Damaged Love (Bound Series Book 2)

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 small 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 take 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.”

“No babe, I promise when it’s time to make you mine, I will do it the correct way. It will blow your mind, so don’t fret,” I whisper in her ear.

“Yeah, I am not even on the page of talking marriage babe.”

“Yes Kayla, I know you’re not ready for marriage but I hope one day I can change your mind.”

“One day, but give me time. “

“Kayla, I will give you as much time as you need. Don’t you know I love you, and I'm not ever letting you go again? Now that I have you, it’s forever.”

Just then the door swings open and a tearful Violet comes running to my bed side.

“You
bitch
, you scared the shit out of me! First, you save my life and then you don't wake up. I'm so proud of you and how you took both those assholes down. Kay, you are the strongest woman I know.” VI says all at once.

I look into her eyes and see she is still healing from the beating she took from the fucking Stanton twins.

“VI, I'm so sorry they involved you just to get to me. I’m sorry for everything they did to you.” I turn to both VI and Garrett, “This is why I left so none of this would happen. I come home, and what happens? My two best friends are hurt and the only man I ever loved is a wreck because of me,” I say and tears start to fall down my face.

Before they can say anything I go on, “Elijah is going to be out for blood since I killed his twin and tried to kill him.”

I can't stop the tears now. VI takes one hand and Garrett comes to sit by me on the bed, wrapping me in his arms.

“That scumbag will not hurt you again baby,” Garrett says

VI adds, “I'll kill him if he ever comes near you again.”

I know they believe what they are saying, but they do not know the real evil he is.

The rest of the night I am restless. I lay in Garrett arms and have nightmares throughout the night.

The next morning Patrice comes in with Officer Jernigan, who asks if he can take my statement of the events and what led up to it.

“I have nothing to hide anymore Officer Jernigan.”

“Okay, let's begin,” he opens his little notepad and clicks his pen.

“I know these were your adopted brothers, so do you want to tell me why you suspect they were targeting you at
Club Fuchsia
and then going as far as kidnapping your best friend to draw you out?”

“It started when I was a kid. I was physically, emotionally, and mentally abused. I was raped by both of them over and over throughout several years. And then they threatened to get rid of all of those I love. They even said they’d find my birth mother and kill her too. They took VI knowing I would do whatever they wanted to get her back safe and sound. Little did they expect I was ready to fight back for the first time in my life and not submit to their demands.”

He motions with his hand for me to go on, so I tell him, “I worked on distracting them long enough to get the gun, and I turned and shot both of them. But I was afraid VI was going to die from the beating and tazing she took.”

His questions seemed to go on for hours when in actuality they lasted 45 minutes. By the end I was in tears and told him, “I fear for my life and the lives of those that I love. And once Elijah wakes up, he will be out for blood and will seek revenge for his brother's death. He will think that his brother’s death was on my hands. Which I guess it was, but if you want me to say I am sorry Officer Jernigan, I won’t say it. “

Officer Jernigan stands from his chair and tells me, “As far as I’m concerned, this was a case of self-defense and no charges will be filed.” he turns to Patrice, “I will pick you up after my shift for dinner.” He kisses her forehead and turns to walk out of the room, but before he gets out the door he turns to me and says, “Kayla, I will have one of my best men stand guard outside this door until you are released. Then I’ll put your home on the patrol unit’s route to be passed by every few hours, as well as your friends homes.”

The next two days in the hospital drag by before I am finally released to go home. I am getting tired of being poked with freaking needles.

“I told the nurse if she came at me one more time for blood I was going to stab her in the eye with her own damn needle.” Of course that got a round of laughter from all who were in here. But I am done, I am ready to go.

“Garrett, please go ask the doctor when I can leave. I am going crazy in here.”

“Okay love, I will go ask but you can’t be threatening everyone. They are doing their job.”

“Shut it Winters. I don’t want to hear it. I am ready to go. If it were you here, you would be saying the same thing.”

“Possibly love, but just let them do their job without giving them too much grief.”

“I can’t promise that. I’m sorry I’m being irritable but I know he is here in this hospital and there are only a few floors that are separating me from him. As much as I want to have faith in the Seattle Police Department, they have not always done their jobs before.

“Yes that may be true, but you need to heal and remember Elijah is still in a coma.”

“I understand that, but I want to go home and soak in my tub. I want a glass of red wine and I want to just relax. You can’t relax in here. There is always something beeping and people constantly checking on you.”

“You will be home soon babe and then you and I can soak in the tub together.”

“Hey, I never said I wanted you in there with me.”

He grabs his heart like I hurt him, and says “Babe, I am sorry but you will no longer be out of site, so suck it buttercup, you are stuck like chuck.”

“Ugh, you asshole! You and your brother know I hate being called that!”  While rubbing his arm where I gave him a love tap he says “I thought this place was supposed to be a sterile environment? And yes, we know you hate being called that, but seeing how you are basically on bed rest there is nothing you can do about it.”

“Oh you just wait, I know how to shut you up...I can just say no.”

“Say no to what?” He looks over at me

I smirk, and say, “You are not getting laid for a month of Sundays!”

“Oh Shit, I will be good, I swear.”

“Yeah, yeah. Blow it out your ass.”

I look at the door, and my nurse is smiling and holding papers in her hand.

“Kayla, I have your discharge papers.”

I squeal, and almost jump out of the bed.

“Easy there killer, there are some rules you need to know about.”

Damn rules, “Okay, lay them on me.”

“First, you are getting out of here because we were told you have someone to take care of you around the clock. Is this true?”

“Yes” I hear in unison from the rat pack—Patrice, Wyatt, Garrett. Rodney shakes his head.