Remember Me Always: A Contemporary Romance (32 page)

THANK YOU

Thank you for taking the time to read
Remember Me Always
.  If you enjoyed it, please consider telling your friends and posting a short review.  Word of mouth is an author’s best friend and much appreciated.  Shouts from rooftops are great too.

And a special thank you to my Wicked Readers Street Team.

You girls rock!  Thank you for all of your support!

Also, I would like to thank my friend and fellow author, Lane Hart, for always being there to talk about books, tattoos, life and our next book boyfriend.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Angela Snyder is a
New York Times
bestselling author.  Angela grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania with a passion for reading and writing stories since she was a child.  She recently decided to pursue her lifelong dream and published her debut novel,
Vampire Next Door
, in 2013.  Angela currently lives in an even smaller town in Pennsylvania with her husband and her very spoiled Golden Retriever.

For more information about upcoming books from Angela, follow her on Facebook at
http://www.facebook.com/AuthorAngelaSnyder
or on Twitter at
http://www.twitter.com/AuthorAngelaS
.

If you enjoyed reading
Remember Me Always
, you can find it along with all of my other books on my Amazon author page.

http://www.amazon.com/Angela-Snyder/e/B00EVDDTMI

Please enjoy a free sample of my contemporary romance novel
Saving Avery
.

Saving Avery

ANGELA SNYDER

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Copyright © 2015 Angela Snyder

Cover art by Paper & Sage Design
http://paperandsage.com/

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

ISBN:  1507677553

ISBN-13:  978-1507677551

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SAVING AVERY

by Angela Snyder

Avery Mason had it all: the nice house, the fancy clothes, the expensive cars and the perfect husband.  On the outside looking in, her life appears to be perfect.  But inside, Avery knows her life is far from perfection as her husband's carefully constructed façade slowly starts to crumble.

Forced to fake a happy marriage while enduring physical and mental abuse from the man who had once been her whole world is taking its toll.  And ever so slowly, Avery finds herself slipping into an existence where she is gradually becoming a shell of her former self.

When Dr. Max Harrison transfers from Chicago to North Carolina, his world is flipped upside down the moment he sees Avery.  With one glimpse into her blue-gray eyes, he can see the pain she is so desperately hiding from the rest of the world.  As Avery attempts to push him away, he becomes convinced that there is more to her than meets the eye.  And when he finally uncovers her darkest secret, the pieces of the puzzle slowly start to click into place.

Max and Avery want to be together, but nothing in life is ever that simple.  It's not going to be easy to get her away from the powerful Mason family, but Max will risk everything to protect her.  His only concern is
Saving Avery.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

Saving Avery
is a work of fiction; but, unfortunately, domestic violence is very real.  If you or someone you know is suffering at the hands of another, please get help.

You are not alone.

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Due to strong language and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18 and not intended for people with any triggers.

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PROLOGUE

AVERY

I think the biggest mistake of my life could be chalked up to naiveté.  I was barely eighteen when I had first laid eyes on Nathan Mason.  He had all the qualities that a girl my age should have wanted for a future husband.  He was rich, handsome and perfectly charming.  And on the night we met, his piercing blue eyes captured me in a way that threatened to keep me there forever, never letting me go.  If only I had known back then how true that would ultimately become.

As I sit on the patio overlooking the ocean, I think to myself how perfect my life must appear to an outsider.  I'm twenty-three years old.  I have a handsome husband, who is one of the country's top plastic surgeons.  I have an enormous house on private beachfront property, an array of expensive cars at my disposal, all the designer clothes a girl could ever wish for and more money than I could ever spend in my lifetime.  I have the kind of life women dream about.  I have the kind of life that women envy.

Anyone on the outside looking in would say I have the perfect life.

But they couldn't be more wrong.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

FIVE YEARS AGO

AVERY

My father was hosting my high school graduation party at our estate.  He always threw the most lavish affairs, so my party was no exception.  The house and grounds were large enough to accommodate quite a crowd of guests, and so my father invited as many people as he could.  Being that he was the mayor of our city, most of the attendees were his colleagues and people I had never met before and, quite frankly, didn't care to meet. 

However, I had promised my father that I would make an appearance and at least try to pretend to be enjoying myself.  Little did he know that I was planning to secretly ditch early to join my classmates at Becky Weston's party.  All of my friends would be at her house, and it was one of the last hurrahs before everyone started to move away for the upcoming college fall semester.

I had been accepted to several colleges, but ultimately decided to take a year off to travel Europe, much to my father's dismay.  He fought me tooth and nail at first about my plans for foreign travel, but eventually I wore him down.  He told me I was as bullheaded as my mother and that he never won an argument with her either.  Having lost my mother at the tender age of eight, I always loved when he told me how much I reminded him of her, even if it was about our similar temperament that he seemed to disagree with.

After getting sucked into a twenty-minute conversation about economic woes with a group of older men, I was desperate to leave and join my friends.  My cell phone vibrated in my hand, alerting me via text that my best friend, Samantha, had just arrived at Becky's party.  Sam would be leaving for UCLA on the other side of the country soon, and so I wanted to party it up with my best friend as much as I could up until that time.  We have been inseparable for almost our entire lives, and I was going to miss her like crazy.

My eyes quickly scoured the crowd and eventually settled upon my father.  He was engaged with a few of his colleagues in a cloud of cigar smoke, so I figured my chance to escape had finally arrived.  I sent a quick text to Sam to let her know I was leaving.  As I made my way to the front door, it suddenly opened before I could reach for the knob.  A group of three people stood on the other side under the yellow haze of the porch lights.  I recognized Mr. and Mrs. Mason right away.  They were long-time family friends, and I had met them on numerous occasions.  Mr. Mason was the chief of police, and Mrs. Mason was a lawyer.  Together, the Masons were a power couple at the highest rung on the social ladder.  Rumor was that they controlled the entire city, including everyone who lived in it.  If they wanted something taken care of, then it would be.  They were the
it couple
, the couple everyone wanted to be and the couple everyone adored.  My father was one of their closest friends, and he undoubtedly considered himself very fortunate about that fact.

"Avery," Mr. Mason said with a smile.  "Congratulations."

"Thank you, Mr. Mason."

"Your father told us you're forgoing college and instead going to travel Europe.  How exciting," Mrs. Mason said with a smile, but it didn't touch her eyes.  I thought she was being sarcastic, but the woman was the queen of masking her true intent.  She stepped aside and motioned to the figure in the shadows behind her.  "I don't believe you've had the pleasure of meeting our son.  Avery, this is Nathan."

Before that night I had only heard of Nathan Mason.  In fact, I had heard so much about him, I felt like I already knew him.  I knew that he had graduated high school two years earlier than his peers and then from medical school at the top of his class.  I also knew that he had finished his residency under the wing of one of the best plastic surgeons in the world and was currently enrolled in one of the country's most prestigious fellowship programs.

His mother never missed an opportunity to brag about her son; and when he stepped forward into the light, I understood why.  He was exceptionally handsome with a classic face, blond hair and piercing blue eyes.  The dark suit he wore was impeccable, and his blue eyes glittered in the light as they landed on me.  With his hand outstretched, he plastered a smile on his face that made my insides quiver.  "Hello, Avery," he said with a deep timbre.

I placed my smaller hand in his and watched with rapt attention as he brought my hand up to his mouth.  When his lips brushed against my knuckles, it instantly felt like a shock of electricity coursing through my body from his kiss.  The party at Becky Weston's house and my friends were completely forgotten in that instant.  The rest of the world seemed to blur around us as we stared at each other.  I knew at that moment that it would have taken a team of wild horses to drag me away from the company of Nathan.

Mr. Mason took his wife's hand and grinned.  "Let's leave these two alone to get acquainted," he said before they walked away.

Nathan stared down at me.  "You weren't leaving, were you?"

I shook my head, incapable of speech at that moment.

"Good," he said with a soft smile.  "Well, since you're staying, let's go somewhere a little more private, shall we?" Nathan asked.

All I could do was nod.  He acted and spoke like he was from a different era, and I was truly captivated by him.  I didn't even realize my hand was still in his until he pulled me along after him, leading me outside and around the back portion of the property.

With noise from the party and chirping of crickets in the background, Nathan and I spent the rest of the evening on the verandah talking and sharing stories.  Even though a little over a decade separated us in age, we had a lot in common and immediately hit it off like we had known each other for years.  The more I got to know him, the quicker I started to fall for him.  He exuded confidence in everything he said and did, and we shared an instant connection that couldn't be explained.  And when he told me about his love for traveling and how he was planning a trip to Europe, it almost felt like fate had intervened that night and brought us together.

Like most girls, I imagined my future being much like a fairytale.  Who wouldn't want to meet the perfect prince and live in a big castle?  Nathan was everything a woman would dream about.  He was smart, funny, well educated, charming and certainly wasn't lacking in the looks department whatsoever.  He was mature and ambitious, with a dream of opening his own medical practice in North Carolina.  He had a bright future, and I found myself just wanting to be a part of it.

He stole a kiss at the end of the night right along with my heart.

After my graduation party, Nathan and I began to date exclusively.  He was my first steady boyfriend, and I fell head over heels in love with him all too quickly.  He soon became my everything, the center of my universe.

Nathan lavished me with expensive gifts and a love that I think I had been craving for most of my life, having lost my mother at such a young age.  His parents and my father wholeheartedly encouraged the relationship and couldn't have been happier when we announced our engagement.  We were married shortly thereafter and ready to spend the rest of our lives together.

It was like a real-life fairytale, but only to those on the outside looking in.  It took some time, but the façade that Nathan had carefully constructed slowly began to crumble…