Can love save them?After her father commits a crime that shatters her family, eighteen-year-old Delaney Cross is tired of pretending everything is all right. Packing up her car, she sets out to find the people her father hurt. Her search leads her to places she’s never been—and into the arms of Adrian Westfall.
To the outside world, Adrian is a sexy, charming ladies’ man. But his playboy persona is just an act. Secretly his soul is tortured by a memory too painful to share. Only Delaney seems to see through his façade to the real man underneath. And for the first time in his life, Adrian feels he can begin to open up about his past.
Together, Adrian and Delaney share a passionate love they never expected to find. Yet both still harbor their own secrets. When the dark truth is finally revealed, will it bring them closer together—or tear them apart forever?
Character Interview with Adrian and Delaney
Three Chicks: It’s great to be able to spend some time with you. You both have been through so much, are you in good place now?
Delaney: Absolutely. Things aren’t perfect and we take it one day at a time but I think everyone’s like that. We’ve learned a lot and we’re now moving forward instead of staying still.
Adrian: What she said… just kidding. I’m probably in the best place I’ve ever been. Like Laney said, I’m trying to live and I’ve never done that. Ash is still in my head every day but I want to be good for him… for him and Laney… For me too.
Three Chicks: Adrian, do you really love pancakes or do you like them but eat them because they remind you of Ash? Considering you seem to have some kind of magic pancake hands have you ever give any thought about opening up a restaurant-like an IHOP??
Adrian: F*ck yeah, I love them. Would I have loved them without Ash? Who the hell knows? I think people subconsciously train ourselves toward certain behavior. Ash loved pancakes and I made them for him, they became a part of him and a part of me too. And yeah, I’m damn good at making them. Laney would probably say I have magic hands… No restaurants for me though. It’s not my thing.
Three Chicks: Delaney, do you think you are at the point where you have to let your mom go-almost like letting all the bad out so the good can come and stay in your life?
Delaney: I do. When I went to her apartment that last time, I knew that would be our goodbye. I love her and I always will but I don’t deserve the way she treated me. If she got better, I would love to have her in my life.
*Adrian reaches over and grabs Laney’s hand*
Three Chicks: Adrian, where did your love of for The Count of Monte Cristo come from?
Adrian: It was an accident, really. I spent all my time letting words fill my head to try and take away the bad shit. When I was a kid, I’d go to the library all the time. I picked it up, and like I said, in some f*cked up way, Edmond spoke to me.
Three Chicks: Delaney, what did you think of Adrian the first time you met him?
Adrian: That I’m sexy as hell?
*Laney shakes her head*
Delaney: I thought he was good looking obviously, but out of my league in a way. I didn’t really do the boyfriend thing. I didn’t do the dating thing either but I think, even that first day, there was a connection.
Three Chicks: Adrian, do you still keep a journal?
Adrian: I write in it every day. I still have a lot of shit in my head and writing helps me get it out. Laney reads it now though.
Three Chicks: Delaney, do you think it was a little extreme to move to another town because of Adrian and your dad? Why not just seek Adrian out and talk to him?
Delaney: I don’t know that the only reason moved was because of him. I think in some way, I wanted to try and have some kind of adventure. Something that felt like a normal eighteen-year-old girl would do. Moving to a new town and getting a new job was my way to try and find that.
Three Chicks: Adrian, you described your writing by saying , “I was the quiet kid who didn’t talk but left his heart on paper.” You seemed as though that was an illusion, that there was no hidden depth there-do you still feel that way?
Adrian: It was easier for me to spill my heart on paper than out loud. In some ways it still is. There are depths to it because it comes from inside.
Three Chicks: Delaney, what made you seek out Angel?
Delaney: The same thing that made me want to find Adrian. In some crazy way, I felt like it was a way to try and right my father’s wrongs.
Three Chicks: Adrian, you call Delaney, ghost girl or Casper, because you saw ghosts in her eyes, what does that mean?
Adrian: That she had secrets, skeletons, demons, pain, whatever the hell you want to call it. I knew she had a story—something that haunted her and…f*ck, I guess I saw a little bit of me in those ghosts. Not that I knew we were connected but I knew we’d both lived through hell.
Three Chicks: Adrian, when you went back to the diner and saw it being robbed, you didn’t hesitate to try to stop the robbers –you had to save Delaney because you couldn’t save Ash but for a brief second when the robber pointed the gun at you, you thought “thank you”-explain that?
Damn… you guys aren’t going easy on me are you?
*looks at Laney who smiles at him*
Adrian: I never would have committed suicide. I couldn’t have but in the second, I knew if he pulled the trigger all that f*cking pain would just be…gone. That I’d be free.
Three Chicks: Delaney, why do you think that Maddox doesn’t feel the same guilt as you do about your mom-how are his demons different than yours?
Delaney: I think Maddy feels just as much guilt as I do. I don’t think he can admit it though, even to himself. He deals with things differently than I do in some ways. He’s more closed off and more angry. He accuses me of wanting to fix things though but he’s the same way. He wants to fix everything for me.
Three Chicks: Adrian, you were drawn to the diner, it seems like you would drive somewhere else and end up there – This is the place you felt “sane” in a long time. What was it about Delaney and the diner that drew you in? (you were so protective of Delaney after the robbery-*Jen sighs*)
Adrian: That first night it was an accident I ended up there. It was a place when I needed one. After that it was Laney’s ghosts that drew me back. I think… hell, I think I thought if I fought her demons, I would get some kind of solace from mine.
Three Chicks: Adrian, Colt is as close to a brother as you can get (you were as devastated as Chey when he was hurt), why didn’t you confide in him about your father or Ash?
Adrian: Because it hurt and I didn’t know how to deal with it. My sister was my best friend and I walked away from her. The words were an echo in my head, poison in my blood and letting them out, I guess I thought it would infest the rest of my life too.
Three Chicks: Delaney, you had plenty of opportunities to tell Adrian why you moved to his town and your family’s connection to him, why didn’t you just tell him the truth?
Delaney: Fear. How do you say something like that? I mean, that’s what I went there for and that’s what I did with Angel but even before I knew Adrian, I knew he was hurt more than the rest of us combined. It was like a war I played with myself and the longer it went, the harder it became because I didn’t want to lose him… I was scared to hurt him.
Three Chicks: Adrian, why didn’t you give the caramel apple to Delaney, why leave it at the door?
Three Chicks: Adrian, after you left, when Delaney told you the truth, you sent her the apple, and left the poem. But you wrote that you weren’t ready, but you were trying. What made you reach out with the apple when you weren’t ready to see her?
Adrian: Kind of like I said before. It was a big f*cking step for me to learn to forgive. Not really her but me. Forgiving myself helped me love her the way she deserves and that takes time but I wanted her to know she was still in my head.
Three Chicks: Adrian, tell us about some of your favorite memories with Ash. Do you think you are working your way to finding peace with your loss?
*Closes his eyes and takes a couple deep breaths*
Adrian: I don’t know if peace is the right word. How do you completely come to peace with something like that? I’m living with it. I’m not hiding anymore. I talk about him and I talk to him and I’m trying to live the kind of life that makes me worthy of him. It’s easier now. I want people to know about him, to know how f*cking incredible he was and I never could have done that before.
Every thing about him was so f*cking great. He liked to laugh and he liked games and… he saw things. Even at two I think he saw things and felt things that most people don’t.
Adrian: Am I still sexy if I say English? And I’m starting in September. Laney is too.
Three Chicks: Delaney, are you still working at the dinner? Will you be taking any classes?
Delaney: I’m still working there and starting school with Adrian in the Fall.
Three Chicks: Delaney, what is going on with Maddox? You and Adrian are living in your apartment, so where is he?
Delaney: He has a little house. He’s doing security at a club now and apprenticing at a tattoo parlor.
Three Chicks: Adrian, how do you get along with Maddox, especially after your “little Delaney talk” in the alley when he followed you for hours?
Adrian: Eh. He’s still a bastard most of the time and he thinks the same thing about me. I respect his love for his sister but we’re still working through shit.
Three Chicks: Delaney, how is your relationship with Colt and Chey-is it strained at all because of how you were tied to Adrian’s past?
Delaney: Not anymore. They’re great. Chey has become my best friend and Colt is the same for Adrian.
Three Chicks: Where do you see yourselves in five years?
Both answer: Happy and together.
4.5 Star Review by Lisa Kane
I adored Colt and Chey from Charade. So much so that I would not be surprised if Nyrae Dawn had a restraining order put out on me. Her second book in The Game Series, Façade, does not disappoint. Adrian Westfall and Delaney Cross are both tortured souls for different and yet similar reasons. Adrian is a party loving, nail every female in sight, kind of guy. His nightly ritual is having tons of people, half of whom he has no idea who they are, over to get drunk, high and meet the girl of the night. The next night-it will start all over again, but with a new girl of course. He is tormented by visions of his nephew, Ash’s, death and his guilty part in it. Alcohol and drugs numb his pain; even if it’s just for a little while. Delaney and her brother Maddox have always depended on each other. She is 18, he is 3 years older. Their father is in jail, and their mother has a habit of trying to commit suicide and blaming Delaney for letting her live. The siblings decide to move to a new town, although Delaney has a specific town in mind for a specific reason.
Adrian is outside talking to Colt and Chey (Oh, how I have missed you two) when Delaney pulls up to unload boxes for her new apartment. Seems she and Maddox will be living in the same complex as Colt and Chey. Adrian can’t let a good opportunity to hit on an attractive female get by him and he seizes the moment. Introductions are made and some flirty banter is exchanged. Finding they have an instant attraction, the moment is ruined when Maddox drives up on his motorcycle and Adrian mistakes him for Delaney’s boyfriend. He retreats as he has no interest in triangles and drama.
“My friend’s girl is over there. She’ll tell you I’m nothing but a huggable teddy bear.” I almost throw in a “Wanna cuddle?” but I think it’s too much.
These two are destined to meet again. Delaney is well aware of who Adrian is, but Adrian has no idea that she knows more about him than what he has told her. He shows such a soft protective side when he is with her. The remedies to cope with the pain don’t seem quite so necessary as they did before.
Delaney struggles with her secrets. Adrian has become so important to her that she worries if he knows her secrets he’ll hate her. Meanwhile, she is trying to keep a relationship going with her mother, who is nothing short of abusive to her, and trying to hold the family together for her brother, who has his own set of problems.
Like all good secrets, Delaney’s eventually manage to surface. Will this tear them apart? Can both of them live with the demons in their pasts?
I loved this book. Seeing many of the characters is like visiting old friends, especially Colt and Chey. Adrian is one of the most tortured souls I’ve ever read about; he wears his guilt like it was part of his skin, embedded into his soul and he is incapable of forgiving himself or finding closure on his own. Delaney is like a salve to his wounds and even though she too is fractured she brings out the best in him and helps him heal. There are a couple of twists in this book that will throw you for a loop, and make you wonder if you read that right or not-all part of the journey you are travelling. This is a wonderful book!
“You helped me stop bleeding. You made my heart beat when I thought it was gone. All those things you said I do for you? They’re nothing compared to what you do for me.”
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