Rebound: Passion Book 2

by Silver, Jordan

  I can’t believe I’m actually a little apprehensive about where this was going. One minute I would think it was too soon and the next I was wondering what if. My nosy ass family seemed to think it was a done deal though no one was bringing it up. I could tell from their behavior that they had already made up their minds. Mom was into giving me secret smiles and kissing my cheek every chance she got, calling me her baby boy and shit.

  Josh keeps giving me these looks when he thinks I’m not looking, and he and Carrie are always on my ass these days about my look. I got my haircut for the first time in weeks and Carrie was playing fashion police. And everyone was suddenly very interested in my social calendar. I have no interest in swimming in those shark-infested waters again any time soon but I have to be honest. Something’s going on, I just wish like fuck I knew what that something was.

  Chapter 6

  KADYN

  Just another day, same as the one before but at least it was new. That’s the way I wake up these days. Gone were the days when I awakened with hope and excitement of things to come. I was happy to just make it through the day in one piece with no new crap on my plate. Well that was true until a few days ago, when that overgrown behemoth came into my life. He wasn’t even in my life really. I only knew his name because I’d heard his friends call him by it. We hadn’t officially met or anything, not even the day he accosted me on the street. He was so angry, seems that’s the only kind I attract. I must have some sort of defect or something.

  That’s why it was best that I stayed the course and hold fast to the decisions I’d made. Never mind that it would destroy every dream I’d ever had of marriage and babies and a loving husband. It was easier this way, better. I’d been feeling so safe here too, having my dad at my back as a shield between me and my past has helped me to put one foot in front of the other. But with this new development, I’m not sure if that’s true any longer.

  It wasn’t Matthew’s actions that bothered me, no it was my own. That first day standing at that table looking down at him, his hair wild and sexy, muscles nicely tanned under the tank he was wearing. Before he’d even picked up his head and I’d seen those intense eyes, something strange had started unfurling in the pit of my stomach. Something I shouldn’t be feeling, not after what I’d been through. He had danger written all over him and if I had any sense, I’d stay the hell away from him. It could only lead to trouble and I’d had enough of that to last me a lifetime.

  When he’d looked at me with such disdain and growled like an angry bear instead of fear, I’d felt a kernel of excitement. For the barest of seconds, I’d felt just a little tingle of…what? I don’t know. I never had a chance to experience young love. Never knew what it was like to be the object of someone’s affection; never been part of that enigma. The teenage love story. Something else I’d had to sacrifice because of one man’s obsession. My throat choked up with tears as I mourned another lost. For the first time since my nightmare had begun, I wished for things that I had long denied myself. There was no hope for it though, and besides who said he was even interested? In both our interactions, I’d found myself on the receiving end of his displeasure…

  “Pumpkin you okay? You’ve been standing there with a lost look on your face for about five minutes.” Dad is constantly watching and waiting. I know he expects me to have another meltdown and it scares him. “Sorry dad I was just thinking about something, I’m fine I promise.” I turned to the sink where I’d been about to rinse my coffee cup before I got sidetracked. I couldn’t bear to see that look of worry that was a constant thing with my dad these days. It’s the first time since I was a kid that we’re living together and we can’t even enjoy that because of one man’s craziness. No don’t go there Kadyn, you have enough to deal with without dropping back into that deep dark hole. I haven’t thought of him this much in a long time, not since I came here and felt free for the first time in forever.

  “You can take the day off if you need to I’ll call Janet to cover…”

  “No dad that’s okay I’ve got it.” Working keeps me busy and helps the days go by faster. It keeps me from dwelling too much on the past and the bleak future ahead of me. I’m eighteen years old and already I feel like my life is over. The unfairness of it all threatens to cripple me sometimes but the shrink said I have to fight to overcome those feelings. Easy for him to say he’s not the one living under a dark cloud. I’ve seen those afterschool specials; I know how these things work. I’ll be running for the rest of my life, looking over my shoulder. And no piece of paper was going to save me from the clutches of a deranged monster who’d vowed to torment me for the rest of my life.

  I miss mom but I can’t call her. Too risky the cop had said. It makes me wonder what kind of justice system we have where the victim is constantly under threat from her tormentor. He has all the rights I have none. I guess I am going down that deep dark hole today after all, since my mind doesn’t seem to want to quit. I felt the threat of tears at the corners of my eyes as I tried to hurry out of the room so dad wouldn’t see. I know he feels helpless his hands too are tied. To protect me would mean a jail sentence.

  What a world we live in when a man can’t protect his own flesh and blood. But the police and the lawyers had warned him against retaliation. The best he could do was uproot me from my home and move me halfway across the country. While the evil one gets to stay in his home and live freely. I know it’s only a matter of time before he finds me. In this day of technology it wouldn’t take much. The restraining order advising him to stay away wouldn’t do much I’m sure. He’s already made that known. I ran to the bathroom and threw up as the whole sordid mess came crashing down on me.

  I stared in the mirror at my drawn face trying to find the girl from a few years ago. Inside I knew she was gone but it was still hard sometimes to let go. Some days I wish I could pretend that the last few years hadn’t happened and just go back to being that carefree young woman who was just starting to blossom. Who would she have become? How far would she have gone to achieve her dreams?

  It wasn’t possible that life could be derailed that drastically through no fault of your own. That someone else could take away your control so easily. One day you’re an innocent teenaged girl full of hope and that boundless energy that came with youth, and in the twinkling of an eye you were a shell of yourself. Left bruised and battered in spirit, which I was beginning to think was worst than physical blows. At least those healed with time, my wounds will never heal. Not as long as my tormentor drew breath.

  I wonder what would’ve happened had I met Matthew before, in a time when I was free to follow the unusual beating of my heart. I knew what that all meant, I’m not that green. I know what the shortness of breath and the racing heart implied. I know what seeing his face the last thing at night before I closed my eyes entailed; one more dream lost. I went to my room and grabbed my journal for a quick reminder before heading down to the diner. I’d written down a set of rules that I needed to follow in order for my life to have any semblance of normality. There was no place for Matt or anyone else on those pages, there can never be. I will never put another human being in danger that would be selfish after all. But how I wish…

  Chapter 7

  MATT

  I can’t go on like this. One minute, I’m angry about the whole Patti situation and the next, I’m angry about Kadyn. The only common denominator here is anger. I’ve never been an angry person before, but lately it seems that’s all I know. Anger and fear; I’m afraid that I’ll never learn to trust another human being again. That I’ll always be this hard, cold shell that I’ve become.

  I want to be excited about going away to school and finally getting the hell out of dodge at least for a little while; but not even that can get me out of the doldrums. Why the hell should this girl have so much influence over me? I don’t know her, but somehow she’s infiltrated my mind and I find I have more thoughts of her than I now do of my unfortunate three-year lapse in judgment.

&n
bsp; I’m sure my brother would think that’s a good thing. At least I’ve had sort of a reprieve from his meddling for the past few days. With Carrie sick he’s been like a bear with his paw caught in a trap and I along with the rest of the self preserving members of the human race have been steering clear of his ass. Watching them somehow has opened my eyes to an even more daunting realization. I was never really in love; I’m not sure if that’s worst but I do know it makes me feel like a complete ass.

  Patti has tried to contact me more than once since the whole incident. After she’d been home on bail and her and Carrie got into it Josh had lost his mind and dad had pulled some strings to have her held until trial. I’m not sure exactly what he did because her family isn’t without their resources, I guess it came down to who had the biggest balls and dad won. I didn’t tell the family about her attempts to reach out to me through her sister and friends. One because I had no doubt Joshua would find a way to end her and I didn’t want him taking her place behind bars, and two, I had no interest in seeing her ever again. I’d made peace with that at least.

  In the beginning it was hard to accept that I could so easily turn my back on someone I loved. I always believed that if I loved someone there wasn’t anything that person could do that would stop me loving them. That I’d be there no matter what, the way my dad was with mom. That had proven false with her and it was only now that I was beginning to accept the reason. Sad, I would’ve gone ahead and married her at some point in the not too distant future and missed…a picture of Kadyn flashed into my head just then and my stupid heart went on alert. “What the fuck?” I rubbed the spot and looked around my room but there were no answers there.

  “Ice cream tonight Matt.” My brother walked into my room where I was playing around with a barbell on the side of my bed. He looked sporty in his button down Black Label and tailored slacks with loafers. Nothing at all like the raving lunatic who’s been running up and down the house in sweats and a tank for the past few days ordering everybody around. I hope lil sis hurries up and get better before he goes back into asshole mode. “What do you mean ice cream tonight? You’re gonna leave Carrie?” He looked at me like I was a two year old with a learning disability.

  “No asshole, you don’t leave your woman while she’s sick to go get ice cream. She wants ice cream, said she’s feeling better and it’s the only thing she wants so it’s what she’s getting.” Yep he was totally gone, if I ever get like that I’ll throw my ass off a bridge. The thought almost made me smile but since he looked like he was biting nails I decided it was best to keep my humor to myself. My brother, though I always knew he was stronger than others thought and not the book nerd, had morphed into something entirely unexpected in the last few months since meeting and marrying Carrie. It was almost as if I didn’t have to stand watch over him anymore. Nah, that’s a lifetime commitment. Now I grinned at his whipped ass because I suddenly felt lighter.

  “Okay okay calm down I just asked. Let me get dressed and we’ll go.” Why was my heart racing in my chest and my stomach tied in knots? Fuck I so do not want to deal with this bullshit right now. I’ve been lecturing myself all day about this shit and had finally made up my mind that I wasn’t ready to go there. Now at the mere thought of seeing her again my body betrays me.

  She isn’t even my type. She has dark hair and eyes; I’m more into the blonde haired blue-eyed type. She’s a good foot shorter than I am when I could’ve sworn I liked my women super model tall and thin. This shit is way too confusing. I contemplated begging off but with Carrie’s doubts still fresh in my mind I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Who knows what Josh would do to me if he thought I was slighting his wife again? See my little brother knows that there’s no way in the world I’d ever hurt him so he’s been getting away with shit his whole life. Not that he’d ever really hurt me or anything but he knew I wouldn’t retaliate. That’s how deep the bond is between us, and why this shit had gutted me

  He left me to rummage through my closet for something to wear. I was not about to dress to impress her but I needed to look good so I went with a summer sweater and slacks with loafers. The short cut Carrie had given me didn’t need anything more than a hand passed over it, a splash of cologne and I was set. Hopefully no one would notice the veneer of excitement I was trying hard to hide. I met them down in the foyer a few minutes later and had to cough to hide my laugh.

  “How are you feeling lil sis? You look better.” She was also bundled up as if she was going on an expedition in the Himalayas, no doubt Josh’s doing. “I’m much better now thanks, and thanks for the flowers.”

  “No problem.” I kissed her forehead before her husband dragged her away from me and headed for the door making me laugh. He was lecturing the poor girl to death about staying warm. She looked over her shoulder and mouthed the words ‘help me’ and I lost it.

  Josh sat in back with his arms around her as I drove us to the diner. It was still early in the evening but the dinner crowd had already dispersed. That’s life in a small town; we’re closing up shop while other places are just getting the night started. There were a few cars parked in the parking lot but no one was in our corner booth when we walked in.

  I didn’t see her and I felt disappointment rip through me, which only pissed me off. What does it matter if she’s here or not? I’ve been coming here for years without the sight of her. But if she wasn’t here where the hell was she? In the days that I’ve been tailing her I never saw her with anyone which led me to believe that she didn’t know anyone in this town.

  “Looking for someone Matt?” Shit, I was casing the joint like I was about to rob it. Of course Josh would notice that shit. Even with his question as the three of us sat around the table I couldn’t help giving the place one more once over before getting settled. His stupid shit-eating grin made me want to punch him. “Shut up Josh.” He held his hands up in surrender before whispering something in his wife’s ear. The two of them looked at me with smarmy looks on their faces before picking up their menus. I pretended to do the same but I was covertly checking every corner for the sight of a tight ass. Just give it up Matt, she’s not here and it shouldn’t matter to you anyway. So why did I feel like someone had kicked my puppy?

  “Good evening.”

  “Shit, where’d you come from?” Now I was angry that she was here? What the fuck is wrong with my head? Whatever it is I’d better get it figured out quick because the looks my bother and his bride were giving me did not bode well for any more fuck ups. “Uh sorry, you startled me that’s all.”

  “That’s okay, um do you guys need something to drink while you look over the menus?” Had she been this shy the last time we’d met? I couldn’t remember. In fact come to think of it I can never really remember much of anything after one of our encounters other than the fucked up way she makes me feel.

  “We’re just having ice cream tonight. How are you Kadyn? You settling into our little town here?”

  Carrie addressed her as though they were long lost friends.

  “I’m fine thank you, Carrie is it? As to the town it’s okay I guess, just takes a little getting used to after living in a big city.”

  “Oh really where is that?” I asked out loud before I could help myself. I wonder if the others noticed the slight withdrawal or the flinch of unease as she looked around as if searching for an escape. I got that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach again. “Um out West, so you guys are having ice cream you say?” Josh passed me a look of understanding. I’d let it slip to him that I thought she’d been hurt but we’d never had a real chance to go any farther than that after Carrie got sick. Now I guess he was picking up on her behavior as well. With everything that had gone on in our lives here lately the thought of what that could mean didn’t sit too well with me.

  We placed our orders for three sundaes and I watched as she walked away. It was hard not to, she wore those jeans like a second layer of skin. I noticed others noticing too and felt my blood heat up. “Easy Matt,
not yet.” I looked over at my brother who was studying me like one of his third grade science projects. “What do you mean?” He rolled his eyes and looked at the table of jocks that were sitting across from us. They looked like college boys from the city not too far away, probably here for the beaches. There were some nice surfing currents around these parts this time of year and the surfers came down in droves. I could see them checking out her ass and I wanted to walk over there and plant my fists in their faces. Josh’s warning had me sitting back and playing it cool.

  “Kill the dead lights Mattie, you’d scare the poor girl away.” Carrie grinned over at me. I hadn’t even realized I was scowling until she pointed it out. Was this some sort of family curse? I remember Joshua acting this same way when he first laid eyes on Carrie. He was nuts. I hope not because as bad as he was I’m a hundred percent sure I’m worse. Maybe I should ask dad if it was the same with him and mom. And what the fuck are you thinking? You don’t know this girl. Your life isn’t fucked up enough without you getting involved with some female who obviously had a suitcase worth of bullshit written all over her? If I ever do go down that path again it will be with some unassuming little virgin who didn’t know the first thing about trouble. Not some tattooed sexpot who looked like sin and made my dick come out of hiding.

  One of the guys at the table called her over by name and she went to him, leaning over to hear him better. “Easy, take it easy Matt.” I looked at Josh who had his hand on my arm holding me in the seat that I hadn’t been aware of getting up from. I looked back at her and the asshole and was pleased to see that she didn’t look too happy that he was here either. Good, she might’ve just saved him from an ass whipping.