%2Blighter.jpg)
Title: A Little Faith
Author : Emma James
Series: Ocean Beach
Publication date: 9th October 2014
Genres: Adult Contemporary, Mature New Adult,
Romance
COVER & ARTWORK DESIGNER
Jemina Venter - https://www.facebook.com/ArtbyJeminabox?fref=ts
ARC SIGN-UP FORM – FOR
BLOGGERS
SYNOPSIS
I had no idea a carefree island vacation would tear my life apart.
But now it’s time to put my walls up,
make them impenetrable.
It’s the only way to
survive.
~Faith
Six Years
Later…
Harley, the protector. Retro, the
straight shooter.
Keanu, the funny bone. Levi, the
model. And Text, who can’t seem to find himself.
All their lives were permanently
altered by one event.
With a pact made, these five best
friends need something from Faith.
Join Faith as she goes on an
emotional and heartwarming discovery where all may not be what it
seems.
But with every ending, comes a new
beginning, a second chance.
You just gotta have A Little
Faith...
Welcome to Ocean
Beach.
“You never know how strong you are until
being strong is the only choice you have.”
~ Bob Marley
.jpg)
Goodreads :
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Emma hopes to surprise you with her debut book, A Little Faith.
AUTHOR LINKS
Twitter : @emmajamesbooks
Facebook: Emma James Author
THE MEN OF OCEAN BEACH
EXCERPT
“You never know how strong you are until
being strong is the only choice you have.”
- Bob Marley
THE ISLAND
CHANCE
It’s a hot and humid night. We’re all
looking forward to a beer and some nightlife as we take the short walk from our
hotel to the Coconut Club.
At this time of the year, the island is
packed with tourists from all over the world. This means lots of beautiful girls
in their tiny bikinis with a tan and a smile and everybody looking to have a
good time.
Only ten days into our two week surfing
vacation with my friends, I’ve been having the time of my life. We’ve met some
great locals who have entrusted us with their secret surfing spots, which they
keep on the down-low. These are their
places to surf, not to be overrun by tourists.
The surf has been awesome. We’ve ridden
alongside the locals, our boards attached to our motorcycles as we follow them
through the hustle and bustle of the crazy traffic. I shit you not, it almost
appears like there are no road rules over here. It’s like dodge ball with
motorcycles. It’s been a hell of a lot of fun taking the bikes to the streets,
weaving through the ridiculous traffic, honking our horns—quite the adrenaline
ride.
Once we make it out of the shit storm of
traffic and get on the quieter roads around the island, we're able to put the
pedal to the metal and enjoy the scenery.
Fan-fucking-tastic!
Just don’t fucking crash
has been our motto because the hospital service isn’t that great over here. You
don’t want to wind up in it.
Since Faith would’ve loved to see some
of the places we’ve been to and photograph them, Jase brought his camera and
saved some of these memories for her. I can’t help thinking he has an interest
in my sister. Jase is a great guy, however, so I’ll cross that bridge when I
come to it.
The locals have showed us the clubs and
bars to check out. We know they receive commission for pointing us in the
direction of certain places, but these guys don’t have the same opportunities we
have been given in life, so why not help a guy out?
The food has been awesome. Keanu only
got the shits for a few days—we did warn him about the water. We could smell him
from across the hallway, making me glad I wasn’t sharing a room with Keanu. Levi
got the short straw for those few days.
We’ve sat on the beach at night while
Keanu, Levi, and Jase sang and strummed their guitars, entertaining a small
crowd that gathered each evening while the sun sets. It's a pretty awesome way
to watch the sun go down if you ask me. This has been such a great
trip.
After four years of college, we all just
graduated and decided to take this trip as a gift to ourselves for summer break.
We’ve all got stuff we have applied for or are in the process of locking down
when we get home except for Jase, who is the youngest in the group and our
friend Harley’s younger brother. He wanted to come along; therefore, this is his
vacation before he starts college.
We weren’t stupid; we all knew life was
getting more serious and we were entering the next phase. We have our futures
ahead of ourselves, yet who knew when we would be able to all get together and
do this again? My only regret is Harley couldn’t make the trip.
He is moving ahead with his dream of
owning a business—his college years were more about a backup plan. The guy is so
smart. He plans way ahead. Out of all of us, he’s got his shit together the
most. He landed himself a job that he couldn’t pass up. The boy is thinking big
and has always been like that. He sees his future of owning a security business
empire like a blueprint in his mind. I know he will make it happen, as well.
He’s just that kind of guy.
Fuck, I love all these guys. My friends
mean the world to me, and I would do anything for them.
Any-fucking-thing they asked of me.
The guys are all completely different.
Well, maybe with the exception of Keanu and Levi. Those two are hilarious
without trying and have this bond which glues them together. They have such a
bromance going on that they will be friends for life. Nothing will get between
them. They are brothers from another mother, through and through. Although, we
all get along incredibly well.
Keanu and Levi have been spreading
themselves among the ladies, while Retro seems happy enough just surfing,
eating, and drinking. He’s got a lady on his mind back home, so he’s just
letting his free spirit enjoy the waves and soak up the atmosphere.
I’ve been keeping a subtle eye on Jase;
he’s been throwing back a few beers. The chicks love his blonde hair and
mismatched blue and brown eyes. At eighteen, he isn’t technically underage here,
only back home; as a result, he’s enjoying it while it lasts. I promised Harley,
his brother, I would have his back and not let him get too out of control,
however. So far, he’s only thrown up like the exorcist one night. I think that
helped cure him of hitting it too hard for a few more days. The waves are more
important than getting totally wasted and not being able to surf anyways.
We enter the Coconut Club and make our
way to a high-top table with the stools. This place is starting to fill up. The
DJ is playing loud techno, and the club is pumping with bodies on the dance
floor moving in sync.
Retro offers to buy the first round and
takes off to the bar before it gets too busy and you wind up waiting to be
served for ages.
Levi and Keanu are already scouting the
club for hot chicks, talking in each other’s ear, being each other’s wingman.
The next second, they are both shouting, “Challenge. Accepted!” and bumping
fists. I roll my eyes. They do this every night once they have locked down their
female prey. The girls are here to party, looking for a good time, and these two
aim to please.
The tourists are all in party mode on
the island. Inhibitions are left at the door. After what I have seen, I don’t
think I will be letting my future daughter ever come on a vacation for summer
break until she is at least thirty.
Hell. No.
Jase has already been spotted by a group
of girls who are all giggling and pointing at him. I can’t help feeling proud of
him. He was somewhat of a geek at school and I suppose Harley and my boys rubbed
off on him. Now he’s buff and enjoying the female attention. His blonde hair and
striking mismatched eyes make him stand out from the crowd.
We are all a pretty good looking bunch.
We look after ourselves, and we hit up a fair bit of extreme sports. It keeps us
fit. We aren’t the indoorsy type. We study hard, but we play hard,
too.
One day, all this carefree stuff will
have to be locked down, but at the moment, we are young and single and generally
don’t do anything by halves.
It’s all or nothing.
******
We’ve been here for a couple hours now.
It’s been a great night of letting loose and jumping about on the dance floor.
“It’s my buy,” I have to shout over the
music. I head over to the bar, where the crowd is two people deep all along its
length, waiting to be served. This could take a while with only a couple bar
tenders serving.
My mind drifts to Faith, my kid sister
by eight years. I’m looking forward to seeing her when we get home. I’ve got a
week lined up to spend with her and the folks before heading back to San Diego.
Today, I bought her a brightly colored sarong, figuring chicks love that sort of
thing when they come here. Jase has it packed in his suitcase since I’ve bought
quite a bit of souvenirs for family, and my bag is at its weight
limit.
I know how much she wanted to come on
this vacation with us and loves photography; as a result, I've taken a lot of
pictures on my phone to show her.
I bought her a Canon old-school camera
when she was nearly eleven, just before we left for college, so she could play
about with it. I hoped to keep her busy with a hobby while I was away because I
hated leaving her. She hung around with us more than her own friends.
Regardless, I loved having her around, and the guys didn’t mind. I knew leaving
her was going to leave a hole in her life.
Four years later, she is now nearly fifteen. I think she may have a
career as a photographer. She takes awesome photos, and I know she wants a dark
room. Our mom and dad have bought her a digital camera for her birthday in just
over two months, while I’ve organized for some dark room equipment—the perfect present for Faith. I can’t wait to see her face when we
give it all to her. The best of both photography worlds for her to play around
with.
Jase clamps one hand on my shoulder and
yells in my ear, “Hey, Chance, thought you might like some company while you’re
standing up here waiting. I’ll help you bring the beers over. The wingmen are
working the beat, and Retro’s gone to take a piss.”
When I look over and see Levi and Keanu
dancing all over a couple of girls, I can’t help laughing at them. They
certainly love chicks.
“This crowd is sure thirsty.” I smile at
Jase. I’ve been standing here awhile already. “The downfall of summer break
vacationing.”
Jase is a nice guy. He’s always thinking
about others. He’s seen both sides of the school crowd, popular and unpopular.
He was bullied for being a geek at school, so he is sensitive to others and
thinks of their feelings. Once he started coming out of his shell and growing,
his features started to get noticed by the girls. Luckily, Harley was there to
help with his self-esteem. He used to take him out back at their home and get
him to pound the heavy bag. Afterward, they’d lift weights and go jogging
together.
Jase is a much deeper guy than a lot of
people realize. We knew. The stupid assholes at his school, on the other hand,
were threatened by what they knew he could become. He had smarts, a personality
to match, and his looks were starting to shine through. Harley just helped nudge
it along with some brotherly advice and some older brother knowledge of what
makes a girl’s head turn.
Jase knew what he was capable of and
never got a big head. It was like he was waiting for the right girl, someone
with smarts he could be attracted to. Jase was always studying or hanging with
his geeky friends. You could give him a makeover, but he always stayed true to
his friends. He saw people for who they were, not what they looked like. He
looked into people’s souls, not just the pretty face. I think someone was
counted very lucky if they were friends with Jase.
Jase’s voice invades my thoughts, “So,
how’s Faith? Have you spoken to her lately?”
“I texted her earlier, letting her know
how we were all doing.”
I decide to wind Jase up a bit. “I let
your dad know you’ve been making up for lost time with the beers.” I’m trying to
keep a straight face.
“What the fuck, Chance? I told Dad I
have been behaving myself. Mom and Dad only let me come on this trip as long as
I behaved.”
I’m laughing out loud. Sometimes it’s
too easy playing with Jase. The look on his face, priceless. “I’m only joking. I
haven’t ratted you out. Harley was a lot wilder than you, anyway. Trust me,
you’re a saint compared to what he was getting up to at your
age.”
I finally get served, and we haul the
beers back to our table where Keanu, Levi, and Retro are waiting. We do a salute
with our beers before taking a drink.
It’s now around eleven-thirty, and the
crowd is thinning out a little. We’re all feeling pretty relaxed. We have a
crack of dawn surf we want to get in, and we need to drive an hour to get to the
spot; therefore, we are keeping ourselves on the right side of
sober.
Barely.
Keanu and Levi have wandered off
somewhere and Retro’s gone for another piss while Jase and I are chilling and
talking when, suddenly, there is a bit of commotion in the club. A young Asian
guy with a backpack has climbed up onto a table, screaming like a wild man. I
can’t understand what he’s saying; he’s not speaking English.
Jase is standing beside me, shouting in
my ear, “What the fuck is that guy’s problem?”
I’ve got no idea. He’s still screaming
wildly, his face is dripping with sweat, and he keeps wiping his face on his
sleeve. He’s angry and agitated with fear in his eyes, and he’s gulping down
air.
The young guy, who doesn’t look much
older than us, pulls something out of his pocket, holding it above his head,
waving it about. I wish I knew what he was yelling about.
Sensing something isn’t right with this
guy, the bar's crowd begins trying to move away, making their way towards the
entrance.
Seconds have ticked by.
I grab Jase and move him away from the
inevitable crush while I search the crowd for Levi, Retro, and Keanu.
I shout over the music, “Fuck! I can’t
see where the others are.” I need to know where they are. Right.
Now.
It’s only been about twenty seconds
since the guy made himself known. I’ve moved us to the other side of the bar, as
far away as we can shuffle through the crowd from the crazy guy.
The front entrance is getting a line up
as people shove at others. In the few seconds we’ve grabbed, I keep my eyes on
him as we move. The kid is positively shaking. Then, his thumb raises and starts
to press down on the device in his hand.
Jesus!
I duck, grabbing a girl near me around
the waist and shoving both her and Jase behind a table and some chairs. I try to
cover them as much as I can, pushing their heads down.
Boom!
There is a loud explosion that rocks our
ear drums.
I look up from our crouched position
over the table top. Blood has rained down on us. It’s everywhere. Bits of what I
can only describe as flesh have landed on the table we are hiding behind. There
is a horrid, burnt smell in the air. People are crying out. The girl with us has
gotten up and blended into the crowd. Everyone is moving like a herd of scared
cattle towards the club entrance.
“Fuck. The guy blew himself up. Fuck.”
I’m talking almost to myself. I feel like I’m in a vacuum. I can’t really hear.
I can only stare.
I’m stunned by what just happened. A lot
of people tried to take cover like we did, yet I can see bodies lying on the
ground. Are they dead? There is blood and bits of flesh covering people like a
macabre abstract painting. It’s everywhere.
Where are the guys? I shake a stunned
Jase, and we get up from our crouched position. The music has been drowned out
by the screams and sounds of fear inside the club. I shake my head, my ears
continuing to ring.
As people push and shove past us, I take
stock of our surroundings. The explosion was enough to blow the kid up and
collect anybody within its radius of fallout.
What the fuck.
Was this a joke? Is this some staged prank? I’m having trouble believing what
I’m seeing.
Jase and I look at each other.
I have to snap out of
it.
What the fuck did this guy
do?
Why?
What the fuck!
“We need to find the guys and get out of
here,” Jase is shouting at me, the fear clearly evident in his
voice.
I rub my hand through my hair,
dislodging bits of gunk. I don’t want to think about what it is. “Can you see
the others?” I’m probably shouting back at him since I can’t hear myself
properly.
The rest of the crowd who are still
inside the bar have just woken up from their places of stunned disbelief and are
frantically trying to help their friends or the person closest to them. They are
as desperate as we are to get out of the club and to safety. They know something
is wrong. Very, very wrong. This is no longer the happy place it was a few
minutes ago.
I herd a group of crying European girls
I noticed earlier hanging out together tonight, splattered with blood and other
bits, towards the front entrance. “Go!” I tell the one who looks the most with
it. “Take your friends and get out of here. Get yourselves some help. Just stick
together.”
She nods slowly at me as she pushes her
friends out the door.
I look for Jase, finding him grabbing
some other girls, getting them to move and telling them not to look back.
But I did.
Carnage is spread out like a horror
movie scene. The lighting in the club is a lot dimmer in parts, and broken glass
is everywhere, being crunched under foot. Tables and chairs have been turned
over, toppled in the panic. There is a bloody mess where the guy had once stood.
I try not to look too closely.
Why would a guy do that to himself? It
doesn't make sense
I can only hope the other guys are safe.
Where the fuck are they?
As fear fully sets in, the remaining
people in the bar are full-blown making a push-and-shove run for it. It's not a
good way to get through a narrow doorway. A couple of guys are smashing the
glass frontage with bar stools, trying to speed up the evacuation. Everybody
wants out.
I’m looking around for a back exit.
While there must be one, I can’t see a sign from where I’m standing. When I hear
a new wave of terrified screaming and crying, I turn to the front of the club. A
blue delivery van has been driven up to where the guys broke the glass
front.
“Fuck, what now?” I mumble.
A guy gets out and runs off, leaving the
car door open. There are still people trying to escape through the broken
windows near the van. If that van has what I think is in it, they won’t stand a
chance. This shit is real.
“Fuck. I’m sorry, Faith, Mom, Dad,” I
barely hear myself say. I know what’s coming.
I grab Jase and try to get as far from
the front of the bar as possible.
I’m sorry, Harley.
Anywhere, but the
front.
I throw Jase in front of me, and we push
against the crowd. We make some distance, but not enough.
Retro, Levi, and Keanu, please be safe.
Then it happens.
GIVEAWAY
.jpg)
5 x Mobi files – A Little Faith , up for grabs.
Prizes will be sent out on 10th October 2014
Direct to winners Kindle
Direct to winners Kindle
*squee* I'm so excited for A Little Faith and for YOU!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Brandee :D I got my first review in and it was AWESOME!!!
Delete