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PrologueSix years agoSophia sat on the old, half-broken deck, her feet dangling off the sides, the cool water lapping at her toes Soine herself in another world, one where everything was good and right The only problem was she eventually had to open her eyes and come face-to-face with reality

“You’re thinking again, Kid” Abe sat beside her, nudging his shoulder against hers Even at sixteen, Abe was big with hard lines of ether, and if not for him, she would have crumbled at the first opportunity

Sophia turned and looked at hiolden color to slash across his too-handso at him caused Sophia’s heart to race Dark hair swooped across his forehead, and his eyes, so blue they almost seemed unreal, stared back at her He was trouble with a capital T

There wasn’t a girl in toho didn’t want Abe Rochester, and there wasn’t a girl he didn’t like to give that time to… well, except her He didn’t look at her like he did the other girls: all half-lidded gazes, sht No, Abe looked at her like a little sister, and for the first tiht that really sucked

“Thinking is about all I can do any what shearound Abe seemed to cause the wires in her brain to ht she realized she cared for him as more than her best friend

His big hand covered hers, and she turned her gaze back toward the pond The sun was just starting to set, and the light hit the water, casting tiny crystalline shards across the silky top

“One day, all of this isn’t going to htened on hers, and sheher head on his shoulder “The shitty things that happened to you, the asshats who think they can ht “I’ to look out for you, Kid, always”

Sophia didn’t doubt Abe’s words, but there was always doubt inside her, always the fear that her life would always be like this

“You think too hard, Soph”

She lifted her head and looked up at him “Sohter future”

Pain danced behind his eyes, and he looked away His jaw tightened For several long h to suffocate her

“I know, but when life gives you an ugly hand, you have to lean on the people who love you and hope they will see you through” He looked at her again and kissed her forehead “I love you, Sophia, and that will never change Even if I have to try with s better for you”

She really hoped that was the truth, but soliness in people’s lives didn’t stay in the past1Present day“Hey, baby How ’bout you and o back to your place for a little fun?”

Sophia rolled her eyes as she poured three shots of Crown The wo as she could reed on the beach and a jean skirt so short there was no doubt in Sophia’s et a clear shot of her pussy when she bent over

She slid one of the shots to Abe, and he sht was nae tits on Abe’s thick, tattooed arm

Abe was a gorgeous man, all six foot three inches of him, and so whenever he came to Tiny’s there were alomen who checked him out Sophia hated it His uys leery of hiht he could take Abe Obviously, they didn’t know his reputation

There were a few ti honest, he deserved theht he was invincible

Abe Rochester was considered the town bad boy He may have been dubbed “Trouble,” but Sophia knew a different side of hi into brawls, and fucking anything with a pussy He was the boy she followed to the fishing hole when they were ten, the guy who held her when she was fifteen and crying because Frankie Gutten had called her ugly… and the saly