by Lacey Silks
“What is it that you want me to see, Chloe?” I was beginning to be frustrated with her, or maybe it was the anger that was trying to come from within. “Why did you want me to come here?”
At this point I wasn’t sure if I was going crazy, or if it was in fact my sister who had guided me back to the scene of the accident, but I wanted it to be all over. I wanted the nightmare with Jack to be over so that I could enjoy my first pregnancy. I wanted to let Chloe rest in peace and be proud that I’d found her murderer. I wanted to live the life that she meant for me to have by giving me her heart.
As I stood up, I heard rocks turn underneath someone’s feet, and I whipped my body around. There he was, no more than a few steps away, grinning with that sly smirk that was so easy to despise. I stood no chance of outrunning him, and there was no one else here to help. Even if I screamed, no one would hear me.
“Jack? Is that you?”
“Who the fuck else do you think it is?”
His beard had grown to a bushman’s length. White patches of his t-shirt’s original color stuck out here and there; the remaining fabric was stained with dirt and yellow sweat. The jeans were torn, and if I recalled correctly, were the same ones he’d been wearing the night I escaped with Trevor from the motel. He was also holding a gun at his side.
“I… I didn’t expect anyone to be here.”
“Of course you didn’t. But I knew that you’d show up here sooner or later.”
“How?”
“She won’t let me eat, drink or sleep. Whenever I close my eyes, she’s there, staring at me. What the hell does she want form me?” he screamed out, and the sound was carried down the bottom of the valley where it echoed off the steep cliffs a moment later. “I see her eyes as she draws her last breath, and I can feel my chest shrinking as the water fills her lungs.”
“Maybe it’s your guilt, Jack.”
Has Chloe been haunting him?
“Maybe I should get you to talk to her?” he asked, taking a step closer.
I took a step back, which put me right on the edge of the river’s shore. “Jack—”
“I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, Trish. You’re the only one who can stop her. And when you see her, tell Chloe to fuck off.”
It sounded like my sister had found a way to pull a fast one on Jack from beyond the grave – where I had a feeling I would soon be joining her if I didn’t get away. As he approached, I stepped back into the water. It was cool against my hot body, but not too cold. After all, the summer had just begun.
“Jack, you can still make things right.”
“She’s been haunting me enough. I want her gone.”
He was a madman. His eyes were empty and confused. His jaw kept twitching, and his gaze ran back and forth between me and further down the stream, closer to where my car had come to rest that night. I wondered whether Chloe was really there; if she was, I hoped she’d find a way to help me.
“I can help you, Jack. I can talk to Chloe. She’ll listen to me.”
“Oh, I know she’ll listen.”
“Jack, just come with me, please.” As much as I didn’t want to, I extended my hand to him, but he didn’t seem to see it.
“I’m a dead man one way or another, Trish. So really, I don’t give a flying fuck what you think I should do. I know what I have to do. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”
By this time I was knee deep in the water and about a quarter of the way into the river. I didn’t think it got much deeper than this, but I also knew that you didn’t need a lot of water to drown. Jack rushed toward me. I spun on my heel and headed further in. If I had to, I’d swim like a fish if it meant I could escape. But I was too slow.
Jack grabbed me by my hair and pulled me back. I lost my footing and slipped, submerging. When I got back to the surface, Jack had a tight hold on me. That look in his eyes was a death sentence, and I took a deep breath in just before he pushed me underneath the water.
“I just want her to leave me alone!” I heard from above. The sound was muffled as my lungs strained. I thrashed around, trying to loosen the grip on my hair, but nothing worked. He finally pulled me back up, lowered himself down, and whispered. “Don’t hold your breath. It will be faster. Chloe held her breath and suffered. Don’t suffer, Trish.”
Despite his warning, I took another deep breath before he dunked me. This time, as I waited for him to pull me back up, I knew my hope was for nothing. I kept my eyes closed while I reached for him, desperate to find his feet so that I could jostle his footing, but I couldn’t. And that’s when I saw her – I saw Chloe in the water, smiling at me. Her hair was floating around her in angelic waves. She pressed her finger to her lips, asking me to be quiet. She then rubbed her belly and looked to mine with pride and happiness before lifting her hand up to her chest. She then extended her hand to me as if giving me her heart all over again as the water in front of me slowly turned from clear to red.
And then it all stopped. The vision was gone, replaced with darkness.
“Come on, damn it! Breathe!” someone demanded. The voice was familiar, but my ears were ringing as I strained to hear it again. My lungs were ready to burst, but instead of giving up, they pushed the water out. It fountained out of my mouth.
My vision was blurry at first. I was no longer drowning in the river, but instead lying down on my side on the bank.
“Good girl. I thought I’d lost you.” Axel’s voice brought my attention from the strong thighs I saw kneeling at my side, up to his face, as the world around me came back into focus.
“Jack. He’s here.”
“I know. Everything will be okay now, baby. It’s all over.”
My gaze drifted to the crimson shore where Jack’s body lay face down.
“I had no choice,” Axel whispered. “He had you under water. I thought you were dead.”
He lifted me up into his arms, cradling me against him, rocking us back and forth. “I thought you were dead.”
“You saved my life. You saved our baby’s life.”
I prayed that our baby would be okay, but in my heart I believed that it would be. Actually, I knew it would be.
“Trish, what happened? How did you find him? Why did you leave on your own?”
“I… I’m sorry. I needed to be here. I had to see where she died. I wanted to feel closer to Chloe. Axel, I think she led me to him. She knew he’d be here.”
“How?”
“He said she’s been haunting him.”
“Chloe?”
“I saw her, Axel. I saw her under the water. You have to believe me.”
As my body became more aware of what had happened, I began shaking, and so I held onto Axel.
“I do, baby. I do. Because she led me to you.”
“She did?” I asked.
“Chloe’s picture fell off a shelf in your father’s office. No one else was there. There was no breeze and no open window. It just fell. I picked it up and got this ginormous need to hold you. That’s when I knew that she was trying to tell me something. When I walked out of the office to find that you were gone, I knew you were in trouble. Thank God your mother’s car has GPS tracking.”
I glanced at Jack’s body again. “You shot him.”
“I’m sorry, but he would have killed you.”
“No, it’s okay.”
“It’s not. I promised Chloe that I’d put the gun away forever. This is the second time I broke that promise.”
“Axel, I don’t think she’d mind it this time. In fact, I know she wouldn’t.”
“Let’s get out of here, Trish. It’s time to start all over.”
It was time.
Axel took me to the hospital. He called the police on the way over and told them what had happened. Upon insisting I get a thorough check, Axel called our parents.
For the first time in years, I was about to live my life the way any woman should: without having to live in fear and looking over her shoulder. Making the deci
sion to reunite with my family was one of the best ones I’d ever made. It allowed me to not only tie up loose ends but also feel the love that had been missing in my chest, aching to reach out. In the last month, two broken men who tried to ruin my life had died. And while I wanted to think that judgment for these cheaters had been served, I had a feeling that a special place in hell had been reserved just for them.
Seven months from now, our family would grow again. Trevor would have a little brother or sister, and I’d be blessed with two children. I no longer had visions of Chloe, and my chest didn’t ache. My sister had been avenged, and she could now rest in peace.
Epilogue
“Trish, can I hold her?” Trevor asked.
“Yes, of course.” We were sitting on the sleigh on the carousel, Axel on one end and me on the other, with Trevor between us.
“You sure you don’t want to ride on the horse, Trevor?” Axel asked.
“No, this is Chloe’s first time and together is better.”
I handed the baby to Trevor. Over the past year, he’d perfected the hold, and took his job as an older brother seriously.
“Hold on, maybe I should remove her sweater. It’s a nice day.”
“Why don’t you do it after the ride, when it’s less windy? She’ll need a diaper change anyway.” Axel stopped me from unbuttoning her pink sweater. Chloe was the princess of pink, courtesy of her father, who spoiled her any chance he got.
“You’re right. I wouldn’t want her to catch a cold.”
The music got louder, and the carousel started spinning. Axel reached his arm over the seat, gently skimming his fingers over my shoulder. A memory of those fingers inside of me last night flashed through my mind, and I smiled as he mouthed, I love you. Those same fingers had made me so tired that I’d slept in this morning. Axel never woke me and managed to get the kids dressed on his own. Trevor was wearing his new dinosaur shoes, and Chloe reminded me of a cute little piglet in her pink outfit. Still, I was grateful for the extra few minutes in bed.
I mouthed I love you back to Axel, and looked down at Trevor, who had just kissed Chloe on her head and told her that he loved her. I smiled, grateful for my family.
“Come on, Trevor, wave to Grandma and Grandpa.”
Not the biggest fans of rides, my parents, along with Axel’s, were sitting on a bench, calling out to Chloe and Trevor to wave. Axel had invited my parents to stay with us for a week. My mother arrived the next day, insisting that she needed more than a week with her grandchildren, and my father joined her a few days later.
Trevor picked up Chloe’s little hand and motioned it toward the proud grandparents. She giggled, as she always did when Trevor was trying to teach her new gestures - although she had already perfected the wave. Mr. Wagner along with my father had their cameras ready on this picture-perfect spring day. Axel had invited them out for a picnic in Central Park, which we had been headed to five minutes ago, but when Trevor saw the carousel, we knew we couldn’t miss the ride.
We spun around, Chloe giggling in Trevor’s lap, him paying keen attention to his little sister, Axel keeping constant contact with me, his fingers playing with my hair, and me wondering how I’d never imagined my life would turn out this perfect.
Once the ride stopped, we got off. I put Chloe in her stroller, and Grandma Beth insisted it was her turn to push it. Axel took my hand and we led them toward the pond where I’d first met Trevor. A blanket had been laid under a willow tree. Two baskets, which I assumed were full of food, were set at the side. I saw Charlie sitting on a bench nearby and waved him over to join us.
Chloe fussed a little in her seat and I remembered that she needed a diaper change. We were beginning to teach her to go potty, and for a one-year-old she was grasping the concept quite well, but I didn’t want to take a chance she’d soil her clothes while we were out. So far I only let her run around without the diaper at the house and in the back yard.
“I need to change her diaper,” I said, as soon as we came to the blanket, and removed Chloe from her seat, laying her down on the soft surface underneath the tree.
“I’ll set the picnic up,” Axel volunteered. “Wanna help me, Trevor?”
“Yes.”
I tickled Chloe over her nose and she giggled again. She was the best child ever – never fussed at night and slept through by the time she was three months old. After all the ordeals we’d gone through the past few years, we deserved a little break.
I lowered her pink pants and unbuttoned the sweater and scrunched my brows at the new onesie she was wearing and used my hand to shade my eyes, making sure I was reading the message that was embossed on its front.
Mommy, will you marry our Daddy?
I gasped and turned around. Axel was kneeling behind me, with Trevor right at his side, holding a box with a diamond inside. I felt my eyes swell and wiped the tears with the back of my hand.
“What do you say, Patricia Dalton? Will you be my wife?” Axel asked.
“Trish, will you be my Mom?” Trevor asked right after his father, as if they’d practiced. They probably had.
I got goosebumps over my arms when I heard Trevor ask for me to be his mom. I’d always thought I’d be “Aunt Trish.”
“Yes, I’ll marry you. And of course I will be your mom.” I kissed Trevor on the top of his head, hugging him tightly.
I was sobbing. So were my mom and Beth, and I might have seen the sparkle of a tear in the corner of Mr. Wagner’s and Dad’s eyes.
Axel slid the ring on my finger, took me in his arms, and kissed me hard on my lips.
Today was officially another best day of my life that I could add to the list of best days I’d had since meeting Axel Wagner.
* * *
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Afterword
Dear Reader,
While writing Broken Cheaters, Axel surprised me and wanted another story.
Chloe, will be published as part of an anthology at end of July 2016, and on its own, end of August, 2016. If you’d like to be informed about my new releases, sign up to my mailing list. I also send information with discounts, promotions, and more.
As always, thank you for your continued support. It boggles my mind that someone wants to read what I enjoy writing.
Happy Reading
xoxo
Lacey Silks
I met Axel Wagner at my darkest hour. He saved my life and then reached out to me, offering a chance at a new beginning.
I took it, and then ruined it all by letting him touch me.
He showed me compassion.
He taught me love.
He gave hope.
He was no longer just an employer – he became my everything.
Also by Lacey Silks
Dazzled by Silver (prequel to the Layers Trilogy)
Layers Deep (Book 1)
Layers Peeled (Book 2)
Layers Off (Book 3)
Crossed (prequel to the Crossed Series)
Layers Crossed (Book 1)
Double Crossed (Book 2)
Crossed Off (Book 3)
When Things Go Wrong (short prequel)
Cheaters Anonymous (Book 1)
Loyal Cheaters (Book 2)
Broken Cheaters (Book 3)
Chloe (Book 4)
Perfectly Equipped (short prequel)
Perfectly Seduced (Book 1)
Perfectly Kissed (Book 2)
Perfectly Loved (Book 3)
Friends to Lovers Series
My First, My Last
Yours and Mine
Short Stories
My Only One | Dance With Me | Teacher’s Pet
Bossy Request | Over The Limit | My Neighbor’s Will
Mistresses (a five story collection)
Connect with Me Online:
Twitter | My Blog | Mailing list | Facebook
About the Author
USA Today Bestselling Author Lacey Silks writ
es erotic and contemporary romances with a touch of suspense. Her stories come from her life, dreams and fantasies. She’s a happily married wife with two kids who uses her husband to test out the more intimate scenes for her writing – he said he doesn’t mind it at all.
Lacey likes to make her readers blush and experience the story as if they were the characters. Drawing on the reader’s most sensitive emotions through realistic stories satisfies her more than… …ok not really, but you get the point ;)
She likes a pinkish shade on a woman’s cheeks, men with large feet and sexy lingerie-especially when it’s torn off the body. Her favorite piece of clothing is a birthday suit.
@LaceySilks
LaceySilksAuthor
www.laceysilks.com
This and That…
Also known as Acknowledgements
I thought this novel would finish off the Cheaters Series. At least that was the plan and then Axel decided to tell his story when he met Chloe. Thinking back now, I know the series wouldn’t feel complete without that last short novel, but now that it is, my heart is in mourning. I loved writing about the Crossed brothers and as I wrote Broken Cheaters, I knew that I wanted to write another series that connects the men in a brotherhood that may be even stronger than blood.
This is where Lady Marise comes into play (aunt Mary). She was introduced at the fundraiser. I’ll be writing that series this fall, to be released early 2017.
Anyhoo, I just wanted to share with you the way my head works when I’m writing a story. It’s always in ten places at once as I think about the future, slowly forming those characters and plots.
To my AA (not what you’re thinking) group: I’ve learned so much from everyone there, thank you, thank you, thank you.
To the LOL Ladies : you’re the funniest and most supportive chicks ever!