Verity unbuttoned the top clasp of her high-collared lace shirt and adjusted the shawl on her shoulders. She should have worn something else, something more like the other women walking around Cyn City’s streets, but she didn’t have anything like that, and she needed a job to buy new clothes.

She pushed open the heavy wooden door of the Ball & Joint, a bar her new landlord had told her was always looking for help. Apparently, it was the kind of place people fled as soon as they found something better. But her options weren’t just limited, they were nonexistent.

It was still early in the afternoon, and other than a few men sitting at the bar, the place was deserted. It smelled like vomit and mold, and Verity shook her head, her light brown hair dancing around her shoulders as she tried to dispel the scent. She’d have to find some essential oils to wear if she was going to work here.

Her lace-up heeled boots thumped on the concrete bar floor beneath her ankle-length dress, drawing the attention of the bartender. His gaze seared her skin such that she was incapable of not looking up to meet his eyes.

She stumbled and stopped breathing for a moment. He was gorgeous.

A mop of dirty blond hair sat on top of what had to be the most chiseled face she’d ever seen. It was right out of a history tablet video that the teachers had used in the compound. David or Michael, or one of the angels. His deep brown eyes sparkled with a golden light that deepened his beauty.

“You in the right place?” His baritone voice rang out, reminding her not to stare.

“Oh, yes, I’m … I’m here about interviewing for a job?”

“You’re here for a job, are you?” he mocked, wiping his hands on a towel. His hand. It was made of metal and shimmered in the dim light. The metal ran up his arm to gears and pistons, which controlled his movements, and disappeared under the sleeve of his t-shirt. This unbelievable man was a cyborg.

Verity gulped.

She’d never seen a cyborg before.

Were they really all sex-starved criminals who sold off their organs for whatever credits they could fetch? That was what the compound elders had told her and the other girls, but they’d lied about many things, much more important things than the intentions of cyborgs. Verity knew better than anyone that the elders weren’t to be trusted.

She stood straighter and forced herself to look him in the eyes. “Yes. About a job. Do you have one?”

He leaned against the bar and beckoned her closer with his silver fingers. “You don’t want a job here, sugar. This isn’t the place for a girl like you.”

“And what kind of girl is that, exactly?” Verity bristled. She was done being told what she could and couldn’t do. She was done being under anyone’s control. This stranger didn’t know her, and she certainly didn’t see why he should know what was best for her.

“A nice girl.” He raked his eyes over her clothes. “Look at you, all covered up. Hey, Jenkins,” he called to a man sitting at the bar. He looked over. His face was deeply scarred and his metal arm had rusted to a greenish color. “This the kind of girl you want working here?”

“Fuck no, not unless you show me them titties!” Jenkins laughed, showing off his missing front teeth. He looked like someone who’d had too much of Levi’s moonshine.

“I was told there was … other work here than that.” She lowered her voice. “Than … than stripping.”

The bartender nodded, and Jenkins returned to making love to his beer. “Waitresses keep their clothes on unless they have enough of a reason not to.” He chuckled at a joke Verity didn’t understand.

She kept her back straight as she tried to focus on his words and not on her nerves or the way his full lips moved as he spoke.

“That’s the job I want. A waitress. Thank you.”

“Ain’t up to me, sugar. You’re gonna have to talk to Garvan, but I’m telling you, this isn’t the place for you.”

“I’ll thank you not to assume you know me, Mr. …”

“Chance. Just Chance. Most folks only go by the name they answer to in the slums. Nothing formal about life down here in the lower city.” He leaned forward, the tight constraints of his fitted shirt stretching over broad chest. “And what’s your name?”

“Verity.”

Chance snorted. “Verity? Like truth? What kind of fucking name is that?”

“The kind I was born with.” She scowled at him but couldn’t help but be impressed that he knew what her name meant. Maybe everyone here wasn’t as uneducated and simple as she’d been told. She mentally chided herself for relying on what she’d been taught about Cyn City again. She was no better than anyone else here. They all had stories and secrets.

“Garvan’s downstairs. I’ll go grab him if you’re sure. But I’d hate to see a place like this change you. You’re positive you don’t want to go back to whichever place had you dressing like a homesteader?”

Verity approached the bar and pulled herself onto a stool. From here, she could see Chance clearly. His dark eyes had worry lines at the corners that made him look older. His smooth skin called out for her to touch him, but he exuded an energy that told her to keep her distance.

“Yes, I’m sure. Thank you for your concern.”

Chance nodded and knocked his metal knuckles on the bar twice before disappearing down at the end of the bar.

As she sat and waited, playing with the strap of her bag in her lap, she noticed Jenkins watching her.

“Can I help you?” She raised an eyebrow and stared right at him. A bold move that would have horrified the women from home, but everything she did was an affront to them, so why not be bold?

“Just curious ’bout cha’s all. You don’t know much of nothin’ ’bout how things are round here, does ya?”

“I’m afraid I’m just learning.”

“Well, learn this.” His eyes cleared as he met her gaze and said with as much clarity as she imagined he could muster, “Watch yourself around that one. He’s not someone you want to be messing with, you hear me? You watch yourself around Chance.”

A door swung open in the distance, and Jenkins sank back into his seat, looking into his beer as if he’d never said anything at all.

His words unnerved her. What could be so bad about a cyborg that some drunk felt the need to warn her? She pushed the thoughts from her mind as Chance walked over with an older, trim man with a coiffed mop of black hair. He smiled widely at her, revealing a few titanium-encrusted teeth.

She took a deep breath.

Showtime.

* * *

* * *

Cyn City is crumbling beneath the weight of water and wealth. Old New York is drowning, while Cyn City is building right over it’s crumbling bones. Ocean swells threaten the massive wall holding back the tides, In the skycity transhumanism means implants and virtual reality, but down in the lower depths where rats and mold rule, cyborgs are a hackjob of nuts and bolts, cynked together for strength, not beauty.

Chance has fought his entire life, first for survival in the streets of Cyn City and later for money and prestige in the underground Cyborg Fight League. After losing the love of his life to Rhumitisin, he never thought he’d find love again. Death closes in fast in the Cyborg Slums, and Chance doesn’t even care until he meets a woman who can see past the metal arm on his left side.

Verity has left behind everything she knows to start a new life in Cyn City. But her Ecovangalit upbringing has left her unprepared for the hard realities of life amongst the Cyborgs. When a dangerous man everyone tells her to stay away from proves to be the only person she can trust, can she lower her walls enough to let him in?

When Verity finds herself in debt to the wrong kind of man who will sell her body as fast as he will sell her soul, Chance is the only one who can clear her ledger, but only if he'll fight in the Cyborg Fight Circuit again, which means killing for the woman he just might love enough to risk his life for.

Each book in the series is fully stand alone and can be read in any order.

Book One: Chance

Book Two: Enver

More To Be Announced!

Note to Readers: This science fiction cyborg dystopian romance series contains lots of action, alpha males, fierce women, and steamy romance. If you love bad boys who love as hard as they fight, then this series is for you! Guaranteed happily-ever-afters with no cliffhangers.