Twisted Love Read online

  Twisted Love

  A Twisted Novel 2

  By R.C. Stephens

  Copyright 2015 R.C. Stephens (Irene Cohen)

  Smashwords Edition

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted or distributed in any form without written permission of the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes only.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Cover Design by Sarah Hansen

  Okay Creations

  Edited by Ellie May McLove of LoveNBooks.com

  Twisted Love is dedicated to my grandmother Sara. You are missed.

  With the love of the wrong man she will falter

  With the love of the right man she will flourish

  What is right for one woman is wrong for another

  For love is twisted.

  RC

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  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

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements

  About R.C Stephens

  Prologue

  One month later

  Here I was, a measly one month later pinned to a wall with cruel fluorescent green eyes beating back at me. After Luc beat me and I saw the angel, I was sure I died and went to heaven. I thought it was my end, but something deep inside urged me to hold on. My time on earth couldn’t end. Not when my life was filled with regret. Not without a chance to fix things. Finding myself in a similar predicament one month later made me feel hopeless, that no matter how hard I tried to straighten out my life, destiny had another plan for me. After everything I’d experienced and lost I couldn’t help but feel weak and beaten down. My heart throbbed in my chest, my head was airy and my breathing was labored. I should pass out and succumb to whatever brutal end this bastard had planned for me. Those wild green eyes were so familiar yet, different. I willed myself to keep my head about me and not faint, the fighter in me persisted, maybe I persisted for Dylan because deep down I knew he needed me more than he needed his own breath and his life wouldn't be the same without me.

  How could I give up now? I wouldn’t relent, but my mind was so muffled that clear thoughts had been drowned in darkness. Between this asshole pinning me to the cool cement wall, his hot breathe lingering close to my face and his lips spitting venom, I was lost. He was trained, I’d give him that. “Shut up, bitch,” he spattered as he pressed his large body into me. His warning had turned my blood cold and I was scared a bullet to the head was next. If I was lucky he would walk away with giving only a verbal lashing. Sweat trickled slowly down my face. Think of a way Lex, there was always a way out of a bad situation. Life had taught me the hard way.

  Suddenly a car made a right turn skidding its tires and hitting the curb, coming to an abrupt stop. Cold air is sucked back into my lungs. My dark knight had arrived.

  Chapter 1

  One Month Earlier

  Dylan

  I put on my coat and grab my keys out of my locker getting ready to leave the hospital for the night. I parked out on the street this morning since the underground parking lot was full, I hope I didn’t get a ticket. The air is frigid and has that cold bite that runs immediately through your body on the really cold winter days. I shiver as I notice an ambulance with sirens pulling up to the front doors of the ER. My stomach is in knots knowing that I’m going to see Lexi tonight. Her friend Anna mentioned that her new husband is bad news and Lexi needed help to get away from him. She also mentioned Ashley would be there too. Knowing how Lexi likes to assert her independence, especially in the face of trouble… well she isn’t going to accept our help willingly.

  When we were younger, I would feel consumed by anger knowing what her mother did to her. I threatened to stomp across the yard and set her mother straight on countless occasions, but Lexi held me back, always pleaded with those perfect blue eyes that she would handle things her own way. “I got this, Dylan,” she would smile that perfect smile. I’m not only nervous about confronting Lexi and the demons that have plagued her for the last seven years, I’m also nervous about revealing my own demons. The reasons I stayed away so long. I hope she can forgive me because I’m still having a hard time forgiving myself. I’ve done things, bad things... what scares me the most is that after she hears the truth she will reject me.

  My keys slip out of my hand into a mix of snowy slush. Shit! I reach down to pick them up and shake them off. The ambulance doors swing open quickly. Two paramedics are speaking with each other and moving quickly. Whoever’s in there is in bad shape. I can’t look away it’s the doctor in me that wants to mend the broken. They pull the stretcher out. I hate seeing that the poor girl is covered in blood. Blood is everywhere staining the sheets a dark crimson. She must be in trouble. I’m off duty, but I can’t walk away, what if they need my immediate help? I notice the girl’s long blonde locks and it reminds me of Lexi. I take a few steps forward and my feet lock in place. My heart sinks in my chest when I see her face. I think I’m going to die. I’ve never felt like my heart could just stop on the spot, I’m frozen, I can’t move, I can’t hear the beat of my heart, everything is slipping.

  “Sir, watch out,” the paramedic orders me waving me off to the side. I’m like a drunk, unable to stand straight, lost in myself, my worst nightmare playing out before my eyes. Her friend Anna is with her walking beside the medic and crying hysterically. She doesn’t notice me or maybe she doesn’t recognize me.

  “Sir.” The paramedic tries to move me out of the way and I inhale a large intake of the frigid air. Suddenly, a brisk wind smacks me out of my stupor.

  “Stop, I know that girl, stop what happened?” I begin to follow the medic pushing Lexi’s stretcher. I was on my way to see her, I don’t understand what happened. I remember the baby, oh god, the baby, we have to save her, we have to save the baby.

  “Sir please, we need to get her into the operating room she’s lost a lot of blood,” the medic looks my way and explains slowly.

  “Anna,” I holler and she snaps her head back staring at me blankly, she looks confused and desperate. “Anna, it’s me Dylan.” I move in closer reminding her who I am. It takes her a moment, then she recognizes me. I’m assuming from the night I accidentally bumped into Lexi at the club before Christmas. The night I realized that Luc was a criminal and I tried to warn her, the night I failed her in the worst possible way.

  “What happened?” I ask her as I follow the stretcher past triage, they are taking her straight into an operating room. This. Is. Bad.

  “Dr. Priestley, stop, you can’t come in here.” One of the nurses comes running around her desk, holding her hand up for me to stop.

  “Please, I need to save her, I need to save the baby,” I plead as a river of tears strea
m down my face making everything blurry. Anna hovers beside me quietly.

  The nurse looks at me sympathetically. “Dylan, you know they won’t let you operate, you are clearly too attached to be involved in this. Please wait outside.”

  “Please Nurse Anderson, she’s….she’s…” my body begins to shake. “She’s the love of my life,” I mutter holding onto the wall feeling like if I let go, I will fall.

  “Dr. Chow is here, he’s very good, you know she’s in good hands,” she says placing a hand on my shoulder.

  “I need to be in there, maybe I can give some information. She’s pregnant, they need to know she’s pregnant,” I gasp needing air. I can’t breathe, my chest feels too tight. The thought of losing Lexi or that baby is too heart breaking, I can’t think it.

  “Okay Dylan, I will tell Dr. Chow, now please let me get in there so I can help,” she says with the same sympathetic tone and her head slightly tilted to the side.

  “Okay,” I resign as I leaned against the wall. My legs gave out on me and I slowly slid down to the floor allowing my head to fall into my hands. This can’t be happening, I can’t imagine my life without her. How did I let this happen to her? The thought of losing her rips me apart and I can’t stop crying. I pretty much know all the nurses and doctors on duty but no one approaches me and I’m thankful.

  I lifted my head for a brief second to notice Anna in a ball of tears on the opposite side of the wall.

  “What happened?” I asked, but she had a blank look on her face. “Anna, dammit. What happened?” I hollered causing her to flinch. “Shit, I’m sorry. Please tell me,” I pleaded but I can see she must be in shock, she isn’t speaking.

  Through my despair I’m reminded of Ashley, the only true family that Lexi has, I need to notify her. The big meeting was supposed to take place tonight, an intervention, a way to get Lexi away from the French prick. I bet he did this to her, the thought of him having his hands on her and hurting her makes me want to go find him and wring his neck.

  I take the phone out of my pocket, I don’t have Ash’s number. “Anna we need to call Ashley,” I say a little quieter this time feeling guilty from snapping at her before. She takes her phone out of her purse. She’s shaking like a leaf and extends the phone to me without a word. I scroll through the phone looking for Ash’s name. What do I say? I hate this. The phone rings once, “Hello,” she answers. I can’t speak, I’m choking on the words. “Hello,” she says again and I’m afraid she’ll hang up. That’s when she says, “Anna?” She must have the number in her contacts. “Anna, what’s going on?” her voice grows more and more panicked.

  I inhale a sharp breathe. “Lexi’s hurt, come to the hospital,” I know my response is clipped and off and I must be confusing her, but I can’t get my head straight.

  “What? Which hospital? Dylan is that you?” she asked clearly frantic. Shit! I didn’t want to scare her, I know how close her and Lexi are.

  “Toronto General, it will be okay just come,” I responded hoping to sound a little more reassuring than I feel.

  “Okay, I’m on the way. Dylan what happened? Please Dylan…. Please talk to me…what happened to Lexi?” she begged. I can’t answer because honestly I don’t know, I just know it’s bad.

  “It’s bad Ash, I’m really sorry….” I huff out a sob. “I don’t know, someone hurt her badly, I think it was her boyfriend,” I refused to call that asshole a husband even though she married him. The thought of her being married to anyone but me drives me crazy and if he did do this to her he really has nothing to live for. I don’t want to scare her more than she is but I can’t hide my despair. I feel like it has a stronghold on me.

  “Okay, I’m coming. I need to call a cab Dylan. Shit,” she yells out sounding like she fell over something.

  “Take your time Ash, we don’t need anything happening to you too, I’m here, I will check on things,” I reply, hoping to calm her.

  “Okay,” her voice trails off and I assume she ended the call.

  I close the phone and pass it back to Anna. Her black make-up has run all over her face and she looks kind of scary.

  I pick myself off the floor and head over to the nurse's station, my eyes must look like two swollen tomatoes.

  “No news,” the nurse nodded with the same sympathetic look. I didn’t have to say a word. I hate that look, she shouldn’t be sympathetic because I don’t plan on losing Lexi.

  “Anna please,” I beg, she looks at me like a lost little girl. I need her to say something, I need to know what happened. How can someone have hurt her this bad? This is barbaric.

  “It was Luc,” she murmured. Her lower lip quivered uncontrollably. “He was home… she went to get clothes for our night out for her birthday celebration…she’s twenty-five years old today Dylan… only twenty-five…I told her…..” She smacks her thigh. “I didn’t want her going back there…I didn’t want her going back there…” she repeats shaking her head back and forth.

  I fell back to the floor in the corner waiting by the operating room door, falling apart. This. Is. What. It. Feels. Like. This is definitely breaking hospital protocol. I pulled my phone out of my pocket, my hands shaking badly and I dial a number. Anger coursed through my veins and I wanted to find Luc Blanchard. A few rings later Brad picked up the phone. Brad had become my go to person since first year undergrad and I knew he wouldn’t let me down.

  “Hey, Brad, I need Darian,” my tone is an order and I know I’m throwing him off but there is no time for niceties.

  “Dylan, what’s going on?” he asks immediately recognizing my voice, his tone ebbed with concern.

  “I can’t explain right now. I need to locate someone.”

  “Okay man, good luck. Be in touch I’m sending the contact to your phone now,” he answered, thankfully. After what Brad and I had been through together sometimes we didn’t need words.

  “Thanks,” I replied while pressing the end button. A moment later my phone buzzed with Darian’s contact information. I pressed the call button.

  “Yeah,” a deep stark voice answered.

  “It’s Dylan Priestley.”

  “Dylan, what can I do you in for?” he asked his tone lightening up a bit.

  “I need to find someone.”

  “Of course, anything for you man,” he said with his smooth voice, I knew I could count on this connection.

  “Thanks man.”

  “Who is it?” he asked still with the same light tone.

  “Luc Blanchard,” I replied. The phone went silent, his slow breaths were an indicator that he had not yet hung up.

  “I don’t know a Luc, Dylan. You should to stay away from the Blanchard family,” his tone ebbed with a frosty warning sending a shiver through me, as realization hit that Lexi had found herself tangled with a dangerous family.

  “I need this Darian,” I pleaded.

  “Dylan you’re a good guy but do you have a death wish?”

  “No Darian… maybe… I don’t know, can you just locate him for me?” I answered with confusion. I didn’t know what I would do when I found him. By nature I never resorted to violence but seeing Lexi so badly hurt was doing things to my emotions that I had never felt before.

  “I can locate him, but it’s not a good idea for you to go after him. That’s a serious family that’s into things beyond what you know,” he warned again. His voice stern and cold.

  “Darian, he beat the shit out of my best friend, a girl.”

  “I get that you're hurting man…. you’re better to her alive. Look, I will check into this Luc, but hold your temper down. Let’s get a good understanding what he’s into and if he can be approached. You have to be smart about this.”

  “Thanks Darian,” I replied, hearing a click. I continued to hold my head trying to rein in my temper. The Blanchard name is known. I remember the night at the bonfire when he punched me out, it wasn’t a regular fight, the guy was out for blood. The thought of him hurting Lexi turns my blood cold and now the ne
ed for revenge courses through me.

  Today was supposed to turn out so very different.

  Chapter 2

  I’m Not Going Back to Hell

  Lexi

  Five Days Later

  The water is blurry, bubbles float in front of me. I gasp for air but there is none, only water choking me. My lungs pierce with pain. Kick your legs, you need to make it out. I swish my legs back and forth. Rays of sunlight hit the water like a sparkling shimmer, and I know I’m close, a few more kicks to the top and I will make it out. My legs give one last kick, cold air surges through my lungs, it hurts, my chest burns. I did it. I survived.

  My eyes fling open, I’m startled, I start moving around, I’m constricted, I need to get out, I need to breathe.

  “Lex, relax you’re okay. I’m here, you’re okay honey.” I heard Ashley’s sweet voice. The darkness is stronger, pulling me in. Mom is drunk again, I try to be quiet like a mouse, but I think she heard my footsteps. “Come here you little bitch,” she snaps. With nowhere to run, I surrender bowing my head, walking towards her, preparing myself for what’s to come. She pounds her fists into my back screaming. Her high pitched voice is like thorns puncturing my ear drums. Those screams have traumatized me; they give me nightmares and scar my days. The hitting stops.

  I see bright light. “Lex, I’m so sorry for everything,” Dylan says looking at me through red swollen eyes, he’s wearing a white doctor’s robe. “I should have come after you seven years ago, this is all my fault,” he said through his tears. Why is he crying? What’s going on? Darkness returns.

  “Please stay with me, I need you,” he pleads.

  “I’m sorry Dylan.” I’m lulled back to darkness, where I’m light as air.

  My eyes shoot open, I’ve had a bad dream. The lights hurt my eyes. Anna stands above me, “Lex, its Anna. Ash and I have been here for days, thank God you’re awake.”

  Everything seems foggy, it’s as if my life has been passing before my eyes, the bitter and the sweet. It’s overwhelming. “Keep your eyes open, please,” I heard Anna plead. It’s hard to focus, I just want to sleep, let my eyes close and lull myself to a better place.