Title: Before You
Series: Before & After #1
Publication Date: July 29th 2014
Publisher: K-Teen
Genre: Young Adult Romance
About BEFORE YOU
Some say love is deadly. Some say love is beautiful. I say it is both.
Faith Watters spent her junior year traveling the world, studying in exquisite places, before returning to Oviedo High School. From the outside her life is picture-perfect. Captain of the dance team. Popular. Happy. Too bad it’s all a lie.
It will haunt me. It will claim me. It will shatter me. And I don't care.
Eighteen-year-old Diego Alvarez hates his new life in the States, but staying in Cuba is not an option. Covered in tattoos and scars, Diego doesn't stand a chance of fitting in. Nor does he want to. His only concern is staying hidden from his past—a past, which if it were to surface, would cost him everything. Including his life.
At Oviedo High School, it seems that Faith Watters and Diego Alvarez do not belong together. But fate is as tricky as it is lovely. Freedom with no restraint is what they long for. What they get is something different entirely.
Love—it will ruin you and save you, both.
Excerpt
“Hi, I’m Faith
Watters.”
Those are the first words I speak to the new Cuban guy in the front
office. He grimaces. He’ll be a tough one. I can handle it, though. He’s not
the first.
I can’t help but notice that he looks a lot like a model from the
neck up—eyes the color of oak, strong bone structure. Everywhere else, he looks
a lot like a criminal. Chiseled, scarred body … I wonder for a second about the
meaning behind the tattoos scratched into his arms.
One thing’s clear. He’s dangerous.
And he’s beautiful.
“I’ll show you to your classes,” I announce.
I’m one of the peer helpers at our school. It’s not my favorite
thing to do, but it counts as a class. Basically I spend the first two days
with new students, introducing them around and answering their questions. Some
parents with kids new to the school voluntarily sign their students up, but it’s
only mandatory for the international students, of which we have a lot. Mostly
Latinos.
This Cuban guy towers over me. I’m
five six. Not tall. Not short. Just average. Average is good.
This guy’s not average. Not even a little bit. He must be over six
feet.
I glance up at him, kind of like I
do when I’m searching for the moon in a sea of darkness.
“Looks like you have math first. I’ll walk you there,” I offer.
“No thanks, chica. I can handle it.”
“It’s no problem,” I say, leading
the way.
He tries to snatch his schedule from
my hands, but I move too fast.
“Why don’t we start with your name?”
I suggest.
I already know his name. Plus some.
Diego Alvarez. Eighteen years old. Moved from Cuba two weeks ago. Only child.
No previous school records. I read it in his bio. I want to hear him say it.
“You got some kinda control issues
or somethin’?” he asks harshly, voice slightly accented.
“You got some kind of social issues
or somethin’?” I fire back, holding my stance. I won’t let him intimidate me,
though I’ll admit, he’s hot. Too bad he has a nasty attitude.
The side of his lip twitches. “No. I
just don’t mix with your type,” he answers.
“My type?”
“That’s what I said.”
“You don’t even know my type.” No
one does. Well, except Melissa.
He chuckles humorlessly. “Sure I do.
Head cheerleader? Date the football player? Daddy’s little girl who gets
everything she wants?” He leans closer to whisper. “Probably a virgin.”
My cheeks burn hot. “I’m not a
cheerleader,” I say through clamped teeth.
“Whatever,” he says. “Are you gonna
give me my schedule or not?”
“Not,” I answer. “But you can feel
free to follow me to your first class.”
He steps in front of me, intimately
close. “Listen, chica, nobody tells
me what to do.”
I shrug. “Fine, suit yourself. It’s
your life. But if you want to attend this school, it’s mandatory for me to show
you to your classes for two days.”
His eyes narrow. “Who says I want to
attend this school?”
I take the last step toward him,
closing the gap between us. When we were little, Melissa and I used to collect
glass bottles. Whenever we accumulated twenty, we’d break them on the concrete.
When the glass shattered, the slivered pieces made a breathtaking prism of
light.
I cut myself on the glass by accident once. It was painful, but
worth it. The beauty was worth it. It’s funny how the bottle was never as
beautiful as when it was broken.
Amber Hart grew up in Orlando, Florida and Atlanta, Georgia. She now resides on the Florida coastline with family. When unable to find a book, she can be found writing, daydreaming, or with her toes in the sand. She's the author of BEFORE YOU, AFTER US, UNTIL YOU FIND ME, and sequel to UNTIL YOU FIND ME (untitled as of yet). Represented by Beth Miller of Writers House.
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