by C. A. Rene
Whitsborough Chronicles Book 3
Finding the Light
C.A. Rene
Copyright © 2020 C.A. Rene
All rights reserved. This book, or any portion thereof, may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental, the characters and story lines are created by the author's imagination and are used fictitiously.
No copyright infringement intended.
No claims have been made over songs and/or lyrics written. All credit goes to original owner.
Cover Design By: Macy Chow
Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Playlist
Prologue
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 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Epilogue
About the Author
Whitsborough Chronicles
Dedication
To those who like to be wined and dined before being fucked… get yourselves a meal and some wine before you continue. You’ve been warned.
Playlist
Justin Timberlake---What goes around/Comes around
OneRepublic---Apologize
5 Seconds of Summer---Youngblood
JoJo---Man
Leona Lewis---Bleeding Love
Lewis Capaldi---Someone you loved
Lady Gaga---Bad Romance
Billie Eilish---No time to die
Lizzo---Boys
USS---Who’s with me
Def Leppard---Pour some sugar on me
Three Days Grace---I hate everything about you
Mary J. Blige---Be without you
Thirdstory---Searching for a feeling
Niykee Heaton---Finally
Prologue
“Go Travis!” Jeremy screams from the batter’s box as I round third base and scramble for home. I just hit my first home run ever and my heart feels like it’s going to jump out of my chest. I slide into home base, not because the ball was being thrown back, I slide because that’s how I see baseball players do it on TV.
The dirt and gravel drag along my uniform and my elbow feels scraped but I don’t care. I hit a home run! I stand up and begin to jump up and down as everyone in the stands claps and cheers me on.
“Father!” I scream towards where I saw him sitting when the game started, “Father!” I shield my eyes from the sun and look to the stands. The spot he was sitting in earlier is now empty and I see the look of pity cross Kevin’s mom’s eyes. I don’t know what I was expecting, it’s been a whole year now and he rarely stays for the full game.
“Don’t worry, Sport.” Coach Halbert pats my back, “I recorded it. We will show him later on.”
“Okay, Coach.” I nod and kick at the dirt with my shoe.
“I’m proud of you.” He begins to rub my back, “I knew your time was coming for a home run.” It feels good to have someone pay attention to me, even if it isn’t my father.
Coach guides me over to the fence to line up with the rest of my team as we watch Jeremy go up to bat next. Coach records him too as he runs towards first base. Coach records all of us, all the time. Even in the dressing room. He says it’s good to look back and see what we can do differently and how we can become our very best. He’s a really good coach and our team has gotten much better from his teachings.
We end up losing the game… again, but Coach says he’s really proud of how far we’ve come and he’s especially proud of me and my very first home run. I can’t help but smile under the praise of an adult because I don’t get that often. My father is always busy with his business and rarely has time for me. At home, we have strict rules on how young boys conduct themselves, especially a future CEO like me. The rules are hard to follow and I always seem to break them, which makes my father very angry. So really, he’s busy and angry all the time.
My mother is sad, she cries a lot. Once, I asked her why she cries all the time and she told me it was because she doesn’t belong here with me and Father. She promises me, one day when I am bigger she will leave and be gone forever. At first, that really scared me because I would be left alone with Father but then when I thought about it some more, I realized I’m always alone anyways, so it wouldn’t make a difference.
“My dad says I have to leave the team.” Kai says as he quickly changes back into his clothes.
“You didn’t even shower yet.” I say to him, my nose crinkling in disgust. We are stinky and Coach says we always have to shower, no exceptions.
“My dad says I’m not allowed to shower here anymore and this is my last game.” His chin begins to wobble.
“Why?”
“Because I told him Coach records us in the showers.”
“So?” I say, “he does it so we can get better.”
“I told him that!” Kai sighs, “but he got really angry.”
“Your dad is acting like a weirdo.” I tell him, it makes me sad that he’s leaving the team because Kevin and Kai are my best friends.
“I know,” he rolls his eyes. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” He picks up his equipment bag and walks out of the change room.
I hope we can still be best friends because Kai’s mom makes the best spaghetti and meatballs I have ever tasted. That’s why I always go to their house for dinner on Thursdays. Then Kevin’s mom is just the best cook ever, she makes everything good and I try to get to their house as much as I can. I used to have another best friend named Vincent. He used to bring the best lunches to school and share with me because my Nanny Sonja just packs me veggies and fruit. Vincent used to have pudding and Twinkies, I really miss him since he moved away. But I still have Adri. She’s my ‘sister from another mister’, that’s what she says anyways. She’s a girl though, I can’t call her a sister because one day she has to be my wife. I already called it, so none of the other boys at school can pick her.
“Let’s get in the shower, Sport.” Coach says to me while his phone is recording us.
“Okay.” I take off my uniform and grab my towel.
“I’ll take you for some pizza after,” he grins as his fat cheeks puff out and turn redder. “To celebrate that home run.”
“Yay!” I always like pizza with Coach because we ride in his big truck and listen to music really loud.
1
Coach Halbert’s house burned down two days ago and the fire department says he was inside. Cause of fire? Falling asleep with a lit cigarette. Real cause of fire? My best friend and pseudo-sister Ember. I don’t have any confirmation of that because her and my brother Vin are in Spain right now chasing after a corrupt government official named Jennif
er Talia and trying to bust her illegal adoption ring. It just feels like an Ember job. Long story, if you get it, you get it.
I received a text from Ember two nights ago, it was short and to the point. We need to talk. That talk won’t be happening any time soon because she will be gone for the next two weeks and I am here babysitting her twin brother Emmett. Speaking of, said brother comes into the kitchen wearing only a pair of boxers that are hanging dangerously low. A centimeter more and I’m getting a cock full… eyeful! Shit.
“What’s the plan?” He croaks out, still half asleep, “how am I coming out?”
“Pardon?” I blink at him, what the fuck is he asking me right now? It’s too early for this shit.
“An explanation of how I came to be here in Whitsborough?” He lifts an eyebrow at me, “what were you thinking?”
“Nothing.” I turn away and sip on the coffee I poured myself, “I thought we would stick to the story Ember said. You came here looking for your birth mother and found Ember instead. You decided to stay and that’s it.”
“Will it be enough?” He goes and pours himself a coffee too, “I want to be able to leave this house.”
“Who cares?” I shrug, “tell people to fuck off if they ask for more.”
“Oh yeah?” He grins, “and what if your mother asks for more?”
“Especially tell her to fuck off.” I turn my back and head back up to the spare bedroom Ember put me in. Right across from her annoying ass twin.
Today I need to get over to my house and check on my mother. She could have killed and buried Sonja in the three days I’ve been gone. Plus, I’m running out of clothing here since I only packed a knapsack full. I’m still not completely sold on living here and living off someone else. I want my own place, with a dog and a fridge continuously stocked in beer.
I open my laptop and check my emails. Lately the board of directors at my father’s company has been up my ass. They want me to come to intern straight after high school, skip university and basically fill my father’s shoes as a ruthless piece of shit. It’s not something I particularly want to do, he was never a happy man and I can only imagine his business reflects that. My father’s right hand in the company is named Gerald and he has been pretty good at keeping me up to date with the inner workings of the board, their secret meetings and especially all their plans to overthrow me.
The deep thumping bass of some hip hop song makes its way across the hall and into my room. For the last three days, he has played his music all hours of the day and at varying degrees of loudness. I get up and pull off my shirt and start to untie my sweatpants. I’m going to take a shower and get my ass out of this house for a bit.
“Uh… sorry… I knocked.” I look up and see Emmett standing in my open doorway, watching me as I undress.
“Guess I couldn’t hear it over the music.”
“Oh… if it bothers you I can turn it down.”
“It doesn’t matter, I’m heading out for a few hours, play it as much as you like.” I walk to my bathroom and look over my shoulder at him. “Did you need something?”
“Oh! Yeah…” He scrubs his hand down over his face, “I wanted to know if you heard from your brother? Ember didn’t check in with me last night.”
“No I haven’t. I will call him after I shower.” I head into the shower and look back at him as I shut the door. He’s still standing in my doorway watching me with a scowl.
I step out of my room and Emmett is leaning against the wall by my door. He’s dressed in a fitted white tee and a pair of skater looking jeans with the chain hanging from the pockets. He has a baseball hat low on his face. “Can I come with you?”
“No.” I start to walk towards the stairs.
“It’s just to your house and you told me I could tell your mother to fuck off.” He grins at me. Fuck, his face is a duplicate of Ember’s, especially that grin. It’s so fucking freaky.
“It’s not a good idea…”
“People need to start learning about me soon.” He cuts me off, “I start school next week.”
He’s right, I know he’s right and I hate the fact that I was left to be the one to deal with this. “Fine, let’s get it done.” I grab my car keys, “stay in the car when we get there.”
He nods and follows me outside to the driveway. As soon as we step out he takes an exaggerated intake of air and throws his arms open wide, “I’m free.” I roll my eyes and unlock the car’s doors with a beep. “Oh shit! You have the newest model Civic?”
“Yeah.” I get into the driver’s seat.
He gets into the passenger side and whistles. “This is fully loaded. Did you get the extra large display, too?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you say anything else besides ‘yeah’?”
I shrug and roll my eyes, “yeah.”
“Okay…” he turns his head and looks out the window. Hopefully, he just stays quiet and lets me think for a bit. I hate that I’m bringing him to a house that could be upside down right now but I had no other choice. I didn’t want him to feel like a prisoner in that house any longer. I turn on the music and Who’s with me by USS fills the car. I’m surprised to see Emmett start singing along and bumping his head. I’ve only heard hip hop coming from his room.
“I see you looking at me.” He turns and grins at me, “I like all music. Don’t look so surprised.”
“Do you really want to leave New York and live here? Isn’t that a huge change for you?” I ask him.
“It is a huge change, but I want to be where Ember is.” He shrugs his shoulders. I get this twinge of jealousy in my stomach and immediately try to dispel it. Vin and I haven’t had the best relationship but for the past two weeks, we have both been putting forth the effort, I just hope that eventually I will have a brother like Emmett.
“I made out with Ember on her first day at Precious Blood Academy.” I smirk.
“Really?” His nose crinkles.
“Yeah,” I shrug, “she’s hot.”
“You think my sister is hot?”
“Yeah, but don’t tell Vin or anything. He’s irrational when it comes to her.” I chuckle.
“So, you think I’m hot then.” I swerve the car as I turn my head to look at him.
“What?”
“Well, we’re identical, if you think she’s hot then you must think I’m hot.”
“I think you’re annoying.” I huff out.
“So, I’m hot and annoying. I’ll take it.” He says while chuckling.
Thank God we pull onto my street because I am about to throw his ass out of my car, E’s twin or not. The gate to my driveway is open and that can only mean my mother has been walking the streets again. I start to get that familiar twinge of guilt but I tamper it down. Vin and Ember are right, I’m supposed to be her responsibility and not the other way around.
“You live here?” Emmett’s voice fills with wonder as my house comes into view.
“This was never a home,” I grumble, “just a place to sleep and eat.”
“I know that feeling,” he nods. “I have a home now with Ember, you do too.”
I know he’s right, I do have a home with Vin and Ember and they are more my family than my own mother but I don’t bother to answer as I park the Civic in front of a large pile of clothes. This time, it looks like mine. “Stay here, I’ll be out in a minute.”
“Sure.” He shrugs as he looks through his phone.
I walk up to the front door and it’s wide open. I look around the foyer and hear footsteps rushing towards me.
“Mister Travis?” Sonja says as she rounds the corner.
“Yeah,” I answer on an exhale.
“I am just going out to grab those clothes.” She holds up a few garbage bags.
“It’s fine, I’ll do it. I came to get more stuff anyways.” I take the bags from her. “How has she been?”
“Oh, everything is just fine here, Mister Travis.” She waves me
off, “you don’t worry.”
“It’s Travis, Sonja.” I shake my head, “and things don’t look so fine.” I gesture towards my clothes on the driveway.
“It does not matter, she just get a little angry. You are in much better place and with your brother, yes?”
“I am in his girlfriend’s house, but yes, Vincent is there a lot.”
“That all that matter, you make good with your brother and continue school.”
I nod and start up the stairs to check out the state of my room. I can only imagine she trashed it in a drunken stupor.
“She is sleeping, maybe you be quick and leave before she get up.” Sonja calls after me. She’s the only one that knows what I went through as a child in this loveless home.
My room is a fucking mess, she even found the strength to flip my extra thick king-sized mattress. I walk around the room and gather some clothes she didn’t throw over my balcony and my baseball gear that she surprisingly left untouched in my closet. My balcony has some clothes strewn around and a few of my books as well. I love my literature and all the classics. I pick up the books and pack them inside one of the bags and head back downstairs.
I find Emmett and Sonja in the driveway picking up my clothes and packing them into the garbage bags. I’m all of a sudden hit with shame as I watch Emmett conversing with Sonja. Now he knows just how fucked up living here was and he has to help me pick up the clothes my own mother threw everywhere.
I walk up to them and quickly stuff the last few items into one of my bags and start throwing them all into the backseat of my car. I turn back to see them both watching me with similar looks of pity. “Let’s go,” I say to Emmett and then I look to Sonja, “call me if you need anything or if she gets out of hand.” She nods and pats my back.
