Everlasting

by Kassidy Carter

  EVERLASTING

  By: Kassidy Carter

  Cover Art by Kellie Dennis at Book Cover by Design

  www.bookcoverbydesign.co.uk

  Edited by Editing For You- https://www.facebook.com/editingforyou

  Dedication

  To my mom. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about you. You will forever be in my thoughts. I love and miss you.

  Chapter 1

  Payton

  “I am meeting Emily and Matt for lunch, they have news they want to tell me,” I say to Keegan.

  We have known each other for about five years and have been dating seriously for the last year. We have some problems, but we are trying to work them out. Keegan is good looking, but not handsome, with his blond hair and piercing blue eyes. He is surprisingly built for someone who doesn’t work out on a daily basis. He also has one of those faces that you just can’t say no to or get upset with. I had a huge crush on him in high school, but he always went for the popular girls. It did not help that I am two years younger. Keegan and my older brother Matt were in the same grade and never got along. Matt used to tease me when he found out from Emily that I liked Keegan. Then he would get mad and tell me not to waste my time on him; he uses girls and uses his family’s money to get them. Keegan’s family is well known in town because his dad owns most of the town.

  Matt wasn’t trying to be mean; I was the girl from the wrong side of the tracks. My dad was a widow that barely made enough money to keep a roof over our heads and food in our mouths. My brothers and I had jobs since we were sixteen. We helped my dad the best we could.

  Keegan and I started dating shortly after seeing each other at one of Emily’s parent’s parties. Their parents are close friends and they hold parties all the time. I just so happened to show up to this one and I swore to Emily that seeing him there was meant to be. Although, the past few months my feelings have changed and now I just put up with him. I don’t like change and I am too afraid to leave him.

  Keegan pulls me out of my thoughts and pulls me close to him. He smiles sweetly at me. “Oh, okay just make sure you are back by 3pm. We have that cook-out at Tyler’s house tonight. I told him we would be there before 4pm.”

  “I know, I won’t be late,” I say, trying not to irritate him. I stand up on my tip toes and give him a kiss on the cheek. Stepping away from him I grab my purse off the kitchen table and leave my apartment. It’s never is a good thing when he becomes irritated or mad. I learned that the hard way a few months ago. It was the first time he raised his fist to me. I was ready to leave him, but ended up staying because he promised me it would never happen again. So far, he has kept his promise. My brothers found out about it and made me promise to leave him. He still verbally attacks me, but I rather that than him physically attacking me. In a way, I think I am too scared to leave him. We have some problems we need to figure out. Mainly he needs to learn how to control his temper and I need to learn when to shut my mouth.

  I walk to the parking lot where my car is parked, and I spot my beat up Ford. Keegan hates this car and would not be caught dead in it. It is not expensive enough for him. But I earned this car the hard way and I don’t want to give it up. He has been trying to get me to accept that he can buy me any car I want. But I keep declining him on his offer. I get in and drive to the restaurant Emily and I are meeting at. I really wonder what they want to talk about, as I try to calm the nerves I have for no reason. They have never told me anything bad before, and Emily did seem overly excited about whatever the news was. Realizing it is probably about the job Matt applied for a few months ago, I start to relax. He has been on edge about it because it would move them two hours away from my Dad and I. He didn’t want to move that far away from us. With my older brother James overseas, he wanted to stay close in case something was to happen. I told Matt to apply for it, that he would be stupid not to. Dad and I can take care of ourselves.

  Emily has been my best friend since grade school. We have been close ever since we met when our first-grade teacher made the mistake and sat us by each other. We have been inseparable ever since. We’ve caused more hell than any normal girls should. She even stayed here and went to college, knowing I could not afford to go. She did not want to leave me behind. I think another reason for her staying in Appleton is because of my brother Matt. They have been dating for four years now and are so in love it’s cute, yet sickening to be by them. It makes me smile just thinking about them. They are what keep me strong and together. I would be lost without them. Matt and I are close for being siblings; my mom used to call us her “two peas in a pod”. Wherever Matt was, I was. Now he is with my best friend and I could not ask for anything better.

  Ten minutes later I pull into the parking lot of the restaurant and head inside. As I walk in the hostess greets me. I smile politely and tell her that I am waiting for some more people to arrive. She takes my name and tells me to take a seat.

  I walk over to the bench the lady was pointing to and sit down. I place my purse on the side of me, pull out my book and wait for them to show up. I am so caught up in my book I don’t realize that someone came in and sat down beside me on the bench.

  I feel someone lean over me as if trying to see what I am reading. Before I have enough time to flinch away, a deep husky voice whispers into my ear.

  “You do know it is not safe to not know what is going on around you.”

  I know that voice and my heart skips a beat as I look up and see Hunter Prescott sitting by me. Hunter is my brother’s best friend and the town’s hottest police officer. He has the rugged bad boy look to him. With his dark hair that looks like he just got out of bed or ran his fingers through it, like he always does when he is nervous. Like I want to do right now. I would love to run my fingers through his hair. I picture doing it more times than I want to admit. His eyes are the darkest color green, but also bright and captivating to look at. He has an amazing, defined jaw line that has a day’s worth of stubble on it. His body is amazing with all his muscles. I swear any male model would die for his abs.

  It should not be right to be as good looking as he is. He is also in his police uniform today and looking even better than usual. I catch myself staring at him to see his amused smile turn even more amused, to the point I just want to smack it off his pretty boy face. I force myself to look away from him before I embarrass myself even more.

  It happens a lot when I am around him. For some reason, he makes me nervous, but in a good way. I get butterflies in my stomach and hot all over. Not the way I get when Keegan is with me. No, this is an intense feeling I get with Hunter. Most times I feel like I need to go throw myself into a very cold shower just to cool off. That feeling is why I embarrass myself; I get clumsy and say the most random things.

  “I know what is going on around me,” I snap at him. Really I don’t want to deal with him right now. I can’t worry about Keegan’s attitude and deal with Hunters hotness. He really is a distraction.

  “Alright then, where is your purse Payton?” He moves closer to me, bumping his thigh into my leg. I can feel my cheeks flush and I am pretty sure they are pink. My light skin coloring doesn’t do anything at hiding my blushing.

  I make myself look away from him and look towards where my purse was sitting. He is sneaky, taking it without me seeing. I know I was not that lost in my book. I look back at Hunter.

  “Give me back my purse Hunter” my voice hitching with irritation. I am letting him get to me like I always do.

  He smiles at me again and hands it over to me.

  “You did not even know I took it. You need to pay more attention, anything could happen. That book can’t be that good for you to lose yourself in it like that.”

  I put my bookmarker in my book and close it,
putting it back in my purse, hating that I had to put it away without finishing the chapter.

  Sighing, I look back up at him “It is that good. Or it was until you came and ruined it for me. Why are you even here?”

  He looks away from me, towards the door, clearly waiting for someone also. “Matt asked me to come, he said he had something to tell me.”

  “Well, whatever it is, it must be big if he asked us both to be here. I think he got that job offer he has been waiting to hear about.”

  “Well, they just walked in so let’s find out what this is all about,” he says as he gets off the bench and walks over to Matt.

  I spot Emily and get up and walk over to her and give her a hug and then hug Matt.

  “Hi you guys,” I say as I let go of Matt.

  “Hey Payton,” they both say wearing the same bright smile. Something is definitely up, they look way too happy.

  The hostess comes over and tells us that our table is ready and leads us to our table. She hands us the menus and winks at Hunter before she walks away. Disgusted with the fact that he clearly can’t go anywhere without females noticing him, I roll my eyes and sit down. I sit next to Matt and Hunter sits across from me. We are all quiet for a few minutes as we look over the menu. The waitress comes and takes our order. She stands closer to Hunter, not able to take her eyes off of him. I so badly want to say something, but I bite my tongue. After she leaves, I look up at Emily “Okay so what is this all this about? Did you get that job Matt?”

  He looks a little confused at first but then it dawns on him. “Oh no, I haven’t heard anything back about the job offer yet, I should hear something in the next week.”

  “But we do have some great news to tell you,” Emily says, cutting Matt off. I can tell she is about to burst if she doesn’t get this out now, she is starting to get giddy. She thrust her hand out in front of my face. I have to grab her hand and hold it away from me so I can see what she is trying to show me. There on her ring finger is a beautiful engagement ring. Nothing big, just a silver band and a single, small princess cut diamond. I look at her and then at my brother, letting it register. When it does, I jump up, giving her a huge hug from across the table. Her laughter causes me to laugh and we squeal like little high school girls.

  “Congratulations man” I hear Hunter say to Matt, as he fist bumps him.

  “Matt I didn’t know you were going to ask her to marry you,” I say as I sit back down. ”This is information I should have been told.” I try to sound mad but can’t make it happen. I am way too excited for them to be mad.

  He looks up at me with a shit-eating grin. “Payton I could not tell you. You are her best friend and I know you can’t keep a secret. Remember Christmas two years ago when I bought her tickets to the Phantom of the Opera and you blew it by accident?”

  “True,” I say as I laugh, knowing full well what he was talking about. I am the worst at keeping a secret. Em and I were out clothes shopping the day before Christmas. She had an outfit she was trying to decide to buy and sure enough I blurted out that it would look awesome for when Matt took her to the Phantom of the Opera.

  Emily moves and grabs her purse from the floor and digs inside of it and pulls out a ring box and hands it to me.

  “What’s this?” I ask as I open it. She doesn’t say what it is before I get it fully open. I pull the bow off it and slowly open the top of it, not knowing what to expect. Inside there is a note sitting on top of a blue raspberry ring pop. I pick up the note and unfold it, reading what it says “I said ‘Yes!’ Will you now do me the honor of being my Maid of Honor?” I bust out laughing, not able to keep the smile off my face knowing what I am going to say. I shriek and yell “Hell yes, I will!”

  She gets up and leans over the table and pulls me in for a hug. I hug her back tightly, even more excited now for them.

  Matt laughs “You guys are crazy.”

  Emily smiles at him sweetly. “What? I wanted to be cute on how I asked her. I could have made one for Hunter, but you said he already figured he would be your Best Man.”

  Hunter laughs, “Wait I am your Best Man?” he says in a girly shriek. “OMG Matt, are you asking me to be your Best Man?” He is mocking Emily and me.

  Before I can yell at him or playfully slap him for being annoying, the waitress comes and brings us our food. She sets the plates down in front of us and asks us if we need anything else. Well, she mostly asks Hunter and implying way more than I want to hear. I smile up at her, “No I think we are good for now. But that older gentleman over there looks like he needs your help.” I smile sweetly at her and point in the direction of another table. She rolls her eyes and walks away. Laughing at myself I turn back to the table and start to eat.

  “Payton I was also wondering if you would want to help me plan the wedding. With school and everything, I am super busy. We want to get married on June 14th. I know it's two months away, but it’s the only time that would work with both of our schedules.”

  Without thinking, I tell her “Yes, I would love to help you. June will come fast so we need to get started on the planning.”

  We get to talking about the wedding and everything she wants to be done.

  “We don't have a lot of time to get your dress so we should probably go shopping this weekend. Who else is going to be in the wedding? “

  She smiles, “Oh that sounds perfect. We can go Saturday morning. My Cousin Julie, Mandy, Amanda and you. I don’t want a huge wedding party. I am not sure if they can make it this weekend for dress shopping so it might just be us.”

  “Okay sweet. See if the other three can meet us at the bridal shop. Then we can look at bridesmaid dresses and your dress at the same time.”

  “I sent an email to James to see if he could make it home for the wedding,” Matt says as he shoves a French fry into his mouth.

  James is our older brother and in the United States Marines Corps. He is currently stationed in Afghanistan in an unknown location. We are able to send him emails, but it takes a while for him to get back to us. We have not seen him in almost 18 months. I am more than ready to have him home. I know my dad would also love him being home. “I hope he can make it. I think he would be upset if he missed it,” I say lightly.

  Matt gives me a weak smile, “He told me that I should ask Hunter to be the Best Man because there is no guarantee of him being home.”

  I smile sadly at Matt. “He will be home and safe. Let’s keep thinking positive.” I reach over and lightly touch his hand for comfort. He smiles up at me and squeezes my hand lightly.

  We finish eating, sit back and keep talking. It’s the first time in a while that Hunter and I have gotten along. I think the last time was at Thanksgiving when my Dad invited him over for dinner. After a few minutes, Hunter gets up, pulling out his wallet.

  “Well, Guys it’s been fun but I have to get to the station. I have a twelve-hour shift and night shifts normally mean I will be busy with stupid drunks and dumb asses.”

  I look at my watch and see that it’s almost 3pm. “Shoot,” I say, getting up fast. “I have to get going too.” Hunter moves out of the way so I can say goodbye to Matt and Emily, giving them each a hug. I wave bye to Hunter, pay my bill, and hurry out of the restaurant, knowing I am going to be later than Keegan wanted me to be.

  Chapter 2

  Payton

  On my way home I call Keegan to let him know I am running a little behind. “I will be home in about ten minutes.” He doesn’t even let me finish what I am saying before he starts yelling at me.

  “You are a selfish bitch you know that? You had two hours to have lunch and get back here before we had to leave for Tyler's house. I told you to be back at your place by 3pm, it is now 3:05pm. You are late.”

  I pull the phone away from my ear and sigh. “Keegan chill out. Matt and Emily got engaged. I lost track of time talking to them about the wedding.” I need to calm him down before he gets even more pissed off. I knew I should have watched the time a little closer.<
br />
  “I don't give a shit. I gave you a time to be home and you are not here.”

  Knowing the tone of voice, he is using I start to worry. He is past trying to reason with. “I am sorry Keegan I didn’t mean to run late. I am almost home, we will still make it there by 4pm.”

  “Fuck it. And fuck you. I am leaving for Tyler’s now. Don't bother showing up. I will see you later,” he screams and hangs up on me. I end the call and put the phone in the passenger side seat, not wanting to deal with him. I am almost relieved that he is leaving now to go to Tyler’s.

  I pull into the parking lot to my apartment and notice Keegan's car is gone. I sigh in relief knowing I won’t have to put up with him right now, and head into my apartment. I know I need to break up with Keegan before he does something stupid. But as people say it is “easier said than done”.

  I walk into the apartment and see it is destroyed. Couch cushions thrown off the couch. The coffee table tipped over. Dishes scattered all over the kitchen floor. A huge hole in my wall where the picture of my brothers and I normally hangs. It is now sitting on the floor, the frame shattered. I throw my purse and cell phone on the counter and walk into my bedroom. “This is just great,” I mumble to myself as I take in the damage he has done in here. My dresser was emptied onto the floor, the drawers out of the dresser as well. My books that were on my bookshelf are scattered everywhere and ripped apart. The mattress is off the bed and stripped of its covers. I sigh and pick up some shorts and a tank top and quickly put them on. This is going to take a while to clean up. I start to pick up my bedroom and throw most my books away, irritated and angry that he took his temper out on my books. I am pissed off that he did all this just because I was fifteen minutes late. Reading is the one thing I shared with my mom. I hold it close to my heart, along with the memories I have of her. When I finished my room, I grab the trash bag and lug it out to the living room and start to clean it up. My apartment isn’t big at all, it’s only one bedroom. It is big enough for me and Keegan, whenever he is here. It is a very homey apartment that Emily and I painted a pretty blue color to add some cheer to it. I finish cleaning and picking up the mess, make myself some dinner and relax until about midnight.