Today we are sharing chapter one from BECAUSE OF LUCY by Lisa Swallow. This is a New Adult contemporary romance title that was originally published as a novella in 2013. This is a new edition that has been fully revised and expanded into a full-length novel! Because of Lucy is the first book in the 'Butterfly Days' series, and it will be released in just one week - next Tuesday, February 25th.
Because of Lucy (Butterfly Days #1)
Releasing: February 25
Add Because of Lucy to Goodreads
Blurb
"In life, there are some people you have to lose in order to find yourself."
Ness’s parents have planned her life but Ness is determined to control her own future. She
leaves home and moves to Leeds with childhood friend, Abby, and shocks her parents by
turning down a place at medical school to take a job in a call-centre.
Ness meets Evan, a student friend of Abby’s, and isn’t impressed. He’s drunk, arrogant and
rarely spends the night without a girl in his bed. But unlike most guys she meets Evan quotes
poetry and can hold a conversation, forcing Ness to change her opinion.
Evan is struggling to escape too and throws himself into the student lifestyle to hide from the
past following him. In Ness, Evan finds somebody who shares the need to walk away from what
people expect him to be.
But Evan can’t hide from his past forever and when Lucy appears she threatens his new
relationship with Ness. Ness is unsure she can deal with the effect Lucy has on Evan, and
makes a new decision about her future.
When everything falls apart and their new lives and relationship don't go as planned, Ness and
Evan are both faced with difficult choices. All because of Lucy.
Because of Lucy Chapter One
AUTUMN
NESS
There’s a stranger lying in my bed. The streetlight casts an orange glow
through the open curtains and across the tell-tale mound, and underneath my brand
new and expensive bedding is a snoring figure. A male, judging by the size, and by
the decibels. When I left for work this evening, the bed was definitely vacant.
I drop my bag on my carpeted bedroom floor and swear loudly. He doesn’t
hear. I’m not surprised; the noise of voices and music downstairs would drown out the
sound of my murderous intent towards this moron. I’m exhausted after an eight-hour
shift and this is not what I need.
Slamming the door behind me, I head for the stairs. The tatty furniture of the
lounge room is covered with people, although littered is the term I’d use. Half a dozen
inebriated, scruffy students are draped over the brown sofa or propped against each
other on the threadbare carpet. A couple gaze at me absently. My housemate, Abby,
squints and pulls herself unsteadily to her feet. She staggers towards me, her drink
sloshing from the cup onto the dirty floor.
“Ness!” she cries, trying to hug me. “You’re home!”
I step back. “I’ve been home for half an hour.”
She blinks. “Have you?”
Her long brown hair escaped the straightening tongs this evening and sticks up
on one side. Abby’s smeared lipstick and her boyfriend, Matt, nearby indicate why
she didn’t notice me coming home.
“Who is in my bed?”
Abby gives me a look; one I’ve learned to identify over the years. She’s
beyond any chance of reasonable conversation. “No idea.”
“Abby, I’ve been working all night. I’m knackered. I want to go to bed and
there’s one of your guests occupying it.”
Abby giggles.
“Not funny!” I snap. “You can’t do this every night; weekends only for
parties. Please.”
We agreed to share a house, her as a student, me working full-time. What a
huge mistake.
“It’s not my fault…”
“What? You mean we were invaded? They just let themselves into the
house?”
The people in the room are becoming familiar, the same set of friends
arranged in their favourite places around the room. Drinking and smoking, discussing
politics and listening to Lou Reed. So hip, so retro. So clichéd.
“No, but…” She puts a hand over her mouth, making a noise somewhere
between a hiccup and a burp. No, but… she’s the only first year student in the group
who lives in her own house. When the pubs and clubs shut, the friends can’t fit
everyone into one of their dorm rooms, and I have the pleasure of their company most
nights. I want to shout at Abby, tell her how selfish she’s being, but there’s no point.
Her goldfish memory is worse when she’s drunk, and she won’t remember a thing I
say in the morning.
“So where do I sleep?” As if I’m going to get any sleep in party central
anyway.
Again, Abby looks at me blankly.
“For god’s sake, Abby!”
This is pointless. I pick my way through the bohemian bodies on the floor and
into the kitchen. Empty bottles and dinner plates vie for a place on the cluttered
kitchen counter. There’re two glasses left in the white cupboards and I fill one with
water.
Why did I join student Abby in Leeds when I’d rejected a place at the
university myself? I’m rubbing my parents’ faces in it while I lower myself into the
life of a call centre drone. Pride of the family, Vanessa, was always going to be a
doctor, like Daddy. Or she was until I said ‘screw that’. I’m not their precious
Vanessa who they can mould into what they decide I should be. I’m Ness, and I’m
doing what I want with my life.
As I regard the state of the so-called elite, studying class around me, I’m
doubly glad I’m not one of them.
“’Scuse me.”
I sidestep the sink and turn to the voice. A tall guy leans against the
doorframe, trying to appear nonchalant, but his slackened stance indicates he’s
attempting to keep himself upright. His brown hair is longer at the front and spills into
his face; unfocused brown eyes look in my direction. This person is one of the
regulars. I don’t pay a lot of attention to Abby’s friends, but he’s a good-looking guy;
and however hard I tried not to, I’ve noticed him, but not only because of his looks.
Some nights as I eat a late dinner after work at the table in the corner, I watch
the group from my seat with a mixture of despair and amusement, and this guy
intrigues me. Girls gravitate to him, and he turns on his smile and soaks up their
attention, but something I can’t put my finger on hovers around the confident persona.
This guy has his place as the joker who ensures he’s at the centre of the group, but
some nights he’s quiet and focuses more on drinking and less on girls. Like tonight.
“Yes?” I snap, not in the mood.
He sweeps a gaze along the length of me, eyes lingering on where my work
shirt stretches across my breasts. Unbelievable... I straighten my sleeves and look at
him with an eyebrow raised.
“Are you Abby’s housemate?” he asks.
“Who are you?”
“Evan.” He rubs his nose. “You’re not a student.”
“Correct, I am the one not lying in a drunken haze on the floor contemplating
my navel.”
Evan takes a step forward, steadying himself on the counter with one hand, as
my witty repartee sails over his head. “Why?”
“Why am I not on the floor drunk?”
“Why aren’t you a student?”
“Because I work instead.”
“Hmm.” He grasps onto the sink, searching for a glass. I pass him the spare
one. “Did you fail?”
“Fail what?”
Evan fills the glass. “Or are you just not smart enough for uni? What is it you
do?” He gulps the water in three mouthfuls then wipes his mouth with his hand.
The arrogant bloody… “That’s right, I’m not smart enough. I’m living with
Abby until I can find a nice man to marry then I can have my kids and a house in the
suburbs. Because, as I’m not a student, I have no future.”
Evan leans against the sink, his tall frame dominating the small kitchen. “Fair
enough.”
Oh my god, he believes me. How drunk is he exactly? “So, you think anyone
who doesn’t go to university is inferior to you?”
I’ve seen Abby’s friends looking down their noses at me. To make things
worse, the locals band together and hate students, and the students do the same and
clash with the locals. I’m neither. I can’t win.
We’re close now and Evan smells of alcohol and pot, with a faint hint of a
clean scent lingering on his clothes. His plain blue T-shirt rides up as he leans against
the sink; that’s a serious set of abs he has. Okay, I can’t help myself, I check him out.
Beneath his fringe, Evan has deep brown eyes. Incoherent eyes. I hate to admit, but
something about him is seriously sexy.
Even if he is a dick.
“Well, if you’ll excuse me,” I say.
He sniggers.
“What’s funny?”
“You sound like the Queen.”
Not this again. I get enough crap at work; I moved from Surrey to Yorkshire
and suddenly I’m ‘stuck up Home Counties girl’.
I don’t dignify Evan’s comment with an answer, turn away, and walk out of
the kitchen.
“Want me to get the guy out of your bed?” Evan calls after me.
I stop and look round. “You know him?”
“I could replace him.”
My mouth drops open at his arrogance. An attempt at a flirtatious smile plays
around his lips, but the unfocused eyes kill the effect he’s trying to achieve. He’s
serious. Evan has his ready supply of eager girls; I guess it doesn’t matter to them
how conceited he is. Some girls go for his type. Not me.
I step towards him. “Evan, I am not one of those drunk girls in there. I have no
interest in you getting into my bed. Good night.”
Feeling happy with my retort, I weave back through the lounge in the direction
of the stairs. Behind me, Evan impersonates my words with an exaggerated posh
accent.
It’s a good thing I’m sober; otherwise, I’d go back and slap him.
********************
The next book in the series, Finding Evan, will be releasing March 29th!
Finding Evan (Butterfly Days #2)
Releasing: March 29th
Add Finding Evan to Goodreads
---------------------AUTHOR INFORMATION:
Lisa is an Amazon bestselling author of contemporary and paranormal romance. She is originally from the UK and moved to Australia in 2001. She now lives in Perth, Western Australia with her husband, three children, and Weimaraner, Tilly, who often makes appearances on Lisa’s social media.
Lisa’s first publication was a moving poem about the rain, followed by a suspenseful story about shoes. Following these successes at nine years old there was a long gap in her writing career, until she published her first book in 2013.
In the past, Lisa worked as an English teacher in France, as an advertising copywriter in England, and ran her own business in Australia. Now she spends her days with imaginary rock stars.
She lived in Europe as a child and also travelled when she left university. This has given Lisa stories which would sound far-fetched if she wrote them down, and maybe one day she will. These days, Lisa is happy in her writing cave, under Tilly’s supervision.
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