Magic and Decay (13 page)

Hope you enjoyed Magic and Decay! If
you’re interested in more from any of these characters, check out Reckless
Magic to find Eden and
Kiran’s
complete story, The
Rush to read more about Ivy and Ryder and Love and Decay to get the full
account of Reagan and Hendrix.

Keep reading for a sneak preview of
Rachel’s new contemporary adult romance, The Five Stages of Falling in Love,
coming January 27
^th
, 2015

Acknowledgments

To my God, thank you for patience and perseverance.
Thank you for teaching me to need both.

All of the credit and inspiration for this book has to
go to my husband, Zach. Thank you Zach for coming up with this unique idea and
then threatening to post about it until I agreed to write it! In all
seriousness, you continue to encourage and inspire me. You are patient when I
get frustrated and the right kind of pushy when I get obnoxiously whiny. You
feed the kids when I forget. You take care of the house when I don’t have time.
And you remind me when I should probably shower. I love you more than life. You
are my perfect idea of a hero. And you’ve given me my once upon a time and our
very happily ever after.

To Carolyn, thank you for all your hard work! I am
always late and have no concept of time, but you work your magic around my
craziness. Thank you so very much.

Thank you
Caedus
Design Co for the fantastic cover.
It matches the concept and story
perfectly. As always you have a kind of creative genius that I can only write
about.

To The Reckless Rebels and The Rebel Panel, THANK YOU.
I could not do this without you! I am a complete spaz and scatterbrain and I
prefer to spend my time typing words rather than deal with all those other
internet responsibilities. You make my life easier and give me your invaluable
opinion whenever I ask. You are a true blessing in my life. Thank you.

To my readers, thank you for reading this story. I
hoped it was the exact kind of adventure you were looking for. I love these
characters like the pieces of my soul they represent and I had so much fun
throwing them together just to make them fight their way out of the Zombie
Apocalypse. Thank you for indulging me. And thank you for loving these
characters as much as I do.
 

About the Author

Rachel Higginson was born and raised in
Nebraska, but spent her college years traveling the world. She married her high
school sweetheart and spends her days raising their growing family. She is
obsessed with bad reality TV and any and all Young Adult Fiction.

Look for more from Rachel coming soon.

Other books by Rachel to be released in
2014 are The Redeemable Prince, the seventh book in The Star-Crossed Series,
The Heart, the third book in The Siren Series and in early 2015, The Five
Stages of Falling in Love, an adult contemporary romance about second-chance
love.

Other Books
Out
Now by Rachel Higginson:

Love and Decay, Season One

Love and Decay, Volume One (Episodes
One-Six, Season One)

Love and Decay, Volume Two (Episodes
Seven-Twelve, Season One)

Love and Decay, Season Two

Love and Decay, Volume Three (Episodes
One-Four, Season Two)

Love and Decay, Volume Four (Episodes
Five-Eight, Season Two)

Love and Decay, Volume Five (Episodes
Nine-Twelve, Season Two)

Reckless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series,
Book 1)

Hopeless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series,
Book 2)

Fearless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series,
Book 3)

Endless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series,
Book 4)

The Reluctant King (The Star-Crossed
Series, Book 5)

The Relentless Warrior (The Star-Crossed
Series, Book 6)

Breathless Magic (The Star-Crossed
Series, Book 6.5)

Fateful Magic (The Star-Crossed Series,
Book 6.75)

The Redeemable Prince (The Star-Crossed
Series, Book 7) coming November, 2014

Heir of Skies (The
Starbright
Series, Book 1)

Heir of Darkness (The
Starbright
Series, Book 2)

Heir of Secrets (The
Starbright
Series, Book 3)

The Rush (The Siren Series, Book 1)

The
Fall
(The
Siren Series, Book 2)

The Heart (The Siren Series, Book 3)
coming soon

Bet on Us (An NA Contemporary Romance)

Bet on Me (An NA Contemporary Romance)
coming
Spring
, 2015

Striking (The Forged in Fire Series)
This
is a co-authored Contemporary NA.

Brazing (The Forged in Fire Series)
This
is a co-authored Contemporary NA.

Follow Rachel on her blog at:

www.rachelhigginson.com

Or on Twitter:

@
mywritesdntbite

Or on her Facebook page:

Rachel Higginson

Keep reading for a sneak
peek of Rachel’s contemporary adult romance, The Five Stages of Falling in
Love, coming January 27
^th
, 2015.

Available
for pre-order through select retailers.

Prologue

“Hey, there she
is,” Grady looked up at me from his bed, his eyes smiling even while his mouth
barely mimicked the emotion.

“Hey, you,” I
called back. The lights had been dimmed after the last nurse checked his vitals
and the TV was on, but muted. “Where are the kiddos? I was only in the
cafeteria for ten minutes.”

Grady winked at
me playfully, “My mother took them.” I melted a little at his roguish
expression. It was the same look that made me agree to a date with him our
junior year of college, it was the same look that made me fall in love with
him- the same one that made me agree to have our second baby boy when I would
have been just fine to stop after Blake, Abby and Lucy.

“Oh, yeah?”
I walked over to the hospital bed and sat down
next to him. He immediately reached for me, pulling me against him with weak
arms. I snuggled back into him, so that my head rested on his thin shoulder and
our bodies fit side by side on the narrow bed. One of my legs didn’t make it
and hung off awkwardly. But I didn’t mind. It was just perfect to lie next to
the love of my life, my husband.

“Oh, yeah,” he
growled suggestively. “You know what that means?” He walked his free hand up my
arm and gave my breast a wicked squeeze. “When the kids are away, the grownups
get to play…”

“You are so
bad,” I swatted him- or at least made the motion of swatting at him, since I
was too afraid to hurt him.

“God, I don’t
remember the last time I got laid,” he groaned next to me and I felt the rumble
of his words against my side.

“Tell me about
it, sport,” I sighed. “I could use a nice, hard-“

“Elizabeth
Carlson,” he cut in on a surprised laugh. “When did you get such a dirty
mouth?”

“I think you’ve
known about my dirty mouth for quite some time, Grady,” I flirted back. We’d
been serious for so long it was nice to flirt with him, to remember that we
didn’t just love each other, but we liked each other too.

He grunted in
satisfaction. “That I have. I think your dirty mouth had something to do with
Lucy’s conception.”

I blushed. Even
after all these years, he knew exactly what to say to me. “Maybe,” I conceded.

“Probably,” he
chuckled, his breath hot on my ear.

We laid there in
silence for a while, enjoying the feel of each other, watching the silent TV
screen flicker in front of our eyes. It was perfect- or as close to perfect as
we had felt in a long time.

“Dance with me,
Lizzy,” Grady whispered after a while. I’d thought maybe he fell asleep; the
drugs were so hard on his system that he was usually in and out of consciousness.
This was actually the most coherent he’d been in a month.

“Okay,” I
agreed. “It’s the first thing we’ll do when you get out. We’ll have your mom
come over and babysit, you can take me to dinner at
Pazio’s
and we’ll go dancing after.”

“
Mmm
, that sounds nice,” he agreed. “You love
Pazio’s
. That’s a guaranteed get-lucky night for me.”

“Baby,” I
crooned. “As soon as I get you back home, you’re going to have guaranteed
get-lucky nights for at least a month, maybe two.”

“I don’t want to
wait. I’m tired of waiting. Dance with me now, Lizzy,” Grady pressed, this time
sounding serious.

“Babe, after
your treatment this morning, you can barely stand up right now. Honestly, how
are you going to put all those sweet moves on me?” I teased, wondering where
this sudden urge to dance- of all things- was coming from.

“Lizzy, I am a
sick man. I haven’t slept in my own bed in four months, I haven’t seen my wife
naked in just as long, and I am tired of lying in this bed. I want to dance
with you. Will you please, pretty please, dance with me?”

I nodded at
first because I was incapable of speech. He was right. I hated that he was
right, but I hated that he was sick even more.

“Alright, Grady,
I’ll dance with you,” I finally whispered.

“I knew I’d get
my way,” he croaked smugly.

I slipped off
the bed and turned around to face my husband and help him to his feet. His once
full head of auburn hair was now bald, reflecting the pallid color of his skin.
His face was haggard, dark black circles under his eyes, chapped lips and pale
cheeks. He was still as tall as he’d ever been, but instead of the toned
muscles and thick frame he once boasted, he was depressingly skinny and weak,
his shoulders perpetually slumped.

The only thing that remained the same was his eyes;
they were the same dark green eyes I’d fallen in love with ten years ago. They
were still full of life, even when his body wasn’t, still full of mischief
while the rest of him was tired and exhausted from fighting this stupid
sickness.

“You always get
your way,” I grumbled while I helped him up from the bed.

“Only with you,”
he shot back on a pant after successfully standing. “And only because you love
me.”

“That I do,” I
agreed. Grady’s hands slipped around my waist and he clutched my sides in an
effort to stay standing.

I slipped my
arms around his neck, but didn’t allow any weight to press down on him. We
maneuvered our bodies around his IV and monitors. It was awkward, but we
managed.

“What should we
listen to?” I asked, while I pulled out my cell phone and turned it to my
iTunes app.

“You know what
song. There is no other song when we’re dancing,” he reminded me on a faint
smile.

“You must be
horny,” I laughed. “You’re getting awfully romantic.”

“Just trying to
keep this fire alive, Babe,” he pulled me closer and I held back the flood of
tears that threatened to spill over.

I turned on The
Way You Look Tonight- the Frank Sinatra version- and we swayed slowly back and
forth. Frank sang the soft, beautiful lyrics with the help of a full band, the
music drifting around us over the constant beeping and whirring of medical
machines. This was the song we thought of as ours, the first song we’d danced
to at our wedding, the song he still made the band at
Pazio’s
play on our anniversary each year.

“This fire is
very much alive,” I informed him sternly. I lay my forehead against his
shoulder and inhaled him. He didn’t smell like himself anymore, he was full of
chemo drugs and smelled like hospital soap and detergent, but he was still Grady.
And even though he barely resembled himself anymore, he still felt like Grady.

He was still
my
Grady.

“It is, isn’t
it?” He whispered. I could feel how weak he was growing, how tired this was
making him, but still he clung to me, held me close. When my favorite verse
came on, he leaned his head down and whispered in a broken voice along with
Frank, “There is nothing for me, but to love you. And the way you look
tonight.”

Silent tears
streamed down my face with truths I wasn’t ready to admit to myself and fears
that were too horrifying to even think. This was the man I loved with every
fiber of my being- the only man I’d ever loved. The only man I’d
ever love
.

He’d made me
fall in love with him before I was old enough to drink legally, then he’d convinced
me to marry him before I even graduated college. He knocked me up a year later,
and didn’t stop until we had four wild rug rats that all had his red hair and
his emerald green eyes. He’d encouraged me to finish my undergrad degree, and
then to continue on to grad school while I was pregnant, nursing and then
pregnant again. He went to bed every night with socks on and then took them off
sometime in the middle of the night, leaving them obnoxiously tucked in between
our sheets. He could never find his wallet, or his keys, and when there was
hair to grow he always forgot to shave.

And he drove me
crazy most of the time.

But he was mine.

He was my
husband.

And now he was
sick.

“I do love you, Lizzy,”
he murmured against my hair. “I’ll always love you, even when I’m dead and
gone.”

“Which won’t be
for a very long time,” I reminded him on a sob.

He ignored me,
“You love me back, don’t you?”

“Yes, I love you
back,” I whispered with so much emotion the words felt stuck in my throat. “But
you already knew that.”

“Maybe,” he
conceded gently. “But I will never, ever get tired of hearing it.”

I sniffled
against him, staining his hospital gown with my mascara and eye liner. “That’s
a good thing, because you’re going to be hearing it for a very long time.”

He didn’t
respond, just kept swaying with me back and forth until the song ended. He
asked me to play it again and I did, three more times. By the end of the fourth
time, he was too tired to stand. I laid him back in bed and helped him adjust
the IV and monitor again so that it didn’t bother him, then pulled the sheet
over his cold toes.

His eyes were
closed and I thought he’d fallen asleep, so I bent down to kiss his forehead.
He stirred at my touch and reached out to cup my face with his un-needled arm.
I looked down into his depthless green eyes and fell in love with him all over
again.

It was as simple
as that.

It had always
been that simple for him to get me to fall in love with him.

“You are the
most beautiful thing that ever happened to me, Lizzy.” His voice was broken and
scratchy and a tear slid out from the corner of each of his eyes.

My chin trembled
at his words because I knew what he was doing and I hated it, I hated every
part of it. I shook my head, trying to get him to stop but he held my gaze and
just kept going.

“You are. And
you have made my life good, and worth living. You have made me love more than
any man has ever known how to love. I didn’t know this kind of happiness
existed in real life, Liz, and you’re the one that gave it to me. I couldn’t be
more thankful for the life we’ve shared together. I couldn’t be more thankful
for you.”

“Oh, Grady,
please-”

“Lizzy,” he said
in his most stern voice that he only ever used when I’d maxed out a credit
card. “Whatever happens, whatever happens to me, I want you to keep giving this
gift to other
people.
” I opened my mouth to vehemently
object to everything he was saying but he silenced me with a cold finger on my
lips. “I didn’t say go marry the first man you find. Hell, I’m not even talking
about another man. But I don’t want this light to die with me. I don’t want you
to forget how happy you make other people just because you might not feel
happy. Even if I don’t, Lizzy, I want you to go on living. Promise me that.”

But I shook my
head, “no.” I wasn’t going to promise him that. I couldn’t make myself. And it
was unfair of him to ask me that.

“Please,
Sweetheart, for me?” His deep, green eyes glossed over with emotion and I could
physically feel how painful this was for him to ask me. He didn’t want this
anymore than I did.

I found myself
nodding, while I sniffled back a stream of tears. “Okay,” I whispered. “I
promise.”

He broke out
into a genuine smile then, his thumb rubbing back and forth along my jaw. “Now
tell me you love me, one more time.”

“I love you,
Grady,” I murmured, leaning into his touch and savoring this moment with him.

“And I will
always, always love you, Lizzy,” he promised.

His eyes finally fluttered shut and his hand dropped
from my face. His vitals remained the same, so I knew he was just sleeping. I
crawled into bed with him, gently shifting him so that I could lie on my side,
in the nook of his arm and lay my hand on his chest. I did this often; I liked
to feel the beat of his heart underneath my hand. It had stopped too many times
before, for me to trust its reliability. My husband was a very sick man, and
had been for a while now.

Tonight was different though. Tonight, Grady was lucid
and coherent, he’d found enough energy to stand up and dance with me, to tell
me he loved me. Tonight could have been a turn for the better.

But it wasn’t- because only a few hours later, Grady’s
heart stopped for the fourth time during his adult life, and this time it never
restarted.