Rafferty (Default Distraction Book 2)

by A. S. Roberts

  Version 1F

  ISBN: 978 1796960471

  ASIN: B07NQQT2NW

  Copyright © A. S. Roberts 2019

  All Rights Reserved Worldwide

  Any unauthorised reprint or use of this material is prohibited. 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 express permission of the author.

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

  I am an English author and I write in British English. Except if a character is American, then I may use American slang.

  Image copyright©2018

  Edited by Karen J.

  Proofreading by The Fireball Fillies.

  Beta read by The Fireball Fillies.

  Cover art by J M Walker @justwrite.creations

  Formatting by Brenda Wright, Formatting Done Wright

  All songs, song titles mentioned in this novel are the property of the respective song writers and copyright holders.

  Playlist

  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

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Epilogue

  Dedication

  As always, this book is dedicated to my husband. I would be nothing without your never-ending love and support.

  It’s also dedicated to my relentless alpha and beta team, Sarah, Debi, Kirsty, Crystal, Cassandra, Amo, Sheri, Tammi, Debbie and Jen. Without them, this story wouldn’t be here. Thank you for helping me put the strange world that lives in my head onto paper.

  A huge shout out to my editor Karen, how she puts up with me I’ll never know.

  Also, to my readers' group, The Anomalies and my lovely admin Jo (I couldn’t run it without you). Thanks ladies for making me laugh daily and waiting patiently for my words.

  It will never be too late for us. For us there will always be a way back to who we once were.

  Rafferty Davenport.

  Other books by this author

  The Fated series

  Fated

  Inevitable

  Irrevocable

  Undeniable

  Default Distraction series

  Brody

  Rafferty

  Coming soon

  Cade

  Luke

  Seventeen years ago

  I heard my breath escape my body on a shaky exhale.

  My head was pounding so badly that the need to lift my hand up to hold my forehead was all-consuming. Concentrating hard and ignoring the rising pain under my scalp, I slowly lifted my fingers one by one and then eventually my hand. All the time, I was encouraging my arm to follow, but from the wrist up it felt like a lead weight and reluctantly I let my hand fall back down.

  What is going on? Why do I feel so weak?

  My eyelids refused to open, no matter how hard I tried.

  So, enclosed in the blackness, with fear beginning to take over and with my head pulsing out pain with every beat of my heart, I reluctantly fell back into the softness underneath me.

  I picked out the unmistakeable sound of a pillowcase crumpling as my head settled back down.

  I’m in a bed?

  I tested out my theory by rubbing my fingertips over the material underneath them and quickly concluded I was right.

  I haven’t slept in a bed in weeks.

  Aware that my hearing seemed to be one of the only senses that hadn’t deserted me, I scrunched up my face as I tried to concentrate on any sound I could find. I focussed my attention on the quiet beep that seemed to be coming from the side of me. I quickly realised that as each beep sounded another pulse of pain hit the inside of my head.

  I’m in hospital?

  I didn’t understand.

  How could I be in hospital?

  A sudden need to wet my dry and very sore lips took over me and with immense effort, the tip of my tongue pushed its way through the almost sealed together fissure and slowly ran over the cracked, dry skin it found.

  ‘Get the nurse, Adrian, quickly. She’s awake.’

  My mum’s voice hit my ears and caused a wave of pain to crash over me. I held my breath, willing it to leave as quickly as it had come. Then I heard my dad’s footsteps and a door opening.

  ‘Mum?’ I tried to force out, but it didn’t come out as I intended and instead I heard an unidentifiable sound leave my lips.

  I felt her hand move over my left one for the first time and realised she had been holding it all along.

  ‘It’s okay, Lozzie. You’re safe now. You’re in hospital, but you’re going to be okay, we’re here.’ I could hear her voice trembling with emotion as she squeezed my hand as much as she dared, trying to convey the words she had spoken.

  Suddenly, the room was transformed from what felt like an empty void to a bustling hub of activity as the door opened again with a whoosh. I felt myself flinch in response to the abrupt invasion.

  ‘Hi, Lauren. I’m Anna.’ Came from the person who had just entered.

  ‘Can you open your eyes for me?’ Anna questioned, using a soft a gentle tone.

  I managed to gingerly turn my head side to side.

  ‘It’s okay if you can’t, you’ll be able to soon. You’ve been ill, but you’re going to be fine. I promise,’ she whispered as her voice got closer to me. ‘Are you in any pain?’

  I finally managed to separate my eyelashes, and squinting at the sudden flood of light from the room, I choked back a sound that answered her question.

  ‘Not to worry. I’ve brought you something for that, now relax.’

  I felt a gentle tug on the inside of my left elbow and then a small sting as the drug entered my blood stream. With every breath I inhaled, the pain in my head that had been coinciding with every beat of my heart lessened. As it did, so my head began to fill with unanswered questions.

  ‘Now take a few sips of this,’ she persuaded.

  I felt a small straw being placed in between my lips, and I did as she instructed. The heavenly nectar touched the parched skin in my mouth and all too soon the straw was removed.

  ‘There you go, Lauren. You’ll be back to normal soon. Just relax. Your family are here with you. You’re safe.’

  Turning my head slightly, I found my mum’s tired and worried face to the side of me and then I looked beyond her to see my dad. At first my ey
es struggled to focus on him standing by the window of the hospital room, but eventually they corrected themselves enough for me to be able to see him wiping away the tears that fell in quick succession down his face.

  ‘I’m sorry.’ Finally, my throat complied, allowing me to whisper the words.

  My mum nodded quickly at me. I watched her face crumple as a loud gut-wrenching sob left her mouth and she finally allowed herself to succumb to the agony in her heart. Her hand came up and she cupped her mouth as her emotions got the better of her.

  A feeling of overwhelming guilt washed over me. I tore my eyes away from her and searched the room.

  At last, I found what I was looking for and my heart leapt as I recognised him. He was a complete mess. His T-shirt and jeans were crumpled, his pallor was grey and several days’ worth of patchy stubble had grown across his jaw line. His almost black hair that was normally perfectly placed, looked dirty and untidy. It fell over his face, effectively blocking his eyes from mine, but I knew he was watching me. I couldn’t be sure, but I guessed he had probably been sat in the same position for days, looking at me through his curtain of dark hair.

  He was here and the awareness that I now felt complete was overwhelming. Every part of my body that had been on alert before, now felt peaceful.

  I watched as he flicked his hair up and away. As his silvery grey eyes found mine, I managed to convince my almost non-compliant body to offer him a small smile and sighed at him in relief.

  However, his response wasn’t what I had been expecting. He began to fidget where he sat, his feet moved up and down on the spot and his hands rubbed up and down his denim-covered thighs. I heard him sniff and then, instead of reciprocating my smile, his eyes closed briefly in resignation.

  Pain ripped through my heart as I watched him. I turned my head as fast as I could to look at my mum and dad. They refused to meet my gaze and it answered every unspoken question I had.

  In those few seconds, I understood that I had witnessed him turn off the switch inside his heart, effectively shutting me out. As my brain interpreted what it all meant, I audibly heard my heart rip into pieces inside my body. I couldn’t save myself. I willed myself to close the eyes that just a few minutes ago I had struggled to open, but I couldn’t. So, with my eyes now wide open with fear, I continued to watch my whole future disintegrate in front of me.

  When Raff opened his lids again, his soulful eyes had gone. They’d been replaced with dark, closed-off pools. Silently, he stood up to make his way over to me. An extremely unwelcome premonition ran through me and unable to control anything, I started to shake in reaction. I felt like a voyeur or someone watching a film, because this… this couldn’t be happening to me. After all we’d been to each other. All the promises we’d made. After all the hours he had spent making love to me and whispering his inner most thoughts and desires. After me following him across the ocean just to be with him, he was going to let it all go. He was going to leave me and effectively destroy us both.

  Raff took the few steps required to arrive at the side of my bed. I felt the lump in my throat expand, until the constriction was so tight I thought I would never be able to speak again. He fell to his knees, placed his forehead on my bare arm and inhaled deeply to compose himself. Within a split second he moved again, lifting his head up and away he picked up my hand and pressed something cold into my palm, closing my fingers tightly around it.

  Tears sprung to my eyes and I tried to voice a simple “no,” but my body hadn’t the capacity to help me achieve the sound. Instead, all I could do was turn my head from side to side.

  I watched as his head bent down and he placed his lips lovingly over my closed fingers and for a few frozen minutes that’s where he remained.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Loz,’ he whispered as he stood up and then bent over me to gently kiss the tip of my nose. Without ever making eye contact with me, he turned and left the room.

  An agonising scream left my body, forcing itself painfully out of my narrowed throat. Mum gripped onto my arm, as if she was trying to stop me leaving my hospital bed to follow him.

  I lifted my still closed fist away from the bed and up high enough to see what it was he had placed there.

  I needn’t have bothered. I knew exactly what it was without looking.

  Through my watery, blurred vision I saw the silver chain hanging there. The half heart pendant Raff had given me a few months earlier was dangling from it, and it had never seemed more significant than it did now. It would never be whole again and neither would I.

  My whole world was spinning on its axis with his departure, as the pendant turned slowly to reveal its one word.

  “Always.”

  Present Day

  The phone ringing incessantly dragged my focus away from the lists I’d been poring over to ensure I’d got all the food I required for the next couple of weeks. Thankfully the ringing stopped and I assumed that one of the waitressing staff had finally managed to pick it up. I smiled to myself, it looked like someone had actually taken in what I’d said at the ten minute meeting we always had before the day started. I’d explained that I was locking myself away to do a double check and would be unavailable, as I needed to be sure we were prepared for what were historically two of the busiest weeks of the year for The Fairy Garden.

  I’d already had to stop what I was doing once. Our family doctor, Dr. Carpenter, had called with my latest test results. My diabetes was starting to put my kidneys under pressure and this was a concern to him. He’d advised that I now required monthly monitoring. I had sighed out loud at his request, but I’d agreed all the same. Once he’d got my agreement, he’d wished me a Happy Christmas and rung off.

  Finally, I’d been able to get on.

  Removing my reading glasses from my nose, I pinched the bridge and sighed at the release of pressure. The orders were complete and I’d triple checked them. I now needed to phone to check the suppliers had everything in hand. Only then would I relax, but knowing the phone was probably still busy, I decided to have a quick break.

  Standing, I pushed my chair away from my desk, just as a sharp rap on my closed door echoed around the small, confined space of my office.

  ‘Yes,’ I answered as the door swung open.

  The glorious smells of the tearoom entered the small space as Kirsty poked her head around the door.

  I inhaled deeply and briefly listened to the happy voices of our customers with a sense of pride. It was moments like this that I gave myself an imaginary pat on the back. It hadn’t been easy setting up my own business, even with all my friends and family behind me. With all the support in the world you still needed to believe in yourself, and until The Fairy Garden took off, my self-esteem had always floundered.

  ‘Sorry, Lauren. I know you’re busy, but the phone call was from Winter and she sounds in a right state about something. I told her to phone back in ten, because as you know it wouldn’t allow me to put the call through to you… Is that okay?’ She was referring to the antiquated phone system that had been installed many years before, when the out buildings we occupied would have been garaging for the estates’ cars and before that the housing for the carriages.

  ‘Oh, yeah that’s fine. I’d finished anyway,’ I replied, as I pushed a pod into the coffee machine and pressed the start button.

  ‘I bet the orders were spot on. I bet you didn’t need to check them at all?’ she teased, narrowing her eyes at me.

  I answered by offering her a small grimace and shrugging my shoulders. Kirsty had worked at The Fairy Garden with me since the doors had opened just over five years ago and she knew me so well. I was meticulous down to the last detail with my work life, but my personal life… well not so much.

  I lost my train of thought as the phone rang again and Kirsty disappeared, closing the door behind her. Hastily I checked my watch before I spoke, wanting to answer the phone correctly.

  ‘Good morning, The Fairy Garden, how can I help you?’ I smiled into the heavy,
black Bakelite phone that I had also inherited from the estate, and sat back down.

  ‘Oh, Lauren. Thank God it’s you,’ came a flustered voice at the other end.

  ‘Winter? Are you okay?’ I replied.

  I knew it was her, but the way Winter sounded was so completely alien to me, I had to check. I was sure she had never been harassed in her life. It was her upbringing. I loved the bones of her, she was one of my best friends, but our upbringings had been completely different. I came from a ‘normal’ working-class family who worried about everything, and she had been born into something much grander. Although times had now changed for her family’s fortunes, Winter had come out fighting and grabbed hold of the opportunity that had been presented to her and now she also owned her own business. She had become a caterer and event planner, using her wide range of contacts from her large social circle, and her new business was going from strength to strength. I’d known her for over twenty years, from when we had joined the local Guides at age eleven. In all that time, I had never known her to be agitated. At the slightest sign of a problem she poured a large glass of wine and told whatever it was to fuck right off.

  ‘NO… I’m not. It’s all going tits up.’

  I knew immediately what ‘it’ was. I let out a quiet sigh and closed my eyes. I dreaded hearing exactly what she was going to say, but equally as one of her best friends I wanted to hear what was going on, in case I could help her in any way. I picked up the heavy phone base and placed it nearer to me on the old oak desk, so it would be close enough for the plaited cord to stretch and I could lean back into my chair.

  ‘What’s happened, Winter?’

  ‘Everything was perfect. I mean I have lists to check my fucking lists. It was all going according to plan, and now THIS!’ I could hear her heels hitting the floor and I visualised her pacing up and down.

  ‘Winter! Calm down and tell me what’s happened?’ I’d raised my voice in the hope that I could somehow be assertive enough to talk her down off the ledge she had placed herself on.