by Lisa N. Paul
Strength in Release
a Charistown Series Novel
by
Lisa N. Paul
Strength in Release
Copyright © 2017 by Lisa N. Paul
Photography by Sara Eirew
Models: Nick Bennett and Stef Lambert
Cover created by Sommer Stein of Perfect Pear Creations
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products, bands, and/or restaurants referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Dedication
To you,
Here we are at the beginning; here we are at the end. Each journey to Charistown has been a dream come true for me, but nothing has meant more to me than your excitement for this final story. Lyla, while always a strong supporting character, has always been just that…a side character. It is FINALLY her chance to be heard.
Thank you for your loyalty. Thank your patience.
Thank you for coming back to—
Charistown!
Xo,
Lisa N. Paul
Table of Contents
Title Page
Music Playlist
Chapter One – Best Friend Rules
Chapter Two – Patience
Chapter Three – Bigger Men Than You
Chapter Four – I’ll Go Wherever You Take Me
Chapter Five – Someone Else’s Story
Chapter Six – Thirteen Years Ago
Chapter Seven – Deny, Deny, Deny
Chapter Eight – Don’t Stay Gone Too Long
Chapter Nine – Never Seen You In Green
Chapter Ten – JP’s Diner
Chapter Eleven – Anything For A Friend
Chapter Twelve – Lyla Bear
Chapter Thirteen – A Minute of Your Time
Chapter Fourteen – You Just Play One on T.V.
Chapter Fifteen – Who’s Barry Fisher?
Chapter Sixteen – Tasmanian Devil
Chapter Seventeen – Indulgence
Chapter Eighteen – Under Control
Chapter Nineteen – Always Were The Drama Queen
Chapter Twenty – Zero Fucks to Give
Chapter Twenty-One – Janie
Chapter Twenty-Two – You Did What?
Chapter Twenty-Three – Slumber Party
Chapter Twenty-Four – The Feeling’s Mutual
Chapter Twenty-Five – Broken. Ruined.
Chapter Twenty-Six – I Didn’t Know!
Chapter Twenty-Seven – I See You
Chapter Twenty-Eight – Never Been More Sure
Chapter Twenty-Nine – Been Waiting Forever
Chapter Thirty – Sebastian, Huh?
Chapter Thirty-One – Normal…Happy…Complete
Chapter Thirty-Two – One of Those Girly Girls
Chapter Thirty-Three – You’re Here
Chapter Thirty-Four – You’re Mine, I’m Yours
Epilogue
A Note from the Author
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Music Playlist
Like most authors, music plays a large part in inspiring my stories. However, not until this book, my seventh, has music actually guided my “pen”. Since Lyla’s story sat in my mind for years, I collected songs like treasures, each one not just speaking to me but creating images in my mind. The following is a list of songs that helped me create Strength in Release. I implore you to take some time to listen to the lyrics, let the music wash over you and let yourself fall into the Charistown world I’ve created.
With love,
Lisa
Say Something – A Great Big World
Tell Your Heart To Beat Again – Danny Gokey
Guardian – Alanis Morrisett
Making Love Out of Nothing At All – Air Supply
Beautiful Stranger – Toby Keith
Heaven (Unplugged Version) – Bryan Adams
Human – Christina Perri
Unsteady – X Ambassadors
Fight Song – Rachel Platten
Testify – Need To Breathe
Patience – Guns N Roses
I Don’t Wanna Break – Christina Perri
Here’s To Us – Halestorm
Chapter One
Best Friend Rules
LYLA TUGGED ON her sweatshirt. The battered old thing had been her favorite since Janie gave it to her on their first Valentine’s Day together—something about a pink hoodie with hearts saying, “Love blows,” never failed to make her smile. Then she tossed her nearly black hair into a messy bun.
Hearing the toilet flush in her master bathroom brought her a sense of peace that sex no longer seemed to provide. He would soon be gone. Then came the sound of water from the sink faucet. At least he has good hygiene.
The bathroom door opened, revealing the unabashedly naked man who had only moments before occupied her bed. “Hey, L, hope you don’t mind, I used your toothbrush.”
“Eww, what? Yes, Drake, I do fucking mind that you used my toothbrush. That’s vile. Who the hell does that? It’s disgusting.” Her stomach rolled as the guy stared at her, no doubt taken aback by her change from the steamy lover of moments ago to the cold, detached person snapping at him now.
“You didn’t seem to think I was vile or disgusting when my mouth was eating your pussy or my cock was deep inside you.” His tone was low and biting, but not volatile. She knew how to weed out the violent ones before she took them to her bed. Even so, she took precautions now just to be safe.
“Yeah, but my teeth are actually important to me.” The sex was over, and like the men before him, she was finished with this guy. He needed to leave. “Get dressed and get out, Drake.”
“It’s Blake, you bitch.”
Shrugging, she flatly said, “Been called worse.”
With her hand shoved in her hoodie pocket, she gripped the stun gun she’d slipped in when the guy went into the bathroom. She once again sent Kyle a silent thanks for insisting she get the gadget. Even if he probably hadn’t meant for her to use it on her conquests. Its weight was far more discreet than the gun in her night table drawer.
“You’re psycho.”
Ignoring the tightening in her stomach and the upbeat of her pulse, Lyla looked her latest bedmate in the eye. “Dude, I heard no complaints out of you either. Now get your shit and get out of my house.” His look of disgust turned to fear when she slipped the stun gun from her pocket. It would have been funny had she not been afraid of him peeing on her carpet.
A few color
ful mumbles and some clear nastiness later, Lyla was locking the door behind Drake/Blake and re-setting her alarm.
“Jeez, some men get so damn attached.”
Her stomach settled as she made her way back to her master bath and into a scalding shower. She allowed the hard spray to pound onto her head for longer than usual just to avoid the little voice in her brain screaming that sex was giving her less and less of a high and more and more of a hangover. When her skin was scrubbed red and her muscles felt eased, she turned off the water and got out of the shower. The steam fogged the mirrors just enough that she wouldn’t need to face herself or her actions until morning. She needed sleep or maybe just the comfort of her bed. Ugh, I’ll deal with the sheets in the morning, she thought as she left the en suite bathroom.
“What in the hell are you doing?”
Lyla dropped her towel and shrieked. “Jesus Christ, Janie, what the fuck? You nearly gave me a heart attack. What are you doing here? How’d you get in? When’d you get home? Shit, I just showered and I nearly shit myself. Seriously, what happened to calling like a normal person?” As her heart rate finally began to slow, Lyla used a syrupy sweet voice to say, “‘Hi, Ly, I’m back from my honeymoon. Can I stop by?’”
Janie rose from Lyla’s bed, picked up the towel, and tossed it to her friend, “I don’t sound like that.” Janie looked at the bed then at Lyla. “I see you had another guest earlier tonight, huh?”
“Yes, I did. And did you ever think your little break-and-entry could have interrupted something important?”
“Oh, please, the handcuffs are attached to your headboard,” Janie stated as if that was all the explanation needed. “You’ve stopped mid-bone to chat on the phone when guys have been cuffed to your bed.”
If Lyla was being honest with herself, she would have left it at that. But she wasn’t, so she pushed. “So that gives you the right to break into my house? And what the hell? I like kinky sex. Big deal. I’m sure you let the big guy twist you up like origami all the fucking time and you don’t hear any inference from me. What, now that you’ve found your perfect man, you’ve turned into a judgmental bitch?”
Lyla knew she was the one acting like a bitch. She knew Janie and Max’s relationship was nothing like the empty deeds she engaged in with the guys she took home to fuck, but she couldn’t seem to hold back the venom spewing from her mouth. Not even when it was clear the words were hurtful to her friend.
“It’s not going to work, Ly.” Though Janie’s voice was soft, her tone held firm. “You can’t push me away.”
Back from a ten-day honeymoon, Janie’s sun-kissed skin looked beautiful, but the fire in her eyes screamed that the time away had not been drama-free as Lyla had hoped. Lyla had waited until after Max and Janie’s wedding and the couple was on their way to Aruba before she officially put her house on the market. Ten days should have been more than enough time to sell her place and look for a new start in a new town. After all, houses on her street were being snapped up above asking price.
She wouldn’t have left before Janie got home—she wasn’t that heartless—but she knew leaving would be infinitely more difficult if Janie was around and trying to convince her to stay. But something or someone was sabotaging her progress. The For Sale sign on her front yard disappeared daily. When she finally cemented it into the ground, someone spray-painted SOLD across it. The real estate agent would call with possible buyers only to follow up with news that the buyers were no longer interested. Lyla had personally found a couple who seemed a perfect match for the house, only for them to call two days later to say they’d found something different on the same street, a house Lyla knew needed more work and had less space. Nothing made sense until she realized someone was messing with her, making it impossible for her to sell. That same person or persons must have also spilled the beans to Janie, which pissed Lyla off even more.
With her mind spinning, Lyla stood silently, giving Janie the opportunity to continue her rant.
“What the hell, Ly? I’m gone for less than two weeks and I come home to a For Sale sign in your yard?”
“Jane, I’ll ask you again, why—better yet, how—are you in my house? The doors were locked and the alarm was on. What the fuck?”
“Best Friend Rules, remember those?” Janie snapped. “We always said in case of an emergency, all pleasantries and formalities are off the table. Well, I think you hopping on the crazy train classifies as a goddamn emergency. Now, I’ll repeat, what the hell is going on?”
Goddammit. I totally forgot she had that damn key and my pass code. Sighing, Lyla tightened the towel. “Fine. Let me get dressed. I’ll meet you in the kitchen, and we’ll talk.”
Teal eyes flamed. “Do you think I met you yesterday? If I walk out of this room, you’ll conveniently fall asleep. No way, Lyla Paige. I’ll stay right here and you start talking.”
Pain lanced through Lyla’s gut. The opportunity to leave Charistown was slipping away quicker than sand through a sieve. She had wanted to protect her sister from the ugly that was coming. Fact was, Lyla wanted to spare all of them. Most of all, she wanted to protect herself from the shame, humiliation, and danger that was certain to be unleashed. But it looked as though she may have no choice other than laying her cards on the table and praying Janie would let her go.
“Jane…” Lyla slipped her sweatshirt back over her head and stepped into her warmest fleece pajama bottoms. Even wrapped in their warmth, her insides shivered from the cold that had been lingering for years and spreading for weeks.
“Spill, Ly. Tell me why the minute I stepped foot out of town, you threw your home on the market and completely shut yourself off from everyone here? Don’t bother trying to tell me that you were looking for a place here in town either, because I know for a fact that you’ve made no inquiries about purchasing. Just selling. So tell me, what were you gonna do? Just disappear? Were you even gonna say good-bye or just slip out like a fucking pussy? Tell me, tell me, because after more than a goddamn decade, I think I deserve at least that!”
Taken aback by the anger in her friend’s voice, Lyla peered at Janie only to see that not one tear had fallen from eyes that usually dampened easily. This time, Janie’s hurt appeared to be overshadowed by her betrayal, disbelief, and confusion.
“You deserve everything,” Lyla whispered before she walked out of the bedroom, down the stairs, and into the kitchen, hearing Janie’s feet behind her. “You deserve the incredible man you married, the life you’ve only just started, and the beauty you’re going to build.”
Lyla reached into the freezer and pulled out a half-empty bottle of vodka, then she yanked two shot glasses from the cabinet and began to pour. Feeling the weight of Janie’s stare, Lyla downed the first shot, poured a second, and downed that one as well.
“Lyla Paige Dalton, don’t you dare pour another sip until you tell me what the—”
“I received a letter from Rockview State Prison. My father is up for parole next month. While my lawyer doesn’t think my dad will make it, he told me to prepare. And I was, until I received a second letter—from daddy dearest himself, asking to see me. He knows where I am, where I live. So yeah, Janie, I believe you deserve all the happiness you’ve got, but I don’t think you’ll get it if he gets out and I’m still here. I need to leave, and you need to let me.”
Silently, Janie picked up her small glass, downed the contents, refilled both of their glasses, then waited for Lyla to lift hers so they could swallow the clear liquid together.
“You think they’re going to let that son of a bitch out?” Janie’s question sounded strangled.
Lyla shrugged as the vodka swished in her stomach.
“No, there’s no way. He’s never getting out, Ly. We both know it.” Then as if a bulb flashed over her head, Janie straightened, rolling her shoulders back as her face hardened. “Wait, did you say you got this information three weeks ago? You’ve been sitting on this by yourself for nearly a month? What in the hell is wrong with you? Why
didn’t you tell me? Jesus Christ, I’m your best friend! We could have been forming a plan, taking some action, doing… something.”
“And that, that right there is why I didn’t tell you.” Lyla sighed. “You were getting married. Do you think I would have done anything to screw up your wedding after everything you guys have gone through to finally have your happily ever after? Shit, woman, I write romance novels for a living. No way was I gonna fuck up your happily ever after. And to answer your earlier question, I would have never left without saying good-bye. I hope you know that.” The thickness in her throat made it hard to finish her thought. “I just didn’t want you to stop me from leaving. I have to go, honey. And this time, you can’t come with. You have family here. Roots. You finally belong somewhere, and I’m happy for you.” The words were knives slicing through her, because for some reason, leaving Charistown wasn’t going to be nearly as easy as she had once thought.
“You’re my family. We’ve been sisters since we met. And Rachel, God rest her soul, what would she say if she knew you were trying to run from me?”
“My foster mom has nothing to do with this.”
“Bullshit. She loved you like you were her own blood. And she would have been thrilled to see the life you’ve built here. You belong here too. Look down, your feet are just as planted as mine. You’re just too goddamn stubborn to see it. Danny, Julie, Max, Ryan, Ashley, Cate, and Elliot? They’re your family. My God, Kyle would walk over hot coals for you. He is just as much your brother as I am your sister. Why can’t you see it? And you and Gage? Jeez, the two of you have been dancing around each other for so long now, I can’t decide if it’s sweet or pathetic. The guy eye-fucks you so hard I’m surprised you’re not pregnant. What more do you want?”
“I want you all safe!” The words exploded from Lyla’s mouth before she had a chance to censor them or her tone. “If my father gets out, there is no telling what he’ll do. The man harmed so many people. So many women. He’s evil, Jane. Why do you think his jail sentence was so long? You already know what he’s capable of. I will not bring that near the people I care about. Not now, not ever.”
