Her Beast

By Sam Crescent

He's never been a good man...

Hope Miller has been through a lot. After being trapped in a basement, witnessing her mother’s murder by her father, then being shot, too, before her father killed himself, she’s not the most normal girl. But she has a plan—she’ll graduate high school, move out of town, and leave the memories behind. Part of this plan means tutoring other students, which brings her to the Carsons’ home.

Beast Carson has tortured, maimed, and killed, all in the name of business. But seeing the curvy woman in his library, he’s instantly intrigued. She’s his nephew’s tutor, and way too young for him. Determined to give Hope a new life, Beast promises her a future that she can’t say no to. There’s no denying they want each other, and when Hope asks him to teach her, he can’t refuse.

Lessons soon turn into something more, and Hope knows she can’t walk away from this man, even though her plans say otherwise. But Beast holds a secret that could tear Hope away from him. When she learns the truth will she stay? He’s her Beast, and he’ll fight to keep what’s his.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight Publishing
• Release date: Dec 19, 2017
• ISBN: 9781773395166

Book preview

Published by EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2017 Sam Crescent

ISBN: 978-1-77339-516-6

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor: Karyn White

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

HER BEAST

Sam Crescent

Copyright © 2017

Chapter One

Come on, Hope. I need you, Dwayne Carson said.

Staring into her locker, Hope Miller wondered if there was any way that she could get out of helping the most popular guy in school. If it wasn’t for her college applications, she’d have told him no, but tutoring always looked good. Tucking some hair behind her ear, she took a breath and finally turned toward him.

What do you need? she asked.

Even though he’d bullied her when they were younger, and they never, ever moved in the same crowds, she couldn’t bring herself to be a bitch. Rubbing at her temple, she waited for him to answer.

Math, English, and also history. I really, really need to get these right, as otherwise my ass is on the line.

She rolled her eyes but didn’t argue.

Fine, fine. I’ve got to work at seven, but I can help you for a couple of hours after school. She closed her locker.

Great. You’re okay to come by my place, right?

She paused, not really liking the whole idea of being around his place. She’d heard a lot of rumors about the Carsons. Most of them she’d put down to being bullshit. She didn’t like gossip, especially as a lot of it had been about her in recent months. All she wanted to do was keep her head down, use whatever of her trust fund she was allowed to, go to college, and put all of her family’s mess behind her.

Living with her aunt wasn’t what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. She knew Aunt Tay only put up with her because of the small amount of money she got paid to look after her. Her mother had known something bad was going to happen, so she’d put all of her money in a trust for Hope.

Can’t we go to the library or something?

I won’t bite, Miller. Believe me. I won’t get anything done if I go there. You may as well cave. You know you want to. You’ll get to see my pad; it’s totally the shit.

Great, she said, trying to find the excitement but failing. Call me excited.

He chuckled. You’re a star. See you after school.

She watched him walk away, rolling her eyes as some of the girls nearly fainted as he winked at them. High school boys didn’t appeal to her. They were … disgusting.

Grabbing her bag from out of her locker, she made her way to calculus and put the whole Carson drama out of her mind.

All she wanted to do was focus on her work, getting the best grades that she could so that she didn’t have to stick around town anymore. She was done being that girl. The one that people pointed at and whispered about the crazy daddy who’d killed her mom, and also tried to kill her.

Yep, that was her secret. Her father had developed a drug addiction which made him completely paranoid, crazy, and insane. He’d believed his wife was having an affair, and that Hope wasn’t even his daughter.

He’d kept them chained up in the basement for two weeks. That’s how long it had taken for people to be alerted that something was amiss. During that time, she’d watched her father shoot her mother before he shot Hope in the stomach, and then he’d put a bullet in his brain. She’d screamed, begging for help.

Rubbing at her temple, she tried to focus on her teacher as the memory danced across her vision. She was considered a bit of a freak because she’d not broken down. The fear, the memory of it, she was able to put it in a little box and seal it away.

Her aunt sometimes stared at her like she was weird. Not the best feeling in the world, but not a lot Hope could do about that. She could sit and cry about it, or get on with her life, and her mother had told her what she needed to do while they’d been chained together. Even when death was certain, her mother had done everything she could to take care of her.

Moving from calculus to PE, Hope drifted from one class to the other, ignoring some whispers and stares. At least they weren’t talking about her dad. Nope, these whispers were because of Dwayne, the hot guy who’d been caught talking to her.

She wished they’d grow up.

Hope didn’t bother to get changed out of her shorts and large shirt. Leaving the campus grounds, she found Dwayne sitting on the hood of his car, chatting with some of his friends. Squaring her shoulders, she made her way toward him, folding her arms as she did.

Babe, it’s about time.

I’m not your babe. Do you want the classes? she asked.

Sure. He opened her door, and she thanked him for it, climbing inside. Pushing some of her hair out of the way, she leaned back in the leather seat and admired the comfort of the vehicle. It had to be expensive, but Dwayne belonged to a wealthy family, so she didn’t expect anything less.

Tapping her fingers on her knees, she watched the scenery passing her by, wondering how tutoring him would be.

I’m really grateful you’re doing this for me. I saw your name on the tutor list thingy, and I figured you’re my best bet. I know you tutored Frank last year, and he said you’re all about the focus and not about the bullshit.

Don’t you have your grades in the bag or something? she asked.

My uncle demands that I earn every single grade. He doesn’t want me flunking out of school or getting someone else to write my essays. Believe me, I’d do it, but my uncle knows this shit, and I got to impress him if I want to join the family business.

She shrugged. It’s fine. Do you have your grade sheets so I can take a look? she asked.

He reached behind him, pulling out a list. The classes I’m flunking, I got them to point out what I needed to work on.

She opened it up, shocked the teachers would do that. Whenever she tutored before the teachers always told her the kids knew where they were going wrong or fucking up.

Scanning through the list of places that were his weaknesses, she knew where to get started. The easiest subject would be history, but seeing as he was also failing math, she figured it would be best to start at his weakest point and work up to his strongest.

Twenty minutes later they arrived at one of the largest houses she’d ever seen, especially when it came to security. Four men stood at the main gate, each wearing pristine suits without a mark on them. She was very aware of her surroundings, so she felt out of place. Her mother had a small fortune but nothing like this, and by the time Hope finished college, she wouldn’t have anything left. Her mother wanted her to be something, and she was determined to grant her wishes.

Dwayne climbed out, and she hated the way her stomach rolled. This was not a place for her. She wasn’t rich or important.

Come on, Dwayne said, leading the way into the house. She followed behind him, feeling like everyone was staring at her, knowing she wasn’t meant to be here. This wasn’t where she belonged.

Pushing those thoughts aside, she hiked her bag higher on her shoulder, releasing a breath as he made his way inside the house, which was far more beautiful on the inside than out. She spotted several men standing in various places, but Dwayne walked past them as if they were ghosts, completely invisible.

I think here would be a good place to start, he said, opening a large door, which led into a large library. She saw a couple of desks and computers set up.

Placing her very scruffy bag onto the table top, she tried to be careful not to leave a single mark. She missed the library in town where names were carved into the desks along with lewd comments.

As she took a seat, Dwayne dropped into another and pulled out his book. She hadn’t expected him to take this so seriously, and yet here he was, grabbing books, leaning forward, and waiting.

I wasn’t joking around or anything. I need to pass high school.

She smiled. Why now? If you don’t mind me asking.

I don’t. I never took shit seriously, and let’s just say that someone I know made me very aware of the fact people don’t follow a fuck-up. They don’t like someone who can’t lead for shit. So I’m getting my head down and trying to make up for lost time.

Nodding, she pulled out his book, finding where he was going wrong, and flipped to it. Could you work out this algebra equation for me, please?

He already had some paper in front of him, and she waited for him to complete it.

Reviews for Her Beast

[Lori Garrahan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Interesting story of a beastly man and the young woman who is his match. This is more fleshed out than other Crescent novels. I liked it. I did not get any warm fuzzies from Beast, but he wasn’t a good guy. I liked the heroine. I could see the reason an older man would be attracted to her.

[Christy Miller · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Read many many times. One of my all time favorites!