Declaration (Preservation, # 3)

  “Feel good?” she breathed against my skin, her tongue skating down to my torso.

  “Yes,” I declared, my hands moving to grip her hair. “Don’t stop, sweetheart.” And I didn’t want her to. I hoped she’d never, ever stop.

  The End

  A Preservation Series Companion Novel

  Available Now

  A gritty coming-of-age drama about a young woman’s self-destructive quest to find purpose, selfworth, and love in a broken world.

  My name is Elise Duchamp. I’m twenty-three years old and I’m known as the town whore.

  No, not the kind who exchanges sexual favors for money. The other kind. The kind who gives it all away for free, whenever and however she likes. I am that girl. The one everyone whispers about and the one none of the girls seem to like, because all of their boyfriends either want to sleep with me or already have. Promiscuity is my thing—the kind that slowly, violently turns my insides black, but gives me something I need.

  All things considered, I’m not completely reckless. I’m safe, and contrary to popular opinion, I do have a heart. I live in a world of careless choices, and with those choices come careless people. I cannot judge them, because I am one of them. I too bow down to the altar of the self-serving. I am not a good friend. I am not and never could be anyone’s girlfriend. I’m convinced any goodness in me shriveled up and died long ago.

  But I am a replacement. That is something I know how to be, and this is a story of the lengths I’d go to in order to keep it that way.

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