enough to be the fix they both need?
I used to wonder if there was something wrong with me, because there was nothing wrong with me. I’m a happy, well-adjusted, laid-back guy, or so I always thought. The reality, though, is I’ve been coasting through life, not thinking or feeling, just being.
That is until everything goes wrong, and Emi comes crashing into my life in the worst way possible. Yet for all the drama, angst, and heartache she brings with her, she’s also shown me what it means to be human—to feel, love, and hurt. She’s taught me what it meant to be alive.
She’s so fragile, yet she’s also the strongest person I know—a true survivor. She’s been to hell and back but wakes up every morning ready to fight another day.
And when tragedy strikes and my perfect world falls apart, she’s the one helping me pick up the pieces. Yet each time she needs me to be there for her, she pushes me away.
But I refuse to just walk away. She’s taught me that real life isn’t easy, and if something’s worth wanting, it’s worth fighting for.
TRIGGER WARNING: This book contains information about domestic violence and/or violence which may be triggering to survivors.
“This is definitely going to be my new favorite book of all time. I’ve just NEVER been hit with the emotions I have with Spider. It’s just grabbed my heart and soul, and I don’t think it will ever let it go.” – Goodreads reviewer
Spider is the second book in my Rough Ink series, and Spider and Emi’s rollercoaster ride of a love story that will wrench you by the heartstrings. I truly can’t wait for you to fall into their web.
Like Zed, this is an opposites attract love story that plays out in and around SK:eTCH, the tattoo studio owned by Arlo Jones of my Heartless Few Series. However, that’s where the similarities end. Whereas Zed is a seemingly brusque and terse alpha who plays his cards close to his chest, his friend and right-hand man Spider is the polar opposite—this beautiful gentle giant is open, friendly and easygoing. By his own admission, he’s had it easy, coasting through life without a care in the world
“I thought I always had tomorrow. Then one day, tomorrow was today, and all I had were regrets.” ~Spider
Things have always gone his way, and he’s never had to struggle or fight for what he wanted. That is until Emi comes crashing into his world with a—literal—bang. In stark contrast to our eponymous hero’s path, nothing has ever been easy for Emi. Everything she has, she’s had to fight for, including her happiness, her dignity, and ultimately her life.
“Your life is like you—clean, and pretty, and straightforward, and perfect. Mine is ugly, and gnarly, and complicated, and messy.” ~Emi
When the two meet, under the most exceptional of circumstances, despite the instant and intense chemistry between them, theirs is by no means a boy-meets-girl, and they live happily ever after love story. Just like everything in her world, Emi has to work hard for happy ever after, and it’s by no means an easy ride for either of them.
“She’d come crashing into my life in the most dramatic way possible, and it hadn’t exactly been smooth sailing since then, yet I was already sure I didn’t want her to leave.” ~Spider
Fraught with intense emotion, tragedy and drama on both sides of the equation, the path of their true love runs anything but smooth.
“I feel like the itsy bitsy spider. Every time I make it to the top of the spout, some kind of drama or setback rains down on me, and I’m right back in the drain again.” ~Emi
Dealing with some sensitive and emotionally challenging themes, Spider and Emi’s romance is an intense wild ride of really high highs, and really low lows. It will have you laughing, crying, and sometimes gasping in disbelief as along with a beautiful cast of diverse characters, you watch them learn to overcome the hurt, fear, and pain, and heal the scars of the past to open their hearts, and let in the love that they each so desperately crave.
“Everybody on the motherfucking ground! Palms on the floor by your shoulders. Anybody moves a fucking muscle and she’s dead first. Then I’ll get the rest of you one by one.”
The sharp cold of the polished concrete floor bit into my cheekbone as I slammed to the ground on my stomach. I made sure I landed with my face turned toward Tommy so that I could see both him and Emi. If she’d seemed scared when she came into the studio, she looked petrified by this point.
The color had drained from her beautiful amber skin and her pupils were startled pinpricks. I was sure it was from the adrenaline coursing through her veins, rather than a mind-altering substance. She didn’t seem like the type. Not only that, but I knew for a fact that she hadn’t taken anything in the last few hours at least, because she hadn’t been out of my sight since she’d walked into the studio.
The unfolding situation would terrify anyone. A gun pointed at her head, wielded by her deranged boyfriend. Tommy had his arm around Emi’s neck, crushing her windpipe in the crook of his elbow, clearly enjoying seeing her struggling for breath. If she didn’t do as she was told quickly enough for his liking, or grappled at his arm as she had a few times in an attempt to get more air, he just squeezed tighter to remind her who was boss. I didn’t doubt that he would kill her, either by strangling her or by sinking a bullet into her brain at point-blank range.
An image of the gruesome scene that would ensue if he did lodged in my mind, and I gagged on the bile that rose in my throat. There was no way I would let that happen. I’d take a bullet before I watched him do that to her.
I began running scenarios in my mind like football drills, ways I could take Tommy down and avoid anyone else getting hurt. I didn’t mind him coming to harm, but I didn’t want the rest of us to suffer more than we already had.
As though reading my mind, Tommy tightened his choke hold on Emi and walked farther into the room. “Nobody get any funny ideas or she’s gone. I mean it. This is not a drill, and don’t think I won’t end her. I’ll do it and not even think twice. She means nothing to me.”
Hate wasn’t a word I could ever recall using and actually meaning it. Sure, as a kid, I’d hated this or that trivial thing, or this person or that one. As an adult, I never used it, because it was an emotion I couldn’t connect with. But lying on that floor, watching Tommy pace around us, hearing Jorja’s faint sobs and sniffles, and watching the waterfall of tears silently cascade down Emi’s face as she struggled to fill her lungs, the muzzle of his gun creating a dent where he’d shoved it against her temple, I hated him with a ferocity that shocked me. Even under those extreme circumstances.
Maybe Tommy and I weren’t so different. I liked to think we were, that we were literal worlds apart, but with all that anger, hatred, and adrenaline-fueled power coursing through my veins, I couldn’t say that I wouldn’t stoop to behavior every bit as evil as his, if the situation called for it. But the difference was, I would only go there if there was no other option, no other way to help someone else. And I wouldn’t take the decision lightly. I didn’t consider hurting people a sport like Tommy seemed to.
The sharp cold of the polished concrete floor bit into my cheekbone as I slammed to the ground on my stomach. I made sure I landed with my face turned toward Tommy so that I could see both him and Emi. If she’d seemed scared when she came into the studio, she looked petrified by this point.
The color had drained from her beautiful amber skin and her pupils were startled pinpricks. I was sure it was from the adrenaline coursing through her veins, rather than a mind-altering substance. She didn’t seem like the type. Not only that, but I knew for a fact that she hadn’t taken anything in the last few hours at least, because she hadn’t been out of my sight since she’d walked into the studio.
The unfolding situation would terrify anyone. A gun pointed at her head, wielded by her deranged boyfriend. Tommy had his arm around Emi’s neck, crushing her windpipe in the crook of his elbow, clearly enjoying seeing her struggling for breath. If she didn’t do as she was told quickly enough for his liking, or grappled at his arm as she had a few times in an attempt to get more air, he just squeezed tighter to remind her who was boss. I didn’t doubt that he would kill her, either by strangling her or by sinking a bullet into her brain at point-blank range.
An image of the gruesome scene that would ensue if he did lodged in my mind, and I gagged on the bile that rose in my throat. There was no way I would let that happen. I’d take a bullet before I watched him do that to her.
I began running scenarios in my mind like football drills, ways I could take Tommy down and avoid anyone else getting hurt. I didn’t mind him coming to harm, but I didn’t want the rest of us to suffer more than we already had.
As though reading my mind, Tommy tightened his choke hold on Emi and walked farther into the room. “Nobody get any funny ideas or she’s gone. I mean it. This is not a drill, and don’t think I won’t end her. I’ll do it and not even think twice. She means nothing to me.”
Hate wasn’t a word I could ever recall using and actually meaning it. Sure, as a kid, I’d hated this or that trivial thing, or this person or that one. As an adult, I never used it, because it was an emotion I couldn’t connect with. But lying on that floor, watching Tommy pace around us, hearing Jorja’s faint sobs and sniffles, and watching the waterfall of tears silently cascade down Emi’s face as she struggled to fill her lungs, the muzzle of his gun creating a dent where he’d shoved it against her temple, I hated him with a ferocity that shocked me. Even under those extreme circumstances.
Maybe Tommy and I weren’t so different. I liked to think we were, that we were literal worlds apart, but with all that anger, hatred, and adrenaline-fueled power coursing through my veins, I couldn’t say that I wouldn’t stoop to behavior every bit as evil as his, if the situation called for it. But the difference was, I would only go there if there was no other option, no other way to help someone else. And I wouldn’t take the decision lightly. I didn’t consider hurting people a sport like Tommy seemed to.
In the eyes of the law, I’d atoned for the secrets of my past, but in my heart, I knew the debt I owed was too big to ever be repaid. I didn’t ask for forgiveness, because I knew I wasn’t worthy of it. Guilt weighed me down and scarred my heart.
If it wasn’t for my art, I’d probably be dead. The truth was, I had nothing else to live for. Or so I thought until Octavia Douglas came breezing unexpectedly into the picture.
Sexy, stubborn, and smart enough to know better than to throw her future away on a guy like me, Vivi made me question everything I thought I already knew. I suddenly craved the happy ever after I’d never dared dream of, and knew I didn’t deserve.
Twelve years, two children and a dog later, and she’s still smitten. All this with a guy she sat next to on a bus for 36 hours! She has toured internationally as a “WAG,” and her experiences inspire her writing.
Ellis’s love of romance began when she was 11 years old, after a summer spent secretly reading her auntie’s books. She’s been a sucker for an alpha hero and strong heroine ever since.
An avid reader, Ellis always knew she’d write a book of her own one day. She was right about that. Following a career spanning advertising, marketing, and social media, she finally wrote Catching London in 2017.
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