by Rhea Wilde
Table of Contents
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
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
TRUE DESIRES
(NEW DAWN)
—————
RHEA WILDE
PUBLISHED BY RHEA WILDE, 2017
Copyright © 2017 Rhea Wilde.
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. All persons appearing on the cover are models and being used for illustrative purposes only.
About True Desires and the New Dawn
True Desires is a part of the New Dawn series. New Dawn is a banner label for my newer titles. All New Dawn titles take place in the city of New Gardens during the same summer.
Each book is a standalone novel. There are no cliffhangers. They can be read together or individually, in any order.
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Table of Contents
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
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Epilogue: A New Dawn
Author’s Note
Special Offers
Chapter 1
I’m in love.
I’m in love with the most amazing guy I’ve ever met in my life. He’s everything I’ve ever wanted and more. Handsome. Talented. Intelligent. Charming. Funny.
Before I’d even met him, I admired him from afar. I thought he was the hottest guy I’d ever seen in my life. When I finally got a chance to meet him, I thought I’d faint right there on the spot. When we started dating… I couldn’t put it into words.
It wasn’t that long ago when our relationship began. Ever since he came into my life, it always felt like he was a part of it.
I know I’m one of the lucky ones. The person of my dreams is with me. Most people don’t even get a chance to be with that special someone. Some people get that chance but they have to wait a long time. I don’t know why or how or what I did to deserve this. All I know is I’m happy and I’m in love.
Today is different from every other day I’d been in love. Today is special. I don’t know why. I already feel it in the air though. The anticipation is building inside of me to the point that I can’t stomach it…
* * *
“Sheila!”
A voice rang in my ears. Above the sound of the traffic, the birds and the people around me, a loud, familiar voice danced through the air and into my head.
“Sheila!”
The voice echoed again but I ignored it. My eyes closed, I inhaled a deep breath. The odd smell of exhaust, summer foliage and aromatic food I couldn’t quite identify flooded my nostrils and filled me with a sense of childlike wonder.
“Sheila! What are you doing?”
I sighed again before slowly opening my eyes. My friend stared at me with a confused look on her face, her hands up in the air as she waited for a response.
“You need to hurry. You’re gonna be late.”
“I’ve still got a few more minutes,” I responded. “I just needed a moment to take this all in.”
“What? This?”
She turned her head around and looked at all of the buildings around us.
“You’ve been here before,” she said. “It’s the city. It’s downtown. How many concerts have we seen down here?”
“I know. It’s just… It’s different now.”
“It’s the same city. We’re still in New Gardens.”
“Right. But this is different.”
She tugged on my arm and I finally started to walk with her along the sidewalk. As we avoided the pedestrians too busy to watch where they were going, I tried to explain to her what I felt.
“How long have we known each other?” I asked.
“Fifth-grade,” she said with a shrug. “So I guess about seven years or something.”
“Right. We’ve known each other since elementary school. Then junior high. Then high school. All that time we’ve lived with our parents. We’ve been stuck in the suburbs our entire lives.”
“When you put it like that, it sounds kinda miserable.”
“I wouldn’t call it miserable. But we were just kids. Now we’re not kids anymore.”
I stopped in my tracks and turned to her. She looked around awkwardly as the human traffic on the sidewalk was forced to make their way around us.
“We’re adults now,” I said. “We’re not in high school any longer. Freedom. That’s what this is.”
I held my arms out as if I were trying to display the entire city to her. I imagined how ridiculous I looked, considering how reaching and sprawling some of the buildings were but I couldn’t do much more to get my point across.
“Look around us,” I continued. “We’re in New Gardens. The real New Gardens. This isn’t just heading downtown to go to some concert. No, this can be home now if we want it to be.”
She stared back at me with that same puzzled look on her face she had for the past few minutes.
“All right, Sheila,” she sighed. “Whatever you say.”
“All right, Penny,” I said mockingly. “You’ll understand one day.”
We both shook our heads then shared a laugh. Penny and I had gotten along ever since we met each other. I didn’t choose her as my best friend. Just like I didn’t choose him. It was just meant to be.
We kept walking down the sidewalk toward our destination. Every street corner looked identical to the last.
“Maybe you should have asked for better directions,” Penny said to me.
“I just need to find the landmark…”
“Landmark? Everything street here looks the same. Look at these buildings. Watson. Barnett. Zara. They’re all as big and identical as the next. How the hell does anybody find their way around here?”
“You’ll learn,” I told her. “Time and experience and you’ll learn.”
I looked at the directions in my notes and shove
d it back into the pocket before finally taking Penny down the street with me.
“Have you figured out what this is all about?” she asked.
“I haven’t really thought too much about it.”
I was lying. Ever since he asked me to meet with him, there was nothing else I could think about. Even in my dreams, I imagined all of the things he had planned for me. All of the things he had planned for us.
“It must be a pretty big deal if he asked you to come all the way out here.”
“Maybe. He only told me a few days ago and like I said, I haven’t been overthinking it.”
“Let’s see…”
Penny turned around to face me and walked backward as we continued on our way.
“Maybe he wants you to move in with him,” she said.
“Maybe,” I said with a shrug, trying to pretend how indifferent I was to everything.
“Maybe he got a really cool job and wants to celebrate with you.”
I didn’t say anything. Any more speculation would have just made me more excited than I already was. I didn’t want to have to contain myself.
“Maybe today’s the day…”
Penny stopped in her tracks. I turned and stared at her.
“What?” I said.
“You know… Maybe he wants to…”
She raised her eyebrows at me, a devilish little smile on her lips finally forced me to burst into a laugh.
“Oh, please. That’s already been over and done with.”
“What?” she exclaimed. “When was that?”
“Do you want to hear about every time?”
“That many times? I always knew you were a slut.”
“Oh, shut up! Prom, okay? His prom was the first night.”
“Prom? But you said you didn’t—”
“I said I didn’t because I wanted to keep that between the two of us. It was a special moment.”
“So special you had to do it again. How many times since then? Wait, don’t answer that. I’m not sure if I want to know.”
I stood there and stared at my friend, waiting for her to finish. I’d gotten used to Penny teasing me. It was just her way of showing me she cared. Besides, it wasn’t something I was ashamed of.
“And I thought I knew you. Any other secrets you’ve been keeping from me?”
“None. Now let’s get going. We’ve been out here for so long I think the sun is about to go down. I know where we’re supposed to go.”
We continued making our way down the street. I didn’t know how long we’d walked. I suppose I should have been tired but the anticipation of what was about to happen distracted me from everything else.
“I get it,” Penny said suddenly.
“Get what?”
“How big of a deal this is. It was only a matter of time.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’ve seen it all. I mean besides the fact that you were doing the dirty behind my back—”
“Penny…”
“But… I was there since the beginning. I saw the way he looked at you. I saw the way he acted when you guys would walk down the halls holding hands. Even the way you guys made out…”
“You watched us make out?”
“Not every time but it’s not like it was something I was looking for.”
“Okay…”
“The point is you guys were in love from the very first moment. He was perfect. Captain of the football team. Straight-A student. Class president. He was friends with every guy. Every girl wanted to be with him. He could have had anybody. I bet at the university, girls are throwing themselves at him—”
“Don’t remind me,” I said as I put my head down and stared at the pavement.
“He chose you from the beginning. He stuck with you. He’s the one. I think that’s it.”
“What’s it?”
“That’s why he asked you to come here. He wants to make you Mrs. Taurus.”
“Ah, come on. I really doubt it.”
I brushed off her comments with a shrug. Out of all the things dancing in my head, there was nothing I could want more. I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to talk about it either. The anticipation was already too much for me to handle.
“Think about it. He’s been away in college for a while now. He’s an adult, as you would put it. You finished high school and you’re on your way to college. You both have the freedom to be your own people. No more parents. No more small bedrooms. No more curfews. You’re ready to be your own person. You guys are together. You guys are meant to be. It just… It makes too much sense.”
I stopped in my tracks and looked up at her. The obnoxious grin she usually had was gone. Her words were heartfelt. I could see something in her eyes that told me so.
“You’re in love,” she said.
“Yeah,” I whispered under my breath. “I know.”
I shared a moment with my best friend. Despite all of the traffic and loud conversations and other ungodly noises, they all seemed distant. The blazing hot sun continued to beat down on us but I couldn’t feel it. It was finally starting to sink in. Whatever I was heading for, it was going to change my life. It was a new chapter.
I wasn’t quite sure how to feel. Nervous. Excited. Anxious. Even a little bit frightened. The only thing I knew for sure was I was going to go through with it.
We continued on our way, not exchanging words any longer. There was nothing more that needed to be said. A few minutes later, we finally arrived at our destination.
“What an odd place,” Penny commented.
I looked up at the sign. Up above there was an ancient-looking sign that said ‘COFFEE’ on it. The paint had rubbed off long ago. The nails that held it up looked like they had rusted into the wall they hung from.
“Why do you think he picked a place like this?” Penny asked.
“I don’t know. I’m sure he has a reason.”
It was a small coffee shop in the middle of the city. It was hard to spot. Even if you were walking right by it, you wouldn’t know it was there.
I could barely see inside of the dusty windows. There were a few customers inside that gave some indication the place was open at least.
But I didn’t need to try and figure out what was going on any longer.
I saw him walking from across the street. A plain red t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans that fit perfectly on him. The physique he had from playing football in high school only improved after a year. His shirt draped over his wide shoulders and down to the tapered waist underneath.
His brown hair was messy. It was always messy. He always looked like he needed a haircut. That’s what I used to say anyway. At this point, I’d gotten used to it. He joked about combing his hair with his hand and that was enough. There was a certain sense of uniformity to the chaos that was always there.
“Sheila!”
He called out to me as he made his way toward us. He moved closer to us and I looked up at him and smiled. I greeted him with a hug. My head buried into his chest. It always forced a sigh out of me, especially when we had been away from each other for a long time.
But as I squeezed him, I noticed something strange. He hugged me back but something was missing. I couldn’t explain it. Something was off.
I pulled away from him and the look in his blue eyes didn’t ease any of my concerns. He had fair skin, so his eyes always seemed that much more striking.
“All right,” Penny said, interrupting the two of us. “You two don’t do anything stupid now. Sheila, I’ll be down the street. Just give me a call when you’re done, if you’re ever done.”
“Yeah,” I responded with a half-smile, my mind still occupied.
I watched Penny walk down the street and disappear into the sea of people before turning back to him.
“Thanks for seeing me,” he said.
“Of course. I wanted to see you.”
I tried to hide the strange vibe I was getting from him as he pulled out a cha
ir for me. He took a seat across from me and the two of us basked underneath the warm sun.
“It’s strange,” I said as I looked up at one of the skyscrapers. “No matter how long I stare at it, I don’t think I could ever get used to it. That building is massive. Why would you even need a building that tall?”
“I don’t know,” he responded. “Maybe you should ask the Barnett people or whoever it is that owns that building.”
“Yeah.”
I turned back to him. There was a slight smile on his face. I was reminded of how handsome he was. He was always handsome. But he looked different now. There was something about college that made him seem more attractive. It was a maturity on his face I couldn’t quite describe.
The beads of sweat began to build on his forehead. He wiped them away and swallowed.
“Do you want something?” I said, beginning to get up from my chair. “Let me get you a drink—”
“No,” he said as he put his hand up to stop me from getting up. “I’m fine. Please.”
I sat back down. I was still confused. But an ominous feeling of doubt started to rumble in my stomach. I wanted to ignore it but I couldn’t.
“I needed to talk to you,” he sighed. “It’s not something I could tell you over the phone.”
“Right. That’s okay. I wanted to see you anyway. It’s been a few months.”
“Yeah, I’m sorry it’s been so long.”
“That’s all right. You’re busy with school. Me, too. But with graduation out of the way, I’ll have a ton of free time and…”
My words trailed off. He had his hands on the table and he was just staring at them. He wasn’t looking at me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He didn’t respond. I still had no idea what was going on. But the feeling in the pit of my stomach was only getting worse. A small hole was beginning to open up inside of me. All of the excitement I had just a few minutes ago was being swallowed up.
“Lee…”
I reached out and put my hand on his.
“Sheila…”
He didn’t look up at me as he spoke. I could hear the hesitation in his voice. I knew there was something there. There were words stuck in his throat.
