The One Read online

  “Okay,” Jolie replied, giving me a bright smile before she hurried off to the bathroom.

  “So, you two are okay,” Sylvie said, once we were alone.

  “We will be,” I replied, giving her a nervous smile. I knew telling her we were going to move on would be hard, but now as I stood there, I realised it was harder than I imagined.

  “You’re moving out,” she said suddenly, surprising me. “And you want Jolie to go with you.”

  “I need to do the right thing for her, Sylvie,” I replied, knowing that I was breaking this amazing lady’s heart. “I promised her that it would be me and her, I can’t move on without her, not again.”

  “I know,” Sylvie sighed, giving me a sad smile. “And I know it’s what she wants too. I’m just going to miss having her around.”

  “She’ll still be around,” I replied, returning her smile. “Whether you like it or not, you’re the only mom we have. I know she loves you more than anything else in this world, Sylvie.”

  “I love her too,” Sylvie replied, giving me a sad smile, as her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “I love you both. I just hope you know; you always have a home with me. You’ll always have a family.”

  “I know,” I said, suddenly feeling choked up myself. I closed the distance between Sylvie and me, hugging her tightly. Right at that moment, I had never wished for anything more, than I wished that she was really my mother. “I love you, Sylvie.”

  “What’s wrong?” Jared asked suddenly from the door of the store.

  “Nothing,” Sylvie replied, giving Jared a tearful smile. “Everything is perfect.”

  “You guys can be so weird sometimes,” Jared grunted as he made his way around the counter.

  “Hey!” Sylvie exclaimed as she turned her attention to her youngest son. “Are you okay kiddo?”

  “Yeah,” he replied, without looking back at his mother, before he disappeared in through the door to the back office.

  “I swear,” Sylvie sighed, giving me a worried look. “Sometimes I worry about that boy. I thought him meeting Savannah meant he was finally settling down. At first, he seemed so happy, but these last couple of weeks he seems so distracted all the time, and so unhappy. I thought that you coming home might have changed that, but clearly I was wrong. Something’s going on with him, and I don’t know what it is.”

  “It’s just Jared,” I offered, but my interest was piqued now too.

  “You don’t think Sav is pregnant, do you?” Sylvie asked, almost flooring me with her question. “I mean, they seemed so happy, but something has changed. Even Sav seemed so distracted today, and I could tell she had been upset when she arrived at the house this morning.”

  “I don’t know,” I replied, as a sinking feeling formed in the pit of my stomach. What was Savannah upset about?

  “Will you talk to him,” Sylvie pleaded with me. The last thing I wanted to do was discuss Savannah with Jared, but I also couldn’t say no to Sylvie after everything she had done for Jolie and me.

  “Sure,” I replied, knowing that there was no other answer.

  “Thank you, Sweetheart,” she replied, kissing me on the cheek as Jolie emerged from the bathroom.

  “Are you ready to go?” I asked, smiling at her.

  “Go where?” Jared asked as he too walked out of the office.

  “We’re going to look for a new car for Seth,” Jolie replied, giving Jared a big grin. “You want to come with us?”

  Fuck! I groaned in my mind. If he said yes, then Sylvie would want me to talk to him.

  “You should go,” Sylvie said, giving Jared a worried look. “You need to spend more time with your best friend.”

  “Sure,” Jared said, smiling at his mom before he kissed her on the cheek.

  “Yay!” Jolie cheered before she too kissed Sylvie, then hurried to the door, followed closely by Jared.

  “You’d better hurry up before those two forget about you,” Sylvie said with a laugh, as I lean in and kiss her on the cheek too.

  “I’ll talk to him,” I promise her with a nod before I head for the door too.

  “So, we haven’t really been able to talk much since I got back,” I said to Jared as we walked around the car lot where we are looking for my new car. I watched Jolie as she darts from car to car and smiled. She is more excited about getting the car than I was. For me, it’s just about transport, for her, its freedom. Our freedom from the life we once had.

  I knew I needed to reassure her; she was afraid that Mom was going to come back, and she would have to go home, but that was never going to happen. There was no way in hell she was ever going back to that place. As far as I was concerned, Mom was no longer welcome in our lives.

  “I know,” Jared replied with a smile as he pushed his hands into his pockets.

  “So how are things with you?” I asked watching him closely, and I could see there was something on his mind.

  “Good,” he replied with a nod, but there was a look in his eye that something was bothering him.

  He knows I like Savannah, I thought, as a sickening feeling settled in his stomach. FUCK!

  “What is it?” I asked, hoping against hope that I’m wrong. “There’s something you’re not saying. Is everything okay with you and Savannah?”

  “Yeah,” Jared replied, but there was an edge in his voice that worried me. “I mean, she freaked out last night, because I told her, well it doesn’t matter what I said, but she was upset. I went back to the house to talk to her earlier, and she was gone. I don’t know if she…”

  He stopped, as a worried look settled on his face.

  “Actually, can you do me a favour?” Jared said, looking at him. “I need to go somewhere before dinner. Could you pick Sav up for me and take her to Mom’s?”

  FUCK! I screamed in my mind, but then he gave me a look, and I knew Jared was worried.

  “Sure,” I said, giving him a worried look. Sylvie was right, something was off, but I just didn’t know what.

  “SETH!” Jolie called from the far end of the lot. “This is it; this is the one!”

  “I guess she found the one,” Jared laughed, as he nodded at me before he set off towards Jolie.

  The one, I thought to myself, laughing miserably as I thought of Savannah. God, I hope that she’s not the one.

  Chapter 6

  Savannah

  I looked at my reflection in the hall mirror and sighed. Jared would be here to collect me soon, but for some reason, I was not looking forward to tonight.

  Who are you kidding? I laughed to myself, knowing the exact reason I was not looking forward to the dinner at Sylvie’s house. Seth!

  I had no idea why but meeting him had changed something deep inside me.

  There was something very lost about him, almost like I was looking at a reflection of myself. I instantly felt a connection with him, I had never felt with Jared and I had no idea why. But he was Jared’s best friend. More than that, he was his family and I knew that to the Walker’s, family was everything, so how I felt didn’t matter. Seth was forbidden, it was that simple.

  Until I met Jared Walker, my whole opinion of family consisted of two words; family sucked. My dad was an abusive asshole that hit my mom until she could take no more and she left. That’s when he turned his attention to me. Sometimes it was just a slap, sometimes he would use a belt, but it was always when he was drunk. When I was sixteen years old, he came home drunk one night, and he wanted to do more than just slap me around. He said I was his property, and that he had a right to take whatever he wanted from me.

  He grabbed hold of my arms, pulling me towards him as he tried to force his tongue into my mouth. The smell of stale beer and cigarettes made my stomach heave. I clamped my mouth shut, and brought my knee up, connecting with his cock.

  He crashed to the floor in agony as I managed to get to my bedroom and lock the door. Thankfully in his drunken state, he couldn’t stand up long enough to kick my door in, no matter how hard he tried.


  That night, when I was sure he was asleep, I packed a bag, stole all the cash from his wallet, and the spare money from the housekeeping jar, and I never looked back.

  I stayed with friends for a while; I even slept in my car for a few weeks while I worked two jobs just to survive. But by some miracle, I managed to finish school, and I even managed to get a music scholarship to Yale and went on to finish top of my class.

  After college, I needed a change of scenery. I also wanted to put as many miles between my dad and me as I could. So, I applied for several teaching jobs on the west coast. That’s how I ended up in Pullman, teaching high school music. My college professor thought I should have become a professional musician, but my lack of confidence made me believe I was nowhere near good enough. I hated performing in public. Getting through college recitals had been hard enough.

  When I got to Pullman, I felt freer. Free from the shadow of my father anyway, and my confidence started to grow.

  When I was asked to sing in a bar, I initially laughed. My friend Callie had told some guy she knew that her friend was a great singer and gave him my number. When he called me, I just laughed, and I knew I threw the guy completely. His name was Andy, and the lead singer of his band had joined the Marines, and she was deploying to Afghanistan, so they needed a new singer.

  I told him that I had never sung in public before, but he said that Callie insisted he needed to hear me sing. I wasn’t too keen on the whole idea, but after a lot of persuasion, I agreed to meet up and try out with the band, and we just clicked.

  The first night I sang with the band was in Joe’s. That was the night I met Jared. He was there on a date, but he watched me the whole time. I thought he was cute, but he was with someone, so I didn’t really think too much about him. The following week he came back alone, and we have been dating ever since.

  Now, I was staring at myself in the mirror of my hallway, and the only thing I wanted to do was go and hide in my bed. I thought back to earlier that day in the kitchen, and what had happened, or at least, almost happened.

  As Seth had stood there before me, for a moment, I really thought he was going to kiss me. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Did I want him to kiss me?

  Shaking my head, I laughed, of course I didn’t want him to kiss me. I was with Jared; I liked Jared.

  Then why do you keep thinking about Seth? I thought to myself miserably.

  Suddenly there was a knock on my apartment door, and I knew I needed to push all thoughts of Seth Reynolds from my mind. I was Jared’s girl, and that’s all I needed to remember.

  I walked to the door and took a deep breath before I reached for the handle and pulled the door open.

  My heart almost stopped when I found Seth standing in front of me, instead of Jared.

  “Savannah!” He exclaimed the moment his eyes met mine. “I wasn’t sure if I was in the right place.”

  “What are you doing here?” I blurted a little more abruptly than I had meant it to sound.

  “Jared was delayed. He asked if I would come, and collect you,” Seth quickly explained as his eyes slowly raked over my body. “You look beautiful.”

  My face instantly flushed at his words.

  “Thank you,” I said as I glanced down at myself. I knew I had made an extra special effort tonight. I told myself that it was because it was a special night for Jared’s family, but deep inside I knew that wasn’t the only reason.

  I had chosen to wear my favourite summer dress. It was a sleeveless cream floral dress that hugged my waist but had a full skirt. It was very feminine and pretty, and I always felt good when I wore it.

  I had also taken great care with my hair and make-up. I decided to wear MY hair up in soft curls at the back of my head, and I was pleased with how it looked.

  When I looked back up at Seth, he was looking at me with a strange expression on his face. Almost like he wanted to say something, but he knew he shouldn’t. Instead, he blew out a long breath and pushed his hand through his hair.

  “I guess we should be going,” he said as his eyes held mine.

  “I just need to grab my purse,” I said as I took a couple of steps backward before I turned and headed back into my bedroom. I had no idea why, but I felt unnerved by the fact Seth had come to collect me instead of Jared. As I rushed across to my dressing table, my mind was racing with so many thoughts. I felt so distracted; I wasn’t really paying attention to what I was doing. As I reached for my purse, I accidentally knocked over the glass of water that I had left on my dressing table while I was getting ready. When the glass hit the floor, it smashed, sending water and glass everywhere.

  “SHIT!” I exclaimed as I crouched down to pick up the shards of glass.

  “Savannah!” Seth called from where he was waiting for me, and I could hear him hurry along the hardwood floor in the hallway. “What’s happened? Are you okay?”

  “I’m okay,” I called over my shoulder, just as I reached for one of the large shards of glass and I somehow managed to slice my thumb on the edge of it. I instantly pinched my eyes closed as the sting of the cut went straight to my heart. “OUCH!”

  “Jesus!” Seth said suddenly from the doorway of my bedroom. “You’re bleeding.”

  I opened my eyes and quickly looked down at my thumb, and the blood that was now running down my hand and dripping onto my dress.

  “FUCK!” I cried as I stood up, but the room suddenly seemed to tip on its side, and I lost my balance. Before I hit the floor, I could feel Seth’s arms quickly wrap around me, and pulling me closer to him.

  “It’s okay, I’ve got you,” he said in a calm voice as he scooped me up into his arms, then carried me to my bed and sat me down. “You’re going to be okay.”

  “I hate blood,” I managed to say as I tried to focus on Seth’s face before I looked down at my finger again, and my stomach heaved. “I… I hate blood.”

  “Then stopped looking at it,” he said as he suddenly stood up and slipped off the hoodie he was wearing, then without missing a beat, he pulled his t-shirt over his head and used it to wrap it around my hand. “Do you have a first aid kit?”

  “I… um,” I stammered, completely thrown to have him standing in front of me without a shirt on. “Under the sink in the kitchen.”

  “I need you to hold the t-shirt tightly,” he said as he gave me a worried look. “Do not take it off your hand. Just hold it tightly; I’ll be right back.”

  “Okay,” I nodded as I looked up into his eyes, squeezing the t-shirt on my hand tightly, doing as I was told to. Seth nodded before he disappeared out of my bedroom.

  What the fuck is happening? I sighed miserably to myself, as I glanced down at the blood on my dress, and instantly I could feel myself become woozy again.

  “I said don’t look at the blood,” Seth growled as he appeared in the doorway once more.

  He walked across the room and sat down on the bed again before he reached out and took hold of my hand. He sighed before he looked up at me, and I wondered if he was angry with me.

  “I need to look at your hand,” he said, giving me a worried look. “I promise I won’t hurt you, just please, don’t look.”

  “Okay,” I nodded and quickly pinched my eyes shut. I held my breath as Seth pulled back his t-shirt from my hand.

  “It’s not too deep,” he said as he held my hand in his. “I think you’re going to need some paper stitches, but first I want to wash your hand, and make sure there is no glass in it.”

  “You want to check for glass?” I asked as my eyes snapped open. “Do you even know what you’re doing?”

  “I did a first aid course before I left for Australia,” he explained as he quickly covered my hand again. “Joe insisted that everyone that worked in the bar did a first aid course.”

  “Okay,” I nodded once more.

  “Do you think you can stand up and follow me to the bathroom?” He asked, giving me a questioning look.

  “I think so,” I replied and gave him a ne
rvous smile.

  Seth stood up and held out his hand to me, to help me up from the bed. When I slipped my hand into his, he pulled me to my feet but didn’t let go of my hand. Instead, he led me into the bathroom and turned on the water.

  “I want you to look at me,” he instructed me, as he looked down into my eyes. “If you feel like you’re going to get weak again, tell me. Okay?”

  “Okay,” I replied with a nod as I focused on his eyes. He smiled and nodded before he looked down at my hand and removed his now destroyed t-shirt. Carefully he held my bloodied hand under the water and allowed the water to wash away the blood.

  As I kept my eyes fixed on him, he carefully checked the cut on my thumb, and my stomach heaved once more, but this time it had nothing to do with the blood. The smell of Seth’s after shave filled my nose, and it was glorious. I tried my hardest not to focus on the fact this gorgeous man was shirtless, and I was almost pressed up against his incredible body, but it was hard, and a longing formed in the pit of my stomach. A longing to be held and kissed hard by this confusing man.

  You’re with Jared! I scolded myself. You can’t be having these feelings for someone else.

  “It’s clean,” Seth said as he once more looked down into my eyes. “And there is no glass in it, so I will just put on some paper stitches, and dress it. Then you will be good to go.”

  “Thank you,” I replied as I held his eyes with mine. Seth stared at me for a moment before he stepped back and dropped his eyes from mine.

  “We should go back outside,” he said without looking at me.

  I nodded and followed him out of the bathroom, back to the bedroom.

  When we were both seated back on the bed, he took my hand in his and set it on his knee before he began to dress the cut on my thumb. The whole time he did, I held my breath and tried my hardest not to look at him, but it was like my brain had lost all rationality, as I found myself watching him from beneath my lashes.

  Once or twice, he glanced up at me, but the moment his eyes met mine, he quickly dropped them back to my hand.

  “You will need to keep this dry for a couple of days,” he said, keeping his focus on my hand as he added one last piece of tape. Finally he lifted his head and looked me directly in the eye. “All done.”