Promise Me Always
Rhonda Shaw
Publication date: February 26th 2018
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Gabrielle Wells was everything Danny Anderson shouldn’t want. She was his opposite in every way, but he couldn’t keep his distance, and fate seemed to push them together at every turn. She consumed him, and the more he learned about her, the more he realized she was exactly what he didn’t know he needed. But then past mistakes forced him to walk away and never look back, breaking Gabrielle’s heart in the process.
Fast forward six years, and it seems as if fate is intervening again. Danny, now a best-selling rap artist, returns to his hometown, and is reunited with the only girl he’s ever loved.
Gabrielle isn’t the girl he left behind, though, and Danny realizes life has thrown her quite a few curves. But he will stop at nothing to get her back, refusing to let his true desires—love and family—continue to elude him. However, when Danny’s past crashes into his present, threatening everyone he loves and everything he’s fought for, he must decide if his promise to Gabrielle of “always” is worth the risk.
Excerpt:
Dollar and I were working in the back room, experimenting with beats, when I heard what I thought was Big T yelling my name.
I held out my hand. “Hold up, hold up. Turn it off.”
We listened and sure enough, Big T’s booming voice was calling for me.
He sounded out of breath and frantic, and we frowned at each other. Dollar stuck his head through the doorway.
“What up, T? Where’s the food?”
“Where’s D?” Big T asked.
I stepped in front of Dollar. “Right here. What’s your issue?”
“Come on, man. We’ve got to go.” He put his hands on his knees as he struggled to catch his breath.
I stepped into the hallway. “What the fuck is going on? Why are you out of breath and sweating?”
Big T squinted up at me, his chest still heaving. “It’s G, man. Let’s go.”
I stopped dead in my tracks and went rigid as a sharp, hard edge settled within me. “What about G?”
“What you talkin’ about, dawg?” Dollar asked.
“There isn’t time to explain.” He stood and took a couple steps in the opposite direction. “The ambulance headed that way—”
I flew past him, shoving him aside, and racing out the front door. I drove with tunnel vision toward the ballet studio. The one night I hadn’t picked Gabrielle up, something had happened. Where the fuck was her mother? I didn’t know what I would discover when I pulled up, but if I didn’t find my girl standing with a smile on her face, someone would pay.
Flashing lights surrounded the building in the distance. I counted three police cars, a fire truck, and an ambulance. A growing crowd gathered around the alleyway, gawking at the scene, and I elbowed my way through the mass of people.
I’d left my sweatshirt back at the makeshift studio, but I didn’t feel the cold through my thin t-shirt. In fact, I felt nothing, steeling myself for whatever greeted me on the other side of the police tape. I pushed through, and when an officer spotted me, he held out his hand.
“You can’t go any further, sir.”
I stopped, but stepped from side to side, trying to get a clear view behind the cop, hoping, praying Big T was wrong and it wasn’t Gabrielle on the ground. But once my gaze settled on the white tennis shoes and the long legs attached to them, I didn’t need to see the rest to know who lay there.
Rage and fear coursed through me, and I broke out in a clammy sweat that flashed hot. I wanted to strike out at anything standing between us, while at the same time wanting nothing more than to sink down next to her and cry my heart out.
Rage won.
Author Bio:
Rhonda owes her love of reading to her mother who would read to her each night before bed and sometimes give into pleads for more than one chapter. These days, if Rhonda doesn’t have a book in her hands, it feels like something is missing. While romance is her true passion, Rhonda enjoys reading multiple genres.
Born in California, but transplanted to the Midwest, Rhonda is warm weather girl to the bone (even years later, winter and her are not on speaking terms) and loves nothing more than a balmy, summer evening. She also loves all animals–especially her silly French Bulldog, Keno.
Nowadays, she has so many characters and story ideas running around in her head that she can’t keep up with them. But one day, she’ll tell each one.
1 comments:
Thank you for hosting Promise Me Always! Good luck to everyone entering the giveaway! ❤
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