Creep - Jennifer Hillier [0]
Gallery Books
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New York, NY 10020
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Jennifer Hillier
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Gallery Books hardcover edition July 2011
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Designed by Helene Berinsky
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hillier, Jennifer.
Creep / Jennifer Hillier.—1st Gallery Books hardcover ed.
p. cm.
1. Women college teachers—Fiction. 2. Extortion—Fiction.
3. Psychological fiction. I. Title.
PS3608.I446C74 2011
813’.6—dc22 2010047864
ISBN 978-1-4516-2584-4
ISBN 978-1-4516-2689-6 (ebook)
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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
For Steve Hillier,
for so many reasons.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
So many people helped make my first novel a reality, and I’m very grateful for all the love and support I’ve received.
I’d like to thank my agent, Victoria Skurnick, for taking a chance on me, and for being relentless in helping me whip the manuscript into shape.
I’d also like to thank my editor, Kathy Sagan, and her assistant, Jessica Webb, for making the publishing process such a wonderful experience. Huge thanks to my copy editor, Steve Boldt, for all his hard work. And to Louise Burke, Jennifer Bergstrom, and everyone else at Gallery Books, thank you. I’m lucky to be part of such a great team.
I’m deeply grateful to my mother, Nida Allan, who always believes in everything I do, and to my father, Roberto Pestaño, for his gift of storytelling. And much love goes to my big brother, John Perez, who always has my back.
Big thanks to my best friends, Annabella Wong, Dawn May Robertson, and Winston Charles Jr., who don’t write, but love that I do. You guys always said this would happen, and you were right (but please don’t let it go to your heads).
Special thanks to my very first writing buddy, Gregory G. Griffin, for tearing apart my earliest chapters (rather obnoxiously, I might add), and then cheering me on as I put them back together again. May your inner dwarf always shine, my friend.
Numerous other writing pals also offered their feedback on this book long before I ever got an agent, and I’m so grateful for all your constructive criticism and encouragement.
Lastly, I’d like to thank my guardian angel, Helena Rosts, who was my first real fan and who blessed me early on with the confidence to chase my dreams.
CREEP
CHAPTER : 1
Three months. That’s how long Dr. Sheila Tao had been sleeping with Ethan Wolfe. Three months, four days, and approximately six hours.
The problem wasn’t the sixteen-year age difference. It wasn’t even that she was his professor and he was her teaching assistant. The problem was that Sheila was engaged to Morris, and now the affair with Ethan had to stop.