Ruining Me

At eighteen, Jay Stevenson is stuck in a grim stretch of her life. Two years ago her future looked bright, but one moment took it apart. Secrets, deception, and a deep betrayal now follow her everywhere. She has learned to keep people at a distance behind a guarded, emotionally flat manner, and that approach holds until her past catches up with her. Her carefully built, lonely world starts to give way, and what she has done, what she is facing now, and what lies ahead all begin to overlap.

Three young men are around when everything falls apart. JT is the boyfriend who seems ideal and whom she was never ready to lose. Rhye is the town's rebellious rock musician, whose company helped her push the past out of her mind. Kane is a tattooed bartender who is funny and kind and who hopes to be part of her future.

Some truths have to stay hidden, and Jay cannot avoid making difficult choices. The central question is whether she can move forward while still bound to the destructive habits of her past.