So, Saved is the extension of Raisa’s story in the latest Black Light Roulette anthology. Here’s where I’m bad and admit I haven’t read everything in the anthology yet. I own it, I just need to remember that I have it. My TBR is ridiculous. Anyway, I can tell you from experience that you can get the thrust of the story without having read Kacy and Jafari’s experience at Roulette. It would definitely be better with that backstory. Hopefully, I’ll remember to read the anthology this weekend, but who knows if my broken memory will work that long. OK, enough of that, let’s get to the story.
We have Kacy and Jafari who met at Roulette and had a connection. Their scenes were super hot, and Kacy loved every bit of it. She wakes up to a phone call to find out that she has to leave LA immediately and make it to Kentucky. There is a family problem, and she has to go rescue her younger cousin from their evil uncle. But, Kacy is broke and living in her car, and she doesn’t have the money to get there, so since she’s sneaking out, she gets into Jafari’s wallet and takes about $500. Jafari is awake, but he’s pretending to be asleep to find out what Kacy is going to do. Kacy leaves the suite they are in, and heads down to her car so that she can get to KY.
As soon as she closes the door, Jafari jumps out of bed and reads the note she left. Then he calls Jaxson and arranges to borrow a car, and oh, by the way, have the guards grab Kacy and stick her in the car to wait for him. He’s decided that he’s going to go to KY with her. He gets Kacy to tell him what the problem is, and then he decides that they are going to fly to KY instead of drive from CA.
The story is that Kacy’s grandmother just died. She’s been taking care of Kacy’s 7 year old cousin, Macie. Macie is now in the custody of their nasty uncle, who likes little girls a little too much. Kacy is rushing there to save Macie from the uncle, lie to the court to get guardianship, and then rush back to CA, where they will both be safe. Of course, Kacy still won’t have a job, and she still won’t have a house, and when she tells Jafari all of that, he arranges for an attorney to meet them in KY, and for her to have a job working as a graphic designer for his winery and for Jaxson. And to help her find an apartment.
I like both Kacy and Jafari. I was really frustrated with both of them more than once. They are both keeping secrets from the other, they don’t talk about them, which they really should. They also don’t communicate their feelings to and about each other very well. That leads to a lot of problems, since they are both making assumptions about what the other person wants and is going to do. All that ever does is hurt yourself and hurt other people. And you might even drag someone who is totally innocent in the middle and hurt them even worse. Like I said, very frustrated with them.
Kacy is very independent and stubborn, and hearing her backstory, I understand why she is that way. It’s hard to ask for help at all, and from her background, asking anyone for help would be a terrible thing to do. She is also very loyal and has a strong protective streak. I think that she is also very loving.
I like Jafari. He has such a wonderful, caring, loving heart. He may be a sadist when it comes to play, but in the rest of his life, he is very careful with people and how he treats them. He doesn’t go out of his way to cause undue harm to people, but he will if need be.
I think that Macie is just a delight. She really just leaves a lot of joy in her wake.
OK, that’s all for this one. Go check it out. Happy reading!
In Between the Pages 