by Leigh Allen
So much had changed and I had come so far, but there was still something in my heart that longed for those moments to be had with Talon. It wasn’t too long ago that I had envisioned us dancing at prom, crossing the stage together at graduation, and moving on to college together. Now, all of those were just fleeting dreams that would never come to light.
“It’s ok. I am not sure if I am even going to prom. With work and getting ready for college, I don’t have time. When we were together, those things would have been awesome to do,” I admit, allowing that small glimmer of lost hope to shine.
“Sometimes I forget that you aren’t mine anymore and I go to dial your number. Then, the fucked-up pain kills me, and I remember you aren’t mine. That we aren’t in love anymore. Well, that you aren’t in love anymore. For me, it never went away,” he says. “I had to understand that in therapy. I had to hear from other people who had loved and lost that this isn’t the end for me. I can grow. I can heal. I can love again,” he states, moving in closer to me.
“Talon,” I breathe. Words are painfully difficult to express right now. I spent so many nights crying over him. I worked so hard to get back to a place where I was secure and confident in myself. Was I willing to let Talon back in again? Could we ever just be us?
“You don’t have to say anything. Look, I know I fucked up what we had. I didn’t deserve you and you didn’t deserve the pain I put you through. My heart was open to you and you walked right in. You gave me hope that I could be a better man and because of you, I think I am doing just that. All I ever wanted was to just thank you,” he said.
“You don’t need to thank me. What we had was amazing and I learned a lot about myself. I won’t ever regret our time together,” I admitted, smiling at him.
“I would love to stay and catch up, but I have to get home. My mom and I are working on our relationship and tonight is our dinner date,” I laughed. It was true, since my relationship ended with Talon, I had come clean to my mom about everything. We were working on our relationship and it felt nice having her there for me.
“It was really great seeing you,” he says, offering a smile. “I have to go, too; I have a job at a local sports store. I plan to apply at a few colleges next year. I just needed time to heal before I faced my future.”
His words strike me with a force that almost knocks me to the ground. Can I just say goodbye right now?
I smile back and turn on my heel to leave. My heart is racing inside of my chest as I force myself to move.
“Hey,” Talon says, stopping me before I am fully turned around.
“Yeah.”
“My heart is still open, I’m not over you, yet-- and I never will be. I know it’s wrong, but I can’t stop thinking about you. About us. About what we could have been. If you ever just want to talk or think we can try being friends, I’m always here,” he stated.
My breath catches in my throat. It’s now or never.
Walking back to Talon, I extend my hand. He looks at me like I am crazy for a moment, then he reaches out and takes my hand.
“Hi, I’m Mallory,” I say.
Shaking my hand and giving me a curious smirk, Talon plays along. “Hey, Mallory. I’m Talon. I would love to get to know you,” he says.
“Me too. Maybe we can go for coffee sometime,” I offer.
“I would love that,” he breathes, and I see a peace wash over him.
Maybe Talon and I would never go back to what we used to be.
Maybe we would just catch up and then go our separate ways.
Only time would tell, but something in my heart told me that maybe, just maybe Talon and I could get a fresh new start. We were both different people now. Those lost teens who had once found one another were gone. In their wake, were two people who had lived and loved. Who had lost and grown. Our hearts were mended, and our souls refreshed.
All I could do was hope that love would find the both of us again.
The End
A Note from the Author
Be sure to check out the second book in the series and learn what happens with Talon and Mallory after high school.
But for now, enjoy this sneak into Hollow Cove Dreams. Turn the page for your gift.
Extras
1
Mia
Sometimes I think that everyone’s life is screwed up. But others, are just better at hiding it than I am. It was the middle of my sophomore year, and my life was still one big disaster.
“Move freak,” Gina sneered, as she shoved me against my locker. Her long, blonde hair swayed behind her as she sauntered down the halls of Hollow Cove High, like she owned the place. I guess, in a way, she did.
Of course, the hallway was almost completely empty, but still, she felt the need to move me out of her way so she could have the full space to walk.
I hate Gina.
Ever since my parents died six months ago, I had forced myself out of my private school and away from my friends. Reluctantly moving to this hell-hole, they call public school. My brother Isaac, and now guardian, was afforded my parent's life insurance and decided to keep the business my parents ran, but I had to get out of that private school. Even though he begged me to stay there, reassuring me we could afford it, I just couldn’t. I had to get away from everyone I knew when my life was complete. Now, Isaac worked as the manager and owner of our mom’s coffee shop here in Hollow’s Cove. He had to give up his dream of becoming an attorney to take care of me. Thankfully, he was taking night classes at the community college, and working toward a business degree, but still, his life had changed just as much as mine had.
Only, he seemed to be handling everything better than me.
I went from being the popular and fun-loving teen at my private school, to now the angry new kid who no one liked.
“Shut the hell up, Gina,” Grace yelled, as she made her way to my side.
Well, at least one person liked me.
“Looks like the freak found a friend,” Gina laughed, as her group of followers smiled next to her. Her blue eyes burned into me as she looked at me with disgust.
“What is your problem?” I asked, snaking my hands to my hips.
I could feel my anger rising and if she didn’t get away soon, I wasn’t sure what I would do to her pretty little face.
“My problem is you,” she cackled. “You walk around here wearing only black and look like you are going to shoot up the place,” Gina stated. “Maybe you should just go back from where you came from,” she said, before flipping her long, blond curls over her shoulder and stalking away from me. “You think you are better than us here, but you are not.”
“Give it a rest,” another student yelled to Gina. While Gina made me feel like the whole world was out to get me, at least I had a reality check that let me know it was just Gina and her gang of skanks that hated me. For what reason, I had no clue.
I inhaled a sharp breath and closed my eyes. I was trying to remember the calming techniques Ms. Rhonda, my new school counselor, had taught me. We had weekly sessions and she was helping me get past my urges to hit everyone and everything.
Truth is, I never had anger issues until after my parent's accident. Living a perfect life had given me no reason to hate the world around me. Now, I detested life in general.
Maybe one day I could learn to see the bright side of things. But for now, I was left angry and jaded by a world that allowed two innocent people to be killed at the hands of a drunk driver. A vile human who was able to walk away from the accident without any injuries. The monster, who I had learned through police reports, had a severe alcohol addiction that she had been hiding from her husband for years. She thought it would be ok to drown herself in a bottle of vodka as she made her way to the mall. Little did she know, my unexpecting parents were leaving a date night, the same time she decided to chug down the remainder of her alcohol. It only took one unseen red-light for her to destroy my entire world in a blink of an eye.
My brother Isaac and I had sat in
a courtroom filled with a jury who looked at us with pitiful eyes. We watched as this evil human cried and begged for forgiveness from us. Her thin frame and thinning, blond hair made her look even more like the victim she pretended to be. For me though, I saw past her fake tears. I saw a selfish human who only thought of herself. Her friends and family all begged my brother and me to drop the charges. They were more concerned with their friend, than how she had destroyed my family-- my world.
Maybe I should have told the judge to give her a second chance. Maybe I should have told her I forgave her. But I couldn’t. She took away the two most important people in my life and left me cold and dark inside. So, I unleashed my hurt and begged the judge to lock her away forever. She had murdered my family.
It wasn’t fair. None of this was fair. But, I was quickly learning nothing in life was ever promised, and it damn sure wasn’t fair.
2
Seth
I’ve always wanted to be part of something. You know, part of something much bigger than myself. But, as life had proven to me time and time again, that just wasn’t in the cards for me. I grew up in a poor area of town, made fun of for not having the designer clothes the jocks and preps wore, and realized at too young of an age, that my asshole of a father didn’t want me.
I had my mom, who worked her ass off to make sure I always had a roof over my head and my brothers who were...there. But still, I never felt like I had a team I was part of. My friends were the closest thing I ever had to build a real relationship with anyone, and I would kill for them. Especially now that I am about to be inducted into the Raven Boy's Clubhouse and motorcycle gang. Now that is a real family. That is something much bigger than myself.
I still remember watching them ride a few years ago. I had gone with my buddy, Brody, and his older brother as he drove behind a hearse carrying a married couple who had been selfishly killed by a drunk driver. I remember seeing their stoic faces as they all lined up, letting the couple's children know they had protectors. Like guardian angels with bikes. It was the first time in my life I had ever been envious of someone. It was the first time I realized there was something bigger than this small town, the shit neighborhood I grew up in, and that I too, could be part of something one day.
***
My brother Alex died about six months ago. He pissed off the wrong guy at a bar and was knocked onto the hard cement floor of a bar, hit his head, and the rest is history. His wife, Britley, was pregnant, but when she learned her cash cow was gone, she decided she didn’t want the kid anymore. She told my family about the baby at the funeral. She never had a desire to play wife and homemaker, she only married my brother because we both sat on a large inheritance left to us by our late grandfather. Only, jokes on her because my terrible grandmother will never let us see a penny from that money. Rumor was, Britley had gotten her old job back at the local strip club. I definitely didn’t want to imagine my future niece or nephew being raised in a place like that. My grandmother had married for money too, and after our grandfather passed, she turned into the bitter old woman she had been hiding away for years. I guess Alex inherited her genes. For me, I didn’t have anything to do with that side of my family. My dad had left my mom for our step-monster and I hadn’t heard from him since. I guess, when you marry a woman almost young enough to be your own daughter, teenage kids aren’t acceptable anymore.
I wish I could say I cared, but I don’t. I have my mom and a soon to be niece or nephew who I will be raising as my own. Not sure how I am going to do this, but I can’t let Britley give this kid up for adoption. Even though I hated my brother, this kid may be the only good piece of him left and, to be honest, he or she is my flesh and blood. Unlike my ass of a dad and brother, I care about family.
“So, you really have given up on dating?” my best friend, Brody asked, handing me a beer.
Brody Raven was part of the elusive Raven Boy's Clubhouse and a biker gang. More importantly, he loved to race cars and paid me good money to design his emblems and cars.
Nodding yes, I took a swig of the cool liquid.
“Yes, I guess,” I stated with a sigh.
I had to think clearly now. I would never find a woman right now who would be interested in a guy about to raise someone else’s kid. I would just have to wait a few years, and once I got my shit together, then I could think about bringing a woman around. For now, I would save my money and hook up with as many one nights stands as I could, until I got the call that my niece was here. Besides, I was still in high school at Hollow Cove High. I had to find a way to get myself straight so I could take care of someone else.
Shaking his head, Brody just smiled at me. “You are a good man. A complete dumbass and pushover, but a good man, nonetheless,” he stated, patting me on the back.
All I could do was agree.
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About the Author
Leigh Allen is an Amazon best-selling fantasy and romance author with Kingston Publishing Company. Her desire to create fantastic worlds with steamy characters drives her writing.
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