That's it for today. If you have any love for my story, please give it a like, a comment, a review or even a GEM if you would be so generous. It would mean the world to me and helps new authors like myself get my story promoted to other great readers to enjoy just like you are. Thank you to all of my readers from the bottom of my heart :) ~Author Lunar Dawn~
PROLOGUEMy hands trembled as I searched for the phone. I knew it had to be around here somewhere. She was never without it, always within reach, waiting for that next call. The call that would lead to either the next big hit or the means to an end. My hands felt blindly, frantically through the sheets. Not finding what I needed, in desperation, I ripped them from the bed. I breathed a sign of relief as I heard, no felt a thud on the floor next to me.I was temporarily deaf. The pounding of my heart fueled the high amounts of adrenaline running through my veins, creating a dull roar in my head, an endless pulsing wave rolling back and forth, blocking out all other sounds around me. My heart beat was strong, albeit a little too loud and unnecessarily quick at the moment.I scooped the phone off of the floor, my knees buckling as I flipped it over in my hands. Pain ricocheted through my legs as I hit the hardwood on impact, all strength leaving me as I collapsed to the ground. The scree
I felt his little hand tighten in mine and his feet started to drag, scuffing along the pavement, as the school loomed ahead in the distance, looking too big to even me. To his little eyes, I’m sure it was gigantic and threatening. I stopped and crouched down to his level, those beautiful chocolate brown eyes staring back at me.“Do you think they will like me?” He asked me for the hundredth time in the last few weeks.“I am positive they will love you, little man. What’s not to love? You are smart and funny and the most handsome little guy I have ever seen.”“You have to say that. You’re my sister.”“Listen, have I ever lied to you?”He cocked his little head, thinking hard. I could see the gears turning, him trying his best to come up with a time I had ever wronged him. If I let this continue, we would be here awhile and he would be late because I had always and would always put him first and he knew it. He was just staling.I stood up again, looked down at him and gave his little h
We didn’t have any problems until Wendy moved in last year. Phil had not dated since that night he brought us home. In fact, I never saw him with a woman at all until Wendy suddenly showed up in our lives and moved in, seemingly overnight. Phil had played his part, telling her that I was his step daughter but the truth was, it was a difficult story to sell. He hadn’t seemed happy about her being there but being a nice guy and passive, he didn’t stop her either.Phillip is only ten years older than I am. He was six years younger than my mom when they dated briefly and she became pregnant with Nate. He is a very attractive man, looking younger than he is so most would assume when looking at us that we are a couple and that Nate is our child. That little boy is a perfect combination of Phil’s sandy blond hair and sharp cheekbones and my mom’s chocolate brown eyes and button nose. Both traits that I inherited from her, too.Janet was only sixteen when she had me and until she started doin
FLASHBACKShe had fixed him a fancy dinner one night when she knew I wasn’t working. She knew would be home to care for Nate and she could flaunt whatever it was she was attempting to accomplish in front of me. She was strolling around the kitchen in stilettos and barely there red lingerie with a matching see through kimono robe, while she cooked, when I had brought Nate back from the park. She had the wine poured and flowing freely already by the sway of her hips, all waiting for when Phil came in from work. I had quickly made Nate a PB&J and had taken him out of there, retreating to his room the moment I saw how she was dressed and what her intentions were.After I had him fast asleep for the night, I ventured out carefully and, not hearing anyone in the living room or kitchen, I had backtracked to make myself some food. I was starving since Wendy’s presence and attire had prevented me having the chance to get anything to eat at all for myself.I had barely set down and had taken on
I haven’t seen Wendy since that night, not even around town, and Phil and I have never talked about it but things have not been the same between us. I now know that he sees me differently, sees me as a woman. I don't know when this started. I have never caught him looking at me with the looks you would expect from someone attracted to another person.Not that I have anything to go off of other than remembering the looks on the faces of those men as they watched her. That was a piss poor comparison, at best. Primal lust and physical attraction are supposed to look differently, aren't they? That's how it's portrayed in the movies and in the romance novels, my only sources for sex education. I would have noticed if he had been looking at me differently, right? From what I can recall, he barely looked at me at all. Or did he and I was too busy taking care of Nate to pay attention. Did he start seeing me as an object of desire and I was just too naive to notice?Like I said, Phil is an at
As much as I would have liked to have stalled or ran away altogether, I knew I couldn’t. I didn’t know exactly how this conversation was going to go but I, at least, owed Phil enough to have it. He had taken me in and let me live with them when he knew he didn’t have to. I could have easily been tossed into the system, ending up in a foster home somewhere halfway across the country but I didn’t. I know part of it was him feeling that he owed me for taking care of Nate when he wasn’t around and another equal part not knowing how to take care of Nate and be a father himself. For the time, it just worked out for all of us. I took care of Nate and the house, worked when I could and either gave him money to help with bills or bought groceries and necessities for the house.Neither of us ever thought to question the arrangement until it was forced upon us. I grew up. I was no longer the scrawny, awkward fourteen year old girl he took guardianship of that tragic night. He saved me and I, in
I had confided in her months ago about what had happened that night that Wendy attacked me. She had said the moment that Wendy moved in that she would not last. That she had known that woman all her life and that she was the desperate type. Not only that, she told me straight up that Wendy hated me so much because she was jealous. Jealous of how beautiful I was, her words not mine, and jealous that I already had Phil wrapped around my finger.I had scoffed at this, refusing to see it or believe it until that night. I confessed to Barb that I just didn’t know what to do just a couple weeks ago. On a particularly slow evening with not a customer in sight, we sat down as Barb lit up a cigarette between those ruby red lips and after taking a couple long draws, she told me exactly what she thought on the matter. Barb suggested that I give Phil a chance, if he ever was brave enough to make the move and straight up tell me how he felt. She had drummed her fingers on the wood of the table as
She tamped out her cigarette before leaning back with a deep sigh. “I see your point, kid. That is tough. But, that was a long time ago and your momma is long gone from this world. That doesn’t seem to bother him too much now, though, does it?”“Men are different. I remember what it was like for them to be together, though. Janet had always struggled as a mom. She wanted to be my friend more than my parent. She liked to party, drink and do drugs. She smoked marijuana and would snort pills but nothing more than that, not at first. I got drug around with her to every party she went to from the moment my granny died when I was eight. It’s any wonder I didn’t end up being abused when I look back on it.”“She was different when she got with Phil.” I continued pouring my heart out, unable to stop now as Barb just sat and listened. “She tamed her ways, something I never thought would happen. She acted like a real mom, for once. They lived together and seemed happy and in love. He worked, she
“What did you need to talk to me about, Aurora?”“I had wanted to ask about how things were going with you and Phil but seeing how sad you look, I am now more worried about you and making sure you are okay.”She sighed. “I am, I guess. This is actually about him. I thought we hit if off and were gonna start talking, start dating even but he has completely ghosted me, Aurora. Now, I am left feeling like this cheap, one night stand.” She covered her face with her hands. “Plus, I am a professional here, an adult and I should not even be discussing things like this with you.”“Hey, I asked.” I assured her. “I only asked because I care and I wanted to know how things were going. I never imagined he hadn’t reached back out to you yet but now that I think about everything that is going on, I just realized that I have been so caught up in my own little world with Owen that you probably have no idea of anything going on.”“What do you mean? What is going on? I don’t know anything except I was
Getting Nate out of bed and dressed was easy as he was super excited as soon as he woke and realized we were still at Owen’s house. As I was getting him dressed, he asked me if Owen was my boyfriend and I was glad that he did since I was thinking of how to bring it up myself. I answered him honestly and told him that, yes, Owen was my boyfriend and I asked him how he felt about that.He said he liked it. That he liked Owen and he liked seeing me look happy. He, then, went on to tell me that he hoped Owen and I got married and have seven kids. Of course, while he said this Owen walked up to the open door and heard it but he seemed pleased with Nate’s plans for us. Regardless, both of them could forget about seven kids. It wasn’t going to happen!We dropped Nate off at school with my promise of picking him back up this afternoon and reminding him to give Miss Kelly or Miss Lyndsey his note about being a car rider this afternoon. When we parked at the high school, we still had fifteen mi
The first kiss left me in awe. The second took my breathe away and touched my soul. The third and all beyond that had me addicted. Addicted to this man, his touch, his kiss, his lips, his tongue. Dear Lord, the way he could kiss me left me just dizzy with desire, craving something more. More of him, more of his touch, more of everything.After the second kiss, he had pulled me onto his lap to straddle him and although I knew nothing of what I was doing, my body seemed to. Natural instinct kicked in as the primal urges and desires I felt took over my body, moving my hips in ways that felt good, felt right, felt necessary.Owens hands had started on my face, working their way down my body to my hips and then under my shirt. He first gripped the bare skin of my hips but as my hips started moving, so did his hands until he was running his thumbs over the outside lining of my bra, causing an explosion of electricity as he brushed the hardened buds rubbing against the soft cotton of the und
I opened the door and walked out, leaving it partially open again. I rapped lightly on Owen’s door as I skipped up to it and waited just a few seconds before opening it slightly. He answered for me to come on in, so I did.He was sitting at the L-shaped desk already dressed in t-shirt and jeans and it looked like he had been working on homework. He turned to look as I walked in and he quickly stood up, walking toward me to greet me in his bare feet.“You look amazing this morning, Aurora.” He said as his eyes raked up and down my body, his gaze lingering hungrily on my long legs in these black shorts. “Damn!” He said with an appreciative sigh.“You like my outfit, then?”“Yes, very much. I never imagined someone could look so casual and comfortable and still so sexy and mouthwatering at the same time but you have managed to pull it off.”“Thank you, I think.”He gave me that devilish smirk that heated my cheeks as well as sent a flush through the rest of my body. “Trust me, it was a c
I glanced at the time on my cell phone again. It was now four in the morning and I had a choice to make. Lay back down for the next two hours and toss and turn where my mind was now on overdrive or make the best of the extra time I now had. It would be hard to pass the time unless I kept myself busy. Right now, I wanted nothing more than to wake Owen up and tell him everything that had been said in that conversation but I wasn’t about to risk both of us being dead tired tonight when Nate was barreling full steam ahead.I was thinking about what I could do to pass the time when I realized with everything that had happened last night, I hadn’t even touched my homework and I had assignments to complete in almost every class. So much for free time but I could at least be thankful that I now had time to get it all finished so I was not showing up to class unprepared.But before I started that, I wanted to get my shower and soak up the heat and steam. This morning, I needed the shower to wa
My phone blared in the dead of the night, causing me to scramble from the bed as I hurried to answer it quickly so as not to wake Nate. Owen was no longer in the bed, having went back to his room as soon as I fell asleep, I would assume. Grabbing it up, I hit silence giving a brief glimpse back at the bed to make sure Nate hadn’t woken up as I rushed into the bathroom and shut the door behind me. Even before I looked at the display, I already knew who this was and what conversation was getting ready to happen. I just needed confirmation of the time it was occurring. Three forty-six in the morning. It took him that long to wake up and come around enough to miss us in the house.“Hello.” I hissed in a loud whisper as I hit the accept call button and brought the phone to my ear.“Aurora! Where the hell are you and where is my son?” His voice was strained so I knew he was angry but that it was causing him too much pain if he tried to raise his voice or get himself too worked up. That coul
“I won’t lie to you, Aurora. He might. But that will be a true measurement of his character, not yours. He knows how much Nate loves you so hopefully, he will not be that spiteful to try to keep him from you. He was the one that screwed up. He became belligerently drunk and attacked you. When he was supposed to be the responsible father and pick his son up from school, too. You were innocent in all of this. So, if push comes to shove, you may have to remind him of that and how easily you could have called the cops on him and didn’t. I still want you to but I understand why you didn’t and why you can’t right now. I don’t like it but I understand.”“Hopefully, the hangover and the damage to his body will be enough of a reminder to not only force him to get some help with whatever he is going through but also to solidify that I can take care of myself and that I kicked his drunk ass all over the place. I know you technically did but he will never know that. When I confront him, I’m gonna
“Thank you, Owen.” I answered, feeling like the luckiest woman in the world to have this amazingly handsome, incredibly sexy guy with a heart of gold as my boyfriend. I hoped Owen was sincere with everything he said because he could be the one to finally heal my heart and my mind and help me rid myself of all the demons from my past.“Now, as bad as I hate to change the subject and talk about that useless piece of mud, I need to know what happened earlier before I came in. If you can talk about it, that is. I don’t want to bring anything up or have you tell me if it’s gonna upset you again.”“No, I’m okay. I think I can talk about it.”“Okay, first of all, this is nothing sexual but I need to know if he left any marks on you.”“Barb and Darcy helped me check earlier in the bathroom so I know where they are.” I answered. I pulled the sleeve of my shirt up to expose the fingerprints on my arm. They were a deep, gnarly purple now. They didn’t really hurt but they did look bad.“I’m gonna
I freeze, every muscle paralyzed, as I feel Owen’s lips brush a light kiss on my cheek, just a hairbreadth from his lips touching mine. So close that if I were to just move, our lips would touch. By the time the thought registers, he has moved away. My eyes flutter as he leans to the other side, brushing the same light stroke against the other cheek before he pulls back again. As my eyes meet his, I see a fire burning deep within them but I am confused and torn.“You didn’t kiss me.” It wasn’t a question.“I did.” He answered as he rubbed his thumb across my lower lip again with that same look of what I can only describe as longing. “Just not the way you may have expected.”“You don’t want to kiss me?” I now ask as my voice cracks, feeling I have misread him entirely. I am fighting this onslaught of emotions from doubt to betrayal, from longing to rejection. I blink hard to control the flood of feelings that has burst forth suddenly, threatening to pull me under and drown me in my mis