Fragmented Read online

  PRAISE FOR THE SECTION 8 NOVELS

  Unbreakable

  “Unbreakable keeps the action rolling at breakneck pace. This is a mystery-style thriller with surprising depth. You won’t find a sexier bad boy than Gunner, or a better match for him than Avery. This takes intrigue, danger, and passion to a whole new extreme!”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “Romance with white-knuckle pacing and nonstop action.”

  —Smart Bitches Trashy Books

  “Tyler’s Section 8 series is the best new romance-suspense series of 2013! I cannot get enough of her diverse characters, intricate plotlines, and downright steamy romance… . Prepare yourself for one hot ride.”

  —Joyfully Reviewed

  “A solid action-suspense story. I liked the characters and enjoyed seeing them come together as more than a team.”

  —That’s What I’m Talking About

  “Tyler does a good job of crafting alpha males and strong heroines. The book is fast paced and filled with action.”

  —All About Romance

  “A fantastic story … an exciting and suspenseful adventure that was a thrilling ride all the way to the electrifying climax… . Stephanie Tyler is one of the best authors writing romance-suspense.”

  —The Reading Cafe

  “A page-turner full of action and secrets… . The chemistry between Gunner and Avery is blazing hot.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  Surrender

  “Brimming over with intrigue, heroics, and plenty of action. Tyler provides a realistic look at the extreme conditions her complex characters endure to satisfy their mission. Add some hot romance, and you’ve got another winner.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “Compulsively readable.”

  —Smart Bitches Trashy Books

  “Surrender was packed full of action, sexiness, and twists.”

  —Under the Covers

  “An intriguing series filled with … fascinating and complicated characters.”

  —Night Owl Reviews

  “Surrender is a fantastic start to Tyler’s new series. Fans of romantic suspense will love this story.”

  —Happily Ever After-Reads

  PRAISE FOR OTHER NOVELS

  BY STEPHANIE TYLER

  “Unforgettable.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Cherry Adair

  “Red-hot romance. White-knuckle suspense.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Lara Adrian

  “No one writes a bad-boy hero like Tyler.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Larissa Ione

  “A story that kept me on the edge of my seat.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Alexandra Ivy

  “Stephanie Tyler is a master.”

  —Romance Junkies

  “Sexy and witty.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “A thrill ride with twists and turns to keep the reader guessing.”

  —Night Owl Reviews

  “Takes murder, suspense, psychic gifts, and passion; twists them all up; and then tosses them out in a way that will keep you wondering what will happen next.”

  —Joyfully Reviewed

  “Heart-stoppingly exciting.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “A very satisfying romantic thriller.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  Also by Stephanie Tyler

  The Section 8 Novels

  Surrender

  Unbreakable

  The Skulls Creek Novels

  Vipers Run

  The Eternal Wolf Clan Series

  Dire Warning

  (A Penguin Special)

  Dire Needs

  Dire Wants

  Dire Desires

  Lonely Is the Night

  (A Penguin Special)

  SIGNET ECLIPSE

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) LLC, 375 Hudson Street,

  New York, New York 10014

  USA|Canada|UK|Ireland|Australia|New Zealand|India|South Africa|China

  penguin.com

  A Penguin Random House Company

  First published by Signet Eclipse, an imprint of New American Library,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA) LLC

  Copyright © Stephanie Tyler, LLC, 2015

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  SIGNET ECLIPSE and logo are trademarks of Penguin Group (USA) LLC.

  ISBN 978-0-698-15409-4

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Version_1

  Contents

  Praise

  Also by Stephanie Tyler

  Title page

  Copyright page

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Acknowledgments

  Excerpt from VIPERS RUN

  This one’s for Dad.

  There are two kinds of people—those who drive into the storm and those who find shelter.

  Chapter One

  “What are you so afraid of, Andrea?” her school counselor probed.

  Fifteen-year-old Drea Timmons shifted in her seat, wanting nothing to do with this. But at least the woman sitting across from her with the smooth bob and placid expression hadn’t tried to call her by her nickname. That, Drea reserved only for friends, and these days, that pool was small. “I’m not afraid. Where do you get this shit from?”

  That last part was one of Danny’s favorite expressions and was usually a conversation ender with most adults.

  Not with this counselor, trying to bore into her brain by pulling the “we’re all very worried about you” card. “Your grandmother is concerned that you’re hanging out with dangerous people. I’ve heard the same thing from your teachers. They’re particularly concerned with your boyfriend … I believe his name is Danny Roberts?”

  Drea shrugged. It was all the truth, yes, but what was the counselor going to do?

  Continue to push, that was what. “Andrea, do you consider the people you’re hanging out with dangerous?”

  Drea
hadn’t bothered to learn the counselor’s name, because she was simply another in a long line of seemingly well-minded people trying to help. She wanted to ask where they’d been when her mother was doing drugs in front of her, when her mother’s boyfriends touched her in her bed at night, but she’d learned from Danny that showing weakness was to be avoided at all costs. As was the truth. “Why does it matter? I mean, they’re not dangerous to me.”

  “Not yet,” the counselor countered. “But eventually, you’ll get caught up in it. There’s no way around that.”

  “He’ll keep me safe.”

  “Who’s he? Danny?”

  Drea clamped her mouth shut—she’d said enough already. Danny didn’t like her talking about him to anyone in authority.

  “Andrea, listen to me. I understand how you’re feeling.”

  “No you don’t. How could you? You’re not me. You’re not in my mind. You have no idea how I’m feeling,” she challenged. “Danger isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes his kind of danger makes me feel alive.”

  “And the other times? Does it scare you?”

  “Sometimes. But being afraid is part of life.”

  “Not to the extreme to which you’re taking it, honey.” The counselor shook her head. “To you, danger has somehow come to mean safety, and that’s completely wrong.”

  “Who says?” Drea demanded.

  Seventeen years later

  “You’re angry.”

  Drea stared back at Dr. Siegel, the casually dressed older man who sat across from her, alternating his gaze between her and the open laptop in front of him. He and his wife, who was a doctor as well, made a formidable team. Some days they tag-teamed her, but today it was one-on-one. “Wouldn’t you be angry if you were me?”

  He wagged a finger at her. “Spoken like a true medical professional. You’ve got to open up to me if you want this to be of any help.”

  She threw up her arms. “Hypnosis didn’t even work—so how is just talking going to do it?”

  He turned the laptop to face her, and there was a picture of a dark-haired, dark-eyed man wearing a black leather jacket. He’d been caught off guard by the picture, but he still looked easy and relaxed as he stared at her through the screen. “Tell me about him.”

  She looked at that picture an awful lot these days, and for a guy she had zero memories of, the man called Jem certainly consumed a lot of her thoughts. But she hated having to admit that, and tried even more not to show it. She forced herself not to grit her teeth as she answered, “I can’t.”

  “Tell me what you know. Tell me what you’ve heard. Tell me what you’re feeling when you look at him.”

  She frowned and sat back in the chair like a petulant child. “He’s the reason I’m here. He’s part of the reason I don’t have a memory, although he didn’t do anything to me himself. He rescued me.”

  “So he’s a white knight?”

  Drea snorted softly, blurted out, “I wouldn’t say that,” without thinking.

  “So what would you say, Drea?”

  She crossed her arms for a second, but once she realized she’d done so, she uncrossed them, going for a more relaxed, neutral position, telling Dr. Siegel in a reasonable tone of voice, “I’m not sure what he is. Maybe it’s not black or white. Because he rescued me, but according to Carolina, he’s also the reason I was in the position to need rescuing in the first place.”

  “So this man, he got you into trouble. He put you in danger.”

  “From what I’ve been told.” It should’ve been painful to hear about all this, but whenever this topic was broached, a part of her went numb, like her mind was still trying to protect her from whatever horrors she’d endured. Some days she thought that maybe she was better off not remembering the hell she’d gone through. But that would mean not remembering Jem, and she’d been clawing at that memory desperately. “But I wanted to go with him.”

  “In spite of the danger?”

  “That. And maybe because of it too.”

  “Because you didn’t have enough in your life already?”

  “I didn’t say it made sense,” she muttered. “You’re very judgmental.”

  “It bothers you?”

  “I thought you people were supposed to stay neutral.”

  He wrote down some notes, then glanced at her casually. “I thought you wanted to figure your missing memories out.”

  She sighed, stared around the sitting room in the grand old house that had become her touchstone.

  Both Dr. Siegel and his wife had been working with her for just over two months—longer than any of the others, but her tolerance was running low. Especially for him, because he was more fond of telling her what she was doing was wrong instead of waiting her answers out. Probably because he knew he’d get none. “I just want you to realize that you’re repeating old patterns. Over and over again, it appears. And you have a chance to finally break them.”

  “How? Because of my amnesia?”

  “In spite of that. Because the one thing you didn’t lose is your feeling that somehow danger equals security. And that’s wrong.”

  From everything she’d heard about Jem from Carolina, Drea knew this therapist was the one who was wrong and she’d finally found something so right she wasn’t about to let logic ruin it. Jem’s picture did something to her insides, made her stomach flip, and she leaned forward and pushed the laptop screen back toward the therapist so she didn’t have to see Jem staring back at her. “Okay, that’s not exactly true, about the kidnapping-me-the-second-time part. Apparently I volunteered. More than once. He took me up on it both times. The second time is when it went bad.”

  “You volunteered to put yourself in danger?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is the first time you’ve done something like that in your life?”

  “I’ve always been attracted to danger. I guess I feel like the more dangerous a man is, the more he can protect me from the danger I’m running from.” Even so, she knew that Danny’s kind of dangerous had never been good. But Jem? He was a whole other story.

  Dr. Siegel steepled his fingers as he stared at her. She felt she’d had some kind of breakthrough, but of course it didn’t make her recognize the man in the picture any more than she had before. Truthfully, she didn’t even want to look at the picture.

  “Are you?” Dr. Siegel asked.

  “Am I what?”

  “Running.”

  That she could answer truthfully and without reservation. “Every single day of my life.”

  Chapter Two

  Six months later

  When Drea first arrived at Carolina’s a year earlier, she hadn’t realized she’d been running from an outside danger … and running just as hard from her missing memories. She’d also thought she was only seventeen, that Danny was still her savior, the only man who stood between her and her grandmother, who treated Drea like she was the devil incarnate. Truthfully, after just escaping her mom and her mom’s never-ending series of boyfriends, living with her grandmother should’ve been a dream come true for Drea.

  Instead, her grandmother had been a nightmare, and Danny, the son of the president of a very dangerous motorcycle club, was the only person in Drea’s life who’d ever stood up for her.

  She believed she owed him loyalty … She believed she owed him everything.

  Slowly, she’d begun to discover that, despite these feelings otherwise, something inside her was off, and that Danny wasn’t the right man to love.

  Now she kicked the treadmill into high speed, ran until her mind was settled and her muscles were jelly, all the better to give the trapped memories a chance to surface. This was part of her daily routine, since she couldn’t run outside. At times she resented it, yes. However, it was one thing to be a prisoner in Carolina’s house—and she had no doubt she was a prisoner—but there were many worse places she could be.

  Like with Danny—or the FBI, who was apparently looking for her because of Danny. Or so she’d been t
old. Carolina was careful in doling out information, and while Drea hated being treated like something fragile, she was also smart enough to know Carolina was right.

  And if Carolina didn’t trust her, it never showed. There were no interior key locks on the door, just a bolt that slid easily. But the house was like a fortress, with alarm systems, cameras in every room and an unending supply of ammunition everywhere Drea looked. The alarm bells chimed whenever a door or window opened, but that was so they could keep track of who entered, like the grocery delivery or Drea’s therapists.

  The newest of those were a married couple—the Drs. Siegel were a formidable team. They didn’t let her get away with anything. They probed her mind until she wanted to scream, but they didn’t use drugs or any invasive methods … unless you counted what she’d started to deem as “the mind fuck.”

  And yes, over the past six months with them, she’d made tremendous progress. As it happened, this very treadmill was where her first memories, post “happy Daniel time,” had come back to her.

  It’d been a brief flashback, and even though she’d known logically that Danny wasn’t there with her, hitting her, threatening her with a knife, she still hadn’t been able to hold back her screams. When Carolina found her, Drea had been huddled on the floor in the corner, tears running freely down her face.

  It’d taken a while for her to reassure Carolina that she was truly okay, that at least a crucial part of her memory had returned … everything, it seemed, except her time with the mysterious Jem.

  Now she upped both the speed and the incline, pushing her muscles harder, the same way she’d continued to push forward from that breakthrough.

  Discovering Danny was a violent criminal, and now the head of the upstate New York Outlaw Angels MC, like his father before him, made her even more certain that she was with good people. These days, the face she saw in the mirror, while by no means old, was not seventeen.