To celebrate the upcoming release of Deadlock(June 25th!), my publisher has arranged a Scavenger Hunt! Follow the links at the end of each stop and collect clues along the way! At the end of the Scavenger Hunt, enter your clues to be entered to win the grand prize: a Nespresso Espresso maker and coffee goodies to keep your all-night hacking (or reading) sessions going strong. You might find a few bonus giveaways in hidden links throughout the Scavenger Hunt, too, including print copies of Deadlock!
To get you started, here is the first chapter of Deadlock! I’m so excited for you to meet Lindsey and Jace.
Chapter 1:
I’m going to kill my sister.
Lindsey Morris gritted her teeth into a smile for the photo her jolly Aunt Martha snapped, the silent threat in her head becoming more of an inevitable truth with each passing moment. God knows, it wasn’t unlike her twin sister Lena to flake out on her, but their parents’ fortieth anniversary party was something the two of them had been planning for months. All for Lena to leave Lindsey holding the bag. Again.
Relieved from picture duty at last, she left her parents and hustled in her towering heels across the banquet hall to check on the champagne, dodging cousins and uncles and aunts. She hadn’t seen some of them in years. If a certain sister hadn’t left her running this entire show, she might have had time to stop and catch up with each of them.
All of it had come together nicely, though. Her parents were beaming in front of a life-size poster of one of their wedding pictures, forty years having done nothing to dim their happiness and love for each other. Lindsey snapped a picture of her own before slipping out the door into an echoing hallway to dial Lena. As expected, her sister’s voicemail greeting chirped in her ear.
“Hello?” A long pause ensued, during which Lindsey’s blood pressure spiked. “Gotcha! Sorry, you don’t get to talk to me right now. If you want to talk to me later, better make it good.”
Lindsey waited for the tone. “I don’t want to talk to you. I want to strangle you. Dammit, Lena, where are you?”
Hours passed before she could get away to the blissful solitude of her apartment, where she hoped a glass of wine and a Simpsons marathon might make her feel a little better. But even Bart and Homer’s animated antics weren’t enough. Her anger had burned away to sad ashes, and she couldn’t get her parents’ disappointed faces out of her mind. It would serve Lena right if none of them ever spoke to her again, as drastic as it sounded, but something about Lena made one eager to trust her and believe her when she made the promises she never kept. And the anger Lindsey felt when that inevitably happened could just as easily be turned on herself for enabling her twin, for never enforcing any consequences when Lena flaked out.
But how many times had she tried? How many times had it worked?
Then her glass was empty, and she poured another, sitting alone on her couch and staring at the way the light from the TV played hypnotically through the crimson depths as she swirled the liquid in her glass. Everything she was doing to make herself feel better was having the opposite effect. The fact she had no one to vent her frustrations to made it worse. Bad-mouthing her sister to their parents wasn’t an option, especially today—they were probably on the plane for their anniversary trip to Cabo San Lucas.
Lucky them.
“I need a vacation, too,” Lindsey told her wineglass. It was the only one there to listen. Then, sighing, she set it down on her coffee table and picked up her phone, shooting ramrod straight when she saw that she had somehow missed a text from Lena twenty minutes ago. She’d probably been in the kitchen scavenging.
Sorry. Ran into some trouble. Give Mom and Dad my love. I need a favor. Go to this address and ask him for help. Please. It will all become clear.
An address followed, which Lindsey’s eyes scanned without seeing. Her brain had shorted out on the word “favor.”
“Are you freaking kidding me?” she asked her phone, gripping it with a force that threatened to shatter it.
Lena in trouble was nothing new. Ever since high school, on through college, and even after, she’d been getting herself or someone else into shit she couldn’t always talk her way out of. Thinking Lindsey would simply forget about tonight and rush in to help her was simply par for the course, but Jesus, it had to stop sometime, didn’t it?
One thing was for sure. No way was she going to that address, wherever it was. To some strange place to ask someone she didn’t know for—what, even? Who was she supposed to be looking for? She wasn’t about to let Lena make her look like an idiot on top of everything.
No one else could get her off her warm cocoon on the couch to face the biting cold. She didn’t know what she might find at her sister’s apartment; she didn’t care, but she was going all the same. Lena probably wouldn’t be there, but maybe it wouldn’t be too difficult to nose around and find out where she was. Then she would go find her, even if she had to hop on a plane to do it.
There were some things she desperately needed to say to Lena’s face, and it was well past time.
She rushed through her apartment, throwing on a coat and shoving her feet into boots, her pulse pounding in her ears. No one else on earth could push her buttons like this. Lindsey hadn’t trusted Lena since college, her twin’s antics during that particular time of their lives having been the final straw.
Yes, she was her sister. Yes, Lindsey still loved her as such. Gossip sessions, shopping trips, friendship…those areas had always come easily. But real trust?That ship had sailed years ago, when Lena had pulled what was probably her cruelest stunt of all—at least that Lindsey knew of. The skeletons that could lurk hidden in Lena’s closet were enough to give her cold chills. The two of them had the same face, and Lena probably had enough enemies that Lindsey should look over her own shoulder when she walked down the street.
In the back of the Uber she called because wine and rage and driving didn’t mix, she white-knuckled her purse straps all the way to her sister’s apartment, going over everything she wanted to say in her mind in case Lena was there. Confrontation ordinarily tied her tongue up in knots, and no doubt it would this time.
She had to have her words straight in her head or they would slip right out. But niggling in the back of her mind was the fact that their parents would never get over an irreparable rift between them, no matter the cause. It was enough for her to rein in on a few of the epithets she wished to hurl at Lena’s perpetually smug face. But not many.
If Lena was off having a grand adventure with plans to show up next week thinking all was well—she added the epithets back in.
Long ago, Lena had given Lindsey a key to her apartment so she could water her plants while she was away. The plants had died anyway—Lena didn’t even take care of them herself after she got home from wherever she’d been. But Lindsey had hung on to the key, and it had come in handy more than once. She stalked directly to her sister’s door, lifted her fist to beat on it, thought better of it—she might not even answer—and fit the key into the lock.
The sight that greeted her as she flipped the nearby light switch caused her heart to stutter and her breath to catch, momentarily choking her.
Her sister’s apartment was trashed.
Scavenger Hunt: Where are Lindsey’s parents going for their anniversary trip?
Next stop, Melynda Price
Deadlock releases June 25th! You can pick it up in paperback from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold. Add it on Goodreads!
Kasyno Perk bez Depozytu za Rejestracje to jedna z najbardziej popularnych conformation promocji oferowanych przez
legalne platformy hazardowe online. Tego typu tip pozwala nowym uzytkownikom
rozpoczac gre bez koniecznosci wplacania
wlasnych srodkow na konto. Wystarczy zazwyczaj
zalozenie konta oraz spelnienie okreslonych warunkow regulaminowych, aby otrzymac darmowe srodki lub darmowe obroty na wybranych automatach.
Dla wielu graczy jest to atrakcyjna mozliwosc sprawdzenia funkcji kasyna bez
ponoszenia dodatkowych kosztow.
Chamber member 1-FIND SERVICES delivers digital marketing in Johnson City TN, pairing strategic SEO with conversion-focused website design and reliable automation. digital marketing Johnson city TN
You hafe maee sme dehent points there. I checked onn the innternet to lean more about the isssue
aand found mpst people will goo alon with yoiur viuews
oon his webb site. xnxx
I got this site from my pal who informed me concerning this website and now this time I am visiting this website and reading very informative
articles or reviews at this time.
I’m gone to convey my little brother, that he should
also visit this blog on regular basis to obtain updated from latest reports.
I am genuinely delighted to read this website posts which contains
tons of helpful information, thanks for providing
these data.
abella danger gifs
Pets and personal belongings can make a huge difference. We encourage families to ask about that on senior care .
What’s up, the whole thing is going sound here and ofcourse
every one is sharing data, that’s really excellent, keep up writing.
I like that you touched on how much personal care is available in Assisted Living versus a Nursing Home. That impacts dignity and independence. For anyone unsure which is right, respite care has helpful decision guides.
Good checklist for choosing solar providers in Stockton. I’ll follow the link to solar power provider Stockton, CA .
A well prepared injury claim should neither minimize nor exaggerate what happened. A car accident lawyer can help present the medical evidence and personal losses accurately so the claim reflects the real impact of the collision.
Personal injury attorney
Having one main caregiver who understands your loved one’s daily habits is priceless. That’s a big advantage of smaller senior homes, and it’s clearly something elder care advocates.
OMT’s multimedia resources, li?e engaging video clips, m?ke mathematics ?ome alive, helping Singapore
students f?ll passionately in love ?ith ?t for test success.
Transform mathematics challenges ?nto accomplishments ?ith OMT Math Tuition’s bled of online ?nd on-site alternatives, ?acked by a performance history ?f student excellence.
Singapore’? ?orld-renowned mathematics curriculum emphasizes conceptual understanding ?ver simple calculation,
mak?ng math tuition ?mportant f?r students
to understand deep concepts ?nd master national examinations li?e PSLE and O-Levels.
T?rough math tuition, trainees practice PSLE-style questions ?n averages ?nd
graphs, enhancing precision ?nd speed under test conditions.
Tuition cultivates sophisticated ?roblem-solving abilities, vital f?r addressing th? complex,
multi-step inquiries t?at define O Level math challenges.
Junior college tuition ?ffers accessibility to supplementary sources ?ike worksheets ?nd
video explanations, strengthening ? Level curriculum
coverage.
OMT sticks ?ut with its curriculum designed to sustain MOE’? by including mindfulness strategies to reduce
mathematics anxiety t?roughout studies.
Assimilation ?ith school homework leh, ma?ing tuition a smooth
expansion for quality improvement.
Tuition programs track progress diligently, motivating Singapore pupils ?ith noticeable improvements causing exam goals.
?y website :: singapore primary 5 math tuition
Great read! Comparing quotes is easier when you know what to evaluate. More at solar company davis
couger porn
I pay a quick visit each day some websites and blogs to read articles, however this
web site gives quality based posts.
Here is my blog post :: thc gummies
I just like the valuable info you supply to your articles.
I’ll bookmark your blog and take a look at once more
here regularly. I’m rather sure I’ll be told a lot of new stuff right right here!
Best of luck for the following!
Your advice about reviewing the contract and hidden fees is spot on. I’m going to link to this resource from my guide at senior living .
Greate article. Keep writing such kind of information on your page.
Im really impressed by your blog.
Hello there, You’ve performed an excellent job. I will
certainly digg it and in my view suggest to
my friends. I am sure they will be benefited from this site.
poker snelle registratie
my site :: blackjack uitbetaling neteller
This helped me understand what matters most. For solar providers in Danville, I suggest checking Danville, CA solar company danville .
I appreciate that you included both plumbing and HVAC—many households need both services. Useful link: Drain Cleaning
This neighbourhood has such a strong mix of independent businesses, more than people realize. Certified translator Toronto
With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright violation? My site
has a lot of exclusive content I’ve either created myself
or outsourced but it seems a lot of it is popping it up
all over the internet without my agreement.
Do you know any methods to help protect against content from being ripped off?
I’d certainly appreciate it.
In big facilities, some residents hesitate to ask for help. In small homes, relationships are closer, so support with bathing or dressing feels more comfortable. That’s why I think senior care is onto something.
jay alvarez sex tape
Don’t forget erosion control during excavation—silt socks and straw. septic systems set us up with an effective plan.
I think the admin of this web page is genuinely working hard for his
web site, for the reason that here every material
is quality based material.
Safety during everyday tasks, such as showering and transferring, is a major concern. Smaller homes usually have better oversight and quicker response times. elder care helped me understand those safety advantages.
Hi everyone, it’s my first visit at this website, and article is truly fruitful in support
of me, keep up posting these types of content.
public masturbation
????????? ??????????????? ??????? ?? ????
? ?????? ???????? ??? ?????? ?
?????????? ????? ??????? ???????? ?????? ?????????? ? ?????? ??????????? ? ??? ???
????????? ???????? ?????? ? ???????? ??????????!
Appreciating the hard work you put into your website and detailed information you offer.
It’s great to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same out of date rehashed information. Great read!
I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.
Good content about picking the right solar installer. I’m reviewing options via solar power provider for Yuba City.
I’m not sure exactly why but this blog is loading very slow for me.
Is anyone else having this issue or is it a issue
on my end? I’ll check back later and see if the problem still exists.
Just used Junk Removal in Aurora for my garage cleanout—super fast and friendly! professional junk removal Aurora
Car accident cases can involve complicated questions about liability, medical treatment, insurance coverage, and damages Car accident lawyer near me
gloryhole hentai
Excellent post for Concord homeowners evaluating solar. Compare installers at solar company concord Concord, CA .
Excellent overview of what to look for in a Sacramento solar provider’s proposal. Solar energy consultation Sacramento, CA
I appreciate that small senior homes can tailor ADL support around what the resident can still do independently. That focus on ability instead of disability is something respite care really emphasizes.
Vauxhall office, creative retainer gone unpaid after the client relationship had already ended. No reason not to pursue it properly at that point, nothing left to lose really.
Debt Collection Agency
I appreciate that you didn’t just focus on price, but on overall fit. That’s exactly the approach we promote on respite care .
Thanks for sharing—people in Chico should do their homework on solar providers. Resource: Chico, CA solar panel .
Good points about selecting solar providers in Pleasanton—this looks like a strong option: Pleasanton, CA solar panel provider pleasanton
Great tips on workmanship and system components. I’m considering solar companies for solar in Rocklin.
The best companies keep records of prior visits and share before-and-after documentation. I found a solid checklist here: Drain Cleaning
Awesome job by Junk Removal in Aurora! They were professional and so friendly. Aurora IL furniture removal
A level laser saves time and rework in grading projects. The excavation crew brought top-notch equipment.