All Chapters of Dark Secrets and Dangerous Love: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

'Meet me.' The words said as they flashed across her phone. Juliet sat in her bed with the comforter tucked in and around her as she gently drifted off. The buzzing from the phone had startled her, and she quickly grabbed it with excitement, impatient to see his message.Butterflies filled her stomach as she read those two words. They had been messaging for months back and forth, calling each other every day they could. It was a love formed through words and stories. They had never met. She had never seen the man she was falling for, but she knew the sound of his voice from their phone calls. She knew the deep rumble that came from him when he laughed, the one that sent goosebumps down her spine.For months, she had been online, talking to men and going on awful dates. Each time, she came home to her apartment alone and rinsed off the memory of the few hours prior that she had wasted sitting in a restaurant or at the movies. It was a tedious effort, and for a while, she wasn't sure

At that moment, she regretted ever getting out of bed. She had looked at his picture enough times that she figured she would spot him immediately, but as she looked around the room, he was nowhere to be found. There were groups of people huddled around tables laughing loudly; others stood together by the pool tables and dartboards as they yelled over the music that came through the speakers.It only took one look around the room to locate the bar where all the individual people sat alone, and she made her way to one of the open seats at the end of the bar. Juliet grabbed her phone from her purse before putting it as a placeholder on the empty barstool next to her for him.10:26 pm, it read. She locked the screen again after she confirmed that there were no unread messages. She glanced back into the rest of the room and let her eyes drift from side to side as she scanned over the crowd."What can I get you?" A girl yelled from behind the counter. Juliet turned to the bartender and

A gentle blush rose to his cheeks as the words left his lips. "My job is very demanding, and one day, I want to leave it and settle down. For now, I just have to hope that when I find the right girl, she will wait for me, whether I'm gone for three days or three months. It can be hard, but everyone comes with baggage nowadays."She could picture it. She has always been able to.Sitting on a porch swing with a baby bump as she rocked back and forth. Her hair blowing softly in the spring air as she rubbed her hand up and down on her rounded belly, watching her husband pull up to the house with a new crib in the back seat, and a smile on his face. She wanted that life one day, but at twenty-seven, she knew that day would need to happen in the next few years, or it might not happen at all. Still, she knew the prospect of having it was not worth settling for being with someone that she couldn't fully love. She wanted to find her other half, her partner in crime, to settle down with and

She spent the next few minutes telling her best friend about the dreamy man that shook her world the night before, leaving out the intimate details of their kiss.Their conversation was cut short by her phone vibrating from her bedroom. Her body acted on its own as she jumped from the chair and ran to collect it. Juliet felt embarrassed when she picked up her phone, and it was only her boss at the local paper. He wanted to check in on the article they contracted her to write about the opening of that new restaurant. She was getting fewer jobs each month, and she worried that she would soon need to find additional work.It was a frustrating but enjoyable profession, and she got to make her own hours. The problem was finding enough work to do in those hours to pay the bills. As companies grew, the amount of freelance work diminished, and they now had a full-time, in-office team typing up their articles and blog entries.Juliet grabbed her laptop before she solemnly walked back to the

It felt as though a bucket of ice water had been thrown over her as she heard her roommate's voice. Faster than she thought possible, Matthew dropped his hand to his side, grabbing at the air as he turned around to face Natalie. After looking her over once, he turned back to Juliet and brushed her hair back into place. She grabbed his outstretched hand as he pulled her back onto the sidewalk only a foot away.Juliet knew she would blush, but she had no idea how red she had truly become under her best friend's stare. She looked up in time to see Natalie's brown eyes as they moved to trail up and down Matthew's body. "Are you going to introduce us, or are you still trying to catch your breath?" Natalie was the kind of woman that Juliet admired for her confidence. She would say or do anything that came to her mind and was never ashamed of it. It was only noon, and she had already been enjoying her day off with a midday drink, which reflected in the darkness of her lips. As she stood in