It’s natural to want the one you can’t have. And for as long as I could remember, I’d secretly wanted my brother’s best friend, Jace. He was six years older and always treated me like the sister he never had. Fast forward a decade. We were all in our 20s now. Jace had moved in with my brother, Nathan, and me to help us make ends meet after our parents died. It was just the three of us - an odd family dynamic. Living under our roof, Jace was as bossy and protective as ever. But he certainly didn’t look at me like a sister anymore. That was what made things so complicated.

"Girls like you aren't exactly welcomed at a place like this, so keep your head down and look the other way." Those were the exact words of my social worker when she dropped me in my newest hellhole, a place for "troubled teens". I didn't listen, and now I'm on their radar. Too bad for them, I don't follow rules. Too bad for me, they're determined to make sure I do. Inconceivably attractive and treated like kings...these are the boys of Brayshaw High.

Cutler Ryder was everything I wasn’t. He was the hockey star. I was an outcast. He was best friends with my stepbrother, that same stepbrother who hated me. His two parents loved him. My mom was a junkie. My dad barely knew me. Years passed. I got my life together. Cut went onto NHL stardom. Then there was a text. 

Mascen Wade, star pitcher of the Aldridge University baseball team, is a lot of things. Rich. Hotter than sin. The campus’ reigning bad boy. We knew each other once upon a time, but even if I’m named after a princess, it doesn’t mean my life is a fairy tale. My plan is to keep my head down, get my degree, and leave this town. But the moment Mascen Wade recognizes me, all my carefully laid plans come crumbling down. He’s decided he wants to make my life a living hell, but I’m not so easy to push around. 

The first time I met Hudson Rothschild was at a wedding. I’d received an unexpected invitation to one of the swankiest venues in the city. Hudson was a groomsman and quite possibly the most gorgeous man I’d ever laid eyes on. He asked me to dance, and our chemistry was off the charts. I knew it wasn’t a good idea to get involved with him, considering the wedding I was at. But our connection was intense, and I was having a great time. Though the fun came to a screeching halt when Hudson figured out I wasn’t who I’d said I was.

Starting over after my father’s sudden death was bad enough, but the four boys who rule Alstone College, my new university, are determined to make my life even more difficult. One in particular. Caiden Cavendish. My nightmare. My shadow. My stepbrother. My dad’s death was an accident. Lie. My life isn’t in danger. Lie. The Four won’t bring mayhem to my life. Lie. I don’t want Caiden Cavendish. Lie. Lies. Lies. Lies.

Felicity Giles has a list. Lose her virginity. Meet her knight-in-shining-armor and fall in love. Have the best senior year a girl can have. The only problem? Her knight isn’t a saint, he’s a villain, and she’s pretty sure he’ll destroy her before ever handing over a piece of his heart. Jason Ford has a plan. Win State and go down as one of the most successful quarterbacks in Rixon Raider history. Head off to college and pursue his dream of being drafted to the NFL. Avoid the girl under his skin. Felicity Giles, his stepsister’s best friend and perpetual pain in his ass.

Grace doesn’t know much about anything beyond her town’s limits, but she does know this: She is falling in love with the hottest guy in Sheridan U. And when you play with fire - you ought to get burned. 

I asked for his criteria for bed buddies - that's the PG version. He swore at me and said he didn’t do groupies. And just like that, our friendship was off to a great start. Reese Forster was the starting point guard for the Seattle Thunder. Gorgeous. Cocky. Loved by the nation. He’s also attending preseason basketball training camp where I used to work.   

My plan was simple. Get invited onto his yacht. Find information to destroy him. But I wasn't prepared for Alaric Prince. Dangerous and seductive, he trapped me in his gilded cage. He calls me Dove. Easily preyed on. Easily broken. A man that ruthless only wants to crush me. I must resist the temptation to let him.

I can feel it. I wake up in the middle of the night freaked out of my mind, paranoid a stranger is there. My skin prickles every time I leave my house, because I know someone is following me. I’m afraid. Alone. And there’s only one person left to turn to. The stepbrother I never met. He’s the president of a notorious motorcycle club and exactly the kind of person I need to protect me - cutthroat, cocky, dangerous. Little did I know, hot as all holy hell Ky Parish, downright loathes me. You know what they say - there's a fine line between love and hate. And I'm walking it.

“You don’t belong.” No words whispered in anger have ever rung more true. They’re the Kings of Brayshaw with the world at their feet, destined for greatness and in need of control. I’m the girl from the ghetto with nothing to offer and as defiant as they come. They say it doesn’t matter, that I’m one of them now, and nothing could ever change that. Not even me, should I dare try. But they’re wrong. They underestimate how far I’ll go to protect them. Trouble is coming...and they have no idea.

I've been humiliated, shut out, and gossiped about all through high school. His pranks and rumors got worse as time wore on. I even went to Europe for a year, just to avoid him. But I'm done hiding from him now, and there's no way I'll allow him to ruin another year. He might not have changed, but I have. It's time to fight back.

Share the new girl. That won’t be easy, will it? Especially not while trying to keep our thrones in the Burberry Prep social scene. Marnye is learning to forgive us; the least we can do is protect her. Let’s see who can make her fall in love first. This time, there’s no bet. This time, it’s just our hearts on the line.

When I joined Seattle's NHL expansion team, I thought it was the start of something great. But nothing ever goes the way you expect. Take my introduction to my new neighbor. She came rolling in on the hot mess express at midnight, making a racket while she tried to get into my team captain's apartment. Did I mention that he's married to a woman who definitely was not her?