Before

By Evie Rae and Poppy Flynn

Over the years trouble has stalked this tropical haven.

Dark shadows crawled beneath the sun and fun of the Florida Keys.

For better or worse, the lives of seven people are about to become intricately intertwined.   

But each of their lives have been ripped apart in the past, and they need to be pieced back together. Find out what happened to them... Before.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Whyte House Publications
• Release date: May 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223506898

Book preview

Before

A Lost Boys Prequel

Evie Rae and Poppy Flynn

Whyte House Publications

Copyright © 2023 by Evie Rae and Poppy Flynn

All rights reserved.

No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

Cover Art by Poppy Flynn.

Contents

Dedication

BEFORE

Evie Rae

Poppy Flynn

Also By Evie

Also By Poppy

To all the girls who ever said…

…so very many boys. So very little time.

We understand, and this one’s for you.

BEFORE

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OSCAR

The Distant Past

Key West’s historic Shipwreck Museum wavers in the heat rising off the pavement as my kid brother, Ollie, my dad, and I head across the parking lot toward the entrance. He has been playing at being a pirate for ages, completely obsessed, so Dad thought it would be a fun day out for us.

Ollie’s dressed up in a striped blue and white tee-shirt. It’s been his favorite thing to wear for weeks; he even whines when it needs to go in the laundry. Dad bought him an eye patch and one of those foam swords, and Ollie’s excited in the irritating way only a little kid can be.

But me? I don’t want to be here. I’m missing out on a day with my friends for this garbage, and Ollie keeps poking me and whacking me with the stupid sword, making my already bad mood even worse.

It’s too hot, and this place is just dumb. Ollie wants to stop every few minutes and stare at the people dressed up in olden-day costumes, and it’s boring.

He’s trailing way behind by the time we get into the museum itself, and I race ahead in an attempt to move him along, wanting to get out of here as quickly as possible. So, while Dad and Ollie stop and look at every single thing, and Dad reads all the information boards out loud, I take off and walk to the top of the lookout tower.

I don’t know how much later it is before I realize something dreadful has happened. After the lookout tower, I was hot, bored, and thirsty, so I sat under a palm tree near the exit and waited for them.

It’s not until some security guy in a black uniform comes and asks my name, then says into a walkie-talkie that I’ve been found, that it occurred to me anyone would think I was missing.

I’m taken to some office where my dad’s pacing frantically, and guilt hits me like a mack truck as I realize how worried he’s been.

Oz! Thank God! Dad rushes up and gives me a huge hug, squeezing me so tight I can barely breathe. But it’s the way he looks behind me, towards the door, with such hope in his eyes, that gets me really scared.

He looks back at me. Where’s Ollie? he asks, the joy in his eyes turning to apprehension again.

I frown and look around myself, before shrugging. I don’t know, Dad. He wasn’t with me.

Whatever happiness Dad experienced at seeing me is short lived. Why weren’t you watching him? he demands. He’s only six! You can’t just run off and leave him.

Anger churns in my gut and I lash out at the unfairness of it. He was with you! I shout. "You were reading all those stupid signs to him while I went up