by Kim Black
Cover Up
Book Two of the Cover Series
By Kim Black
Copyright © 2014 Kim Black
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the author. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. Printed and published in the United States of America.
Editing By: LD Garside's Freelance Editing
Cover Designed By: Book Covers by Kim
Photography: Some rights reserved by Lies Thru a Lens
Acknowledgements
To my loving fiancé Omar, as with my first book, you have continued to be my inspiration. You inspire me to follow my dreams and reach for what could seem impossible. I love you truly madly deeply and I am blessed to have you in my life.
To my wonderful Beta Readers:
Amy, Colleen, Tess, Leanne, Tina, Shauna, Erin, Hope and Elena you guys are troopers for combing through my baby and helping me. I love you all!
To my awesome editor Lori, I am truly thankful to have found you and I pray that we have a long lasting relationship. It’s not easy handing over your baby to another but with you there is no one else I trust more. Thank you for all your help.
Hope and Tess, You two have been there for me through my toughest times. This book was not easy to complete but it was your encouragement that help pushed this book into completion. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Scarlet Wolfe, man oh man… Not only are you one of my favorite authors but you are a dear friend, always checking in on me and lending an ear when I need it. I thank you for first trusting me with all your babies and for being a wonderful friend.
Elena, when an author publishes for the first time we pray that readers will not only receive our work but be loyal to it. You are the reason I do what I do. Thank you so much for all of your support and dedication. Your support pushes me daily! I also thank you for helping in finding a dream cast! <3
To my wonderful readers, I thank you for your reception of Discovered and enthusiasm for Cover Up and I pray that you enjoy this next installment. You all are the reason I became an author!
~ Kim B. xoxo
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Epilogue
Note from the Author
About The Author
The Cover Series
Follow Kim Black
Chapter One
“It has always seemed that a fear of judgment is the mark of guilt and the burden of insecurity.”
~ Criss Jami ~
JULIEN
The continuous drip into the IV chamber kept me company. Initially, it drove me insane as my eyes stayed fixated on the line; watching as it fell in perfectly timed droplets, every one point five seconds, giving Emily the medication and nutrients she needed. As time went on, I grew to appreciate its torment. That device, the dripping… It meant that Emily was still alive; for if there were no use for it, it would mean she had left me again…
I did not sleep for more than an hour at a time since I arrived at the hospital, my tired drooping lids threatened to make me submit to the fatigued call of my body. Determined, I willed it away. I couldn’t sleep. Not yet. Not when she hadn’t awakened in all the time she’d been here. Guilt ate away at me each second she lay helpless.
This was entirely my fault.
My mind wouldn’t let me forget the terror filled cry she made just as that pathetic drunken excuse of man struck her car. I called out to her and heard nothing. Fear of losing her pulled me into action before my mind could really comprehend what had happened.
By the time I found her, the man had fled the scene; leaving her trapped in her car surrounded by terrified witnesses, while her seemingly lifeless body lay limp over her steering wheel. The metallic odor filled the car and assaulted my nose as my trembling hands reached for her through the broken windshield. Please Emily, don’t leave me baby, I thought to myself as I felt her neck for a pulse. It was faint, but there; and I released the breath I had unknowingly held.
Thankfully, forty-seven terrifying minutes after I heard her scream, I made calls to three major phone companies, and threatened jobs and lives. So they helped me to find her through her phone’s GPS. Thank God it was on, or… I shuttered to think of what might have happened had I not found her. They arrested the drunk that very evening, thanks to my connections with the Los Angeles Police Department and the onlookers’ descriptions who had witnessed the accident. The asshole had a blood alcohol level three times the legal limit!
“Mr. Belmont?”
I did not notice the doctor’s entrance. I was lost in my thoughts when I heard her call out to me. I wrenched my eyes away from the I.V. - the only thing helping to pull Emily toward health, and then I looked at the woman. “Dr. Avery, I didn’t hear you come in.”
Dr. Avery had been working alongside the team of specialists I flew in with her. She was the best Neurologist in the world and had been monitoring Emily’s condition intently. When she first arrived, she had little hope for Emily; but five long agonizing days later, she was sure that Emily would soon come out of her comatose state. The trauma to her head during the accident was severe, but Emily had made it through surgery and her prognosis was now ‘promising’.
“Have you had any luck in contacting the family?” she asked, checking Emily’s vitals and cross-referencing them with the chart in her hands.
I cleared my throat, “Other than what I told you before, no.” Suzie and Diana, Emily’s best friends, told me that her estranged mother passed away just before her move to California from Georgia; and that Emily barely spoke about her life before moving here. My investigation into her background came up with nothing. Her father walked on her and her mother when she was only six, and there were no siblings, aunts, uncles, or even grandparents. She was pretty much alone.
It was strange that her friends didn’t know about her life before California. I thought that she would have opened up to at least one of them about her past. Then again, who was I to talk? I wasn’t exactly forthcoming about my past, either, or even the present when it came to Emily. I had lied to her about my marriage to Charlette. To make matters worse, I slept with Charlette after convincing Emily that my marriage was strictly an arrangement forged by two people wanting to pacify their overbearing parents for the sake of, one day, bearing an heir for our mutual empires. Definitely not the work of a saint.
“Knock, knock,” I heard. The door to the private room I had secured for Emily swung open. Suzie’s head peeked through, followed by the rest of her body. “How’s my best friend doing?”
I nodded in Suzie’s direction, barely able to keep my eyes open. We had developed a little system. Each of us took turns watching Emily, relieving the other so they could slee
p, eat, or handle whatever it was they needed to handle. It was nice getting to know her friends.
Suzie was a superb friend. In the short time we had been here, she had threatened at least five different nurses and a doctor - a surgeon at that. It was actually fun to watch to her in action.
Diana was more reserved. She seemed a bit on edge most of time – jittery, like she always expected the other shoe to drop. I didn’t quite understand her, but she seemed to genuinely care about Emily; almost motherly, and that was enough for me.
Each time it was my turn to leave, I struggled. How could I rest when I was reason behind Emily’s accident? If I hadn’t slept with Charlette, Emily and I would have been enjoying each other; enjoying where this…relationship might take us. Instead, I hadn’t. My choices made certain that Emily was in the car and on the phone with me when that drunken idiot hit her. Suzie often shoved me out the door, but today I was too exhausted to budge from the uncomfortable hospital chair. There was no way she was going to get me to leave. Her daily ‘girl talks’ with Emily would have to wait.
“She’s still stable. We will keep a close watch on her over the next few days. All her EEG tests prove that her brain functions, and her overall awareness, seem to be improving. The swelling has also decreased,” Dr. Avery said.
“That’s my girl!” Suzie cheered before throwing a brown paper bag at me.
“What’s this?” I asked. I examined the greasy looking bag, and held it in the air, raising my eyebrows.
“You gotta eat don’t-cha?” she smirked, tugged off her Converse ® sneakers, and climbed onto the queen sized electrical luxury bed I requested once I knew that Emily would be admitted. Sleeping next to Emily was something Suzie did every time she visited, which was twice daily during the week and all day on Saturday. She said it made her feel closer to Emily and that the bed did wonders for her hardworking back. Somehow, I got the impression her back pains had little or nothing to do with actual work, but I didn’t dare voice my opinion. She’d likely castrate me if I did.
We got to know each other over the past few days, Suzie and I; and, just like when we first met, instantly connected. She was funny and smart, and she swore like a sailor. It was no wonder she was friends with Emily. I was pretty sure most of Emily’s sassiness directly reflected how much Suzie influenced her, and I didn’t mind it one iota. Emily’s sassiness was one thing I absolutely loved about her. She was outspoken and stubborn as hell, though it drove me crazy at times. I couldn’t imagine her any other way.
Suzie gave me hell when I explained what transpired before the accident. She yelled, screamed, and even punched me square in the face before breaking down in tears. She loved Emily and I knew I deserved far worse than a punch from a woman who weighed barely a hundred and ten pounds. She did punch like a fucking man. I deserved the collective karma of the entire world to zero in on me and torture me for my misdeeds.
Suzie didn’t stay mad long. Once I explained how I felt, and why I had slept with Charlette, she understood. Things with Emily were so intense right from the start. From the moment I laid eyes on her at Tanked just a few weeks ago, my heart belonged to her. Her hips swaying to the music pulled me in. I was lost in her. She was all I wanted from that moment on. The woman had entered my life with such force that I lost control of who I was, or rather who I used to be before her. I wouldn’t say that I had the best track record with women. I often kept a few women on rotation, all of whom understood the terms of our arrangement. Arrangement…God, it seemed I had an arrangement for everything before meeting Emily.
I didn’t do long term relationships; I wasn’t a man to ever commit to one woman. I took care of each woman who frequented my bed and I was always in control. That was the way it had always been…before her.
Emily changed everything and before I realized it, I fell for her - hard. Catching her crying over her ex-boyfriend was no picnic, either. The surge of emotions I felt were confusing. I wasn’t a man that lacked confidence, but the jealousy I felt was all encompassing. I couldn’t control it. I needed something, anything, that I could control – something that reminded me of who I believed I was.
That night at my father’s charity gala, I fell to an all-time low. Initially, I attended with the sole agenda of addressing the many problems I had with Charlette, my wife. I detested referring her by that term, but she was-in fact-my wife. We didn’t have the best relationship. The woman usually found a way to disrupt my life.
After Emily found out about my marriage, Charlette visited Emily and talked to her. She somehow convinced Emily that there was nothing going on between us, explaining the dilemma our parents created. I’m sure most people would be grateful to Charlette for the attempt, but I most certainly was not. I told the woman time and again to stay out of my affairs. My relationship with Emily was none of her concern. I wanted to address the problem with her that night, but I never got the opportunity.
Charlette left upset, after I ‘accidentally’ dropped her while dancing. I knew that my father would give me hell if I didn’t run after her, so I did, and caught her just before she climbed into the limo. What happened next came as a shock. The tears that streamed down her face threw me for a loop.
Charlette was a strong and independent woman. She was a shark. If she wanted something, she took it. No questions asked. She was…well, me, but with breasts. That she was actually hurt by something, enough to make her cry, shocked me. She stared up at me and, before I knew it, she kissed me.
I didn’t kiss her back because I actually wanted to be with the aggravating woman. I kissed her back because a part of me wanted to see if I could find the Julien Belmont I was before Emily, the man who never lost control. I couldn’t. Emily haunted me the entire night. Each time I pounded into the woman sprawled out on the King sized bed, my mind kept drifting to all that Emily was and all that Charlette was not. The frustration I felt as I tried to will Emily out of my thoughts caused me to handle Charlette quite brutally, leaving her emotionally and physically bruised. She never once voiced a complaint, seeming to enjoy the rough play.
It was wrong to use Charlette that way, but she wasn’t exactly a delicate flower. She wasn’t an innocent party in all this. She knew that my heart belonged to another; yet she attempted to use sex to lure me away from my love, my Emily. That night with Charlette opened my eyes. I could never be the Julien I was before! Though I wasn’t exactly sure who I was now, I knew that I needed Emily like I needed air to breath. Living without her was not an option.
Today was Saturday, so Suzie and I would hang out here with Emily for the entire day, but I dreaded tomorrow. Both Suzie and Diana agreed, Adam was to have this Sunday with Emily and I took it under advisement. Adam was Emily’s ex-boyfriend. Apparently, the man still wanted Emily; and I was unsure if Emily had any residual feelings left for him, which aggravated me to no end. I wasn’t jealous, of course. But the thought of him preying on what was no longer his, what now belonged to me, was enough to enrage me the night Emily was admitted to the hospital.
I had walked out of the bathroom to find him hovering over Emily, who was recovering from six grueling hours of surgery, declaring his un-fucking-dying-love for her!
Had it not been for that fact that there was a fairly good chance that Emily could hear us despite her coma, I would have killed him with my bare hands! Suzie, who sat on the other side of the room, managed to calm me down enough with threats of dismemberment if I caused Emily anymore stress. She forced me to allow the man to visit with Emily for ten minutes that night. The next day, Diana and Suzie both teamed up and forced me to ‘do what’s best for Emily.’ I agreed, but only for half a day and only one day a week. Sunday. I’d be damned if she awakened to the sounds of his voice.
It was bad enough that Emily was on her way to see him when the accident happened; something I only learned when I overheard Suzie and Diana’s whispers. It was clear that Diana was hurt by the news, although I couldn’t understand why, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
It didn’t matter. What mattered was that, when Emily recovered, I would beg her forgiveness. If she granted it to me, I would never hurt her again and Adam would be gone from her life. I wouldn’t let her go again, not this time.
I hadn’t spoken to Charlette since the night of the gala, nor did I care to, but I knew that she had to be wondering why I’d disappeared; and knowing the nosey woman, she would barge in here any day demanding answers. The woman was beyond infuriating when she felt snubbed, so I knew I had talk to her soon.
ADAM
When Suzie called me and told me about Emily’s accident and the severity of her injuries, I rushed to the hospital. She met me in the lobby and the look on her face told me all that I needed to know. Shit, this is bad.
I knew something wasn’t right! Emily called me earlier, clearly upset, and asked me if I was ready to talk. Of course I was ready! I had been ready since I discovered the truth surrounding our break up. She instructed me to meet her at my place in ten minutes. I arrived in six, nearly getting into an accident myself in my rush to meet with her. When she never arrived, I wasn’t sure what to think.
“Where is she?” I demanded as I approached a very disheveled Suzie, pulling her into my arms.
“She just came out of surgery, but we’re not allowed up just yet,” she said between sobs. She clung to me; her arms firmly hugged me in fear.
“Why didn’t you call me sooner?” I urged softly against the top of her dark brown wavy hair as I cupped the back of her head. The thought of Emily going into surgery without me there was painful. I should be at her side. She would have been by mine…when she was your girlfriend.
Suzie didn’t answer, but I could feel her tense. I pulled away to look in her eyes. Something was wrong.
“Why didn’t you call me, Suzie?” I firmly asked her.
