Break Me

by Amanda Heath

  Rachel suddenly sits up and looks at something behind me. Her breathing accelerates. “Who is that?”

  “What? Who?” I turn around but don’t see anyone.

  “No that voice?” She starts twisting her hands in front of her.

  I listen for a second but don’t hear anything. “You probably heard Pierce. He didn’t want to be alone this weekend. So I brought him with me.”

  She doesn’t relax, which causes red flags to go up. “Oh. Okay,” she says, her eyes wide and her focus still on the outside.

  Paisley walks into the bathroom and takes us in, sitting on the floor. “Okay, Channing is bringing Royal and Kellan. I figure with Wes being here, that we can tell them both at the same time. Then we need to find you a good doctor, because we want to make sure you are, in fact, pregnant. I mean three sticks all said positive so I mean you are pregnant.”

  “Paisley, stop rambling. We can get all that figured out on Monday. It’s Saturday, chick, no doctors are open.” I stop her before she can keep rambling on.

  Rachel doesn’t seem to have heard anything that was said. She won’t stop staring outside of the bathroom. Something is floating around in my thoughts but I can’t seem to grasp it.

  Thirty minutes later, the boys arrive. This is where I start to get nervous. Paisley has the two boys sit down in the living room, and I have this overwhelming urge to sit between them. Rachel finally comes out of the bathroom and Paisley and I stand her between us.

  “Okay. Okay. Okay.” Paisley says three times and I can tell she doesn’t like the spotlight on her.

  “Rachel’s pregnant,” I say, looking at Royal. Kellan and him both stand up. Kellan has gone pale and he slowly backs away from Royal. Royal just stands there and stares at his sister.

  Pierce was standing off in the back and I hear glass break. When I look up he looks just as pale as Kellan. That’s when that “something” clicks. “Oh my fucking god,” I blurt, staring wide-eyed at Pierce. “Please, for the love of everything that’s holy, tell me you didn’t, Courtney Wentworth Pierce!”

  He nods his head slowly, still looking like a ghost. It takes Royal two seconds to catch on and I run after him when he stalks toward Pierce. “You didn’t, what?” Royal spits out, his entire face red. I’ve never seen him this mad. I fear for Pierce’s well being.

  “STOP IT!” Rachel screams, and we all freeze. “Don’t you dare hit him, Royal! I swear to god, I will stab you if you touch him!” She takes a few deep breaths while plopping down on the coffee table. “I’m sorry Kellan. God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I feel like so much shit right now. I kind of want to run off with that crazy bitch, Annabella.”

  Kellan swallows hard and stares at Rachel. “What are you talking about?”

  “This baby is Pierce’s. Not yours.”

  The End

  Turn the page for a sneak peek at the third novel in my Make or Break Series

  Save Me (Make or Break, #3)

  Coming Soon…

  “I don’t care! Do you hear me? I don’t care Pierce!” She screams at me. She is pissed and breathing fire. She has never looked so beautiful to me. Well when I can see her face and she isn’t turning away from me.

  “You care. You can pretend you don’t, but you do. You came all the way out here.” I pause grabbing her hand and swinging her around to face me. “You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t care.” I’m breathing fire now myself, but I don’t care. I pull her closer, until her chest touches mine. I cup my hands around her jaw and lean down to whisper against her lips, “You made me, you broke me, now you’re going to freaking save me.”

  Acknowledgements

  The biggest thank you goes out to all my fans. I can’t thank you guys enough for all the support and the daily messages. You guys are the reason I do this. I would have quit a long time ago if I didn’t have someone tell me they love my writing style or they love one of my men. If you keep wanting my stories, I’ll keep putting them out there!

  Dawn, Shanora, Jessy, I love you ladies like there is no tomorrow. Sometimes I feel like I’m in a shark tank but instead of being a shark I’m a regular old fish and I’m running away from the sharks. You three keep me sane and every time I’ve thought about calling it quits, y’all talk me out of it. I know I might not be the best friend around but you three are a godsend!

  Ena, thank you so much for doing my blog tours and everything else for this series! You have gotten the word out there about Make Me and Break Me and I can’t thank you enough.

  Tamsyn, you are awesome. Since you seem to love my Royal so much, you can be his Duchess. Even though your accent is South African instead of English. Though you have to take Pierce and Annabella with him because I’m quite tired of their bullshit. <3

  Finally, Cody, I love you even though you’re a butthole. Thank you for being you and letting me write. Thank you for cleaning my house because I don’t have the mental strength to do the dishes. Thank you for helping with the monkey even though I’m used to doing all of it. I love you to the moon and back.

  About The Author

  I live in southern Arkansas with my husband and young daughter. There is also an insane Boston Terrier running around. I've always been a lone wolf and find my friends in books. I started writing at a young age and I haven't stopped since. Most days you can find me either glued to my laptop or my kindle. My first novel, This Beautiful Thing was an Amazon best seller for 11 weeks and a year later I'm still tickled to see people enjoy it. I may not be a huge seller but I have the best fans ever and I thank God everyday for every single one of them.

  Find me on Facebook!

  First Chapter of Make Me (Make or Break, #1)

  Chapter 1

  “PAISLEY! ANSWER YOUR phone!” The voice of my best friend, Carly, filters in through my sleep. I blink open my eyes and realize that she isn’t actually here. She took my phone one night at a party and programmed her voice as her ringtone.

  I grab the offending thing from the floor in my bedroom and answer. “What?” I snarl, rubbing my eyes.

  “Good morning to you, too, grumpy,” she states in her sweet, china doll voice.

  “What do you want?” I say in the same voice, only minus the growl.

  I can see her in my mind. Her porcelain skin and amazing brown eyes. Her long, blonde hair pulled up in a ponytail, wearing a pair of jean shorts and a pink tank top. I’ve been best friends with her most of my life. She lives two trailers down from me with her dad and older brother. Her dad is a nice guy but he has the “can’t get right gene”.

  “Do you need a ride to school, grumpy? I’m leaving in like ten minutes,” she says and I can see her shit-eating grin through the phone.

  “Dang,” I say, rubbing my eyes some more. “Yeah, but we’ll have to be late. BeeBee isn’t awake yet. I’ve got to feed her and make sure she’s taken care of for the rest of the day.” BeeBee is my little sister. She’s two and full of life.

  “I was only joking about the ten minutes, silly. It’s only seven.” She laughs and I smack my forehead. Not one of my finer moments. My alarm clock is sitting right next to my bed and it reads 7:01 a.m.

  “Thanks for the wake up call, asshole.” I hang up before she gets onto me for cursing. I used to curse all the time, before my little sister came along. She doesn’t need to hear that from me. Mom curses enough for the entire world.

  I scramble out of bed and head into the only bathroom in the house. I find a needle and rubber tube sitting on the bathroom counter. Instead of freaking out like someone else might, I quickly throw them away in the trash. Mom’s new boyfriend deals in heroin, so right now it’s her drug of choice. I don’t really care; the woman has never shown me any love.

  I grab my brush from under the sink and pull my hair up into a ponytail. I line my eyes with liner and brush on some mascara. After that I take a moment to study my reflection. My hair is long, curly, and auburn. I spend a lot of time in the sun, so there are a lot of blonde highlights runni
ng through the strands. My eyes are deep green with shades of blue streaking through. My eyes are huge, and so are my lips, which are shaped like a bow.

  It’s really comical when I run into a group of guys I don’t know. They stop in their tracks, staring at my lips. Derek, Carly’s older brother, says they are perfect, perfect for sucking. Don’t worry – I slapped him upside his head for that one.

  I run back into my room and throw on a pair of low-rise skinny jeans and a green shirt. It’s a few years old, so it’s skintight. Not the kind of attention I want to bring to myself, but I’m dirt poor and I can’t afford new clothes. My mom won’t buy any clothes for me since I started throwing her drugs out. The skinny jeans are hers. If she isn’t going to buy me anything new, or give me money to get it myself, I’ll just steal hers.

  I pad into my little sister’s room, which is next door to mine. Her little, red head is peeking up from under her covers. I reach an arm into her crib and rub her back. Her little eyes open, showcasing her amazing, light green eyes. My little sister is gorgeous; I’m going to be beating boys off with sticks when she grows up.

  “Good morning, BeeBee,” I coo, picking her up. I lay her down on her fluffy pink rug on the floor. We can’t afford to buy a toddler bed, so she has to wear pull-ups at night. I had this little angel potty trained four days before she turned two.

  “Morwing Pawisley,” she tells me, rubbing her eyes. She’s a light sleeper, unlike me, so she can’t sleep with me. According to Carly, I toss, turn, and punch in my sleep. It would kill me to give BeeBee a black eye.

  I get her changed into her day clothes and she toddles behind me into the living room/kitchen area. Mom is either really high and out of it or she’s passed out. When I hear a snore, I realize she is passed out.

  BeeBee and I sit at the kitchen table while I feed us both from the same bowl of cereal. I’m seriously lucky our next-door neighbor loves kids. She has one of the nicest trailers in the park, and it doesn’t hurt that she keeps it spotless. She babysits a few kids, and when she found out about our situation she offered to watch BeeBee for free. I think I cried for like ten minutes on Ms. Summers’ floor. She sat besides me and patted my back the whole time. I freaking love that women.

  After we finish eating I grab my backpack and pick BeeBee up. I take a look at the trailer before I exit. One old patched up couch sits against the wall next to the door. A small box TV sits on a table across from the couch. The carpet is an ugly brown with stains galore, all over it. The kitchen has an old wooden table with four plastic chairs. The fridge is ancient and barely holds the food. We used to have a microwave, but in-between boyfriends my mom pawned it. The stove is old and barely works. I’ve stopped trying to cook on it. Instead I pitch in with Carly’s dad and we eat dinner over there every night.

  Shaking my head, I head next door to Ms. Summers’ to drop off BeeBee. BeeBee is not her actual name. My mom, believe it or not, comes from money. I’ve never met any of her family, but she rants and raves about how loaded they are. She says they don’t care about us, and hey, if that’s the way they feel, then screw them. Anyway, mom thought it would be funny to name us with big names. Rich names. I’m Paisley Noelle Vaughn and BeeBee is Beatrice Victoria Vaughn. I was not about to call my sister Beatrice. No thank you.

  Ms. Summers happily takes an equally happy BeeBee. “I’ll see you after school, Ms. Summers!” I say on my way out the door. I would get a job but Mom would just steal all my money. And I couldn’t ask Ms. Summers to watch her that long. As soon as I graduate though, I’ll be finding permanent employment. That way I can pay Ms. Summers and she’ll only have to watch her for eight hours, while I’m at work.

  “Paisley, looking sexy as usual,” Derek says when I knock on their door. Besides his pervy ways, he’s a decent dude. He doesn’t drink or do any drugs and has a steady girlfriend. He also has a steady job at a mechanic shop in town. He hits on me because I think it’s funny and it annoys Carly.

  “Looking pervy as usual, Derek.” I smirk and dip under his arm to enter their home. Mr. Peters is at the kitchen table reading the newspaper and drinking a cup of coffee. He works over night at the local chicken plant, and luckily he’s had this job for six months. Maybe he’ll stay away from the alcohol this time.

  About seven months ago he wrecked the family car after a night of boozing, and I’m pretty sure Derek kicked the shit out of him. I think it was a wake up call and he is actually trying to get his act together this time.

  “Morning, Paisley. Want some coffee?” he asks me.

  I nod and head over to the table, setting my bag on the floor. Mr. Peters is in his early forties and has dirty blonde hair with greys growing at his temples. His eyes are brown but I’ve never seen them sparkle, not like his children’s. Derek takes the seat next to me and grins as he places my cup down in front of me.

  Unknown to Carly (and really, I feel bad about it) I lost my virginity after a party to Derek. I was really drunk and had just found out Mom was pregnant. Derek was equally as drunk, and you know… things happen. He felt really bad about it the next morning; the only thing I felt bad about was puking all over his bedroom floor. It was just my virginity – who takes that seriously nowadays?

  Derek, though, is super hot. His dirty blonde hair is long, down to his shoulders, and he keeps it tied back. His brown eyes are the color of dark chocolate and they smolder. It’s really sexy but I only get a tiny twinge of lust. We only had sex the one time, but it was my first time, so of course it sucked. He wanted to date me, but I was not going there. I don’t want a boyfriend. Never have, never will. I don’t even know what got into me the night I spent with him. I don’t get turned on, or go gaga over a guy. That’s Carly’s department.

  “Paisley! Let’s go before Derek decides to devour your face.” Her eyes are bugging out of her head when I turn to look at her. Those eyes are pointed at Derek so I look over at him. Of course his eyes are pointed at my lips. Being the bitch that I am, I nibble on my bottom one for a second and blink my eyes a few times at him. When he starts panting I giggle and get up.

  Mr. Peters slaps him on the back of the head, knocking Derek out of his lust haze. “Damn, Paisley, if you would have me, I would treat you so…right.” He winks at me as he follows my eye movement.

  “Don’t lie to me Derek,” I exclaim. “Donna would kill you and then me. Besides, you love her too much.”

  He sighs and finally looks away. “You’re right. Y’all have a good day at school!” he shouts as Carly and I head out the front door.

  “My brother is such a pervert!” she shouts as well. I can only chuckle.

  After we climbed into her old Pontiac Grand Am, she starts in on me. “So…Laney said Ben was asking about you. He totally wants to date you.” I see her look at me hopefully from the corner of my eye.

  I rub in-between my eyes after hearing this. I’m sick to death of her trying to find me a boyfriend. She’s been with Mark Gauthier’s for like five years. Just because she’s happy with a guy, doesn’t mean I will be. Besides, I’m happy now. “Drop it, Carly. You know I don’t want a man.”

  “I don’t know why. A guy could drive you to and from school. Could help fix things up around your house. Help you with your homework. And if you find the right man, you could even have him take you out on dates that include BeeBee.” She grins over at me and I can only roll my eyes.

  “I’m in freaking high school, Carly. I don’t need to settle down. I’m good how I am.” She goes to open her mouth to spew out more nonsense, so I just glower at her. She rightly shuts up.

  I go through my whole day on autopilot. It’s the only way to get through high school. I’m two weeks into my senior year and I already wish I were graduated. I want to get BeeBee way from my mom so she doesn’t have to go through the things that I did.

  ***

  I’m waiting for Carly at the end of the day, by her car. She comes out holding hands with Mark. Those two will be married the second they get out of high scho
ol. Mark is insanely smart, though, so I’m thinking Carly has her ticket out of the trailer park. Too bad I’ll always be stuck there.

  They kiss for like ten minutes until I start clearing my throat. I have to do it five times before they break apart. “I’ll see you tonight?” he asks. Carly nods. “Later Paisley,” he states, tossing his dark brown hair out of his blue eyes. Carly didn’t do badly in the looks department either. Not bad at all.

  “Later, Mark.” I wave and climb into Carly’s car. We chat about random stuff on the way home. The second she pulls to a stop in front of my house, though, I get a horrible feeling. “Will you come in with me for a second?” I ask her softly.

  She looks puzzled but after seeing the look on my face she gets out with me. We silently walk into the house. If I had known this would be the second my entire life would change, I don’t know if I would have walked into that house.

  My mom is lying on her side on the couch. Her left arm is hanging off with the rubber tube still tied around her arm. The needle and spoon are on lying on the floor. Her dark green eyes are open and staring lifelessly. Her greasy red hair is pulled back from her face. If she had her eyes closed she would have looked like she was sleeping.

  I always knew I would come home and find her like this. I always knew I would come home and find her dead.