Page 1 of His Forever

Prologue

That which has been seen cannot be unseenshe thought as she sped away from her friend’s house. Oblivious to the fact that tears streamed down her face, she called her cousin, Paulie.

“Hey my favorite cousin, what’s up?” he said.

“Need you and Gray. Can you…can you bring a truck over to the house?” she asked, sniffling.

He heard the tears and his next question shouldn’t have surprised her, but it did. “Who do we have to kill?”

“Um…can…can I just tell y’all when you get over to the house? And hurry, please,” she responded. “I’ve got one stop to make but will be there shortly. My stuff in the spare room needs to be on that truck.”

Whatever it is, it’s obviously bad if she’s leaving. Aloud, he simply said, “We’ll be there, chica. You drive carefully.”

***

At the house, she made quick work of packing her personal belongings, once again thankful that she hadn’t let things go too far. She lefteverythinghe had bought for her. She didn’t need or wantanythinghe had purchased. Paulie, coming into the master bedroom, saw the display she had left on the bed and, eyebrows raised, said, “Think you need to spill the beans now, chica. C’mon, talk to Paulie and Gray and we’ll make it all better.”

One last look around and she went into the kitchen, where she sat down and told them what had precipitated her decision. When Paulie saw the note she was leaving, he glanced at Gray and told him, “Glad she’s on our side and not against us, man.” To her, he said, “You have the cats? Your computer? Your massage table? Facial machine? Anything else that needs to go into your Jeep? We’ll hold onto your stuff until you get where you’re going.”

“I’ve got it all, Paulie. All I want, anyhow. I don’t know where I’ll end up. Should have known this was too good to be true. He promised it was okay that we were waiting and then went out and screwed whatever he wanted!”

He stopped her, placing a finger against her lips. Looking down into her swollen eyes, he said, “Marleigh, you listen to me and you listen good. He was no man because a real man honors his promises. We weren’t sure he was the right one for you, but you were happy so we held onto our reservations. The right man is out there, I promise. And he’ll be thrilled to wait for you because he’ll know you’re his forever. Now, with what you got out of the bank, are you going to be okay? We can help, you know.”

She blinked up at her cousin, one of the only family members she kept in touch with these days. Most of the family had turned their backs on him when he came out but to her, he was and would always be Paulie. Her best friend and confidante. Together, they had forged a relationship that had cast her in the role of black sheep. “Yeah. I didn’t wipe him out totally, just took a little more than half of what I put out on deposits and shit,” she told him. “Can you call your mom and have her cancel everything? That’s more than I think I can handle today. Then, let’s get this show on the road.”

“We’ll get stuff canceled for you and I’ll call mom and clue her in to what is happening. What about the ring?”

“Oh, I’m keeping that to sell to the highest bidder,” she replied.

There’s my girlhe thought. Spunky and sassy, this wouldn’t keep her down for long.

Taking her house keys from her keyring, she left them along with the note and her engagement ring on the kitchen counter where he would be sure to see them when he returned home from his business trip.Business trip my assshe thought as she replayed what she had seen earlier in the day.If fucking my former best friend at her house when she was supposed to be at work is a business trip, I’ll eat my cat for dinner.

“I’ll call y’all once I get settled somewhere to get this stuff, okay?” she told the two men as she loaded her cats into her Jeep.

“Be careful and pull over if you get tired,” Paulie said.

“Yes,mom, I will,” she said, leaning up to kiss his cheek. “Thank you both for helping me get out of here.”

“Any time, chica. Any time.”

***

She was two hundred miles away when the first text came through. Glancing at her phone while stopped, she saw, “What do you mean, you’re done? WTH is going on Marleigh?”

Typing in a quick response, she wasn’t surprised when her phone rang. She sent it to voicemail. And kept doing so until her voicemail was full.

Chapter One

He heard his phone ringing and ran to grab it before it went to voicemail. “Álvarez Automotive and Towing, Zeus speaking. Can I help you?” he asked.

“Uh, hi. My name is Marleigh Cross and my Jeep broke down and I need a tow, can you help me with that?” a female voice asked.

“Do you know where you’re at?”

“Uh, I’m out on U.S. 1, just past a closed down convenience store. Heading west toward…is it Colbyville?”

He thought about U.S. 1 and had a good idea of where she was located. “Was the store on your left or your right?”

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