“I… I can’t. He’ll find me. Please… look I’ll get out of your way…. I just can’t go to a ….” her words started to soften quickly, he saw her knees grow weak and he moved just in time, before her eyes rolled back and she fainted...in his arms.
“Fuck” he growled as he carried her to his car, then going back to hers to get the car seat out gently fastening the baby into his car without really paying attention to it. Making a U-Turn once again heading back up to his place, his hands picking up his phone.
“Jerry, I need your help.”
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Prologue to Forbidden Faith
Prologue
2009
The great room is bigger than the entire lot my trailer is parked on; high beamed ceilings, crystal chandeliers, hanging evenly spaced across the room, windows that go from the ceiling to the floor, white pristine furniture, a fireplace so big that it could very well be another walk-in closet, and an atmosphere that is engulfed with the most self serving, wealthiest bastard I had ever met.
I park my gray, 1998 Toyota pickup in front of a mansion that isn’t meant for trucks like mine; guys like me didn’t fit in with people like Faith Montgomery. I try not to let that get in the way of how I feel for her. She’s never made me feel less of a person because I don’t come from money. She has always seen me as an equal - her lover, best friend, soul mate. I’m not quite sure how I deserve her, considering my past is a bit shady; I’m not proud of where I come from and who brought me into this world, but it’s made me who I am today. I have always seen myself as a loyal, dedicated, hard working person no matter if I was buying drugs for my mother or hauling building bricks at my job. Faith has told me many times she sees goodness in me and trusts me. I trust her as well, so I continue to see her. Unfortunately her father has had a different perspective of me. I’ve been nothing other than an employee to Mr. Montgomery, someone who helps him make money by working for his construction business. When Faith brought me around for the first time I thought her father was going to have a heart attack; the disappointment and rage I saw in his eyes were quite disturbing. I had never felt so out of place in my entire life. He never made me feel welcome, never stirred up a conversation with me, never wanted to know who I was beyond what he saw on the outside. He’s made me feel pretty shitty about where I come from and how I was raised. My childhood was awful, yet it taught me a lot about myself, about my strengths and weaknesses. Through Mr. Montgomery’s eyes - I’m a punk.
Seeing his nasty smug face, looking through the great room window, makes my stomach churn. I can see his dark gray eyes squinting at me as I make my way to the tall, black, doubled doors. Why the hell did he call me here? I know it isn’t to serenade him to sleep, so what is it? Has he finally had enough of me and I’m here to get my last paycheck? Or am I simply here because he wants something from me? I don’t know why I am feeling this way, but my gut is telling me this meeting is bad news. I suspect Faith doesn’t know about it; she’s out of town with her mother and I believe her father sent them away just to get me by myself - I’m afraid I am walking inside a trap.
A low, alto sound echos as I press the doorbell. Every time I come over I get greeted by their butler/bodyguard; he’s always in a dark suit, like he’s one of the “Men In Black” guys - he really bugs the shit out of me.
“Mr. Montgomery is waiting for you.”
I follow behind him as we go toward the great room.
Mr. Montgomery’s back is turned; pouring himself a drink. I stand there with my hands in my pockets, waiting impatiently. “You can go now Martin,” he orders.
“Sir,” Martin curtly replies. I turn my head and watch him close the great rooms doors; he briefly meets my eye, as if this was my last day to live, and quickly exits the room.
“You must be wondering why I called you over?”
My attention snaps back. Mr. Montgomery is not a very tall man; I tower over the guy, yet his crisp, villainous nature overpowers my height. He’s got short, clean cut black hair, with scattered gray at the sides that is slicked back without a strand out of place.
I scowl at him as he drinks his booze. “You can say that, yeah,” I reply.
I can hear him swallow every single drop that goes down his throat. What the hell does he want? “I have a proposition for you.”
I cross my arms at my chest. “What kind of proposition?” I ask suspiciously.
Without hesitation he states, “I’ll just come out and say it - money.” My eyes immediately widen. He raises his glass and points at me. “I knew that’d get your attention, since that’s all you ever wanted from my daughter.”
I am taken aback. “Excuse me?”
He sets his crystal glass down on his booze bar and takes out a check. He holds it up like it’s a prize. “You will take this money…...” His voice drops low, “then you will be forbidden to ever see Faith again…..do you hear me?”
Is he fucking serious? Out of his mind? Like he can buy my way out of Faith’s life! I slowly shake my head, seething. “No, sir, I don’t. I don’t want your money because I love her and Faith loves me,” I reply, my tone rigid, bitter.
Mr. Montgomery’s face turns red with fury; he slams his hand down on the bar. He shouts at me, “Don’t you dare disrespect me inside my house!” He briskly comes closer to me; eyes bugged out, face red with anger and points directly in my face. “You and your tattooed nonsense and attitude will never get near my daughter. Ever again! Since the moment you walked into my daughters life she has gotten into more trouble than ever before; lying, coming home after curfew, talking back to me and her mother. If you think I will allow that in my home, you’ve got another thing coming, boy.” He looks me up and down like I am trash, like I am a nobody. “No daughter of mine will be caught up in a rocker wannabe who has nothing better to do than play obnoxious music and turn my daughter against me. You are no good for Faith and you have no business being a part of her life.” His demeanor changes in an instant; he becomes calm and overly confident. He straightens his suit jacket, as if it somehow had gotten wrinkled. “That said, I plan to have her marry someone who comes from money, who will carry on my empire, you got me?“ He pushes the check into my chest, gritting his teeth. “You will take this check and get the hell out of Arizona and not come back.”
I take the check and look at the fat numbers; I take a double glance - I’m in shock, he’s got to be fucking kidding me! “One million dollars?” I chuckle. “You can’t pay me off - “
His grin turns into a deep scowl and once again he loses his temper; he swipes his hand in the air and gets up in my face. “Like hell I can’t! You good for nothing scoundrel! I am a very wealthy and powerful man; if you don’t take that money, I will make your life a living hell. I will make sure your mother is exposed for her drug habit, that you both lose that God forsaken trailer you call a home; you will be penniless. Since you work for Montgomery Construction, you work for me. Therefore I can fire you. Ruin you. You will have nothing - no job, no home and your mother will waste away because she can’t manage to live without her daily snort. I have many contacts and I will make sure they stay on your ass until You. Are. Gone.”
I swallow on every word he throws at me; they are venomous, and they scare the shit out of me - so scared that I can’t seem to move; I feel frozen, uncertain on what to do next. I glare at his eyes, trying my damndest not to show how he just tore me to shreds. Despite everything…...Mr. Montgomery is right. I’m not worthy of Faith - never have been, never will be. Nor will I ever be accepted by her father. He holds all the cards in his hands; he has hated me the moment I stepped foot into his daughter’s life. I got caught up in believing we were meant to be something, go places together. She was going to travel the world with me, be my number one groupy. We were going to take the world by storm with my music and never look back.
Unfortunately, I realize those tim
es will never happen. Mr. Montgomery has me by the throat and he knows he has a way to get rid of me - if I loved her enough I would take the money. If I loved my mother enough I would take the money - on top of that, Faith is going to be forced to marry someone she doesn’t love. I wonder if she has the slightest knowledge she’s being set up to marry? If she did, she would have told me and we would have fled the state a long time ago; there is no way in hell she would allow her father to control who she could or couldn’t marry. I want to be the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with! However - I know it’s impossible. Her father was never going to allow me into the family - I am useless in his eyes and will never be good enough or rich enough. Therefore I know it’s over. Faith and I are over. She deserves far better than what I can give her.
“Martin!”
“Sir?”
With his eyes blazing into mine he gives Martin his orders. “Escort Mr. Jones out and make sure he gets off my property,” he hisses.
I am disgusted with myself as I keep that check in my hands, while I slowly walk backward; my eyes are slit as I look at his smirk - it takes everything in me not to hurl at him with my fist.
I am reminded that MIB is waiting for me so I turn around just as Faith appears in the doorway. I take a small gasp. Shit! She’s back from her trip a day early. If only she had gotten here five minutes earlier, and before I had chosen to listen to her father - I wouldn’t be walking away right now. She looks at me with confusion; her eyes are a deep blue and her hair is jet black - so black that it should have it’s own name. It’s long, wavy and goes over her tits like a dark scarf. Her body is slim and her height is short; she melts underneath my breast bone. She has a small amount of freckles that lay upon her nose and lips that look like bow ties. I want to bury myself inside her everyday at every hour.
Sadly this is it. The dreams we planned together were just that - dreams. We’re over, thanks to her dad.
Her mother walks in from the front foyer and stands behind Faith. I see her glance over at her husband; her body and face immediately become aware of the situation - she knows exactly what’s happening and she has no say in it.
“Lucas? What are you doing here?” Faith asks.
I can feel her father getting closer. “Let him by Faith.”
She stays in the doorway, blocking me from exiting the great room. “No, Daddy. Lucas look at me,” she pleads with me. I can’t look at her. I can’t look into those deep ocean blues and witness the pain that is about to take effect.
Her father loses his patience, “Faith!”
She ignores him and moves closer to my side. “Lucas,” she repeats.
I look straight ahead and quietly say, “Goodbye Faith.” I brush my right shoulder along the side of her body as I make it through the doorway. I go straight for the foyer, stopping in front of her mother. I look away from her so I can’t see her reaction when I break her daughters heart.
“Wait, what? No, no, what’s happened!” Faith is frantic and moves in front of me.
From the great room doorway Faith’s father plays his game and lies to her. “You’re smooth talker boyfriend just landed a million dollar deal. He never loved you Faith. He only wanted money.”
That sonofabitch!
She’s gasps, “You’re lying Daddy! Lucas tell me he’s lying! You would never take money from him!”
My eyes finally land on hers. I have to do this, I have to make her hate me. “I took it. I got what I wanted. Now, get the hell out of my way,” I snarl at her. I have never spoken to her that way; I hate myself for sounding like a greedy loser. I’ll never forgive myself for hurting her, but It’s the only way out; her father will never allow us to be together, I have to get out now before we get more serious.
“You’re lying too!” She screams at me and tries to grab onto me; I flinch her off. Her father comes around and tugs onto her upper arm. She screams at him too. “Get your hands off me!”
He moves behind her to get a better grip. She tries to escape, yet his hold is too tight. “He’s no good for you, Faith.” He flicks his head at MIB, “Martin, lead the way.”
“Sir.”
All I hear is Faith whimpering, begging me to stay. What can I do? I’m a fucking coward. With my tail between my legs, I blur everyone from my vision and exit the front door.
“No! Lucas, no! You can’t leave! Lucas!!”
I can’t see her when she continues to scream, nor do I ever want to see her that way. I tuck the tainted check in my back pocket, get in my truck and never look back.
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Excerpt from Taking The Fall, Dennisons Book Two
Chapter One
Almost Four Years Later
“So, this is it?” Allison asked as she looked around the small restaurant. When her roommate from college invited her to see the small town in New Hampshire where she grew up, as well as the restaurant her parents owned, Allison’s curiosity was piqued.
She followed Molly through the vintage looking door with Molly’s sprawled on the glass in a less than flattering color and font. The inside was like walking into a time warp. All the booths were red vinyl with chipped laminate tabletops. The counter had round stools that all had rips in their vinyl covers. She tried to hide the horror on her face when she followed Molly over to the side off the counter, where she leaned over and kissed a hefty woman behind it.
“Molly! You didn’t tell us you were coming today.” The woman smiled widely as she wrapped her thick arms around Allison’s slender counterpart.
“Hi, Mom!” Molly answered before pulling away, and turning to Allison, she said, “Mom this is Allison, my roommate.”
“Pleasure to finally put a face to the name. I’ve heard so much about you.”
“Thank you so much for having me, Mrs. Sowards,” Allison said with her best pageant smile and artificial honey-like sweetness.
“The invitation is always open, especially if you can get my baby girl to come home. And the name is Florence.”
Molly turned to her friend and rolled her eyes. “Mom wasn’t too happy when I decided to go away to college, especially when she found out it was four hours away.”
“I’ll see what I can do about that, Florence. You have my word,” Allison promised as she internally cringed.
No wonder Molly wanted out of this rundown town.
“You two go have a seat and I’ll get you something to eat. You must be exhausted after that drive. I know my Molly girl will have a BLT with extra bacon but what can I get you Allison?”
Eww, greasy bacon.
“I’ll just have a salad no dressing, please and thank you.”
Florence Sowards smiled. “No wonder you are so petite and gorgeous if that is all you eat.”
“Oh please, I’m well aware of what I look like, Florence. Your description makes me blush,” Allison feigned embarrassment. Truth was she worked hard to look the way she did and she knew she looked incredible at all times. She always made sure not a black hair was out of place and that her blue eyes twinkled. The fact that she only ever bought the best clothes that revealed her obsessed over body helped a lot, too.
“Now, I didn’t mean to do any such thing. Just speaking the truth. Go on and have a seat. I’ll have those right out for you girls,” Florence said as she turned back to go into the kitchen.
Allison followed Molly to a booth over in the corner. Molly took the seat facing the wall, so Allison took the seat that looked out to the whole restaurant. She let her eyes skim around all the patrons, mostly elderly farmer-like people, and tried not to show her disgust. If she wasn’t so set on her course to meet the guy who wasn’t buying Molly’s all-American girl who was as pure as the Virgin Mary herself act, Allison knew her view would be on a beach in the Caribbean rather than this.
I mean, come on! Everyone has a vice, and apparently, this Hunter guy was Molly�
�s.
Allison thought back on all the months she tried to get Molly to spill her deep secrets and the many rounds of rummaging through her possessions when Molly wasn’t in their dorm room. Allison was beginning to think that her roommate truly was from another planet. Allison would tell her fabrications of how she could not believe that Molly didn’t have a boyfriend. Or, how they would walk around campus and Molly would miss all the men staring after her. This fact was true on more than one occasion, and it pissed Allison off.
And when Allison was pissed, she was challenged. Allison Doherty only ever played to win.
On many occasions, men would stare at them. But it wasn’t Allison their eyes were following but rather Molly. They would engage her whenever they could, but Molly would be polite and sweet but never anything more. What was she, a nun or something? Even the nights that Allison asked Molly to scram from their dorm room so she could entertain, Molly never complained or wanted to play twenty questions afterward. It really was quite annoying.
But then one night, Molly gave a hint of something that had Allison canceling the string bikini order from Nordstrom’s and ordering new jeans and Uggs instead. Molly had been up studying until the early morning hours when she had fallen asleep at her desk. Allison herself had been out partying and was sneaking in when she found Molly’s face planted against her book-covered desk.
***
Allison looked over her shoulder to where the old beat-up PC sat open to the paper Molly had been writing. It was for their Sociology class. The professor had assigned a paper, asking for four people, one of each political, spiritual, historian, and personal who you admired and why, to be written. Familiar with the assignment since Allison was in the same class, Allison was about to leave her never-resulting-in-anything attempt when something caught her eye.
Molly had oodles of information, some truly valiant points, and ethics listed for the first three, but the fourth was what sold Allison on this travel plan change. These sentences were disharmonious with the rest of the paper. Truth be told, they looked more like a young girl’s diary entry than a college student’s attempt at a formal paper. The particularly juicy lines were highlighted for what only Allison could assume was purposes of deletion but somewhere between hitting delete and falling asleep, Molly hadn’t completed the task.
Etched in Stone (Six Degrees Series Book 2) Page 43