Page 1 of Revived

Prologue

Kendra Kendrick was my future. I knew it as sure as I knew that I’d been born to play guitar, write songs, and sing my ass off. She would understand why I had to go, and would have encouraged me, if I’d had the time to talk to her first. I sat there playing my guitar on the flight that would take me out of her life for a little while. I just hoped that she knew I’d be right back on another one once the ink was dry on the contracts.

“How’s the writing coming, son?”

“Flyin’ Away,” I said to my new manager. He didn’t seem convinced until I started playing him the song that I’d been toying with since I was swept up and away from Kendra. It started off with a smooth, easy melody and I could see the doubt on his face since I was just signed to become the next best thing in rock-n-roll. I grinned just before the melody dropped off and the chorus picked up with a single line as I made Betty Lou sing right along with me as I wailed out the rest. Betty Lou was my guitar, and the reason I’d been signed. I could make her sing notes in such a way that people could have sworn a person was behind the sound instead of a guitar. It was a specialty of mine taught to me by the uncle that had left Betty Lou in my lap as a young, impressionable eight-year-old. That particular uncle hadn’t stuck around too long, but he was there just long enough to give me the gift of music. That’s all I needed.

Ten years later, this chance was all I needed, and once we got these tracks down, I’d be able to go back for Kendra so we could live out that happily ever after that we’d been dreaming about. Her family said I was from the wrong side of the tracks according to her family, but I was going to do right by my woman. This was my chance. It was also the only way I’d ever be able to prove that I was enough for her.

At least that’s what I thought at the time, which I guess, is why they say hindsight is a bitch. Turns out, it was all a colossal fucking mistake.

1 – A Son

19 years later

My mom was gone, and I was still trying to wrap my head around that when I got back to my hometown near Atlanta, Georgia. What the hell was I supposed to do with this news? It wasn’t like she was ever the super supportive motherly type. She made sure I lived through my childhood and not much else. Still, I felt the need to come back and see to everything myself. It wasn’t even that it was expected of me. I’d managed to keep my mother out of the limelight once my career took off. That happened only by paying her off so that she would stay in the shadows and keep my pathetic life story from gaining any unwanted attention. Most of the people in my life knew about the relationship we had, so no one truly expected me to be here to bury her. Still, I strived to be a better person.

My manager was one of those snakes who was more a cautionary tale of how not to live one’s life. He was no better than the barely present mother I’d had and was pissed that any time was shaved off my schedule to see the last piece of my family on this Earth. That was the reason I was here. Ultimately, I needed to prove to myself that life hadn’t tainted me so much that my humanity was gone down the drain along with everyone else’s.

Fuck.

My stomach twisted just knowing that this was the town where my heart had been broken, the love of my life lost, and now the town where I was about to bury my mother. I wondered if I’d see her, if she had a family now, if she was happy. Maybe she would hate me. I left her messages, but she moved on so quickly from me that it didn’t seem like those messages would have mattered whether she got them or not. For years, I had debated on whether or not it was a good idea to try to contact her again. I even went so far as to hire a private investigator. Couldn’t ever bring myself to read the file though. I didn’t want to be tortured with the knowledge that she was happily with another man.

Kendra Kendrick was on my mind more than my dead mother. That said something. She had been my first love. My first damn everything. Then I took off for Los Angeles to score my big record deal, and when I returned, she had already moved on. My heart though--, it never had moved past that first love or the betrayal that stung so hard.

With all that turmoil still rolling around in my head nineteen goddamn years later, you could probably imagine my surprise when none other than Kendra Kendrick was standing there in front of my mother’s grave when I showed up to pay my last respects. Her blond hair lifted at the tips as the wind kissed it ever so gently. She was still a tiny thing, only a couple inches above five feet, and while she had been graced with more womanly curves, she was still slender and fit too. It was like God had decided to further perfect the epitome of perfection. When she turned away after placing flowers on my mother’s grave, her eyes widened immediately in surprise.

“Gabe?”

“None other.” My voice sounded a whole lot surer of myself than I felt.

Her hand rose to her lips, as if feeling the ghost of my kiss there from so long ago. Then her breath caught in a little hiccup before she dropped her eyes, bowed her head, and sighed deeply. The weight of the world was in that sigh.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, effectively bringing her attention back up to me.

“I could ask you the same. Thought you were never coming back after you ran off to LA without a word,” she said quietly, though each word was laced with a touch of venom.

“Without a word?” I laughed, but there was no humor to be found in the stilted noise. “Sweetheart, I left word that I’d be back in a couple of weeks. Hell, I was back – for you – and guess what I found?” Kendra didn’t bother answering, she just slid a puzzled expression my way. “Found out you were on a date. Moved on already. Came back a few months later and saw you with the same man rubbing your full belly.”

She made a tisking sound and that didn’t quite match the horrified look on her face. “You expect me to believe that you never got my messages? That you were here, and you never spoke to me? You just saw me with some guy and assumed things?”

“I didn’t assume, sweetheart. Your father told me. She told me,” I shoved an accusatory finger toward my mother’s grave as I spoke.

“They lied to you then, just like your piece of shit manager must have.” She shook her head. “I thought you just didn’t care. All this time,” her head bowed again, only this time her shoulders began to shake. “They really must have hated the thought of us together, huh?”

“What are you talking about?”

“That boy you said that you saw me with? Yes, my parents tried to set me up with him. I explained to him that I was waiting on you and he was okay with playing pretend so that my parents wouldn’t suspect anything. My father told me that he hooked you up with a record deal to get you out of town, and that you took it and ran. I never believed you would take it without coming back for me though.”

“I told you, I did come back. Twice.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t talk to me. I really needed you to talk to me. That swollen belly you saw me with?” Tears ran unchecked down her face. I didn’t say anything. “Guess you didn’t bother to think about the math on how far along I might be, and when you left, huh?”

I stepped back, completely flabbergasted. “Are you trying to tell me you were carrying my kid?”

She nodded her head. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.” She glanced back at my mother’s grave. “Makes me want to rip those flowers right back out of the ground. I told her. She even met him when he was a baby, but she told me it was too hard to be involved when it’s not what you wanted.”

“Are you serious?”

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