The Forever Plan
Page 1
The
FOREVER
Plan
By
Sienna Grant
&
Jennah Thornhill
Copyright
The Forever Plan
Published by Sienna Grant & Jennah Thornhill
Copyright 2019 by Sienna Grant & Jennah Thornhill
All rights reserved. ©
This book is a work of fiction. Names, places, songs, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead is coincidental.
Written by- Sienna Grant & Jennah Thornhill
Edited by- Obsessed by Books Designs
Book Cover- Lee Ching @Undercover Designs
Formatter- Obsessed by Books Designs
All rights reserved in accordance with the Copyright and Related Rights act 2000.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or copied in anyway.
Dedication
For Lizzie.
Without you giving us the nudge, we so desperately needed Serena and Dylan’s story would never have been told. And for that this book is for you.
We love you massively.
Thank you for being there to support us.
Acknowledgements
Wow!
Well there you have it peeps, me and wife have co-wrote our very first book together. We owe so many thank you’s to the people who have supported us and helped us on this journey together.
For starters, Lizzie James. You know we love you massively, but it was you that told us to sort our shit out and write together. For that we can’t thank you enough.
Our beta readers, Natasha, Tracy, Joy, Lauren, Claire, and Sheryl. You guys are there for us when we need you, with no questions asked. Your support and love for us is amazing and we can’t thank you all enough.
Maria Lazarou, our fantastic editor. We really don’t know what we would do without you. You put up with our crap on a daily basis, for that alone you deserve a gold medal. Thank you so much for everything you do. We love you so bloody much.
Tracy our fabulous PA, you woman are worth your weight in gold. No matter what we throw at you, you always take it on and succeed. We can’t tell you how much we love you because words just aren’t enough. Thank you for being there and shouting at us when we need it.
To all our readers in both of our readers groups, you guys are just simply the best. You’ve waited for this book for what seems like forever and you all have the patience of saints. Thank you for baring with us whilst we pulled our heads out of our arses and got shit done. We’ll be forever grateful to you all and we hope we haven’t disappointed you.
If there’s anyone we’ve missed then we apologise profusely, but know that we love you too and thank our lucky stars that we have you all in our lives.
So, for now, we hope you enjoy Serena and Dylan's story.
Love
Jennah and Sienna
xx
Blurb
You know what they say about best laid plans....
Serena
Do you ever look at your life and think fuck it? Because that’s what I did. I was sick of being my husband’s doormat. It was time I started living my life, my way. I'd been walked all over for the last time.
Newly divorced, my mission was to just have fun and enjoy my new job. I had a plan. That was until a night out changed everything for me. He wasn’t supposed to happen. He wasn’t supposed to come barrelling into my life and make me need him. Dylan Proctor, did exactly that. Now I’m so screwed.
Do I learn to love and trust again or do I walk away not knowing if he could have been my forever plan?
Dylan
In life there’s always that one person that makes you look twice. Who makes you think you could have so much more…
As it was, I was already winning in business when I met Serena Davenport. She came in the form of a sassy redhead. She made me see there was something missing from my life, but a newfound purpose brings new obstacles…
Could he win in his personal life too?
Will Dylan be able to pull off the ultimate deal of his career and make Serena his forever plan?
Prologue
SERENA
“Do you, Serena Davenport take Stephen ‘O Malley to be your husband, through sickness and health, for better and for worse? Do you promise to cherish him, remain faithful to him for as long as you both shall live?”
Looking at the priest, then back to Steve a smile so big spreads on my face as I say, “I do.”
The love we have for each other shines so bright, as he takes the same vows as me before we slip our wedding rings on each other’s finger.
This is it for me, my happily ever after and I get to spend it with the man who completes me.
“Woohoo, Serena? Hello? Is anybody there?”
Snapping head up from my desk where I totally lost in thoughts of my wedding day, I notice Kelly my assistant standing in the doorway of my office.
“Sorry, Kel. I was miles away, what’s up?” I ask her, blinking back the memories.
“Steve called, I told him you were busy so he asked me to tell you to just meet him at the restaurant when you’re done here.”
“Okay, no worries. Thank you.”
With that she leaves me alone and I go straight back to thoughts of me and Steve.
Tonight, is supposed to be a night for us to rekindle our love, to figure out where it all went wrong.
To be us again.
We were happy once, loved each other more than anything. Only now after being married for several years, things have gone from bad to worse.
Getting stuck back in with a proposal I’m working on, I work the rest of the day uninterrupted and try my best to concentrate on what I’m supposed to be doing. For as much as Steve wanted me to stay at home like the good little wife, I couldn’t do it. Believe me I tried for a while, but I needed something that gave me a purpose.
My independence.
By the time four pm rolls around I’ve had enough for one day. I’m not supposed to be meeting Steve until six pm. So, I decide to pack all my stuff away early and go home to get a shower and change. Hopefully if I put some effort into my appearance tonight then Steve will notice and think I’m more than willing to try and save our marriage.
Hurrying out of the office building, I jump into my car and head for home.
It’s time to pull out all the stops.
Pulling my car up in our drive, I see Steve’s car. He must’ve had the same idea as I had, to freshen up before we go on our date this evening.
Loaded up with all my stuff from work in my arms, I manage to unlock the front door and kick it shut with my foot. As I turn to unload my arms of everything onto the entry table, I notice a pair of women’s shoes at the bottom of the stairs; shoes that aren’t mine.
Quietly, I place everything I’m holding down onto the table and turn to look up the stairs. It’s then I notice the trail of clothes going up the stairs. My heart starts beating furiously as I start to shake. I’m so angry I want to rip Steve’s cock off and feed it to him, but I know that wouldn’t solve anything. If I go up those stairs, I know what I’m going to find and it wouldn’t be the first time, but because I loved him, I had him back. Not this fucking time. We’re done, we have no marriage to save now, he’s just knocked the last nail in the coffin.
Slipping my heels off so they don’t make any noise, I head for the stairs and tip toe up them. It’s once I reach the top that I hear the moans and groans of a woman who’s clearly in the throes of passion.
Standing outside our bedroom door,
I inhale a deep, calming breath.
Don’t do anything stupid, Serena. You don’t want end up getting arrested.
I tell myself a few times before I finally pluck up the courage to open the door. When I do, I get the shock of my life. Steve isn’t just in bed with someone he’s met at work. No.
He’s in bed with the neighbours daughter, who’s riding him like she’s on one of those mechanical bulls. Gives a whole new meaning to a bucking bronco.
Dirty bastard.
Surprising myself further, I don’t scream or yell. Instead I just stand there and wait for them to notice me. When they do, Steve flings the tramp off him so she falls on the floor with a thud.
“Serena, baby. This isn’t what it looks like.”
He climbs on to his knees and crawls across the bed to get to me, naked as the day he was born. Leaving the neighbours daughter groaning on the floor.
“Go to hell, Steve. You’re pathetic.” With them final words I run back out of the bedroom, down the stairs and straight out of the front door.
Fuck this shit.
I’m done.
He didn’t love me, not really; I was just a marriage of convenience for him to get his hands on his trust fund. I wasn’t being taken for a mug anymore. At the ripe old age of twenty-nine, I still had a lot of living ahead and he was suffocating me. I was just someone he married to save him a shit tonne of earache from his stuck up their own arse parents.
For them he’d bend over backwards, for me not so much. He thought the world and the people in it owed him something. His nose was permanently stuck in the air and he wouldn’t even look twice at the lowly common people as he called them.
The only reason I was on his radar was because our parents were friends and had decided from a young age that we would marry. At the time I thought it was the right thing to do. We had grown up together, knew each other inside and out, but all that changed the minute he put a ring on my finger.
So, the day I walked into my divorce lawyers office and filed for divorce, I felt a sense of relief, freedom and finally control overall in my own life. At least I thought so, but then, nothing could have prepared me for Dylan Proctor.
Chapter One
SERENA
Three Months Later
“I swear to god Serena Davenport, if you don’t get your arse out here now, I’m coming in there and dragging you out by your very silky hair.” I hear Bonnie my best friend shout from my living room. The sound of my maiden name being used still gives me a thrill. The minute I walked out that door, I couldn’t wait to get rid of the O’Malley name. If I wanted a job and to make it on my own, then I had to do it without any connections to that douchebag. In our line of work that name carries a lot of weight. No-one would have looked twice at hiring me if they knew who I used to me married to.
Turning to look in my full-length mirror that’s attached to my wardrobe, I run my hands over the material of the tight, electric blue bodycon dress. The one that Bonnie insisted I had to buy when we went shopping. This isn’t me. I’m more of a skinny jeans and converse girl, I don’t do dresses. The only dress I’ve ever worn was my wedding dress, and look how that turned out - disastrous that’s how. I only ever wear trouser suits for work and that’s because I have to.
“I’m still waiting,” the wench chirps up again.
Blowing out a breath, I fluff my auburn hair that has been curled into loose waves, put on another coat of lip-gloss, grab my clutch bag and I’m good to go.
Tottering on my heels, I, oh so slowly make way down the stairs and enter the living space of my two-bedroomed terraced house. I notice that Bonnie is swaying to the music she has blaring from my TV; she has the remote in one hand and what I’m guessing to be a Vodka in the other. The woman doesn’t drink anything else unless there’s shots involved.
Putting my hand to my mouth, I give a fake cough so she knows I’m ready. She spins around so fast; the daft cow almost falls over. I swear to god if we end up in Accident and Emergency tonight, I’m gonna throttle her. Steadying herself, she blows out a whistle.
“Sexy mama. I didn’t know you actually had legs; you keep them covered that much.”
Sarcastic bitch.
“Ha, ha, funny ha, ha, are you ready? I’m far too sober to be wearing this dress out in public.”
“Oh, stop your whining woman, come on let’s get you a drink.”
Making our way into my small, but modern kitchen, Bonnie pulls a glass down from the cupboard and before I know it, I have one very large Gin in my hand.
“Now drink,” she orders. “Tonight, is a celebration. You’re finally a free woman and have the best job. Which might I add you got all on your own merit.”
She’s right, as bloody usual.
Tonight, is a celebration. My divorce was finalised three weeks ago. He agreed to the terms pretty quickly and because I didn’t want anything from him, he signed the papers and let me go.
Getting the job was just a bonus. I never expected to be hired so quickly considering I hadn’t had one in so long. When I showed the executives at the PR company I applied at, my ideas and what I could do, well let’s just say I got the job. I’ve been working for them for the past six weeks. This night out is long overdue, with everything that’s been going on we just haven’t found the time.
Knocking our drinks back, Bonnie pours us both another and just as we’re close to emptying our glasses, there’s a horn peeping outside.
“Drink up, the taxi is here.” Bonnie declares, as she tips her head back and guzzles the remainder of what's left of her vodka. Before slamming her empty glass on the kitchen counter.
“I’m done, let’s go.”
Laughing at my best friend, we both walk out of my flat, stopping quickly to grab my leather jacket from the back of the sofa before heading for the taxi.
Tonight, is about fun, freedom, and friends.
Chapter Two
DYLAN
I yank at the tie that’s knotted around my neck. Loosening it up and open the top button of my shirt giving me space to breathe again. I lean back in my chair and stretch out my stiff body, rubbing my hands over my tired eyes and down my face. Thank fuck it’s Friday and the end of the working week. I can’t wait to go for a few beers, so far, it’s been one thing after another.
I’ve been in advertising for ten years and I run one of the most prestigious companies around. I built this business from the bottom up. I’m my own boss and I like it this way. I’ve never been good with taking orders and discipline anyway.
Every ounce of my time and energy goes into my work. I guess you could say I’m a workaholic, but I have nothing else. There’s no-one to complain that I spend more time at work than I do at home, this is the way I wanted my life. I have friends that have settled down and as long as they’re happy then so am I, but it’s not for me. Every woman I have met has never been up to my standards to want a relationship with. As long as I can empty my sac and go on my way - I’m good. I don’t tell them where I live though. The last thing I need is some whiny clinger banging down my door because I didn’t ring her. Or worse still, telling me they’re pregnant or some shit like that, because that will never happen accidently.
I’m way too controlled for that.
My iPhone pings on my desk with a message. Unlocking the screen, I see it’s from Neil, my best mate.
Meet you in the Tavern later for a few beers. I’m ready to get shitfaced after the week I’ve had.
Neil is one of my friends who isn’t married, but he does have a long-term girlfriend. She’s okay, a bit full of herself, doesn’t like him coming out with me, but she still does shit with her friends. It works out in the end.
I’ll be in about 6:30. I’ll come straight from work - fuck it. I have a few more things to do here and I’ll be leaving.
Skimming the phone across my desk, I look back up to my computer screen and make some notes on my clients files. Another message comes thro
ugh a minute later agreeing with the plan. I finish up some of the contracts up that I need for Monday then shut down my computer for the weekend. I ring through to Sally my assistant telling her to leave for the day and that I’ll be leaving shortly myself.
A freshly dry-cleaned shirt all ready for tonight, is hanging in my office. Taking it down from the hanger, I make my way into the bathroom that’s joined to my office. I’ll admit I went a little overboard when I was choosing office space - but I spend most of my time here. So why not have some luxury at work.
Once I’ve sprayed some deodorant over my body, I get dressed. Then work some wax into my hair and styling it until it’s just right, being the perfectionist that I am of course. Smoothing my palm over the light stubble that’s covering my face, I decide to leave it and go with the rough and ready look. I apply some of my favourite aftershave and rub it over my cheeks and down my neck. Then grab my suit jacket from the back of my chair, throwing it on. Grabbing my briefcase, I head down to the car park. Pressing the fob of my black Mercedes S-class coupe and get in placing my briefcase on the passenger seat.
It’s no secret I have a thing for cars. My last car was an BMW M3 saloon. I’d had that for three years, so it was time for a change. I’ve had this for a six months now and I know soon enough I’ll get bored. Leaning back into the comfort of the leather seats, I put on my seatbelt and listen to the rumble of the engine. Before I pull away from the office, I order a taxi to pick me up from home. I don’t like leaving my baby anywhere, unless it’s at home in the garage. I don’t mind at a mates house, but that’s it. I’m not leaving it on the car park of the tavern, that’s like a thieves paradise.