Ashes – Smoke Read Online Abbi Glines

Categories Genre: Alpha Male, Contemporary, Mafia, New Adult Tags Authors: Abbi Glines Advertisement1

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She had been his sole obsession. He would have done anything to have her and he did. She had been a light in his darkness. She had made him want to be more, better, different.
Nothing mattered more than her.

Until she betrayed him and in a moment of revenge he slept with her stepsister. That one drunken mistake lost him his soul.

Oakley Watson had learned at a young age to protect her heart. Not to trust anyone with it. But when Wilder Jones walked into her life, she didn’t just give it to him -she left it at his feet. Their forever ended the day he told her that he’d gotten her stepsister pregnant.

A love greater than anything she’d ever imagined had burned so brightly she’d been blinded. But that was nine years ago, and all in the past.
The only thing left of the fire that had once been, were the ashes left behind.

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Oakley

My granny had said this was the first of many heartbreaks that life would deal me. It was best for me to face it young, toughen up, and learn to love the moment because tomorrow could always bring a pain we weren’t expecting. That was quite possibly the saddest thing I’d ever heard.

But as I stood there, in the back of the church, I knew there was truth to it. Besides, you didn’t live seventy-six years and not know what you were talking about. Granny had to be wise. I just wished she were as senile as my stepmother claimed. Then, at least there might be hope for my future just yet.

The guests had started to arrive, and I was expected to have a bright smile, happy for my stepsister, Sylvia, but I knew I couldn’t manage that right now. I also wasn’t sure I could stomach watching her get ready to walk down the aisle. With my dad giving her away when it should be me he was giving away. Sylvia had her own dad. It wasn’t my fault she had chosen to ignore him. It felt as if she was taking everything from me. But then hadn’t that always been what she wanted to do? She wanted my life, and it seemed she was getting her wish. Taking it all.

Trying my best to flatten the layers of chiffon on the skirt of the most hideous bridesmaid dress there ever was, in order not to brush past people and draw attention to myself, I hurried to the back door of my granddad’s church. Okay, fine, technically, it was the Lord’s house, but my granddad had built it with his own hands and preached here for over fifty years. I felt as if he had a claim on it. I was sure the Lord would agree.

Pressing my hand on the smooth, aged wood, I pushed hard and bolted from the building that would soon witness my worst nightmare. The cool, early spring breeze hit me, and I inhaled, wishing it didn’t burn my chest to take a deep breath.

How was I going to make it through the ceremony? If it hurt this bad right now, without even seeing … him …

I pressed a hand to my chest and winced. God, how was I going to survive it?

Wrapping my hands around my waist, I bent over and fought back the tears. I thought I had cried enough over the past two months. Since the moment they’d announced their engagement.

“Oakley.” The familiar, deep voice startled me. He wasn’t supposed to be out here.

Tightening my hold on my stomach, I straightened and turned to see the only man I had ever truly loved standing beside the oak tree that shaded the memorial gardens behind the church. I’d never seen him in a tux, and, oh God, he was beautiful.

Why? What had I done to deserve this?

I stared at him. Those brown eyes that seemed to read into my soul.

Before him, I had been happy. Enjoying my life, my first real boyfriend, being a normal teenager. Then, I met him, and … he made me love him. He became the center of my world. He had been everything … and in less than an hour, he would be my brother-in-law.

“Why are you doing this?” I cried, unable to pretend this wasn’t destroying me.

How had it all changed in such a short amount of time? When I had gone off to college, Wilder had been proud of me. He texted me daily, checking on me. We talked on the phone at least once a week. He had promised to wait for me. He’d loved me. Lies. All lies!

His jaw clenched as he jerked his gaze from mine. “Go inside, Oakley,” he said with a hard edge to his voice. One he had never spoken to me with.

That only added to the agony this was causing me. That he and my stepsister were inflicting on me.


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