Novels by Zea Drew

Date = 13 AugustTwo days to go.Place = San Francisco (Black Pit)Our safe zone.POV - AriaIf anyone had told me a year ago that I’d be sitting on the floor two days before my wedding — barefoot, wrapped in a silk robe that cost more than my dignity, inside an estate four times the size of Manhattan — drinking flat champagne with two women who feels like sisters I’ve known my entire life — all of us traumatized — I would’ve laughed in their face and suggested intensive therapy.Possibly medication.Yet here we are — flat on the thick carpet.The couch is occupied by wedding junk — shoes, makeup, a veil I refuse to look at again because it turns me into a weepy liability. And a suit jacket Enrique abandoned earlier, before he left with the boys, as if he was afraid it might bite him.So the floor it is — a half-eaten tub of ice cream sweating onto the rug — our legs crossed, knees touching, close enough that I can feel Mel’s warmth and Sky’s restless energy vibrating beside me.Outsi

Date = 12 AugustPlace = San Francisco (Black Pit)POV - EnriqueBack in the bedroom, Aria is still on the bed, now sitting up with her legs crossed under the sheet, staring at the phone in her hand.She looks up when I step through the door, and a soft smile curves her mouth — the kind that always makes my chest tighten, like she’s been waiting for me.“Did they break in?” she asks, voice light, but her eyes search my face.“They came. They saw. They interrogated.”Her laugh bubbles out, quick and warm, chasing away the sting of the earlier chaos. She tilts her head, hair brushing her cheek. “You fed them?”“Can’t kill them. I’m too pretty for prison.”She sets her phone aside and pats the spot beside her.I go. I always go. Always will. The bed sighs under my weight as I sink down, close enough to breathe her in — soap, bread, the faint ghost of her perfume. I offer her half of my sandwich, and she accepts without hesitation, biting into it like it’s communion. She chews slowly, eye

Date = 12 AugustI’m done hiding and sulking.Place = San Francisco (Black Pit)Our new home.POV - EnriqueWe lay tangled in the soft cotton sheets of the bed in our new ‘home’, still sticky from the kind of slow sex that makes your chest feel cracked open and full at the same time. Drifting in that lull right after climax when everything feels both weightless and impossibly heavy.Her head is tucked into the crook of my shoulder, one leg hooked lazily over my hip as if she owns me. Because she does. Her breath ghosts over my ribs, slow and steady, and my heart’s trying to keep time with it.I should say something. Anything.But I don’t.Because I know what she’s going to say before she even says it.“I know it’s not ideal,” she whispers, her fingers absently playing with the edge of the sheet that drapes over my rather enthusiastic manhood. “But maybe we should postpone the wedding a little?”Her voice is soft. Hesitant.And it cuts.I don’t answer. My fingers keep tracing the insid

Date = 10 AugustA few days of hiding, getting my shit together.Place = San Francisco (On a stretch of road)But in this group, tragedy won’t let you hide for long.POV - EnriqueI’ve been staying at the club. Claiming to work.But the truth is — I’ve been hiding.Processing my own damn thoughts. Processing the truth that’s been rotting somewhere beneath my ribs. Processing the betrayal.I’m angry.Angry at the world. At Jackson. At everything I thought I knew about my life.First, Xander is not my father.And Jackson knew. Ilkay knew. Barry knew. Even fucking Rosa knew.Now my real father’s name is out there. A powerful devil whom Alexander feared. Envied. Enough to steal his sperm.And Jackson knows that name. Barry knows.It feels as if everyone knows everything about me … except me.I haven’t confronted them yet. Not Jackson. Not even Aria.Oh, they all tried. The girls told what I overheard.Alejandro tried. Logan tried. Damion. Axel. Ilkay from abroad.Except my darn twin.But

Date = 8 AugustPlace = San Francisco (Black Pit)POV - EnriqueJust as I reach the entrance — just before I run into the kitchen — I hear Rosa’s voice from inside.It’s not loud. But something in it stops me cold. I lean against the wall and peep through the open door.“Sky … garota (Portuguese = girl) … you don’t understand. It’s complicated.”There’s a tremble in it. No, not just a tremble. A rawness. Like something bleeding behind her words.Damion’s gone. Mel’s gone. Axel must be waiting down the hall. But I can’t move. I can’t stop listening.Aria’s hand flies to her heart like she’s trying to keep it from falling straight out of her chest.Sky’s eyes shine — not with tears, but with that fierce, armored fury that only shows up when grief gets tired of being quiet. She barks a laugh — sharp, humorless, the kind that makes the hairs on your arms stand up.“Oh, I’m dating complicated.”Aria elbows her — gently, but enough to remind her she’s not alone.“Tone,” she whispers.Sky ti

Date = 8 AugustPlace = San Francisco (Black Pit)POV - Enrique“I need some food,” Jackson mutters like he’s issuing a court order, not stating a basic human need. His voice is low, sharp, and tinged with that ever-present irritation that makes you want to punch him or feed him. Probably both.“Thank heaven,” Miguel exhales dramatically two steps behind us, throwing his head back like he’s just crossed a desert. “I thought I’m never tasting food again.”Poor bastard. Being my twin’s unofficial emotional support minion must be exhausting. And they’re the same flavor of broody, which means any day now they’ll either start a bromance podcast or feature in a crime documentary titled ‘Deadly Men With Even Deadlier Silences’.But he’s right. I’m starving. My stomach is eating itself.The smell hits us before we reach the entrance — fresh-baked bread still warm from the oven, garlic butter melting into a sinful substance, and something thick and meaty that smells so good it could persuade a

Date = 1 September (about 1 year later)Place = San Francisco (Grimm house)Melaena Blackburn = 21 years oldDamion Grimm = 22 years oldXamos = 1 year old (born 15 August the previous year)(You get to meet the little girls Leyla, Lili, and River in Book 2) (Ethan is Thalia’s little 10 year old brother)POV – DamionDamion: I’m sure that from lack of use, my sperm grew legs and looks like frogs instead of tadpoles! But it’s gonna be fixed before the night is over (winking-face emoji)(hot-pepper emoji)(eggplant emoji)I touch my crotch with a groan, abstinence from Mel is definitely not my thing. These last weeks have been torture, being in bed next to the woman of my dreams, and the closest I got to touch her was a hug. Fuck, a day without sex with Mel is a fudging long time, two weeks is a fudging excruciating fierce eternity … a month … that’s just plain torturing hell.These four weeks without sex were even worse than the six I had to wait after the baby was born.This no-sex shit

Date = 15 August (about 6 months later) = Enrique’s wedding (Book 2)Place = San Francisco (where the haunted house was)POV - Damion“Hey, son, where is Mel … she needs to get dressed?” Judging by the sound of her voice, Mom is panicking. Why is everyone so on edge? I mean, since we left the club Enrique phoned once … the other bridesmaids three times … and this must be Mom’s fifth call. Hell, it’s just a wedding. And not ours. And there’s still time.“We’re still at the building site …” I calmly explain … again. “We got what we came for.” And what we came for is a tiny piece of blue jewelry… for the bride.Mel got a blue angel charm to hang on her new sister-in-law’s bracelet today as her ‘something blue’. And apparently, it’s very important — a crucial part of the wedding. And that would be why we are back here at the haunted house construction site instead of getting ready at Inferno.“We’ll be there,” I pause slightly to calculate the time it will take us to get there, “in about t

Date = 14 FebruaryPlace = San Francisco (different places)POV - MelaenaI rush through the door of his house with my 3 followers to see Luke’s face lighting up from the exact sofa where the experiment took place.He jumps up and down excitedly before literally throwing me the next clue. Damn, will I ever get used to the Grimm boys and their wild ways? All 3 of them are over-energetic cocky bouncing blobs of sexy cuteness. I wonder how poor Haley manages sometimes. Does she ever get tired?I know for a fact that Luke got called into the principal’s office twice this week alone, and his brother was no better when he was in school. And as far as I understand from Alejandro’s stories, he too was the same.But right now the littlest devil’s naughty hazel eyes are waiting anxiously for me to open the envelope.I know you're hungry – go grab some food at the place where I declared my love openly for you in a song – and where you called my name. “Let me guess — we’re going to have lunch at

Date = 14 FebruaryPlace = San Francisco (different places)POV - MelaenaSuddenly the looming darkness of the house we’ve just stopped at is not that dark anymore.I know the things and lives we’ve lost here will always leave a hole. My hand rubs over my tummy. But the sadness will go away … we all have a bright future ahead … a wonderful happy one.I will help every San Francisco boy to find happiness and a love that can heal them. A love like ours. But knowing my boys it’s not going to be an easy task.A red fire truck from Station 34 is parked next to the house and the men are standing around as if they’re waiting for us.“Can I have the keys to the car?” one fireman asks politely. Alejandro hands it over, knowing that he must be working with Axel.“I’ll make sure to get it back to your place.” He walks away and I’m not sure how we’re going to get back to my place, but it seems that at least Kiara’s car will make it there.I walk through the weathered door to find Jackson sitting o

Date = 14 FebruaryPlace = San Francisco (graveyard)POV - MelaenaI shift my legs into a more comfortable position where I sit on the freshly-planted green grass covering the small heap of the grave site, and then I place the red flowers against the newly erected marble tombstone. A few tears roll down my cheek and I wipe them away anxiously with my hand. I didn’t know it was possible to feel so devastatingly sad losing someone you didn’t even truly know. Fudge jackets, it’s so unfair.Hatred for Harry, for Darren, for Lucinda … for the whole fudge-upped Brown family … boils through me. But most of all I hate my grandfather. How can one person be so cruel? Even after Alejandro explained that Alexander must have been a psychopath, someone without any feelings, I still can’t comprehend it totally.I put my hand against the cold stone that’s now the only indication of the life that was lost and buried deep in the earth underneath. And for what? Revenge? Money? Power?And in the end, Harr

Date = 23 JanuaryPlace = San Francisco (UCSF Mission Bay Medical)POV – MelaenaLike a black-and-white movie in color, I see Kiara smile at me, holding a picture in her hands. I don’t want to look at it, but I can’t seem to look away. Her mouth moves but no words come out. A blob on the gray picture starts beating in rhythm with the noise in my ears. A heartbeat. A baby. My baby. Damion’s baby.Beep! Beep! Beep! I open my eyes. A green light blinks … on; off; on; off.It’s bothersome. A turn signal. The car rolls, tumbles, crashes … the indicator light flashes alone in the darkness. The air is voided with sound. I scream for help but it’s only in my head, no sound escapes. Through the shattered window I see a man standing in the shadows, like a ghost, watching … his face locked in terror, his gray eyes filled with guilt. It’s dad.Beep! Beep! Something drips on the bonnet of the car like single drops of rain. Blood. My father is standing next to the wreckage, his face full of pain,