Rebound: Passion Book 2 Read online

  Rebound

  By

  Jordan Silver

  Copyright © 2014 Alison Jordan

  All Rights Reserved

  Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1

  MATT

  My life is fucked six ways from Sunday. I’m in a place in my head that I never thought to be ever in my life, and I feel like my hands are tied. I’m the type of guy who likes to take care of shit that gets in my way but now find myself in a situation where I can do nothing, and it’s burning me the fuck up. I want to lash- out but there’s no one to lash out at. This shit was of my own making, because I was a blind fool. That’s what makes it so hard, the fact that I brought this shit on myself; that there’s no one else to blame. My trust in my own judgment has been shaken to the core. I can’t even think straight because of all the shit that’s going on in my head these days. My every moment seems to be consumed by anger and hate, two emotions that were never a part of me but were now my constant companions.

  Never again, that’s all I’ve been telling myself for the past few weeks. I’ve become hard and disgruntled, pretty much disgusted with people as a whole and I can’t seem to drag my ass out of this funk. I’ve become disassociated from the life that I once knew. That seems to be the best answer for now; how can I face them really after what I almost allowed to happen? So what if I didn’t actually have a hand in the shit that went down? I still feel responsible; I’m still the one who had brought the shit to my family’s door. And no matter how much they claim I’m not to blame that doesn’t ease the guilt. Doesn’t erase the horror of what I’d almost brought on all our heads. I felt sick to my stomach just thinking about it; which is usually the case and one of the reasons why I can’t seem to kick the shit and move on.

  My family have been watching me like they expect me to off myself any minute or some shit. I can’t or won’t talk to anyone about what I’m feeling; I have to bear the burden on my own. So right now they’re playing the guessing game and obviously coming to the conclusion that I’m gonna do something drastic to myself.

  That too is a blow, that my loved ones would think me so weak. But what can I expect? Wasn’t it that weakness that had allowed that snake to infiltrate? Wasn’t it my weakness that had blinded me to who and what she truly was? My guts roiled and burned as I felt the gorge rise into my throat. It wouldn’t be the first time I threw up over this mess. But not today, I was done with that at least. I fought back the nastiness and focused on something else as I sat there sweating with my fists clenched.

  I’ve spent the last few weeks hiding out and licking my wounds, not letting anyone get too close. Not even my baby brother, who’s the closest thing to me in this world. It was because of him that I was having such a hard time with the way things had transpired, because deep down I know I’d failed him somehow. Some days, I wanted to just crawl into one of dad’s cognac bottles and escape when the enormity of Patti’s actions became too much for me to bear. I don’t even drink but that’s what this shit has brought me to, I feel like I’ve aged twenty years in the last few months, like my life has ended before it really begun. How can one person cause so much pain and destruction through their actions? How can she have the power to bring me this low? Some days the anger was so strong it’s all I held onto but I know that’s dangerous and would only destroy me in the end.

  I won't give that bitch the satisfaction though. My biggest problem now that the fog is finally clearing is that I can’t wrap my hands around her neck and finish her lying ass off for what she did to my family and I. I can’t sleep at night, tossing and turning with hate burning a hole in me. I can see myself going down a very slippery slope and there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do to stop it. My every thought these days are of revenge. How did I go from thinking I was in love with this beast to totally abhorring her very existence? Now all I can think of is destroying her completely. What she had set out to do, had in fact put into action was beyond evil in my eyes; something I would never have imagined her capable of.

  Therein lay the problem, how can I ever trust anyone again? I’m hardly nineteen years old and I’ve been dealt a blow I’m not sure many could recover from, or at least that’s the way I feel about it. I feel unmanned, like everything I ever thought about myself was a damn lie. I use to think I was strong; I knew what was important in life and at the head of that list was family. Then I’d let my family down, most importantly my little brother who was like one of my limbs. The bond we shared was not something I could easily explain, and when the girl I’d been in love with for three years had hurt him it had done something awful to the person I once was. She’d fucking gutted me, the psychotic freak.

  I can't believe I wasted three years on her ass. That's the thing that fucks with my head more than anything else; that I was such a sap, a blind fool. My little brother is very happy these days though so that's something; she hadn’t achieved what she’d set out to do. Had she been able to carry out her plans I might be the one sitting in a jail cell for committing murder. She never understood no matter how many times I told her. My brother is my heart no one is allowed to fuck with him. Not even the woman I loved or thought I did.

  Joshua is special in more ways than one. Since the day mom brought the little shit home from the hospital when I was little more than a baby myself, I’ve always seen myself as his protector. When we grew older and everyone realized how different he was it got even worst. Because of his intelligence other kids thought he was an easy target. They thought he was a nerd or some shit, one of those supposedly weak beings that they could just pick on at will. I spent my whole life standing between him and them. I knew the truth of course; we trained together after all. But as his older brother I still saw it as my job to protect. I’d taken that duty very seriously our whole lives. And then I’d brought someone into our world that had tried to destroy him. Was it any wonder I was finding it hard to deal with this shit?

  He and his new bride are always smiling and happy it seems these days now that the whole mess is behind us. I don’t think I’ve ever seen two people so fucking happy to be getting on each other’s nerves. Even their fights are kinda loving if that shit even makes sense. And since she got her hooks into him I'm not so worried about him becoming a master criminal any more. These days the intense little fuck spends most of his time behind closed doors with his young bride instead of getting into shit. It’s funny that I was the one with a steady girl all through high school while Josh played the field, now he’s the one settled down.

  Married as a teenager damn. If anyone could make it work it would be him though, he's always been that way. He knows what he wants and can be very tenacious about getting it. His wife is his carbon copy; I guess that's why they’d had their rough patches in the beginning, too much a fucking like. I’m not jealous of what they have, I’m happy for my brother. But what they share only makes me see what a mockery my relationship with the viper had been. Just m
akes it harder to accept that I’d wasted so much time for nothing.

  Come on Matt, you’ve got to pull yourself out of this funk; you’re acting like a bitch. So what she turned out to be an evil troll? That’s not your fault there was no way for you to know since she kept that shit well hidden. No one knew she was capable of the things she did. Telling myself the same thing day in and day out didn’t seem to be doing the trick. Somehow I was still always left with a feeling of ineptitude. I hung my head again as the weight of my thoughts threatened to drag me under.

  Chapter 2

  "What are you thinking about so hard over here bro?" The little fuck sneaked up on me as I’m sitting here alone, which was about all I do these days; hide away from everyone and everything. I have no interest in anything anymore. Maybe one day that will change but right now I don’t give a fuck about shit. They’ve been leaving me alone thus far but I guess Joshua has decided I’ve had enough time to lick my wounds.

  "Where's lil sis, you actually letting her breathe?" I looked around for Carrie. Since the wedding you hardly saw one of them without the other. It’s almost as if one can’t breathe without the other for too long. My brother is totally whipped but I won't be the one to bring that to his attention though. I might catch a left hook; he can be a bit volatile at times.

  "Funny bro. Well?"

  "Well what?" He sighed before dropping down next to me, glaring me down.

  "If you sit around here like this one more day I will personally go to that skank's holding cell and strangle the fuck out of her."

  Crazy fuck would probably do it too. "What makes you think I'm thinking about her?"

  "Kill the shit Matt, it's been weeks since she's been arrested. You haven't even looked at your cars in all that time, and you haven't hardly left the house."

  "I'm fine bro just getting my head straight." I didn’t look at him as I said it because there was something there; something sickening in my stomach that I didn’t quite understand whenever I faced him or anyone else in the family.

  "About what?"

  Fucker's like a dog with a bone.

  "Leave it alone Joshua, I said I'm fine." He's not the only Steele with more than a little fire, though he tends to forget that and the fact that I'm older. I guess he thinks I lost my teeth when the bitch gutted me, and I guess I have been acting like it.

  "Do you know what you're telling me Matthew? You're telling me that my happiness is at the expense of yours." That shit threw me for a hot minute and that sick feeling burned a hole in my gut.

  "What the fuck, where'd you come up with that one? You're slipping Einstein, that shit’s not even cool bro." Fuck have I really been making him feel like that? Shit never crossed my mind, I’ve just been feeling lost. I’d passed up the opportunity to graduate a year early so that I could wait for my little brother. I’ve always been aware that this small town was too stifling for him somehow. So I’d convinced myself early on that I had to stay and keep watch over him until we could both get out together. Besides as close as we are it was the only thing that made sense.

  Maybe that was part of Patti’s problem, the fact that I was so over protective of my brother. The fact that we’re so close and that I always looked out for him. There were times when I’d put him before her and it had driven her crazy, maybe I should’ve learned from that. Now our lives have been changed in ways I hadn’t been prepared for. We' re still getting out, only now he's got his wife and I've got shit. Shit, that doesn't even sound right in my head. Was I really that fucked up that I begrudged my brother his happiness? No fucking way, not even a little bit. Whatever was going on inside my head had nothing to do with envy, and everything to do with disappointment in myself.

  "I never meant to make you feel that way bro I'm happy as fuck for you and lil sis you know that. I just...I feel a little adrift right now you know, no biggie it'll pass." He studied me for a minute without saying anything until I was ready to ask him what the fuck!

  "One of those things worrying you wouldn't happen to be school would it?"

  I just looked at him without saying a word. What was there to say after all? The truth is I always had my life mapped out. I was going to go off to college with Josh in tow and Patti would follow me wherever I ended up. We'd get married eventually, move back here and have about six kids. Fuck, how did I not know she was a psychotic bitch?

  Finally I just nodded my head; after all he'd just pull it out of me anyway, brainy fuck.

  "No worries bro, we've already got it covered."

  "Who's we and what did you cover?"

  "Carrie and I, she went snooping and found your acceptance letter. Imagine my surprise when you didn't tell me about it. Did you think I forgot what you'd always planned bro? Shame on you."

  "Carrie was snooping in my room?"

  "Yep that's the price you pay for making her feel like she fucked up your life. By the way cut that shit out, if she sulks over it one more time it’s gonna be your ass.”

  “What did you do bro?”

  “Signed you up of course, the fuck you think I did?”

  I wasn’t sure if to be mad or grateful, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go anymore. And that was just bullshit.

  “Promise me you don’t hold me responsible for anything she did.” Fuck where the hell had that come from? I wasn’t even aware that I had that in me that my mind had taken me there. Maybe it was good that we were having this talk after all. My brother studied me like I was missing a few marbles; little did he know I’ve been feeling like it here lately. What guy wanted to wake up one day and realize the girl he thought he loved was capable of setting an innocent young girl up to be raped? I had no idea what to do with any of this shit. While the rest of the world had gone on with life as usual I was trapped in a place inside myself that would not let me forget what a complete fool I’d been. Tough guy Matt Steele was nothing more than a blind fool. How could I trust anything ever again?

  “Are you high Matthew?”

  “The fuck? Of course not why would you ask me that?” Is that what my family thought?

  “No reason I’m just trying to figure out why you’re talking like an asshole, sorry.”

  “I can’t help it bro, this shit is messing with my head. How could I not have known what she was? I wasted three years of my life on that shit.”

  “Well if you feel that way about it why would you give her another day?”

  “Come again?”

  “This shit you’re doing, it’s letting her win. She has that much control over you bro, that’s on you. She did her thing now she’s gone, you need to move the fuck on.”

  “Dude are you seventeen or seventy; your old wise ass.” I punched his shoulder playfully; it was the first time I’d had any physical contact with anyone in what felt like forever. My brother and I have always been the rumble tumble type. One of us was always thumping the shit out of the other, it’s how we communicated that love we had for each other. Even that had been sullied, somehow I felt like I’d lost that right. I’d failed him in the worst way possible and now I didn’t know how to get us back. Dude you are totally turning bitch; I shook my head at my inner musings.

  “Fuck you bro.” he returned the punch with a grin and I felt that sore place inside ease just a little.

  “Nice way to talk to the wounded Steele.” I turned to look at my new sister in law as she joined us.

  “There she is, what’re you doing down here Lamb, I thought you said you were tired?”

  “I was but then I rolled over and you were gone.”

  She came over and stood next to him, her hand going automatically to his hair. That didn’t last long before he was pulling her down into his lap. Not long after that the disgusting face sucking commenced.

  “Seriously? I think mom and dad need to build some sort of stall out back for you two animals.” They totally ignored me so I went back to brooding for all of five seconds.

  “I was just telling big brother how he’s going to be rooming with us
at university.”

  “Uh you didn’t tell me that part bro you only told me about the snooping princess.”

  “That’s because my baby came out here and I got distracted.” And they were at it again it was enough to give a guy a complex.

  “Why don’t I find something to do elsewhere while you two fornicate on the patio? Never mind that I was sitting out here minding my business first.” So I was sulking sue me.

  “Your brother’s being an old woman again crazy boy.”

  “That hurts, later.” I got up to leave but her next words stopped me cold.

  “See I told you, he resents me, if I hadn’t come along Patricia wouldn’t have lost her mind and did what she did.”

  I looked over my shoulder to see if she was playing around but the look on my brother’s face gave me room for doubt.

  “That’s stupid Carrie, I don’t think any such thing, I just…you guys just got married you need your alone time.” Lame Matt.

  “That’s what the honeymoon was for bro, now we’re back and it’s get your head out of your ass time.”

  “Josh…”

  “Ssh babe I got this. You want to be a jerk go right ahead bro but you won’t make Lamb feel like a stranger in her own home, especially not over that bitch who isn’t worth a moment’s thought.” They got up to leave and I felt like shit, was I really that bad? Shit I thought I was doing a better job of hiding my shit, it’s the reason I was keeping mostly to myself these days. Looks like I couldn’t even get that right either.

  I walked over to them and took my life in my hands by hugging my new sister in law. Yeah my brother is that fucking gone, he doesn’t like anyone to touch her.

  “I’m sorry I made you feel that way lil sis I don’t feel that way at all I promise.”

  “Then what is it Matt why won’t you tell us?” She looked so sad as she asked me that and I knew if I made her cry my brother would take a swing at me.