[Cover Reveal] LOST WITHOUT YOU and WHERE I BELONG by M. O'Keefe

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Exclusive Excerpt

I remembered, in a sudden full-body memory, the second he and Simon and Carissa came through that office door seven years ago. I'd been fighting the Pastor with all my strength, and in that second, when they burst in, I stopped fighting. Every muscle went soft. Every fist relaxed.

I gave up and nearly blacked out from the relief.

The exact opposite of the hypnotherapist.

Tommy would take care of me, I'd thought.

It was the first time I ever thought that about anyone.

And the last.

And I wanted to hug him. I wanted to pull him as close as I could to my body. I wanted to hold him in the cradle of my legs and rub my hands over his hair and let him kiss my freckles. I wanted to be that girl. And I wanted him to be that boy. And for a moment, just a moment, this wasn't a kidnapping.

It was a fairy tale.

"Tommy," I breathed. "You're here. I never... I never thought I'd see you again." And I reached for him. For his face. Beautiful and familiar.

But his smile vanished and he jerked back, away from my touch.

"Don't—" he said and turned away, his ears bright red.

"Don't what?"

He swallowed.

"Touch you?" I asked, my voice strained and tight.

"Remember," he said.

"Don't remember you? Are you joking?"

"Don't think about the past," he said. "I'm not. This is just...this is a job. That's all."

Once upon a time we'd jeopardized everything to touch each other, and now... I didn't even understand what he was saying. Don't remember? Was he crazy?

How was this happening? After all these years?

Oh, that's right, because fairy tales weren't real. They were tricks played on girls like Beth. To keep us quiet and calm, to preoccupy us with dreams of boys and rescue so we wouldn't get on our feet and rescue ourselves.

And the boy I'd known had grown up to be a man who could take unconscious women out of their homes without shoes, or ID or phones.

I smacked him. I smacked Tommy so hard it sounded like a gunshot. I smacked him so hard we both jerked back.