Tomorrow's Lies (Promises #1)
Read Tomorrow's Lies (Promises #1) Online
Authors: S.R. Grey
Judge Me Not series
Inevitability duology
A Harbour Falls Mystery trilogy
Laid Bare novella series
When today's promises become tomorrow's lies, how can you believe in anything . . . or anyone?
Jaynie Cumberland has no idea how to trust again, so she’s given up on trying. Dumped in to the state foster care system at age fourteen, Jaynie spent three years treading water, just trying to get by.
Still, Jaynie always knew she was broken in some way. After all, why did her own mother abandon her? And following a harrowing experience at her first foster home, Jaynie’s worst fears are confirmed, leaving her feeling worthless and shattered.
Now Jaynie counts the days till she turns eighteen and can go out on her own. All she wants is to be free of everyone and everything. But before that can happen, she must make it through the next few months at one final foster home. There Jaynie meets a gorgeous, albeit rough-around-the-edges, boy who is dealing with the repercussions of his own turbulent past.
Flynn O'Neill is immediately taken with this new, fragile girl. He becomes determined to show Jaynie there is more to life than hurt and pain. Unfortunately, this new home they live in, one that promised to be a haven for unwanted kids, is more like a living hell.
So what do you do when you’re trapped and there’s no way out?
What if you fall in love and protecting the other person becomes the most important thing in your life?
What if something unthinkable happens, testing your love, and the stakes are raised higher than ever? Will you come out unscathed? Can today’s promises be kept? Or will they simply become more of tomorrow’s lies?
Tomorrow’s Lies is a beautiful story of an all-consuming love and broken people building a family out of nothing. It's about never giving up, even in the face of adversity.
Thank you for taking this journey with me. Flynn and Jaynie’s story is fictional, but there are all too many real stories of abuse in the foster care system. Thank you to those individuals I spoke with, who shared their own experiences so readily. This story is for you and for all the children who have no voice.
Jaynie
(
Present Day ~ October)
“J
ump,” Flynn says.
I stare down at the swiftly moving river. “I can’t, I can’t,” I cry.
“You have to, Jaynie.”
From where we stand, on the edge of a cliff made of sandstone streaked with iron and copper, the water, black as night, scares me. Ink swirling in a bottomless well and I’m supposed to jump in?
I toss a glance back to the forest, and Flynn sighs. He knows what I’m thinking. “There’s no going back, Jaynie,” he says softly. “The only choice now is to move forward.”
The cliff, the water, jumping in. He
is
right. Still… “I’m scared,” I confess.
Flynn blows out a breath. “I know, sweetheart.”
Soft, understanding, Flynn always gets me.
Regrets, the likes of which I’ve never known, wash over me, and I want nothing more than to turn back the hands of time and start this day over. The girl I was this morning, she is no more. That frightens me. Scarier still is who I may become if I leave Flynn. A lump forms in my throat at the thought.
“I changed my mind,” I declare, shaking my head. “We shouldn’t separate, Flynn.” I tug on his arm, urging him to retreat with me as I take two steps away from the edge.
It’s a move born of desperation, a last ditch attempt to pretend we’re not in the situation we’re in. But my delusion is short-lived. Flynn’s expression tells me all I need to know. Going back, at least for me, is no longer an option.
“What if I never see you again?” I whisper.
“You’ll see me soon enough.” He doesn’t sound so certain, and that scares the hell out of me.
“I’m out of here,” I say.
When I start to walk away, Flynn grabs my arm. “Where do you plan to go, Jaynie?”
“With you, of course. Back to the house.”
His grip tightens. “Uh, I don’t think so.”
He’s right, but still, I try to slip away. My resistance is futile. One tug and Flynn has me snuggled in close to him. “Flynn…”
This is good, this is home, and I can’t help but relax against him. I’d like to stay this way all night, my back pressed to Flynn’s firm chest, my heart brimming full with his love.
Leaning down to whisper in my ear, Flynn gently nudges me back to reality when he says, “No changing the plan. You’re leaving this place, today, now. This is me, Jaynie, making sure you’re never in danger again.”
And that’s it for me. My walls crumble and I start to cry. “Please, no. Don’t make me go. I don’t think I’ll make it without you.”
Flynn’s warm breaths, soft caresses on the back of my neck, send shivers down my spine, especially when he chants my name, like a prayer. “Jaynie, Jaynie.” And then, “You’re stronger than you think. You can do anything you put your mind to.”
I let out a derisive snort. “You believe in me
way
too much, Flynn.”
“Nah, you don’t believe in yourself enough. You never have, babe. You keep forgetting who you were when you first got here.”
“I remember.”
How could I forget?
“Then you know how far you’ve come.”
“Until tonight, Flynn. Tonight I screwed everything up.” My voice cracks as I continue. “I failed myself. I couldn’t hold it together, and I ended up failing
us
.”
“Shh…” He walks me forward till we’re back at the cliff’s edge.
“The abyss,” I murmur, looking down.
Still inky, still black, still scary as hell
. “You can’t make me jump into that nothingness, Flynn.”