Reclaim Me (The Jaded Series Book 2)
Read Reclaim Me (The Jaded Series Book 2) Online
Authors: Alex Grayson,Karen McAndrews,Toj Publishing
Reclaim Me
The Jades Series, Book Two
Alex Grayson
Reclaim Me
The Jaded Series #2
By Alex Grayson
Copyright © 2015 by Alex Grayson. All rights reserved.
Cover Design by Kim Black at TOJ Publishing Services. Editing by Karen McAndrews.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
The scanning, uploading, and/or distribution of this document via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and is punishable by law.
Please purchase only authorized editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrightable materials.
All characters and events appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
I dedicate this book to the one woman that meant the most to me in this world, my mom. Mama, even though you are no longer here, you are never forgotten. You’re with me everywhere I go. Until we meet again…
This book contains content like rape, drugs, and hard situations that may trigger bad memories for those that has been in similar situations. Not suitable for anyone under 18.
Enduring the ultimate betrayal on her eighteenth birthday by the one person she loves most in the world, Mia Walker is no longer the innocent, sweet, young woman she used to be. She is now cold and hard, letting no one get close to her heart, except family.
Mackai (Mac) Weston sees the changes in Mia on a daily basis. He knows he is the reason Mia is now the way she is. Never given the chance to explain what really happened that night so long ago, Mac is determined to make Mia finally listen and reclaim what was always his.
When the truth finally comes out, danger shows its ugly face. There are people in Jaded Hollow that do not want Mac and Mia together. They are willing to do what ever it takes to keep them apart.
Will Mac be strong enough to overcome temptation, even when the odds are against him? Will Mia forgive Mac when she realizes things weren’t what they seemed ten years ago?
MIA
Her eyes…
For the love of all that’s holy.
Will this man ever leave me alone? This is the fifth time this week that Mac’s been in Jaxon’s pub, where I work. Doesn’t he realize each time I see him it’s like a knife is being jammed in my chest? Doesn’t he know how hard it is for me? It’s bad enough that I’m stuck in the same town as him. I try my best to avoid him as much as possible, but when he keeps coming into the bar, it’s just not feasible. It’s also hard to avoid him when he’s close friends with my brother.
I’m used to only seeing him once, maybe twice, a week, and that’s hard enough. This is the fifth time this week, and it makes me want to punch him in the balls, crawl up his body and take a ride, and cry big, fat ugly tears. All at the same time. Sick? Yeah, I know.
He, Tessa, and I are the only ones that know what happened that night. It’s the way I want it to stay. As much as he hurt me, I don’t want to ruin Mac and Jaxon’s friendship. And I know that if Jaxon found out what Mac did to me, he would go ballistic and kick Mac’s ass. I may hate Mac, but I still don’t want him hurt. Well, maybe a little, but not to the extent that Jaxon would hurt him.
Jaxon is fiercely loyal and protective of his family. Just ask his fiancée’s rat bastard ex-husband. Oh wait, you can’t, because he’s dead. Not by Jaxon’s hands, but damn near. Steven, AKA-rat bastard, pulled a gun on Jaxon and Bailey, but Mac got to him first. That’s the one thing I am grateful to Mac for. He saved Jaxon and Bailey’s life. Unfortunately, my sister, Anna, wasn’t so lucky. She was caught up in the hell-storm that was Steven. He and his friend kidnapped her and then used her body so much that it literally killed her.
Wiping the sad thoughts from my mind, I throw the rag I was using to clean the counter over my shoulder and drag my feet as I head towards Mac. As much as I hate to admit it, he is the sexiest man I’ve ever seen. He always has been, and I suspect that he always will be.
His hair is dark brown and he wears it in a shaggy style. His eyes, which are bright green, are intense as he watches me make my way over to him. I’ve noticed him watching me more and more lately. Not with just curiosity, but with desire. The heat that radiates from him as he looks at me is almost scorching. It unnerves me, and every time I catch him doing it, it makes me want to smack him in the face. He has no right to look at me like that. Not anymore. He lost that right long ago.
“What do you want?” I ask him bluntly when I’m standing in front of him.
Instead of answering, he just stares back at me with his beautiful eyes. They rake over my body from the waist up, stopping briefly at my chest, which causes his eyes to flare and my nipples to harden. I hate when he looks at me with such heat. I hate that the desire I see in his eyes can still affect me after all these years and what he did to me. And it most definitely affects me.
My body betrays me every time he looks at me the way he’s looking at me right now. My heart flutters in my chest, and my limbs go weak. I feel my blood heat and my core become damp. I know that my face is flushed, giving away my reaction to his perusal of my body. A smirk appears on his face, and I want to reach over and smack the smug look right off. Bastard.
“I’ll take a beer, Pix. Whatever’s on tap,” his expression remains smug, as a damn twinkle appears in his eye.
With my teeth clinched together and my hands gripping the counter, I reply, “Do not call me that. And you know damn well that’s not what I’m talking about. Why do you keep coming here?”
Placing one elbow on the bar and tapping his finger across his lips, he seems to contemplate my question.
Seriously
? It’s a simple fucking question.
“You really want to know why I keep showing up here?” At my head jerk, he continues. “I’m sick and fucking tired of you giving me the cold shoulder. I’m tired of you looking at me like I’m the gum stuck to the bottom of your shoe. When I walk into a room, you do everything you can to avoid me. And when you can’t, you lash out. It pisses me off, and it’s about time it stops.” When he’s done talking, the smirk on his face from a few moments ago is replaced with a hard look.
I stand there stunned, speechless at his words. How dare he come in here and act as if I’m doing something wrong. He has no right to be pissed. He wasn’t the one to have his heart ripped out of his chest. He wasn’t the one that was left feeling like his whole world just crumbled at his feet. And he damn sure wasn’t the one to have his innocence ripped away from him in the darkest hour of his life.
“Fuck you, Sheriff,” I seethe at him. I’m so mad at the moment for his high-handedness that my whole body is shaking. “You don’t get to come in here and tell me how to feel. You have no idea what I went through and no clue what I’ve suffered. Just stay the fuck away from me.”
My breathing is heavy from the dark thoughts forming in my head. This is why I don’t want to see him. I’ve put the pain of what he did to me, and what happened afterwards, in a small box in the back of my mind. When he’s near, that box cracks open and it almost cripples me all over again.
I take the rag from my shoulder and start to turn away from him when he grabs my wrist to stop me. I glance down to his hand on my arm. “No,” he says sharply, and I look back up. “You don’t get to walk away from me anymore. It’s been ten years, Mia. I know I’ve hurt you and I’m sorry, but this stops now. You never gave me the chance to explain back then. I didn’t push because I knew you were hurting, but you’re going to listen now.”
I try to pull my arm away, but his grip is relentless. “Let me go, Mac,” I tell him in a harsh whisper.
“No.”
“Let me the fuck go.” My voice gets louder, and I notice a couple of customers glancing our way. He must notice as well, because my arm is suddenly released.
“Have it your way for now, Pix, but know that this isn’t over. You
will
listen to what I have to say,” he says before taking a step away from the bar and turning on his heel.
That fucking nickname again
. I used to love hearing him call me that. Now it just grates on my damn nerves. He gave it to me when I was still a kid. He used to call me ‘Pixie’ because I was so small and I reminded him of a sweet little pixie. I can see that he’s changed it to just ‘Pix’. He hasn’t called me Pixie in a long time. I hate that he’s using a similar version, because it reminds me of what we used to have.
As I watch the man that used to be my entire world walk away, I take a shaky breath. As hurt as I was, and still am, by his actions ten years ago, my heart still recognizes him as mine. My body still craves his like no other. My eyes still stray to him any time he is in the same vicinity as me.
I rub the spot on my arm that he had a hold of. My skin still heated from his touch and the tingles lingering. After everything that’s happened, I don’t see how he can still affect me so. I’ve tried so hard over the years to push these feelings aside, but no matter what I do, they just won’t go away.
I wouldn’t consider myself a sexpert, but I definitely have had my fair share of guys. And with each and every one, I try to compare them to Mac. Or what I believed it would be like to be with him. As teenagers, we never went all the way, just seriously heavy petting. No matter how much I begged and pushed Mac to take me, he never did. He wanted to wait until I was of legal age to claim me. He considered our two-year age difference significant and wanted me to be utterly sure I was ready and he was what I wanted.
What he never understood was, that I knew from the age of eleven that he was the one I wanted to marry someday. My schoolgirl fantasies always featured him. At first, it was a simple crush on my brother’s friend. I was young, innocent, and oblivious to all things carnal. Once I reached puberty and really started noticing boys, he enamored me. I had no idea why my body and heart felt strange around him. All I knew was that I wanted to be around him.
At thirteen, my fantasies started becoming more erotic. I had ideas flowing through my head that I picked up from the romance novels my mom had. I would sneak them into my room at night when everyone was asleep and picture myself in the heroine’s spot and Mac as the hero.
I never hid the fact that I had a huge crush on him. He and everyone else knew. Mac never put me down for following him everywhere, but he also never let on that he liked me too; except for the lingering glances I would sometimes catch him giving me when he thought I wasn’t looking.
It wasn’t until I was fourteen and he was sixteen that everything changed. It was one of the happiest days of my life.
I’m pulled from my thoughts of the past when Andrew, my outrageous gay friend, puts his arm around me and squeezes my shoulders, “Why the sad look, Mia Pia?”
I elbow him in the ribs to release his arm from around me.
“Nothing,” I mutter as I turn to face him.
The first thing I see has me rolling my eyes. Standing directly in front of me is a hard wall of muscle covered by a bright pink shirt that reads ‘I’m not gay, but my boyfriend is.’ The thing about Andrew is that he is insanely hot and flamboyantly gay. He’s well over six feet tall and packed tight with muscles, not overly bulky, just very defined. His hair, which is a chocolate brown, is shaggy and in need of a cut. Andrew’s signature is his ridiculously funny and obnoxious shirts. Every day it’s something new, and every day they make you want to laugh.
“Been seeing a lot of Mac here lately. Wonder what his deal is?” Andrew asks, eyeing my reaction to his question.
We’ve been friends a long time, ever since his family moved to town twelve years ago. He knows that Mac and I used to date. He also knows something went down between the two of us to cause our break up. He just doesn’t know what that something was. Andrew is another person that I’d worry about if he ever found out what Mac did.
Glancing down from Andrew to hide the pain and anger that I know reflects in my eyes, I mutter, “I have no idea, but the bastard needs to stay the hell away from me.”
“Mia,” he says softly, tipping up my face with his finger. Reluctantly, I look up into his eyes and see sadness. “What happened between the two of you?”
Andrew is one of the sweetest guys I’ve ever known. Yes, he can be very intimidating with his tall, built frame and sometimes when pushed he has a very volatile temper. Despite his outward appearance and sometimes anger, he can be very sweet. We may like to pick on each other at times, but we do it out of love and affection. Even still, I won’t tell him what happened. His temper would reach the boiling point if he knew.
Reaching up to grab his hand that he still has at my chin, I lay it against my cheek. “You know I don’t talk about what happened, Andrew. Please, just leave it.”
Brows puckered and finger grazing my cheek, Andrew watches me for a moment before replying, “Okay, Mia Pia. I’ll leave it for now. I see the way you watch Mac when he’s not looking. I also see the way his eyes follow you wherever you go. I hate seeing the two of you like that. Wanting something from the other, but too afraid to go for it.” He drops his hand from my face and takes a step back before continuing. “I’m here when you want to talk.”
I nod my head, knowing that talking to him about my issues with Mac will never happen. Dredging up the past will only make it hurt more. Even if I didn’t worry about Andrew’s reaction, it would be pointless to bring it up. It wouldn’t change anything. It wouldn’t make the pain less bearable. All it would do is bring it to the surface, make it fresh. I try every damn day to forget that horrible time in my life. It’s been ten fucking years, and I still struggle with it.
Maybe if I didn’t live here in Jaded Hollow and run into Mac every so often, it would get easier, but I can’t imagine ever leaving. Jaded Hollow is my home. I love it here, and I refuse to let Mac ruin it for me.
Picking up a notepad from the counter that has a list of supplies I need from the basement, I make my way to the bar partition and step through it. Forcing myself to stop thinking about Mac and the past, I head towards the hallway. It’s Friday night and the bar is always busy on Fridays. As I step down into the dark room, I pray that whatever Mac’s playing at, he soon realizes that it’s a mistake and everything goes back to the way it was; us both pretending the other doesn’t exist.