Beyond the Thistles, page 1
Beyond the Thistles
The Highlands Series
Book One
Samantha Young
Beyond the Thistles
A Highlands Series Novel
By Samantha Young
Copyright © 2023 Samantha Young
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior written permission of the above author of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
This work is registered with and protected by Copyright House.
Cover Design By Hang Le
Couple Photography by Regina Wamba
Edited by Jennifer Sommersby Young
Proofread by Julie Deaton
Contents
Also by Samantha Young
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Content
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Epilogue
Stay in Touch
Also by Samantha Young
Other Adult Contemporary Novels by Samantha Young
Play On
As Dust Dances
Black Tangled Heart
Hold On: A Play On Novella
Into the Deep
Out of the Shallows
Hero
Villain: A Hero Novella
One Day: A Valentine Novella
Fight or Flight
Much Ado About You
A Cosmic Kind of love
On Dublin Street
Down London Road
Before Jamaica Lane
Fall From India Place
Echoes of Scotland Street
Moonlight on Nightingale Way
Until Fountain Bridge (a novella)
Castle Hill (a novella)
Valentine (a novella)
One King’s Way (a novella)
On Hart’s Boardwalk (a novella)
The One Real Thing
Every Little Thing
Things We Never Said
The Truest Thing
The Adair Family Series:
Here With Me
There With You
Always You
Be With Me
Only You
Young Adult contemporary titles by Samantha Young
The Impossible Vastness of Us
The Fragile Ordinary
Titles Co-written with Kristen Callihan
Outmatched
Titles Written Under S. Young
Fear of Fire and Shadow
Hunted
Destined
Ascended
Seven Kings of Jinn
Of Wish and Fury
Queen of Shadow and Ash
The Law of Stars and Sultans
War of Hearts
Kiss of Vengeance
Kiss of Eternity: A True Immortality Short Story
Bound by Forever
About the Author
Samantha Young is a New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author from Stirlingshire, Scotland. She's been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Author and Best Romance for her international bestseller On Dublin Street. On Dublin Street is Samantha's first adult contemporary romance series and has sold in 31 countries.
Acknowledgments
For the most part, writing is a solitary endeavor, but publishing most certainly is not. I have to thank my amazing editor Jennifer Sommersby Young for always, always being there to help make me a better writer and storyteller. Thank you for working with me to make sure Walker and Sloane’s story fell as authentic and true as possible. You’re my Rockstar!
Thank you to Julie Deaton for proofreading Beyond the Thistles and catching all the things. You have an amazing eye for detail and I’m always reassured my stories are going out into the world in the best possible shape.
And thank you to my bestie and PA extraordinaire Ashleen Walker for helping to lighten the load and supporting me through everything. I appreciate you so much. I love you, friend!
The life of a writer doesn’t stop with the book. Our job expands beyond the written word to marketing, advertising, graphic design, social media management, and more. Help from those in the know goes a long way. A huge thank-you to Nina Grinstead, Kim Cermak, Kelley Beckham and all the team at Valentine PR for your encouragement, support, insight and advice. You all are amazing!
Thank you to every single blogger, Instagrammer, and book lover who has helped spread the word about my books. You all are appreciated so much! On that note, a massive thank-you to the fantastic readers in my private Facebook group, Samantha Young’s Clan McBookish. You’re truly special and the loveliest readers a girl could ask for. Your continued and ceaseless support is awe-inspiring and I’m so grateful for you all.
A massive thank-you to Hang Le for creating a beautiful cover that feels in keeping with the Ardnoch world but has its own stunning flavor to set this series apart. You are a tremendous talent! And thank you to Regina Wamba for the beautiful couple photography that brings Walker and Sloane to life.
As always, thank you to my agent Lauren Abramo for making it possible for readers all over the world to find my words. You’re phenomenal, and I’m so lucky to have you.
A huge thank-you to my family and friends for always supporting and encouraging me, and for listening to me talk, sometimes in circles, about the worlds I live in.
Finally, to you, thank you for reading. It means everything to me.
Beyond the Thistles contains a content warning. If you’d like to know more, click the link below to be taken to my website.
Content Warning
For my beloved Scotland.
“Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.”
—Robert Burns, My Heart’s in The Highlands
Prologue
SLOANE
Fourteen months ago
If I told anyone I was sick of palm trees and sunshine, they’d think I wasn’t in my right mind, especially since I was someone people described as having a sunny personality. However, I’d been sick of the monotony of endless summer since I was fourteen. My dad afforded me the sweet taste of travel as a kid, and it had made me long for something different. To be anywhere but in LA.
You know what they say—the grass is always greener. Literally. Grass in my part of town dried up. Not just because of drought, but because no one around here had time or resources for such things as lawn maintenance.
I’d never wanted to be anywhere else more than I did as I stopped outside my apartment door and saw the eviction notice posted to it.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I whispered hoarsely, pinching my nose to stop the sting of tears.
An overwhelming powerlessness threatened to seize hold of me. I fought through the panic tightening my chest, thinking of the little girl on the other side of the door. Had she seen this? Or had Juanita shielded Callie from the truth? Dread settled in my gut. My Callie might appear shy and quiet, but she was sharp as a tack and missed nothing. It made trying to shield her from the crappiness of our circumstances extremely difficult. But I was determined.
Bracing myself, my stomach roiled as I snatched the eviction notice off the door.
Today I was fired from the receptionist job I’d lied my way into. A colleague who’d had it in for me from the beginning looked into my claim that I’d worked as a receptionist for another casting agency. She knew someone at said agency, and they told her they had no record of me ever working there.
So, I got fired, even though I was more than competent at my job. Yeah, I knew the lie was wrong, but when you’re a single mom, you’ll do just about anything to make enough money to put a roof over your child’s head. The irony of being fired from a casting agency for lying on my résumé was not lost on me. The agency lied on people’s résumés all the time.
I’d spent the rest of the afternoon using most of the gas in a tank I couldn’t afford to refill, following up on ads I found on my phone for positions. Out of ten, one—for a receptionist at a beauty salon—offered me an interview. I took it, even though they paid way less than what I’d been earning, and I was already behind on my rent.
Exhibit A: Eviction notice.
Even renting in Crenshaw, in one of the cheapest studio apartments I could find, where my kid didn’t even have her own bedroom, I was behind on my rent.
Because my useless, scumbag ex forgot we existed half the time.
In a perfect world, he would forget we existed, period. His reputation preceded him, and the man I’d stupidly had sex with at sixteen and gotten pregnant by had become someone so dangerous, I barely recognized him.
I’d never regret my Callie.
I only wished her father was someone different.
Someone I didn’t have to track down and beg for money, even though knowing where that money came from made me nauseous. But for Callie, I’d not only throw pride out the window, I’d throw my morals out too. I’d do anything for her.
So I called Stacie.
It was a short, snippy call. Afterward, I took a deep breath, opened the apartment door, and walked into the studio. During daylight hours, it was light and bright and airy. Even with our twin beds crowding half the space, we tried to keep it as nice as possible.
I buried my worries and grinned at my kid like I had none.
“Mom!” Callie dropped her book and launched herself off her bed, hurrying across the apartment to throw her arms around me.
Love and determination filled me as my daughter rested her head against my chest and I wrapped my arms around her. Bending, I pressed a kiss to the top of her blond head. When she was a baby, I’d felt overwhelming love for her, but I’d felt overwhelming terror too. I was only a kid myself. What did I know about raising a daughter? The love had grown to impossible depths over the years, and the terror became manageable, sharpening in moments like this.
Callie pulled away to stare up at me with the only beautiful thing her father gave her—big, gorgeous blue eyes.
I smoothed her hair off her face. “How was your day, baby girl?”
“I won the class spelling bee. Ms. Francis thinks I should join the school team.”
My smart girl who, somehow, would be in the fifth grade next semester. I didn’t know where the time had gone. “Congratulations! I’m so proud of you.” I took her arms and danced with her on the spot, making her giggle. “Does that mean I get to come see you in competition?”
“Yup.”
“Sloane.”
Juanita’s voice drew my gaze. The best thing about this apartment building was that it came with Juanita. She’d seen us moving in on the first day and we got to talking. When I mentioned I was concerned about Callie taking the bus home from school and staying in the apartment until I got home, Juanita had offered her babysitting services. Her husband, Eli, worked nights and their kids were grown, so she said she had time. Though she charged less than other babysitters, I still couldn’t afford her. But Callie’s safety was all that mattered to me. Hence why I was behind on rent.
We shared a look, and she gave me a small shake of her head.
Relief filled me. Somehow, she’d kept the eviction notice from Callie.
“I know you’ve stayed longer than usual tonight, but could you give me another hour?”
“Where are you going?” Callie scowled up at me.
My smile was reassuring. “I promised a friend I would help them with something tonight. But I’ll be back soon.” I looked at Juanita.
She frowned and jerked her chin toward the door. “A word outside, mija.”
Despite my tension, I offered Callie another kiss on the head and told her to return to her book. My daughter stared suspiciously up at me but did as I bid, and I thanked God for giving me a child as easy as Callie. She’d been the quietest, most chilled-out baby, and she was the sweetest kid. I often wondered if that meant she’d be a hellion as a teenager because no one could be that lucky with their child.
However, that was a worry for the future. I had enough to be concerned about in the present and was grateful Callie’s behavior wasn’t one of them.
As soon as we stepped outside, Juanita turned on me. “Everyone who has passed your door will have seen that eviction notice. You can’t hide that from Callie for long.”
“I know, and I don’t intend to. I’m going to get the money.”
She narrowed her eyes. “How?”
“I need you to watch Callie so I can pay her father a visit.”
Alarm filled Juanita’s eyes. She knew who he was because I’d told her. But she also knew who he was because he was now a high-ranking soldier in a gang that primarily traded in drugs and chopped cars. “You are not going after him at night.”
“I called Stacie. She told me where to find him.” Reluctantly. We’d been friends when I was still with my ex. But when I left him and tried to start fresh for Callie, Stacie called me out for thinking I was better than her, than them. For wanting to get away from that life. That I’d never really stopped being that spoiled rich girl from Beverly Hills.
“Where is he?”
“He’s at some house party in West Adams. She texted me the address.”
“You are not going alone at night to a house where that man and his thugs are. No way.”
Though I appreciated Juanita’s concern for my safety more than I could say, I couldn’t back down. “I need to find him. And while I hate that I need to, the one upside to being his kid’s mother is that he won’t let anyone hurt me.”
“No, he likes to leave that job to himself.”
I flinched and looked away.
“I’m sorry, mija. I just worry. Wait for Eli to get off work. He’ll go with you.”
“I’m not dragging Eli into this. Please.” I clasped her hands in mine. “I don’t have time to argue. I need to find him, get the money, and get home to my baby girl. Will you please stay with her until I get back?”
Sensing my stubborn determination, Juanita reluctantly agreed.
A few minutes later, I was in my car, hands trembling as I clipped in my seat belt. Using the map on my phone, I slowly made my way toward the house in West Adams.
There were people sitting on hoods of cars parked curbside, others drinking in the yard, and music boomed so loud from inside that I’d heard it as soon as I turned onto the street.
I wouldn’t give up Callie for anything in the world. She was my world. Every action I made was in service to loving her. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t angry at my past self. Furious with that hurting sixteen-year-old who wanted to punish my father for ignoring me and marrying a woman half his age who hated me and made me feel like a stranger in my own home.
I’d started partying at fifteen.
I met my ex at sixteen at a club where I’d used a fake ID to get in. He was eighteen, charming, from the wrong side of the tracks. All that cliché stuff that appealed to me because I knew my father, lawyer to the stars, would hate him the most.
I didn’t intend to get pregnant.
Or get kicked out of my own home for refusing to give up my child for adoption.
Or end up with an abusive criminal.
That’s why I left my ex. Though in his mind, I was still his.
One day, I’d save enough to get Callie and me as far away from him as possible.
