A Taste of Forever

A TASTE OF FOREVER THE SAINTS OF SERENITY FALLS #3 LILY WILDHART A Taste of Forever The Saints of Serenity Falls #3 Copyright © 2022 Lily Wildhart Published by Bright Lights Publishing Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Cover Designer: The Pretty Little Design Co. Editors: Encompass Editing & ACourtOfSpicyEdits Proof Readers: Sassi's Edits Interior Formatting & Design: Wild Elegance Formatting A Taste of Forever/Lily Wildhart – 1st ed. CONTENTS WARNING Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Epilogue Tormented Royal Acknowledgments About the Author Also by Lily Wildhart Also by Sloane Murphy In the blink of an eye, my life has become nothing but chaos. Murder. Kidnap. Mobsters. Arrests. Betrayal. As the carnage starts to pile up around us and the walls start closing in, there are only so many moves to make, only a very few cards to play. Nothing is as it seems, we don’t know who to trust and the bodies just keep piling up. But when those bodies become the ones I love the most, there’s nothing I can do but play this twisted game by its own rules. Not everyone wins the game, but we might just die trying. WARNING This book is a dark, college, why choose romance with some aspects of bullying. It contains scenes and references of drug use (off page), abuse/sexual assault to a minor and sexual assault that some readers may find triggering, along with graphic sex scenes, cursing and violence. CHAPTER ONE Briar I feel lost. When I look at the girl I am right now, my reflection in the window of the cop car as I'm taken through the city, my wrists cuffed, I don't recognize her. Old me, the girl who got off the plane from California… yeah, she'd be horrified at the person I've become. It's not like I haven't been around bad shit before. Hell, I hate myself for some of the things I've done, that I've experienced, but this—Killing Crawford, covering it up, hiding from it, hoping someone else would take the fall. This isn't who I am at all. The problem is that the guys tried to protect me, and if I confess, I take them down with me. My soul screams in the torn ribbons of its existence for me to tell the truth. To stop hiding. From myself as well as everyone else. It yearns for healing, for the salvation that comes with being held accountable. But I can't do that to them. I should probably have already been in prison. The things I've done… to survive, and sometimes not—well, there's a reason I'm more than just broken. Shattered? Maybe. This is the second time in my life other people have cleared up a mess of my making and I've stood by and done nothing. Said nothing. Except this time, Karma is coming for me. I've never really believed in much in the way of deities, but Karma? That bitch I believe in. I've seen it come to pass too often to ignore it. Even if it doesn't get everyone who deserves it, most people come to pay their penance, and it feels like my time is up. I know that wallowing isn't going to get me anywhere, that it's very likely the guys are already trying to figure out how to fix this, because that's what they do. For me at least. I can't help but feel like this might be it for me. Defeated. That's how I feel. Lost and defeated. I've never been this girl, but then, there isn't much about me now that resembles anything close to the me I thought I was. Resilient, that's who I was. Even though I'd rather have been whole, safe, lived at ease; that isn't what life gave me. So I was resilient. I was strong. A survivor. Me from before summer would kick my fucking ass right now. Scream at me to stop wallowing in the potential of maybe, to fight, just like I always have, but I don't know if I have much more left. All I've done my entire life is fight and it isn't getting me anywhere. Well, anywhere except the back of this cop car. Fuck knows how this is going to go. The lights of the city are beautiful, but I know the truth of this place. Its beauty hides the truth of all the despair beneath the surface. I guess I'm more like this city than I ever realized. We pass the buildings slower than I'd have thought. There's a lot of traffic considering the time, but I guess that's New York for you. I've obviously gotten too used to Serenity Falls already. I slump back against the hard plastic seat, closing my eyes and leaning my head against the headrest, trying to shut out the overwhelming silence in the car. Only when the car stops and the officers start speaking do I open my eyes. The door beside me opens and I'm pulled out of the car and into the building. As they drag me through the hall and start talking to the officer behind the booking desk, it sinks in where I am and why. I need pull myself the fuck together. I've learned quite a bit about this process since the last time I was in here. Cole drilled it into me to keep my mouth shut—apparently him being a law student is a good thing when I keep having run-ins with the police. Who would've thought? So I do what he told me. I'm compliant enough, but I keep my mouth shut other than to answer my name