Bad Boy Rebound

by J. A. Templeton

  BAD BOY REBOUND

  by

  J.A. Templeton

  Bad Boy Rebound by J.A. Templeton

  Copyright © 2014 Julia Templeton

  ISBN: 978-1-939863-11-9

  This book is a work of fiction. Characters and events portrayed in this book are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.

  Cover Photo by Korie Nicole Photography

  Cover Illustration by Wicked Smart Designs

  Editing by Wendy Chan

  Formatting by Gail Northman Lasting Impressions eBook Creations

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  EPILOGUE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  OTHER BOOKS

  CHAPTER 1

  Ross Sullivan was the asshole to beat all assholes.

  The man I’d wasted seven years of my life over.

  Seven fucking years.

  From the moment I’d locked eyes with him across a crowded room at my college roommate’s welcoming party, I didn’t stand a chance. Not with his athlete’s body, mesmerizing brown eyes, and thick sandy blond hair. That had been our third week of freshman year at Arizona State. After our very first date, we’d become a couple.

  Until five seconds ago when my world came crashing down on me with the words, “There is someone else. Someone I’ve fallen in love with.”

  A knife to the heart would have had as much impact as that statement. I had to lock my knees before they buckled. “I don’t understand. We’ve been engaged for three years, and not once did you tell me that you were unhappy,” I said, my voice hinting at desperation.

  “Amanda, I didn’t mean for it to happen.”

  “Who is she?”

  Ross shifted on his feet. “Candace Newberg.”

  “Newberg…as in your boss’s daughter?”

  His silence confirmed my suspicions. I had seen Candace at the Newberg & Associates Christmas party last year. The tall, gorgeous seventeen-year-old had been personable and outgoing. I hadn’t considered for a second that her overly sweet demeanor had to do with the fact that she had been fucking my fiancé behind my back.

  Oh my God. Not only was I being dumped, but I was being dumped for someone younger than me.

  Maybe if I had a rich daddy, was a few inches taller, and dyed my blonde hair red, then I’d be good enough for him. Asshole…

  I wanted to rip his eyes out.

  “When did you start seeing her?” I asked, my voice strangely calm considering the rage consuming me.

  He bit the inside of his lip, a nervous habit I had caught on to from his teenage years. “It’s not important.”

  “Maybe not to you…but it is to me.” Still, he said nothing. “Let me guess—last fall, about the time you started working late.”

  Once again, his silence confirmed my suspicions. I felt like such an idiot. In September or October, he had come home from the office bitching about Newberg’s daughter, who was working at her father’s firm for school credit. Come to think of it, shortly after that, he started paying a bit more attention to his appearance. Occasional workouts became four days a week, and he’d taken to wearing cologne. Those were signs I should have paid more attention to. But I hadn’t. I had trusted him. After all, we were engaged. We knew each other so well we often finished each other’s sentences. “So at the Christmas party…you were seeing each other?” Ross had disappeared for a short time during the party while I’d been talking to Candace’s mother. I had gone looking for him, and he’d shown up ten minutes later saying he’d left a business card in the car and his boss needed it. No doubt he’d been fucking Candace in our car, or who knows—perhaps in a dark corner while I’d been making small talk with the boss’s wife.

  “Of course not.” He sounded exhausted. Like this was so tough for him.

  “Then when did it start?” My chest hurt, like I was on the verge of a panic attack. The last thing I wanted was to have a meltdown in front of him. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. “Jesus Christ, at least be honest with me, Ross. You owe me that much.”

  “It was around January. We went out one night after work, had a drink, and then one thing led to another.”

  A pain unlike anything I’d ever experienced ripped through me. “I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that her daddy owns the firm,” I blurted. My father had worked for the railroad for the past thirty-four years, a fact I’d always been proud of and would be until the day I died. I know Ross, in his own way, had looked down at my working class roots. His own father, a successful IT consultant in Las Vegas, had recently fallen on hard times. Ross had gone to my home once in the seven years we’d been together, and in the past three years I’d flown in for a day or two to meet up with Ross in Vegas to celebrate the holidays.

  His brows furrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean? I’m not with Candace because of who her father is.”

  I clenched my teeth and forced myself from calling him a string of cruel names. He might try to convince me that part of Candace’s appeal had nothing to do with who her father was, but I knew him better than that. In the years we’d been together, I’d noticed Ross’s aspirations growing higher and higher. There was nothing wrong with wanting more from your life, but to be so enamored of people who had gained success and his desire to have the same had unsettled me. Always, he said he wanted success for us. So I could quit my job as a Human Resources manager and stay home with our children.

  I’d saved every penny I could for the home we would buy after our wedding, forgoing nights out or weekend excursions with my work friends. It was always about our home. Always about our future.

  I looked around the apartment we’d shared since college graduation. I’d hated the ultra-modern space from the second we had toured it. Ross had loved it, going on and on about the amenities and close proximity to his work. With family life in mind, I had hoped for a house in suburbia. Instead, I’d bent to Ross’s wishes and moved into the one-bedroom apartment so we could save for the dream home that would no longer be.

  Now he didn’t want to settle for a small-town girl from Washington with a blue-collar dad. No, he wanted the pedigree and to be a shoo-in with one of the biggest firms in Arizona. And being the son-in-law of the biggest commercial architect firm in Scottsdale would do that for him.

  He took a deep, steadying breath and released a heavy sigh. “She’s pregnant, Amanda.”

  I gasped, completely unprepared for that blow.

  “I have to do right by her, you know?”

  I clenched my hands into fists, my nails biting into my palms. “So you’re marrying her now?”

  “She’s pregnant, Amanda,” he said, sounding flustered. “What choice do I have?”

  “I don’t understand. You made sure I was on birth control.” I hated him so much right now. Hated the way he stared at me with that puppy dog stare, like I should feel sorry for him. Ha! Sympathy was the last thing he’d get from me. No chance in hell was I going to make this easier for him. “You insisted I get on the pill before we had sex for the first time. What was it—you were so crazy for her that you decided you didn’t need protection?”

  All the dreams I’d coveted for seven years were gone. I would no longer be Ross Su
llivan’s wife or the mother of his children. Instead, Candace Newberg, a high-school senior, would have his baby and live in that house with the picket fence.

  I almost asked him how far along Candace was, but then decided against it. It wouldn’t help me to know that. In fact, I would agonize about it even more.

  God, I hated him. I was in my late twenties, and I had lost my man to a teenager.

  I couldn’t compete…nor did I want to. Swallowing hard past the lump in my throat, I pried the engagement ring off my finger. The same ring Ross had saved months for, he had said, promising me a huge wedding ring. I hadn’t cared about the size of the ring. I had just wanted him. He had been the prize. He had been enough.

  But apparently I wasn’t enough for him.

  He glanced at my ring, and in that moment, I recognized a light in his eyes.

  Oh my God…he wanted, and maybe even expected, the ring back. What, so he could give it to his baby mama?

  I slid the ring into my pocket, and I saw the disappointment flash across his face before he masked it.

  Inwardly, I grinned from ear-to-ear, taking what little satisfaction I could from the small victory. “Given all we’ve been through, you could have at least had the decency to break it off with me before you started a relationship with someone else.”

  His gaze dropped to the floor between us. “Like I said before, I never meant to hurt you. You can stay in the apartment. I’ve paid for the next two months.”

  How generous. I almost told him I didn’t need his charity, then thought better of it. Actually, that two months would help me figure out what I was gong to do next.

  Grabbing his car keys from his pocket, he held them tight in his fist. “I’ll take some clothes now and if it’s okay, I’ll come back this weekend and pack up the rest of my stuff.”

  Wow, he wasn’t wasting any time…

  “What about the furniture and everything in here?”

  “You can have it,” he said nonchalantly. “We already have…”

  Oh my God, he had already set up house with Candace. My heart raced so fast, I had to hold onto the chair for support. “You’re already living with her?”

  How could that be, and again, how had I not seen it?

  “Her father bought her a condo for graduation.”

  Of course he had. No doubt Ross had helped furnish it. Having a father-in-law with deep pockets was the answer to his prayers. Who knows what else Daddy had bought for them?

  Inside I was screaming at the top of my lungs, and I even fantasized about taking all his personal belongings and setting them on fire. Gaining what little control I could muster, I took the step that separated us and looked him in the eye. “One day you’ll regret losing me. Now get the hell out of my apartment.”

  CHAPTER 2

  Maple Creek, Washington

  Three months after my breakup with Ross, I stood in the living room of my new home, a cozy “fixer-upper”, two-bedroom granny house, complete with country porch and large picture windows. The house had been a great find. An uncle of my father’s good friend had passed away last month, and the family had been ready to put the quaint house on the market right about the time I had decided to leave Arizona and return to Washington.

  I could still hardly believe that I was back in Washington, in my small hometown, a place I swore I’d never return to.

  In the last week that I’d been back, I felt like I could breathe again. I felt a sense of peace that had been lacking while I’d been mending my broken heart in Scottsdale. Nothing in Scottsdale had been able to pacify me—not my job or my friends.

  Actually, Ross’s wedding had been the final straw. The wedding had taken place just four weeks ago, in a five-star hotel in downtown Scottsdale. Only close friends had been invited. I’d stared at the wedding photo in the Sunday paper with a mixture of fury and amusement that the bride towered inches above her groom. Ross had always been touchy about his height. Although he’d been a couple inches taller than me, I had rarely worn heels because I knew it bothered him.

  Apparently Candace didn’t care.

  I burned the wedding picture, tossed the ashes in the toilet, and made the call to my parents that would change my life.

  My hometown, the place that had once seemed like a prison, had now become my sanctuary. As expected, my family had rallied around me and made me feel welcome.

  Although both my parents had been sad to hear the news of my breakup with Ross, there had been no mistaking the excitement in my mother’s voice as she talked about available properties in the area. Real estate had always been her passion, but it wasn’t until my little brother started high school that she decided to work outside the home. And she’d proven she was good at her job, because she had delivered in spades on this house. Since the owner was a family friend, we had gotten it for a steal.

  I now had a home of my own, and I felt pride at knowing the place was mine and that it had been my savings and my 401K that had made it all possible.

  I still had enough in my savings to survive on for six months before I had to focus on working again.

  The time off would allow me to get back on my feet and heal, as my mom said. Plus, with this fixer upper, I would need the time off of work to get it into shape.

  Although I had some reservations about returning to Maple Creek, and I had even once told friends I would never return to the small town because I was tired of everyone knowing my business, I was glad to be home. Back with my parents, who treated me like the teenager I had been when I left. Toby, my twenty-two-year-old brother, told me to get used to it. He was going to a game design school in Portland and still lived at home. Our mom spoiled him rotten, and yet he didn’t seem to mind. I guess I wasn’t so different from my brother. Truth be told, I kind of enjoyed being doted on.

  Toby hadn’t changed a whole lot. His strawberry blond hair was still curly, and he wore a mustache and a closely cropped beard that made him look older. I remember as a kid he’d been obsessed with facial hair…and his lack of it. Time had made up for it though. He’d shown up this morning with a bandanna around his head to keep his long bangs out of his eyes. Like the rest of my family, Toby had a great work ethic, and I was excited to get to know him. Our almost five year age difference had been a little much, and since he was a boy and had completely different interests than me, we hadn’t been particularly close growing up.

  I’d left home the summer before he’d entered high school, and aside from coming home for a couple of days during Christmas break, I hadn’t made much of an effort to get to know him. I hoped that would change now that I was home and we were both adults.

  Now I had all the time in the world, and I was motivated to make up for lost time and make my family a priority.

  Having my heart ripped out and the life I’d envisioned for myself evaporate before my eyes, I’d had some time to realize that I needed to be grateful for the family I had. They were my cheerleaders and always would be, and I thanked God for that.

  Down the hallway, I heard my brother cuss, and I smiled. Toby had been tinkering with the toilet for the past thirty minutes. “Now I see why you got this place for fifty cents on the dollar. I don’t think it’s been touched since it was built.”

  “Right?” Toby was a complete smartass, and it took me awhile sometimes to know that he was kidding. Now he wasn’t kidding. The little house was like a time capsule. The 1950s house only had small upgrades in the flooring, and by the condition of the carpet, I was guessing the last renovation had been in the 80s. Being I had gotten such a great deal, I had a fairly good budget to make repairs and update nearly ever facet of the house so I could put my own stamp on it.

  I just hoped Toby’s friend gave me the “family discount.”

  “Hey, Brax just pulled up,” Toby called out.

  The name Brax instantly conjured up images of a cute dark-haired boy with beautiful green eyes and a bright smile. A boy I thought was cute even though he was so many years younger than me, and w
ho also happened to be my brother’s best friend since they were in elementary school. On occasion, when my parents left for a night of bingo, I’d be stuck looking after the two. I always complained to my parents that it hadn’t been fair. Not like it had been tough. The boys had played video games and ridden bikes in the big dirt pile behind Old Man Johnson’s place.

  The last time I’d seen Brax, he’d been about fifteen…and I’d been nineteen when I had left the small town of Maple Creek for Arizona. As a loud knock sounded at the front door, I tried to envision the man Brax had become. Visions of a cute, boy-next-door type made me grin.

  Hopefully he didn’t remember the days I hadn’t been entirely nice to him, especially when I hoped he’d give me a great deal on the renovation.

  The moment I opened the door, the smile vanished from my lips.

  Wearing a sleeveless black t-shirt, dark, low-riding jeans that hugged athletic thighs, and scuffed work boots, the tall, tattooed man standing on my porch looked nothing like the boy I remembered.

  I swallowed past the lump in my throat as my gaze slowly crept up his impressive frame to find myself staring into familiar green eyes that contrasted fiercely with his dark hair. I had been right on one count—Brax’s eyes were just as beautiful as I recalled.

  “Mandy, welcome home,” he said, a huge smile on his face. Taking a step toward me, he extended his hand.

  “Brax, it’s been a…long time.” My voice broke as I shook his hand, liking the feel of the calluses against my palm. Having worked in an office since graduating, I was used to men with soft hands. There certainly wasn’t anything soft about Brax, except for his smile…

  “By my count, it’s been nearly seven years,” he said, his gaze shifting over me. Damn, I wish I’d worn something nicer than yoga pants and a stained, formless t-shirt. And I had just thrown my blonde hair up in a ponytail. Thank goodness I had put on some mascara and blush, so at least I didn’t feel like a complete mess.