Tied Bond
Bonded Duet: Book Two
Copyright © 2020 Abigail Davies.
All rights reserved.
Published: Abigail Davies 2020
www.abigaildaviesauthor.com
No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form without written consent from the author. Except in the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This book is a piece of fiction. Any names, characters, businesses, places or events are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, events or locations is purely coincidental.
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you are reading this book and have not purchased it for your use only, then you should return it to your favorite book retailer and purchase your own copy.
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Editing: Jennifer Roberts-Hall
Proofreading: Judy’s Proofreading
Photo Credit: © JW Photography
Cover Models: Bobbi Darting & Tyler Smith King
Cover Design: Pink Elephant Designs
Formatting: Pink Elephant Designs
The Easton Family Saga
Fallen Duet
Book 1: Free Fall
Book 2: Down Fall
Fated Duet
Book 1: Defy Fate
Book 2: Obey Fate
Bonded Duet
Book 1: Torn Bond
Book 2: Tied Bond
Burned Duet
Book 1: Fast Burn
Book 2: Deep Burn
Contents
The Easton Family Saga
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
Epilogue
Coming Next
Acknowledgments
Also by Abigail Davies
About the Author
Prologue
BELLE
“Ford is dead.”
I couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth, but as they ricocheted around me, I knew they were the truth. The pain in my chest was so real I clutched at it, trying to make it disappear. It wasn’t working. Nothing was working. I didn’t even need to close my eyes to remember the sign that literally spelled out what was happening.
It wasn’t until I was in the car, and Curtis was driving away from my only real home, that I realized everything that had gone on around me. People had been wearing black, whispering were whispers because they were being respectful.
Trying my hardest to swallow the huge lump in my throat, I moved my hand down to my stomach. I could feel the loss down to my very bones, a loss so great I’d never be the same again. We would never feel the same.
I wasn’t a singular person any longer. I had someone else I had to think about. Someone who would be a living, breathing reminder of the man I didn’t think I could live without. A man I’d fallen so hard for that I wasn’t sure where he had ended and where I’d begun.
But now it was over.
Everything was over.
I wanted to cry. I wanted to sob. I wanted to scream. But I did none of those things. Instead, I kept a straight face and kept my gaze glued to the windshield as Curtis drove us out of town. All I could think about was getting as far away as possible. I was running away, and I wasn’t afraid to admit it. I didn’t care where we were going. I didn’t care about anything other than the sorrow consuming every part of me.
I was stuck—trapped inside my own head. My eyes burned, my body sagged, but still, I didn’t move an inch. I was afraid if I said or did anything that the carefully placed facade I’d managed to put on would break.
And I couldn’t break. Not yet. Not until I was alone.
Curtis cleared his throat, trying to gain my attention, but I didn’t acknowledge I’d heard him, not until he asked, “You sure you don’t want to go back to college?”
“I’m sure,” I told him, no hesitation whatsoever. My voice wasn’t my own. It sounded shattered, just how I felt. “You can drop me off at the station, and I can get a train…” To where I had no idea. I turned to face Curtis. “You don’t have to come with me.”
Curtis’ lips formed into a small smile, and his gaze flicked over to me. “You think I’m gonna leave you alone after everything that’s happened?” He paused, and my mind swirled. So much had gone on in the last month that it almost felt unreal, but Curtis was still here. Everyone else had left, but he was promising to stick by my side.
“I know, but—”
“No buts.” Curtis placed his hand over mine. I stared down at his long fingers, not feeling anything. “I say we take summer vacation early and go somewhere new.” I’d fought so hard to go back to college, refusing any special treatment from my dad. But I’d gone back and completed my finals. I still had one showcase left, but if I missed it, it wouldn’t affect my grade much. So Curtis’ words felt right. A vacation would allow me to piece together all the frayed puzzle pieces of my life, or at least start to make sense of them.
“Where could we go?” I asked Curtis, feeling his idea more and more the longer time passed.
“My mom has a cabin up in Five Oaks.” He let that sink in as he moved his hand off mine and took the turn for the highway. I’d only heard of Five Oaks once before, and then it was only because Dad took Asher camping there when he was ten. Asher had come home with tales of them sleeping in a tent and a possible bear siting in the woods. And just the memory of that conversation had me nodding my answer. “It’s a seven-hour drive, but no one will know you there. You can be invisible.”
Invisible.
“Okay,” I whispered, letting my body sag into the seat. My mind was made up. “Let’s go there.” I stared at Curtis, really stared at him, and even though it was on the tip of my tongue to ask him why he was helping me, I didn’t want to destroy the delicate plan we’d created. He was the only friend I had left. “Just for the summer,” I finished, and he nodded.
I’d go there for the summer, and then I’d go home and face the music. I’d create a plan of what I was going to do and…
And try not to think about Ford.
I closed my eyes, seeing his face as soon as I did, and that was all I needed to drift off to sleep and dream happy thoughts—for now.
Chapter One
FIVE MONTHS LATER
BELLE
I leaned back on the chair behind the lone counter and stared out of the store window. The words Five Oaks General Store were applied to it in a block, gold font in a semi-circle. I wasn’t sure how long ago the sign had been applied to the pane of glass. Probably when the store first opened in 1998, which was depicted in smaller letters with the word Established in front of it.
The name was an accurate description of the store, but it was far off about the owner. Leopold was an eccentric older man, with his fancy hats and colorful waistcoats, but above all, he was kind. When Curtis and I first arrived in Five Oaks, the plan had been to stay until the end of summer, but that had come and gone over two months ago…
And we were still here.
Leopold had been looking for someone to help out over the summer, but he kept me on by default. It was fun talking to all the locals and listening to them all gossip. I had no idea who half of
the people they were talking about were, but it took my mind off things.
I ran my hand over my growing bump and smiled sadly as a red truck drove by. Was I doing the right thing by staying away from home? I was eight weeks out from my due date, and I didn’t have a real plan in place. The two-bedroom, one-story cabin we were staying in wouldn’t have room for a newborn baby, but it was more than that. I’d made Five Oaks my temporary home, and the thought of going back to where I grew up terrified me, but not as much as being alone here and not knowing what I was doing with a tiny baby.
Ford would have attended every checkup with me. He would have been there every step of the way. But thinking about the what-ifs wouldn’t get me anywhere. It was a dream, a fantasy, which would never come true.
So I had to play with what I’d been dealt, which included lone visits to the local doctor’s office, the only doctor in town. She said everything was fine, and it was. Physically. But mentally? Mentally, I was a mess.
Originally, I’d told myself I was just coming here to sort through all my thoughts and then I’d leave, but all I’d done was push them down as far as they would go. It didn’t matter that my growing bump was a daily reminder of Ford, because as soon as his face appeared in my mind, I shooed it away, not prepared to deal with it.
He was gone. Dead.
The thought had a lump building in my throat, and I swallowed to try and push it down, but it was too much this time. Too many memories of his chiseled face staring at me, his lips quirking at the corners when he thought I was funny. His eyes had this way of pulling me in and threatening to never let me go, and I’d never felt safer than I had when I was wrapped inside his arms. But it was when he would place a kiss to the top of my head and then rest his chin there that made me feel like I was home. That’s what Ford was—home. But it had been blown away, smashed to smithereens, and no amount of rebuilding would restore it to its former glory. So I’d walked away, leaving my heart with the pile of rubble, wishing our bond hadn’t been broken.
“Belle? Earth to Belle.”
A hand waved in front of my face, and I jumped out of my skin, slapping my palm to my chest. A gasp left my mouth. “Sorry,” I automatically responded, and stared up at Leopold. His white mustache was curved at the edges, making him look like he had a constant smile. “I was miles away.” He was used to hearing those words come out of my mouth, and sometimes I wondered if he thought this was just the way I’d always been, but it was the twinkle in his eye that let me know he understood me, even if he didn’t know everything that had happened. He was the kind of man you told your life story to, and couldn’t stop once you’d started.
Leopold pushed his fingers into the tiny pockets of his bright green waistcoat and raised a brow at me. “That you were, Belle. That you were.” He flicked his gaze down to my stomach and grinned. “How’s the baby cooking?” He always knew how to distract me, and I wondered if it was part of the reason I’d stayed in Five Oaks. He had the kind of skill Ford had where he could bring me out of my thoughts, even if it was only for a little while.
I glanced down at my bump. I was seven months pregnant, and in the last month, I seemed to have popped out of nowhere. No longer was I the cute kind of pregnant. Now I was the "swollen ankles and not able to see my feet" kind of pregnant.
“Baby is doing well,” I told Leopold and looked back at him. “I have a checkup next Tuesday, so I’ll be late. Is that okay?”
“O’course.” Leopold fanned his hand in the air as if he was swatting away a fly. “Reckon I can manage for a few hours alone.” He paused and leaned against the counter. “I’ll try to stay out of mischief, but”—the door opened, and the tinkering bell rang out—“I can’t promise anything.” He turned his head to see who had entered and then whipped back around to face me. “Especially now that Cynthia is here.”
He winked, and my eyes widened. Cynthia was the town gossip, although some would call her the town crier. There wasn’t a single secret in this town because of her, and she’d tell you everything, whether you wanted to hear it or not. She’d tried to find out all she could about me the first week I’d started working here, but I’d given her some story about how I was trying to find myself, which in a way, I supposed I was. Only Leopold knew the real story, but even he only got the cut-down version, the same as Curtis. Only one other person truly knew everything that had happened, and I’d give anything to hear his deep voice one last time. Anything.
“Leopold! Just the man I wanted to see.” Leopold froze and stared at me, silently begging me to save him, but I chuckled and glanced at the cash register, acting busy. “I wanted to talk to you about your roses.”
“My…roses?” Leopold asked, and stood to his full height, which couldn’t have been more than five feet five.
“Yes.” Cynthia looked at me and then glanced down to my bump. She didn’t think it was appropriate for me to be living with Curtis when he wasn’t the baby’s father, and she had made it known on several occasions that she thought that way. “Your roses seemed to have blossomed this year, and I was wondering if you could give me some tips?” Leopold opened his mouth, but she didn’t let him talk. “I was telling Beryl how last year your roses weren’t worth looking at, but somehow this year they were second best in town—mine being first, of course—and I wondered how you managed to do such a miraculous shift.”
“Well—”
“Beryl seemed to imply you got new roses, but that wouldn’t be right, would it, Leopold?”
Leopold wiped at his brow with his trusty bright yellow handkerchief. I didn’t blame him for being nervous. It didn’t matter whether what Cynthia was insinuating was true or not, because she had a type of way of giving you a compliment while also putting you down at the same time. It was a true talent.
“Well?” she asked, waiting for his answer.
Leopold fiddled with the cuffs of his stark white shirt. “I…erm…well, you see, I had some special rose food delivered, and also had some new soil added around the roots. I think that did the trick.”
“Hmm.” Cynthia stared at him for several seconds and then turned her attention to me. “I’ll take a bottle of the good stuff.” Once a week, she’d come in and have a bottle of the good stuff, which was her code for sherry. I’d only tried it once, but I can categorically say it was awful.
I stood and reached behind me for the medium-sized bottle, then rang her up. All the while, Leopold stood there as if he’d just had his hands caught in the cookie jar. She paid and swanned out of the store without another word, but one look back at Leopold once the door was closed said she was on to him.
He let out a breath and sagged against the small counter. “Thank god she’s gone.” He stared out of the window as Cynthia stopped to talk to someone else, no doubt giving them the third degree too. “Don’t tell anyone, but I had new roses delivered.”
I snorted and shook my head. Only in a small town like this would that even matter. “Your secret is safe with me.” I made a zipping motion to my lips as the bell rang out again.
“Well, if it isn’t the dashing knight in shining armor,” Leopold sang, grinning up a storm as he walked behind the counter.
“Evening, Leopold,” Curtis greeted, smiling at him. I could see the charm Curtis had, especially on the people in this town. He halted in front of the counter, pushing his hands through his ink-black hair. “Hey,” he directed at me, his voice lower now.
“Hey,” I replied, but I didn’t know where to look. For five months we’d been walking a dangerous line, and sometimes I wondered if I was taking advantage. He wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me. He’d put his life on hold, and even though I wanted to tell him I was ready to leave, it wasn’t the truth.
“How you feeling today?” he asked and leaned one of his arms on the counter. Curtis was picturesque standing there, but I couldn’t help comparing him to Ford. Ford always managed to make me smile with the smallest of movements—had. Past tense. Ford wasn’t here anymore, and I h
ad to keep reminding myself of that.
I shrugged and pushed off the chair Leopold had put behind the counter so I could sit when I was feeling a little tired. I rarely saw Curtis in the morning because he worked at the local bar, which meant he didn’t get home until late, and by the time he woke up, I was either at the store working my shift or taking an afternoon nap.
“Hungry,” I told Curtis, and my stomach grumbled in agreement. “I have a jar of peanut butter at the cabin with my name on it.”
Curtis chuckled, and stood to his full height. “We should probably get you home to your peanut butter, then, huh?”
I swallowed and stared at him for a beat. Curtis was my best friend, but I couldn’t help wondering if I was giving him the wrong impression. I was hyperaware of how I acted around people, especially after everything that had happened. I knew without a doubt I was safe with Curtis, but it didn’t make things any easier.
Sometimes I wondered if it would be such a bad thing if we were more than just friends. Curtis was a good guy, and he was doing all of this for me.
There was just one problem.
He wasn’t Ford.
* * *
BELLE
I had a full day off, and I’d never been more bored in my entire life. There was only so much trash TV I could watch, and only so many books I could read until the font blurred together into a giant mess. If I still had my cell, I could have spied on people on the internet, but I hadn’t used it since I dismantled it on the drive here all those months ago.
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