All is Lost (All Series, Book 2) (52 page)

“
Dammit, I don’t remember
him. Anna who is he?”

Utterly terrified by the fact that she
can’t remember him, knowing that she knows him on a personal level
and baffled by what his plans for us could be, I stare into her
eyes, swallow my apprehension and then with barely a whisper I
answer, “Tox.”

To be continued…

Please continue reading for a special excerpt
from All This Time (a standalone spinoff and prequel to Be
All).

About the Author

New Adult Author of the All
Series (four book series). Marie Wathen is a wife, mother of two
and earlier this year she became a Lola (her version of
grandmother). When she isn’t writing her other career is in law
enforcement. Marie is a fourteen year veteran dispatcher at her
local Sheriff’s Office; it is also where she met her husband Barry.
Born and currently living in Central Alabama, she enjoys a serene
life in the country, but lives for the excitement of large
cities.

Besides writing some of
Marie’s other passions include reading, traveling, and family time
that includes southern home cooking. Although Marie has been a
storyteller her entire life, 
Be
All
 is her first publication. Marie’s
genre includes, but is not limited to, Romantic Suspense. She is
currently collaborating on a Romantic Paranormal Thriller series
that will release in 2014. The journey on Willow Island will
continue next in Worth it All (All series, Book 3) expected release
date is mid spring. However, Marie is currently working on a
standalone / prequel in the series All This Time (Sam’s
Serendipitous story) releasing February 2014. 

Marie welcomes you to connect with
her.

Facebook Author
Page: 
www.facebook.com/MarieWathenAuthor

Twitter:
@mariewathen

Email: 
[email protected]

Acknowledgments

This book wouldn’t have
been possible without the support of certain people and it never
would have made it to publication without some special people
reading it, giving me invaluable advice and great
encouragement.

My gratitude to the
following:

Kayla and Kaitie, I love
you, more than words.

Auderia DeStafino, again
thank you for keeping me sane when the crazy shit surfaced. And to
Devan Rhayne, for still thinking I’m the coolest. I think you’re
fabu too!

My girlfriends for a
thousand different reasons Barbara Gonzalez, Loretta Barks, Paula
Price, Lisa Carr, Karen Martin, Debra Good, Krystle
Foster.

To my big, loud Italian
family: Thank you DeStafinos for all the special moments and
stories that will live on in my heart.

MY BETAS!!!!! Simone
Nicole, Merilyn Dignum, Venture Cecena, Angela Pratt, Heather
Terranova Armstrong, Elizabeth Bartholomew, and Mitzi Jo Reeves.
Love cannot describe what I feel for you for putting up with
horrible grammar, embarrassing spelling boo-boos, all the
revisions, letting me harass you with tons of questions and giving
me the guts to publish my second book. (Which I know we all can
agree is better than the first <3)

My Kick Ass Bloggers!!!
Tour DeBlogg (Angela & Savannah) Angela Pratt (I Feel the Need,
the Need to Read), Savannah Mae (Say What, Savannah Mae?), Breezy
Kirkpatrick (Breezy BeautyandBooks) Natalie Catalano (Love Between
the Sheets), Tyeesha Webb (Momma’s Secret Book Obsession), Tonya
Nagle (Turnthe Page), Brandi Money & Shawn Verdin (Book Geeks
Unite), Judith Frazee (One More Chapter), Megan Gallt (Novell
Grounds) Reading Past My Bedtime, Paranormal Romance and Authors
That Rock, Swoon Worthy Books, Obsession is a Book, Readers Candy
for taking another chance on a nobody. I cannot express how
important you all are to me. Without you I would still be talking
to myself on a lonely Facebook page. You all have my highest
respect and eternal friendship. I thank you!

To my editor: Pamela
Snyder, thank you for not only doing a wonderful job, but for
loving the story and digging some of my silly quotes.

Arijana Karcic, with Cover
It! Designs, thank you for another stunning book cover. I know you
weren’t sure about where I was taking us, but this spectacular and
distinctive cover is absolutely what I envisioned. You’re such a
badass!

So many Indie Authors
inspire me daily through the interwebs that I can’t name each of
you, but if we’ve ever had a conversation you should count yourself
in this form of appreciation. Specifically, Lindy Zart, Danielle
Taylor, Merilyn Dignum, and Rachel Higginson–my idol, and her love
story in the Star Crossed series that mused Breesan’s relationships
and eventual destiny. I do this because you did it first and
because of your words, both written and encouraging.

All the Facebook &
Twitter friends, thank you for liking, retweeting, commenting,
sharing, encouraging, buying and loving BE ALL, and then begging
for more adventures on Willow Island. I am beyond blessed because
of each of you and I adore you all. I read, laugh and sometimes cry
at each of your Amazon and Goodreads reviews. Bless you for taking
time out to honor me.

Thank you especially to my
God for this life, these and all the other unmentioned characters
and storylines, both real and fictional, that you created and
brought into my life.

All This Time

Prologue

I say goodbye and turn around walking away
from a future with the man I love. I fade away into an angry mob
yelling for justice and forcibly guiding me toward the perimeter of
the hospital property. These people are hungry for someone to
crucify. My heartbreaks with the crush of reality and everything I
experienced in the last forty-eight hours. I manage to bury my
internal meltdown and steal one last glance over my shoulder. The
camera crews flash their lens toward the front steps of the now
empty emergency room. Canton City Chief of Police Jackson Summers
and his sergeant gather for an impromptu press conference. Echoing
shouts of the chief’s name by the reporters, demanding his
attention, are the only sounds I hear as I reach my car.

A melancholy smile spreads slowly across my
lips as I slide in behind the steering wheel. I punch the gas
pedal, heading west and within two hours I cross over the Alabama
state line. Six more hours of driving and I will be on a ferry
crossing the Gulf of Mexico, heading back to my home on Willow
Island.

I truly believe in fate, destiny and all the
other descriptors that determine your future. I even buy into the
whole superstition of taking a bite from a fortune cookie before
reading the tiny piece of wisdom tucked inside. The difference
between those little scraps of hope and destiny is sometimes fate
doesn’t hold up its end of the bargain and deliver everyone a
fairytale ending. That is exactly what happened to me. I got a
heavy dose of cruel happenstance. Destiny’s design has a hand in
every detail that brings me back to Willow Island today. The course
of events that leads me back are just as hopeful and tragic as I
have learned to expect from this unpredictable journey we call
life.

After growing up in England most of my life, I
thought I had a perfect plan laid out for my final
destination–return back to the states to attend college, a fabulous
career, maybe one day a husband, and oh good lord if I can bear the
thought of children. Fortunately for me, I accomplished the first
couple early on, but after the current events and a new job offer
that I accepted a few hours ago, I adjust my travel plans and
purpose, focusing on a course due south.

Willow is where I was born, but I never
expected to return for any reasons other than holiday or family
gatherings. After graduating high school I accepted an academic
scholarship at Jacksonville State University in Alabama. Their
criminal justice program is top notch and being able to attend
without depending on my parents to fund it urged me to
accept.

JSU isn’t a mega-size campus like the
University of Alabama or Auburn University, but after a campus tour
I fell in love with everything about it and the quaint town it
resides. It reminds me a lot of Willow. Everything is close and
convenient and it isn’t a stuffy old pretentious university like
those in England.

I grew up with two younger brothers, twin
brothers actually. Marcus and Morgan are two of my favorite people
in this world and we are close. Well, I’m close with them, they are
currently suffering through a separation brought on by some skank
bitch, which Marcus dated, but Morgan ended up having an affair
with.

A floozy like the one they are fighting over
is exactly the type of conniving woman that proves my beliefs in
only having men as friends. Women are catty bitches and I never
wanted that jealousy shit in my life. Until college, I didn’t even
have sleepovers with friends from high school. Unfortunately,
campus life dictates communal living and the fact that I was
attending on an academic scholarship I begrudgingly accepted my
fate and a girl roommate.

Sharing space and a few classes together,
Kristie Daniels and I got to know each other on a very personal
level. It didn’t take long for me to stop generalizing all women
into the category of “sister haters” with Kristie’s
friendship.

I earned my four year degree in two years
because I took summer courses and every mini-course that the school
offered. I wasn’t trying to get away; I just wanted to move onto
the next phase of my life. Ever since I was a little girl becoming
a police officer was my dream. I remember sitting on my Gran’s lap
watching her favorite television show and there was a woman police
officer on who was a total bad ass. She did this swinging leg,
high-kick move disabling a bad guy and saving some people during a
bank robbery. I was in complete awe and instantly inspired to help
others. Plus, Gran told me that I could do anything that I
wanted.

Looking back now, I realize I was at a
crossroads and never even thought about the intersection. My family
owns a private business which my grandfather Mac Walker has guided
to the top of Forbes Fortune Five Hundred. Granddad set up
positions for his sons, my father Barret Walker, and my uncle Beck
Walker, after he provided them with the means to earn their
graduate’s degree from Stanford. He has thoughts of grandeur and
hopes of a distinguished legacy which includes his grandchildren
following the same path.

Being the natural born rebel, I opted out of
Granddad’s offer and chose a career in law enforcement instead. My
grandparents offered to pay for my higher education, but I knew
better than to allow it. Not that they would ever hold it over my
head. Hell, they are the most loving and giving people I have ever
known and they always support my dreams. No, if I had accepted
Granddad’s offer it would have been my father who would see it as a
slap in the face. According to him, I turned my back on the family
when I passed on coming aboard.

Honestly, I don’t really believe that my
father wanted me following in the family business. After moving our
family to England he would spend time with my brothers drilling the
ins and outs of Walker Corporation, but he never once asked me to
join them. At the tender age of twelve Morgan was working on
project ideas that could rival some of dad’s senior staff members.
He is a true chip off the old block, in more ways than one. Marcus
did not share in Morgan’s enthusiasm and wants to follow me into
law enforcement eventually. Oh, I’m jumping ahead now. Let’s back
up just a little.

After graduating from JSU with honors and
subsequently the police academy, I was offered a coveted position
on the Atlanta Police Departments Drug Task Force Unit. Because I
look much younger than my chronological age, I was easily immersed
into the drug scene and accepted as just another drug addict. At
that point, my sweet grandparents insisted on providing a safe
place for me to live locked behind the secured walls inside a gated
community. Being a newly graduated student and too prideful to ask
my parents for access to my trust fund, I certainly couldn’t afford
a place on my own until after I started earning a salary. Needless
to say my grandparents refused to accept any compensation so I
sullenly accepted their generous offer and moved into a lavish four
bedroom country home in Canton Georgia, a charming little city
north of Atlanta.

Coincidentally, my best friend Kristie was
from the area so she moved in with me. Kristie received her nursing
degree from JSU and worked for a small family practitioner in town,
but all along she had aspirations of landing her dream job at
Canton General Children’s Hospital. Her desire to help others
inspires me daily. Although we are as different as night and day,
Kristie is my soul sister and ours is a friendship that transcends
eternity.

Since becoming friends with her, my good
opinion of this shitty world greatly increased. She sees everything
through rose-colored glasses and finds only the good in everyone.
Kris tried to mesh some of her idealist ways into my realist heart.
She failed. There isn’t a romantic bone in my body and I do not
have time in my life for love. That was until my eyes landed on the
deep haunting essence of Blues for the first time. All I know is
those amazing sapphire tinted eyes looked like coming home and
destiny was proving her worth by making my soul mate the one person
I could never have.