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celebrating the upcoming release of Conviction (book 3 of the Detective
Ryan Series). We are 2 days away from the release and release party.
Join us each day as we bring you more from the Detective Ryan Series,
including teasers, reviews, and even an excerpt.
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Scorned
(Book 2 in the Detective Ryan Series)
What do you do when your biggest case has come to an end? Stuck with
mandatory desk duty, Detective Ali Ryan's life as she knows it, is over.
Six months without any action brought out a hunger to get back in the
field. What she got, was much more than she bargained for. The body of
Blake Ambrose, one of the best defense attorneys in Dutchess County, has
washed up on the shores of the Hudson River. Is this the case that will
get her back on her feet? Or will it end up being her last?
This action packed thrill ride will leave you on the edge of your seat.
https://www.amazon.com/Scorned-Detective-Ryan-Book-2-ebook/dp/B016L3NMKE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1466017955&sr=1-1&keywords=scorned+andrew+hess
The metal folding chairs scraped across the wooden floor as
the group convened. A tall clean shaven man in an expensive suit entered the
small room. He grinned widely at the group and waived happily at the people
that came to listen to him speak.
“Evening folks; sorry I’m late,” the man said as he removed
his suit jacket and placed it on the back of his chair. He beamed with delight
as he saw the eager faces. With a quick flick of the wrist, the gold on his
Rolex was prominently displayed for the others to admire. “Shall we get this
meeting started?”
This wasn’t some sort of intervention meeting or addicts
anonymous, although it did appear as one. No, the people gathered in the room
were there to find happiness; to find their confidence to go after what they
really wanted in life. The man at the podium had great success with thirteen
previous students. The rest have either fallen back into their old habits or
chosen a different path to take.
The crowd clung to every word he spoke as if it would
magically give them the answers they craved. One of those students had attended
every meeting for the last three months, although anyone that knew Claire could
never understand why. Claire Cain had always excelled in life. She was
valedictorian of her high school, made the Dean’s List and had a 4.0 average
all through college, and completed medical school by the age of twenty-four.
Many considered her a perfectionist, so it would be complete shock if anyone
she knew saw her in a self-help group.
But Claire had a secret buried deep inside of her, a secret
that no one knew about. The group never knew why she was there. She never said
hello to others and mostly kept to herself. But once the speaker entered the
mix, her eyes were heavily focused on him. The last few meetings she attended
were a complete blur. Instead of listening to him, she thought how much she
liked him. There was something about him that she was drawn to, but could never
put her finger on it. Was it his passion
for helping others? Was it how driven he was to be successful? Or was it that
he was just drop dead gorgeous?
Time seemed to fly by quicker when she stared at him. Her
eyes drank in every inch of him; his milk chocolate skin, his toned muscular
body, his chiseled good looks. Damn even the way he dressed turned her on. She
hadn’t thought about another man like that in six months. Usually the idea of
some guy even touching her made her sick to her stomach, but not this guy.
Claire remained in a dreamlike state until she heard the
scrapes of the chairs against the floor. Everyone was standing and gathered
their belongings. She quickly rose to her feet and fussed with her purse,
hoping no one saw her blunder. A hand closed in on her shoulder.
Claire spun on her heel and swatted the hand away. She had a
closed fist aimed for the man’s nose, but retracted when she realized who was
behind her.
“That’s an interesting way to say hello,” the man said.
Claire could smell the strong scent of his cologne. She
inhaled deeply. The fragrance had a hint of cinnamon to it and was utterly
intoxicating. It made Claire forget what she was doing and replaced her petrified
look with a playful smile.
“Sorry, you um, caught me off guard.”
“I should be the one apologizing. I didn’t mean to scare
you.”
“It’s-it’s all right.” This was the first time Claire had
spoken to the man, who in her mind exuded sex appeal. She was nervous. She was
never nervous around a guy she liked before, but she was around him.
His eyes scanned her face and skimmed the pieces of blond
hair that dripped over her forehead. There was something off about it that made
him give her a second look. His thick fingers traced the hairline and brushed
the blond locks away. The rest of her hair moved as well.
The man’s eyes flashed with anger. His hand reached for
Claire’s shoulder. His grip was a little tighter than it should’ve been. “You
mind telling me why you’re wearing a wig?”
Claire ripped her arm away from him. “I really don’t wanna
talk about it.”
“If you don’t tell me who you are and why you’re really
here, then you’ll have to leave and will be forbidden to return.”
Claire swallowed hard. Even though she hadn’t participated
much or been as active as some of the others, she felt like the group had
helped her make progress. “It-it’s complicated.”
“Then un-complicate it for me. At least tell me who you
are.”
“My name is Dr. Claire Cain.”
The man loosened his grip on her shoulder. The anger in his
eyes softened and had a more curious look to them. “Okay Dr. Cain, why are you
here?”
“I was attacked six months ago and well…”
“You feel like you lost a part of yourself.”
“Yeah,” Claire replied.
“Then why the disguise?”
“I just- I just don’t want anyone to recognize me.”
He didn’t understand why Claire felt ashamed to be at one of
his meetings. He was there to help her. His chocolate malt ball eyes pierced
her with lust and assurance. “You have nothing to fear here.”
The rest of the group already exited the room leaving Claire
and the speaker alone. “You don’t get it. I’ve always been the best at
everything. I’ve never needed help from anyone before. If anyone saw me here…”
“They’d think you were human like the rest of us.” Claire
tried to shield herself from his gaze. He took his finger under her chin and
raised her head. “I don’t want you to ever be afraid of anything, not here and
not with me.” He stared hard into her eyes. His hand slid the blond wig from
her head. Claire’s dark brown hair fell to her shoulders with a few red
highlighted streaks. “Bold choice for a doctor.”
“It was something I always wanted to do when I was younger
but always thought it was too stupid or reckless.”
“No, not at all. You were taking control of your life. I
think you need to do more of that and less worrying about what others think or
expect from you.” The man smiled which turned Claire’s cheeks a bright shade of
pink. “If you want something, go after it and don’t let anyone or anything get
in your way.” He dropped his hands from Claire and stepped away from her.
Claire took his words to heart and decided it was time to go
after something she really wanted. “Mr. Lewis,” Claire called from her row of
chairs. The man turned his head in her direction. “Do you want to go out for
dinner some time?”
The man slipped his suit jacket off the chair by the podium.
He beamed an award winning smile at Claire. “I’d love to. How about tomorrow
night?”
*************************************************************
Claire spent weeks getting her life back in order. The first
thing she did was reduce the amount of time she worked out of the hospital and
spent more time working out at the gym. She had lost ten pounds of fat and
toned up her body. She was looking fierce and started catching the eye of men
all around her. That’s how she snagged Mr. Lewis. After their date, Claire
decided it was better to focus on her instead of on a relationship. But that
one date had her feeling more empowered than she ever did before. It was a
feeling that had he believing she could take on the world.
By late June, Claire’s workout regimen created a physique
that was built to be entered into fitness competitions. She constantly found
herself in front of a full length mirror admiring her new body. It wasn’t a
vanity thing. Claire just liked to admire how much her hard work paid off.
Getting dressed was her favorite time to check herself out, although she never
seemed to go anywhere. But that was all about to change.
Her friends convinced Claire to meet up with them one night
after work. It was something she hadn’t done in several months, but was running
out of excuses. After finally giving into their pleas, Claire decided it was
the perfect time to show off her killer bod.
She strutted to the full length mirror in her bedroom and
watched her reflection flex its muscles. This was Claire’s routine every night
before bed. She spent a half hour flexing and posing while admiring her body. Her
eyes watched the muscles in her back tense and relax when her phone began
vibrating loudly on the nightstand. She strutted across the room and picked up
the small device. The name Becky scrolled across the screen.
Claire beamed with delight as she answered the phone. “Hey
girl, are you on your way?” There was a hint of hesitation in her voice.
“Hey,” Becky said hoarsely before letting out a violent
cough. “I’m sorry sweetie; I can’t make it tonight.”
“What? No, what’s wrong?”
“I’ve been coughing up a lung since lunch. I thought I’d get
better, but I feel like shit right now.”
Claire thought this was Rebecca’s lame attempt at ditching
her because she had another date. “Come on; this was my first time going out
in...” Claire paused and tried thinking about the last time she had gone out to
a club. It was actually something she tried desperately to forget. “Let’s just
say it’s been too long for me to remember.”
“I’m really sorry. I’ll make it up to you; I promise. Next
week we’ll go out and paint the town red. Drinks are on me.”
Claire’s suspicions were growing. Rebecca only promised
things when she did something her friends would be mad about. “He better be
good in bed.”
“Who better be good in bed?”
“The guy you’re standing me up for.” Rebecca hesitated in
her response which confirmed Claire’s theory. “Busted,” Claire laughed.
“Okay fine; I’m not really sick.”
“So you’re standing me up for some guy. You realize you can
get laid by any guy in the bar tonight; right?”
“I don’t think any of them can compare to this one. He’s
absolutely gorgeous. He can pass for a Calvin Kline underwear model.” Rebecca
was sounding more like a giddy school girl the more she talked about her date.
“Great, so when you’re out having mind blowing sex with Mr.
Pecktastic, I’ll be sitting home alone watching crappy reality shows and
stuffing my face with popcorn.”
“Oh stop it; you don’t need me. Go out on your own and find
your own hunk to hook up with.” The idea of meeting a guy at a bar scared and
repulsed Claire. The last time she met a man at a bar, Claire had the most traumatic
experience of her life.
It was a night on the town with her girls, Becky and Sheila.
They joined Claire at the bar celebrating her speaking at a conference. The
drinks were flowing heavily that night, despite Claire’s attempts at waving
them off. Before long, her friends found guys to dance with and Claire was left
to watch from the bar. She didn’t mind. She was doing her job of keeping an eye
out for them. That was always what she did when they went out. She was the
mother figure of the group which even led Claire to offer a job to Sheila as
her personal secretary when she went into private practice.
Although she had a lot to celebrate, Claire dwelled on the
news she received when she got back to her house. One of her long time patients
passed away. She was a sweet old lady that had several young grandkids that
kept her active. Claire loved to visit her, to play cards with her, and talk
about the woman’s life and her crazy summers as young twenty-year-old. The
woman knew she didn’t have much time left, but her death came as a sudden shock
to Claire. Sheila convinced her to go out that night.
“Don’t you dare stay home and mope around the house. She’d
kick you in the ass if you did that.” Claire tried to put up a small argument
in defense, but Sheila continued to add the pressure. “You know she would want
you to go out and have fun tonight.”
Claire thought back to the woman’s stories and agreed; going
out was exactly what the sweet old lady with the storied youth would have
wanted. But the bar didn’t take her mind off the woman’s death. Not even the
four shots and the two cosmos did anything to stifle the mourning.
“Can I buy you a drink?” a man asked as he sat down next to
her. Claire wasn’t a fan of strange men coming up to her at a bar. She knew
they only had one thing on their minds, and that was to hook up with as many
women as they could. But for some reason that night, she decided to forget her
rules and live in the moment.
“Sure,” she replied. A pink colored drink was pushed in
front of her. She took a sip and put it down. That was the last thing she
remembered. The next day, Claire woke up naked in a hotel room that was
registered under the name John Smith and was paid for with cash. Her clothes
were thrown around the room. She didn’t know what happened or who she had been
with.
“Helllllooooooo,” Rebecca shouted into the phone. It woke
Claire from remembering the worst night of her life.
“What?”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I was just thinking about which movie to watch since
my best friend decided to stand me up.”
“Stop it; just go out and have fun. You were planning on
doing that anyway.”
Claire thought hard about it. She did have the night off. So
what if she had no one to go with? She had a hot new body that would have every
guy in the place eating out of the palm of her hand.
“Fine, go have fun with your new boy toy.”
“Thanks, I will.”
Claire hung up with Rebecca and marched herself over to the
closet. A short black dress rested on a hanger begging to be worn. She took it
with her and slipped the dress over her head. She chose a matching pair of
seductive black peep toe heels that exposed her recently painted red nails.
She strutted over to the window one more time. She loved how
hot she looked and was ready to make men’s tongues hang out of their mouths.
An hour later, Claire found herself at the Whiskey J’s
Saloon. The name fit well as it had an old west appearance with wooden floors
and bar stools. Blinding multicolored lights bounced off the bottles of liquor
from behind the bar. It was tempting, but Claire knew she had to restrain
herself. Men were eying her up like wolves stalking their prey. She could still
have her fun, but she was not to let her guard down.
This was her first time coming to Whiskey J’s. A friend of Rebecca’s
recommended the place to them and said they would have a time they’d never
forget. Claire was skeptical from the moment she heard of the place. All she
could think of was the old west with cowboys smoking cigars, playing cards
while the women waited on them hand and foot. Then the guys would slap their
waitress’s asses as they handed them another beer. She was pleasantly surprised
to see it was nothing like that.
The Saloon had been divided up into two sections. One part
of the bar still had that old west type of feel, while the other looked more
modern and up to date. Claire passed one man with a wolfish grin.
“Hey baby, let’s dance.”
Claire held back her laughter as the man drunkenly gyrated
in front of her with his hands tucked behind his head. She didn’t exactly know
how to get out of it without using one of her girlfriend’s as an excuse. She
was on her own with no one to bail her out. Claire let a smile slip. She
couldn’t contain her laughter anymore.
“Sorry, maybe later.”
Claire pushed passed the drunken fool and made her way to
the bar. There were a lot more men there than women, but most of the bartenders
were men too. One in particular caught her eye. He was tall and ruggedly
handsome. His muscles bulged out of his tight black t-shirt as he poured the
drinks.
Claire bit her bottom lip and sashayed up to the bar. The
bartender couldn’t tear his eyes away from Claire’s toned body and low cut
neckline.
“What’ll it be?”
“Pomegranate martini.”
The bartender’s attention was firmly on Claire. He lost
focus while checking her out. His eyes never strayed far from her face or the
top of her dress.
“Hey buddy,” one of the patrons from the other end of the
bar shouted as his arm waved in the air. “I’ve been waiting five minutes. Can
you fucking come take our order?”
The bartender slid the martini towards Claire. His dark eyes
exuded warmth as they stared at her. She took a sip and nervously smiled.
Another shout emanated behind her. She turned and saw the annoyed patron
standing next to her.
“Excuse me sweetie,” he said as he edged his way between
Claire and the man sitting next to her. “Look buddy, I know she’s hot, but I
need two Bud Lights, a lime and two shots of tequila.”
The bartender slammed the shaker on the counter and poured
the tequila into the silver cylinder. He forcefully shook it, no doubt wishing
it was the asshole’s head, and drained the contents into two shot glasses. He
slid them along with the two beers to the man barking orders.
A twenty-dollar bill was slammed on the bar in front of
Claire. There was something about the man collecting his drinks that sent a
chill down her spine. Her eyes gravitated towards him involuntarily.
“So, what’s a beautiful lady like you doing in a dump like
this,” the bartender asked. Claire ignored him. Her eyes remained locked on the
man carrying the beer and shot glasses.
“What? Oh, sorry,” she replied. Claire peeled her attention
away from the man long enough to see the bartender was checking her out. The
attention sent a warm sensation throughout her body. It was nice to feel
wanted, but she was not ready for a hook-up, even if he was a gorgeous
bartender.
Claire took a sip from her drink and glanced back at the man
with the drinks. He rested everything on a nearby table that could barely fit
two people at it. His hand reached inside his pocket and pulled out a small
clear tube. He moved quickly, but Claire noticed clear liquid dripping from the
tube into one of the shot glasses. An overly excited grin was plastered the
man’s face, reminiscent of a young boy that realized he was about to lose his
virginity.
Claire knew he had evil intentions and that he planned on
using that drink to score with some girl he would’ve otherwise had no shot
with. She quickly chugged her drink and jumped from her chair as the bartender
turned to help another customer. If Claire was going to do something, she
needed to act fast.
She followed the man back to the other side of the bar where
he placed the drinks next to a hot blond in tight fitting skinny jeans and a
low cut blouse. Seeing the girl wrap her fingers around the shot glass forced
Claire to relive the worst night of her life.
Blurred images of a man leading her out of a bar filled her
mind. The cold night air stung her skin as they made their way to a car. She
loosely remembered a firm hand rubbing her leg while she did her best to stay
awake. The hand wasn’t forceful; it was almost loving as if the man believed
what he was doing was consensual. But it wasn’t. She never wanted that and she
was sure this girl didn’t either.
Claire came to her senses as she watched the woman raise the
glass to her lips. She was out of time. Claire hurried over to the woman and
tried her best to act like a bubbly air head.
“Oh my god, I love that bag. Where’d you get it?” The woman
looked at Claire like she had five heads and slowly put down the shot glass.
Claire’s eyes stared at the sparkling royal blue clutch that sat on the bar.
The woman shook her head and appeased Claire. “My girlfriend
got it for me at the mall.”
The answer was meant to brush Claire off, but she took it as
she needed to be more forceful. She inserted herself between the woman and the
man who tried drugging her. There wasn’t much time before one of them asked her
to leave and she needed to find a way to get rid of the drink,
Claire positioned herself in front of the man blocking his
access to either shot glass. She rambled on about how that color blue was her
favorite and would match a dress she’s been dying to wear. The idle chit-chat
bored and annoyed both, but it provided the much needed distraction Claire’s
fingers lightly traced the rim of one shot glass and moved it next to the one
the woman tried to drink. Her hand switched to the drugged drink and inched it
back towards the man.
Once the switch was complete, Claire excused herself and
watched to make sure the devil took the bait. He downed the drink, not knowing
what he consumed, and smiled at the thought of getting lucky.
Claire kept her eye on the less than happy couple. He was
slurring his words after twenty minutes and was falling over himself. The woman
he was attempted to drug left with another guy. Claire knew something had to be
done about creeps like him. She thought giving him a taste of his own medicine
would teach him a lesson, but knew he would inevitably strike again. Next time
it could be her or Becky or Sheila.
Claire used the man’s vulnerability as her moment to strike.
She hurried to his side before he fell off the bar stool.
“Hey there,” he said. His words began to slur again. “You
looks ot. You wants to back house n fuck?”
His boldness surprised her. Claire wondered how much fight
this guy had left in him and momentarily second guessed her decision. But
knowing what he tried to do to the other woman infuriated her and finalized her
decision “Sure,” she replied. “How about I drive?”
The man smiled as he threw an arm around Claire’s waist. “So
what’s name?”
Claire thought about telling him the truth. But then again,
if her plan didn’t work out, someone would know what she did. “Abby,” she lied.
The man cupped her face with his right hand. “Nice meet you.
I Ambrose.” He leaned in and planted a kiss on her lips. Claire wanted to pull
away. The thought of this low life’s lips touching hers repulsed her, but she
needed to play along with it.
Nothing
will get in your way of what you want, she reminded herself.
She didn’t have to act too much. Ambrose was ready to drop
the moment he took a step forward. Claire helped him to her car and placed him
in the backseat. He let out a low moan. She entered the driver’s seat and looked
back at the crumpled heap that was once a smooth talker.
Now that Claire had him, she didn’t know what to do with
him. What has gotten into you? An
image of the man that drugged and raped her flooded her mind. He was the reason
she was like this and she wasn’t going to let it happen to another woman.
Claire started her car and sped off with Ambrose passed out in the backseat.
