Monster Read online

  Monster

  By

  Holly C. Webb

  Dedicate to my two beautiful boys xx

  I would like to begin as always by thanking my husband. Thank you for your continued unconditional love. You are my best friend and the love of my life. Thank you for supporting me while I continued to chase my dream. You are my happy place… I love you xx

  To my two beautiful boys, I hope I make you as proud as I am of you both xx.

  Special thanks once again to my bff and partner in crime Gem Evans. Gem, thank you seems too small a word for everything you do for me. Your friendship means the world to me. Thank you for all your help. I am honoured to consider you my bestie xx.

  Thank you to Sally Orchard for helping me my book shine, but more importantly for your amazing friendship. Xx

  Thank you to Denise for your support, help and of course your amazing friendship xx

  Big thank you to all the wonderful ladies in Holly’s Luscious Readers. Thank you all so much for your support and for brightening every single day.

  Finally, a big thank you, to you the readers, for taking a chance on me. I hope you love reading this book as much as I loved writing it. This journey would mean nothing without you all…..

  Love Holly x

  Monster ©

  Holly C. Webb has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

  Cover design by Holly C. Webb

  Book design by Holly C. Webb

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  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.

  For further information, contact the author at [email protected]

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 1

  Ally

  “What are you up to today?” Jacob absentmindedly asked as he scanned through the morning paper.

  “I don’t know,” I shrugged as I poured myself another coffee. I hadn’t slept well the night before, and I knew that coffee was the only thing that was going to get me through the day. “Maybe go to the library. I was thinking of seeing if they needed any volunteers there.”

  Jacob lowered his paper down just enough for him to peer over the top at me.

  “Why would you want to do that?” He asked trying not to sound as bothered as he clearly was. “Why would you want to work with old, dusty books?”

  “It wouldn’t be working with dusty books,” I said, knowing he wasn’t going to like what I was about to say. “I was thinking of maybe volunteering in the children’s section. You know, reading to the little ones, maybe teaching some of them to read…”

  “And catch God knows what off them,” he impatiently sighed as he raised his paper once more. “Why the hell would you want to give up your time to be with other people’s snotty little brats? Have you completely lost your mind, Ally?”

  “I don’t know,” I replied, feeling almost like a bold child being chastised by their father. “I guess I miss working. I adored being a teacher…”

  “Let’s not have this argument again, Alexandra,” he said, quickly stopping me mid-sentence as he pinned me with a look that said he really didn’t want to hear anything I might have to say on the matter. “I really don’t have time for it right now. You know why it didn’t make sense for you to work. I need you to be available at a moment’s notice. I need my wife to be by my side. Especially now that I’m going to be running for election. I need you with me, not sitting in some classroom taking care of some other people’s children.”

  “I know,” I sighed, dropping my eyes down to the coffee in my hand. I hated it when Jacob scolded me. I hated how small he made me feel sometimes. “Maybe it would be different if we had our own children though.”

  I knew I was going to piss him off with this comment, but it was out of my mouth before I even had time to think about it.

  “Ally,” Jacob said, in his tone of voice that said I needed to stop before I went too far. “We’ve discussed this. You know very well why now is not the right time for us to have children. The campaign trail is no place for children or a pregnant woman for that matter. When you’re pregnant, you need to take things easy. Once the election is over, we can discuss it further.”

  Without waiting for me to reply, he sat his newspaper down before he stood up from the table, then walking around it, he stopped to kiss me on the top of my head, and that was my cue that the conversation was over.

  “I have to get to the office,” he said as he glanced down at me. “I have a meeting with Harry about the new campaign manager. This guy is supposed to be the best at what he does.”

  “Okay,” I said as I lifted my coffee mug, bringing it to my lips.

  “Don’t you think you need to cut back on the coffee,” he sighed as he turned and walked towards the kitchen door where he stopped and turned back to look at me. “It’s no wonder you have trouble sleeping at night.”

  Instinctively, I set the cup back down on the table.

  “Good girl,” he added before he turned and disappeared out the door.

  I hated it when he called me that. I hated the way it made me feel when he said it.

  “Shall I clear off the table, Mrs. Wallace?” Lynn, our housekeeper, asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

  “Yes please, Lynn,” I replied, giving her a grateful smile, but inside I cringed that she’d heard Jacob talking to me like I was a naughty schoolgirl once more.

  Returning my smile, she reached for my plate and my coffee mug, picking it up from the table.

  “Actually,” I said quickly, reaching out and grabbing the mug too, feeling somewhat defiant. “You can leave that.”

  “Yes, Mrs, Wallace,” Lynn said, smiling at me once more, but there was almost a look of judgement in her eye. She continued clearing the table as I sat and drank my forbidden coffee.

  For the most part, I did like Lynn. She was always sweet and friendly with me, always around to offer me a helping hand whenever I needed one. She had been working for Jacob long before I even met him, so she knew what Jacob liked and how he preferred things to be done.

  I just felt sometimes that her loyalty was to Jacob and Jacob alone. I often felt like she was watching me for him, maybe even reporting back to him when he returned home from work after a long day at the office.

  I glanced down at the coffee and wondered if he would hear I’d drank it even after he’d all but told me not to. I sighed once more, hating I felt like I was not in control of my own home. Hell, some days, I felt like I wasn’t in control of my own life.

  Jacob and I had been married a little over three years now. We hadn’t been dating that long when he’d whisked me away to Belize, where he proposed to me on the beach. I was so caught up in the whirlwind of
our romance, I said yes without even hesitating, and while I did love him, I hadn’t been prepared for how much my life would be turned on its head once I became Mrs. Jacob, Lincoln Wallace.

  I had grown up in Princeton, New Jersey, where both my parents were teachers. My mom, Helen Banks, worked in the elementary school, and my father, Henry Banks, was deputy headmaster in the local high school. I, of course, followed in their footsteps and decided to teach elementary school just like my mom.

  When I landed a job in a private school in DC, my mom couldn’t have been prouder, but my father seemed a little less thrilled with the idea. He had hoped that I would have returned a little closer to home after college. Still, my whole life, he’d only ever wanted me to be happy, so he told me he had never felt prouder than he did the day I accepted the job and that they were lucky to have me.

  When I met Jacob, I knew my dad wasn’t crazy about him from the start. He thought Jacob was very confident, maybe a little too confident and a bit cocky too. I tried to tell him that it was just how he was raised, but I realised when our families finally met that we were both from very different worlds. Jacob was from an affluent DC family, who had many friends in powerful places, whereas my family lived a quieter, simpler life with just a small circle of close friends.

  Still, I loved Jacob, and I was sure that given enough time, my mom and dad would grow to love him too.

  The wedding had been something that seemed to have a life of its own. Jacob’s mother and father had invited half of the DC elite, while other than my mom’s sister, Maggie, my dad’s two brothers, their families and a couple of close family friends, there was just me, my folks and my best friend Teddy on my side of the church.

  Theodora Jones, or Teddy as I knew her, had been my best friend since I could remember. She’d grown up in the house right next door to mine. Her mother and my mother were best friends, so it seemed like a natural thing that Teddy and I became best friends too. The truth was, she was more like my sister than my friend. Sometimes she knew me better than I knew myself. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for me or I wouldn’t do for her.

  The only problem was, she hated Jacob, and he hated her right back. He hated she knew me better than he did. He hated she questioned him over the things he asked of me. The biggest one was giving up my career after we got married.

  When he first mentioned it, I laughed and said that it sounded like heaven, giving up work to be the little woman. But then I realised he was deadly serious, and I told him that there was no way I could walk away from my career, from the kids in my class. But Jacob was determined, so he pushed and pushed until I finally caved and walked away from everything that I’d worked so hard to achieve.

  The day I told Teddy I was leaving my job, she flipped out completely and told Jacob exactly what she thought of him. After that, Jacob said he didn’t want Teddy in his house anymore, and for the first time since I’d moved in with him, I realised that while it was now my home, it was still his house, and he got the final say in everything.

  I refused to stop seeing Teddy, but to make life easier, I would often sneak out of the house while Jacob was at work to see her. I knew in my heart it was the coward’s way of dealing with things, but I discovered very early on that it was easier to keep some things to myself, both from Jacob and from Teddy.

  My parents weren’t thrilled with the fact I’d given up my career either, but my mother said that I was a grown woman now, and I knew my own mind. Dad didn’t have much to say, and I knew he was biting his tongue because my mother had told him it was the right thing to do.

  When we first got married, Jacob would drive home with me to New Jersey every couple of weeks to visit my parents. While Dad was not happy about me leaving my job, I knew the fact that I was coming home more seemed to have made things between us a little easier.

  But then, Jacob started to make excuses not to come with me to visit them. At first, it was only every other visit, but then it was almost every time I was due to drive home.

  After a while, he would find reasons for me not to go home either, and the visit grew fewer and fewer for me too.

  I hated that he seemed determined to pull me away from everything important in the world to me. I would tell myself that I had him. I was his wife, and I would do whatever it took to make this marriage work and keep him happy. But the truth was, I felt very alone and completely isolated.

  When I finished my coffee, I pushed up from my seat, then walked to the kitchen sink, rinsing my mug before I placed it into the dishwasher. I wasn’t leaving any evidence for when Jacob came back down to the kitchen.

  I made my way out into the hallway and had just started up the stairs when Jacob came rushing down them, meeting me halfway.

  “I need to get to the office as soon as possible,” he said as he was still fixing his tie. “Harry wants to meet with me before the meeting with the possible campaign manager.”

  “Let me help,” I said with a smile as I reached up and fixed his tie for him.

  “You know that I love you, Al,” he said, staring down into my eyes. “I know things are crazy at the moment, but they will get better.”

  “I know,” I replied, smiling once more, but I suddenly had an overwhelming desire to cry.

  “I won’t be home late,” he said, giving me a soft kiss on the lips, oblivious to the fact that I was about to fall apart. “Maybe we could have a nice dinner together, open a bottle of wine.”

  “I’d like that,” I replied, smiling once more.

  “Good,” he said, kissing me once more before he hurried on down the stairs. “Have a good day.”

  “You too!” I called out, but my words fell on deaf ears as he was already gone.

  I stood there for a moment, watching the door Jacob had just vanished through, before I released a deep sigh, then continued up the stairs to our bedroom.

  Once I reached it, I made my way straight into the bathroom, immediately turning on the water in the shower before I began to strip off my dressing gown and pyjamas.

  I had no idea what I was going to do that day, but I knew to stay here in the house was not an option. I needed to get out. I needed to escape from my gilded cage even for a short while.

  Once the water was warm enough, I climbed beneath it and trying to wash away my sleepless night.

  I pulled my car to a stop outside Teddy’s apartment building almost an hour later. A little time with my best friend was exactly what I needed to give me the pick-me-up I needed. Turning off the engine, I reached for my handbag on the passenger seat then pushed open the door.

  As I stepped out of the car, I pulled my coat tighter around me. October in DC was always cold, and today was no exception. At least it hadn’t started to snow yet, though it was cold enough for it. I didn’t waste time making my way to the front door of the apartment building, quickly pressing down on the button for the intercom to Teddy’s apartment.

  “Hello!” Teddy’s happy voice boomed from the speakers a few moments later, and instantly, I smiled.

  “Hey there,” I said, leaning into the intercom as I spoke. “It’s me. You don’t fancy having a girly day by any chance, do you?”

  “Ally!” She exclaimed, and I could hear the smile in her voice too. “Is the pope catholic?”

  “Then, that’s a yes?” I asked, this time laughing out loud.

  “That’s a hell yeah!” She laughed as the buzzer on the door sounded, opening the front door to the apartment building. “Come on up.”

  I pushed open the door and hurried inside, heading straight for the elevator. When I reached her apartment on the sixth floor, I found the door already ajar.

  “Teddy?” I called out as I softly tapped on the door, then stepped inside.

  “I’m in the kitchen making some coffee!” Teddy called out from inside the apartment.

  As I walked down the hallway that led to the living area, a million memories filled my mind from when I used to share this apartment with Teddy before I married Jacob
. Living with Teddy had probably been the happiest time of my life. We used to have so much fun together.

  When I got the job in the private school, Teddy applied to the bank she was working for, for a transfer so she could come to DC with me. We’d lived together for three amazing years. Sometimes I missed those days so much, and I could barely breathe with the sadness I felt inside me. Some days, I would have given anything to go back to that time.

  “Hey,” I said as I walked into the kitchen and found her standing in her knickers and a t-shirt, making coffee.

  “Hey yourself,” she replied as she glanced up and gave me a broad smile. “What brings you here today? Did his highness finally give you a day pass?”

  “Teddy, please,” I sighed as I took a seat at her kitchen table. “Not today, okay.”

  “Sorry,” she replied as she picked up two cups of coffee before joining me at the table. “I couldn’t resist.”

  “Please try to,” I pleaded as I reached out and picked up my cup. As I did, I instantly thought of Jacob’s comment earlier that morning about me cutting back on coffee. I quickly pushed him from my mind as I brought the coffee to my lips and took a long sip.

  “So, is everything okay?” She asked, bring her cup to her lips too.

  “Yeah,” I replied, forcing a smile on my face. “I just fancied some retail therapy with my best friend, and I remembered you said you were off work for a couple of days, so here I am.”

  “Excellent,” Teddy squealed excitedly. “It’s been ages since we had a girly day together. We should call the saloon and see if they can squeeze us in today. We could have our hair and nails done.”

  “I would love that,” I said, feeling so much happier than I’d felt all morning.

  “Then maybe we could have afternoon drinks at The Four Seasons,” Teddy suggested, giving me a hopeful look.

  “Maybe just one,” I replied, giving her a big smile, knowing that Teddy would never settle for just one drink.

  “We’ll see,” she sighed, giving me a mischievous smile before she knocked back her cup of coffee. Then she stood up, leaning forward to kiss me on the forehead. “Give me ten minutes to get ready; then I’m all yours.”