Always in my Heart (The Subzero Series, #2)

by Rebecca Elise

  Always in my Heart

  Subzero Series Book two

  By: Rebecca Elise

  Always in my Heart

  Subzero Series Book Two

  Rebecca Elise

  Published by Rebecca Elise

  Copyright © 2013 Rebecca Elise

  Cover by RE Publishing

  Cover Photo by Branislav Ostojic

  This novel is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to people either living or deceased is purely coincidental. Names, places and characters are figments of the author’s imagination. The author holds all rights to this work. It is illegal to reproduce this novel without written expressed consent from the author herself.

  All Rights Reserved

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One - Abby

  Chapter Two – Tyler

  Chapter Three – Abby

  Chapter Four – Tyler

  Chapter Five – Abby

  Chapter Six – Tyler

  Chapter Seven – Abby

  Chapter Eight – Tyler

  Chapter Nine – Abby

  Chapter Ten – Tyler

  Chapter Eleven – Abby

  Chapter Twelve – Tyler

  Chapter Thirteen – Abby

  Chapter Fourteen – Tyler

  Chapter Fifteen – Abby

  Chapter Sixteen – Tyler

  Chapter Seventeen – Abby

  Chapter Eighteen – Tyler

  Chapter Nineteen – Abby

  Chapter Twenty – Tyler

  Chapter Twenty-One – Abby

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Epilogue

  Chapter One - Abby

  That’s it. I am officially going to disown my father. I mean seriously. Has the old man completely lost his mind? I’ve always had a close relationship with my parents but not this close. Never, ever in any way, shape or form have we been this close. Another glance inside the brown cardboard box and utter annoyance courses through my veins all over again.

  My father’s first reaction to my boyfriend, Tyler, wasn’t exactly warm and fuzzy. I think he hoped I would meet some young professional hot shot that wore three piece suits and played golf on the weekends. That’s probably what most fathers want for their daughters. Instead, I showed up with the tattooed drummer of a rock band that sported a bright blue Mohawk and an appetite for shenanigans that was bordering on unhealthy – but my parents didn’t need to know about that part.

  It was quite obvious that my dad was hoping Tyler was part of some bad boy phase I was going through – he’s not – and he was less than thrilled when I announced I was moving out of the condo I shared with my sister and into a place with Tyler. But this...this is absolutely ridiculous.

  I shake my head as a knock sounds at my front door and I open it up to let my sister, Chloe, in. She follows me into the kitchen, sets her purse on a barstool and grabs a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. She twists of the top, takes a sip and holds it out to me. I shake my head.

  “Your father has lost his mind.” I say.

  Chloe laughs. “Why do you say that?”

  “He sent me and Tyler a housewarming gift.” I point to the cardboard box sitting on top of the kitchen counter.

  Chloe glances inside the box and her brown eyes widen as she covers her mouth with her hand, trying hard to not spit out the sip of water she just took.

  “He sent you guys a box full of condoms? I told you he is worried you are going to pop out a couple of smurfs.” She sounds about as horrified as I feel.

  “Yeah well I am gonna ship these bad boys back with a note that says he is a little too late just to freak him out.”

  I go to close the flaps on the box when Chloe puts her arm out to stop me. She grabs a handful of condoms and drops them into a pile on top of the granite countertop.

  “Hey you may want to hold on to some of these unless you want to be nine months pregnant, waddling down the aisle on my wedding day.”

  I pull a disgusted face. She has a point there but I’d rather spend money on my own birth control than use the dad issued ones that are currently in my possession. I grab the ones Chloe just littered my countertop with and toss them back into the box where they belong. Out of my line of vision!

  “Hey, I brought something.” She says, quickly changing the subject.

  “What’s that?” I ask.

  Chloe sets a green and white striped paper shopping bag down on top of the counter next to the cardboard box of fun. I recognize the logo on the bag right away. It’s from The Bake Depot, which is one of my favorite stores in the entire world. Unlike my kitchen challenged sister, I am a fabulous cook. Baking though, that is my passion. When I’m happy, I bake. When I’m angry, I bake. When I’m sad...well, then I could outfit the entire city with enough pastries for a week.

  My love for baking started when I was five and I would sit on the counter and watch my grandmother make her famous red velvet cupcakes and coconut macadamia fudge. I loved how creative she was. She was always looking for new flavors to try. She would use whatever she happened to find in her pantry. That’s the way I liked to bake. Just toss in anything and hope it tastes good.

  “You’ll have to look inside and see.” Chloe teases.

  I peek inside the bag and see a bunch of boxes of airbrush color. I pull them out and there is every color I could possibly want – bold colors, bright colors, shimmery colors, pastel colors.

  “They are to go with the airbrush kit that Jack and I ordered for you.” She says, flashing me a beaming smile.

  “Wow...Thank you! You so didn’t have to do this but...thanks.”

  She shrugs. “We’re excited for you and we wanted to do something nice.”

  “Yeah, that and you want me to make your wedding cake.” I tease.

  “The thought has entered our minds. How long do you have until the bakery opens?”

  “About three weeks.”

  I have been working in bakeries since I was sixteen. I started out as a cashier but by the time I was seventeen, they were letting me help out in the kitchen. At first it was just doing little things like mixing dough or fillings and rolling fondant but it wasn’t long before I was doing the fun stuff like making sugar flowers and sculpting decorations for specialty cakes.

  The owners of the bakery, Claire and Warren, thought I showed so much potential that they helped pay the tuition for me to go to The New York campus of The Culinary Institute of America where I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Baking and Pastry Arts. I just had to promise to go back and work for them when school wasn’t in session and for one year after graduating. I ended up working for them for two years after graduation, until I moved here. I found a job at another bakery almost immediately. Now, after years and years of saving, I am finally opening up a place of my own. I put a down payment on the building about a month ago and have been workin
g hard getting it set up and hiring a great staff. Now I only have three weeks to go and Abigail’s Sweet Treats will be open for business!

  “Well you have to let me know when it opens. I want to buy the first cupcake!” Chloe says.

  “You know we open at like seven in the morning right?”

  Chloe gives me a deadly serious look. “Hey! Anytime is cupcake time.”

  I shake my head and laugh. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if she bought a cupcake for breakfast. She would rationalize the purchase by choosing a cupcake with fruit on top since, you know, anything is healthy as long as you top it with fruit.

  We hear a noise at the front door and moments later Tyler comes rushing in. He has an excited look on his face and his beaming smile makes my heart do flips. Chloe looks back and forth between the two of us smiling at each other likes fools.

  “Alright, well if you’re home than mine probably is too so I’m out of here. See you guys.” She grabs her purse and waves over her shoulder as she walks out.

  Tyler throws both of his hands up in the air. “I have some massive news.”

  “Is that your new version of hello?”

  Tyler pulls his drumsticks out of his back pocket, twirls them between his fingers and places them on top of the counter. He walks towards me confidently and places his hands on my bottom. Then, in one swift movement, he picks me up and I wrap my legs around his waist.

  “My apologies love. Hello my dear, sweet Abigail. How was your day?”

  Tyler walks forward until my back presses up against the pantry door. I open my mouth to talk, but before I have a chance to say anything, he crushes his mouth against mine. My lips part and his tongue slides in as he deepens our kiss.

  “That’s more like it,” I say, pulling my head back. “My day was good. Now tell me about your massive news.”

  He sets me back down but keeps his arms wrapped tightly around my waist. “Yes – it’s massive, huge, gigantic, unbelievably massive...”

  “You already said massive like three times now. How about you just spit it out?”

  “Right, so have you ever heard of a group called Stardust?”

  “Ummm, yes...they are a New York based band you know.”

  “Well they have asked us to record a couple tracks with them for their upcoming album!”

  “Tyler! That’s amazing! When do you start recording?”

  “They arrive in two days’ time. We’re writing a couple songs with them too. This album is going to be completely brill and I’m so...do you have any idea how hot female rockers are?”

  I smack his arm and give him a look of mock disgust. “Please try to remember when you are around these hot female rockers – or any females at that – that you, sir, are in a committed relationship.”

  Tyler grins and leans down to give me a kiss. “I could never forget that. I love you Abby.”

  “Yeah, yeah I love you too.”

  “Do you have any idea what this could do for Subzero? We’ve been waiting so long for our music to be heard round the world and this could be exactly the thing we need. Maybe we could go on tour opening for someone. Maybe even Stardust. Then in one or two years’ time we could be headlining our own tours.”

  “Oh good, then I can deal with hot female rockers and groupies.” I say sarcastically.

  Tyler frowns. “Wouldn’t you come with me if we ever went on tour?”

  “Of course I would but do you think some skanky, rabid groupie would let me stand in her way if she really wanted to get to you?”

  “Well, it doesn’t matter what some random groupie wants. The only groupie I want is you.”

  “Good because I’m telling you right now, if I catch you with some groupie, I’m taking off with the first roadie I see and...”

  Tyler’s hands fly into my hair and he silences me by pressing his lips firmly against mine. His brown eyes look wild when he pulls back.

  “I don’t even want to think about you and some other guy. I’d hate to have to unleash my mental on the poor bastard.”

  “Your mental?” I say with a laugh. “Now that would be a sight worth seeing.”

  I love Tyler. I do, more than anything in this world...but he’s not the most intimidating guy. He has nice muscle tone but he’s not exactly built...actually even with the slight muscle definition that he does have, he is still a bit gangly. He’s a decent height but definitely not looming over anyone. To top it off, he’s a bit goofy and he has blue hair. Who does he really think he is scaring with his lanky blue self?

  He holds his hands out in front of him and looks at me with a serious look. “Woman, you have no idea what these hands are capable of doing.”

  I grab his hands, pulling them back to my waist as I move towards him closing any distance left between the two of us. Lifting up on my toes, I lean in and whisper into his ear. “Actually, I think I know exactly what your hands are capable of doing.”

  Tyler quickly licks his lips as he stares down at me with half lidded eyes. “You think? How about I show you so that you can be absolutely positive?”

  “Oh I am absolutely positive but please, who am I to turn down the opportunity to be pawed and pushed to the edge of ecstasy by the one and only Tyler McDermott?”

  Tyler cocks his head to the side and lifts one of his eyebrows. “Are you messing with me because I still can’t tell sometimes when you are being sarcastic and when you are being serious?”

  I throw my head back and laugh. “Oh okay, Mr. I once shaved my name into a complete strangers head and then proceeded to decorate it with spray paint...you have a hard time telling when people are being serious?”

  His lips turn up into a giant smile. “Not people, just you. You have this biting sarcasm that surprises me still sometimes. You’re my feisty little firecracker.”

  “Well, maybe I was being a little sarcastic but in all seriousness, you are pretty amazing with your hands and you can touch me anytime.”

  I reach my hands up and place them behind his head, pulling his face towards mine and kiss him lightly right in the corner of his mouth. Tyler opens his mouth to say something but looks up and hesitates, a curious look crossing his face.

  “What’s all this?” He asks pointing to the green and white bag and the cardboard box.

  “The bag is a bunch of airbrush color from Chloe and Jack for the bakery. That other thing is a housewarming gift from my father.”

  Tyler drops his hands from my waist and walks over to the counter. He peers inside the box and turns around to look at me, his eyes wide with surprise. Then, he begins laughing hysterically. I’m glad he finds this so funny.

  Chapter Two – Tyler

  Her father sent us condoms.

  I’m not sure if I should be creeped out or send the man a bloody thank you card. Abby is completely mortified. Then again, if my dad had done this, I would be too.

  “Do you know what this means?” She asks me.

  “That your father wants me to give you a good shagging?”

  Abby looks at me as if I have gone completely mental.

  “No, but it means he knows that we are.”

  “Most likely he does and judging by the amount in there he believes we do it all the time.”

  “Ew, Tyler! Don’t say that!” She exclaims. “You do realize this is because he’s afraid you’ll get me pregnant. Doesn’t that offend you?”

  My face blanches at the thought of us becoming parents anytime soon.

  “Absolutely not! The world is not ready for you to bear my children, though they will be an unbelievably dashing and handsome bunch. Really he is doing me a favor.”

  Abby shakes her head, her brown ponytail swings softly. “I can’t believe you’re okay with this. I want to kill him.”

  I laugh out loud. “Not me my love. I want to give him a good old fashioned snogging.”

  I glance back at the box. It isn’t a terribly big box but there must be at least four or five dozen condoms in there. “Where do you think he got t
hem all?”

  Abby shudders and rolls her eyes. “I don’t even want to know.”

  It’s no big secret that her father didn’t exactly warm to me straight away but I believe we’ve made some progress since then. For starters, he actually calls me Tyler now and he doesn’t make comments about my hair or my tattoos anymore, though there isn’t much he can say about my hair these days. I’ve let the sides grow in just a bit and my Mohawk is shorter, so I guess you could say it is a bit more faux than mo but it is still as blue as ever.

  I’m sure most fathers wouldn’t want their daughters to get pregnant before they were married, but I’m willing to bet Jack didn’t come home to find a special gift from dear ol’ dad waiting for him.

  Abby moves the box of fun off of the counter and takes it in the bedroom to bury it in the back of the closet. I don’t blame her. I mean, there is no way we can use them without thinking of the fact that her father sent them. If we are thinking about that, then there is no way there will be any hanky panky going on...which is probably the reason he actually sent them.

  Maybe I should be offended but I’m not. I don’t mean any disrespect to her dad but I love Abby and she loves me and that is all that matters. Plus, I am in such a good mood today, he could tell me to my face that I would never have his blessing to be with his daughter and I wouldn’t care. Well, I mean of course I would care, but I’m just too excited today to let anything get to me.

  We got word today that this all female punk group called Stardust wants to record a couple of tracks with us! I can’t believe they’ve heard of us but apparently their lead singer, Ann, has a cousin who was here on holiday once and happened to be in Stoaked one night while we were playing. Talk about the stars aligning that night. He liked our sound, bought one of our albums and was playing it one night while he was hanging out with the girls. They liked what they heard and everything is history from there.

  “So how long are these girls going to be here?” Abby asks as she walks into the living room, where I am now sitting, and drops down on the sofa next to me.

  I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know actually. I’m not even sure how many songs we are doing with them. I can’t wait to meet them. Do you think they’ll come see us play next Friday night? That would be so cool.”