Louder Than Words (Fall For Me) (16 page)

THE STRANGER INSIDE

by

Melanie Marks

Synopsis:

After her father’s mysterious death, seventeen-year-old Jodi Logan is
forced to move back in with her mother and stepfamily. This in itself tears at
Jodi. Her mother kicked her out two years earlier after discovering Jodi was
romantically involved with her stepbrother, Jeremy. To make matters worse,
there’s Jeremy himself. No matter how hard Jodi fights it, she’s still drawn to
him.

Adding to the suck-fest that is now her home life, lately Jodi has
time lapses she can’t account for, waking places she doesn’t remember going.
When she comes to one day and finds herself making out with a boy she’s never
met, Sawyer, Jodi learns she’s been living a double life as a girl named
Kenzie. But who is Kenzie? Jodi fears she’s going crazy—maybe developing
a split personality. But when she discovers the truth, it’s even worse.
Jodi is possessed by a ghost—a stranger inside her that
refuses to leave
.

When a girl from school is murdered Jodi doesn’t know
who
she can trust: her new friends? Sawyer? Jeremy?
Or the stranger inside?

An excerpt from

THE STRANGER INSIDE:

Sawyer handed me his toothbrush with the
paste already on it. He must have prepared it for Kenzie. The thought made my
stomach turn.

I shuddered and asked it again, “Sawyer, what
did I do?”

He breathed out a soft
laugh—sympathetic, yeah, but still slightly amused. “You were really …
entertaining.”
His lips quirked at the corners.
“You
danced while our band played. I had no idea you could dance like that—I
mean, it wasn’t ballet.” He laughed again. “
So
not ballet. And you sang with Jeremy.” He closed his eyes, leaning his head back
with a paled wince—not looking so amused anymore. “You and Jeremy—you
had a lot of fun.”

I clutched my stomach feeling sick. “Why
didn’t you stop me?”

Sawyer’s jaw muscles ticked. “I couldn’t. I
mean it. I had absolutely no control over Kenzie. She broke up with me, by the
way. She and Jeremy
are
a couple.”

I glared down at the ground.
Shoot me. Shoot me now.
“I didn’t kiss
him, did I?”

Sawyer’s eyebrows went up. “Jodi, you were
all over him—he had to like, fight you off.”

I groaned. “Next
time don’t
let me go near Jeremy—take me away.”

Sawyer shook his head. He ran a hand over his
face. “Jodi, you don’t get it. I don’t have any control over Kenzie. None. She
does what she wants. She doesn’t listen to me.”

Another excerpt from

THE STRANGER INSIDE:

Jeremy leaned his head back against the wall,
looking tired. Exhausted. Yet he’d stayed up with Kenzie, took care of her with
gentle attention.

I watched him close his eyes, then I got
brave enough to ask, “You like Kenzie a lot, huh?”

“Well,” he kept his eyes shut, but a lazy
smile crept across his lips, “She’s really good looking.”

I blushed, happy at his answer.
Too happy.
Using the sink for support, I rose to my feet. “I
don’t suppose you’d tell me what we did tonight,” I said as I looked at my
frightful image in the mirror.

Jeremy stayed leaning against the bathroom
wall, making no move to get off the floor. Or answer me.

I shivered.

“Could you do me a favor?” Really, I had
a bunch of favors I wanted to ask him—the main being, could he stay away
from Kenzie. But I couldn’t bring myself to actually ask it aloud. Instead I
said, “Could you not let Kenzie drink?
I mean, this is my
body.”

Jeremy gave a small smile at that. “I’ll
try.”

I got out Sawyer’s toothbrush, and brushed,
and re-brushed my teeth, trying to get the awful taste out of my mouth. Jeremy
sat on the floor watching me, and I wondered if he remembered that he brushed
my teeth for me before. In eighth grade, I’d broken my arm when I accidently
rode my bike into a ditch. The next morning, I was sore all over and couldn’t
use my right arm. So Jeremy got me ready for school that day.

He’d washed my hair, brushed my teeth, and
helped me get dressed. He even chose the clothes for me to wear. The memory
made me laugh, and then cry. Still, he just sat on the floor, watching me. I
think he knew all the strange, mixed up feelings he stirred in me. I think
maybe I stirred the same confused feelings in him.

The Stranger Inside is available now

BOOKS By Melanie Marks:

The Dating Deal

The Stranger Inside

I Remember You

Always Hers

His Kiss

High School Boys

(High School Boys contains book
#2 of His Kiss)

Fall For Me

Fall Forever
(Fall For Me #2)

Finn’s
Fall
(
Fall For Me #3)

My Mushy Middle
School Heart

#Wars

Fake Boyfriend Wars

(Actually,
there’s more)

http://www.byMelanieMarks.com

THE DATING DEAL

“Come
with me to the dance. Caitlin and I just broke up.
I need a
date
,
you need a date
. Let’s just … date. This
isn’t a noble gesture or anything. I don’t do stuff like that. It’s a deal.
We’re making a deal.”
—Trent Ryan.

Megan Turner thought her hard-drive was cleared before she sold her
computer in a local online auction, but it wasn’t. Her journal was recoverable,
and now it is in the hands of someone she really doesn’t want to read
it—the boy she’s had a crush on for years.

Melanie Marks was born and raised
in California. She is married to a naval nuclear submarine officer and blessed
with three amazingly terrific kids.

Melanie has had over sixty stories published
in magazines such as
Highlights
and
Teen Magazine
as well as in various
anthologies, many being
Chicken Soup for
the Soul
books. She’s had nine children’s books published and eleven teen
novels,
THE DATING DEAL; I REMEMBER YOU;
HIGH SCHOOL BOYS; THE STRANGER INSIDE
;
WHEN
KYLE CAME BACK; HIS KISS; FALL FOR ME; FALL FOREVER; FINN’S FALL; LOUDER THAN
WORDS;
and
A DEMON’S KISS.
More
teen novels are forthcoming this fall, 2013.

Melanie enjoys reading in the
bathtub, writing in bed, and living in a house longer than two years. Visit her
website at
http://www.byMelanieMarks.com
or email her:
[email protected]