Booktok Reading Chair

My mom believed in one thing above all else: being number one. To achieve that, she created a strict daily schedule and even developed a monitoring app that required us to submit reports every day. Anyone who failed to rank first according to the app's evaluation would be tied to a chair and severely punished. No matter how difficult the task was, my younger brother, Jason Hunt, could always complete it and receive a perfect score. Even when he actually ranked last, the monitoring software would still display him in first place. As for me, a single misspelled word was enough to trigger a failing warning from the app, followed immediately by my mom's harsh punishment. At first, I tried to explain. Later, I stayed silent. In the end, I could only kneel and beg. My mom remained unmoved. "Trash doesn't deserve sympathy," she said coldly. "You'll thank me when you become successful in the future." On the first day of the New Year, my mom took Jason out to visit our relatives and exchange greetings. I, meanwhile, was burning with a high fever and could not even finish the day's assignments. Ignoring my illness, my mom dragged me into a bathtub filled with ice. "If you're trying to escape studying, you don't deserve to live," she said. "Pretending to be sick? If you've got the guts, then just die already." She forced my head underwater and raised a rod, smashing it against my skull again and again. I begged desperately for mercy, but it was futile. My mom left with Jason, and I curled up alone on the floor. She was right. Only those who work hard deserve to live.

At our seventh wedding anniversary dinner, I noticed something strange. My best friend, Darren Blackburn, who had always been single, had suddenly changed his profile picture to a couple’s photo. "So you’ve been hiding a girlfriend from me?" I joked with a grin. "When are you bringing her around? I should at least meet her and make sure she’s good enough for you." He just smiled and shook his head, brushing it off. "Not yet," he said. "It’s not the right time." Then Deanna Cunningham, my wife’s voice called out from the kitchen, "Babe, come help me tie my apron." I hadn’t even pushed my chair back yet when Darren was already on his feet, jogging over. He stepped behind her, wrapped his arms around her waist, and tied the apron strings for her. I froze where I stood. Seeing the look on my face, he quickly tried to explain, "I’m just used to helping out at home. My mom’s always bossing me around. It’s basically muscle memory. Don’t read into it." I didn’t argue or make a scene. I kept my expression neutral and carried on with the dinner as if nothing had happened. Only after all the guests had left did I turn to Deanna, who was clearing the table, and say calmly, "Let’s get a divorce." She slammed the dishes down with a loud crash and glared at me. "Seriously? Over something like that? Just because he tied my apron once?"

“Druida, did you hear me? What are you doing? Where are they going?! MISSY COME BACK HERE!” Silvan screams. “Sit down and shut up, Silvan. You are a pathetic disgrace right now.” I tell him, waving my hand at the chair, which buckles his knees so he falls into it. “A.. What did you just call me woman?!” He hiss, glaring at me. I unleash some of the power he felt yesterday, staring him directly in the eyes. “I said you are a pathetic disgrace right now. Shut up and listen. How the fuck do you think they died?” I ask him harshly, almost facepalming myself. Silvan’s eye darkens in rage. “Jessica.” She traveled back in time to save her brother from becoming evil and her parents from dying, but now she finds herself in the middle of the enemy camp, close to high ranking officers and the stakes are higher than before. Druida means Wise One, that that is exactly what she needs to be if she wants to do what she came back for. Her mission is simple, but is it? She came back with one objective, not calculating on the Faiths putting twists in her way. She does not count on meeting people she'll get close to, not counting on meeting her mate nor counting on how difficult it is to keep the knowledge from the future to herself when she confronted with the parents she is so desperately trying to save. Will she succeed and save the future for herself, her brother and her entire family, or will she return to a future where things are worse than how she left them? Only time will tell, and everything is at stake in this thrilling sequel to His Magic Luna.

On our son's fifth birthday, I found the texts on Stanley's phone—from his best friend's widow: [Stanley, the kid misses his dad again. When are you coming over?] [Stanley, Archie liked a set of matching family outfits. I already ordered them. Let's wear them together this weekend.] [Stanley, Archie starts school tomorrow. I put your name down under "father." Hope that's okay?] And Stanley? He was all in: [Loretta's asleep. I'll head over now.] [My size is 3XL. Don't get the wrong one.] [It's fine. You two have always been my responsibility.] I stood there, frozen. Then I called him back in from the living room, where he'd been helping Luca open gifts. He didn't deny it. Just hugged me and started rambling. "Hallie's Howard's widow. I promised I'd look out for her and Archie. I know I messed up. It won't happen again." We'd been together ten years. Luca had just turned five. Ending a marriage over a few texts felt dramatic. So I let it slide. Believed him. We even went out to celebrate Luca's birthday. Then his phone lit up on the table: [Stanley, the kid's crying for his dad before bed. I can't calm him down.] Stanley shoved his chair back and walked out—no hesitation. I looked at Luca. He was startled at the noise. And just like that, divorce didn't feel so dramatic anymore.

The dormitory entrance downstairs is completely blocked. After squeezing to the front row, a he-wolf from the physical training camp next door points and whistles at me. "Look, that's the Luminian vixen. She's famous for being a notch-collector and will do it with any Alpha." My bed is strewn with rotten meat and animal entrails. On the wall, the words "Harlot", "Floozy", and "Tart" are scrawled in bright red lipstick. Jessica Cobb, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed cheer captain, holds up her phone. "Girls, I really don't want to expose her, but she's just filthy," she says with a face filled with contempt. "She's worse than a dog in heat. On Monday, it was the little hottie with the six-pack abs in his Ferrari. "Wednesday, it was the mature Alpha who reeks of cigars and has eyes that look like they want to devour you in his Bentley. Yesterday, it was that old gentleman with the monocle who's into domination in his Rolls-Royce." She shoves the photos right in the faces of the surrounding women. "Clearly, she didn't come here to study, but to find a sugar daddy." Despite the crystal-clear pictures showing me in those cars, I can't reveal that the men with me are my obsessively controlling older brother, my hot-tempered uncle, and my great-uncle. Respectively, they are the Alpha King of Lumin, the Chief Justice, and the Chair of the Elders' Council. The surrounding male werewolves burst into laughter, their eyes roaming over my thighs. "Hey, Luminian doll, how much for one night? I'd like a taste of you too." They have no idea that these men they're fantasizing about as my sugar daddies are actually the werewolf elders they can least afford to mess with in this lifetime.

On the first day back after the New Year break, I returned to find my workstation gone—replaced by two large trash bins sitting side by side. "Josh, even though you've been with the company for ten years, you still have to comply with company arrangements. "You were supposed to be reassigned before the holiday. We held off so you could enjoy your New Year. You should be grateful." As he spoke, my boss pointed toward a corner beside the restroom. There sat a set of low, worn desk and chair—something that looked like it had been discarded by an elementary school. I set my bag on it. The desk wobbled twice, then collapsed outright. Amid the muffled snickers around me, I didn't argue or make a scene. I simply looked at the boss, calm and steady. "You don't have to go through all this trouble to force me out. I'll resign now. I'll forfeit the compensation—just process it as quickly as possible." His eyes lit up, though his face feigned regret. "Since you've made up your mind, there's not much I can say. But the Vespere chip you've spent ten years developing belongs to the company—you have no right to take it with you. "Oh, and when you handle the paperwork, don't forget to pay for that cup of coffee in your hand. It's an employee benefit. As an outsider now, you'll have to cover the cost." I nodded and signed the termination agreement without resistance. But the moment I stepped out of the company, I activated the self-destruct program embedded deep within the chip's core.

All Andrea wanted to do on her birthday was have fun and forget all her problems, including the fact that she just broke up with her ex boyfriend of a few weeks. She did not expect getting drunk and showing her wild side to Chase, the biggest Mafia boss she has only heard of. Thinking she already escaped, she is surprised to see him in school again. Finding out he's a great womanizer and a Mafia boss. Chase cannot leave her alone, ever since he had a taste of her, he could not stop thinking about her. He wanted her all to himself and he used his power to his advantage especially finding out his rival is in love with her. He is crazy about her body, possessive and scary. How will Andrea survive being stuck between two young Mafia bosses who hate each other and her family who is planning her death on the other hand? .................. "You are my woman and you should do whatever I want. I don't share my things with anyone! You need to understand that or we are going to keep having issues!" He fired back. I sighed deeply, "There you go with being controlling again. I am not your property!" . "I'm....sorry." I managed to say, my hand is bruising and he wouldn't stop holding it like that. "I won't warn you again. Now..." He sat down on a chair facing me, "I want you to strip." "Why..." He stood up and moved closer to me, "Never mind, I will do it myself. You can't stop me."

"Take them off," he ordered. I furrowed my brows in terror. The shudders from the hostages he has tied up to a chair in the same room as us filled my ears. He narrowed his eyes at me. "I don't...." "Take off your panties and come sit your ass on my face," he ordered. My heart pounded at his ridiculous demand. There are hostages in here, what is he... "Didn't you hear me, Mia?" "I...I can't....." He cocked his gun instantly and.... BANG! I jumped the minute he shot one of the hostages. "If I repeat myself, white girl, they die." he gestured to the hostages. I swallowed in absolute terror. "Now, your panties off and ass on my face or these motherfuckers transcends in a jiffy. Make a choice. Quickly." ****** “They say no good deed goes unpunished.” The quiet, uneventful life of twenty-year-old Mia Jefferson takes a terrifying turn the night she rescues an abandoned interracial baby from a dumpster. For a month, she raises the infant as her own—until a ruthless gang kidnaps her, accusing her of abduction. When the child’s father, Nathaniel “Big Kai” Kincaid, the feared black gangster and underground king of the hood, appears, Mia’s fate is sealed. Instead of killing her, he makes her his baby’s nanny—his way of testing her innocence. But as he watches her every move, a dangerous obsession is born. Mia soon finds herself torn in fear. And when betrayal, blood, and secrets explode around them, she must decide whether to run from the monster who ruined and saved her life at the same time.

Back then, he was my everything. He was my childhood friend, my neighbor, and my teenage dream. I used my chance to confess my love to him on prom night, in front of everyone! It turned out he rejected me just because of the ridiculous reason that his type of girl was a supermodel. Seven years passed, and I still had not become what he wanted. My life had become even harder. I was getting too old to remain a model, and my boyfriend had cheated on me. Until one night, I met him again, my ex-crush. It was time to take revenge and make him beg for my love. A golden opportunity came when my new boss at the agency promised me the title of supermodel as long as I obeyed him. Unfortunately, there was no such thing as a free lunch. There was something I could not control in this dazzling fashion world. Did I really have to give up everything to achieve success, both in my career and in my love life? Could I have a brilliant career without sacrificing my romance? *** "Last night was a mistake," she sighed. "I thought you were commenting that last night was amazing," I teased with a smile. "Yes, last night was amazing, and yes, I admit it was the best sex I've ever had in my adulthood," she grunted, looking frustrated. Upon hearing that confession, my blood boiled. I rose from my chair and stood right next to her. She looked puzzled as I trapped her in the chair. I leaned down low. "Then don't say it was a mistake. Last night was the best thing I've ever had in my adulthood," I whispered in her ear.

Book one of The Little Wolf Series Ashley was the future Beta to the Red Ridge pack that's until his own mother turns the pack against him and leaves him no choice but to run for his life with his father by his side. All Ashley has ever wanted is to meet his mate and have a family but now he's faced with trying to simply survive. Can he and his father make it to somewhere safe or will more heartbreak stand in their way? Gamma Jack has a great life including friends that are more like family but the pain at the loss of his parents is never far away. With no other blood family he dreams of finding his mate and starting a new family but his mate is being hunted and only Jack can save him. Will Jack get to his mate in time or is he destined to forever be alone? The Little Wolf series recommended reading order Loved By The Gamma ~ Jack and Ashley's story His Little Wolf ~ Liam and Bethany's story