Change of Heart

By Suzana Thompson

After an injury left me with no personal memories, all I want is to experience some semblance of normalcy. Unfortunately, my life is anything but normal these days, and that includes the hot guy who keeps accusing me of faking my amnesia while demanding information I literally cannot remember.

I thought this year at Thackeray would give me the fresh start that I deserve, but the upperclassman with the magnetic blue eyes is determined not to let that happen. Despite the fact that Asher Bradshaw clearly despises me, there's a spark between us that can't be denied. Now, I can't help but wonder why he's convinced that he knows me so well. And while I may not be able to trust my memories, the question is: can I trust his?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Suzana Thompson
• Release date: Jun 30, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224628322

Book preview

Chapter 1

Riley

I NOTICE HIM A MOMENT before he comes charging toward me.  His blue eyes are blazing with fury, and I’m mesmerized by their intensity.  My pulse jumps when he suddenly springs forward and comes straight for me.  A thrill of anticipation shoots through me like a lightning bolt, and I feel fully alive for the first time.

He doesn’t stop until he is inches away from me, invading my personal space in a way that seems to demolish the invisible barrier between me and other people.  Not even the few careful hugs I’ve gotten from my mother have been able to broach it.

There is nothing careful about this boy’s demeanor.  He is glaring at me, and his tone is harsh and demanding.  Where is Taylor?

I stare at him uncomprehendingly before forming words.  Who is Taylor?

He growls, and his expression turns murderous. Quit with this amnesia bullshit!

I take a step back from him, but he advances and backs me up against the side of the stairway behind me.  My heart pounds with awareness of his threatening size and strength.  His arms cage me in as he presses his hands against the railing on either side of me while he pins me with an intimidating stare.

His voice has dropped in volume, though, when he speaks to me this time.  Keep up your stupid act with everyone else.  I don’t care.  But you better tell me where my sister is.

Your sister, I say breathlessly as I process his words.  Taylor is your sister.

He gives me a warning growl, and I shrink back from him.

I don’t know, I tell him pleadingly.  I don’t know her or you or anyone.  I don’t even know myself!  I didn’t know my own name until the nurses told me, or my parents until they told me who they were.  I don’t remember anyone!

That last part is a complaint that reveals the frustration I’ve been concealing from everyone else.  I couldn’t complain to them, because they were all so nice and accommodating, and I didn’t want to seem ungrateful.

But this guy isn’t nice.  He’s not treating me with that careful politeness and giving me fake smiles like all the other people who knew me before are.  He’s being real.  Rude and antagonistic, but real.  And that gives me my first opportunity to be real and honest with someone.

Everyone is a stranger, I tell him as he scrutinizes me with mistrust and suspicion.  That’s why I came here to be around actual strangers, so that it would make sense when everything was weird and awkward with them.  Because the people who know me are all pretending to like me," I confide.

Why are they doing that? I ask him, trusting him to give me a real answer.  Because of the accident?  Because they feel bad to tell me that they don’t like me because I was injured?  And why don’t they like me?  Was I not a nice person?

He snorts.  Not a nice person.  What a cute understatement.  And your accident?  Nobody feels bad for you because of that.  You should be in jail, especially since you almost killed someone this time.  But Daddy made all your problems go away again.  Did he tell you to fake memory loss too?

My eyes go wide, and my chest tightens.  The accident was my fault?  Who did I almost kill?  Oh my God!  Was it your sister?

He growls and gets in my face.  Where the hell is she?

I feel all the blood drain from my face.  Would I do that? I question in horror.  Is that the kind of person I am?  Would I cover up someone’s injury to save myself?  Where would I put her? I demand in a panic.  You don’t think that I would...

The thought is too horrible to voice.  Surely, I wouldn’t hide her body if she was killed in a crash.

My father! I exclaim in a shrill voice.  You said he bribes people for me?  We need to ask him.

I grab my phone out of my purse and frantically swipe at it to get to the contacts.  Finding my father under Daddy, which usually makes me cringe when I see the childish moniker, I tap the call icon and put it to my ear.  I’m aware of the guy stepping back from me and dropping his arms, no longer caging me in, but my main focus now is on my phone call.

Father, I say after he answers, was there anyone else in the car with me?

Riley? he asks in confusion.  What are you talking about?  Are you alright?  What’s wrong?

The accident, I clarify impatiently.  Was there a girl in the car with me?  Someone, uh...

I trail off as I try to recall her name, and I glance up to meet the narrow-eyed scrutiny of the guy who confronted me.  After a beat while I look at him expectantly, he supplies, Taylor.

Taylor! I repeat to my father.  Her name is Taylor.  Was she in the car with me?

No, he answers, sounding bewildered.  You were alone in the car.  Weren’t you?  Have you remembered something? he questions in a suddenly sharp tone.

No, I reply, I don’t remember anything.  There’s this guy here asking me about his sister, and he says that the accident was my fault.  Was it? I demand.  He says that I should be in jail.  Is that true?

There is a beat of silence before my father’s voice booms out strong and angry.  "Of course not!  You tell that Bradshaw boy to stop harassing you.  In fact, I’ll call the dean myself.  I told you it wasn’t a good idea to go off to college by yourself.  I don’t know why you didn’t enroll in