Sinking in the Shadows (Dating Trilogy Book 2)

by Alexandria Bishop

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by Alexandria Bishop

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer quoting brief passages for review purposes only.

  Cover Design by Mischievous Designs

  Edited by Editing by C. Marie

  Proofread by Ellie McLove

  Formatted by AB Formatting

  To my readers,

  Thank you for sticking with me

  Through everything!

  I hope you enjoy

  Tinley & Marek’s story!

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Playlist

  New Release Alert

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Alexandria Bishop

  Chapter 1

  Her daddy? Marek is this little girl’s father? He has a daughter, and he never told me? And what did the little girl say about a mommy? Is Marek married? Divorced? What is going on here? All of these questions rapidly fire through Tinley’s brain, and she has no idea how to process the information that was just thrown her way by this tiny girl. All Tinley knows is this is the last place she wants to be, and she needs to get out of here quickly before Marek comes out from wherever he’s currently hiding and finds her—at least she has to assume he’s home right now, because where else would he be since he wasn’t at work?

  She puts on a smile, albeit a forced one, and sinks down to the little girl’s level. “My name is Tinley and I’m a friend of your dad’s. I just wanted to drop this stuff by. Since we haven’t met yet and I don’t want you to get in trouble for answering the door and talking to a stranger, I’ll just leave it here, okay?”

  “Okay, Tinley.” She furiously nods her head up and down. “I like your name. It’s very pretty. My daddy tells me all the time that my mommy named me Luna because of Harry Potter. He won’t let me watch it though he says I’m too little. But I’m a big kid. Did your mommy pick your name from one of her favorite movies?”

  This little girl is so incredibly sweet, and if the circumstances were different, she could see them getting along just fine. But, Marek chose to keep them apart, and whatever his reasons are, Tinley doesn’t plan on sticking around to find out. She takes a deep breath and slowly lets it out. She doesn’t want to traumatize this little girl by breaking down in front of her. She doesn’t know if it’s hormones from the pregnancy or just shock in general, but it’s taking everything within her to hold herself together.

  With another deep breath, she looks the little girl in the eyes and says, “Your name is pretty too. I’ll have to ask my mom where she came up with my name. I honestly don’t know.” She shrugs and rises from her position offering a little wave. “I’ll see you later, Luna.”

  The last thing on her mind right now is where her mom came up with her name, not that she can even remember if that conversation has ever come up. Not like that really matters right now anyway. Why is she even thinking about that?

  “Bye Tinley. I’ll see you soon,” Luna says with a small wave of her hand.

  Tinley’s body goes into autopilot as she drops the basket of food on the floor inside the door then turns around and walks back out of Marek’s life like he didn’t crash into hers like a tornado. Blowing in with so much emotion and passion and leaving just as swiftly. She keeps her head held high as she goes around the front of her car and gets inside. To think she was so excited that the sun decided to grace them with its presence today. She shuts the door behind her, and a single tear falls down her cheek. The man she’s in love with has a daughter and didn’t tell her… how can this be? Her hand floats to her abdomen again, and the floodgates open up. She’s been sitting with the news of her pregnancy for a week now and was so excited to finally tell Marek. She’s been so nervous about how he would react, but at this point, it’s obvious she doesn’t even know him after all. How did she end up in a situation like this?

  She glances back up toward his house and sees Luna still standing there with the door wide open. She’s waving furiously at Tinley, who raises her arm to wave back. Part of her wants to go back and tell her to shut the front door; it’s not safe for her to be standing there. Just as Tinley’s hand goes to her door handle to get back out, Luna whips her head around and slams the front door. Marek—or whoever is watching her—must have found her. Without another thought, Tinley puts her car into drive and forces herself to leave.

  As she pulls to a stop at the corner, her phone starts ringing in her cup holder. Tinley doesn’t even have to look to know who’s calling her, but part of her has to see just to make sure. She quickly glances down to see Marek’s name flashing across the screen. That’s all it takes for the floodgates to open up all over again. He has a daughter? Is he secretly married too? How could he do this to us? To me?

  The thing is, she’s seen her—that woman she saw him with when she was shopping with Tara. Giselle, the gorgeous woman he was with at the coffee shop—she has to be Luna’s mother. Their similarities are uncanny. They have the same long raven hair and striking blue eyes. Why didn’t she ever question him after they first decided to do this? Oh, that’s right, because she’s dumb and didn’t want to believe something like this could happen. That had to be his wife. Bile builds up in Tinley’s throat just thinking about it. She has become the other woman, and he did this to her. He can screw around on his wife if he wants to, but it won’t be with Tinley—not now, not tomorrow, not ever. They are through, and that’s the end of it.

  Tara and Tinley’s father made their mother the other woman and she was never strong enough to leave him. Instead, he stayed with his “real family” and knocked up their mom twice. When she got too old for him, he dropped her like a used condom. Which they probably should have used in the first place. Both her sister and she have never met their father and based off the drunken stupor their mother spends her life in when she’s not working herself to death, she probably would have been better off never meeting him either.

  She wipes away the tears that have fallen and vows to never shed a tear for Marek Outlaw ever again. Instead, she focuses on moving her car forward and forcing herself to leave him behind with each mile that separates them. It’s almost comical how brightly the sun is shining today. They’ve had nothing but shitty overcast weather recently, but then the sun finally decided to come out, which Tinley took as a sign that it would be a great day, maybe even fantastic. Sure, she was terrified to tell Marek about the baby, but she knew it would all work out in the end. Now she can’t help but laugh at how naïve she was. He had her fooled real good, that’s for sure.


  Tinley comes to a stop and parks in a local coffee shop parking lot. She’s only a few miles away from Marek’s house, but she’s unsure of what she should be doing right now or where she should be going. Just thinking his name throws a whirlwind of emotions through her. It was a risk starting something with him in the first place. He’s a supervisor at work and both of them put their jobs at risk by starting up a relationship. She was willing to risk it because she loved him, but obviously, Marek didn’t feel the same way about her or else he wouldn’t have kept such a huge secret.

  The last place she wants to be right now is at home, especially since she still hasn’t said anything to her roommate and best friend, Dakota, about Marek. Now that seems like a moot point seeing as she can’t even think about being with him when he’s kept something so huge from her. Rather than risk falling apart and telling her roommate everything while her emotions are so haywire, she decides to go to the next best place. She hops onto the freeway and loses herself in the haze of the fast-moving traffic.

  It doesn’t take her long to arrive at her new destination and she parks her car, focusing on her breathing, attempting to pull herself together. The last thing she wants to do is have a breakdown. She takes one final soothing breath then exits her vehicle. Her hands slide down the front of her sundress, smoothing out any potential wrinkles, and in her mind, the same mantra is on repeat: I will not break down. I will not break down.

  She hobbles up the walkway toward the house and feels like a complete idiot. How could I be so stupid? Reaching the front door, she knocks and waits for an answer. As soon as it opens, she knows she came to the right place, and a small bit of the weight on her shoulders falls free. She looks up with a small shrug, knowing her face probably looks a mess. She’s never been a fan of waterproof mascara, and the fact that she cried in the car is probably evident all over her face.

  “Hey, what’s going on? Are you okay?”

  Chapter 2

  Her older sister looks back at her with nothing but concern written all over her face. As much as Tinley held it together on the drive over here, that’s all it takes for her emotional dam to break again. The tears pour out of her and sobs rack her body as she allows her feelings to take over. Tara envelops her in a giant hug, and Tinley holds on as tight as she can. Some people go to their mom when they need support or to vent, rant over life. But Tara has always been that person for Tinley. Their mom wouldn’t even know how to be that kind of person for anyone let alone her own children.

  After a few minutes, her sister releases her and, with nothing but sympathy in her eyes, says, “Come on. You can tell me all about it, starting with why you have that boot on your foot.”

  It’s been a while since the last time she saw her sister, at least a few weeks, and her focus has been so consumed, she completely forgot she didn’t tell her about breaking her foot, or really anything else that’s been going on in her life, including her pregnancy. She’s not really prepared to open up completely and tell her everything, but since she isn’t exactly talking to Marek right now, she needs to talk to somebody.

  She follows her into the ridiculously clean living room and the scent of lemon fills the air. Her sister uses a citrus cleaner on her hardwood floors and her entire house always smells so fresh and clean because of it. She can’t help but notice the slight waddle in her sister’s gait, which does nothing but add guilt to her burdened heart. She’s seriously impressed at how well she’s able to keep her house clean even though she’s about ready to burst. Tara is now in her third trimester, getting closer to the end of her pregnancy, and Tinley has been so wrapped up in her own crap that she hasn’t been there for her.

  Tara stacks up a bunch of throw pillows against the arm of the couch and slowly lowers herself down. Leaning against the stack, she reclines back and releases a heavy groan as she lifts her legs up and relaxes. Giving her the space to really stretch out, Tinley chooses the recliner next to her and pushes her emotions down. Seeing her sister so incredibly pregnant and living such an adult life causes her to break out laughing. She should be much more settled than she is, and instead, her life is falling apart even more so than it was a few months ago. Of course, she only has herself to blame. She became complacent in her life and never did anything about it. With one little push from Tara and Dakota and she jumped full-force into a relationship with Marek. What did she expect when she went from zero to sixty with no concern for the consequences?

  She finally stops laughing long enough to ask, “So, where should I start?”

  Her sister reaches for the remote sitting on the coffee table and turns off the TV. Tinley hadn’t even realized it was on until Tara turned it off. She grimaces and turns her full attention to Tinley.

  “I’m going to pretend like you didn’t just have a complete meltdown and go from bawling your eyes out to laughing hysterically. I’d rather not have to think about whether or not I need to commit my little sister. So, let’s start with your foot. What’s with the boot?”

  Tinley cringes and glances down at the hideous thing. If there’s one piece of evidence that she hasn’t quite grown up yet, it’s that right there. Tinley and Dakota like to joke a lot that adulting is hard, but they both tend to be at least reasonably responsible. “Before I tell you what happened, do you promise not to turn all mommy judgmental on me?”

  Tara sighs and rolls her eyes before replying. “I take serious offense at that dig. Mommy judgmental? What does that even mean?”

  “It’s your thing. Now stop arguing. Just promise me you won’t get all high and mighty and tell me to grow up.”

  “Well, you do—”

  Shaking her head, Tinley says, “Nope. If you’re choosing to judge me or tell me how I don’t act my age, then forget it. I don’t need to tell you what happened.” Not that she really remembers much from that night anyway.

  “Fine,” Tara says with a heavy sigh as she rolls her eyes, “No judgments. Just tell me what’s going on with you.”

  “Dakota came home from work in a really bad mood. She refused to tell me what was going on, and honestly, I just wanted to get out of there. You know how cranky and bitchy she can get when she’s in one of those funks.”

  Tara nods and Tinley continues.

  “I sent a text to Marek hoping to finally see his house for a change, but he gave me the brush-off, which did nothing but irk me. Why wouldn’t he want me to see his house, you know? Anyway, my lovely roommate decided heavy drinking was in order for whatever she had going on, and I didn’t have a reason to disagree with her at that point. So, we went out and…well…I woke up the next morning with a broken ankle.”

  “Basically, what you’re telling me is you went binge-drinking and can’t remember what happened except you mysteriously made it home, though I wouldn’t say one hundred percent safely—is that the gist of it?”

  “Remember, you said no judgment.”

  Her sister puts her hand in the air and replies, “Did I say anything judgey?”

  When it comes to Tara, she’s always had a mom voice, even before she became a mom herself. It’s like she can talk to you in a way that makes you feel guilty and stupid, or heck, even make you spill your guts if you’re lying. It’s how Tinley always knew she would be a great mom because she had the personality down pat. That particular skill lets Tinley know exactly what her sister is thinking right now, and although Tara didn’t say anything to judge the situation, Tinley’s well aware that is exactly what is going on.

  “It wasn’t about what you said. It was your tone.”

  “We could sit here all day arguing about my voice saying something my words aren’t, but that would be stupid and pointless. I really don’t think the reason you look like you’ve been crying and came over here has anything to do with a broken ankle. So, what’s really going on?”

  That’s where things get hard. Once she tells her sister everything and puts those words out there, it makes it all real. She’s not really sure if she’s ready for all of that, bu
t she did come over here for a reason. Tinley can’t decide if it was just to vent or to find a voice of reason amidst all the shit going on. She’s really hoping there’s a silver lining somewhere and she just can’t see it yet.

  Tinley pauses before taking a slow, even breath then jumping right in. “When I was at the hospital they had me take a pregnancy test before giving me an x-ray or prescribing any pain medication for my foot. I laughed them off because although my sex life has gone from nonexistent to pretty regular as of late, I knew there was no way I was pregnant…until the nurse came back with the results, which told me how wrong I really was.”

  Tara instantly sits up on the couch and her mouth drops open. “What did Marek do? Did he turn you away and say he didn’t want a child? That bastard. I’m going to beat his ass. The little shit.”

  As much as the situation sucks right now, her sister’s anger is rather comical. Tinley starts crying again, only this time it’s because she’s laughing so hard. “Calm down momma bear, there’s more to my story. I would really like to see you try to beat Marek up, though there’s no way Clark would ever let you attempt something like that while you’re pregnant, and no offense, but he’s not exactly the fittest guy around. Do you not remember what Marek’s arms look like? Not somebody your husband should try to go up against.”

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve made grown men cry before, and I’m not against doing it again.”

  “Let’s hold off on beating anyone up for now, at least until I finish telling you everything that’s going on.”