Book #1 Of "Dangerous Games Trilogy"

Completed!!!

A blossoming relationship took the turn for the worst when Taylor was attacked by her stalker one cold dark night on her way home from class. The man she was in love with ignored her the moment he saw the jagged scar covering the side of her face through a skype call. Crushed, Taylor blocks out every single male in her life in a personal stand point. Pushing all her pain to the back of her mind, she focuses on finishing college and getting on with her life. That is until she spends the first Christmas with her roomies family after finishing college. To her surprise Archer shows up without his fiancee. To say she pays him back for his harsh treatment is an understatement.

This book is on patreon.com/tessat

Chapter 1

"Taylor are you ready yet?" I hear Rebecca scream from downstairs.

"Becca, I will down in a minute," I yell to my best friend and roommate of six years.

"You have been saying that for the past twenty minutes. The cabby is going to be here any minute and if you're fat butt isn't down here when he pulls up, I'm leaving you here and you can wake up Christmas morning by yourself and in the streets," she yelled with a huff.

I could picture her tapping her foot while checking her watch. She was a 'on time' freak and didn't want to miss our cabby to the airport. She wouldn't in fact leave me behind. Without me, she would have no one to boss around.

Becca as I call her is a slight drama queen with OCD problems. She isn't a complete nut, but certain things get to her. For example time, we have to be on time for everything. I do not mean eight fifty nine or nine o' one. We have to be arriving at dinner or the movies or even the airlines at nine o'clock. That means our butts sitting down at the table at nine.

She would drive me up the wall if I didn't love her like a sister.

"Stop tapping that foot of yours. I promise I'll be down before the cabby honks his horn," I stated while throwing the last of my make-up in my luggage bag. I may be in comfortable clothes, but that doesn't mean I won't wear a little eye liner and mascara.

"If I didn't time everything out, then you would be late for your own birthday!" That girl had a set of lungs and could out yell teenage girls at a boy band concert.

Ignoring her I zip up my two bags and check my purse to make sure I had my phone, ticket, and wallet. After I find them inside with even my passport I sling it over my shoulder. Glancing around my now empty bedroom, I make sure I was leaving nothing behind. This was goodbye after all.

Grabbing a bag in each hand I lug them downstairs to an impatient green eyed, redhead. I swear this ginger has no soul when it comes to time. She will kill you in a heartbeat if you make her late for anything and I mean anything.

I once was late picking her up from the airport and well let's just say she didn't let me hear the end of it until I bought her a whole day spa treatment. It wasn't cheap.

"Finally, you took forever to finish packing," she whined.

Rolling my eyes, I shove a smirk on my face. I secretly loved pissing her off. Before I had a chance to reply to her a loud honking noise echoed outside our house. Perfect timing cabby man!

"Come on, that's our cabby and I won't miss it because of your lazy bum," she said with a smile. I knew she was messing with me, but then again, that smile could mean she was ready to kill me and was just waiting for the perfect moment.

This was us, two peas in a pod. I may be a lazy bum sometimes, but in the end her strictness leveled things out.

Walking through the front door I head towards the cabby, who had the trunk waiting open for us. Handing him my two duffel bags, I turn to slide into the back seat. Seconds later, Becca followed suit.

"Where we headed ladies?" The cabby driver asked once he slid into the driver's seat.

"San Francisco airport Sir," she stated.

"I'll get you there in a jiffy." He nodded into the rear-view mirror before shifting into drive and pulling out into traffic.

After she gave him directions her sharp eyes shifted me to. I knew that look and if I could shrink into my seat, I would. That was the look she gave me every time she wanted to talk about something serious, something she knew we both wouldn't like. Great! I wanted this Christmas to be fun and exciting.

"Get it over with, I can tell you want to get it off your chest," I sighed while turning my head to look out the window. I grew up in this town, Fairfield, California. I loved it and hated it all together. This was all I knew. The cars lined up, covering every inch of the highway on 80 because it was five pm on a Friday night.

We were leaving now because if we wanted to get to the airport on time, we had to leave four hours ahead of our flight. Traffic shouldn't be too bad because we are going into the city instead of leaving it, but since it was a Friday night anything could happen in San Francisco.

Party goers wouldn't be heading out for another couple hours and by then we would be long gone.

One of the many reason's I loved this state was because of all the beautiful places to take photographs. Photography's my craft and I'm amazing at it if I do say so myself. Becca helped me build a make-shift studio out of our ginormous shed on the side of the house. It was more like a second house, but who was I to complain. It held all my photography props with enough room to have four backgrounds up at a time. I had been in love with it.

"Taylor, this is serious business. My parents were hoping by now I would be married and with kids. I'm worried since they have given up hope on me that they will set their claws on you," she groaned, shaking my shoulder, making my head bobble slightly.

"Becca we will be fine. Do not worry that little button nose of yours. You know your father loves me, he wouldn't allow your mother to smother me." Laughing I watch as she gives me the stink eye. "Or at least I hope he will."

"We will be living with them now or at least until the house they built me is finished. It will be easy access for them to con us into going out on dates. My father will have no say in the matter when it comes to my mother and grandbabies." Giving me her 'you know I'm right look', I feel a shiver of dread fill my chest.

Rebecca may only be twenty-four, but her parents thought by the age of twenty-two, their daughter would be round with at least their first grandbaby.

Now you see, Rebecca isn't ready to settle down. Don't get me wrong, any man would be lucky to have her as a wife. She hasn't out grown her partying stage yet.

Her fiery hair, dark green eyes, strong chin and a demanding authority, she could take on the world. With her curvy body and plump butt any man would give her his attention. Don't get me started on her chest, I swear it wouldn't matter if she tried to duct tape them flat, it wouldn't help. They were just too damn big, and perfect. The woman sitting next to me was a beauty, nothing less.

Nothing like me; a plain Jane. Dark brown hair and eyes to match, size b-cup and a flat backside. It's extremely hard finding jeans when you have nothing to hold them up with.

When we walk into a club, I'm completely invisible compared to Becca. It gets to me now and then. I honestly liked it when I didn't have to tell a guy who clearly wanted to take it further to, take a hike. Becca flirted, that's for sure. Did she take it to the next level the same night? No, she held more respect for herself than to sleep with random guys three to four times a week.

"Taylor, you know how my parents are! Aren't you worried?" Now her hands were flying everywhere. Glancing at her, I see two wide orb's occupying her face. She is actually freaking out about this? They can set me up with anyone, I don't care. It's not like we will hit it off.

"No, I'm not Becca. Why would I be? They can nag and nag all they want, but no man ever takes interest in me and they never will. Not with this scar and you know it," I stated harshly.

One night Becca brought over a few guys to hang out with and once they saw my face they all jumped back. Afterwards they tried to hide their reactions, but I could see right through them. Disgust. Pure and simple. I was a turn off.

We had been over this conversation plenty of times and she wouldn't get it in her head that men don't fall for disfigure woman, but beautiful ones like her. I figured after the millionth time of explaining this to her, I would ignore her the next time she brought it up. That idea never tends to work out in my favor.

"How many times do I have to tell you, that scar does nothing to hide your beauty? I want to beat you over the head with a frying pan every time you call yourself ugly or not worthy of a man's loves because that bastard decided to slice your face," she hissed, not wanting the cabby to hear her speak those words.

While out in public her words are soft and gentle, never cussing. But it's as if she turns into redneck alone with family. She goes through every cuss word in the dictionary in one day.

Looking towards the cabby driver I notice he kept glancing my way. My scar on clear view for his beady eyes to scrutinize.

I didn't like it when people found out how I came to have a scar from the right corner of my forehead to my nose. It happened in the past and I liked it to stay in the past. Only Becca knew what happened and I wanted it to stay that way. Not even the cops knew and they had demanded answers after I showed up at the ER covered in blood. Face wounds bleed a lot, I learned that night. I guess they just didn't believe that I fell and hit my face. As if anyone would believe a lie so stupid.

The secret would go with me to my grave. I receive a letter on my bed from him every now and then and it scares the day lights out of me. How does he get into our house? We changed the locks twice! Each window is locked at all times, unless we are in that room together.

After the conflict and my face being sliced, he threatened to kill Becca's family if I told the cops. To prove he was telling the truth, he sent me an image of him with Becca's brother. It wasn't photoshopped. Becca asked Archer if he knew the guy in the image moments after we opened the sealed envelope. They went to high school together.

That's how Kevin found me apparently. He saw me when I visited Minot. Followed me, stalked me and sliced my face.

Nightmares plague my mind at least once a month. How his hands felt on my body, or how his fist felt against my soft stomach, but particularly the knife cutting into my skin. The horrible scream escaping my lips never failed to wake me up in the dead of the night. I hated him for it, but I'm too scared to report him.

Chapter 2

"What do you think they will do this time?" I asked.

Her mother was the worst when it came to matching us up. One time she sent us both on a double date with twins, identical twins. We kept messing their names up and by the end of the night they were called twin 1 and twin 2. Whichever twin was by me at the time was twin 1 and by her was twin 2. If they switched on us without telling us, then it was their fault. You can bet by the end of the night they wanted to be far away from us as we wanted of them.

It wasn't until later on that week that we were told they were forced into it to by their mother as well. We all forgave each other and have been the best of friends ever since. That was four years ago, right before I received my scar. They demanded me to tell them, how I got it after seeing a bandage on my face while skyping with them one night. I was only glad they didn't live with us.

Those two are extremely protective of us. They knew I didn't fall down as I'm not clumsy. If Becca hadn't taken over, they would have headed to live with us, screwing up their college transcripts. Instead they took two weeks and visited their dying grandmother. Their college professors believed the lies and allowed the twins to turn in all their work through emails. Becca had to run them out of town before they decided to switch colleges mid semester. My over protective men didn't want to leave their damsel in distress.

That was all about to change. Rebecca and I finished college a semester ahead of schedule. We are flying back to graduate with our class mates in June. In the mean time we are moving back to Becca's home town. Minot, North Dakota. It wasn't too small, but smaller than Fairfield and San Francisco where we went to school at.

"I think they will try and set us both up with guys this time, but..." She gave me a look that I wasn't too sure about. Was she worried or scared?

"But what?" I ask a little afraid.

"Archer and Jason are coming back home." This time her voice sounded void, lost and alone. Archer was her older brother, but Jason...Jason was the man she fell in love with and broke her heart. They didn't have girl friends at the time, but went on a trip to Hawaii and found beautiful women. Women they loved and are planning on marrying this spring, I believe.

It broke her heart when Jason abandoned her shortly after Archer left me. Like our short summer romance, Jason and Becca fell deeply head over heels for each other. Secretly Becca's been pining after Jason since she was eight years old. A tiny crush blossomed into a woman's love.

To this day, neither of us know why Jason abandoned her. No phone calls, emails, pictures not even a damn postcard from Hawaii! I on the other hand, know why Archer dumped me; the scar.

Our hopes and dreams were crushed when Lisa, Becca's mom informed us the men had proposed to two beautiful women.

We both saw right through those fake Barbie's. All they wanted was the men's money. Archer had his parent's money and Jason's father wasn't too far off.

They weren't supposed to be coming back until next year after the wedding. It was too much money to fly back for Christmas with the weddings they were planning. Both men were having to pay for the whole shindig because their whores had no money. Shouldn't that be a warning bell right there?

Shaking my head, I tighten my grip on the seatbelt.

"Why?" I asked perplexed. I had now shifted my weight to lean against the cabby door. My full attention focused her.

"I don't know Tay. Mom told me their flight would be landing an hour before ours and that we should look for them when we land. The twins will be picking us all up. Archer and Jason don't know that though. They think mom and dad are." The evil smile she gave me, told me she was happy about that.

This was going to be a fun reunion. Note my heavy sarcasm.

"Aren't they in for a wonderful surprise then? Those four boys can't get along if their lives depended on it," I laughed sarcastically. The twins, Dean and Dalton hate Jason for hurting Rebecca and loathe Archer because they found out he treated me differently after I became damage goods.

I never did find out why.

Becca doesn't know this, but I've had a massive crush on Archer since first sight. We connected in a way that I've never had with another male. I felt as if I could tell him my darkest secrets. And I had for quite a few years.

That all changed after the attack. He shunned me, ignored my video calls. If we came to visit for a holiday he made sure to stay out of my way. Only Hi's and byes were said and that's because he couldn't be rude in front of his parents.

I've tried to lose my fetish with him. It's been hard. No one understood me as well as he did. Not that I've been given multiple attempt to move on.

"I'm nervous about getting into their SUV. What happens if it causes WW3?" She about screamed at me, grabbing onto the front of my jacket and bringing our faces inches from each other.

Poor cabby driver, I felt bad for him. Rebecca was hard to handle sometime. I still don't know how I survived six years of schooling with her.

"Chill out woman. Nothing is going to happen. Dean and Dalton wouldn't do anything in the vehicle to injure us. They love me remember?" Lifting my left eyebrow, I smirked at her. She knew she was blowing this out of the water and needed to stop it.

"Your right, I guess I'm just nervous about seeing Jason again. I don't know how I will react and that bothers me. I don't want to fall for him again or what if my feelings for him never actually went away and are only dormant?" I watched as she sits back in her seat, straightening her clothes out as if an invisible wrinkle appeared.

I felt bad for her, she actually loved Jason. Not in a crush type of love, but in an, I would die for you type of love.

On our last trip to North Dakota they spent every waking moment together. He promised to call her each day in Hawaii, but that failed once he found his Laura. That was one week after the guy's moved to Hawaii for a year. It was their choice of graduation gift from the families. One year paid rent in Hawaii. That was almost four years ago.

Finding a job was the one requirement they had to abide by. Being as they love to cook, becoming a chef was simple as eating a slice of pie.

"Ladies I'm sorry I have to interrupt your love chat, but we are here," the cabby driver smirked to us from the front seat. He was probably laughing at our conversation. I would have too, if I were him. It would be a funny sight to watch two girls talk about love and men and all that crap that's involved. We female creatures are sure weird.

"It's alright Sir. Thank you for driving us. How much do we owe you?" Rebecca asked as I hopped out of the cab. The trunk was already popped and I started to pull out our bags while she paid for the drive. We each had two bags. The rest of our stuff we either sold or had it shipped to her parents' house.

They retired in North Dakota and wanted land, lots of land. They now have over three hundred acres and because they wanted their kids close they built three houses throughout the land. Giving each house its own privacy, but putting them close enough in case grandma wanted to see the grandkids. That is if grandma's kids ever decide to get married and give her grandbabies to take care of. So far it looks as if Archer will be the first, but I can't see Christina popping out babies any time soon. From what I've heard she cares more about her figure than humans. I figure that's another reason why she went after Archer, he can buy her four or five walk in closest full of clothes and not break the bank.

Rebecca and Archer's parents were retired lawyers so they weren't poor people. Some might ask why they picked North Dakota, but most don't understand, that's where they were both born and raised. What better place to retire then the same place you grew up as a kid.

"Stop thinking of things and let's go. I told you I don't want to be late for our flight!" She was back to her normal self. Don't get me wrong, I knew that this Jason issue was still getting to her, but she wasn't going to point that out again. I would have to watch every movement she made when we saw them again. Her true feelings would show through even if she wasn't aware of it.

Grabbing my bags we head inside to get checked in. We had fifteen minutes to meet her time frame. Shaking my head with a smirk plastered on my lips, I realize this Christmas isn't going to run smoothly one bit.