Purrfect Protector (24 page)
Sara didn’t know the worst of it, didn’t know what had happened the night he’d decided to pack up and leave town for early college admission.
Not even the hot water could stop his shivering or the stabbing cold that pierced him at the memory. Getting out of the bath, he pulled the plug and went to stand in front of the large mirror that covered most of the far wall.
When the builder had originally suggested it for light, because the room didn’t have a window and artificial light hurt his eyes after a while, he thought it was a good idea. But now, standing naked and seeing his pale, thin body staring mockingly back at him, he wanted to smash the thing into a million pieces.
The only thing that held him back was the seven-year bad luck superstition his mother had always believed in. He couldn’t afford to risk it. Andrew had enough bad luck for three people as it was.
In high school, he had been the clumsy nerd with a stutter who wore spotty Coke-bottle glasses. And now he was still all of those things except coated in a layer of designer glasses and he was borderline OCD. He kept highlights in his chestnut hair and he had enough money in the bank to last him the rest of his life if he needed it to.
He was a success. So why didn’t he feel like it and why did he let his family think he was just another grunt on the ladder? Why couldn’t he be proud to be himself?
Because of
him.
Ah, yes.
Him.
As Andrew pulled on his pajama bottoms and a baggy T-shirt, he tried for possibly the millionth time to figure out why
he
had so much power over him.
Teddy, otherwise known as Theodore Goldbloom—son of a business tycoon—with blond locks befitting his name and a killer smile that could stun a person at twenty paces. In high school, the boy had been gorgeous, head of the jock clan and made pretty decent grades as well.
The full package. The allusive triple threat. From a wealthy family, beautiful
and
smart.
Bastard
.
Andrew was twenty-six and still ruled by the torment his sixteen-year-old self had lived through. That was the point. Andrew had survived that hell and had pulled himself up to where he was today.
But he didn’t own this new, carefully created, better version of himself.
With people who didn’t know him, he could play the part well enough. He could be the aloof computer genius. On the other hand, anyone who did know him turned him right back into a shaking mess who had run away.
After all these years, though, he’d finally realized one thing—you can’t outrun the past.
About the Author
I’m SA Welsh and I write because the voices in my head keep making me. I love reading and I love letting the characters and stories in my head come to life in a book.
I can’t function in the morning without a cup of tea and when I’m not writing I’m reading. I have enough books to last me through an apocalypse but don’t ask me to share them unless you are a fellow book worm and know how to treat and appreciate a good book. It is thanks to the writers that inspired me to put myself out there that I became an author and the editors that make sense of my chaos that I keep writing.
Email:
[email protected]
SA loves to hear from readers. You can find her contact information, website and author biography at
http://www.totallybound.com
.
Also by SA Welsh
Totally Bound Publishing
