Rescuing Eloise

By T.O. Smith

BE WITH YOU NEVER

Tragedy defined my life at this point.

I'm dark. I'm twisted.

Hell, I'm tainted.

Invisible to the naked eye, blood coats my hands red.

I'm just trying to survive in this game of cat and mouse.

But Ryder wants to dig deeper. He wants to see who I am beneath my hard-ass exterior.

I'm not letting him in. I don't let anyone in.

Because it seems like every person I touch suffers.

But when I become the mouse in this sick game I'm playing, Ryder's my only hope for survival.

But the real question is . . .

Can the bad boy save me in time?

LOVE TOGETHER

I didn't know how things went so wrong.

One minute, we were good together - perfect, even.

But when danger strikes once again, Ryder pushes me away. And I basically fall right into another man's grasp.

This man doesn't care about me.

He wants revenge, and I'm the ticket to get him everything he wants.

And this time, Ryder may fail.

This time, his love for me might just really be my downfall.

He may not be able to save me in time.

But I knew one thing for sure.

I would die loving him.

**Trigger warnings: antiheroine, mention of drugs, child abuse, murder, main female character with serious attitude problem, high school setting, toxic FMC, mature scenes and language**
**If you do not like FMCs that do NOT change and do NOT become better throughout the book, I suggest running the other way.**

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tiff Thomas
• Release date: Oct 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005921378

T.O. Smith

T.O. Smith believes in one thing - a happily ever after.Her books are fast-paced and dive straight into the romance and the action. She doesn't do extensively drawn out plots. Normally, within the first chapter, she's got you - hook, line, and sinker.As a writer of various different genres of romance, a reader is almost guaranteed to find some kind of romance novel they'll enjoy on her page.T.O. Smith can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and now even TikTok! She loves interacting with all of her readers, so follow her!

Book preview

TRIGGER WARNINGS

This book contains multiple triggers.

---

Antiheroine

Mention of drugs

Child abuse

Murder

Main female character with serious attitude problem

High school setting

Toxic FMC

Mature scenes and language

Pregnancy

Miscarriage

Kidnapping

Starvation

If you do not like FMCs that do NOT change and do NOT become better until almost the end of the book, I suggest running the other way.

BE WITH YOU NEVER

1

While other girls my age wore high-waisted jeans and cute, flowy tops, I still felt like I was stuck back in middle school. I hadn’t moved out of the low-rise jeans and tight tank tops that showcased my hipbones when it rode up to reveal some of my skin.

I knew my scars were showing, but at this point in my life, I didn’t really care. Besides, my adopted parents had seen them before, so it wasn’t like I would send them into a heart attack when I stepped down for breakfast.

As soon as I entered the dining room, my steps faltered when I saw the bad boy from school sitting at the table. Ryder Gracewood was a notorious bad boy around our small town. With his dark hair and striking blue eyes, the girls at our school always fell at his feet. He fucked a different girl every night, and he was basically married to his motorcycle. He missed school a lot, wasn’t even on the right track to graduate, and as far as everyone knew, he only had a brother as family. I always avoided him at all costs, so to see him sitting at the dining room table with Brian and Grace, my adopted parents, confused the hell out of me.

He looked up at my entrance, his eyes immediately traveling down my body. I ignored the chills that raced down my spine, making me tingle from head to toe, and instead, I glared at Brian and Grace.

What the fuck is he doing here? I spat at them.

I avoided everyone for a reason. I was too dangerous of a person to be around, and even someone with a reputation like Ryder needed to stay clear of me. Bringing him over for breakfast wasn’t exactly the smartest thing for my parents to do, and they knew that. Hell, I wasn’t even aware that they knew Ryder.

Eloise, honey, Grace said gently, making me brace myself for the worst, Ryder is staying with us for a little while.

"For what?" I snapped at her, glaring harshly. When I had met them and they told me they wanted to adopt me and give me a better life, the first thing I had told them was that I had to be the only person besides them living in the house. I wouldn’t drag anyone else into my shitty world.

And it was shitty. I couldn’t escape my past. My life had become a game of cat and mouse – sort of like Tom and Jerry. It was just a matter of who was going to best who.

Brian sighed, making me turn my attention to him. Eloise, will you just sit down and eat please? Brian asked before Grace could answer my question.

I clenched my fist at my side, feeling the sudden, destructive urge to hit something.

Fuck, I needed to get out of here before I did something I would later regret. I was livid.

They had broken their promise to me. As much as I didn’t like Ryder, he was going to be put in danger all because Brian and Grace were too nice for their own fucking good.

Associating with me in any way, shape, or form could get him killed since he didn’t know my history, and he didn’t know what to look out for.

I snatched my car keys out of the tray in the foyer, storming over to the front door without a word to Brian and Grace, and I knew they wouldn’t try to stop me. I wasn’t staying in that house a second longer. If I had stayed, I would have ended up breaking something, and I did my best to keep my temper locked down around my adopted parents.

Eloise, please don't walk out of that door! Grace yelled after me, but I just slammed the door shut on her words. If she didn’t want me running off, she shouldn’t have let the arrogant bad-boy move in with us. I didn’t care how short of a stay he might have been having.

They knew what situation I came out of. They knew how dangerous it was to have me living with them, so why in the hell would they bring someone else into all of the mess that surrounded me? On top of that, the one fucking person they allowed to live with us was the school bad-boy. Even if I didn’t have all of this going on, I knew living with Ryder Gracewood would be catastrophic.

I got in my sports car and slammed the door shut behind me. I spun out of the driveway, laying rubber on their perfect, concrete driveway, but I couldn’t give less of a shit at the moment. Throwing my car in drive, I took off for the gym I always went to. I desperately needed to burn off some steam.

I worked out there almost every day. I had to keep myself fit and ready for the moment I ran into my dad again, which was inevitable. I was a toned, muscular girl with quick reflexes. I could throw a punch as well as any other man out there.

If I didn’t keep myself fit, I would just suffer the same fate my mom did when he took her life. I couldn’t forget it – would never forget it. It was the same night my entire world shattered around me into tiny, little pieces that I would never be able to pick back up.

He hadn’t been around long, but apparently, he had run into my mom a few weeks before coming around the house, and from there, shit went downhill. He started beating on her for keeping me a secret, and that only made him hate me that much more.

The piercing sound of that gunshot that ended her life so abruptly and brutally still rang in my ears to this day.

Once I made it to the gym, I made my way over to the punching bag and started swinging. I didn’t bother using gloves. When it came down to defending my life, I wasn’t going to have gloves to help me. My knuckles needed to be able to handle the pounding.

Trouble at home? a deep voice asked from behind me.

I turned around to see my friend Gabriel standing a few feet from where I was standing. Gabriel and I had been friends since I moved here two years ago. When I had come here asking for a membership, telling him I wanted to learn how to fight, he had taken me under his wing. I looked up to Gabriel as a big brother, and I was like a little sister to him. Though he was handsome, standing at a little over six feet tall with wavy, brown hair that fell into his chocolate brown eyes, I never saw him as anything other than my brother, than family.

He understood the dangers that came with associating with me, and though many times over I had tried to get him to just leave me alone, he refused. Besides my cousin Amber, Gabriel was the only person I could trust and that I saw as a friend.

Gabriel tossed me a water bottle, and I caught it before it smacked me in the face. I sent him a quick glare to which he just chuckled. Rolling my eyes, I opened the bottle, drinking half of it before he decided to speak.

You know you should be using gloves, he reprimanded me, his eyes staring at my bare, swollen hands.

I shook my head, letting my own eyes look at my scarred and bruised knuckles. I knew it would be better for my skin if I did, but if I trained with gloves on, I wouldn’t be prepared to face my asshole of a father.

And I refused to be the mouse in our little game.

Feels better to fight with my bare fists, I told him, but he knew the real reason. He just sighed, letting it go, and then a smirk lit up his face, and he chuckled softly.

I'm sure Deputy George knows how your bare fists feel, he teased me, making me grin as the gym door slammed closed, alerting us that someone else had entered the gym. Gabriel turned to look at whoever entered, but I set my water bottle on the bench, a smirk tilting my lips.

Deputy George was always the one that got sent to arrest me whenever I ended up doing something reckless and stupid. He hated me just as much as I hated him. The few times he had managed to catch me, he always told me that I was going to be the cause of his death one day.

Hey, man, I heard Gabriel speak to someone, making me turn to see who our newest arrival was.

My smirk instantly dropped from my face, and it turned into a sneer as my eyes met Ryder’s blue ones. I wasn’t going to need the punching bag anymore if Ryder continued to aggravate me. I was going to use his perfect fucking face.

Ryder didn’t say anything to me, though, surprisingly. He just walked off with Gabriel who sent me a warning look, reminding me that I had to behave myself.

Behave myself, my ass. Ryder was beginning to get on my last fucking nerve, and we’d barely been in each other’s presence for an entire two minutes altogether.

After they disappeared to the other side of the gym, I started training again. I went non-stop, letting all of the anger towards my situation, towards Ryder, and towards Brian and Grace fuel me and flow through my veins. After two hours, I allowed myself to sit down and take a water break. The time had flown by so quickly that I barely noticed it passing.

So, what's with the scars all over your body? Ryder bluntly asked, gracing me with his presence as he took a seat next to me.

I moved over a little to the edge of the bench, glaring at him. I hated it when people pointed out the scars on my body. In the very few weeks that my sperm donor had known me, he had managed to leave white scars all over my tan skin from where he had beaten me with whatever he had first grabbed, whether it had been a belt, rope, or cords that he snatched out of the walls and electronics.

Fights, I lied through my gritted teeth.

Couldn’t pretty boy just leave me the fuck alone?

You fight pretty well, he said, nodding towards the punching bag I had just been using. Do you work out here a lot?

I was beginning to lose my hold on my temper. It already didn’t take much for me to snap as it was. I didn’t come here to hold conversations or to make friends with delinquents that decided to move into my house. I was a loner, and I preferred it that way. I didn’t want to be bothered with people. If I did, I’d make more fucking friends.

Pretty boy needed to fall back into whatever hole he climbed out of.

What's this, twenty questions? I spat at him. Fuck off somewhere.

He smirked, opening his mouth to retort with some comeback, but a blonde girl jogged up to us, making me cringe. She had on way too much make-up, so much perfume it almost made me choke, and an outfit that could almost be considered a swimsuit.

Who in the hell wore all that shit to a gym?

I cringed as soon as she opened her mouth.

Baby! she exclaimed, throwing her arms around Ryder, almost hitting my face in the process. I was going to punch her into the next century if she didn’t back the fuck up so I could breathe. I stood up, desperate to get away from her. I never understood why the girls in our school had to make themselves smell like a French whore.

He smirked at her, moving her off of him so he could stand up as well. She noticed me standing there and glared at me. I arched a single eyebrow at her. I didn’t know who the fuck she thought she was looking at like that, but she had better straighten her face out before I did it for her.

She made a sound of disgust in the back of her throat. What are you doing with her? she spat at Ryder, throwing her arm out towards me like I was a cockroach or something.

I was going to break that arm if she swung it out one more time.

Piss off, I snapped at her, not allowing Ryder to answer. I didn’t appreciate it when people talked about me like I wasn’t there.

She put her hands on her hips, turning to face me like she was supposed to be intimidating. Instead, she looked like a fucking joke.

Don't talk to me like that, she snipped. I sighed – literally sighed. I hated preppy bitches like her. Do you know who I am? And there it was – the classic fucking line of every blonde bitch on the cheerleading team in every single teen movie you ever watched. Couldn’t she be original?

I stepped towards her, and I noticed her eyes flash with something similar to fear before she masked it. A cruel smirk twisted my lips.

Good. She should be fucking afraid of me.

Someone who's about to get knocked the fuck out if they don't get the fuck out of my face, I told her calmly, my voice quiet despite the tension running through my body.

Most of the time, I had no control of my temper. It was one of my downfalls and one of the reasons I ended up in so much trouble at school and outside of it. Cops knew my address by heart and almost every detail about me because of how many times I’d been thrown into the system.

She glared at me. I could see she had almost faltered, almost scampered away like the little bitch she was. My eyes trailed over to Ryder who was leaning against the wall, watching the scene with amusement on his face.

Glad I could fucking amuse him, I sarcastically thought.

I don't know who you're talking to, she snarled, shoving me.

That – that right there was her fucking last straw with me.

I didn't even budge when her hands had slammed into my shoulders, and her eyes widened when she realized I had the upper hand in this situation. Before she registered what was about to happen, I slammed my fist into her nose, feeling it break under the force I had used. She screamed in pain, falling on the floor, her hands covering her now bleeding nose. My eyes jerked up from her crying form on the floor when I heard footsteps running and someone calling for backup.

I sighed, sending the little blonde bitch one last fierce glare, making her cringe. I spun around on my heel, taking off for the emergency exit. It wasn’t unusual for cops to come to the gym, especially when they saw my car in the lot.

Wherever I was, trouble seemed to follow in some shape or form.

As soon as I shoved the door open, the alarms sounded, making panic rise in my throat, but I shoved it down.

I fucking hated loud noises.

I took off running down the alley at the back of the gym, the sound of police sirens reaching my ears. The adrenaline pumped through my veins as I ran through yards and jumped over fences, desperately trying to reach my house before they did. I heard their tires screeching as they took sharp turns fast, trying to find me, but I disappeared from their sight.

I wasn’t going to jail again – not yet.

Ryder

I heard the front door slam shut downstairs, making me jerk away from Lisa – at least I was pretty sure that’s what her name was. I was on alert, ready to run downstairs and defend Brian and Grace if it were an intruder, but instead, I heard Brian yelling at someone almost immediately after the front door had closed.

When are you going to stop all of this nonsense, Eloise?! he roared. Grace and I have bent over backward to make sure you’re safe and happy, yet you continue to do foolish things like this! I’m tired of having officers call this house asking if you’re home!

I relaxed once I realized it was just Eloise. The girl was something else, honestly. With her dark hair, tan skin, and dark, brown eyes that held a million secrets, it was almost impossible to not want to know every dark detail about her. But then, as soon as she opened her mouth, you instantly stopped feeling bad for her. Instead, the shit she spewed made you want to fucking throttle her.

Eloise was toned and well fit. With one look at her, you could tell she was a fighter with a temper. Anger seemed to always be swimming in her pretty eyes. Grace and Brian had both warned me when I moved in here that she needed a drastic amount of help, and they had asked me if I was capable of that. At first, I thought it would be easy. I thought she was like me, holding in a million secrets and just needed someone to care enough to get her to open up a bit. My brother was my life-saver, and I owed him everything for pulling me out of that deep hole I’d been buried in.

I also owed it to the president of the Lords that had taken me under his wing and had made me half the man he was, had made me strong and able to defend myself. Though I had a few weeks until I turned eighteen, he had made me the new president and given me a purpose.

It shocked me even more that his members had accepted it so easily. Men that had stood beside him through thick and thin, way before I came along, had accepted me as their leader with no hesitation.

My brother and my club kept me out of that empty void and made me want to live for more than revenge on the people that hurt me.

Eloise didn’t have all of that. From what I had discovered, she didn’t have any family. She didn’t have anyone to love her or care for her. Sure, Grace and Brian did, but she wouldn’t allow them close enough to help her. They told me she was afraid of a certain someone from her past coming around, but they wouldn’t tell me who.

Apparently, Eloise lived by the rule of keeping herself distant to protect those around her. I understood it, but it didn’t always work. I knew that from experience.

Oh, fuck off, will you?! Eloise's voice rang out, fury coating her words. "I didn’t ask you to keep me safe! I was doing just goddamn fine on my own! And if you’re so fucking tired of the police calling here, then don’t pick up the