by Karen Ward
Renewing
Lost Love
KAREN WARD
Smashwords Edition
Copyright © 2011 Glenda Hays
Writing as Karen Ward
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be used, transmitted, or reproduced in any manner, electronic or otherwise without prior written permission from the copyright holder except in cases where permitted by law.
This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual places, events, or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.
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Cover images from COVERS BY RAMONA
Ebook formatting by www.ebooklaunch.com
Table of Contents
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
Epilogue
About the Author
PROLOGUE
Fifteen year old Jasmine Leblanc, her long auburn hair pulled back in a ponytail, is strolling happily down the narrow path leading to the swamp near her home in Louisiana where she goes to collect the wild plants and herbs her grandmother uses in her all natural alternative medicines. She is dressed in jeans and a long sleeved shirt to protect her fair skin from the hot May sun and the insects that swarm in the swamp.
As she walks, she lets her mind drift back over the previous night. Her boyfriend, Keith Williams, invited her to his Senior Prom and it was the most wonderful night of her life. She felt so pretty in the beautiful long, green dress that Keith purchased for her with money he earned at his job at the Dairy Queen. He looked so handsome in his black tuxedo, so tall and good looking with his dark auburn hair and green eyes almost identical to hers. They had so much fun at the dance but what they did later is the part of the night Jasmine remembers most.
Keith took her to a quaint little inn in the next parish where he made sweet tender love to her. Her body still tingles in remembrance and a smile slides across her face. She gave herself willingly to him because she loves him with all her heart. She remembers his work roughened hands caressing her body so tenderly and with so much love. He was so gentle when he took her virginity. She saw tears in his eyes when he realized he hurt her even the tiny little bit it took to initiate her into womanhood. Afterwards, they lay together with their limbs entwined and talked about the future, what their life will be like after their marriage and the houseful of children they hope to have. Then when he left her at her door just before dawn, he kissed her and told her again how much he loves her. She has been floating on air ever since.
After she reaches the swamp she is totally absorbed in searching for and picking the herbs her grandmother requested so she is completely surprised and horrified when she looks up to find James Bixby standing right behind her. Panic immediately seizes her and she opens her mouth to scream but before she can utter a sound he hits her in the jaw with his fist knocking her unconscious.
As she slowly surfaces from the darkness of unconscious oblivion she tries to remember what happened and where she is when the fear she felt in the swamp washes back over her in waves. She remembers James Bixby standing behind her and she remembers him striking her in the jaw. She tries to reach her hand up to rub her aching jaw but it won’t move. Opening her eyes she frantically looks around the filthy room and realizes that she is tied spread eagle on a bed, her hands and feet secured by strong mailing twine to a rusty iron bed frame. A horrible odor permeates the room and she searches for the source but all she sees is James Bixby smugly grinning at her from across the room. He is sitting at a folding table drinking straight out of a jug of home-made whiskey. A wave of sheer terror shivers down her spine.
Bixby is dressed in a pair of ragged blue jeans. A dirty sleeveless t-shirt is stretched tightly across his broad shoulders exposing the huge muscles in his arms. He rises from the rickety folding chair and pulls a big, ugly looking knife from the scabbard on his belt and walks toward the bed grinning menacingly. He is a giant of a man well over six foot tall, with long stringy black hair, a pimply face with at least two days growth of beard, bulging muscles in his arms and legs and not an ounce of fat on his body. He pulls a dirty handkerchief out of his back pocket as he slowly advances toward the bed waving the knife back and forth in front of his face and grinning. When he reaches the bed he laughs at the look of terror on Jasmine’s face. Starting at her feet he slips the knife under the fabric of her jeans slowly slicing them from her body with the razor sharp blade, laughing each time she flinches in fear.
Jasmine’s heart is beating so fast it feels like it is trying to escape her body and she is so scared she can barely breathe. When she opens her mouth to scream he stuffs the dirty handkerchief inside and growls, “Shut up Bitch! You’ve been askin’ for this for a long time and now I’m gonna give it to you!”
Slowly, piece by piece he bares Jasmine’s body, sweat dripping from him as he leans over her. After he has cut all of the clothes from her body he piles them on the floor at his feet. Jasmine is lying stark naked before him spread eagle on the bed and he stands up straight, towering over her and examines his captive. As his cold black eyes travel from the top of her head down over every inch of her body, Jasmine’s skin quivers in fear. Bixby licks his lips in anticipation, and then starts removing his own clothes.
Jasmine’s green eyes are as round as saucers as she watches him uncover his huge muscular body. She is screaming but nothing is coming out because of the dirty rag stuffed in her mouth.
When he is naked he climbs on the bed with her positioning himself on his knees between her legs. Grinning, he takes the ugly looking knife and points it at her heart. Grinning he says in a singsong voice, “Should I or should I not?” Laughing at the horror he sees in her eyes he then barely touches the razor sharp tip to her skin and says, “Don’t move sweet Jasmine. It would be a shame if I cut your beautiful skin.”
He moves the blade down between her breasts circling each one leaving a tiny trickle of blood in its wake and laughs at the horror he sees on her face. Then he speaks very softly, “Don’t worry pretty one, I’m not gonna kill you, at least not yet. I haven’t got my fill of you.” He then violently slings the knife to the side and sticks it in the wall on the other side of the room.
He leans forward on his arms over her, excitement glowing in his black eyes and says, “Now sweet Jasmine, it’s time for the fun part. Are you ready for me Sugar?” then he laughs cruelly.
All of the color drains from her face as Jasmine realizes his intent.
******
After what seems to Jasmine like a lifetime, Bixby pushes himself up off the bed and puts his clothes back on. Looking down at her through hooded eyes he says, “That was real good Jasmine, real good. Lucky for you, we’ll be doing that again!” Then he takes the big ugly knife out of the wall and starts cutting her shoulder length auburn hair off close to her scalp in bi
g clumps. He stuffs it all into a paper bag with a big hunk of smelly meat and her shredded clothes then he turns and walks out of the cabin leaving her tied helplessly to the bed.
While Bixby is gone Jasmine tries and tries to get free. She jerks on the mailing twine and tries to slip her hands from its grip. All she manages to do is rub the skin off her wrists causing them to ooze blood.
Bixby’s not gone long and when he comes back he looks Jasmine over from head to toe, a look of pure lust on his face, then he licks his lips and growls, “Maybe one more time for the road.”
******
He must have fallen asleep because it is a long time before he moves. Jasmine can barely breathe he is so heavy but she can’t move so she just lies there struggling to breathe while tears stream from her eyes, her heart shattering.
After a while he gets up, dresses, and then says, “Well, as much as I would like another go at you, I guess we better hit the road. We have a long way to go. There’ll be time enough for more fun later.”
He unties her feet from the bed and then binds them tightly together. He unties her hands then shoves an old wrinkled out of style shift type dress over her head. As soon as she inserts her arms he binds her arms tightly against her body, then he throws her across his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carries her out to his truck. He tosses her inside the camper shell on the back, shuts the door and locks it. Then he drives away. All Jasmine can do is lie on the camper bed trussed up like a Christmas turkey and cry.
******
Seventeen year old Keith Williams is grinning from ear to ear and whistling while he goes about his duties at the Dairy Queen. Last night was the most magnificent night of his life. Jasmine, his beautiful, sweet Jasmine, gave her virginity to him and he made sweet, tender love to her. He held her in his arms and stroked her beautiful body with his hands, reveling in the moans of pleasure coming from her. He grins when he remembers watching her climax for the first time. He can’t wait until she turns sixteen so they can legally get married in Louisiana. It’s not long, a couple of more months and they can be together all the time. He longs to hold her through the long lonely nights and make love to her every night.
When he sees Jasmine’s little brother running as fast as he can across the road toward the Dairy Queen he knows immediately that something is wrong. He steps out from behind the counter, his heart slamming painfully against the wall of his chest and he meets him out front. “Leaf, what is it? What’s wrong? Tell me!”
Twelve year old Leaf Leblanc is crying hysterically and he moans, “She’s dead, Keith! Jasmine is dead!”
Keith’s heart stops as his world comes crashing down around his head and he screams, “No! You’re wrong! She can’t be dead!”
Leaf, still crying nods his head emphatically and cries, “Yes, in the swamp, I saw a gator with her head in his mouth!”
Keith’s stomach wrenches at his words, turns over painfully and he loses the contents in the trash can in front of the building. He feels as if someone is ripping his heart right out of his chest. Please God, no! No! It can’t be true! Not Jasmine! Not his precious Jasmine! He tells his boss that he has to go ... he has an emergency ... he loads Leaf in his truck and says, “Show me Leaf. I have to see for myself.” His world is ending. A pain so sharp he can barely breathe is slicing through his body.
Leaf directs him out to the swamp where he shows him the paper bag Jasmine had been putting the herbs in and he says, “See, here’s the bag she was gathering the herbs in. Now look at the really big gator over by the cypress tree. He still has her hair hanging out of his mouth!” Leaf starts crying hysterically again.
Keith looks out into the murky waters of the swamp where he spots the gator that has to be at least fourteen feet long and then he sees Jasmine’s beautiful auburn hair stringing out of his mouth. He falls to his knees tears streaming down his face and cries, “Noooooooooooooo!”
A long time passes and Keith, numb after seeing Jasmine’s beautiful auburn hair stringing from the gator’s mouth, walks back to his truck and retrieves his double barrel shotgun. He grabs an old pizza box out of the back of his truck and dumps the remaining contents into the water. He and Leaf step away and watch as the fourteen foot gator advances toward the pizza. When he gets close enough, Keith empties both barrels of his shotgun right between the gator’s eyes.
The pain in Keith’s heart is excruciating but he drives Leaf home where they tell Jasmine’s grandmother what they witnessed in the swamp. Jasmine’s grandmother nods sadly with tears in her eyes then hands Keith a cup of herbal tea she says will ease his pain. He sinks down on her threadbare sofa and lets the tears flow praying he too will die. He curls up in a fetal position rocking back and forth and cries and cries. How is he going to go on without Jasmine? How can he live another day without her? When he wakes the next morning, the first thing he remembers is the curse, the damn family curse.
Keith had never really believed all of the stories and warnings his father and grandfather had told him about the curse and how their lives had been ruined by it, but after this, he has to believe the curse is real. Almost a hundred years ago, Keith’s grandfather was cursed by an old Creole woman who believed he cheated her out of her home. The curse says that Keith’s grandfather and all of his male descendents are destined for pain and unhappiness. They will never be happy in love and so far, Keith has to admit, the curse has been very potent. Keith’s grandmother died three weeks after the curse was issued of a fever that swept through the bayou. His mother ran off with a construction worker shortly after his birth and then his stepmother died in childbirth with his little brother. Now, the curse has taken Jasmine from him. As realization sinks in and he understands his destiny, he makes the only decision he feels is reasonable.
He leaves the house with single minded determination and goes straight to the Marine Corp Recruiting Office where he signs the papers committing to a four year enlistment. With the wars going on around the globe he should be able to manage to get killed one way or another. Death will be a blessed relief compared to the excruciating pain of losing his precious Jasmine.
******
While lying in the back of Bixby’s truck, Jasmine has hours and hours with nothing to do but think. She has figured out why James Bixby cut off her hair and put it in the paper bag with the smelly meat and her clothes. He had to have thrown it all in the swamp to make people think one of the gators got her. That is the only logical explanation. The fact that they left Louisiana and are traveling across country makes her think he has some definite destination in mind she just doesn’t know where. She also realizes that if Keith and her grandmother think a gator got her and she’s dead, they won’t look for her. She is alone and on her own. Survival has to be her number one priority.
******
Keith Williams flourishes in the Marine Corp boot camp. The punishing physical challenges they face daily help to ease the pain in his heart and he tackles every new activity with enthusiasm looking forward to the time he can deliberately step in front of a bullet.
After his training he is assigned to an elite team with four other men, Scoot, the team leader, Goose, the medic, Stump, the muscle, and Farrie, the other sniper. Keith’s code name is Pinky, not because of his auburn hair, but because of the pretty shade of pink he always turns in the sun. It doesn’t take long for the five men to bond and become the best of buddies. It then becomes more important to Keith to make sure his buddies survive than to kill himself. They serve together for eight years before retiring and going their own way. During the eight years in the Marines, the soul searing pain of Jasmine’s loss has dulled but is never far from Keith’s mind.
Then one year after the team of brothers retired from the Marines, Scoot, Dylan Drake, calls them together and they form Drake Security and once again become an inseparable team. The only one missing is Farrie, Barry Farrady. On a dare from Stump, he tried out for a part in a movie they were casting on the beach in San Diego and got the lead role. Barry s
oon became a famous movie star and over the next few years added six blockbuster movies to his credit.
The four remaining former Marines that make up Drake Security have taken assignments all over the world doing special operations for the military and other government entities. They are well respected with top security clearance and are very good at what they do. Now that Scoot and Goose have married and started families, the team primarily does domestic security work designing and implementing security systems for the government and major corporations.
CHAPTER 1
Fifteen years after Jasmine Leblanc disappeared
Eight year old Damian Drake and ten year old Eric Calloway Farrady are busily looking through all of the photos on the computer in Drake Security’s office. The office and living quarters take up the entire second floor of the barn on the Rock Springs Ranch which is owned by movie star, Barry Farrady. The ranch is located near Cody Wyoming and all of the former Marines that make up Drake Security live there with their families.
Damian and Eric love looking through all of the pictures of their heroes, the former Marines that make up Drake Security, Dylan Drake, Damian’s father otherwise known as Scoot, Barry Farrady, Eric’s stepfather otherwise known as Farrie, Reginald Willingham also known as Goose, Clarence Kincaid Jr. also known as Stump, Clarence Kincaid Sr. also known as Bear, and Keith Williams, also known as Pinky.
Slowly paging through file after file of the photos, they are laughing and joking about each one. So Damian is very surprised when Eric screams, “Oh no!” and jumps up out of his chair and bolts down the stairs without a word of explanation.
Stump, Clarence Kincaid Jr., is just coming out of his bedroom after a shower and is drying his hair with a towel. He asks Damian,
“What’s up with Eric? He looked like he saw a ghost.”
Damian replies, “I don’t know Stump, we were just looking at these pictures and when he saw this one he jumped up and ran off.”
