Showing results by author "J.L. Beck" in All Categories

I’ve spent years trying to be someone I’m not. Controlled and humanized. Still, the darkness lurks inside me, waiting for a chance to break free. As the headmaster at Corium University, I must maintain professionalism and keep myself in check. I manage to do that until the day I discover I have a daughter and all the carefully constructed walls I’ve built around myself start to crumble.I know I need an outlet, a way to shut it off, and then she lands in my lap. Delilah. I want to punish her, humiliate her, and hurt her in the best ways.

He calls me prey. I call him a bully. Sebastian Arturo isn’t just cruel, he’s downright terrifying. With piercing green eyes, a body made for doing very bad things, and a charming demeanor, it’s no wonder everyone thinks the world of him… everyone except me. When I wake up with pieces of my memory missing he’s the only one who can give me answers. But he doesn't give me answers—instead, he tells me to stop asking questions, or else. I heed his warning and do my best to avoid him, but since he’s my boss and I live in his house, that's kinda difficult.

Rivals since before birth, there has never been a time when my family hasn't hated the Lockwoods and their daughter Harlow. But she made it personal, no longer just a rivalry between our parents. Now she's here, at Bayshore University, without her family's protection. There's nothing to stop us from getting our revenge on her, no one to tell us enough is enough. And so my brothers and I have devised a plan. We'll break her, have her falling at her knees for us in no time, and then we'll send her back to her family with a warning: Cross the Bishops again and you'll pay.

They say there is always a calm before the storm. A time when you think you’re safe, protected from the destruction that you know is going to eventually come. Harper was that calm. And I? I was the motherf--king storm. As kids, we were best friends. She was the light to my darkness. I used to protect her from her bullies. But now, I’ll become her most feared one. Seeing her for the first time after three years was like a bucket of ice water being poured on me. It chilled me to the bone, making me irrational, angry.

The bet was simple. You draw a name from the hat. That's the girl you have to seduce. The girl you have to make fall head over heels in love with you. It wasn't hard for him to do, in fact, it was something he did all the time. He was known for breaking hearts. Sex was just that, sex. And it didn't take him very long to get a woman on her back. And then he drew her name: Jules Peterson. His former best friend, first kiss, and first love. She shattered his heart into a million pieces three years ago. She left him right when he needed her most.

She was a shy little virgin, looking to rebel. I was a bad accident waiting to happen. I’m the bad boy your parents warn you about. I’ve been to prison, killed for someone I love, and now I’m suffering through college. Then I see her…sweet, so naïve it hurts, and of course beautiful. She’s scared of me the moment we lock eyes, but beneath that fear is curiosity. From that moment on I’m consumed with a need to make her mine, to claim her...but when my past collides with my future, will I risk the chance of going back to prison to protect yet another person I love?

I’m the shadows that reach out and take a bite. No one sees me coming, which is why I’m sent to do the things even our fearless leader won’t touch. After months of watching our enemies, it’s time to take them out. I’m ready to feel their blood on my hands, their worthless lives ground to dust. But I don’t get the chance when a dark haired beauty comes crashing into my plans, seeking sanctuary from our enemies. Now I’m stuck on guard duty, babysitting a mafia princess. As tensions rise, the flames of desire flicker between us. We shouldn’t cross that line.

Everything I knew was a lie. Everyone I loved betrayed me. Everywhere I go someone wants me dead. I’m no stranger to being alone. Even in my darkest hour, I knew I could count only on myself. Now, I have nothing and for the first time in my life I have to let someone else save me.

Money. It’s the root of all evil and I need it bad. You could call it the wrong place, wrong time. To me the day I met Enzo was the day the old me died. When he kidnaps me thinking I’m the daughter of his enemy, the only thing I can do is pretend to be something I’m not. But the more I pretend, the deeper I fall. Enzo is dark, cruel, and menacing, but he’s protective, fierce, and determined. Soon he wants to forge a contract between our families, making me his bride, but he has no idea I’m not whom he thinks I am and when he finds out … well, I know I’m as good as dead.

She was a tiny little temptress of a woman that made my blood sing for vengeance. I should be punishing her, breaking her from the inside out after finding her in my father’s clutches. But when I discover the truth that she is just as much of a victim of my father’s wrongdoings as I am, I can’t follow through. I know then that I can’t break my little mouse. Not after she’s lured me in with her big blue doe eyes, strawberry blonde hair, and those pink painted lips that beg to be kissed again and again.

Golden boy. Party king. Trust fund brat. That's what they call me—Lee Sterling, Oakmount University's favorite disaster. Everyone thinks they know me, but they only see what I let them. I’m the guy who can charm his way out of anything and never takes life seriously. But it's all a ruse. They don't see the mask I wear or the cage of family expectations slowly threatening to suffocate me.

The deal was sealed the moment she stepped onto that stage. It was like seeing a ghost: sunshine-blonde hair, pale skin, azure eyes that held a thousand secrets. I didn’t know what caused her to end up on that auction block, and I didn’t care. All I knew was that I had to have her - no matter the cost. A million dollars later, she became mine. Mine to break. Mine to use. Mine to keep.

For years, I’ve watched her - followed her, stalked her. At first, it was about protecting her, keeping her safe and out of harm's way. Then it became a full-blown obsession. I vowed to never touch her again, to protect her from everyone, including myself. But when enemies lurking in the shadows threaten to take all that away, I know I’ll do anything to keep my butterfly safe...even if it means betraying the only family I’ve ever known.

They say the truth will set you free. That’s a lie. The truth got me locked in an ivory tower, a victim of my new husband’s rage. If I’m going to survive, I’m going to have to make Enzo fall back in love with me.

Shattered. Broken beyond repair. I’m the shell of the woman I used to be. The deeper I fall from reality, the worse things get. Only there’s one person who refuses to let me derail. Romero Pierce. Calloused. Sinister. Lethal. He’s my father's second in command, and so goddamn handsome it’s disgusting. Assigned the duty of being my babysitter, aka personal bodyguard, he thinks he can protect me, but I don’t want his protection. What I want is security, safety, freedom. Everything changes when I choose to leave and find myself in the very town where my father grew up.

Betrayal cuts the deepest. I would know better than anyone. They never suspected me to be the villain. That didn’t matter anymore, though, because I didn’t just want revenge, I needed it. Leaving my old life behind, I knew I could never return, but there was something … no, someone I had left behind. Scarlett. Kind. Innocent. Fragile. She was a light in the darkness of my life. Back then, she was always meant to be mine, even if having her meant breaking every single rule. Now, enemies or not, she would still be mine.

She was a broken angel who had the light beat right out of her. He was the man responsible for her life, her protector.... He never expected to fall for the fragile woman, with soft eyes and lips that begged to be kissed. He knew what she saw when she looked at him, a ruthless fighter, a man with a broken past, too far gone to be reached, sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness. Still, somehow her light reached him, the innocence inside her called to him and the moment her soul touched his, he was tamed, ensnared in her love.

Elyse Silver was never mine to keep. The day I saved her life, I ensured we would forever be enemies. Hating her was easy. Bullying her, as simple as breathing. Stopping myself from falling for her… I had no idea how impossible that would become. The harder I fought, the deeper I fell. Love and happiness have never been part of my plan, but letting Elyse go isn’t an option, either. Unfortunately, the truth always finds a way of revealing itself, and by the time she realizes who the real predator is, it’ll be too late for her to escape the trap I’ve put her in.

They call me a playboy. Society’s pretty pet. What they don’t know is I’m so much more. My only directive was to keep her hidden, and safe. After everything she’s been through I’m the last person to offer comfort and care. I have little experience with either. Both of us have been broken by our pasts. But mine is catching up to me, and I would deal with it as I usually do: with total decimation. But that puts her in the crosshairs, and that’s unacceptable.

He promised me one night and I took it, never expecting anything in return. Then a few months later, I see something I shouldn’t have and fate brings us back together again. I didn’t mean to see it and I wasn’t snooping. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, but that doesn’t matter to them. I’m a liability. Now Lex is everywhere I am. Following me, watching me, and making sure I don’t tell anyone what I saw that night.