Worth the Wait (Picking up the Pieces #4) Read online

  The Picking up the Pieces Series:

  Picking up the Pieces

  Rising from the Ashes

  Pushing the Boundaries

  Worth the Wait

  Deadly Love Trilogy:

  Destructive

  Addictive

  Obsessive (coming 2015)

  Other Titles:

  Nightmares from Within

  Scattered Colors (coming early 2015)

  Copyright © 2015 by Jessica Prince

  All rights reserved.

  Cover Designer: Najla Qamber Designs

  Interior Designer: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing, www.unforeseenediting.com

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Visit my website at http://www.authorjessicaprince.com

  WWW.AUTHORJESSICAPRINCE.COM

  WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/AUTHORJESSICAPRINCE

  WWW.TWITTER.COM/@JESSPRINCE2013

  WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM/JESSPRINCE_WRITES

  [email protected]

  To every single one of you who started this journey with me.

  This book is for you.

  Acknowledgments

  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

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Epilogue One

  Epilogue Two

  A Note from the Author

  Picking Up the Pieces

  Rising from the Ashes

  Pushing the Boundaries

  To my wonderful husband: I couldn’t do this without you. I couldn’t ask for a better, more loving and supportive husband. The fact that you worked your butt off to build me my perfect writing cave, and never once complained when I’d lock myself in there for hours on end speaks volumes! I love you so much, honey.

  To my writing buddies: Emmy, Jennifer, Erin, Mia, and Rose. Thank you for helping me get this story finished.

  To my friends and family: No words will adequately describe what your support means to me.

  To my amazing editor, cover artist, and formatter: Thank you for giving life to my characters!

  And last, to my readers: As always, this one is for YOU!

  Past

  My pounding heart felt like, at any moment, it was about to come right through my chest. This was it. For months, I had been planning for this moment. Everything had fallen into place earlier that morning and we were finally on the move. But despite the euphoria of being free, I still held on to a strong sense of fear that, despite all my efforts, Lance would refuse to ever let us go. I’d lost track of how long I’d been building up everything I needed to ensure he’d never come after us, but I knew I wouldn’t feel completely safe until the phone call. The phone call that would hopefully be the very last time I ever heard from Lance.

  “Mommy, I’m tired,” Callie called from the backseat. A quick glance in my rearview mirror showed my babies both fighting to keep their eyes open. Thankfully, a neon sign ahead showed a hotel only two exits away. Truthfully, I was also having trouble keeping my eyes open.

  I’d been driving for the past twelve hours straight, only stopping long enough for bathroom breaks and to grab something we could all eat on the road. But traveling long distances nonstop, with two four-year-olds in the back seat, wasn’t humanly possible. And I’d have given my left arm for a bed right at that moment. No doubt about it, sitting in a car for half the day was a literal pain in the ass.

  “Okay, guys, we’re here,” I said over my shoulder as I pushed the gear into park and unbuckled my seatbelt.

  “Are we going home, Mommy?” Callie asked as her wide eyes stared out the window toward the lights of the motel lobby.

  I reached back and stroked her tiny leg. “No, baby, I told you. We’re moving somewhere very special. A place Mommy hasn’t been to since she was a little girl.”

  “Cloberfield?” Cameron asked.

  “Cloverleaf,” I answered with a smile at my two little reasons for living. Nothing about my life had ever been easy, but giving birth to these two perfect little hellions was the very best thing I’d ever done. And I’d do absolutely anything I could to protect them.

  “Yeah, Cloberleaf,” Callie repeated in her little toddler voice before sticking her tongue out at her twin brother.

  “Mommy,” Cameron whined. “Callie stuckeded her tongue out at me! Tell her that’s ugly.”

  The anxiety induced migraine churned behind my eyes as the two of them went at it. “Play nice, the both of you, or I won’t let you sleep in a super cool hotel room tonight.”

  Yeah, so a Super 6 Motel wasn’t exactly what I’d consider high end, but to two toddlers, sleeping anywhere other than their own beds was an adventure so I was successfully able to con them into thinking the motel was a five-star resort.

  “Sorry, Mommy,” both of them told me with sullen expressions.

  “It’s okay. Now, how about we go get a room so we can get some sleep. Tomorrow’s a big day!” I exclaimed, hoping my enthusiasm would rub off. Thank God, it did. “Tomorrow, we start our new lives in Cloverleaf. Y’all are both gonna love it so much.”

  Or at least that was what I hoped. To be honest, I’d only been to Cloverleaf once in my life, and it had been when I was just a little girl. My father had grown up in the small Texas town before moving away to Ohio for college where he met my mother, an Ohioan, born and raised. Dad had all too happily shucked his roots and stayed in Ohio so he and my mom could start a life together.

  When I was six, my dad’s mother passed away and he’d taken us back to his home town to attend the funeral. I still remember the sheer wonder when I saw the view from her tiny house on the lake. It was mesmerizing, and at that very moment, I’d fallen in love with the town. Growing up, I’d created fantastical images of how wonderful life in Cloverleaf could be. Those fantasies helped me through some very lonely, cold times in my life.

  Even though we never went back, I still held such fond memories of the little town that when I made the decision to leave Lance, it was the only place I ever considered going, made even more perfect due to the fact that Lance knew nothing about it.

  “Mommy, how come Daddy’s not coming to Cloberleaf with us?” Callie asked sleepily.

  “Because, baby, Dad
dy had to stay back home for his job, remember?”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  Desperate for a subject change that didn’t include discussion of Lance, I pasted a cheerful smile on my face and asked, “Who’s ready to sleep in a super special hotel bed tonight?”

  As hoped, my little guys cheered enthusiastically, all prior thoughts forgotten. As I wrangled everyone from the car and into the lobby, I made a promise to myself that everything I did from there on out would be for the two people hanging off my arms. I’d messed up a lot in my life, made some unbelievably bad decisions, but it was my second chance to make things right. And so help me God, I was going to do just that.

  After tucking them in snuggly, I pulled out their favorite book. I hadn’t even managed one full reading of Goodnight Moon before they’d both passed out from exhaustion. With one last peek over my shoulder, I confirmed that Cameron and Callie were both sound asleep on the king-sized bed before stepping from the room and pulling the door to, leaving it cracked open just enough that I could hear if they woke up and needed anything.

  The room I’d managed to rent in cash for one night wasn’t swanky by any stretch of the imagination, but at least it was clean. I’d gathered the kids’ blankets and pillows from the trunk of the car and, dumping the motel pillows on the floor, I made a pallet for them to lay on top of the comforter, just to be on the safe side. I didn’t care if it was a five star hotel or a rundown, side-of-the-road place like this, you wouldn’t catch me or my twins sleeping in the sheets.

  Allowing myself one brief smile over the fact I’d given birth to two of the best kids on the planet, I lowered myself to the sidewalk outside the hotel room door and pulled my phone from my pocket.

  It’d been turned off since right after Lance left for work early that morning, and although I knew I had to do it, a ball of dread plummeted low in my belly with the knowledge I had to turn it back on.

  As expected, alerts for numerous texts and voicemails sounded as soon as I had a signal. They could only be from one person. Deleting everything without listening or reading, I quickly scrolled for his number and hit the call button, willing myself not to get sick as the phone rang.

  “About fucking time, Kenz,” Lance’s seething tone broke through the line.

  “I take it you got my note,” was my only response.

  “Yeah, I got your note, you stupid bitch. If you actually think this is gonna work, you’ve lost your goddamned mind!”

  Sucking in a breath and squeezing my eyes closed, I gave myself a mental pep talk. I wouldn’t let him intimidate or frighten me. For once, in the ten years we’d been together, I had the upper hand. And I was keeping it.

  “It’s already done, Lance. The kids and I are gone and we aren’t coming back.”

  “Listen here you stupid piece of—”

  “If you come after us, I’ll leak every single piece of information I have on you. I’ll make sure you go down for every sick, twisted, illegal thing you’ve done. You already know I’ve got the proof, Lance. Just be smart about this. Leave me and the kids alone, for good, and no one will ever know.”

  “You’re nothing without me, Mackenzie, and you know it. You won’t last a fucking week without me,” he spat out menacingly.

  “Yeah, well, I’m willing to take that chance. Now, do we have a deal?”

  A bone-chilling chuckle rumbled through the line. “Fine, you got a deal. I’m better off without a dumb bitch like you anyway. And I bet those little brats aren’t even mine.”

  It took every ounce of energy in me not to respond. It was typical Lance; he was needling me, trying to get a rise out of me because he got off on my anguish. He knew damn good and well there had been no man before or during him. He just thrived on being cruel.

  “Goodbye, Lance,” I said before disconnecting the call and shutting the phone off once again. I wasn’t worried about him tracking me. Even if he were able to figure out a way, we had a twelve-hour head start; he’d never get to us before I woke the kids up and hightailed it out. And I had no intentions of leaving the hotel with that phone anyway.

  It was over.

  Finally.

  With a relieved sigh, I stood from the ground, dusted off the back of my jeans, and headed inside our little room. I climbed onto the bed between my sleeping angels and pulled them tightly against me, relishing the warmth of their tiny bodies. Ease settled over me knowing when we woke, it would be the first day of our new lives.

  Better lives.

  I kissed Cameron and Callie on the tops of their heads and burrowed down beneath their blankets, letting sleep pull me under. It was the first peaceful sleep I’d had in almost ten years. The weight sitting immobile on my chest all those years was finally gone.

  I couldn’t wait for what the morning would bring.

  Present

  “Oh, come on, the guy’s been staring at you like you’re a friggin’ popsicle and he wants to lick you all over, all morning long. You can’t tell me you aren’t interested. I mean, he’s hot!”

  God, I loved my boss, Lizzy. The kids and I had been in Cloverleaf for eight months and I’d been lucky enough to score a job at Elegant Nails within our first week. It had taken a while for me to finally warm up to the owner of the salon. I’d spent so many years having to hide the evidence of what happened with Lance behind closed doors from my friends that it finally became too tiresome, leading to me eventually having to cut out any relationships outside of my ex-boyfriend, so as not to risk anyone finding out the truth. Not that Lance was at all disappointed with that development. He’d been thrilled to have me even more under his thumb. It eventually grew to the point that the only time I was ever allowed out in public in a social setting was when Lance dragged me to whatever functions his firm was throwing. I’d be his arm candy for the night and always had strict instructions to keep my mouth shut at all times, unless absolutely necessary. A life without substantial friendships was a lonely and depressing one, but it gave Lance one less reason to lash out, so I swallowed down my misery and bore it.

  When I started working for Lizzy, I quickly discovered the woman was a powerhouse of energy. As the days passed, it became evident that she refused to allow me to stay tucked inside the tiny shell, which I’d grown accustomed to. She needled, and poked, and prodded until I’d had no choice but to finally accept that there was now a person in my life who genuinely wanted to be my friend. Slowly but surely, I let her in. We’d go to lunch together, and occasionally meet for drinks at Colt 45’s when I was able to find a sitter. She also introduced me to her close circle of friends, who were some of the most accepting, loyal people I’d ever had the pleasure of meeting, and eventually, I invited her over to my tiny two-bedroom apartment and did the one thing I’d been holding off doing—I introduced her to Cameron and Callie.

  My little bundles of excitement immediately took to the fiery redhead and instant bonds were formed. I even reached the point where I trusted her enough to babysit on the rare occasion I felt like getting out by myself for a movie or dinner.

  Forming a bond with Lizzy had been exactly what I needed, to feel like I was finally putting down some stable roots for me and my kids. For the first time in as long as I could remember, I was actually happy. It was a foreign emotion and took some getting used to, but I loved it.

  Over time, our friendship grew to the point where I found myself opening up to her about my past. I told her about growing up and how my tumultuous relationship with my parents led to an even worse relationship with Lance. I trusted her whole heartedly to keep my secrets to herself, and she’d yet to prove herself unworthy of my trust. I’d grown closer to her girlfriends, Emmy, Savannah, Mickey and Stacia, and could even consider them to be close acquaintances. I was thrilled to finally be filling my life with so many wonderful people.

  But there was still one aspect of my life that I refused to change for the foreseeable future. I would not allow a man into mine and my children’s lives. I was happily single and determined to stay
that way. It had been beaten into me from a very young age not to trust men, and I didn’t see that mentality changing any time soon.

  Lizzy was fully aware of that, which was why I was surprised to see her pushing this so hard.

  “Liz, honey. Just because you went off and married yourself one fine piece of man meat doesn’t mean I’m on the market. No relationships,” I insisted as my friend stared at me with her shiny green eyes, filled with mischief.

  She let out a dreamy sigh, “Trevor is one fine specimen, isn’t he?”

  I laughed in agreement. I didn’t know the man all that well, and just because I didn’t trust the male species didn’t mean I was blind. I could still appreciate a fantastic piece of eye candy when I saw one. And Trevor Devareau was certainly that.

  He and Liz had been close friends since he moved to Cloverleaf a while back. One weekend took them from BFFs to husband and wife in the blink of an eye, and even though she was hesitant at the beginning, I could see it written all over her face, she loved that man something fierce. I was happy for her. Truly, I was. My past relationship might have been a nightmare, but I refused to allow myself to be so disillusioned that I believed all relationships out there were just as bad off as mine was. Trevor really did seem genuine, and he never bothered to hide his love for Liz whenever he looked at her. There were even times when I saw him watching her like she was his universe and I’d feel….almost envious. I used to be naïve enough to think that was how Lance looked at me in the beginning.

  Never in my life had I been more wrong.

  “You know,” Lizzy started casually. “He asked about you the other day…”

  I knew she was meaning it as a way to capture my interest, but fear immediately took hold of me as I spun around to look at her. “What did you tell him?”

  Her eyes widened in understanding as she grabbed each of my hands in hers. “Nothing, I swear! I’d never do that, honey. Everything you told me was in the strictest of confidence. I’d never repeat that.”