Giveaway & EXCLUSIVE Sneak Peek from Darkness Before Dawn!!!!

For those of you who haven't read THERE IS NO LIGHT IN DARKNESS by Claire Contreras, you really need it. What the hell are you waiting for?? Because there's a tiny little cliffhanger? Stop being a baby. Suck it up and read it! It's where you meet Cole, who's madly in love with Blake.


Madly in love...FML. I want him for myself. I know, I know...he's a fictional character and all, but he's so real, and sweet, and addicting, and a jerk, and the sweetest jerk. LIKE EVER. You'll fall for him immediately. I remember telling Claire when I read the first book that she wrote a drool worthy male (I never say things like that either. lol). She laughed and said, "I did?"

She doesn't even know how much we drool over him.

Anyway, Claire's in the process of writing the second book in this series, DARKNESS BEFORE DAWN. She knows there are some very strong Cole fans out there dying for a piece of him, er...more of his story. ;)

So.....she has decided to release an exclusive excerpt in his point of view....on my blog!!! I nearly fainted when she told me she would. I, like never, get exclusive stuff!  Thank you, Claire!!!

It's delicious and it's going to leave you wanting more. But I'm sure you already are. haha I was nearly salivating over reading Cole's POV. He curses in it. I love when he does.

After I read this snippet, I sent Claire a text and told her she needed to send me all of what she's written so far.

I cannot reveal if I have it or not. <enter evil laugh>

Cole

I rub my forehead trying to contain the impending head ache that I feel coming my way as I pace our empty apartment.

            “Call again,” I growl at Bruce who has been trying to reach Spencer for the past half hour.

            As usual, when my flight landed I called Blake, and to my pure horror she didn’t answer the phone. She hasn’t been answering her phone all day and the one time she did call me, I couldn’t answer mine. Everything is exactly as it was that day. That horrible fucking day and I don’t think I can deal with any more heart palpitations.

            “Let’s go,” I demand. “We’re going to Mark’s. That’s where she was going when I spoke to her.”

I call Connor’s cell phone again and this time he picks up. He tells me that he left Blake with Aubry in the apartment earlier tonight and hadn’t checked in since he’d been busy.

            “I’m going to Mark’s.”

            “Don’t bother, he left the office after we did. Dude, you don’t even know what happened...” Connor says before he proceeds to explain.

            Needless to say, I feel like absolute shit that once again I wasn’t here when she needed me the most. I know there’s nothing I can do about it, my only options are to quit my job or take her with me everywhere I go. Since she’s not going to let me do either one of those, I need to figure out another solution to this. The worst part is, I wasn’t even working today. Not that I was any less busy, but on top of not being here for her, the fact that I was a car ride away and ignoring her calls because I was under pressure to finish shit...it doesn’t sit well with me.

            “So she met her dad?” I ask to be absolutely sure.

            “Yeah, man. It wasn’t pretty. She walked out of there...it was bad Cole. Really fucking bad.”

            “Fuck,” I mutter. “Thanks. I have to keep looking.”

            “Hold on,” Connor says as he switches over the other line.

I put the phone on speaker and place it on the seat next to me as I crack my knuckles and try to figure out who else to call. Aimee! I haven’t called her yet. I’m about to hang up the phone but Connor comes back to the line and apologizes.

            “I know where she is,” he breathes.

            “Where?” I ask on edge.

            “Green’s with Aubry.”

            “Did she just fucking call you?” I growl not able to hide my annoyance about it.

            “Nope. Dean did.”

            My mouth pops open in disbelief. I close my eyes and take deep breaths to control the rage I feel rippling through my body. “I need to get to Jimmy Green’s, Bruce,” I say through gritted teeth.

            “She called him, Cole. Remember that when you get there.”

            I let out a harsh laugh. “Oh yeah, that makes me feel so much fucking better, asshole. Fuck. Why would she call him?” I mumble to myself.

            “I don’t know, but...just be careful. Dean’s nice to Blake, but don’t try him Cole.”

            “Don’t try him? Don’t cross him? Are you fucking kidding me?” I shout.

            “Just be smart. Guys like Dean will shank you if you get crazy with it. Be careful. I wish I could go, but I still have some shit to take care of.”

            I hang up with Connor and place my elbows on my knees while I will myself to calm down. I know I need to be open minded about this, I know Blake wants her answers and he’s one of the only people willing to answer her, but fuck. And what the fuck is Aubry thinking? I’m going to kill him when I see him. I can’t wrap my head around why she would contact him and have him meet her at a bar. I decide to call Aimee, which ends up being a bad idea because she tells me that when she left our place Blake and Aubry were already pretty drunk. So Blake drunk dialed Dean, lovely. This just gets better and better. I’m working my ass off trying to build something for us and she’s calling a guy that helped kidnap her behind my back. I shake my head in amazement and turn my attention to the city lights around me. At least she’s okay, that’s all that matters.

            When we pull up to the bar, I take one more minute to calm down before wiping my clammy hands over my dress pants and getting out. I look inside and see Aubry sitting in the bar watching highlights of the game and I anxiously look around for Blake. When I spot her looking beautiful yet sad, so fucking sad, in a dark booth with a guy sitting across from her I close my eyes and count to ten. I see that Spencer isn’t far away from her and is watching them intently, and that calms my nerves some. I walk in and go straight up to Aubry and smack him in the back of the head.

            “Shit. What the fuck?” Aubry says ducking his head and glaring at me. “Oh. Cole.”

            “Oh. Cole?” I growl. “Oh Cole?! Where the fuck is your phone?”

            “Out of battery,” he slurs, his blue eyes glazed over.

            “You’re so drunk.”

            He laughs humorously. “So is Cowboy!” his eyes widen. “She’s with Dean.”

            I narrow my eyes at him, but make no comment before I walk up to the booth their in and stand with my arms crossed at my chest glaring at both of them. Their hushed conversation seizes and their heads turn to me, when they see me both of their eyes go wide. Dean recovers quickly and raises an eyebrow at me, Blake recovers as quickly and glares at me. She’s pissed at me. SHE is pissed at me? Hell no.

            “What the fuck is that face for?” I ask as I work my jaw and place my hands on the edge of the table, clutching it to try to maintain for chocking Dean and pulling her out.

            “I don’t want to talk to you. You can go home,” she states before returning her attention to Dean, which pisses me off even more.

            “You don’t want to talk to me?” I ask in disbelief. “You don’t want to talk to me? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE FUCK I’VE BEEN THROUGH IN THE PAST HOUR?”

            Her gray eyes thunder before they become cat like slits. “You?” she asks as she slides out of the booth to stand in front of me. I take a step back so that I can see her face better. “You?” she asks again as she pounds one fits on my chest. “FUCK. YOU,” she screams before turning around to storm away. I grab her forearm and pull her back to me. She turns around and glares at me before jerking her arm away and continuing her walk to the front of the bar. By the time I reach her I’m fully aware that every head in this place is turned to us as she sways drunkenly and I shake in rage.

            “Blake, you better turn around and fucking talk to me. NOW,” I shout when I get outside.

            “Go home, Cole,” she shouts back as she continues to walk down the street. Both Spencer and Bruce are scrambling to get on either side of us and I just want to tell them to leave us alone for a goddamn minute. My mind processes her words slowly.

            “I am going home. We’re going home right now dammit!”

            She stops suddenly, making me crash into her back and put my arm around her waist to keep her from falling. She turns slowly and pushes me away from her. I step back enough so that I can see her face.

            “We,” she says while signaling her hand between us. “Are not going anywhere. You can go home. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” The mixture of the tone of her voice and her troubled eyes makes my heart begin to beat ten times more rapidly than normal. I feel the air constricting in my lungs, as her thunderous gray eyes continue to suck the life out of me.

            “What do you mean?” I ask quietly. Surely she’s not breaking up with me. God, no. I’ve felt this pain too many times already, you’d think I would be used to her pushing me away. It’s unbelievable that she has the ability to dissect my heart with just words.

            “I mean that I’m not going home with you tonight. You can go home by your damn self.”

            “Blake, just talk to me. What’s wrong? What did I do?”

            She shakes her head somberly as tears pool her eyes. “What did you not do?” she whispers hoarsely. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I can’t even think straight right now.” 

One very lucky person will win a KEEP CALM & LOVE COLE bag (pictured bellow), three different bookmarks (pictured below) and a magnet for the fridge (not pictured below because I am lazy).

To be entered in the giveaway, please leave a comment for Claire letting her know what you think of the teaser, LIKE her Facebook page and add DARKNESS BEFORE DAWN to your Goodreads to-read list. Don't forget to leave your email address so a winner can be contacted. Thanks!!!