Bound Together Read online

  Bound Together

  Copyright © 2012 by Marie Coulson

  Published by Marie Coulson at Smashwords

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and for review purposes.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons living or dead, are entirely coincidental.

  The use of artist and song titles throughout this book are done so for storytelling purposes and should in no way been seen as advertisement. Trademark names are used in an editorial fashion, with no intention of infringement of the respective owner’s trademark.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Cover Design by:

  Sarah Hanson

  Okay Creations

  http://okaycreations.net/site/

  Editing Provided by

  Annatassia Parchment

  [email protected]

  Bound Together

  By

  Marie Coulson

  For the man who has held my hand and my heart for the past seven years

  Table Of Contents

  Chapter 1 - Empty Space

  Chapter 2 - Amy

  Chapter 3 - An Apron and an Adonis

  Chapter 4 - Playing the Game

  Chapter 5 - Money, Money, Money

  Chapter 6 - You Spin Me Right Round Baby

  Chapter 7 - Mel, Dinner And Daddy

  Chapter 8 - Toot, Toot. Beep, Beep

  Chapter 9 - Propositions

  Chapter 10 - You’ve Got A Friend

  Chapter 11 - Knowing Me, Knowing You

  Chapter 12 - The Boss

  Chapter 13 - Crazy

  Chapter 14 - All That Glitters Is White Gold

  Chapter 15 - Out Of My Dreams & Into The Car

  Chapter 16 - I Want To Be A Rock Star

  Chapter 17 - Tables And Chairs

  Chapter 18 - Getting It Straight

  Chapter 19 - The King And I

  Chapter 20 - A Mothers Love Can Be Painful

  Chapter 21 - Oh What A Wicked Web

  Chapter 22 - Four Days

  Chapter 23 - Gifts, Glamor And Girl Talk

  Chapter 24 - It Must Be Love

  Chapter 25 - Tying Me In Knots

  Chapter 26 - Ruby Tuesday

  Chapter 27 - Love Online

  Chapter 28 - Lean On Me

  Chapter 29 - In The Still Of The Night

  Chapter 30 - A Long, Hot Talk

  Chapter 31 - One Tequila, Two Tequila, Three Tequila, Floor

  Chapter 32 - Handcuffs And Heels

  Chapter 33 - A Picture Of Mass Destruction

  Chapter 34 - Party Like A Rock Star

  Chapter 35 - Unexpected Guests

  Chapter 36 - Numb

  Chapter 37 - Shall We Dance?

  Chapter 38 - Winter Wonderland

  Chapter 39 - Happy Holidays

  Chapter 40 - Steady As She Goes

  Chapter 41 - Playing Games

  Chapter 42 - Unfaithful

  Chapter 43 - Time

  Chapter 44 - Fired Up

  Chapter 45 - Moving On

  Chapter 46 - Heart To Heart

  Chapter 47 - Dangerous Territory

  Chapter 48 - Risky Business

  Chapter 49 - Listen To Your Heart

  Chapter 50 - Taking The Leap

  Chapter 1

  Empty Space

  I looked around the empty room. Big, brown cardboard boxes now replaced my once bright and junk filled bedroom. I couldn’t help but feel a little sad for the room. We’d been through a lot together over the past nineteen years and now I was abandoning it for a cold, lifeless, pre-used living space.

  College dorms weren’t exactly renowned for being spacious or luxurious, and from the fractional amount of information I’d received, I was also not going to be living alone. Mom had urged me to opt for a shared room. “It’s best to have someone else with you Layla. If you don’t come home one night because something awful has happened to you, then at least your room mate can alert the authorities. Safety in numbers dear. Besides, won’t it be nice to have someone to talk to and connect with on an intellectual level?”

  My mother was delusional. She was constantly worried for my safety to the extent that she bought me a ‘stranger danger’ kit. Equipped with a pepper spray, a personal safety alarm that could burst an eardrum and a book on self-defense, I was definitely the most lethal teenager in my high school…probably the state.

  She obviously had no idea what college was like. I was fairly confident that if I didn’t come home one night, my roommate would just assume I’d either: A) gotten lucky, B) passed out drunk somewhere or C) decided to move out.

  Having a roommate didn’t automatically guarantee that you had someone else to look out for your wellbeing. People sharing a dorm didn’t always become best friends these days and in most cases, you would be lucky if you could even tolerate each other. I was healthily pessimistic about the entire situation but I couldn’t help wondering what my new roommate would be like. We’d be spending the best part of a year trespassing through each other’s personal space and I was a girl who needed her own little territorial bubble. I liked my privacy and perfectly peaceful existence. The most unruly person in my life was my best friend Mel and even she understood my need for distance. I hoped this wasn’t going to be an issue with the girl I would soon be sharing my room and my privacy with. And if it was, realistically, what could I do? Could I get a new roommate?

  “Ready to go Lay?” Dad was standing in the doorway. His silver hair was shining in the sunlight which was pouring through the hallway window. He never bothered to color it, saying that he was more than happy wearing his age as a badge of experience. He was wearing his faded denim jeans and his usual flannel shirt; which made him look like he was more suited to a career as a lumberjack rather than a mechanic.

  Holding his car keys in his hand, he scanned the bare walls of my room and let out a long sigh.

  “Ready as I’ll ever be. These are the last boxes. I think I’ve got everything I’ll need,” I gestured to a couple of large boxes stacked next to my desk. “Those two are the heaviest. So if you can carry those, I think I can manage the others.” Dad smiled but I could see that this was difficult for him. He grabbed one of the boxes off the floor and took it out to the car. I took one last long look at my room. Yep. It was time to move on. Picking up one of the smaller boxes, I gripped it tightly in my hands and followed him out.

  When I reached the car he was leaning against the passenger door, gazing at me with a pained expression. “You know, you can still change your mind. Go to school somewhere local and live at home.” I heaved the box that I had been holding into the trunk and went over to him. Standing on my tippy toes, I kissed him on the cheek. I didn’t need to say anything. We’d had this conversation a million times and by his admission, I was going to the best college in the state. California State was exactly where I wanted to be. And in just a few hours that’s exactly where I would be.

  * * *

  The drive down was very quiet. The radio was the only sound that filled the silence. He never said it but I knew
dad was struggling not to let his emotions show. I tried to reassure him for weeks that I would be home as much as I could but it seemed to just make him more upset. At one point I thought he would cry. I was sure I’d seen him swallow a lump in his throat.

  It had been just the two of us after the divorce. Mom had moved across state to San Francisco and I wasn’t willing to leave my school in Pasadena to follow her there. It had been bad enough that my parents were breaking up and that my mom was leaving. I wasn’t ready to leave my friends behind as well. When they’d sat me down to discuss the living arrangements, I’d pleaded my case and dad told me it was fine with him as long as it was fine with mom. Considering she was the one who wanted the damned divorce in the first place, I would have been furious if she had said no and I think the guilt of tearing our family apart had convinced her to let me stay.

  We talked on the phone a lot. She’s a nurse so it was easy for her to get a transfer to a new hospital. I visited her two weekends each month. It was an arrangement that worked for everyone and it didn’t interfere too much with mom’s work schedule. But, that was going to have to change now. With all the school work and going home to visit dad as much as I could, it was going to be hard to make the trip to see her twice a month. I hadn’t mentioned it to her yet, but it was only a matter of time before she would figure it out.

  Dad wasn’t good with these sorts of things. As his only child, he’d put all his paternal love and energy into raising me. After the divorce, I think he felt guilty that I didn’t have mom around full time anymore. He seemed to step his parenting up several notches, almost to the point of suffocation.

  We spent every weekend doing something together and we always made time to share a meal every evening. Discussing how our day had been over dinner was dad’s favorite time, he told me. Once I got older, my weekends were spent with my friends, but dinner was still always our time.

  Now it was just going to be him and the empty house. I felt a sudden stab of guilt. Maybe I should have stayed near home, but this was my future. Plus dad had always been the one to tell me to never settle. He’d be ok. He still had his work buddies and our neighbors were great.

  Pam, Eddie and their daughter Mel had lived next door since we moved in. Mel and I grew up together and we knew each other inside out. She was my guardian angel. Supporting me through the divorce and defending me whenever I needed her. Her flame red hair complemented her fiery temperament perfectly. She had a lean figure and pale white skin with a few freckles spotting her cheeks. I thought she was a real, natural beauty; though she had always struggled with her self-esteem and always ignored compliments with a roll of her big green eyes. She was fiercely loyal to her friends and family and had a mean right hook to back it up. I could even remember the first time I’d seen it and it still amazed me how a girl of her build had packed such a punch.

  When we were in high school we’d become friends with a guy named Chris. He was fun, smart and super cute. He was even my first kiss. We were close right up until tenth grade.

  That’s when he met Rebecca. She didn’t like him hanging out with us and gave him an ultimatum. Naturally, he chose the bimbo. To this day, I still don’t know how she knew, but she’d made my life hell when she found out he’d been my first kiss.

  We were in the high school cafeteria one day when Rebecca came over to the table where Mel and I were sitting. She sat opposite to me and without a word, spat right into my face and called me a whore. Everyone was staring at me, whispering to each other and pointing. My ex-friend, Chris just watched the whole thing unfold. I was about to stand up and walk away before I burst into tears. That’s when Mel dived across the table and wrestled Rebecca to the ground. When she finally kicked Mel off of her, she tried desperately to scramble away but Mel grabbed her ankle and pulled her hard. Rebecca jolted backwards and her face landed hard against the tiled surface of the cafeteria floor. She’d landed so hard, she’d knocked out three of her front teeth.

  Mel and I were both sent to the principal’s office and she had taken the blame for the whole thing. She was suspended for a week but she simply stood up, brushed herself off, lifted her chin and calmly said, “I would do it again in a heartbeat. That girl is a bitch and deserves to have all her teeth knocked out.” I had never loved her more.

  I was really going to miss Mel. She was going to one of the local colleges and had been a little mad at me for leaving to go to California State. After I’d reminded her that I would be meeting lots of cute college guys and that I would be getting invited to parties that I would absolutely be bringing her to, she was cool with it. She attracted men like bees to honey. But, her lack of confidence in her looks always ended up pushing them away. She would always comment on how she wished she could look like me and I still have no idea why. I wasn’t overweight but I was on the curvy side and luckily I had the bust to make it look good. Everything was proportionate but I did wish I could have had a little less curves and a little more rock hard abs, even though I knew that was never going to happen. Genetics had made sure I got my mom’s figure and my dad’s blonde hair, which fell limp and lifeless as it rested on my shoulders. But my eyes were something else. They were a little of both my parents. A little blue from mom and a touch of green from dad gave them the hue of an ocean and I was often complimented on them.

  I was so busy scrutinizing my looks that I never noticed we’d arrived till we pulled up outside the dorms. This was it. My new home for the next year…at least. Dad leaned forward, peering through the windshield. “You chose this over our three bedroom house? You sure this is what you want?” Ok, it wasn’t the most attractive looking place I’d seen, but it seemed perfectly average considering it had been used by thousands of students in its time. What was he expecting? The White House? I let out an exasperated sigh, raising my eyes to the heavens as I got out of the car. I couldn’t wait to see my new digs.

  After exploring for several minutes I found the main reception and collected my key. According to the letter that was attached to it, I was in Room 21 and sharing with an A. Brookes. She sounded just like the blonde cheerleader type that I had loathed back in high school. I cursed myself for judging my new roommate and for making assumptions based solely on her name. I hadn’t even met her yet!

  I made my way to the building indicated on the map and began searching for my room, passing new students like myself as I went by. The hallways emanated a musty and extremely unpleasant smell that reminded me of sweat and dirty laundry. There were people I believed to be students unloading boxes, suitcases, bags and even large trash bags. The hallways were cluttered with people and their luggage. Someone even had a huge TV and I wondered if they were actually allowed to have it there. But, I was more irritated that I hadn’t thought of bringing my own TV.

  Swerving out of the way so they could pass, I looked back over my shoulder and watched as two guys lifted a very heavy looking box through the hallway, before dropping it with a thud onto the floor. They began to open it and I was curious to find out what someone could possibly bring to college that required the strength of two large men to transport it.

  Caught up in my momentary daze, I didn’t get the opportunity to see the contents of the box because a second later, I was stumbling backwards and crashing onto my ass. My legs flew up in the air and the paper I was carrying flew across the floor along with my key. I’d somehow managed to walk headfirst into the broad muscular back of a guy who was now looking down at me, on my back, spread eagle on the hallway floor. Thank god I was wearing jeans or he would have got an eyeful. First impressions at this point, I imagined, were probably not very good. Maybe I should have worn a skirt. Panty flashing might have made this a little more bearable. Well for him anyway.

  He held his hand out to me and smiled.