Under
a Million Stars
by Rita
Branches
Genre:
YA Contemporary Romance
Release Date: August 8th 2016
Summary
from Goodreads:
Can
a beating heart bleed from the shattered pieces?
Her
heart cracked when her best friend walked away; it completely
shattered when she lost her family in a tragic accident.
Now
orphaned at seventeen, Charlotte Peterson is forced to live with her
former best friend, Jacob Parker. Charlie, a talented pianist,
desperately wants their loving friendship back, but something is
holding Jake back. The more she spirals into the darkness of
depression, the more she needs him.
Jacob vowed to stay away
from her—no matter how much he still loved her. Armed with secrets
that would have destroyed both of their families, he chose to end
their friendship and walk away, which nearly killed him. As he
watches the girl he once knew begin to fade away, however, he
realizes that their relationship is more important than the truth
he's hiding.
Now it's up to Jacob to put the pieces of
Charlie's broken heart back together—even if it means revealing the
secrets he so desperately wants to protect her from.
Will Jacob
find a way to bring back the carefree, talented girl he once knew, or
is it too late for both of them?
*It's a Stand-alone*
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Excerpt
1
Jacob
These two weeks had
been hell for me.
I didn’t know how
I was going to pull this off for the eight months I still had left in
this hell of a town. My parents didn’t get me, and she was around
all the time, suffocating me. My heart skipped a beat every time I
heard her voice, and it doubled in speed when she was near me. I
wouldn’t be able to stay away, I knew it. She was breaking my heart
all over again.
I heard her at
night, when she thought everyone was sleeping. I just sat on the
floor, resting my head against the wall, and listen to her cry and
throw up every other night.
I stayed there like
a jerk, as if I didn’t give a crap about her or her feelings, but I
cried. I missed her. I wanted to hold her at night and tell her that
everything would be alright, but I couldn’t. I promised I would
stay away—I couldn’t hurt her, anymore. I pushed my knees to my
chest to hold myself together and to keep me from crumbling.
Sometimes, I had to place my closed fist against my mouth, so she
wouldn’t hear me sob. I wished she would have, though. I wished she
would have opened the door and saw me sitting there, caring about
her, suffering like she did.
My mom was getting
suspicious about me. She knew about her, or at least that something
wasn’t right. My face, the permanent dark circles under my eyes,
and my lack of appetite wasn’t normal, though. I was okay, before
her parents’ accident—I had started to pull myself together.
***
This night was
especially bad. She stayed in the bathroom for hours. I had been on
the other side, hearing her cry and wishing I could take it all away.
I was starting to
get really scared for her. I left before my parents woke up, unable
to face them and those disapproving looks, anymore, like I wasn’t
doing anything right with my life. They wanted a perfect son and they
didn’t have one.
I was in no
condition to go to college—I couldn’t even imagine myself being
closed behind four walls for another four or five years. I needed
something to take my thoughts away—something that would fuel me
with adrenaline. They wouldn’t approve of the plans I’d been
making. They’d hate them, in fact, but I didn’t care, anymore, I
just needed to get away.
About
the Author
Hi!
I'm Rita Branches. I was born and raised in in Portugal and I'm going
to independently publish my debut novel in the Spring of 2016,
Painting Sky.
I
am so happy that you decided to take a look at my work.
Little
bit about myself: along with being a writer, I am also a landscape
architect. I started writing to bring 'to life' the stories that my
mind created.
I
LOVE to read. It was and always will be my passion.
Author
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