Heartless Hero (Crowne Point #1)

by Mary Catherine Gebhard

For the girls who like mean boys.

If by “mean boys” you mean “red flags” 🙌🫶💋

she got into Twilight, which meant I read four books about a sparkly vampire and had to deal with Abigail being Team Jacob. Team fucking Jacob.

OMG NO WAY. NOT TEAM JACOB. TEAM EDWARD FOR LIFE

Never again. Nothing would come before Abigail, not even my heart.

“You were my only friend, but you were so much more. You were my best friend. You were my…” I fiddled with his friendship bracelet. “You know the areas of my soul I was too afraid to walk inside. You read the parts of me I thought I erased. You see my darkness, and you fill it with light.”

“You’d take away your love, wouldn’t you? Because love isn’t a promise, Abigail. It can’t be broken or kept. Real love just is. It exists without consent. It consumes. You’re just like everyone else. Love is something to forget. Love is something to break.”

When I got into Twilight, he finished them before me. He was Team Edward and I was Team Jacob. He said, and I quote, “I knew you were dumb, Abigail, but maybe we should check you for a brain tumor.”

“You were the most distracting fairy tale, Abigail Crowne, but you were worth every harsh reality.”

Abigail and I were a fairy tale I was foolish to believe in.

Someday I will be special. Someday I will mean something to someone. Someday I won’t be so alone.

Sweet girl, I would never leave you, not willingly, not unless I had to.

Every time I hear says “sweet girl” it reminds me of “horrible girl” from the Inheritance Games.

He looked at me like I was crazy. “You’re worth it, Abigail. I would throw my life away for you over and over again.” As if that was the last thing worth saying, he turned back to Ned, determination on his face. “But would you keep it?” I asked. It came out as a squeak, and I cleared my throat. His body language had changed, tight and coiled. “Would you keep your life?” I asked, voice louder. “Would you love yourself the way I do? Can you promise that?” I swallowed, taking a breath. “I’ll try… If you do.”

“Are you worth it, Theo?” That was an easy question to answer. “No.” I nearly laughed. Hell fucking no. That wasn’t the answer I was focusing on anymore. Tansy looked down at her magazine again, earmarking pages with five-layer cakes. “But Abigail thinks so,” I continued. “So I’ll spend the rest of my fucking life trying to be whatever she sees in me.”

“Where you saved me all those years ago, now you’re going to give me everything. No more barriers, no layers between us, nothing hiding that I’m yours and you’re mine.”

My best friend. My tormentor. My bodyguard. Now my fiancé. My everything.