Furious

by R. L. Mathewson

  She’d spent the last two months of her pregnancy spoiling the kids, setting up the nursery, and falling asleep in her office at Shadow House when she over did it. Grey had put her in charge of therapeutic activities at Shadow House and he’d honestly never seen Sloane happier. She was an amazing mom, so damn kind and patient with the kids, and she was so much more than he could have ever hoped for.

  “How’s training going?” the woman that had him wrapped around her little finger asked, pausing by his side so that she could lean up and kiss his jaw.

  “Good,” Chase murmured absently as he watched her check on Lucas, who was still sound asleep, snoring softly as his tiny hand wrapped around his teddy bear’s leg while Chase’s gaze slowly took in his wife’s incredible body and he was forced to remind himself that they still had a few more weeks before he could show her just how much he loved her.

  “There’s someone here to see you,” Sloane said as she leaned down and kissed Lucas’s cheek.

  “Oh, yeah?” he murmured, shifting his attention to the woman who looked vaguely familiar as she placed the toddler in her arms on the ground.

  “Can I help you?” Chase asked with a smile for the little boy who was staring at the scar on the side of his face.

  “You don’t remember us, do you?” the woman asked, drawing his attention back to find her watching him.

  “I’m sorry. I’m afraid that I don’t,” Chase said even as he tried to figure out why she looked so familiar.

  Nodding, she said, “My name is Sarah and this little guy is my son, Aidan,” gesturing to the little boy watching him shyly. “And this is Chase,” she said with a warm smile as she looked down at the toddler holding her hand. “He’s named after the firefighter that saved us,” Sarah said, making him frown as he looked back at her face, trying to figure out where he knew her from and…

  Felt the air leave him in a rush.

  “We wanted to come thank you sooner, but we were told that you were having a hard time and that it might be better to wait,” Sarah said, only to pause as she considered her next words while Sloane reached over and took his trembling hand in hers. “I wanted to thank you for trying to save my little boys. You didn’t have to go back in that fire, but…” she began only to have her voice break as the first tear rolled down her face.

  “I’m sorry,” Sarah said, shaking her head as she struggled to hold it together. Before the next tear escaped, Chase was reaching for her and did the one thing that he’d wanted to do since he woke up from that coma.

  He pulled her into his arms and held her.

  A Sneak Peek from Destroyed: An Anger Management Novel

  Prologue

  There was so much blood, Grey thought, feeling numb as he stood there, staring down at the floor as he felt the gun pulled from his hand.

  This never should have happened, he thought as the words, “You are under arrest,” had him closing his eyes and slowly exhaling.

  Chapter 1

  Emerald, Florida

  6 Months Earlier…

  “Someone’s been a very bad boy,” Nikki mumbled with a sad shake of her head as she paused the video playing on her phone so that she could make another note.

  Once she was done, she unpaused the video, cringed, winced, and shook her head with a heavy sigh as she reached down and grabbed her drink, taking a sip only to mumble, “That’s just sad,” when the man that she was being paid two hundred dollars an hour to follow was forced to stop screwing his secretary over his desk so that he could catch his breath and

  “Umm, Nikki?” someone said, drawing her attention to find the rest of the support group that she’d found this morning after a quick five-minute Google search, watching her.

  “Yeah?” she mumbled absently as she made another note.

  “It’s your turn to share,” the therapist that was in way over her head on this one said.

  “Share what?” Nikki asked, not really looking forward to going back into that office to retrieve her cameras.

  Not after what she saw Mr. Marks do on that couch.

  Maybe she should just write off the loss? Nikki wondered, making another note.

  “The reason why you’re here,” came the heavily sighed response.

  “You really don’t want to know why I’m here,” Nikki said, shooting off a quick email to Mrs. Marks to tell her that she had everything that she needed.

  “That’s why we’re here, Nikki. To share and learn from each other,” Barbara or was it Cindy? she couldn’t remember, said.

  “Porn addiction,” Nikki said absently, giving her phone a pointed wiggle as she mentally calculated the bill.

  “I think it would be helpful if you participated,” the woman that she was really hoping would sign off on her sheet so that she could finally get out of the therapy requirements that a certain stubborn therapist added to her court-ordered community service, said.

  “I’m not sure that would be a good idea,” Nikki said even as she put her phone away and focused on the group with a resigned sigh because this was why she was here after all, wasn’t it?

  When the therapist, who proudly wore a large name tag with the name Cindy written in pink marker and tiny hearts, noted the move, she sent Nikki an approving smile as she said, “Why don’t you tell us about yourself?”

  Instead of answering her, Nikki pointed towards the ceiling. “Are those cameras on?”

  Frowning, Cindy followed the move and said, “There aren’t any cameras in here.”

  “There are cameras in here?” the nervous middle-aged man sitting across from Nikki demanded with an accusing glare at the therapist that really should have signed off on her sheet when she had the chance.

  “No, there aren’t any–” Cindy began to say but since that wouldn’t exactly work for Nikki, she cut her off with a solemn nod and a conspiratorial whispered, “They’re everywhere.”

  “Oh, god…” the guy said, throwing panicked looks every which way as he got to his feet and stumbled back.

  “Please, John, everything is–”

  “Did you hear that?” Nikki asked, frowning as she shifted her focus to the woman sitting next to her.

  “Hear what?” the woman asked as she hugged her purse tightly against her chest.

  Frowning, Nikki slowly glanced over her shoulder to stare at the wall behind her. “I thought I heard…” she said, letting her words trail off before adding, “Never mind.”

  “I think we’re getting off track here,” Cindy said with a hint of desperation making her words sound strained at the end there and letting Nikki know that it was only a matter of time before this was finally over.

  Nodding, Nikki said, “You’re right. Where was I?”

  “You were telling us about yourself,” Cindy said with a warm smile, looking really fucking relieved.

  “My name is Nikki,” she said, pausing when the rest of the group, except for the two members currently racing toward the door, said, “Welcome, Nikki.”

  “What brought you here today?” Cindy asked as Nikki glanced around the group, debating her next move only to bite back a sigh when she spotted the man discreetly pulling a small bottle of hand sanitizer from his pocket.

  She was going to hell, Nikki thought as she cleared her throat, coughed into her hand, cleared her throat loudly again before she moved onto scratching her arm. “Is anyone else itchy? God, I hope I’m not coming down with leprosy,” she said, sighing heavily only to follow that up with a quietly murmured, “Does that look like a rash to you?”

  “Perhaps it would be better if you came back when you were feeling better,” Cindy murmured absently with a helpless sigh as she watched three more group members race for the door.

  “I would. I really would, but my parole officer was pretty adamant about me getting my sheet singed today,” Nikki said with a sad shake of her head as she pulled out her sheet only to narrow her eyes on Cindy when the other woman mumbled, “I can’t sign that.”

  “And why’s that?�
�� Nikki drawled as she took in the panicked expression on the therapist’s face, the way that she sent a wistful look at the piece of paper in Nikki’s hand, letting her know that she really wished that she could sign it, and the way that her small shoulders finally dropped in defeat.

  “Grey,” was all Cindy said, but then again, that’s all she needed to say to let Nikki know that she’d underestimated a certain therapist.

  *-*-*-*

  “So, I’ve been thinking about our last conversation,” came the thoughtfully murmured words that had Grey biting back a groan when he realized that he’d fallen asleep in his office, again.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, opening his eyes to find the woman determined to make his life a living hell sitting across from him, considering him with a thoughtful expression on her face as she absently nibbled on what looked like a double-chocolate donut.

  “Wondering what it’s going to take to get you to remove your therapy recommendation from my sheet,” Nikki murmured absently as she scrolled through her phone as she continued to nibble on her donut.

  “Probably you actually showing up for your therapy sessions,” Grey said, biting back a sigh as he sat up on his couch and rubbed his hands roughly down his face.

  “That’s going to be a problem,” Nikki said as she finished off the donut and reached for the large coffee resting on top of a stack of patient files that he’d stayed up all night reviewing as he stood up and headed for his private bathroom.

  “Why’s that?” Grey asked as he closed the bathroom door behind him and headed for the toilet.

  “Because I don’t have time for therapy,” came the muffled answer from the other side of the door while he relieved himself.

  “Make the time,” Grey said as he contemplated taking a quick shower, but one look at his watch let him know that he didn’t have time.

  Wondering where his first appointment was, he washed his hands and face, brushed his teeth, and combed his hair before grabbing a clean shirt and–

  Fucking sighed when the pain in the ass that was doing her best to piss him off walked into the bathroom and hopped up on the bathroom counter with a heartfelt sigh. “That’s not really an option.”

  “Get out,” he said, not really surprised when she ignored him.

  “I don’t need therapy,” Nikki said as she picked up his deodorant and held it out to him as she took her time, taking in his bathroom.

  “And your anger issues?” Grey asked, watching as she quickly took in the large Celtic tattoo on his chest before moving on.

  “Help me deal with rush hour traffic,” she said, shrugging it off as she took a sip of her coffee.

  “They also landed you in jail,” Grey said, plucking the coffee out of her hand and took a sip as he headed back into his office, deciding that she owed him for all the bullshit that she’d put him through over the past year.

  Every day for the past year, she’d gone to great depths to piss him off so that he would sign off on her sheet and every day, he ignored her. If she’d just showed up for her therapy sessions she’d be done by now, but the woman was determined to get out of them. Until she completed her therapy hours, she was stuck volunteering here at Shadow House, the trauma center that he’d helped create to help people that needed help rebuilding their lives.

  Speaking of which…

  “How did you convince the judge to extend your community service?” Grey asked, plucking the white bakery bag off the coffee table on his way to his desk.

  “Called in a favor,” Nikki said, shrugging it off as she followed him back into his office and…

  Hopped up onto his desk and plucked the coffee back out of his hand, took a sip and placed it on top of his laptop.

  God, she was a pain in his ass, Grey thought as he pulled a glazed donut out of the bag and took a bite only to glare at the woman that was testing his patience when she plucked it out of his hand. “It would be so much easier for everyone involved if you just signed my sheet,” she said with a tragic sigh and a sad shake of her head as she pulled out her phone and frowned down at whatever she saw as she nibbled on the donut.

  “You need therapy,” he pointed out, stealing the donut back and finished it off as he shifted his attention to his schedule for the day.

  “I really don’t, though,” Nikki said, sounding bored as she climbed off his desk and made her way back to the couch.

  “You kneed a guy in the balls in front of a judge,” Grey said as he found himself watching her, wondering just how long she was willing to drag this out before she accepted the fact that she wasn’t getting out of this.

  “He had it coming,” Nikki said, not really sounding all that concerned as she grabbed her bag off the couch.

  “You don’t see that as a problem?” Grey asked, leaning back in his chair as he watched her, taking in her long dark hair pulled up into a messy bun, the black T-shirt and tight-fitting jeans that she wore and the–

  “I thought I asked you to stop wearing your gun in the center,” Grey said when he spotted the ankle holster outlined beneath her pant leg.

  “Did you?” Nikki asked, pursing her lips up thoughtfully.

  “Yes.”

  “Are you sure? Because I’m pretty sure that I would have remembered that conversation,” Nikki said absently as she focused back on her phone.

  “You don’t remember the part where I told you that I would kick you out of Shadow House and send a report to the judge that you violated the terms of your court-ordered community service?” Grey drawled, watching her quickly text something as he waited for a reaction that he already knew that he wasn’t going to get.

  “You’re not going to do that,” Nikki said as she slid her phone in her back pocket and headed for the door.

  “And why’s that?”

  “Because you’re not going to risk losing the best part of your day,” Nikki said, shooting him a wink as she left, leaving him sitting there wondering what the hell he was going to do with her.

  A Sneak Peek from

  Misunderstood

  A Neighbor from Hell YA Novel

  Chapter 1

  Twenty Years Earlier…

  “Yeah, I’m not doing it,” Sebastian said as he stared down at his mother’s latest attempt to…

  Well, he wasn’t exactly sure what it was supposed to be, but he knew that he didn’t want to put the gray-greenish, crumbling, oozing substance in his mouth. But the problem was that he’d been dared by his brothers, who were both standing next to him, pointing flashlights on the gooey mess as they took turns poking it with a spoon because none of them wanted to touch it with their bare hands.

  “Then you forfeit,” Jonathan, his brother and the reason that they were all down here, said with a satisfied sigh as he reached over and plucked the iPad that their mother let Sebastian borrow, out of his hands.

  “Wait. I want a turn!” Mathew said loudly, earning a glare, which was the only warning that he was going to get if he got them in trouble.

  “You weren’t in on this,” Jonathan pointed out.

  “It was implied!” Mathew hissed as he pushed the sleeves of his Scooby-Doo pajamas up, slowly exhaled, picked up the spoon and dug in and right before they had a chance to see if their little brother would survive, they heard it.

  The sound of a door opening.

  “Go!” Sebastian mouthed to his brother as they both slapped their hands over their little brother’s mouth, grabbed an arm and pulled him toward the back stairs.

  “The brownies!” Jonathan whispered, making him frown until he remembered the gray mess they’d left on the counter.

  Knowing just how badly this would end if their parents caught them out of bed, Sebastian released his hold on his little brother and mouthed, “Go!” before making his way back to the mess that he never would have guessed was brownies, slapped the foil on top of the pan, carried it back to the fridge, and slid it back onto the bottom shelf next to the brown mush that his mother had claimed was macaroni and
cheese. As soon as he was done, Sebastian clicked the flashlight off and headed back toward the stairs.

  In seconds, he was racing up the stairs, down the hallway, and sneaking into his room where he plucked the iPad out of his brother’s hands before climbing out their bedroom window with a satisfied sigh.

  “Oh, come on!” Jonathan, who just happened to be afraid of heights, hissed while he blindly reached out as Sebastian crouched down on the small roof outside their bedroom window.

  “Oh, is this what you wanted?” Sebastian asked innocently as he held up their mother’s iPad just out of reach of his brother’s mad grab.

  “It’s my turn,” Jonathan said with a murderous glare as he leaned out the window another inch, but sadly, that just wasn’t going to do it.

  “You’re right,” Sebastian said, nodding solemnly even as he shifted on the roof so that he could glance at their sister’s window to make sure that they hadn’t woken her up.

  “So, you’re going to give it to me?” Jonathan asked, making Sebastian shake his head with a disappointed sigh because really, his brother of all people should know better.

  “I would. I really would, but then, how would you learn?” Sebastian asked, returning his attention back to the iPad in his hands and pulled up Radcliffe Academy’s homepage, curious about the classes they were offering this fall.

  “You could have just said no,” Jonathan said with a resigned sigh as he returned to the safety of their room.

  “I could have,” Sebastian said, shooting his brother a wink as he stuffed the iPad inside his sweatshirt.

  “Just don’t drop it. I want to check out the extracurriculars they offer before tomorrow,” Jonathan said as he grabbed a book off their desk and dropped down on the bottom bunk where he would most likely fall asleep before Sebastian came back.

  “I won’t,” Sebastian said, chuckling as he slowly made his way past his sister’s window.

  As soon as he came to the edge of the roof, Sebastian lowered himself to the next level and made his way to the chimney where he spent most of his time reading to get a break from his family. He loved them, he truly did, but sometimes he just wanted to sit back with a book and lose himself for a little while. Since they were all afraid of heights, this worked out well for him.