Cheeky Fairy Tales

Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Goldilocks, who innocently wandered into a home owned by a family of bears.... Okay, my name is Ria. And I may have broken in, but I was high and it was cold outside. Oh, and the bears were actually shifters. Potayto, potahto. The point is, I’m kind of a wreck. Plus, I robbed my cheating, lying a-hole of an ex-boyfriend on my way out the door and he’s not thrilled about it, so I’m stuck with these three distractingly attractive men for the time being—one of whom is weirdly hung up on the whole breaking-and-entering thing. What could go wrong?

Life isn’t a fairytale, but for a few days I got to pretend it was. Now I’m back in my childhood bedroom in New York, eating breakup ice cream and listening to early 2000s emo music. Whatever, this was the wake-up call I needed. It’s time for Ria 2.0. No more bailouts. No more half-baked projects. No more impulsive decisions. Simple, right? Except my ex-boyfriend wants to drop the ex part, the three bears aren’t so willing to let their Goldilocks go, and their mother is more Wicked Witch than Mama Bear.

My name is Lou, but I’ve been known by many names over the years. The junkie’s daughter. The teen bride. The Internet knows me as Scarlet, but in real life, I’m just Lou. Scarlet is desired. She knows how to flirt, how to seduce, how to win. But Lou… well, I guess I’m still trying to figure that out. After a wake up call with a client that made me realize I was not leading my best life, I decided to make some changes. Stop living online. See the world beyond Fairbanks. Explore. Except my ex-client isn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer.

Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Me. I am very much afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, like any human with a healthy sense of self-preservation would be. I miss the days when wolves were just animals in the forest rather than a thing people turn into, but thanks to Frank, this is the world I live in now. The blinders are off, and the world is nothing like I thought it was. Nate, Gabriel and Brooks fought to keep me in the dark for my own protection. Frank may have won that battle, but I’m going to win the war.