Liam & Tria’s gritty love story concludes in RELEASED!
AVAILABLE NOW
Released (Book Three) Caged Series
Blurb
Oblivion is a sweet, sweet place.
No pain. No disturbing thoughts of the past. No guilt from my recent actions.
Deep down, there is still a part of me that knows how screwed up I am. I don’t see a way out, not now. Tria’s gone, and the possibility of her forgiving me in my current state is exactly zero. I know I have to pull myself together, accept my responsibilities, and try to make amends, but I have no idea where to start.
No job. No apartment. I’m living on the streets with the other junkies. As little as I had to offer Tria before, I have nothing to give her now. The only way out is to come clean and tell Tria the truth about my past, but the idea of reliving the memories is so painful, I can’t think about it long enough to figure out a solution.
I’ve hit rock bottom, and I don’t even know which way is up any more.
Excerpt #1
I reached out and touched the edge of the pillow. It was insanely soft and warm. I stroked it, and images of Tria’s breasts crawled through my head, making me smile. I stroked my cock as I thought about her, but I couldn’t come.
I could hear a voice in the other room, but it didn’t concern me, so I didn’t move. Through heavy eyelids, I watched the piles of dirty laundry all over the floor. I found shapes of animals in the patterns, just like cloud pictures.
“The beans are gone.”
I rolled my head to the side and looked up at Krazy Katie’s face. I smiled and tried to say something, but my tongue wasn’t cooperating. I focused on her eyes as they stared down at me quizzically.
“Trains need an engineer,” Krazy Katie said.
“It’s okay,” I said. My tongue still felt weird, all numb and heavy. I twisted it around in my mouth, and it tickled my teeth. I blinked a couple of times before looking back at my neighbor. “I got the helm. I’m all good.”
Did trains have a helm, or was that just boats? I laughed.
Krazy Katie covered her eyes with one hand. I could see her chest rising and falling as she took long breaths. I started counting slowly in my head but quickly forgot the number.
“Left the station,” she said quietly. “No engineer. Kicked in the caboose. Nothing but tracks.”
She turned in slow motion, and I watched vapor trails of her dull blue T-shirt swirl around the room as she left. I heard the window slide shut and then silence.
“I’m all good,” I whispered.
There was no reply.
Even though my arms and legs were way too content to be bothered with moving, I shoved myself out of bed anyway. My rig was sitting on the kitchen table, all ready to go. I was still pretty high, but I could feel darkness closing in around me, and I didn’t want it.
I wanted warmth and happiness.
Plastic tube, arm slap, needle prick.
“Like a fucking pro.”
I lay my head on the table as the fluid sensations rippled through me. Tria didn’t matter. She’d forgive me in time. In fact, she was probably already over it. How could she not be?
“I’m good. Really, I am.”
I was never one to lie to myself, but it was getting easier all the time.
Excerpt #2
I watched Yolanda walk out of the cage. Apparently, I kept looking in her direction too long. I took a blow to the head before I realized the fight had started.
I stumbled back, shook my head, and regained my footing. I raised my fists up in front of my face, and danced lightly on my toes, waiting for his next move. We circled slowly, jabbing but not finding our marks. My head swam again.
I needed to put an end to this. I needed to get it over with so I could take my winnings and get more smack. I had come down too hard and too fast. I had to get straight again.
I rushed him, striking out with my right and then my left. I took an elbow to the face, and felt my neck snap back.
The next thing I knew, I was on my back, and the guy was straddling my chest. I registered my head being thrown from side to side with punches, but I couldn’t focus enough to get him off me. I jabbed at his sides, but it was ineffective.
With my head spinning, I slammed my hand against the ground three times.
“Woo hoo!” The challenger jumped off of me and started running around the small cage.
I could hear cheers, boos, and people screaming at me, but I couldn’t comprehend the words. I rolled over and pushed myself up before stumbling out of the cage.
“Jesus, Liam!” Back in the locker room, Yolanda fussed around the cut over my eye and my bloody lip as I tried to push her hands away and get my jeans back on. “What the hell is wrong with you tonight?”
“Just forget it!” I yelled. “I need to get going.”
“Oh yeah? Why’s that? You got nothing waiting for you at home.”
I pulled my shoulders close together and bit down on the pad of my thumb. I didn’t remember telling Yolanda about Tria leaving, but apparently I had. I was afraid to open my mouth now. I tensed every muscle to keep myself from trembling. If Yolanda noticed, she’d figure out why.
If she figured it out, she’d stop me.
Is that such a bad thing?
Yes, most definitely.
I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t have Yolanda knowing what I was doing and dragging me somewhere to clean up. She would take back the cash she’d just given me, and I’d be royally fucked. I couldn’t let that happen.
“I gotta go,” I said again. I shouldered past her and out the door, ignoring her calls after me. I didn’t stop at the bar or acknowledge the fans around me as I left.
I took the cash I’d earned to Max and traded it for all the heroin I could get. I returned to my apartment and banged up.
Bliss.
Everything was perfect.
CAGED Series Reading Order
Takedown (Book One) Caged Series
Trapped (Book Two) Caged Series
Released (Book Three) Caged Series
Reviews
I HEART BOOKS REVIEW
Takedown (Caged Series #1) by Shay Savage
Review by Theresa Esterline
Stars: 5
Anticipation, power, and comedy packed into the biggest match of his life!
It took me less than a day to read Caged, I just couldn't put it down, I even read it on my iPhone when my Kindle battery died! This was my first Shay Savage book and I loved it. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what would happen next. Between the curiosity of what really happened in Liam's past and the comedy - especially about Tria's Bigfoot Bag - the pages just flew by!! I can't wait for the next one :) Some takedowns can't happen in a 10 minute cage match, this one will prove one of Liam "Takedown" Teague's most challenged yet! And now a bit about the story...
Liam is a cage fighter, he has a dangerous and mysterious past. Tria is a college student fresh from the wilderness trying to adapt to low budget housing in the big city. City life lessons continue to pull Tria and Liam together. But can they survive the cage match called love and life?
Favorite passages:
- There was no referee. There were no rounds. There was really only one rule—whoever taps out or goes unconscious loses.
- I was still kind of focused on her sticky lips and had no idea what she was asking me.
- A blanket hog. I knew there was a reason I never slept with women I slept with.
- Once she got a grip on it, it was a death grip, and I would sooner go into her purse looking for Tic Tacs than try to get it away from her.
I HEART BOOKS REVIEW
Trapped (Caged Series #2) by Shay Savage
Review by Theresa Esterline
Stars: 5
Feeling the cage shut doesn't trap him, but oh how his heart and memories are...
Another Savage book I couldn't put down. I read for several hours almost until dawn after a long day, but I just couldn't stop. I finally closed the lid of my kindle, slept for four hours and then got right back to it! We learn more and more about Liam and Tria and I just cannot wait for book three!! And now a bit about the story...
Liam and Tria are back, just where they left off, in the woods of Maine waiting for the unthinkable to happen. Getting back home doesn't take either of their pasts out of the picture. Liam finally takes Tria on a real date and runs into his cousin and gets roped into attending the wedding. Though Tria decked out in a designer gown provided by his uncle and bathed in millions of gems has his heart stopping at how beautiful she makes her trappings look, because let's face it, she is gorgeous in a paper sack ;) After surviving, mostly, the wedding... Tria's past is up next. Liam is working hard at challenge night and has tapped out three frat boys when Keith walks in the cage. Will Liam take it too far add wreck their happiness or can they survive the ghosts of their pasts.
Favorite passages:
- “For the first time in a decade, I have a reason to be outside the cage.”
- The only word I heard was inevitable. How many minutes in an inevitable?
- As she spun around, I saw the tiny clutch purse on her wrist and had to hold in a laugh.
- By the time this was over, his own family wasn’t going to be able to pick him out of a Summer’s Eve lineup.
I HEART BOOKS REVIEW
Released (Caged Series #3) by Shay Savage
Review by Theresa Esterline
Stars: 5
Exciting finally to the caged series... Way to go Shay!!
Even though I didn't start and finish the book on my first red eye flight, I was able to at the end of my business trip. Needless to say I spent may hours reading when I should have been sleeping... but I wanted to know what happened!! Comedy, Tears, Fears, Sarcasm, Hatred, Forgiveness... it's all there. And now a bit about the story (but no spoilers from book 3)...
Liam has hit rock bottom...if he doesn't stop what is left, death? Maybe that would be better, Tria was gone and so was his H... he has nothing. Tria is out there alone, he has to find her, but first things first a visit with the ever hilarious Dr. Baynor, will it work this time?
Be sure to start the series with book one - Takedown Teague!!!
Favorite passages:
- “So you aren’t completely stupid,” he said, “just mostly stupid.”
- I was never one to beg, but when there’s nothing left to lose, everything’s left to gain.
- “We’re going to try a little eye movement desensitization and reprocessing treatment as well.”“Are you going to start speaking English at some point?”
- No one could make a guarantee like that. There were buses just waiting to run over people.
- I thought the whole prep thing was ridiculous. She was going to eat, sleep and shit. What did you need besides diapers, a crib, and Tria’s boobs?
- Not that I was complaining. Complaining would likely get me killed.
- “It’s all about sacrifice,” I whispered. “Right? It’s not what we want anymore but what she needs.”
- “You’re going to spoil her,” a matronly nurse scolded me. I managed to withhold actually speaking the words fuck you but tried to at least say them with my eyes. She squared her shoulders and stomped off.
- She looked like she had been in a fight with me in the cage, but I wasn’t about to tell her that. I liked my balls attached.
- “Don’t swear,” I replied with a smile. Tria rolled her eyes.
- Did I want to be in a piss-ant shop with mullet-boy on second shift, or did I want to be more than that?
- I didn’t have to hide behind the bars of a cage any longer.
- “Don’t say something that isn’t true just because you think you are going to get what you want. Ask for what you want and the real reason why;”
About the Author:
Shay Savage lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her family and a variety of household pets. She is an accomplished public speaker, and holds the rank of Distinguished Toastmaster from Toastmasters International. When not writing, she enjoys science fiction movies, masquerading as a zombie, is a HUGE Star Wars fan, and member of the 501st Legion of Stormtroopers. When the geek fun runs out, she also loves soccer in any and all forms - especially the Columbus Crew, Arsenal and Bayern Munich - and anxiously awaits the 2014 World Cup. Savage holds a degree in psychology, and she brings a lot of that knowledge into the characters within her stories.
GIVEAWAY
Signed Set of the Caged Series
THANK YOU!
Before turning to storytelling, Jules earned a master’s degree in public health and spent many an hour running statistical analysis–until she realized her favorite part of the job was writing reports. She decided to cut out the math and add in some hot guys, and so began her career as a novelist.
Jules is a Northern California native living on the coast with her husband and two children. She has no impulse control around cupcakes and credits herself with the ability to read while running on the treadmill or burning dinner.
