Damaged Love
&
Forever Bound
Book Two in the Bound Series
by
Layla Stevens
Damaged Love and Forever Bound
Copyright © 2015 Layla Stevens
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form without written permission except for the brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Published by: Scilicet Group LLC
Cover Design by: Rachel A Olsen
Copyright by: Layla Stevens
This work is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are a product of the author’s imagination or are used factiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s), and may contain legally privileged and confidential information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please do not read, copy, or use it, and do not disclose it to others. Please notify the sender of the delivery error by replying to this message, then delete it from your system, and destroy all copies. Thank you.
Copyright © 2015 Layla Stevens
ISBN-10: 1941839002
ISBN-13: 978-1-941839-00-3
All rights reserved
Dedication
To all the people who have been adopted—especially my daughter Sage Bullock. I did not give birth to you, but my heart chose you. You have been my light since I first met you. I love you more today than I did yesterday, and I will love you more tomorrow than today. Have faith in yourself baby, because you are so worth believing in.
I will always love you!
Love,
Mom
Acknowledgements
Patrice Krumm: Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your friendship means the world to me. You truly are one in a million, and I would not trade you for all the pink in the world.
Lynn Palmer: Thank you for all you do for me.
To my Kick Ass Street Team: I love you with all the pink sparkles in the world.
To my Family: Thank you for believing in me.
To my amazing Beta Readers: Candice Burna Tice, Amy Abendroth, Jenni Crawford, Jenn Marie Lopez, Stephanie Nett, Laura Soask {Tolbert}, and all who helped in this journey.
To my Proofreader: Jenni Crawford may there always be too many commas in all my books. I will always add extras just for you
To my Mom: Thank you for giving me the love of reading when I was younger. It has inspired me to become who I am today.
And to my amazing daughter Sage: Thank you for being my number one fan. I love you gumdrops and popsicles & all the sketti and meatballs in the world.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
If you have experienced or are experiencing any of the abuses mentioned in this book, I’ve listed the websites you can visit for help.
Adoption Link – www.adoptionhelp.com
Drug Abuse – www.drugabuse.gov
Rape Hotline - http://paar.net/
Domestic Abuse – http://www.thehotline.org
PROLOGUE
Damaged
“I'll never stop dreaming that one day we can be a real family, together, all of us laughing and talking, loving and understanding, not looking at the past but only to the future.”
~LaToya Jackson
The moment Millie and Seth walk into my room, Garrett narrows his eyes. I glare at them and grind my teeth.
“What the fuck do you want? Why are you here?” I snap, "Why now? Haven’t you hurt me enough over the years? You have some nerve coming in here.”
“Kayla, we’re sorry for everything,” Seth apologizes, appearing sincere.
The majority of the time he is put together—hair slicked back, but today he looks like a mess. The dark brown bags under his eyes are quite prominent, and I can see his face is bruised and has several cuts. Wow! He took a beating. I can’t help but laugh under my breath because whoever did it needs a damn medal.
“You say you’re sorry, but what about the past? What about the years your boys abused me, and then you treated me like shit?” I suck in my lip before continuing, “The fact they raped me, and you never did anything. Then, when I finally get the nerve to tell you, you basically just push me under the fucking rug like I didn’t exist. Well guess what—I do exist. You were my parents. You were supposed to protect me. What did I ever do to you to make you not love me?” I whack the mattress of the bed with my right hand and wipe a tear with my left hand. “What kind of monsters are you?”
“They came here to answer that question. It’s time to open your ears and heart and shut down your mind,” Patrice taps my hands. “I know you're angry Kayla, but you can’t hold onto the anger any longer. Let her explain, and then if you want to be mad, that will be fine. Hell, I will even be mad with you, but right now give her a chance to explain.”
I jerk my hand from hers and scream, “You’re on their side? Out of all the people who would take their side, you can’t be that person. Please don’t be on their side!” I feel her take my hand just like a mother would.
“Kayla, I'm not on their side, I'm always on your side, but you need to hear some of the things Millie has to say,” Patrice stares at Millie and directs, “You may continue, but just know this is the time for you to tell her the truth. No half-assed answers.”
“Okay, Dr. Doyle, I have no reason to lie any longer. All of my skeletons are now out, so she may as well know them too. We all have our own secretes—don’t we, Dr. Doyle?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about Millie,” I say to her and a chill runs down my spine.
“Kayla, I was never a good mom. Hell, I didn't even know how to be a mom. My mother was never there, and I was an only child. I never had anyone to help me,” she wipes a tear from her face and continues on about her life in a run-down trailer that never had any heat and her starvation that was so bad; the only meal she ever ate was the free meals at school. How she never got new clothes and never had anything but a raging alcoholic mother who spent more time at the bar than at home.
“I had known of Seth from school. He lived in a nice neighborhood that I always walked past when heading home. He lived on the right side of the city. I always told myself one day I would be someone, and I would live in a house that was so grand and beautiful that people would envy me. I got that the day I ran into Seth in the hallway of St. Roman Catholic School in Charleston, South Carolina. He was tall, lean, and muscular. He was shorter than most of the guys in school, but he never let them intimidate him. He always had this look of ’I know I am someone’. Seth had on his letterman’s jacket he got from being on the wrestling team. He was damn good too.”
“I remember gazing at him so intensely and wishing he would be my knight in shining armor and he was. I had been so happy when he bent down to help me pick up the papers that slipped out of my hand. I just knew he would laugh at me like all the other kids, but he didn’t. He picked them up and handed them to me, and we made s
mall talk. He asked my name, and I told him it was Millie. He thought I said Tillie, and I had to correct him. He said, 'I know, I was just kidding with you.' and laughed.”
“I was never pretty—more like the ugly duckling. I had stringy, reddish-blonde hair, lots of freckles, and I was not skinny. I had curves and lots of them. I was what you now call a plus sized girl. Over the next few weeks he would walk me to class and talk to me in the hallways. I loved being around him. One day he asked if he could take me home. I did not want him to know where I lived, so I told him no. But of course he’s a hard-headed man and wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
“On the way home, I tried my best to convince him to just drop me off, even went as far as trying to open the door of his jeep to just jump out. But he pulled over and took my hands as I was crying and told me whatever it was that I was trying to hide, he could handle it. I wiped the tears that were flowing down my face and told him where I lived. He pulled up to the rusted old mobile home that had busted windows and a rotted out wood porch. I was embarrassed. No one had ever seen my home. I had never brought anyone here, nor would I want to. This place was horrible, nothing but bad memories. Seth kissed my hand and told me to wait. He got out of the jeep, walked around, and opened my door for me. I remember calling him a gentleman.
“He told me I was more than where I live. That even though I didn't have a fancy house, it didn't mean I was worthless. I still didn't want him to see my house. It was so embarrassing, and what if my mom was home? Odds were that she was at the tavern, bar stool number three. It's the place she really called home.
“We went inside, but the lights wouldn't turn on. Seth was so upset that I didn't have power or heat. He refused to let me stay in the cold, promising to take care of me.
“So I jumped at the chance. Little did he know, I was pregnant by Jason Woodrow. I never mentioned the night Jason and I got together. It was a mistake, and he would never admit to anyone that he slept with a girl like me. I was a little over six weeks pregnant at that point. So I still had time to play it off. I went home with Seth that night and never looked back.”
My mouth dropped. I must have looked like a large mouth bass.
“Kayla, close your mouth. The one thing I did right was teaching you to be a lady. You had all of those charm classes, and I know you have manners. Use them. At any rate, I married Seth at a small local wedding chapel across the state line. We left South Carolina in the dust, and we drove until we got to Seattle. I have many faults, Kayla. I married a man even though I knew he was a womanizer. I let him believe that Edwin and Elijah were his kids. I have faults, and I'm okay with them. Now I've told you my story, and I hope that when Edwin and Elijah wake up we can all sit down and talk about everything. I am truly sorry, Kayla, about your childhood. I hope that you can forgive me one day.”
I look over to Seth. I see a man that has aged. For the first time in his life, he looks tired and worn out, like he's lost his will to live. But Millie still looks like a freaking model. You can see the worry in her face, but it's distant. She has the look of a woman who never shows emotion. I use the term stone cold. She would make any prisoner admit what crimes they have done.
“Does this woman ever show any signs of remorse?” I think to myself.
Officer Jernigan strolls in.
“Kayla.”
“What is going on?” I nervously scratched the top of my hand.
“I've come to tell you that Edwin and Elijah are...”
CHAPTER ONE
Who Lives and Who Dies
“My family is my strength and my weakness.”
~Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
Officer Jernigan strolls in. “Kayla.”
“What’s going on?” I nervously scratched the top of my hand.
“I've come to tell you that Edwin and Elijah are...”
“Well spit it out. Officer Jernigan, they are what?”
“Well I hate to say this, we lost Edwin. The doctors did all they could, but he was too damaged. His heart could not take the drugs that were in his system. There was no way to save him. They tried everything they could, but there was nothing else they could do.”
I hear Millie scream and start sobbing.
“Elijah is still touch and go. Right now he's in a medically induced coma. It's safer for him.”
The shrieking and screams from Millie tear me apart.
I stutter, “I'm so sorry Millie, but he was going to kill me and Violet. I know my words will never bring him back.”
“Kayla, you killed my son,” bitterness and anger color Millie's voice, “I will never forgive you for this. You are dead to me, Kayla. You should have stayed gone and never come back. We were all better off without your stupid ass.”
“Now, Millie don't be so dramatic,” Seth states. “She was protecting herself from your sons. What did you expect her to do? Let them rape her all over again? We should have done something years ago. Maybe then they wouldn't have turned out the way they did. They didn't have the best childhood either. They had us, but we were never really parents. We were always too self-involved. I was always chasing a skirt, and well, you were doing whatever it is that you do. Frankly, I have no idea what it is you do all day long.”
“I don't give a rat’s ass what she was doing. My son is dead. How the hell are you so God damned calm and collected Seth? Our son is dead. D. E. A. D. What part of that don't you get? He is not waking up. And as far as me doing stuff all day long, I take care of our house and make sure that your whores are paid for.”
“I get it Millie, but as you just said, the boys were not and are not mine. So excuse me for a minute if I am not kissing your ass.”
“Officer Jernigan, thank you for telling us, what happens now?” I ask.
“There will be an official investigation, Kayla, so don't leave Seattle. And don't make me come looking for you.”
“Am I under arrest?” I ask and wipe away a single tear that rolls down my cheek.
“No, not yet, but I will be questioning you and Violet. As soon as Elijah wakes up, we will question him. For now, make sure that you check in with me.”
“Yes, I swear to everything holy I'm not going anywhere. Hell, I don't even know when I'm getting sprung out of here. I just woke up. All I know is that it's mid-afternoon.”
“Millie, come on,” Seth says, tugging on Millie's arm. “She listened to what you had to say, and now we have a funeral to plan. We need to go get an update on Elijah. He needs his parents. Even though I'm not his biological father, I will never turn my back on him. I've raised him since he was born. He may not be mine by blood, but God damn it, he's still my son. And not even you can take that from me.”
“Kayla, I’m warning you. Stay away from my family!” Millie shouts.
“Is that a threat, Millie? I don’t think Officer Jernigan heard you.”
“No dear, it is not a threat,” she says, her voice eerily calm, “I was simply telling you to stay away from my son. You've already killed one of them. I don’t want to bury the other.”
“Millie, I am not even going to try and tell you that it was an accident because you'll believe what you want. Know that I did what I had to do to in order to protect myself and Violet, but I will say he got what he deserved.”
“Kayla, you will regret the day you came to live with us!” she was screaming as Seth was pushing her out the door.
“I have always regretted living with you Millie. I wish I had my birth mother, and I never fucking knew you and your stupid ass family.”
“Kayla, dear, why don’t you rest? I’m going to head to Garret's, and I will check on you later.” Patrice leans down and kisses my forehead.
“Dr. Doyle, give me a few minutes, and I’ll take you home. Let me give Kayla a kiss and tell her I love her,” Garret says, standing up.
“First, Garrett, we're all friends. Please call me Patrice. You stay here with Kayla. She may need you through the night.”
“Well, at least let me have Wyatt t
ake you. There is no reason for you to rent a car.”
“No Garrett, I'm fine. I’ll call a cab and will be back in the morning.”
“Patrice, I’d be happy to take you to Garrett’s if you want. It is on my way home,” Officer Jernigan offers.
“Officer Jernigan, are you flirting with me?”
“Ma'am, I’d be honored if you would allow me to take you home. I know this city like the back of my hand, and I’d hate for you to get lost.”
“Officer Jernigan,” Patrice begins.
“Please call me Rodney,” he interrupts. “I am only Officer Jernigan when I'm at work, and I won’t worry about work until tomorrow when I have to write up the reports.”
“Okay, Rodney,” Patrice says. ”If you insist on taking me, then you must know I'm starving. I need to eat, and I'm not one of those salad eating women like you're used to. I like to eat. I'm from Texas, and we eat steak. If you can handle that, then we have a deal. No funny business, you hear me?” She gathers her belongings and tells Rodney she is ready to go.
“After you, Patrice,” Rodney says, gesturing to the door.
“You two behave, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, Patrice,” I call out.
“Kayla please, if I wanted to get busy honey, I would.” Patrice replies
“Well, alright then. You have fun, and if you need anything, Patrice, just let me know. The house is stocked though, so you should have everything you need,” Garret says.
“Okay Garrett. Thank you so much for everything, and above all, for taking care of Kayla.”
“Please, it's my job. I would do anything for her,” Garret bends down and kisses me on my temple. “I would move mountains for her Patrice, and one day I will make it official and make her my wife.”
“Oh wow,” I say. “Garrett, honey, please tell me that is not my proposal because if it is, you suck at being romantic.”
Damaged Love (Bound Series Book 2) Page 1