Free SEIZED Part 1: New Adult Romantic Suspense (Seize Me Romance Fiction Series) by JC Coulton Page A

doesn’t notice. The last thing I need is to seem like a weak victim. I’m strong, and I can get through this. April needs me to get through this. I swear, I’ll find her. As long as I can keep my shit together, and my hands off this man, that is.
    He doesn’t see my tears, and I say nothing, the determination flooding me along with another realization. If they’ve been after Jessup for this long, then busting him is sure to matter more than getting April back. Right now, my best friend is a living, breathing piece of bait. The more her safety is threatened the more likely Jessup will react, so it makes sense that they don’t want her found right away. The police and whoever took April are both trying to lure Jessup in, and she’s stuck in the middle.
    Oh, Christ, this is the last thing April needs. I can’t imagine what they’re doing to her. Where is she right now? Is she in pain? So many questions flood my head. The whole situation is a nightmare. Blake is opening the door for me so I hold the blanket around my shoulders and slide into the car. I’m grateful for the gesture today. That stuff used to piss me off, but it’s nice to be cared for. I feel like shit. I’m quiet as he starts the car, and we pull out of the lot. He turns the scanners off, and the vehicle is quiet. I feel myself relax into the wide leather seat.
    I have no idea where I’m going or what’s going to happen, but at least I’m safe for now. I can’t get Blake out of my head. The man is a specimen. His hands look huge as he casually directs the car through morning traffic. I notice the sites as we drive by. It’s another world out there. People are heading to work and going on with normal lives as if nothing unusual has happened. For a moment I think about how huge New York City really is. Millions of people are hurting right now, millions are still eating breakfast. People are fighting, and children are dying. All of that is happening, but I just want April to be okay, please make her okay. I wonder if God hears me. It’s been so long since I stopped believing, I wouldn’t know.
    Blake says nothing. He’s giving me a moment to myself after all the questions and I’m relieved for the quiet. We’ve got a way to go before we get to his place, so I settle into my own thoughts. I used to believe in God. Until I discovered what it felt like to be a sinner.
    It was that June, three months after everything went down in senior year and I was a mess. For the first time ever, I wasn’t making good grades and life felt heavy. Even Blake couldn’t cheer me up. I stopped running track, I stopped going out, and I spent most weekends alone or with April. She wanted me to get counseling, and to go to the police, but I couldn’t.
    My parents would’ve been heartbroken. I was sure Dad was going to blame me, and I thought Mom was going to accuse me of lying. Such a ludicrous claim would have made me the center of a community scandal, and there’s no way I was going to let that happen. The stories we hear about victims of crime are all true. You do blame yourself, you do feel ashamed. I did, and I couldn’t get out from under that shame.
    My parents had no idea what was wrong with me or why my academic performance was suffering. They confronted me so many times, but there was no way I could give them straight answer. Then I discovered I was pregnant. Very pregnant. I’d missed the signs, and I couldn’t believe it. There was a tiny little human growing inside of me, and I had no idea what to do. It was the worst time of my life. I hated myself, because although I knew what I had to do, every part of me rebelled. I’d always wanted to be a mother, but I was sick thinking about what it would be like to hold his baby. There was no way.
    The pressures of the final year were so demanding, it was too much for me. College applications were past due. I was emotionally devastated, and had to find the time to study and attend classes. The night I