli Jenkins.
This was it for me.
“Eli, I need to know.” I exhaled softly and tried to steady my shaking as I asked, “Is there any possibility of there being an us?”
An Excerpt from
CHASE ME
A Broke and Beautiful Novel