Let's Make a Deal

Jessi

I have never felt more alone or more invisible than I do at this point in my life.

I didn’t want to move to a town with my new blended family, or beg Dad to unglue himself from his new wife and job and remember I exist, or be my stepbrother’s archnemesis, or graduate high school with no friends and no social life. My only consolation comes at night when I gaze out my window at my neighbor Jack’s house.

He’s older, drives a motorcycle, and spends my nineteenth birthday party flirting with me in his biker garage and filling my head with what-ifs. But my embarrassment has me avoiding him.

Until one horrifying night when I have no choice but to run to him for help.

Jack

I wouldn’t call myself a good man, but one thing I don’t stand for is women being mistreated, insulted, or disrespected. Not after what happened to my mom and sister Becky.

When Jessi comes pounding on my door one night, covered in blood, she unleashes my already protective instincts over her. I wrap my arms around her and make a deal to keep her safe—under my roof and on my terms.

The only problem is this bargain has an expiration date, but I’m not sure that when the time comes, I’ll let her go easily.