Until The Stars Fall
A Just The Way You Are Novel
Abigail Kade
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by Abigail Kade
Cover Art: Stephanie Downs
Editing: Amber Krogh
Interior Formatting: Ashe Winters
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is intended for adult readers (18+) due to adult situations.
Acknowledgments
I want to thank my husband and my children first and foremost. Without your constant love and support, this book would never have been written, let alone published. Thank you for everything you’ve done to help me along the way, including the laundry.
I have to give a huge thank you to everyone in the NaNo Group I joined last November. You all were an invaluable support network, and I can’t thank you all enough for the continued advice and friendship. So many of us have found our dreams coming true from this group, and I’ll be forever grateful Michele Notaro had the grace to add me because I wanted to see if I could really do it. Much love to you all.
There are a few people I need to name because they have been integral in this amazing journey. Thank you, Leslie Copeland, for giving me that first bit of advice, for your beta genius, and your continued help and encouragement. Jacki James, thank you for being my very first beta. You’re incite and ideas were invaluable, and I look forward to many more idea sessions. Ashe Winters, thank you for your help, friendship and formatting guru skills. I look forward to many future projects working together. And finally, I need to thank my friends AM Raulerson, Lacie Minier and Steve Swinwood. Each of you know how you have helped me in my pursuit of my dream. You’ve been there, listened and given advice whenever I needed your support. I love you all and thank you for your love, too.
Lastly, I’d like to thank you, the reader. Thank you for taking a chance on a new author. Your faith and support mean everything to me.
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
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
About the Author
Prologue
Ten Years Ago
“Yo, Little Red! You ready to take me up on my offer yet?” I heard Dante yell from the end of the alley. Fucking great, that’s all I needed tonight. The wannabe pimp had been trying to turn me out for the past few weeks, and he was getting a little too eager. Or I was getting more desperate, but I didn’t need to think about that right now. I needed to get home, such as it was. I had Remy and Rhett counting on me.
I clutched the bag of food from Mr. Ramirez tighter in my left hand and hurried my steps down the alley. “Still not interested, Dante. Give it a rest, man,” I said with as much conviction as I could muster. Wouldn’t you know my bastard voice would crack in the middle of the sentence? God, no fifteen-year-old kid should be subjected to the things I had to deal with. Especially having to get past pimps trying to make a buck out of my ass, literally. Dante was a big fucker and stood about six-feet tall which dwarfed me at my sad five-feet-six-inches. It wasn’t helping me now though.
Dante was leaning against the wall near the alley exit, so I’d have to go right by him. He’d been waiting for me, and I hadn’t seen him since he was dressed in dark clothes and his ebony skin helped him blend in with the shadows. Dammit, why did I take the shortcut tonight?
“You’ll come around sooner or later, baby boy, everyone out here knows it but you.” He pushed off the wall and closed the distance between us before stopping in the middle of the narrow space so I couldn’t get past him. He didn’t touch me but leaned in close, bringing the smell of pot and whatever shit he’d been eating down to my nose. I tried hard not to gag at the smell of garlic and weed. “You and I could make a bundle from that pretty pink mouth alone, Little Red. With all that pale skin, red hair and tight ass, you’re such a pretty boy. Come on, baby, we all know your situation is going to shit. You’re gonna lose that shithole you’ve been staying in and then what you gonna do, huh? I’m willing to let you and your kid brothers stay with me. I’d take care of you so good, baby.” He leaned over and went to put his hand on my shoulder, but I dodged to the left and skirted past him as quickly as I could without losing my bag of food.
“Thanks for the offer, Dante, but I’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.”
Dante let me go but yelled down the alley behind me, “That’s what you think, baby, but I don’t mind waiting till you got no choice. Go ahead and run from the Big Bad Wolf.” He laughed at his joke, then added, “You’re mine, and you’ll figure that out soon enough. I even got your first trick all set up for you. Marcus likes his boys young and tight. You’ll bring in an extra hundred being a virgin. Maybe I’ll even turn out those brothers of yours, too.”
I almost turned around to confront him but knew he was baiting me. I sped up even more and turned left when I finally made it to the street. Three more blocks and I’d be home. Well, calling the piece of shit, hole in the wall apartment home was stretching it, but it was shelter at least. For now, anyway. And Dante was right. My situation was shit. The money I made under the table bussing for Mr. Ramirez wasn’t going to pay for our rent this month. Mom had been MIA—missing in action—for over two weeks now. No one knew where she was or if she was even coming back. And didn’t it say something that having her gone wasn’t the worst thing about our situation.
She’d always been a free spirit she liked to say. No roots, no strings and free to be. Such bullshit when she had three boys to raise. As it turned out, I had to raise myself, and I was raising Remy and Rhett the best I could. I hadn’t really had any help from her for the past year or two anyway, except she did contribute to the rent and food. Well, rent could wait, and thanks to Mr. Ramirez being a kind and decent man, I had food for the boys and me for one more day at least.
I finally made it to our building and skirted past the broken bottles and discarded needles on the ground to get to the stairs. A rat shuffled past, and it didn’t even faze me. It was sad what you could get used to when you had no other choice. Just another shithole like all the others. I was obsessed with keeping our space as clean as possible to keep the filth of the world at bay. I washed our clothes as often as I could, cleaned obsessively, and made sure the boys and I always smelled fresh and clean every day for school.
That was another thing I was careful about. We would always go to school wherever we ended up. Mom was a drunk. None of us wanted this kind of life for ourselves, so I insisted we all get an education. It was free for Christ’s sake. All we had to do was show up, learn and we could eventually get out of this Hell we’d been born into. It was summer now which was why I was able to work more hours at the restaurant. Maybe I could make the rent this month. On that thought, I rounded the stairwell and stopped dead in my tracks. The door to our apartment was hanging open, and I could hear a faint scuffling sound from inside.
Oh, what fresh Hell is this?
My heart began to race as I crept up to the door. I had no idea what would be beyond, so as much as I wanted to barge in and save the day, I took my time. I slid in through the gap left by the door hanging on its hinges and had to stop and take in the scene. Rhett was on the floor by the opposite wall with Remy standing protectively over him staring up at the biggest man I had ever seen. He had to be well over six-feet, with wide shoulders and thick arms bulging from his t-shirt sleeves. His meaty paws were wrapped around Remy’s bony shoulders pushing him into the wall while he snarled down at him. “Where is the bitch, boy? Don’t keep lyin' to me or you’ll be sorry.” He shook Remy violently, then asked, “I’m gonna ask ya again, where is your ma? That bitch borrowed five-hundred dollars from me two weeks ago and she ain’t been seen since. I want my money, and I want it now.” He shook Remy more violently this time, forcing his head to bang into the wall with a loud thud.
“I told you we don’t know where she is, asshole! Are you dumb on top of ugly? Cause you keep asking the same question expecting to get a different answer when there ain’t one!” Remy spit back at the guy. And wasn’t that just typical Remy. Facing a guy that could break him in two and Remy spouts off like the guy’s nothing more than a schoolyard bully. Shit like that was gonna get him killed one day. God, please don’t let it be today.
The guy yanked Remy up by the shirtfront and slammed him back into the wall with his feet dangling at least a foot off the floor. He shook Remy like a ragdoll, then put his other hand around his throat. Rhett whimpered and scooted away as far into the near corner as he could get. He turned his eyes toward the door and finally noticed I had come in. I caught Rhett’s eye, and when he made to move in my direction, I shook my head and cut my eyes over to the asshole currently holding Remy. Rhett nodded slightly, and I slowly moved forward.
“You’re a feisty little bitch, aren’t ya? I like my meat feisty.” The asshole leaned in and started sniffing Remy’s neck, moving his nose up the side of his face and into his hair. Remy kept trying to struggle, but the paw holding him up against the wall prevented him from moving more than an inch or two. “Maybe I’ll just get my payment out of you instead. I busted a guy last week that could help me sell you two. He paid me three grand to let him go. He still owes me a favor though. I could make a mint off you, but I’d have my fun first.” He rumbled what was probably supposed to be a laugh, then leaned in and licked Remy from his neck all the way up the left side of his face. “Mmmmm, you taste good enough to eat, boy. I think I’ll keep you for a while before I sell you.”
Remy flinched from the wet tongue. “Fuck you, asshole. No one is ever gonna own me! Especially a dumb fucking dirty cop like you!” Then he spit in the asshole’s face. Instead of getting angry, the asshole just chuckled and wiped it off. “I’ll be putting that filthy mouth to work first, you little cunt. You won’t be spitting and cursing when your mouth is full of cock, and I’m skull fucking you ‘til you can’t breathe. I’m looking forward to it, boy, make no mistake.”
While this was happening, I made my way over to the only weapon I could find in our sparse apartment. I grabbed the floor lamp, silently unplugged it, and hefted the heavy cast iron base up onto my shoulder. The lamp had been with us through every move I could remember. Mom had told me once it was an antique from my dad’s family. I never knew anything about my dad or his family. Mom never talked about him much. He had died a year or two after the twins were born, and I couldn’t remember him except for fuzzy snatches of memory. I hated to destroy one of my only links to him, but my brothers always came first.
I crept up behind the asshole, and when he went to slam Remy back into the wall again, I let the lamp fly. I hit the giant square in the shoulder. I had been aiming for his head, but because of the height difference, it wasn’t even close. He staggered to the side, letting Remy drop back to the ground, and spun around in my direction. He snarled and leaped toward me as I jumped back and to the right away from his outstretched hand, dropping the lamp as I went. Remy jumped on the guy’s back and pushed him off balance as he tried to change directions and follow after me, all the while cursing and screaming threats against the both of us. I ran toward the kitchen to see if I could find a knife or anything else for a weapon when I heard a grunt and a crash behind me.
I spun around and saw the giant sprawled across the floor not moving, Remy lying on top of the guy’s back and Rhett standing over both of them holding the lamp base I had dropped in his hands. Rhett looked like he was in shock, just standing there looking at the weapon hanging from his fingers. He started to breathe heavily and jerked his head up searching for any other threat that might be coming his way. I was afraid he was going to pass out or hit one of us in his panic. Speaking softly, I told him everything was okay while I grabbed the base from his hand. I pushed him down to sit on the sofa and encouraged him to put his head down and take a few deep breaths.
“Is he dead?” Remy asked as he scrambled off the guy’s still unmoving back. “It’d serve him right, but I don’t want to go away for murder.” As soon as he got his feet under him, he hurried over to the sofa and put his arm around Rhett’s shoulders pulling his twin into a tight hug.
I glanced up at Remy, and he seemed to be fine even with the bruises that were starting to show up on his neck and arms. I leaned down slowly and felt the guy’s neck for a pulse. It was faint, but it was there. I heaved a sigh of relief. No jail for us, but we were dead if we stayed here very much longer. We had to leave, now, or we’d be dead or worse when he woke up.
“Guys, go grab your backpacks and pack up your stuff, quick before he wakes up. We’ve gotta get out of here, or we’re dead.” Remy and Rhett just stared at me for a second, neither one moving or saying anything. “Now!” I screamed, and they both jumped like I’d hit them. I never yelled, so they knew I was serious. “We’ve gotta get out of here in the next fifteen minutes, or we’re either going to be dead or sold into sex slavery. I need you two to get your stuff because we have to leave.”
That got them moving, and they ran into their room to pack. I rushed into the other bedroom and grabbed my backpack from the floor. I emptied out my books, wishing I could take them all with me and knowing I couldn’t. One day, I promised myself, I was going to have a whole room with nothing but comfy chairs and books, but that day wasn’t today. I heaved a sigh and went to fill up my pack with the few things I owned. It wasn’t much. Then I went into the closet and pulled down the only other thing I truly cherished besides my books. It was an old shoebox covered with tattered wrapping paper covered in shooting stars. I had always been fascinated by the stars when I was little, and, in her lucid moments, Mom would show me the pictures she had kept inside. Most were pictures of my brothers and me through the years that I’d taken, but there were a couple of Dad and Mom when they had been younger. These I loved the most. Dad had been tall and broad, just like the twins would be one day. I got my build from my mom, smaller boned and finely featured. But all three of us had gotten our dad’s red hair and bright blue eyes. It made me feel close to him whenever I looked at these pictures. He was the only family I remembered besides my mom.
I pulled the box down from the top shelf in the closet, and a letter fell onto the floor by my feet. I grabbed it quickly thinking it was probably a bill Mom had hidden up there, but then I noticed the return address was a private investigation firm in town. Curious, I pulled out the letter and started reading. After the first paragraph, I started tearing up. After the last paragraph, I got angry. “That bitch!” I screamed grabbing the lamp off the bedside table and hurling it at the wall. The crash was satisfying, but not nearly enough to cover the utter betrayal I felt.
The letter had been sent over six months before, and the subject was life-changing. We had a family. My dad’s brother and his aunt had been searching for us for over ten years, but since Mom basically lived like a nomad, it had been almost impossible to track us down. We had arrived in New
Orleans about nine months before, and I quickly enrolled us in school. Somehow our names had triggered some sort of search result indicating to this PI that he had a possible match. When contacted, Mom had apparently informed them they had the wrong people, and this letter was an apology for the misunderstanding. All this time, we had family searching for us, and that selfish drunk had kept it from us. Then she abandoned us to fend for ourselves without a backward glance. Well, our future was up to us now.
I made sure I had everything I needed from the bathroom, got the boys, and we all headed out. I told Remy and Rhett about the letter I’d found as we hurried down the sidewalk. I was trying to put as much distance between us and the cop as possible before trying to make use of the contact info I’d noticed on the letter. As soon as we got far enough away that I was comfortable stopping for a few minutes, I found a payphone—not easy to say the least—and quickly called the number on the letterhead. I stood there praying someone was still in the office even though it was after five pm. When someone did finally pick up, I explained my situation and was immediately transferred to a guy named Mr. Parsons. He asked me a few questions, then insisted we meet somewhere that night, right away. I chose Mr. Ramirez’s restaurant to be safe. Lord knows I’d dealt with enough people who meant us harm tonight, and I wasn’t taking any more chances.
When we finally met Mr. Parsons, I could tell right away he was a nice man. He had laugh lines around his eyes and a quick smile. He hustled us into a booth and just stared at us for a minute. I squirmed under his scrutiny, and he apologized. “So sorry I keep staring, guys, but the likeness is uncanny. You all look just like your uncle, James. I’ve known James for years, and I’d know you guys anywhere. Where have you guys been?” Well, wasn’t that a fucking book of a question?
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