Excerpt from "Still Vulnerable"

 Prologue 

It’s a dark blur of fear, heightened by the taste of copper on her tongue.

She dreams of the little details, the type that become larger than life. It’s the chaos of that singular event thirteen years ago and how it shattered the way she viewed her world ever after. The hostage scenario led to a complete ruination of her innocence.

The memory she’s trapped in homes in on the people in that bank, their faces twisted and pale. Their screams and how some of them begged not to be hurt. The whites of their eyes, wild and frantic. The aggressive shouts of her abductors as they took stacks and stacks of cash, stuffing them into bags.

The dream is a carousel, revolving around the fear she felt being at their mercy. She can still feel a rough, gloved hand on the back of her neck, controlling her. Even as she dreams, she can feel the weight of that grasp. It’s something she’ll never forget.

Mostly, and perhaps the most telling, Minnie dreams of the gun pressed against her skull. The sensation of cold metal sliding against her skin, trailing over her cheekbone in a cruel caress. Her mind sticks firm to this tragic state, reliving the helplessness that only a teenage girl can feel when faced with a man intent on causing her harm.

The salt of her tears mixes with the bloody cut on her lip as she trembles in terror, because he’ll do it if she’s not a good girl, if she doesn’t behave-

Sometimes, she dreams that Skull Mask pulled the trigger.

*click*

With a shuddering gasp, Minnie wakes up from her nightmare, sitting straight up in bed. A chill prickles her skin as her sweat cools. She’s panting for air, as if she’s been running for miles, heart fluttering at her throat like a butterfly on a summer day. She touches her head briefly, as if to remind herself that her head is still intact, that her brains haven’t been blown out.

A sob dies in her throat, strangled there. She has relieved this nightmare a thousand times, and she’s certain she will relieve it a thousand times more. It’s a nightmare that earned her the moniker The Abducted Girl from Uptown Gold.

Her unrest causes a body to shift beside hers in bed, male and muscled. A calloused hand slowly makes its way about her waist, attached to a strong arm with a snake tattoo coiling around it. Dark bullets, inked at a sturdy wrist. Through the early dark of dawn, hazel eyes seek hers. “Easy, princess,” Gage whispers, voice thick with sleep. He’s got a tarnished baritone even when awake, but it’s like a rusted nail when he’s half-asleep; dark, red-tinted, and rough.

He runs that tattooed hand down her spine, warm and soothing. His fingers spread heat on her chilled skin. “Easy. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”

Relief consumes the tension within Minnie. She willingly curls into him, wanting to disappear into the shelter of his powerful frame. “I’m sorry.” Her voice shakes embarrassingly, hands clammy. “I woke you again.”

She’s woken him up more times than she cares to count these past few months. It’s humiliating, and she’s certain he’s going to eventually figure out he doesn’t need a girl with so much mental baggage, that maybe it’s easier to leave Minnie to her problems.

She doesn’t think she can blame him. Who would want to be with The Abducted Girl, The Bank Hostage, the one who still dreams of the day that made her a news headline?

“It’s fine,” he tells her as he continues to soothe her, his arms wrapping around her slight form. She feels so small in his grasp and marvels at the way her body fits perfectly alongside his. “I gotta get up soon anyway. Worksite at oh-dark-thirty, remember?”

“I wish you didn’t have to go,” she murmurs sadly. The feel of him next to her is soothing. He chases away her fears and makes them fade in the aftermath, every time. Besides, he’s quite the bed warmer, as it were. Minnie has come to enjoy that, being afflicted with chilly toes.

He hums under his breath, his lips skirting her forehead. “I’d stay in bed with you all day. You know that. But that don’t pay the bills, do it? And I got bills, Miss Priss.”

Alas, lounging around with a tragic librarian does not, in fact, pay any bills.

“Mhm,” she nuzzles him. “You’re right. Unfortunately.”

“Of course, I am.”

“Don’t get smarmy with me so early, mister,” she admonishes with no heat.

Gage steals her breath when he presses his lips to hers, a kiss that makes her melt into another state of existence. The simple euphoria that goes hand in hand with adoration, riding her veins like an amusement ride.

Soon though, the warmth of his body disappears, slipping from her bed as he dresses for work, yanking on his jeans.

Minnie feels a pout shape her mouth as she watches him, trying to soak in the last bit of warmth left where he had lain. The more she watches him dress, the more she wants him to use his body to make her forget her bad memories. He’s good at that, experienced with his tongue and his pierced cock.

Dawn is barely touching the dark sky with light when he leans over the side of her bed, sweetly kissing her goodbye for the morning. He clicks the lock on her bedroom door, just so she doesn’t have to get out of bed to do it herself. He knows how particular she is about locks, bless him. When he’s gone, Minnie lies on her back, staring at the ceiling mournfully.

No matter how much she progresses beyond her own mental purse made of bad memories, Minnie can’t escape the damage that lurks in her mind, where no one else can see.

Gunmetal flashes in her thoughts, the sound of a trigger being pulled. She flinches and pulls a blanket over her head.

How can he stay with someone like me?

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Set for release late 2025!!!
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Copyright © 2025 by Asha Everly

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or used in any manner without written permission from the author.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.