This Family of Ours (Raine #6)

by Amanda Bennett

  This Family of Ours

  (Raine Series #6)

  By

  Amanda Bennett

  Copyright © 2018 By Amanda Bennett

  All rights reserved. Printed in the United States

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission of the author except where permitted by law.

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Cover art by Robin Harper/Wicked By Design

  Check out other books by Amanda Bennett

  Time To Let Go

  The Broken Series

  Beautifully Broken ~ Breaking Beautiful ~ Unbreakable Hearts

  Misguided Heart

  The Raine Series

  This Love of Mine ~ This Trust of Mine ~ This Heart of Mine ~ This Courage of Mine

  Faithless

  Forever and Almost Always

  The U.S. Marshal Series

  Protecting Lyndley ~ Chasing Carson

  Coming Soon

  You can find Author Amanda Bennett at the following:

  www.authoramandabennett.com

  www.facebook.com/authoramandabennett

  www.twitter.com/AmandaBennett81

  "Other things may change us, but we start and end with family."

  ~Anthony Brandt

  Prologue

  Kayla

  I once read a quote on a greeting card, “Family isn’t always blood. It’s the people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what.” I never knew it’s true meaning until I met all of the people who may not be my blood, but are in fact my family. There isn’t a single thing I wouldn’t do for my family. From the moment Madison Raine came struttin’ into my life, I knew with one hundred percent certainty that my life would be forever changed. He introduced me to a world that I never even knew existed outside my stupid, naïve bubble that I lived in for far too long. He brought into my life a slew of characters that I most likely would have never associated myself with, but each and every one of them wormed their way into my heart, and became my brothers and sisters. And when I brought my best friend Cami into the mix, I worried that she wouldn’t mesh well with everyone, but to my surprise, everyone gelled together in a chaotic yet loving way.

  Over the last couple of years our lives have been turned upside down, inside out, dropped on its head, and even tortured a time or two, but the bond that this family of ours have never waivered. No matter the situation, no matter whether or not it was life or death, our bonds only strengthened. We leaned on one another no matter what the consequences may be. I finally came to the realization that I was worthy of love, but not only that, I found myself being capable of loving somebody in return.

  I live my life with zero regrets, and this chapter in my life is no different. Just knowing that I have a wonderful man by my side to face the day with, and a gorgeous, extremely loving little girl whom I cherish more than words can say, I feel full. My heart is exploding with so much love that I can’t possibly fathom being capable of obtaining any more. But you know what they say, everything happens when you least expect it. And none of us expected what was about to be thrown at each and every one of us.

  Part One

  Kayla & Madison

  Chapter 1

  Kayla

  “Are you okay, KJ?”

  I could see Cami’s lips moving, but my ears were ringing at a deafening volume as fear took over my expression, and all rational thoughts left my body. “I’m having an eerie case of déjà vu.” I whispered. I turned around with the small white and pink stick in my hand.

  “Oh my god, Kayla. This is awesome.” Cami came running at me, pulling me into a great big bear hug. “I can’t believe it.” She squealed.

  “Neither can I.” I huffed. Cami continued to bound around my bathroom, cheering and getting all hyped up. “C…Cam?” My voice wobbled as I stuttered her name, but she still couldn’t hear me. “CAMI?” This time she instantly stopped jumping around.

  “Kayla, you okay? You’re as white as a ghost.”

  Fear took over her expression, and I couldn’t help but dread what I was about to tell her. “It’s not mine.” I whispered.

  “What? I’m completely lost. What do you mean it’s not yours?” I could see confusion taking over the fear as she spoke.

  “The test...it’s not mine.” My eyes welled up with unshed tears as I set the plastic stick down on the bathroom counter, and took Cami’s hands in mine. “Cam, is there something you want to tell me?”

  “What? Well, it’s not mine.”

  I stood there in disbelief as she boldfaced lied to me. “Cami, who else’s would it be? You’re the only one that has been in my bathroom over the last week since I emptied my garbage.” I was deeply concerned for her. Not only was it to soon for her to become “safely” pregnant, but the chances of a miscarriage after everything she had been through was about the most likely scenario. Before I could say another word, she was ripping her hands out of mine and walking out towards the front door. “Cami, why are you leaving?”

  She quickly snapped her head around, getting uncomfortably close to my face, “Kayla, just stay out of it. This is none of your business.”

  I stood there in complete and utter shock at the words she had just spoken to me. Was she serious right now? In all the years that I've known Cami, she had never once cut me out like this. Quite the opposite actually, I was usually the one she went to in times like these. What the hell was going on with her? At this point I would usually call Glenn, but given that the guys were overseas at the moment, I didn’t quite think it was appropriate, that and I’m pretty damn sure he had no idea what was going on.

  I was just about to go grab my phone and call Madison, but I thought better of it. If Glenn didn’t know, then Madison didn’t know, and I wasn’t about to be the one to spill the beans. Just then, I heard Mia talking to herself in her room, and I started making my way up to her. I glanced at the clock on her pink colored wall as I snuck into her room, that’s when I realized that she had only been sleeping for about an hour. “Miss Mia, why aren’t we still sleeping?”

  Mia flung her arms out for me to pick her up, “Momma. I missed you.”

  “Aw, you’re such a sweet girl, aren’t you?” I held out my arms for Mia to climb up and into my lap before I stood and started walking out into the kitchen.

  “I’m hungry, Momma.”

  “Me too, baby girl, me too.” I prattled about the kitchen making Mia and myself some lunch, when I heard the front door open and then close. “Mia, you stay in your seat, I’ll be right back.” I wiped my hands on a towel as I made my way towards the front door, and my heart dropped as I stood there staring at an extremely somber Cami. “Come here.” I whispered as I held out my arms for her. The minute she fell into my arms the tears began to fall like rain, her body shaking as she cried.

  “I’m so sorry, Kayla. That so wasn’t fair to you. You were just trying to be a good friend, and then I go and treat you like that. I’m sorry.” She sobbed.

  “Don’t even worry about it, Cam. If I got butt hurt every time you snapped at me, we would’ve stopped being friends a long time ago,” I joked, and she let out a small laugh. “You hungry?”

  “Famished.” She smiled as she pulled back to wipe away a few stray tears.

  “Well you got lucky, I was just making lunch for us.” I wrapped my arm around my best fri
end’s shoulders and led her into the kitchen where Mia sat patiently waiting for my return.

  “Auntie Cam-Cam.” Mia shouted, and came running in our direction just as we entered the room.

  Cami held out her arms for Mia to go running into them. “Oh Miss Mia, how are you today?”

  “I’m hanging in there.” Cami and I looked at each other in shock at the way Mia answered her question, and then we both burst into hysterics.

  “I swear she’s too smart for her own good.” Cami joked.

  “You’re tellin’ me.” I laughed. “Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches okay?”

  Cami and Mia both nodded in agreement, and I began making lunch for the three of us. Cami went about chit chatting with Mia and doing one of her puzzles, and the entire time I was dying to ask Cami all about her pregnancy. As much as I didn’t want to push her about it, I just had to know. I needed to know every little detail about everything, and I needed to know now.

  When I was done with the sandwiches, I grabbed a few drinks from the fridge for us, and then sat down at the table across from Cami. She still wasn’t saying anything, and I just couldn’t take it any more. “Okay, seriously Cam? I’m dying over here. You have to tell me how this happened.”

  “Well KJ, when a man loves a woman…”

  “Ha ha, you’re so funny.” I shot a warning glare at her, and she held her hands up in mock surrender.

  “Calm down. I promise I’ll tell ya. Let’s finish lunch and get Mia situated, and then we can talk. K?”

  I begrudgingly nodded my head, “Sure.” I muttered angrily.

  Chapter 2

  Madison

  “We are Reckless Youth, and we thank you so much Dublin, you’ve been great! We’ll see y’all again real soon!” The band and I moved to the front of the stage, took a bow, and ran off towards the side of the stage. I quickly gathered up my belongings from the “communal bucket”, and then headed backstage. It felt amazing to be back out on tour, but knowin’ the problems I was havin’ back at home was killin’ me. I hated to admit it to the guys, because in all honesty they didn’t care, but I missed my girls and would give anythin’ to be back home with them every night.

  “Hey bro, what an amazing show! God, it never gets old.” I could tell Glenn was on a high like he usually was after a show, and I was battlin’ with everything inside of me to not say anythin’ to him about how I was really feelin’. “Hello, Madison…you in there?”

  “Yeah, I’m good. It was an awesome show.” I grumbled.

  “Madison, what’s wrong? I haven’t seen you like this since that one time you were pinin’ over KJ.” I could tell that Glenn was genuinely concerned, but I really didn’t want to bring him down.

  “Nothin’ man. Don’t even worry about it. I think I’m still jetlagged a bit. I’ll be fine once I get some booze in me.”

  “YEAH BOOZE!” A uniform shout came from Glenn, and tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum. Well, at least I knew I was gettin’ drunk tonight.

  After we got all of our crap together, we finally made our way over to our new favorite bar away from home. It was a tiny quaint little cottage that sat right at the edge of a famous cliff. A cliff that for the life of me, and even given the fact that we had been here for a week already, I still couldn’t remember the name of. But the view was breathtakin’. It was most definitely the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life, well, besides my fiancé of course.

  I sat on my usual barstool, and in my usual tone of voice, asked Riley, the bartender, for my usual. He didn’t hesitate to start makin’ me a fun concoction of what, I had no idea, but I did know that by the end of the night, I wouldn’t be rememberin’ much. He quickly slid three short glasses across the bar in my direction, and one by one I caught them and slammed them back. The warm liquor coated my throat, takin’ me to a far away land that I longed to be in. I was just fine sittin’ all by my lonesome, when Riley finally spoke to me. This was odd only because in the past week that I’d been comin’ in this joint, he hadn’t spoken a single word to me.

  “Must be tryin’ to forget there, ey?” He pointed at the three now very empty glasses in front of me.

  “Not so much tryin’ to forget, just tryin’ to survive until I can make it home to my girls.”

  “You gotta kid, ey?”

  “Yeah, a gorgeous little girl named Mia, and a beautiful fiancé, Kayla.” I smiled just hearin’ their names roll off my tongue.

  “Ya miss ‘em a lot, I can tell.”

  “Yeah, I do. It’s just hard bein’ out on tour for so long, and not bein’ able to be there for everything, ya know?” I sat there fumblin’ around with the empty glass in front of me while I studied Riley intently.

  “Can’t say I do, lad. Don’t got no girl, and most certainly don’t got no kiddos.”

  “Why not?” I tapped my empty glass on the mahogany bar, hintin’ that I needed another, and luckily Riley obliged. I took a sip from my now full glass of whiskey, and realized just how rude I was bein’. “Oh man, I’m sorry. It’s entirely not my business.”

  “No, don’t be silly. Hey, us Irish are like open books." He smiled. "That’s how ya say it in America, right?”

  “Yes, yes it is.” I chuckled.

  “No lass, because I’ve either dated ‘em all or I’m related to ‘em all. It’s a small place here.”

  “Well that sucks. You gotta make your way out to America. We’ve got plenty of ladies to go around.” I laughed.

  “I reckon I might one of these days.” He tipped his hat and made his way down to the other side of the bar to help another patron.

  I don’t think I would ever get used to the thick accents that the people in this town spoke with, I mean hell, I barely understood a word Riley said unless I was somewhat intoxicated. Riley was a good lookin' dude. To be perfectly honest, he reminded me of Henry Cavill, and I knew if he ever came to the states he would most definitely be able to find a nice girl to settle down with. If that was the kind of thing he was lookin' for.

  I turned on my bar stool to glance out across the pub to see where everyone was, but I was comin’ up empty when it came to Glenn. Brandon and Bryce were busy workin’ over some girls in the corner, but Glenn had all but disappeared. I slowly stood up, and then stood up on my stool to get a better view, but there was still no sign of the jackass.

  I quickly jumped down and made my way over to the dum-dum twins, against my better judgment. “Hey you guys seen Glenn around?”

  Brandon was the first to turn around, barely unlockin’ lips with some random floozy before he spoke. “Last time I saw him, he was headed thata way.” He pointed back towards the bathrooms.

  “Was he by himself?”

  Of course now, Bryce decided to put in his two cents. “If alone is with some hot ginger, then yes. Yes, he was very much alone.”

  What the hell was wrong with these bozos? And what the hell was Glenn doin? He was a married man for cryin’ out loud. Not only is he a married man, but his wife is my wife’s best friend, and I was gonna have to hear about it, regardless of what he was doin’. I rushed back towards the bathrooms, and immediately flung open the door that led to the men’s room. Sure enough, right there in front of my not so virgin eyes, stood my best friend in an extremely compromisin’ position.

  I hung my shoulders in disappointment and regret for not keepin’ a better eye on him, as I reached out and tugged on his shoulder. “Bro, what the hell?” Glenn pulled back quicker than I had ever seen him move, with his hands raised high.

  “It’s not what it looks like, man.”

  “You’re shittin’ me right now, right? You can’t pull that shit with me, Glenn. But dude, I mean come on.” I motioned for the girl to leave the room, and she did so without puttin’ up a fight, thankfully. As soon as the door closed behind her, I grabbed Glenn by the throat and pushed him into the wall so hard that I almost thought he would become a permanent fixture in it. “Do you even know what I just saved you from?” I growled. “Had I
been a minute longer, you could’ve given up everything you’ve worked so hard for. Your wife, Glenn. Cami, you’re wife who just beat cancer. What is runnin’ through that thick ass skull of yours?”

  Glenn was leanin’ against the counter with his head hangin’ low. That's when I knew he was ready to finally talk. “You have no idea what we’ve been goin’ through over the last year and a half. With all the sickness, and not knowin’ what it was at first, and then to find out it was cancer. I j..just didn’t know how I was goin’ to handle it. But-“

  “Wait,” I stood with a perplexed look on my face. “You didn’t know how you were goin’ to handle it? What about your wife?” I could feel the rage inside of my boilin’ through my veins. If he said one more idiotic thing, I was goin’ to lay him out.

  “I know what you must think of me right now, Madison. But it’s not what you think. I swear. She never wants to have sex, she never wants to go anywhere or do anything. She always wants to stay at home, or go to y’all's house. You have no idea how hard I have tried to be there for her, especially with this whole baby thing. I’m not ready for all of that, she is. I don’t want that life.”

  “Glenn, you chose that life buddy. Remember the whole in sickness and in health bit? You made a commitment to that woman. When you put that ring on her finger, you promised her just that. And now that life isn’t turnin’ out the way you had planned it, you’re just gonna up and start cheatin’? What if you would’ve slept with that girl? What if she gave you an STD and then you went home and gave it to Cami, whose immune system is already compromised? You could kill her.” I couldn’t help but pace back and forth across the stark white bathroom floor while my best friend contemplated the dire consequences of his actions.

  “You have no idea what it’s like, Madison!”

  “Don’t you dare say that one more goddamn time. I may not be in the exact situation, but I know that no matter what, I would never cheat on my girl, ever. That amazin’ woman you are married to has spent the last year and a half fightin’ for her life, and you’re just ready to bail? And who cares if she doesn’t want to have sex with you all the time, at least she’s tryin’. Which is more than I can say for you.”