A Beautiful Struggle
Read A Beautiful Struggle Online
Authors: Lilliana Anderson
A
Beautiful Struggle
Books
by Lilliana Anderson
Confidante:
The Brothel
A
Beautiful Struggle
Coming
Soon
Confidante:
The Escort
Confidante:
The Madame
For
information on upcoming releases visit
http://lillianaanderson.weebly.com
A
Beautiful Struggle
Lilliana
Anderson
2013
Copyright
2013, Lilliana Anderson
All rights reserved
Without
limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted,
in any form, or by any means without the prior written permission of the author
of this book.
This
book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is
purely coincidental. Any actual places, products or events mentioned are used
in a purely fictitious manner. The author acknowledges the trademarked status
and trademark owners of various places/products referenced in this work of
fiction, which have been used without permission and is by no way sponsored by
the trademark owners.
Ebook ISBN-13: 978-1-291-26117-2
Print ISBN-10: 1480159344
Design
by Ember Designs
Printed
by CreateSpace Publishing USA
Dedication
–
To
Wade
for
helping me change the important things
‘Sticks and stones
are hard on bones,
Aimed with angry art,
Words can sting like anything
But silence breaks the heart.’
Phyllis McGinley, "Ballade of
Lost Objects," 1954
Foreward
This book started off as something very
different to what it is now.
Originally, I had planned to try my hand at
writing several erotic short stories for a bit of fun. I had started this book
as a document titled ‘Office Job’ and was going to simply write about
co-workers romping around the office, wherever they could manage.
However, the characters came alive in my
mind and started to tell me that there was more to their story than mere sex. I
would wake in the morning and the first thing I would think of would be them.
Still tied up finishing the editing process
of Confidante: The Brothel, I was unable to listen to them fully. I felt
slightly tortured by them for a while as they stayed in my head and begged me
to write them. When Confidante was completed, I took one week off and then entered
NaNoWriMo – completing the first draft of A Beautiful Struggle in 22 days.
Their story was so fluid in my mind that I just needed to sit and let my
fingers flow over the key board.
I sincerely hope you enjoy the story of
Katrina, Elliot and David. I know that I enjoyed writing them.
First and foremost I must thank all of the
Beta readers and Advanced reviewers who agreed to look over this book.
Melissa, Bree, Mia, Jade, Rachel, Sara,
Ginnie, GW, Courtney, Crystal & Vicki.
Whether, you loved it, hated it, or just
couldn’t find the time to read it – I still greatly appreciate the support you
gave me, no matter how small.
There is one more reader that I really want
to thank separately and that is Pati – she is the Beta Reader Extraordinaire
and provided me with invaluable feedback for this book as well as becoming the
muse for a sequel idea. Pati, you are magnificent! Thank you, thank you! I hope
you like the changes I made since we last conversed.
Another thank you is of course to my editor
(WS) for being tough with me and making me rework so much of this book and cut
out a lot of superfluous junk.
I also want to thank my family, especially
my husband for supporting me while I write. My husband listened to my ideas and
gave me great story suggestions, and held my hand while I bit my fingernails
nervously while I waited for reviews to come back.
The very last thank you is to you, the person
reading right now – you are the whole entire reason that I have worked so hard
to create this book. Enjoy.
“Oh my god!
Why
are you making me
sit through this girly movie?” David complained as the couple on the screen
struggled with their attraction to each other yet again.
Laughing at him, I answered, “Because it
was my turn to pick –
you
made me sit through that horrible action movie
last time, so consider us even.”
“Fine,” David grumbled. “But I need more
beer to get through this, do you want one?”
Shaking my head no, I lifted my legs from
his lap so he could stand. I didn’t think that my boyfriend Christopher would
be happy if he came home from work and I was rolling around on the floor, drunk
with David. Actually, David needed to be gone before Christopher got home. They
weren’t exactly friendly with each other.
I sucked in my breath as I heard the key
enter the door and click it open, it was as if the thought had been enough to
conjure him.
David spun around and locked eyes with me,
his own as wide as mine were. Gulping, I watched as Christopher walked through
the front door and prepared myself for the verbal tirade that was sure to
follow.
“You’re early,” I pointed out, my heart
thumping loudly as I flicked my worried gaze toward David in the kitchen.
Christopher followed my line of sight, his
face darkening as he spotted my friend.
“What the fuck are you doing here?”
Christopher bellowed at David, giving him zero chance to respond before he
marched towards him, planting the full force of his fist into the side of
David’s face rocking him back on his heels before he slowly fell.
“No!” I screamed, covering my mouth in
horror as I watched David fall to the floor. “What are you doing, Christopher!?
Get away from him!”
My protests were futile. As David scrambled
to get up, Christopher grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him to the
door, throwing him unceremoniously out into the hallway.
“Stay the fuck away for good this time!” he
yelled at David before slamming the door and flicking the lock.
As Christopher turned his attention to me,
I stopped breathing but my heart raced.
“You!” he bellowed, I felt the bile rise in
my throat as he charged towards me, his face twisted with fury.
If my life was a movie, it would have been
playing Dolly Parton’s ‘nine to five’ as I entered the building in Sydney’s
Martin Place that housed the law offices of Turner Barlow & Smith. It was
my first day as the part-time librarian, actually it was my first job full stop,
and I was nervous as hell.
The music would have then come to a
screeching halt after I had exited the lift and approached the reception area
to introduce myself.
The frosty receptionist - taking an instant
disliking to me, that was made painfully obvious; gave me a look that told me I
was no better than the crud under her beautifully manicured fingernails.
I have to admit I felt a little intimidated
by her looks; she was beautifully made up and very curvaceous - she looked like
one of those sexy cartoon pin up girls you see from war time posters, with
jet-black hair cascading down over her shoulders and a bust daring to break
through her fitted blouse that a flat chested girl like me would pay dearly
for.
Despite feeling a little ill at ease by the
frostiness of her gaze bearing down on me. I took a deep breath and boldly told
her who I was and why I was there. She tilted her head back and looked down her
nose at me - a difficult thing to do to someone as tall as me, but she
succeeded insurmountably; and told me curtly to sit and wait for the office
manager.
Taking a deep breath, I turned and looked
at the reception waiting area, sighing when I saw the low-set furniture. I
walked towards it wondering how the heck I was going to fold my long legs in
some sort of a dignified manner, so I wouldn’t flash the office manager when he
or she came out. I chose to perch on the edge of a cream leather couch with my
knees angled down and legs tucked to the side, imagining that I looked a little
like a daddy long legs spider but not having much choice in the matter.
I had applied for this job in the hopes
that it would be a foot in the door by the time I graduated. I was two years
into studying a humanities/law degree at the University of Western Sydney,
Parramatta campus - which was only half an hour's drive away from my home in
Cranebrook, one of Sydney's western suburbs.
I was originally born in Penrith (or
Penriff, as a lot of people jokingly call it) but my parents had saved as much
money as they could to buy a new house and move out to Cranebrook which they
considered to be a step up in the world. It wasn’t – it’s the suburb right next
door to Mount Pleasant, home to one of the largest public housing estates in
the west.
There was a fair bit of crime in the area,
my car had been broken into numerous times, but we had been lucky and never had
our house broken into. So, in the grand scheme of things, it was no big deal –
petty crime was just something you dealt with when you were a blue-collar
family living in an area that housed people both less and more fortunate than
you.
The best way for me to travel to work was
via train, which took about an hour. I had woken up extremely early that
morning as I really wanted to make a good first impression - taking an extraordinary
amount of time getting ready, ensuring I looked just right.
I had chosen a black pinstripe skirt that
came to my knees with a crimson satin blouse and low heeled black maryjane
shoes. I had straightened the natural wave out of my long honey blonde hair so
it sat just below my shoulders, wearing enough makeup to cover a scar that ran
along my hairline and to give my lips and cheeks a rosy glow.
My goal was to look professional but be
comfortable enough to climb ladders while I lugged books up and down the
shelves. I thought the effect worked well and was at least feeling good about
my looks despite being nervous about my job. I had even caught the earlier
train in to the city from Penrith station just to make sure I had plenty of
time to navigate my way from Wynyard station to my new workplace on the corner
of Martin Place and Phillip St.
I only had to sit awkwardly on the low-set
chairs for a few minutes before a small woman who appeared to be in her mid-30s
and of Indian origin came out to greet me. “Hello, my name is Priya. I am the
office manager,” she said extending her hand in greeting. “You must be
Katrina.”