Calamity Rayne II:
Back Again
Lydia Michaels Books, LLC
10 Canal Street, Suite 200, Bristol, Pennsylvania 19007
www.LydiaMichaelsBooks.com
Calamity Rayne II: Back Again: Contemporary Romance Copyright © 2017 Lydia Michaels | Lydia Michaels Books, LLC | First E-book Publication: © Lydia Michaels 2017 Editors: Elise Hepner and Allyson Young | Cover Design by Lydia Michaels Books, LLC
ISBN-13: 978-1979616539 | ISBN-10: 1979616531
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED:This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. Distribution of this e-book, in whole or in part, online, offline, in print or in any way or any other method currently known or yet to be invented, is forbidden. If you do not want this book anymore, you must delete it from your computer. WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
All characters, names, places, and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, locales, or events are strictly coincidental.
Other Titles by
Lydia Michaels
Falling In
Breaking Out
Coming Home
Sacrifice of the Pawn
Calamity Rayne: Gets a Life
La Vie en Rose
Simple Man
Breaking Perfect
Sacred Waters
Skin
Chaste
Faking It
Forsaking Truth
As Tears Go By
Hold Me Fast
How to Love Her
First Comes Love
Protégé
Forfeit
Lost Together
Atonement
Blind
Untied
Sugar
Spice
Everything Nice
DISCLAIMER
Calamity Rayne: Back Again is the second book in the Calamity Rayne saga. Calamity Rayne: Gets a Life is book one. Starting the series here is like finishing the second half of someone else’s ice cream—you know some good chunks are missing.
Dedication
For Gayle.
Love,
#MumblesMcMichaels
Chapter One
How did I get here?
Sometimes a fleeting moment can be the most monumental, fundamental, and defining part of a person’s life. It seemed exciting things always happened fast—waterslides, parties, orgasms... But some defining moments ended in heartbreak.
I’m the asshole who wishes she could be a mermaid and not have to adult. Unrealistic. I know. But I still think it at least once a day.
Now would be a great time to swim away and forget my worries faster than Dory forgot Nemo. But that wasn’t an option. Shit just got real and I had to pull up my big girl panties and walk into an adult rated nightmare. I’d never been more terrified in my life.
Turning the corner into my best friend’s hospital room, I took an emotional sledgehammer to the heart. Her beautiful face was pale, her head half shaved, and a jagged line of black thread tracked down her skull. My beautiful Elle was broken.
So pale and still, so battered and lifeless, the sight of her stole the breath from my lungs. Despite knowing my best friend by heart, I hardly recognized her lying comatose before me.
The utilitarian white sheet disguised her body and made her appear small and meek. Elle was anything but meek. She had enough backbone for the both of us. This was not my Elle.
Toothy knots stitched across her temple further disturbed her ravaged face. The fluorescent lights bleached her skin, throwing dark bruises into sharp relief. Every trace of familiar comfort found in her presence vanished as stark fear impaled my heart.
Knees buckling, I gripped the doorjamb, fighting back a sob as everything inside of me wanted to run. There would be no running. I had to face this because Elle would do anything for me and I wanted to do just as much for her. I had to shove my fear aside and get in there, talk to her, tell her everything would be all right. That’s what best friends did.
The soles of my sandals weighed me down. My heart stuttered and plummeted into my feet as I braced for the unimaginable and tried not to flinch in horror. I needed to be brave, for her, for me, for anyone who doubted she’d come out of this. She would recover.
Her unconsciousness seeped into me, a hollow pain too vast and encompassing to fully describe. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t cross the threshold.
“You can come in.”
Inside the room, a woman in scrubs inspected some sort of tube hooked between Elle and a bag of clear fluid. I willed my legs to move, to carry me those last few steps to my best friend’s side, but a shiver stole over me, paralyzing me as half my world was decimated.
The happiness I owned only hours ago drifted like a whisper through the silence, too low for anyone else to hear. My peaceful little world of guarantees had crumbled to dust, little granules of heartache settling into my bones and leaving me stiff with uncertainty.
Gone. Broken. Divided in two. And I selfishly mourned the life I’d just found, forcing myself to let it go so I could be where I was needed most, present, in this nightmare with Elle. There would be no returning to Hale as long as Elle was hurt. I knew that, but my heart struggled to accept it, pulled so tightly between two worlds I feared it might rip in half.
My toes twitched as my foot slid over the sanitized linoleum, too immobilized by trepidation to bend my knee and actually lift into a full step. Elle was the unbreakable one. She was the achiever, the confident beacon I looked to when questioning the trajectory of my life. And there was absolutely no sign of life coming from her now, just the slow, chirping pulse of the monitor wired to her body.
My other foot edged forward, and then the next until I slowly shuffled across the room. The nurse continued to fiddle with intimidating medical devices as I approached the bed, never letting her out of my peripheral.
I had questions, lots and lots of questions. A tear teased at my jawline, clinging for a chilling second before falling away. How could this have happened? When would she wake up? What was the last thing she said?
All of those questions seemed irrelevant and juvenile, despite the gnawing ache to have them answered. My fingers stretched to the bedding, pressing lightly into the shape of Elle’s arm and dragging lightly to her hand.
“Hey,” I rasped. The word sent a surge of chills up my spine and I shivered, trembling with anxiety.
Something signaled me that the nurse was about to exit. “Is she… Is this … a … coma?”
Never in my life had words felt so awkward in my mouth. I knew nothing about medical stuff aside from what I learned from soap operas. My ignorance slid another layer of distress onto what was already an unbearable burden.
“Right now, she’s on a lot of medication to make her comfortable. Rest is good after a trauma.”
What the fuck kind of answer was that? I felt unbearably stupid, too ignorant to even gauge the severity of Elle’s true situation. “So she’ll wake up when the drugs wear off?”
“Eventually.”
“When?”
“You’ll have to speak to the doctor. Are you family?”
Breath labored past my clenched teeth. I was a little rabbit about to be chased away by a big hawk. “She doesn’t have family. I’m it.” Well,
there was Tyler—and Chris, but I’d explain all that later.
“Visiting hours are over at eight. You’re welcome to stay until then.” She gave a polite smile and left the room.
My feet, no longer as heavy as they were when I first entered, rounded the bed toward the chair. Was someone else here? The seat faced Elle as if someone had already positioned it.
My weight fell onto the cushion just as my knees collapsed. I drew back the sheet and found Elle’s discolored hand fastened with some sort of monitoring clip and an IV punched through her vein. The skin had already begun to bruise beneath the medical tape.
My attempt at gentleness caused my hands to shake. I scooped her fingers into mine and pressed our palms together, relieved to feel the heat of her skin.
“Hey,” I greeted again, watching her eyelids for any flicker of acknowledgment. There was nothing. “I’m here.”
The machine chirped and my shoulders lowered, my forehead pressing into the crisp linen of her bed. Brow resting on the mattress while the weight of her fingers filled my hand, I stared at the floor. Bed wheels, wires, outlets, devices… This place wasn’t home. Tears blurred my vision as I stared at the white tile.
Drawing in a deep breath and gently withdrawing my fingers from Elle’s, I lifted my head and reached for my phone. “If they think I’m leaving you in this scary place alone they’re out of their fucking minds.”
8:01. Yeah. I wasn’t going anywhere.
I opened my last text to Hale, the one where I let him know I was in the cab leaving the airport. He’d written back, but as I read the word Good my phone shut down.
“Shit.”
I looked around the room for Elle’s belongings, hoping she might have a charger, but there was nothing.
“Where’s your purse?” Maybe it was with her car.
Stuffing my phone back in my bag, I glanced at my luggage by the door. I should move it out of the way. But what if some nurse named Ratched showed up and told me I had to leave since visiting hours were over? Maybe I could hide.
“God, grow up, Rayne,” I mumbled.
Huffing out a breath, I slouched back into the chair and stared at Elle. “You know I won’t leave you. You wouldn’t leave me.”
Elle was always there to tell me how to do things like an adult. Thank God, because a lot of times I fell back on philosophies that didn’t work, like, shut your eyes and you’re instantly invisible. I rarely made the right choice as a first decision. That’s why Elle was so essential. She could predict my immaturity and tell me how to handle life’s curveballs before I got pegged in the head with a fast one. That and the fact that I loved her and she was one of the few people who actually loved me back.
So this… This was like being hit with cannon fire.
“How do I get them to let me stay?”
I stared at her face, noting her pretty, blonde eyelashes and the natural, plump curve of her lips. A sad smile twisted my mouth as something inside of me eased and a bit of my tension unraveled. She wasn’t going to wake up right now, but she was alive. Eventually, she’d heal. Baby steps.
“Okay.” My shoulders lifted as I drew in a galvanizing breath and straightened my spine. “I’m going to tell them I’m staying. I’ll be right back.”
I covered her arm with the sheet and gave her a reassuring smile she couldn’t see. What was the worst that could happen? They’d say no? A vision filled my mind of me freaking out, legs flailing, arms dragging IV towers down the hall as an orderly hauled me out of the hospital. Not really an option. I’d simply have to be an adult and get permission.
Tucking my suitcase inside Elle’s room, I scanned the hall for the nurse’s station, wondering which nurse had the nicest disposition. The one with cats and yarn balls on her scrubs was probably a pretty good mark.
Pulling back my shoulders, I centered myself, hiding away all signs of Calamity and honing my Davenport skills. Davenports had a knack for conveying entitlement and getting exactly what they wanted. I’d just pretend I was one of them.
Go time.
I reached the desk in only a few surefooted strides and smiled at Kittens. “Hi.”
The nurse looked up from her phone and grinned. “Can I help you?”
No mention that it was past visiting hours. Good. I decided to offer something before I asked for something. Remington, the patriarch of the Davenports had taught me that negotiating trick.
“Do you need anything signed for Elle Tuttle? I’d be the person to help with that.” That sounded good. I was making myself essential.
“I don’t think so. I believe the responders pulled all her information from the scene of the accident.”
“Oh.” Don’t panic. You’re still relevant. “Do you know when the doctor will be back? I’d like to speak with him or her. I’m Elle’s next of kin.”
Okay, that last little fib just sort of fell out. But really, who else would be here? She’d be fine with that white lie and she was all that mattered right now.
“You’re family?”
Elle’s parents passed away within a year of each other, so as far as family went, her brother, Chris, was it. He’d only make things worse. “We’re sisters.”
Oh crap, the fibs were getting fatter. I was a terrible liar. Time to expand. Make it believable.
“Our last names are different because I was married. Divorced now.” I waved my bare fingers, which had never felt the weight of a diamond ring. “Such a messy thing—divorce. Todd was a real piece of work.” Todd? “By the time all was said and done I was too exhausted with the paperwork to follow through with reverting to my maiden name, so Meyers it stayed.”
For the first time in my life, I was grateful I was thirty. All of that shit could have actually happened. Not that any of it had. I was only a few weeks deep into my first real relationship.
Feeling pretty confident in my lie, I smiled at Kittens and realized by the speechless look in her eyes that I might have gone too far. Okay, reel it in. That was definitely TMI.
“Sorry. My mind’s a mess. I just flew in from Florida. I didn’t get much sleep last night, and I haven’t been thinking clearly since I got the call about Elle—my sister.”
Kittens nodded with what appeared to be sympathy. “I know it’s hard to think positive right now, but I’ve seen a lot of patients recover from much worse.”
There was no need to fake the comforting effects of her reassuring words. “Thank you.” Collecting myself, because I needed to secure my place in Elle’s room, I cleared my throat. “Would it be possible for me to get an extra blanket and a pillow? I think I’d like to stay by her side tonight.”
“Of course. Coming from Florida on such an unexpected trip, you probably don’t have anything arranged. Let me see about getting some things brought to her room. You can wait with your sister. It shouldn’t be long.”
Relieved and impressed that I earned the permission I needed, I sighed. “Thank you so much. I honestly couldn’t handle leaving her right now.”
“Completely understandable.”
The walk back to the room was victorious. But, as I entered, my anxiousness to tell Elle what I’d just accomplished shattered. Elle was unconscious. A sense of loneliness stole through me, piercing the bubble of achievement and leaving me deflated and once again scared.
No little distraction would overshadow the truth that she was in bad shape. So I settled into my chair and took her hand. It would be a long time before I’d feel comfortable letting go. “I’m back.”
Chapter Two
Floating Through Time
For the first time in my life, I was in love. Not crushing on a boy, but grown-up, sexy-time love with an actual man. An incredible man. It didn’t seem fair that at that same moment my heart was breaking.
“You should eat, Rayne.”
My gaze lifted from the hospital bed I’d been staring at for the last several hours and shifted to Tyler. “I have no appetite.”
“Have you eaten anything since you l
eft Florida?” Sliding his bulky body into the corner chair, his assessing stare burned through me.
His concern was a whole other presence in the room. He didn’t seem capable of looking at Elle, which was understandable, but I wished he’d stop looking at me.
My withered appearance wore the stench of communal travel. Wrinkled clothes and greasy hair exploited every missed hour of sleep. The skin beneath my eyes literally burned from dashing away tears, but the last thing I cared about was vanity—I simply never had, and there was no point in starting now.
My heart cracked when Remington Davenport, my eccentric, billionaire boss told me the news about Elle. Another chunk chipped away when Hale, my boyfriend and boss’s son, hugged me goodbye like he might never touch me again. It was a combination of those moments and actually seeing Elle in this condition that shattered my heart so severely I had a hard time recalling the girl I was twenty-four hours ago.
So, yeah, food wasn’t really on my priority list at the moment. “I’m not hungry.”
Tyler sighed and shut his eyes, pressing the back of his head into the recliner seat until the stiff leather creaked. He stuck to the corner like a shadow, his words intruding as a gentle reminder of his presence every so often.
“Is this going to affect your job, being here?”
My job? I had a love/hate thing going on with my job. I loved it because it brought me to Hale, but he wasn’t all I loved. I loved my boss, too, the grumpy, old bastard. However, loving a man like Remington Davenport meant hating him fifty percent of the time, too. He was an enormous, wealthy pain in my poor ass.
I didn’t know how this time away would affect my job, but I knew I wasn’t finished with the Davenports. Not by a long shot. I was pretty certain my job was secure, at least that’s what they all said when I left.
“It shouldn’t.”
“You don’t sound too sure.” Tyler’s realist personality didn’t always inspire confidence. Elle usually acted as the balance between us, me the pessimist, her the optimist, Tyler the realist.
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