Something Real

by Allegra Johnson

  * * *

  Something Real

  Allegra Johnson

  * * *

  Copyright © 2019 Allegra Johnson

  All rights reserved.

  ASIN: B07XYDP1YN

  No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without permission in writing from the author except for a reviewer who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  This is a complete work of fiction, based on the whims of the author. Any incidents, names, or situations you think may be related to you are purely coincidental. The use of any company names, products, or slogans by the author are done without permission of the said company and without any endorsement.

  Something Real, Silverton Series 1, contains subject matter that may be uncomfortable for some readers. Those subjects include mental illness, suicide, alcoholism through self-medication, sexual assault, and emotional abuse.

  If you are struggling with your own mental health I strongly urge you to seek help. You are loved and you will be missed. Please, don’t go it alone. People are available to help you.

  National Alliance on Mental Illness - NAMI

  Website: https://www.nami.org/

  Helpline: 1-800-950-6264

  Crisis: TEXT NAMI TO 741741

  National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273- TALK (8255)

  For help outside the United States please contact your local mental illness organizations.

  ♡

  To my girls, who are always there for me . . . especially at my worst.

  ♡

  Chapter 1

  Late February, Silverton.

  They were at bar number three on Ella’s 21st Birthday Bar Crawl and Taylyn was feeling really good as she danced with her two best friends. It was shaping up to be a perfect girls’ night out after a perfectly shitty week. Her boss was an asshole, her boyfriend was being a dick, and her allergies could just suck balls.

  Taylyn shook off the negative thoughts, hooking an arm around each of her girls and hugging them in tight. Raising her voice over the pounding music, she shouted, “I love you guys so much!” She squeezed them tighter. “We should get another drink. I’m thirsty, and it’s Ella’s birthday! Woo-woo, party!” She twirled around and started toward the stairs.

  Ella caught up with her at the staircase, dragging Autumn behind her. “We should do another shot. And maybe hit another bar. This one is kinda lame. There’s a bunch of old people here.”

  Tay laughed at Ella’s wrinkled nose. “Hey, I told you it would be. It’s a sports pub, not a party club. We should head to Providence.” She headed down the stairs.

  Arriving at the bar first, Taylyn ordered a round of Fireballs and turned to face her friends. “I still can’t believe we have a limo for the whole night to take us anywhere. We really should go to Providence, though—the club scene is much better. What do you say? What the—?”

  Taylyn saw red. Trent was over there in the corner playing pool. Not a big deal normally, but the addition of the blonde chick was a huge deal. Especially the way he was grinding up against her when she bent over to take a shot. Trent was her boyfriend, dammit! Or he was supposed to be. Son of a bitch!

  Before she knew it, she found herself yanking Trent away from the blonde and punching his jaw hard enough to knock him off balance. She followed that shot with a gut punch. Just as she raised her right hand, a larger hand covered her own, halting her progress.

  She froze. She didn’t remember walking over there, didn’t remember anything past seeing Trent from across the room. Shit.

  Now the hand that had stopped her was a wall of a brawny man standing in front of her and looking none too happy to be there.

  Fuck.

  The bouncer looked over his shoulder and called out, “Is he all right?” A muffled reply came from behind him. Taylyn peeked around him to see Trent sitting on the floor, cradling his jaw with one hand and clutching his stomach with the other. A feeling of pride swelled in her for just a moment before the bouncer’s voice brought her back to her predicament.

  “Get out of here. Now. And don’t come back.”

  “Yes, sir.” Taylyn turned on her heel and rushed out the door. She could hear Ella yelling in the background and Autumn verbally coaxing Ella out the door while apologizing profusely to everyone in their path.

  The blast of cold air that surrounded her as she left the club was enough to erase the buzz she’d had going but not enough to cool her temper. Taylyn hurried across the street, heading for the limousine on the other side of the public parking lot. Ella and Autumn caught up with her, halting her under the streetlight.

  “What the hell was that?” Ella snapped with a hint of anger in her voice.

  Taylyn supposed she had a right to be angry; this was supposed to be her night, and Taylyn was ruining it. With a sigh and what she hoped was an apologetic face, she said, “I’m sorry, Ella, I don’t know what happened. I saw him there with that bitch, and I guess I lost it. Let’s just get out of here.”

  Ella gave a nonverbal grunt and stomped toward the limo. Shit, she’d fucked up again. When was she going to learn? She needed to stop doing this to herself and to her friends before she lost them too. If she lost Ella and Autumn, there’d be no reason to go on. They were the only ones who cared about her. And she was always fucking up; she needed to get a handle on her temper.

  A soft touch on her hand brought her back to the present. Autumn stood beside her. “It’s not your fault. Trent’s a douchecanoe. You deserve better. Ella will be okay. Just give her another shot.” Autumn smiled.

  “I’m such a fuck up. I don’t deserve anything good, especially you girls.” Taylyn walked away with her head down.

  Emotions battled with every step. She wanted to cry, she wanted to hit something, she wanted to . . . She spotted a baseball bat lying on the ground and picked it up. Taylyn glanced around the parking lot and found Trent’s blue Lexus parked a few rows over. Smiling to herself, she started walking toward the Lexus. Ella’s voice caught her attention; she had joined Autumn just a few feet away.

  “Tay, where are you going?” Ella asked, her voice laced with worry.

  “Batting practice.” Taylyn continued walking toward the car.

  “Tay, NO!” the girls screamed in unison as they hurried to catch up with her.

  “Shit, we’re gonna need bail money,” Ella grumbled.

  Taylyn stalked over to Trent’s car, thinking about how Trent had changed in the past few weeks. She had sensed something was going on. He was distant and had broken two dates. She should have known it was something like this, him cheating. They always cheated. Why was she never good enough? What was wrong with her? Taylyn tightened her grip on the bat, lifted it high above her head, and swung at Trent’s dream car.

  The smashing sound of bat hitting headlight was covered by the sirens of the cops arriving on the scene. Just in time to see the bat shatter the windshield. Taylyn made her way around the Lexus, letting every emotion out with each crack of the bat. Trent had said he loved her. Liar!

  Crash!

  There went the taillight, its red glass in shards at her feet. Shattered into jagged pieces just like her heart. Again.

  Taylyn felt the bat being torn from her grip. A forceful hand touched the center of her back, and she was bent over the trunk of the car. Her tears finally fell as the officer went through the arrest procedure. The chill of the cuffs binding her wrists behind her back was almost routine. No, she didn’t have any other weapons. Yes, she understood her rights.

  Through blurry eyes, she saw her girls standing on the sidelines watching everything. Taylyn could only think of how she’d fucked up again. This had to be the last time. There was no way Ella and Autumn were going to
forgive her. This was it; she was all alone and only had herself to blame.

  ♡

  Ella stood with her arm around Autumn’s shoulder, watching as the officer led Taylyn to the back of his car and helped her inside. This sucked. “Well, I guess the party is over.”

  “Yeah, it’s all fun and games until the cops show up.” Autumn sighed. “Poor Tay. You know she’s beating herself up, right?”

  “I know. Do you think they’ll let us talk to her? Before they leave?” She was already walking to the cruiser, leaving Autumn to catch up to her. “Excuse me, Officer. Um, can I just speak to Tay for a second? Please?”

  The officer turned a kind face to Ella. “Sure, come on.” He led the girls to the side of the car and opened the door.

  Taylyn’s head was bowed, her shoulders slumped and trembling. There was sniffle followed by a quiet groan. Ella knew Taylyn was berating herself. She had to let her know they were there for her, that her girls would always be there for her. “It’s gonna be all right. We’re here for you. Always. You know that.” Ella bent down, reached into the car with one arm, and side hugged her best friend. “We love ya, Tay. Everything is gonna be okay, I promise.” She placed a kiss on Taylyn’s wet cheek and pulled away.

  Turning to face the officer, Ella asked, “Will there be bail? Do you know how much?”

  “I’m sure the magistrate will set bail, but I’m not sure how much.” He reached into the chest pocket of his uniform. “Here’s my card. Give me a call in a few hours. I’ll know more then.”

  Chapter 2

  Meanwhile in California . . .

  “So, are you all set for the move next week?” Declan set a beer down in front of his friend James.

  “Yeah, the doctor at the VA gave me a referral for a doctor out there, and the paperwork for my change of address has been filed.”

  “Good. How're the nightmares? Any better with the new medication?”

  James shook his head, took a long drink of his beer, then shrugged. “Not really. It’s still early yet. We’re giving it a few more weeks before we try something else. Well, I guess the new doctor will try something else if this doesn’t work.”

  “Damn, that sucks.”

  “Yeah, but what am I going to do? How is your knee doing? I noticed you haven’t worn the brace in the past few days.”

  “It’s getting there. I’ll always have a limp, but at least I can lose the cane and brace now. I’ll never play football again.” He tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

  “That dude should have been fined or suspended or eliminated from the draft. Fuck! That was a dirty hit, and he walked away without even getting a penalty.”

  “Right, but what am I gonna do?” Declan threw James’s words back at him.

  Declan thought the same thing. Higgins should have had some punishment for the hit. He would have been satisfied with a penalty flag for roughing the quarterback, but he didn’t even get that. Higgins was high-fiving his teammates on the sidelines as Declan was getting carted off with a career-ending injury. His dream had been shattered along with his kneecap on that cold December day.

  But was that really his dream? He couldn’t be sure. His dad had pushed football on him since he could hold a ball. All his father had talked about was how Declan was going to be a pro someday. He was going to be the next Tom Brady. Declan didn’t know how to tell him that wasn’t his dream, so he just went along with it. Declan’s real dream was a quiet life in his hometown with a certain blue-eyed blonde angel and a house filled with children. Maybe now he could get a chance at that dream. Declan shook off his negative thoughts with a long drink of beer.

  Turning his attention back to his best friend, he could tell James was overthinking again. It was in the way he picked at the label on his bottle of Bud Light, the furrow of his brow, and the slight nod every few minutes. It appeared James was not doing as well as he claimed. Declan cleared his throat. “What’s up, bro?”

  James met Declan’s gaze and shrugged. “I don’t know. Just thinking maybe I shouldn’t stay in Silverton. Maybe I should come back here—”

  “Come on, dude, we talked about this. You admitted you have nothing keeping you here. It’s gonna be a good thing, a fresh start. For both of us.”

  “What if it doesn’t work out?”

  “What if it does? You’ll never know if you don’t try. Look, I get it you’re nervous, but think of the possibilities. You already have a job and housing. You have a referral to continue your treatment. You’ll get away from this city and all the problems that come with it.”

  “Yeah, okay. You’re right.”

  James didn’t sound very convincing. Declan didn’t want to push the issue any further; he knew if he did James would shut down completely, and that was never good. James would get lost in the memories that haunted him.

  “You ready for me to kick your ass in Madden?”

  James’s voice shook Declan from his thoughts. “Bring it, bro!”

  “Loser buys the pizza?”

  “You know it!”

  And just like that, it was a typical night of video games and take out. Just two guys ignoring their problems with beer and friendly competition.

  ♡

  Declan checked his phone while James paid the delivery driver. Scrolling through his newsfeed, he saw a video posted by a friend back home. Within moments he was on his feet yelling at the small screen.

  “No no no! Oh shit. Dammit, Tay!”

  “What’s up?”

  Declan collapsed on the couch and held his phone out to James. A few moments later he heard a muffled laugh and turned to look at his friend. “What’s so funny?”

  “She’s got a hell of a left hook.”

  “Did you see the part where the cops showed up? Not funny, dude.”

  “I know that’s not funny, but judging from the comment by . . . uh, Ella? Looks like the jerk had it coming.” James shrugged then handed the phone back to Declan.

  Declan hadn’t even looked at the comments. All he saw was the wounded look in Taylyn’s eyes when she was being led to the cruiser. He watched the video play again, studying her every move. She did have a good left hook. The way she swung the bat was reminiscent of her multiple record-breaking year on the girls’ varsity softball team. Declan looked down at the comments and found the one from Ella.

  ‘Trent Miller is a cheating DOUCHECANOE!!!!’

  Okay, so he did have it coming. Declan sifted through his memory, trying to remember Trent. Was he the JV quarterback?

  “The girl in the video—she’s the one you like, right? Guess this means she’s single now.”

  “Yah, that’s my Tay.” Only she wasn’t his, at least not yet.

  Declan tapped on his text messages and composed a text to Autumn. He needed to find out what was going on and knew Autumn would have the answers.

  Declan: Hey

  Autumn: you saw the video?

  Declan: Yah

  Declan: Is she okay?

  Declan: Do you need money for her bail?

  Autumn: Probably not. IDK about bail.

  Declan: LMK if you need money. Want me to send some just in case?

  Autumn: No. Just wait. Will let you know.

  Autumn: G2G Ella needs me.

  What the hell was he going to do? Nothing. There was nothing he could do on the other side of the country. Two more weeks and he’d be back home. Then he could do something. He had an almost three-thousand-mile drive ahead of him to formulate a plan. The end goal: Taylyn. His Taylyn for real, not just in his dreams.

  “Hey, earth to Declan.”

  The sound of James’s voice broke his thoughts. “What?”

  “I asked why you and Tay were never a couple.”

  “I didn’t date much in high school. I was busy with football August through December, and she was never single during the off season.” Declan shrugged.

  “So, you met her in high school?”

  “Nah. I met her in middle school.” Decl
an laughed at the memory of the day. “It was at Autumn's birthday party, a costume party. Tay went as an angel. She’s been my blue-eyed angel ever since.”

  Declan smiled as a few scattered memories came to mind. Taylyn may have dressed as an angel, but there was always a bit of devil to her. Like the one time when she beat up a bully right in front of the principal’s office. Declan used to love watching her play softball, and he often wondered why she never got a sports scholarship out of it. The last he heard, Taylyn was taking night classes at the community college back home. Declan felt a pang of regret that always came when he thought about Taylyn. He wondered again why he could never get the courage to ask her out. He always said it was because of football, but the bigger obstacle was his fear of being rejected by his dream girl. Declan sighed.