by G. V. Steitz
Copyright 2013, G.V. Steitz
All Rights Reserved.
Kindle Edition.
ISBN-13: 978-1484082621
ISBN-10: 1484082621
This book is a work of fiction. All of the names, places and characters, organizations and events described in this book are completely fictional and products of the author’s imagination used to fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any similarity to any individual, organization, events, or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.
This is a 15,000 word novella.
Dedication.
To all who have given selflessly to save another’s life through organ donation.
And to those who have been given such a gift, and don’t take it for granted or misuse in any way to disrespect the family and person responsible for giving your life, the second chance they were not given themselves.
God Bless you all…
PREFACE:
Dallas moves from Texas to stay with her brother and sister in law at the young age of 15 after their parents were in a tragic car accident that ended their lives.
Having started at a new high school, Dallas meets Rick on her very first day.
Although Dallas believes that Rick is just a prankster, she soon finds out that when their skin touches one another’s, there is serge of energy passed throughout both of their bodies that no other has ever experienced.
Five years later, engaged to be married, Tragic knocks on Dallas’ door once again, killing Rick in a horrific car accident and leaving Dallas alone.
Five years after that fateful day of losing her one true love, she finds out Charlie is one of the recipient’s of the organ donations Rick had authorized to donate in the event of him loosing his life.
Charlie seeks out Dallas because Rick comes to haunt Charlie in his dreams. Charlie and Dallas soon find out that they both have the same serge of energy that passed through her body when she was with Rick.
Unsure if she can allow herself to move forward in the present, letting go of her past with Rick remains to be seen.
Dear Readers,
Please feel free to contact me regarding any of my books in publication. I appreciate any feedback on kindle.com or amazon.com at you can offer. Good or bad, it will only make me a better writer.
With more experience in my writings, I have found grammatical errors becoming less and less. I am always in desperate need, searching for an editor. However, the budget doesn’t currently allow such necessities.
I can tell you, I firmly believe you will enjoy the stories I tell in my books. I find myself going through the emotions while in the depths of creating the stories told through my words.
Generally, I look to tell a story that is relatable through daily tragic mishaps of the current times we live in now.
And just like life, sometimes those stories don’t have a ‘happily-ever-after’.
Generally speaking, I lean more towards the ‘alpha male’ type personality when creating the male star role. Of course, I have written mostly erotica novels, this is my first, ‘light’ romance read. I would love to hear what my readers think on this book compared to my past writings.
Happy Reading…
Come Back To Me…
1.
I wake up in hot flashes. I don’t understand the dreams I have been having lately. All I keep doing is reliving the night that ended the life I no longer had. The night I lost what I thought to be the love of my life. The night my world ended.
I keep seeing Rick lying on the ground, near the car that was completely totaled. A drunk driver slammed into us, on the driver’s side where Rick was driving. We were having a good time. Talking about our up and coming wedding we were planning and in less than a year away at that time, neither of us could wait.
That was 5 years ago…
Rick and I had known each other since we were both 15 years old. I remember when we first met, I came from Texas where I grew up, and I was a freshman in high school. My parents had conceived me in Dallas Texas, or so the story goes… Care to take a guess at what they named me? Yep, Dallas. They loved to tell anyone and everyone who asked about how I was named after a city, and having come from Texas, living in where else, Dallas, how did I get my name, and why.
So I came to live with my big brother. Who by the way was conceived in Nashville, TN. Care to take a stab? You got it, Nashville, Nash for short. Nash is 7 years older than I am, so when I moved in with him and his now wife, then girl friend, he was 22.
Nash and I were always close, and he and his wife, Tiffany, or Tiff, became really tight and I thank God that I had them both.
Rick met me on my very first day, and he always tried to act like the troubled teen. All smoke and screens, if you asked me. And he knew I could see right through it all.
I always think about the beginning of the rest of my life, starting with the first day I met Rick on what we would be calling our 5 Anniversary today, Feb. 14. Yep, romantic right? Not so much any more. I roll over in my bed, still wearing my engagement ring. Why take it off? I didn’t feel there was anyone else on this earth that I was meant to be with more than Rick.
“Hi, you are new here aren’t you?” The tall brick like boy stood near my locker asked me as he was leaning against the lockers, rolling his eyes up and down at me like I was some sort of prime rib dinner and he hadn’t eaten in a month.
“Right, well my name is Rick. Rick Keller. And you are super cute.” He said as he winked.
I still remember teasing him about that first day we met up until the week before he died. I loved teasing him. He tried to be such a stud muffin, bad ass, too cool for school rebel.
My personality SCREAMED “southern Baptist, daughter of a prestigious pastor, who shall not have sexual relations before I marry an equally deserving, God fearing innocent as myself, kind of person. So when hot shot “Rick” came over and started feasting his eyes all over me like I was going to be the lamb in his sacrifice, I knew I was in for trouble, well that was until I got to know Rick.
I slammed my locker, glaring at the hot rod leaning next to my locker, thinking he was going to impress me.
“Hey, aren’t you going to say hi? Do you talk? Or maybe you don’t understand English?” Rick asked me as I kept my eyes, narrowed into slits, daring him to touch me.
I continued walking as I passed him, thinking I ditched the imbecile and carry on as usual.
“What is your problem cutie?” Rick asked as he came chasing me down the hall while I picked up the pace trying to get safely to my third period class.
Just as I was about to jump into class, Rick here goes and does something stupid. He reaches out and grabs my wrist and pulls at me to stop me from going into class.
UMPH! “What the hell…” Rick yelled from the floor he was now resting on his butt with after I swung around with my algebra, slapping him clear across the face, sending him down to the ground.
“Oh my… What did I do to you? I am so, so sorry. You just… Are you ok?” I asked finally as I was looking all around at him as I knelt down at his side, squeezing his arms, tugging at his legs, basically just making sure I didn’t break anything on him.
“Geez girl. If you wanted me down on my knees, all you had to do was tell me. You didn’t need to forcibly take me down for the count.” Rick said as he cracked his neck from one side to the other.
“I’m so sorry. I am sort of what you would consider a bit of a hazard. I seem to be accident prone and clumsy, best to stay clear from me. Oh, and my name is Dallas.” I suppose it’s nice to sort of meet you…” I trailed off, trying to not giggle at the stunned look over Rick’s face.
“You suppose? It’s nice to meet me? Really? And who has a name like Dallas? What are
you named after the city, Dallas?” Rick asked as he jumped up from the ground like a spring chicken, pulling me up after he was in the up right position, nearly making me go air born into the air with how strong he was.
All I could think about at that moment was the charge of what felt like electricity that ran through my hand he was holding, permeate throughout my entire body from there. I could barely handle the charge, yet I couldn’t release my hand from his either. It was like I never existed before that one touch. Rick made me feel like he brought me to life. I never understood that connection we shared. And it never went away. That’s how I knew he would always be, and only be the one.
Just thinking back to that first encounter, even now, ten years after that first fateful day of meeting Rick, I still get chills running down my spine and the hair on the back of my neck stands up. I shiver again as I stare at our engagement picture I have still on my nightstand.
After that, we were inseparable.
Fast forward five years after that, and we were twenty years old, getting ready for the rest of our lives to be married that next up coming year, after we would both be 21 by the time we married.
I flop back onto my bed after getting up to pee; I dragged myself back to bed, not wanting to start the day. Of all days, Valentine’s Day. Ugh. The worse day of my life now, just the absolute worst.
A little bit later, I find myself in the same place I do every year for this special “day of love” everyone is all hearts and flowers over. The best place. The cemetery. Yeah, I know. Depressing, but when your only love is here, on what should be my “day of love” with him, where else would I be but here?”
I stay at the cemetery for a bit. Looking over the stone, I talk to Rick, telling him about my year thus far. Not that anything crazy is happening. It just feels good to keep in in the loop, incase he can’t see me or hear me or… Well what would be the point to continuing that thought? I look around, noticing other people coming to visit their loved ones, so sad really. Just then, someone caught my eye that I found strange to see in a cemetery. A biker. Not that biker’s don’t have loved ones in cemeteries, just that it’s February, Valentine’s Day, and I don’t know… Cold? He rides a Harley. I don’t know much about the famous “hog” however, my brother has a “fat boy” something or another. This bike looks sweet. Fit’s the biker to a T. So Mr. Biker man is sitting on his bike, his aviators are on, covering his eyes. He is parked across the same road I am parked on, just looking towards the opposite side of the street, near where he parked. I watch him. He some how peaked my interest.
I love people watching. Always have. You can learn a great deal about someone by their body language. Obviously he is sad. That’s a given. But still there is something about him that just cries out to me. Some how, we can relate. I watch him get off his bike and crouch’s down over a close by stone. I feel a bit sad that I am intruding on his privacy so I turn back to gossip with Rick.
“Do you see that one over there? I know, strange huh?” I laugh to myself. I wonder how many people here talk to lifeless bodies buried in dirt talking over the head stone that marks where they lay. We all know it’s no longer their spirit and soul that is buried with them in the ground. Those things have moved on to more important places that I hope to see Rick in some day. I still talk and visit with Rick’s parents. Ever since I can remember, after loosing my parents, and moving here, I have always been close with Rick’s family. I still call them Mom and Dad. Even though they aren’t.
I know that Rick was registered as an organ donor. He and I both registered at the same time. We both thought it would be the better thing to do if God forbid something happened to one of us, and there was a way we could help someone else.
Remembering back to that day I lost Rick, I remember holding his head that looked like it was smashed into a different shape that is not what a head is suppose to look like, trying to hold it together since he was thrown from the car. Waiting for an ambulance to arrive, I try to keep Rick awake and with me until they arrived. I remember since the truck was so much higher from the ground than we were in the car. Impact on our vehicle caused Rick’s head to be nearly caved in from impact of the oncoming truck. Once they got us to the hospital, and Rick’s parents arrived, we found out that Rick was brain dead and the machine was the only thing keeping his heart beating and alive. Rick was such a selfless man. He was able to donate his liver, heart, kidneys and lungs that night. We never looked into finding who the recipients were from those operations. It didn’t really matter, we were all so proud of what Rick did, and went ahead and signed up to be an organ donor before anything had happened so that it would be less of a burden for his parents to make that decision. Rick wanted to help others, and that is exactly what he did.
After saying my good bye’s and I love you’s to Rick, I headed back to my car. Not wanting to drag myself into work, having already taken the day off, I figured I would just go back to bed at home.
Walking back to my car, I noticed the biker guy on his biker, getting ready to go and he looked over at me. Giving my a half cocked smile and a nod, threw me off and having the “graceful” gene that I do, what happens? I trip, on God’s know what flying down flat on my face in the grass right before the street.
Umph! “Oh Good Lord, what on earth is wrong with me.” I said out loud, feeling more like a fool because biker guy comes running over to help me, or laugh at me. Either way I am mortified.
“Are you ok?” Biker guy asks me as he crouches down, looking me over.
“Ha… Yeah. Just me being my graceful self. Thanks.” I said as I brushed off my jacket, making sure everything worked before getting up.
“Here let me help you.” Biker guy offered his hand encased in leather, to my equally encased leather hand. Laughing, I accepted and he practically threw me over himself.
“Whoa… Hold on there light weight.” He said, chuckling at my balancing act.
“What are you a super hero? I thought you were going to toss me out towards the other side of grass past the street here.” I explained, laughing.
“I’m sorry. I tend to forget my strength when I am enthralled by a beautiful woman.” Biker guy says as he let’s me go and tugs his glove off his hand.
“Hi, I’m Charlie. And who may you be?” Charlie asked me, making me smile at his slick comment.
“Nice try there Charlie.” I said to him as I took off my glove.
The moment we shook hands, flesh against flesh, I nearly had a heart attack. The energy coursing throughout his hand, into mine was what I felt when I first touched Rick’s hand. I never felt that before or ever after Rick passed away with anyone. It completely scared the crap out of me. I jerked my hand out of his immediately, starling both of us.
Charlie looked at his hand, and then at mine, and his eyes traveled up to my face, looking back at me in shock.
“Did… Did you feel that?” Charlie asked me.
Well, I was more than shocked. I was scared shitless to be quite honest. I just nodded, still in shock; I didn’t know what to say.
“Are you ok?” He asked me. “I never felt anything like that before in my life. Have you?” He searched my face again, looking back at his hand.
I nodded. “Yes, I felt that.” I whispered. “I have to go.” I shivered and ran towards my car. “Wait! What’s your name?” Was all I heard as I flew down the street in my car, trembling with raw nerves exposed. I went straight to my “would be” in laws.
2.
I pulled into Rick’s parents drive like the end of the world was right behind me, caving in. I ran up the front porch and let myself in as if I lived there.
“Mom? Dad? You home?” I yelled, dropping my purse and keys on the couch as I pulled my coat off and tossed that down as well.
“Hi love, we’re in the kitchen. You want some coffee or tea?” Rick’s mom asked.
“Please, I really need something. Maybe something stronger. I have to tell you what just happened.” I offered as I met them i
n the kitchen reading the paper and doing a crossword in the paper, making me smile.
“There’s our girl. How have you been peanut?” Rick’s dad asked. He always called me peanut because I was always pretty little. I was only 5’2” and when they first met me, I was probably not even 100 lbs. wet. Now, a bit older, I am about 110. Thank God for no appetite.
“Hi Dad. Hi Mom, How are you both doing?” I asked them as I went to them to give them both a kiss on their cheeks.
“Good dear, how are you doing today?” Mom asked with worry in her eyes.
“What’s wrong? You look like you seen a ghost!” Dad asked. That comment made me shiver.
“I just might have.” Thanking Mom as she placed a mug of hot tea down for me. “I went to see Rick today; I just came from the cemetery. I was sitting, and talking with Rick when I noticed this biker guy across the street on the opposite side of me.” I paused to take a sip of my tea. “Anyway, I was observing that he looked sort of out of place for some reason. So I was joking around with Rick, saying, and ‘get a load out of that one.’ So after I said my good byes and told him I loved him, I went to go to my car. This biker guy gets on his bike and gives some sort of half smile/smirk and nods at me. Stupid me, all graceful and poised, I trip over myself and land on the grass, face down.” I stopped again, gauging Rick’s parents on their interest. Yep, very interested. They have been hounding me that I needed to move on and find love again. I always told them I already had the love of my life, I can’t top perfection. “So biker guy comes over, helps me up and begins to introduce himself. He takes off his glove, and I do as well to accept his handshake. He told me his name was Chuck or Charlie… Who cares, anyway, I shook his hand and I almost went into cardiac arrest. The same jolt of electrical current went from his hand to mine, just like Rick and my first hand shake. The first day I met Rick. I never before or after Rick, ever felt that energy.”