Soaked
COURTNEY ELLIOTT
This is a work of complete fiction. Names, places, events are all part of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to any person living or dead, locations, or incidents are purely coincidental.
COPYRIGHT ©2018 Courtney Elliott
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without complete written consent of the author. With the exception of brief quotations used in reviews or critical articles.
**WARNING**
There is cheating, choice language, and sexual situations in this novel, but it’s necessary to the story.
Thank you. CE
Complete Works
THE CHICK FLICK PROJECT
SECRETLY MINE
UNDENIABLE SERIES
UNDENIABLE
UNBREAKABLE
UNAVOIDABLE
ONE MORE KISS
SOAKED
Dedicated To
Our Past. Our Present. Our Future.
Table of Contents
Prologue
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two
Thirty-Three
Thirty-Four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-Six
Thirty-Seven
Thirty-Eight
Thirty-Nine
Forty
Forty-One
Forty-Two
Forty-Three
Forty-Four
Forty-Five
Forty- Six
Epilogue
Prologue
I’ve always loved thunderstorms. The sound of the rain as it hits against my roof brings along a certain kind of calmness with it. The way the lightning briefly flashes across the dark sky has a beauty to it that cannot truly be described. Even the loud claps of thunder that shake my windows hard enough to make me wonder if they’ll hold up, bring a smile to my face.
I take a second away from reading my very worn, very loved copy of The Princess Bride that I’ve had since I was seven years old to experience it all. When I’m feeling particularly down about something, I grab it off my bookshelf, make myself a cup of nice hot tea, curl up in my favorite reading chair, and immerse myself in the fantasy world that Buttercup and Westley call home.
Today is definitely one of those days. They seem to be coming a lot more frequently now. I can’t say I’m surprised by that though. I was warned months ago this would happen. I knew there would come a time when my days would be filled with moments of despair and self reflection.
I think I hear a knock on my front door, but I ignore it. I can’t think of anyone that would be knocking on my door these days, at least not unannounced. Just as I convince myself that it was nothing but the rain, the sound comes again.
It’s louder this time. More persistent.
I tag the ear of the page before setting it down on my end table. Then I stand up and wrap my blanket tighter around me before slowly making my way toward the front door. I hope whoever is standing on the other side of my door is a patient person since slow seems to be the only speed I move these days.
It’s probably one of the neighbor children selling something for a school fundraiser. So, I make sure to grab my wallet out of my purse on the way toward the door. The knock comes again just as I step into the foyer.
“Just a moment,” I call out. My voice is frail and scratchy. I don’t know if it’s from lack of use or if it’s the disease finally spreading the rest of the way through my tired body.
I reach for the knob and pull it open slowly. “I’m sorry about keeping you out in the rain…” my sentence ends abruptly as I take notice of the man standing in my doorway. I blink rapidly as my eyes travel the length of him. He looks exactly the same, but different somehow.
“Hello,” he says in that low voice that I could never forget no matter what the doctors say. My heart tumbles around in my chest and I open my mouth to say something, but my words fail me. My eyes start to water and I don’t think about it before I rush into his arms.
He seems surprised, but he still opens his arms wide for me. He pulls me in and for the first time in ages, I feel alive again. My head rests against his chest and I let the first tears fall freely.
“You came back to me,” I manage to finally whisper as I let my eyes close and relish in the feeling of having him hold me again, and I let my mind slowly start to wander…
One
I met him in the middle of a thunderstorm on my thirteenth birthday. I had spent the entire day in the uncomfortable backseat of my parent’s station wagon as we left behind my grandparents in Michigan and traveled to a blip on a map some people referred to as Leering, Texas.
Population: 3,270
Make that, 3,273.
Mom and Dad assured me that Leering would be the last ‘new home’ for the three of us. Soon to be the four of us. You see, Dad was set to retire from the Navy at the end of the year, but that wouldn’t be the first time his enlistment would be up and he decided that he just needed to give them a little bit more. I wasn’t expecting that time to be any different. New baby or not. After all, they had already spent the last thirteen years raising me jumping from place to place. Why would a second kid change that?
I knew better than to say any of that though. It was obvious to anyone how happy they both were about this change. Who was I to ruin it for them. So, instead, I just kept my mouth shut and watched the grey sky swirling above me as we passed by the endless number of empty fields.
We pulled into our new driveway a few hours later and while Dad helped Mom into the house, I decided to check out the place. It was a lot smaller than I anticipated, and it was hard to imagine four people living there comfortably, but it was a lot nicer than the last place that was for sure.
I stepped out onto the back porch as a rumble of thunder echoed above me. Dad called out to me from inside, and I told him I was just going to look around a bit. Then I promised to be back before dinner. There were some woods maybe a half mile ahead of me, and I was eager to check them out. So, I tucked my arms around me and made my way forward.
After a few minutes, I came to a small bridge. It looked a little rundown, but sturdy enough that I could cross it safely. I placed my hands on either side and took my first few steps. I heard a splintering sound and before I had time to go back, the wood gave out and I fell down.
It wasn’t a long drop, but it was a gross one. I was covered in dirt and had leaves sticking to my skin. I reached up into some green plant and pulled, hoping that would be enough to get my footing.
Then as if my luck hadn’t already been bad enough; that was the precise moment that the rain decided to start again. I was quickly getting drenched and the ground around me was thickening into mud.
“Hey, are you okay?” I heard someone ask. I looked up and saw a boy leaning over the side of the bridge to look down at me. He looked like he was a little older than me, but not by much. His short dark hair was sticking to his forehead and his gray sweat shirt had a large wet stain right on the front of it.
>
“Yeah, I just fell,” I said as I tried again to grab the green patch and help myself up.
“You don’t really want to be touching that,” he said in return. I looked back at him, but didn’t let go of the plant. “That’s poison ivy.” I immediately released it, which caused me to stumble and fall right back down into the mud. So embarrassing.
He let out a chuckle before he quickly jumped down to where I was. He made it look so easy. Then he reached for my elbow and helped me to my feet. Once we were both standing again, he grabbed my hand and started to run.
“Where are we going?” I called out to him. He didn’t answer me though. He just led me deeper into the woods until finally we came to this little overhanging rock. He ducked underneath and pulled me along with him.
“I figured you might want to get out of the rain,” he said, but I barely even registered his words. Now that I wasn’t being pulled through the woods or stuck in mud, I was able to finally get a look at the face of the boy in front of me. And oh what a face it was.
He had these dark blue eyes that coincidentally reminded me of the sky right before a thunderstorm. So pretty and so hard not to stare at. He had a nice straight nose that wasn’t too wide or too big. His mouth was perfect with a full bottom lip that made me wonder what it would be like to have him kiss me. Then he smiled and I saw a faint trace of a dimple on his right cheek.
“I’m Weston,” he said. His voice was deeper than any of the boys my age, but nothing like the booming baritone of my father. So, he couldn’t be too much older than me. “Everyone calls me West though.”
“Lennon,” I said back. My own voice came out low and soft. I hated that for about three seconds until it brought another smile to his face. Then his brows furrowed in confusion.
“I haven’t seen you around here before.”
“I, uh, we just moved in.”
He glanced in the direction of my house then his eyes were back on me. “Really? That’s cool. How old are you?”
“Twelve,” I said. Then I realized that wasn’t right anymore. “I mean thirteen.” He gave me that adorable confused look again. “Today is my birthday,” I explained.
“Well, happy birthday. I’m fifteen.” I wasn’t sure what to say to that other than ‘cool’ so I just stayed silent. “I have a sister your age,” he offered. “She’ll be starting eighth grade at the end of the summer.”
“Me too.” West gave me a little nod of his head. Then he looked out our little makeshift shelter where the rain was still coming down all around us.
“This is bad,” I said. He turned toward me and his eyebrows quirked up again. “I meant the rain.” He looked back out.
“This is nothing. In about another hour or so though the sky is really gonna open up and we do not want to be out here when that happens.” He pointed up toward the sky. “See how dark it is over there?” I looked in the direction he was motioning and saw that the clouds did seem pretty dark. Then a loud boom echoed around us, driving his point home.
“I should probably walk you back.”
“But it’s still raining.” He smirked as he looked back at me.
“This is probably as light as it’s going to get.” I still wasn’t convinced it was a good idea to leave just yet. He seemed to sense my hesitation because he came over and sat down on the ground. Then he looked up at me with that smile of his.
“So, what were you doing out here right before a storm anyway?” I walked over and sat down on the ground next to him.
“I was curious about these woods. They looked like something in one of my stories so I wanted to check them out.” To my surprise, he didn’t call me weird or make fun of me at all for that like kids in Michigan had done. Instead, he just nodded his head like he understood.
“I like to run through here sometimes,” he offered. “It’s quiet and I don’t have to worry about running into anyone I know.”
“Why don’t you want to run into someone you know?” He shrugged.
“I kind of have people around me a lot of the time. It’s nice to just be me every now and then.”
“I get it.” He looked over at me. “That’s why I read. It’s like an escape from everything else.”
“What do you need to escape from?” He asked, intrigued.
“Nothing really. I just don’t really have friends so books kind of help with that.”
“Why don’t you have friends?” He seemed genuinely curious and I figured it couldn’t hurt to tell him a little about myself. After all, with the rain still coming down it’s not like we were going anywhere anytime soon.
“My family moves around a lot. My Dad is in the Navy so we change houses every six months or so.” His whole face lit up.
“Really? That’s kind of cool actually. So I bet you’ve been like all over the country.”
“Not really. Mostly just up North.” He smiled.
“That explains the accent then.” I raised a brow.
“I don’t have an accent.”
“You do, but don’t worry it’s not bad or anything. I like it. It’s different.” I felt a blush rise to my cheeks. I’d never really talked to a boy before him, and I had certainly never been complimented by one that looked like he did. Without even really knowing him, I could tell he was one of the popular kids. There was no way he couldn’t be. Not with those eyes and that smile.
“So, if you aren’t doing anything tomorrow, I could bring Katie over,” he said.
“Katie?”
“My sister. I just figured it might be kind of nice to know someone your own age since you’re new and all.” I tried to hide the disappointment in my face from his words. He thought I needed to meet someone my own age. Meaning, he thought I was too young to be around him.
“Yeah, that could be nice,” I said. Just like that the nice little bubble around us burst. I looked over at him, but he wasn’t looking at me. He was staring out at the woods surrounding us.
“Well, it looks like the rain has let up. I should walk you home.” I followed his gaze and noticed that instead of the pouring rain that had been there, now it was more of a light sprinkle.
“Thanks,” I mumbled. Then he stood up and held out his hand toward me. I took it and he helped me to my feet. He smiled before he dropped my hand and started to lead the way back to my house.
We didn’t say much the walk back, and I wished I could have been brave enough to come up with something. I wanted to know more about him. I wanted him to know more about me. Outside of my family, no one had ever really cared to ask questions about me.
We stopped at the edge of the tree line and he looked over at me. Then he smiled.
“Now in about five minutes, all hell is probably going to break loose. So, I suggest you hightail it back home before you drown out here.”
“Hightail it?” I asked and he let out a laugh. I instantly knew I loved the sound.
“It means to hurry.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“We’ll stop by tomorrow. Bye Lennon.”
“Bye.” I turned back and just like he said, I ‘hightailed it’ across the yard and made it to the porch without getting too wet. I turned and saw him still standing at the tree line. He held a hand up in a wave and right after I waved back, he turned and headed back into the woods. I couldn’t help but hope I would see him the next day like he said.
Two
West did end up introducing me to his little sister the next day, and by the following summer, we had become inseparable. During that time, Leering had also become our permanent home just as my parents had promised. Dad had retired at the end of his enlistment just like he was supposed to, and we also added the newest addition to our family; my baby brother, Jameson. He had been born the previous July and it had been the scariest time of our life.
My mom had gone in for a check-up with her doctor and when they looked on the sonogram, they noticed that Jameson had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. They tried to fix it naturally, but he went in
to duress. So, Dad took me over to Katie’s house while he rushed to be with Mom. She had to have an emergency C-section and then Jameson entered the world.
He wasn’t done fighting though. He spent the next two months in the NICU since he had been delivered almost eight weeks premature. I got to visit him a few times and each time I let him know that he had a big sister waiting on him to come home.
With my parents staying at the hospital so much, I spent a lot of time at the Blake household with Katie and West. It was during that time that she labeled us as ‘best friends forever’, and I didn’t mind in the slightest.
“Oh my god, there’s Sebastian,” she said, bringing me out of my memories and back to the present. I looked off in the direction she was staring and quickly found the object of her affection; Sebastian Rivers, the starting quarterback of our high school football team and best friend to her brother, West.
At that precise moment, West came walking out the doors with his signature smile in place complete with that heart stopping dimple of his. He clapped a hand on Sebastian’s shoulders and the two laughed about something.
In the year since I had first met Weston in the woods behind my house, my crush hadn’t eased up in the slightest. If anything, it was getting worse. It made absolutely no sense for me to be as attached as I was because I was hardly even around him. Since he had introduced me to Katie, we had become little more than strangers. I’d been cast off as ‘his little sister’s best friend’ and I couldn’t seem to change that. Not that I should want to anyway though.
I doubted Katie would be okay with me having feelings for her brother. All she ever did was talk about how annoying he was, or how he smelled bad, or the way that he seemed to have a new girlfriend every week. Though, I will admit the last one bothered me too. I knew she wouldn’t be able to understand it. I may not have had a lot of friendships over the years, but I knew enough to know that you do not under any circumstances date or even think about dating the siblings of your best friend or vice versa. Which, unfortunately meant that I would simply have to watch West from afar.
Soaked Page 1