Mine to Hate

In a small town, everyone thinks they know the whole story.
They don't.
They see the surface - the smiles at the diner, the polite nods at church, the way grudges are buried under "good manners" and generations of silence. What they don't see is the history that never really dies. The kind that sits in your chest. The kind that tightens every time you hear one certain name. The kind that makes your pulse spike when you see one familiar face across a crowded room.
I learned a long time ago that hate isn't loud.
It's quiet.
It's controlled.
It's the way you pretend someone doesn't exist while every nerve in your body knows exactly where they are.
I told myself I was done with the past. Done with small-town ghosts. Done with the person who made me swear I'd never come back, never look back, never feel that mix of anger and something far more dangerous.
But small towns have long memories.
And they love second chances.
I didn't come back for closure.
I didn't come back for forgiveness.
And I definitely didn't come back for them.
Yet there they were.
Standing in the same town that broke us both. Looking just close enough to the person I used to know - and just different enough to make my chest tighten in ways I refused to name.
This wasn't supposed to matter anymore.
We were supposed to be done.
But hate doesn't burn cold.
It burns hot.
It burns close.
And sometimes... it burns like something that was never really finished.
I told myself one thing and one thing only:
They are mine to hate.
And that's all they will ever be.
At least... that's what I thought.
A steamy, emotional small-town romance about second chances, forgiveness, and learning that sometimes the person you swore to hate is the only one worth loving.
Grab your copy now and fall in love with Lena and Carter's unforgettable journey from hate to forever.