Save Me (Saved Series, Book One)

  Save Me

  Saved Series (Book One)

  Copyright © 2013 Laura L. Cline

  Smashwords Edition

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  Thank you for downloading this ebook. It is the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FOREWARD

  CARLY

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  JACK

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  CARLY

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  JACK

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  CARLY

  Chapter 17

  EPILOGUE

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  FOREWARD

  I just wanted to take a minute before you begin Save Me. This book, this story, is a labor of love for me. I love the simple, but sometimes complicated world Jack and Carly live in and most importantly, I love them in it. I love every moment I sat hovering over the keyboard, slumped shouldered more often than not, and typed out their lives. They seem so real to me, so true to the people who first started coming into my head a year ago. I love them. Simply and completely.

  An important aspect of this story is the music that stirs and moves Jack and Carly. I listened to a lot of music while writing Save Me, some of which found its way into the story. I’ve always been an auditory person; music is a part of all our stories, in one way or another. Here’s the list of the main songs that Jack and Carly listened or danced to:

  Breathe-Pink Floyd

  Sweet Nothing-Calvin Harris with Florence Welch

  Shook Me All Night Long-AC/DC

  I’ll Be-Edwin McCain

  The Only Exception-Paramore

  Something-The Beatles

  (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction-The Rolling Stones

  Road to Nowhere-The Talking Heads

  Dust to Dust-The Civil Wars

  Wild Horses-The Rolling Stones

  All music mentioned in Save Me is copyright to the artists.

  CARLY

  Chapter 1

  The half bathroom is a little cramped with both of us standing at the sink. Dove hand soap and hairspray linger in the air as we stare at the little white stick. "Why is it taking so long?" Claire asks, chewing her bottom lip. I continue to watch the little digital window, waiting for the test to develop. Finally, the dot turns blue as the words 'Not Pregnant' appear in the window. I look at Claire and prepare myself for her face.

  "Again?" She falls down on the toilet and buries her head in her hands. I put the pregnancy test back in the little sleeve it came out of and drop it into the trash.

  "I'm sorry, Claire," I say sincerely.

  "What's wrong with me?" Her voice is so low, so sorrowful that I can't speak for a second.

  "You don't know that there's anything wrong with you, or with Mark. Maybe what's wrong is the timing."

  Claire's green eyes, brimming with tears and disappointment, look up at me. "I just want a baby, Carly."

  I squat down in front of her and take her hands. "Sis, I know you want a baby. I want it so badly for you myself. I'm sorry it hasn't happened yet, but you can't lose hope."

  "I should be pregnant by now, Carly. I mean, Mark and I have sex on schedule. We do it in the right positions. I eat all the right foods. I know something's wrong. I just know it." She coaxes the tears out of her eyes with her fingertips. "I don't know what else we can do."

  "Let's go out to dinner. You can have a glass of wine and get your mind off it, at least for tonight. Besides, before you know it, your days of drinking wine will be over for a while."

  She offers me a smile that says she knows I’m trying and she appreciates it. I wish there was something I could actually do to help.

  Claire and Mark have been married for three years. They have a solid marriage, built on love and all the mushy stuff, and Mark has a great job as the Vice President at a local bank. Claire drives a Lincoln MKX and the big diamond on her finger is worth more than my car. They're in the perfect place to welcome a baby, but Mother Nature keeps sending the stork past their door.

  §

  Angelo's is always crowded on a Friday night, so after a short wait, we're seated at a booth in the back. The first thing that catches Claire's attention is the little baby girl nestled between her parents the next booth over. She keeps looking at Claire and smiling, her chubby cheeks smeared with spaghetti sauce. I silently wish we'd have gotten McDonald's; anything to keep her from being reminded of what she doesn't have.

  "That'll be you soon," I say in an attempt to cheer her up. "Changing poopy diapers and wiping up drool. You and Mark will be lucky to cram in even a minute of boring sex before the little one wakes up squalling." I look over the menu, for absolutely no reason, before deciding on the same thing I always get.

  "I hope so," Claire says, finally breaking the baby's gaze. She stares at her own menu for a minute before putting it down and turning her attention to me. "Speaking of sex, are you and Nick still doing whatever it is you're doing?"

  I pretend to study the menu intently to avoid Claire's question. She reaches her finger out and pulls the menu away from me. "Well?" Her pretty face wears a mask of disapproving curiosity.

  "Claire, I know you don't like it, but what Nick and I do is between us."

  "He's using you, Carly."

  I sigh heavily and with exaggeration. "I do not want to talk about this again. Please, Claire. Can we just have dinner?"

  "As much as you want me to be happy, I want the same for you. Can you at least admit that he's not right for you? That he's an asshole?"

  I lean my head back in frustration. "Excuse me!" I wave for the server. He comes over and Claire knots her fingers underneath her chin. "Can I cancel the glass of Merlot and order a double Jack on the rocks?" He nods and disappears around the corner.

  "You want to avoid talking about him that badly, huh?" She narrows her eyes and purses her lips as if my avoidance confirms her statement.

  "Claire, I don't want anything serious and neither does Nick. It's a mutual decision between two consenting adults. If he acts like a dick and gets on my nerves, I can kick his ass out of my apartment."

  "When are you going to find someone real, Carly? Someone who makes you happy?"

  "What the hell is happiness anyway, Claire?" I sigh. "It's all relative."

  The server arrives with Claire's wine and my pretty Jack Daniels. He takes our orders, Ravioli for me and Chicken Parmesan for Claire, and is gone again.

  "I don't want to sleep around, but I do have needs. Nick wants someone who won't hound him for a relationship, which I don't. Seems like happiness to me." I turn the Jack up and take a drink, the amber liquid burning a path to my belly.

  "As long as you can make yourself believe that," Claire says, sipping her blush wine.

  "I don't need anything else. I don't want anything else."

  Claire looks at me before raising her eyebrows as
if to say, 'whatever you say'.

  The fact is, as much as Claire wants the American Dream; I want to run from it. My heart doesn't ache out of desperation and my biological clock can get bent. I'm only twenty-four. Why should I rush into marriage and kids and all that when I want none of it?

  The food comes out quickly and is as tasty as always. I have two more glasses of Jack Daniels despite disapproving glances from Claire. She's driving tonight, not me. Claire and I split the check, even though she attempts to pay for both our meals like always. I have a nice warm feeling from the whiskey and my face is hot as we leave the restaurant.

  Cold air whips around us, but my flushed skin appreciates it. We climb in Claire's Lincoln and pull onto Maple Street.

  "You should let Mark fix you up with this customer he has," Claire says. Oh, great. Here we go again, Claire and her matchmaking.

  "No, just no. Don't even go on," I protest.

  "Just hear me out," Claire says. "He's a good-looking guy, he has money. He's a bit older than you, but he's smart. You'd be able to actually talk to him."

  The thing Claire doesn't understand is that I'd be perfectly capable of finding someone to be with on my own, if that was what I wanted. I choose to hook up with Nick because that's all I want. I've never longed for the perfect family in the perfect house with the perfect dog. Claire's the one who came out of our fucked up childhood wanting that.

  "If I agree to one date, one, will you leave me alone?"

  "Yes," Claire says, a smile stretching across her face. That's the smile she gets when she thinks she's won.

  "Hey, stop here," I say.

  "Where?" Claire asks.

  "There, pull in beside the convenience store." I point to the building next door.

  Claire pulls the MKX into a spot at the end of the parking lot. I look out my window, straining my eyes to see if I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing. It's Nick, walking from the door of the store with his arm wrapped around the waist of some gorgeous blonde girl. With his muscular, surfer boy body, she looks better next to him than I would.

  "Wow," Claire says.

  "Huh," I say.

  Claire eyes me skeptically. "Are you okay?" she asks. I look at him again, then at the blonde. She's thin, almost too thin, with bleached blonde hair past her shoulders. Nick's type, i.e. the opposite of me. The funny thing is, I am okay.

  "I'm fine. I told you we aren't exclusive. That just proves it." And it proves that I don't care for him. At all. I think I thought maybe I did care for Nick, at least a little. I'm surprised to discover that nothing in me stirs, not a single thing.

  "Hey, wanna go in there?" Claire asks, her pretty face lighting up. She points one perfectly manicured finger toward the yellow building we parked in front of. Three black Xs are painted over the door and the windows are tinted dark.

  "You want to go in a porn store?" I ask.

  "Think I could find something to get Mark so hot he'll knock me up?" She’s entirely too eager to do something like this; it’s out of character for her.

  "God, Claire. I don't want to think about you and Mark screwing," I say, feigning disgust.

  "Let's go," she says, unclicking her seatbelt. "Let Nick see how hot you look tonight."

  I look down at the low cut black top I'm wearing under my coat. My big boobs are pushed up high and full by the new bra I bought just yesterday. My long auburn hair hangs over them in soft waves. I do look damned good.

  "Okay, let's go," I say. Nick's blonde climbs into his Mustang and he starts to fill the gas tank. Claire and I climb out of the Lincoln and walk toward the door. I know Nick sees me because he calls my name. I turn around and in a gesture that makes me happy; stick my middle finger up at him.

  The bell on the door jingles as we venture inside. A big burly man behind the counter smiles at us.

  “Can I help you, ladies?”

  I think I hear something dirty in his question, but it is a sex shop, so I dismiss it.

  “No, thank you. We're just gonna have a look at yer dildos,” I answer. Claire rolls her eyes and shoves me ahead of her.

  He gives me a hearty, belly-shaking laugh and decides to watch us meander through the aisles of potential orgasms. I came in here once before with my best friend Allie. Another friend of ours decided to be stupid and get married about a year ago, so being us, we’d bought her slutty lingerie that she probably never even wore, complete with nipple cutouts and crotch less panties.

  I catch my reflection in the large mirror that hangs at the end of an aisle filled with kinky costumes for every fetish you can think of and some you can’t. Some people would say my eyes are brown; that’s what’s on my driver’s license, but they’re closer to orange tonight. They’re weird and make me look kind of exotic. I smile at the thought and follow Claire as she studies shelves stacked with body butter.

  "Ooh, you wouldn't like that," I say, pulling a sour face.

  "And just how do you know?" she asks.

  "Bachelorette party," I answer, poking at an anal plug through the package on a hanging rack. "I licked it off a male stripper."

  "Good god, Carly," Claire says, shaking her head.

  "Hey, you asked," I shrug.

  We wander the rest of the store as easily as we would if we were shopping for shoes. Claire grabs some strawberry flavored edible massage oil, a set of velvet lined handcuffs, a blindfold and a pair of edible panties. I'm a little surprised at her willingness to buy anything in here, but a little disappointed that she wasn't interested in the naughty nurse costume I tried to convince her to buy. I look around for myself, but every shelf or hanging rack reminds me of the way Nick and I are, all sex and no relationship, and a sudden restlessness steals over me. Maybe seeing him with someone else is getting to me after all.

  Claire piles the items on the glass counter, a menagerie of beginner’s seduction. Waiting for her to check out, I take inventory of all the vibrators and toys that lie in wait underneath the glass for someone to take them home. One is so big I have to fight the urge to snicker.

  “That be all?” Big Burly asks. He has a tangle of thick red hair and a bushy beard with squat blue eyes hiding somewhere between the two. His ample belly nearly rests on the register as he stands there waiting for an answer.

  Claire nods and he rings up her stuff. She hands him her shiny credit card and then signs her name. She's now the proud owner of a little kink and I think she'll be a repeat customer. Her phone rings loudly as she attempts to put her credit card back in her wallet.

  "Hello," she answers. She smiles the smile that I've only ever seen her give to Mark. "Nothing much, just heading home from dinner with Carly." She grabs her bag and motions toward the door.

  "I'll be right out," I say. She nods and the little bell jingles as she leaves.

  "Can I help you with something?" Big Burly asks. He eyes my tits and then my face, just like most men. It doesn’t matter what you look like, if your boobs are at all visible, that's where the eyes go.

  I hesitate, eyeing a vibrator in the glass case. It’s pink and pretty, with a tiny bunny sticking out on the front. I point at it, “May I see that, please?”

  Big Burly pulls a key ring with about a thousand keys on it from his belt loop and slips it into the lock. He slides the glass back and gets the display out for me.

  Mushy silicone over hard plastic has never been my thing, but my curiosity matures into interest as I turn it on. The little bunny vibrates, too. Big Burly watches me intently and I’m aware of his eyes on me.

  “Don’t I know you from some place?” he asks.

  “If you ever come in Willie’s Bar and Grill, you do. I’m a bartender there.”

  Big Burly smacks the counter and points a stubby finger at me. “I knew I knew you from somewhere! I never forget a face. I go to Willie’s all the time. Good steak.” This conversation, or some variation of it happens a lot when someone realizes I’m the busty girl who pours their beer or mixes their daiquiri, but this is the first time it’s happene
d while I’m holding a vibrator.

  “Well, you’ll have to come by and see me, have a big juicy steak.” I smile. “I'd like to get one of these, please.” It's a good insurance policy for the nights Nick decides to be with his blonde or the nights he does show up, but can’t get the job done, that is if our "relationship" isn't done.

  The bell jingles over the door again and a chilly wind rushes into the store. I turn to see who the dumbass is that would hold the door open so long on such a chilly night. Headlights wash him out, all but the black outline of his tall body. The tinted door closes cutting off the headlights and my eyes can finally focus on him and focus they do. He’s wearing a grey wool pea coat over a plaid shirt and dark jeans, perfectly faded and torn a little here and there. His cheeks are flushed pink with cold. Thick, deep chestnut colored hair hangs over his forehead, almost touching the corner of his dark eyes. If his eyes are the appetizer, then his lips are the main course. They’re thick and plump and perfectly framed by a well groomed beard. He’s good looking, so unbelievably good looking. He wipes his feet on the mat and smiles at me.

  My god.

  I return the smile as reality sweeps in, reminding me of what I’m holding. A tiny gasp escapes me as I try to hand the vibrator back to Big Burly. My evil, clumsy, traitorous hands mock my effort and drop it on the counter. As if I didn’t just call attention to it, the vibrator switches on and the three of us watch as it dances across the glass counter toward the edge, like a horizontal, silicone ballerina. Big Burly catches it and with a well-practiced thumb, switches it off. He unceremoniously puts it back inside the glass case, but not before shooting me a smirking grin which I attempt to ignore. I'm glad Claire wasn't here to see this; she'd never let me live it down.

  “I’ve got your delivery, Bub,” the handsome man interjects. I keep my eyes on the wall behind the counter and pretend he isn't here. My face is burning from embarrassment. I have nowhere to rest my eyes, so I scan everything in front of me. I inventory the rows and rows condoms in every size and color and flavor known to man hanging in little boxes like someone might marvel at the Mona Lisa.