Up in Smoke (King #8)

“Oh, yeah?” I ask. “Everyone seeks forgiveness sooner or later, Princess. Why not you?” I hold out my hand for my gun, she hands it over. It’s still warm.

She turns to face me and shrugs. “Because, I’m not sorry.”

“Good, that’s the first lesson,” I say, suddenly turning my gun on Mugs and pulling the trigger in quick succession. Three bullets explode into his chest, sending him teetering back over the hole’s edge until he falls backward into it, his body joining Jerry’s.

What I forgot to tell the now very dead Mugs was that Bear knew he’d raped the girl first before Jerry had taken his turn. My job wasn’t to return one body to the dirt tonight, but two.

“What’s the second lesson?” Rage asks, staring at the gun as I change the clip.

“The second lesson, is that in order to survive you are loyal to no one. You are on nobody’s side except your own.” I holster the gun and look her in the eye to make sure she understands exactly what I’m getting at. “You got that?”

Rage nods. “Yes, loyal to no one,” she says, adding, “What about you?”

I laugh. This fucking kid.

“No one, kid." I look over to the bodies in the dirt then back to her. "Especially not me.”





Acknowledgments





This part is always really hard for me. There is so much that goes into creating a book. So many days of feeling like a complete failure in every aspect of life. Then you guys read my words and open the flood gates of love and by the time I get to writing these things I’m a blubbering mess.

But I’ll give it a try. Here we go. *wipes tears*

Thank you first and foremost to my husband and daughter. There is so much you both sacrifice for this crazy dream. I can never thank you or apologize to you enough. You two are my everything.

Baby Frazier, you can do anything and everything you set out to accomplish in life. Your mama isn’t the brightest bulb on the tree and she’s shit at laundry and dishes, but if I can put a lasso around my dreams then so can you, my bright little love.

Logan, you have taken this dream of mine and turned it into a dream of ours. That means the world to me. Your endless support is the only reason I can do this some days. Your strength makes me stronger and I am forever grateful we found each other exactly when we were meant to. Who would have thought twelve years ago as crazy twenty-something’s that we’d be where we are now? And not a single stint in rehab between us! HAHA. But, seriously, look at us go, babe! I love you more than words. Forever I am yours. To the moon and beyond. Always.

Thank you to my readers. You are such a huge part of my soul. Your enthusiasm for my stories still FLOORS me. I am so grateful you love my words. Thank you for allowing me to continue writing them. I promise I’ll give you all the stories I have, with everything I have, for as long as you’ll let me.

To all the women reading this, thank you for being such strong complicated beautiful creatures who inspire me every day. Do not doubt what you are capable of. I sure don’t. So go! DO IT ALL. Try and fail at your dreams then try again because that’s when you will truly shine. Because you CAN. Because you are LOVED. Because you’re WORTHY of everything this life has to offer. And if all else fails, because I motherfucking said so.

To the classiest bitches in the trailer park, my girls (and like two guys) in Frazierland, LOVE ALL YOUR FACES AND THEN SOME. Thank you for hanging out with me. Talking to me. And being there for me. YOU are my safe place.

To all those who laughed both behind my back and in my face when I said I wanted to write books for a living, THANK YOU FOR THAT PUSH.

Thank you to my agent Kimberly Brower of Brower Literary & Management for opening doors for me I didn’t even know were there. I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

To AudiOMG, and to all my foreign publishers, Thank you for taking a chance on me and my work. I promise I’ll try not to let you down and I’m so excited to discover what’s next.

Thank you to Karla Nellenbach DOUBLE MIDDLES, Evident Ink, and Love-N-Books for the edits. Thank you for helping me tell my story and for making sense of my madness.

Thank you to my author friends who inspire me and offer encouragement and words of wisdom daily. You help me both professionally and mentally. You guys are the SHIZNIT. (You know who you are S.T.-ers)

Thank you to Jenn Watson and the team at Social Butterfly for helping birth my book babies into the world with gusto. And just like birth, sometimes launching one of my books can be a bloody mess, but in the end it’s so worth it. I’m grateful for all you do.

Thank you to Wander Photography (Wander and Andrey) for the amazing cover image and for giving life to Smoke. I love your work and the both of you. Margaritas on Mr. Frazier very soon!

Thank you to Jessica, Rea, Pavlina, Lydia, Lizette, Kath, and Kris for reading through the ARCS so quickly for me. You are life savers. Special thanks to Lydia and Rea for all the amazing detail and hard work. You are all very much appreciated and I’m a thousand percent less frazzled because of your help.

Thank you to Julie Vaden for being my friend and for being the most excellent admin of Frazierland. Wait, that’s not good enough of a title. PRESIDENT of Frazierland! I’m unworthy of your help or your friendship, but I’m a greedy bitch, so I’ll take ‘em both.

Thank you to all the AMAZING bloggers and Goodreads reviewers who continue to sign up for my blog tours and ARCS. Thank you for continuing to support me and spread the word about my books to the masses. Your role is VITAL to what we do and I appreciate each and every one of you more than you can ever know.

I meant to keep this short. SHIT. Oh well, I’m just VERY thankful. *DROPS MIC*

Word to your mother,

T.M.