by Measha Stone
Liberated Heart
By
Measha Stone
©2016 Blushing Books® and Measha Stone
All rights reserved.
No part of the book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Measha Stone
Liberated Heart
EBook ISBN: 978-1-68259-884-9
Cover Art by ABCD Graphics & Design
This book is intended for adults only. Spanking and other sexual activities represented in this book are fantasies only, intended for adults. Nothing in this book should be interpreted as Blushing Books’ or the author’s advocating any non-consensual spanking activity or the spanking of minors.
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Table of 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
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Epilogue
About the Author
About the Cover Model
EBook Offer
Blushing Books Newsletter
Blushing Books
CHAPTER ONE
“I don’t understand.” Erin Stamper stood in the middle of the master bedroom she shared with her fiancé, unable to understand what she was seeing. Jonathan sat on their bed, the open suitcase beside him half filled with haphazardly folded clothes. “Jonathan.” Her voice cracked. She was losing him. Her chest tightened, her stomach clenched along with her throat. “We can fix this. Whatever the problems, I can fix it. I can be better. I can—”
“Dammit, Erin. I don’t want you to fix this, or me, or you. It’s just—” He shoved his hands through his already tousled blonde hair. Dark shadows circled his eyes. He hadn’t been sleeping well.
By the looks of his sunken cheeks, he hadn’t been eating well either. How had she missed this? How had she looked at him every day of her life and not seen this happening to him? To her? To them?
“Look. I know we’ve kind of drifted a little. You’re working a lot with your new job, and my work has kept me busy, too. We’ve missed a few nights out with the gang. Maybe we should set some time aside for us. You know, maybe a little vacation.” It had worked in the past when they became disconnected. A quick two-day getaway to remind them of what made them fall in love in the first place. They needed just a little rekindling; surely that’s all it was.
“I’m seeing someone.” The words were spoken so softly, so brokenly, she couldn’t have heard him right.
“What?” she whispered. The twist in her stomach should have been the acknowledgement she needed that she’d heard him just fine. “What did you say?” Her hands dropped to her sides, and she sank down into the chair at her vanity.
He looked up at her, his dark brown eyes, withdrawn and pitying. “Erin, I’m seeing someone.”
The blood left her face, leaving a cold, clammy sensation behind. Her stomach stopped clenching as her mind worked its way through his words. She blinked.
“Erin.”
“Don’t.” She held up a hand to ward off any further confessions. “Just give me a second.” She took a few deep breaths, feeling his stare on her, knowing he was growing impatient. He didn’t like when she took her moments, when she took time to think through what was happening. “How long?” she finally asked. Tears began to form, but she did her best to hold them back. Crying wouldn’t help now. Now she needed to know how far away he’d gotten, and work out how to get him back.
“Six months,” he stated flatly.
“Months?” She clenched her eyes shut. Six months. Suddenly all of the late nights at the office made sense. He had an office downstairs. He didn’t need to stay downtown to get his work done. “Why? I don’t understand. We’re getting married.”
“Erin.”
“Is that why you wouldn’t set a date? Is that why when I went looking at wedding dresses you told me to wait to buy anything until you got your bonus?” Sh
e’d been a complete fool!
“It’s over, Erin.” The statement was given like a hammer being slammed over an anvil. Over? They were over? Their relationship had failed? She failed?
“Jonathan. Whatever isn’t working, we can fix it.” She tried again. They had been engaged for over a year. They’d bought a house together. She’d moved out of the city to the burbs for him, to start a marriage, to start a family. It couldn’t just be over.
He let out a ragged breath and shoved himself off the bed. She watched him from what felt like another world, as he opened the drawers to the dresser and began taking more of his clothes out and bringing them to the suitcase.
A thought occurred to her. “Were you even going to tell me?” Her hands clenched into fists on her knees. “I left work early today, but I hadn’t told you I was taking a few hours off this afternoon. You thought I wouldn’t be home until six. You were going to just pack your stuff and leave—what—a note?” Her voice steadily rose as the realization of what she would have come home to had she worked a full day bloomed in her mind.
Jonathan silently finished putting his clothes in the suitcase and closed it. The sound of the zipper bounced off the walls. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean for it to end this way. I really didn’t. You deserve better than this.”
“Then don’t leave me.” She hated how pathetic she sounded, but the world she knew slowly began to peel away from her grasp. Everything around her filled with haze and confusion.
Another ragged sigh. His eyes met hers for a brief moment before he pulled the suitcase from the bed. “I can’t stay, Erin. I love her.”
Erin had heard people explain what a broken heart felt like. She’d nursed Jessica through a few of her own. But until that moment, that second where she watched the man she thought was the love of her life pick up his bag and say those words, she never understood the sharp pain of it. A butcher knife to the chest would have had less of an impact on her. Her breath caught in her throat, tears burned her eyes, and her chest felt as though it had been cracked open.
“I’m sorry,” he said again as he walked to the door. Unable to move, to breathe, to focus, she listened to him open and shut the bedroom door. Footsteps echoed through the house as he ran down the wooden stairs. The front door creaked as it opened, and the picture frame that hung from the door rattled as he closed it.
“Don’t go,” she finally whispered into the empty room. His car roared in the driveway, then slowly faded away as he drove down the street. Away from their home. Away from her.
CHAPTER TWO
Erin sat on her couch staring at the television. The reflection in the dark screen captured her sad state. It was nearly two in the afternoon. She’d finally showered and put on real clothes, but she didn’t feel any better. Two days had dragged on since Jonathan’s departure. She’d managed to get to work both days, even managed to get a few things done, but it was Saturday, and she had nowhere to be.
Having to get out of the weekly friend dinner the night before hadn’t been too difficult. She shot a text claiming they weren’t going to make it. No big deal. Alex was busy with his new girlfriend. Erin was really ornamental at this point. A piece in the background that filled in a spot at the table. Whatever news she missed, she doubted would be earth shattering, and if it was, they’d keep it from her anyway.
She’d been friends with Kelly, Jessica and Alex since first meeting them during her years at UIC. She’d been an English major, and after having seen Jessica in several of her classes, she’d finally gotten up the nerve to say hello. She didn’t know anyone at UIC or the surrounding area. Having grown up in Bloomington, she was several hours away from anyone she knew. Jessica’s friendship had come equipped with Kelly and Alex, which made it that much easier for Erin. Having been the last of the group, she always felt as though the other three had something special that she wasn’t truly a part of. Some secret connection she wasn’t privy to. More so lately, than usual.
There were several conversations she had with Jessica and Kelly where it seemed she was the only one not included in the exact topic being discussed. Whenever she tried to find out what was happening, they would wave it off and change the topic, saying it was no big deal or that she wouldn’t understand. Her parents still lived in Bloomington, she had no siblings, and her friends were in the city. Jonathan was her only connection in the burbs. She’d never even tried to make friends with the neighbors; she was rarely home to do so anyway.
Her job at Envious, a start-up marketing company, as a graphic designer had kept her working in the city. Jonathan worked in the city, too, but it had been his idea to move to Elk Grove. He wanted to raise their family in the burbs, and the housing market made it the perfect time to buy. Even if he wouldn’t set the date for the wedding, she agreed with him. They had house hunted and bought the two story ranch within a month. She loved the house. She kept it clean, and always decorated it to his liking. It was his home as much as hers, and she never wanted him to feel as though it was a woman’s house. She didn’t want him to have a need for a man-cave.
She tried to eat a bite of her cereal, but it just made her stomach hurt. Pushing the bowl further away from her on the coffee table she stared at her reflection. “Well, what a fine mess you’ve found yourself in.” She frowned at herself. Her phone beeped Jessica’s notification sound. Not ready to indulge in human contact just yet, she left it on the table.
She felt numb walking through the house. Touches of their life together were splattered everywhere. Photographs, mementos from vacations, his sweat jacket still laid on the arm chair in the front room. Knowing it was a bit serial-killeresque, she slipped her arms through the jacket and pulled the hood over her head. The smell of his cologne still lingered.
Wanting to feel his presence, she walked down the hall to his home office. Working for a large finance company, he did a lot of work at home on the weekends and nights. They had originally shared the office for when she did some freelance work, but he’d said he needed his own space, and she’d moved her desk into the spare bedroom.
He hadn’t taken anything from the room when he left. She sank into the plush leather chair and dropped her head back, breathing in the room, trying to capture him again. How had everything gone so wrong, so fast? There had to have been signals that he wasn’t happy. Was she so consumed with her own life that she hadn’t seen it? She tried to think back, to find the warning signs, but nothing popped up. Small disappearances now made more sense, but the why wouldn’t come into focus. They didn’t fight, not really. Their sex life hadn’t even been off, he seemed as active in that department as ever. No changes, and she hadn’t asked for more than he was willing to give.
She went to turn on his computer, only to find out it was already on. He had forgotten to log off the last time he was on it. Knowing she probably shouldn’t, she clicked on his email icon. Still logged in there, too.
Ashley Braggon. His new girlfriend. Dozens, if not hundreds of emails from Ashley filled the screen. It wasn’t the right thing to do, but she clicked on the emails anyway. The reason Jonathan had left played out in all of the emails. Complaints of how gullible she was, how June Cleaver she appeared to him. Why would I want to fuck June Cleaver? he’d said.
He’d complained how she never wanted to make a decision, that she always deferred to him and never thought for herself.
“That’s not true!” she yelled at the computer screen. “I think for myself all the time. I wanted you to have your say. I didn’t want to control us!” Tears burned hot down her cheeks as she continued to read through the emails. Her little dirty secret desires she’d wanted to try in the bedroom leaked across the screen. He’d made fun of them, had called her a freak, telling her about how Erin wanted him to slap her face. “That was one time!” she yelled again at the computer. He had laughed at her when she confessed that little desire, and she never brought it up again. “Three years ago,” she muttered to herself, wiping her nose with the sleeve
of his hoodie.
Naive. Sheltered. Silly. Groaning, she finally turned off the monitor. She couldn’t see the words anymore through her tears. Ashley never had much comment back other than to sympathize with him, and make plans for their next rendezvous. At least the woman hadn’t joined in on the ridicule. But how could she? From what Erin could tell, she was a complete stranger. A woman he’d picked up at the coffee house down the street from his office.
She heard a familiar ring tone play from the living room, and clenched her eyes shut. What would she tell their friends? Had Jonathan already made the announcement? She was the level headed one in their group, the responsible, respectable, everything-everyone-expected-her-to-be one. How was she going to tell them that she lost Jonathan? That she couldn’t hold on to a fiancé? Hadn’t she done everything she was supposed to? College degree—check. Meet a boy—check. Get engaged—check. Buy a house—check. Get married—failed.
Tears fell again, but no more sobs. Her chest hurt from the crying, her face tight and dry from the constant tears. Another beep. She needed more time. She took a few steps to the loveseat Jonathan kept in the office, and curled up on it. She needed more sleep.
*
Several days later, Erin stepped off the Metra platform and headed to her car. Work had been a waste of time. Her mind wouldn’t sit still long enough for her to come up with the logo her boss had asked for. She decided to call it a day after lunch and head home. Seeing the distraction in her work, Charlie had been all for her getting a fresh start tomorrow.