Grave Bound (Secrets, #1)
T. R. Graves
Grave Bound (Secrets, #1)
T. R. Graves
2012 & 2013 NaNoWriMo Winner
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2013 T. R. Graves
http://www.thewarriorseries.blogspot.com/
License Notes: 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 ebook with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
ISBN 978-1482359244/1482359243
This book is a work of fiction. Any mention of historical events, real people, or real locations is discussed fictitiously. All other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s creativity, and any similarities to real events, locations, or persons are a matter of coincidence.
Ebook formatting by www.ebooklaunch.com
Table of Contents
PROLOGUE
Chapter 1 - LIES, LIES, AND MORE LIES
Chapter 2 - STRANGER CONFESSIONS
Chapter 3 - SWEET SORROW
Chapter 4 - THE PATH OF MOST RESISTANCE
Chapter 5 - GOING GENTLE
Chapter 6 - FROM THE HEART
Chapter 7 - DIVING IN FEET FIRST
Chapter 8 - ALL GOOD THINGS MUST END
Chapter 9 - THE SUDUCTRESS
Chapter 10 - A STRANGER AMONG US
Chapter 11 - BREAKING AND ENTERING
Chapter 12 - OUTSIDE INTERVENTION
Chapter 13 - THERE WHEN I'M NOT
Chapter 14 - NEAR MISSES
Chapter 15 - FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES
Chapter 16 - HATE THINE ENEMY
Chapter 17 - LOST LOVE
Chapter 18 - TWO BIRDS ONE STONE
Chapter 19 - REVENGE IS BEST SERVED COLD
Also by T. R. Graves
Warriors of the Cross (Warrior, #1)
Guardians of the Cross (Warrior, #2)
Enemies of the Cross (Warrior, #3)
Coming 2013/2014
Underground (Secrets, #2)
Dark Angels of the Cross (Warrior, #4)
Worth Dying For (Underwater, #1)
Worth Living For (Underwater, #2)
Sleep Deprived (Deprivation, #1)
Lie (Moral Dilemma, #1)
Cheat (Moral Dilemma, #1)
Steal (Moral Dilemma, #3)
Wanderlust
The day I met you is the day by which all others will be measured.
—Levi Ian Bryson
PROLOGUE
Tope
I'm sitting in my office, staring at hundreds of pictures of a woman I've never met... yet somehow I can't stop thinking about.
Emily Ador Riddle.
The instant I saw the first photo of Emily—that first beautiful smile—and listened to her Aunt Tess tell me story after story, I was hooked. I knew then and there she was the one for me and that I'd never truly felt that way about anyone before.
Sure, there had been plenty of attractive girls. There had been lots of quick and easy fucks. There was even a long-term relationship. But work was the only mistress who'd held my attention for any period of time before Emily.
For the millionth time, I study her face and try to understand what makes her so different. What, that is, besides her unfathomable beauty. There's no doubt in my mind there's something more to her when I compare her to the other women I've been with.
Memorizing her every feature, I realize the answer is hidden deep within her chocolate-brown eyes. In them, I see sadness so profound that it tests my feelings in ways they've never been tested. The thought of her being unhappy makes me want to charge into the commune, throw her over my shoulder, and rescue her from the men who have, for all practical purposes, enslaved her.
Instinctively, I want to put her on a pedestal and have her every whim catered to. In fact, I've sworn dozens of times that I'll do just that if I ever get close enough to make her fall for me the way I've fallen for her.
Therein lies your problem, Romeo. She lives in a commune where the women aren't allowed to leave without supervision, and Owen, her dickhead father, will die before he lets you on those grounds without a search warrant. He'll kill them all first. Even Emily.
"Jesus! You're worse than a fuckin' forlorn teenager. You don't even know her. She's probably the biggest bitch ever," Baby, my very crass assistant, says, sighing when she walks into my office and finds me in the exact same position she left me in an hour ago.
Of course, Baby isn’t her real name. Her real name is Ainsley Renee Night. I found that out the day she was arrested for killing her father. Her piece of crap dad was even worse of a man than Owen. He'd been sneaking into her room and raping her almost every night since she turned twelve.
The day she turned eighteen, he decided to take it up a notch. In honor of her birthday, he sold an hour alone with her to a few of his closest friends. When Baby found out, she went temporarily insane, killed him, and beat the hell out of her drunkard mother for turning a blind eye to what he'd been doing to her for years.
Back then, I was a fledgling public defender. Ainsley Renee Night's case was dropped in my lap like a hot potato. When I made it to her jail cell, I knew things weren't what they seemed. Despite the ink-black hair, lips, and nails; the pierced ears, nose, lip, and tongue; and the hard-to-miss tattoos of violence peeking out at me, I knew she was no cold-blooded killer. Not with the way she curved in on herself in the corner of the cell and sucked her thumb like a two-year-old.
It took weeks of nonstop meetings for her to trust me. When she finally saw I was nothing like her father, she told me what she'd been enduring and what he was trying to introduce her to. I was so upset by the traumas of her childhood that I'd have killed the son of a bitch myself if he weren’t already dead.
Instead of passively agreeing to let them put her behind bars, I fought to get her the help she needed so she could live the rest of her life without the stigma of her abusive father's actions hanging over her head.
Taking advantage of every chance she's been given, Baby goes to school at night and takes online classes at lunch. She'll have a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice in no time, and I predict one day she'll be the best assistant DA in the parish.
Usually I don't have any trouble ignoring her smartass mouth or her constant sarcasm, but today's different. "Don't call her a bitch. She has enough people pushing her down without anyone else joining in," I snap.
This is the first time I've ever raised my voice to Baby, but she has to know I'm not going to tolerate name-calling. Especially when it comes to Emily.
Baby's mouth drops open and her lip quivers before she bites the ring in the corner. I feel bad for being such an ass to her when I see how my bad mood and short temper hurt her. The last person I ever want to remind her of is her father.
Dammit!
My mind snaps back to Emily. I wish Tess never told me that Owen is letting Lorenzo marry Emily. I wish I didn't know Lorenzo is an arrogant prick. I wish I could stop thinking about what Lorenzo's going to do to Emily. No matter what she wants—and Tess swears Emily hates Lorenzo—she's going to be forced to marry him. Then, he’ll have his way with her because that's what they do in the commune.
Dammit! I think, again.
"Listen, Baby, I'm sorry. I've just got a lot on my mind. I didn't mean to be a shit to you."
She shakes her head. "No. You're right. I'm the last person in the world who should be judging people. If anything, me and her are kindred spirits. How about we work together to
get her outta that commune so we can get to know her better? That'll give me the chance to see for myself if she's really good enough for you," she says, winking a thick black-lined eye my way as proof she's forgiven me.
I give her a crooked smile. "I'm pretty sure I'm the one who's not good enough for her, but thanks for thinking otherwise."
Turning her back on me and busying herself with straightening a stack of my papers, Baby asks, "Are you going camping again this weekend?"
I wish she hadn't picked up on how often I've been going camping at Black Water Lake, the lake next to the commune. What she doesn't know is that I'm spending my weekends there exploring the area's topography and taking pictures. When I'm not out there or working, I'm studying every inch of the forest and analyzing the best ways in and out of the commune. I'm determined to have a plan for rescuing Emily when the time comes.
"Yeah. Levi's coming with me this weekend. He's back for the summer and insists the one thing he wants to do is go camping," I say.
With the mere mention of Levi's name, Baby's back straightens and her boobs pop out. It's the same reaction every woman who's ever met Levi has. Everywhere we go, women fall in love with him and make it very obvious they're willing to cater to his every fantasy. Baby's no exception.
A second later, I catch a glimpse of Emily's sad brown eyes in one of the pictures Baby is packing away. I can't help but wonder if she would be tempted by the charms of my cousin.
Surely not.
As soon as the thought crosses my mind, I hear a pop and look down. The pen I'm holding has snapped in two. Dark blue ink is splattered everywhere and leaking down my fingertips.
Dammit!
CHAPTER 1
Lies, Lies, And More Lies
Emily
"Happily ever after my ass!" I say bitterly before slamming my book closed and throwing it into the lake. Spread open and facedown, the cheap, ragged paperback floats along the surface, gliding farther and farther away from the lake's edge.
I get absolutely no satisfaction when it soaks up so much water it's finally dragged below the ripples of the lake's inky surface. Nothing about the book's death (at my hands) makes me feel better because it's not Lorenzo or any of the other people who've betrayed me, the people I hate bone deep right now.
I look around and realize everyone who accompanied me to the lake for the first swim of the summer has long since headed home. My best friends, Becca, Kira, and Patti, had never seen me in such a weird mood. They had no idea what was going on with me or what to do about it. Since I couldn't talk to them about my problems, they got irritated and decided leaving me alone to think was their best option.
They were right.
Refusing to feel sorry for myself, I take a deep breath of the humid lake air and listen to the blue birds singing in the distance. For the millionth time, I wish I were more like my friends... wish I could conform... wish I didn't resent with every fiber of my being the fate in store for me. It's the destiny of every woman in my community. The biggest difference between the rest of the women and me is the fact that my entire future was just put into the hands of the vilest man I've ever known, and theirs wasn't. Repulsion has a name, and it's Lorenzo William Bijou.
"Stop it! There's still time for you to make Owen change his mind. This is the first official day of summer. The first day without Owen or the boys. I don't want to spend the next three months worrying about something that may never happen," I say aloud to myself.
I wish I could get back into the same frame of mind I'd been in when I went door-to-door earlier that morning, begging Becca, Kira, and Patti to blow off their chores and celebrate my summer of freedom. Right now, I'd give anything in my possession to get back the naive happiness I felt before I learned that Owen—my father —and Brian, Joe, and Phil—my older brothers—deceived me in ways I'd never seen coming.
Staring mindlessly at the sun reflecting off the lake's deceptively calm surface, I think back to the morning's mischievousness. At first, my friends refused to sneak away for a day of carefree swimming. Then, I gave them my puppy dog eyes and reminded them that all of the commune leaders, which included our fathers and brothers, were gone for three entire months. With the men away, there was no one for us to wait on and no one to punish us if we got caught.
Well... almost no one.
Unable to resist me or my big brown eyes, Becca, Kira, and Patti eventually conceded and joined me in reporting to the workstation at the union hall, doubling over, and swearing we were all suffering from violent stomach viruses. Covering our tracks, I even stuck my finger down my throat. With tears streaming down my face, I dashed toward the bathroom, gagging and covering my mouth.
Aunt Tess ran into the bathroom behind me and held my hair away from my face while I threw up the cereal I'd eaten for breakfast. I hadn't expected Tess to follow me or for her to make such a big deal out of my being sick. Tess is the closest thing I have to a mother, and I always hate to make her worry.
"Emily Ador Riddle, why did you come here if you're sick? It's obviously contagious. Look at your friends. Now, every one of these kids will probably get sick, and we'll be up for days cleanin' up vomit, changin' diapers, and keepin' 'em hydrated. Y'all go back home, and I'll be by to check on you later," Tess said, pulling my hair back into the Scrunchie she fished from her pocket.
Surprised by her uncharacteristic outburst, I noticed that Tess scolded me with a North Louisiana drawl that was more pronounced than usual.
With my hair out of my face, I noted Tess's steel-blue eyes were bloodshot, and there were deep, dark circles beneath them. My aunt's hair was thrown up into a bizarrely messy bun rather than her normal freakishly neat French twist. Instead of her signature flowing tank dress, sandals, and wooden beads, my free-spirited aunt was wearing a wrinkled, oversized tee, jeans, and hiking boots. Something about Tess had me as worried for her as she was for me.
I wanted to ask her what was bothering her, but I knew better than to probe. Tess is as tight-lipped as her brother... my father... The Community's leader.
My shame and concern was abruptly replaced by panic when I realized Tess could come by my house to check on me while I was out playing hooky at the lake.
I shook my head. "No, Aunt Tess. You're right. I never should've come in. Don't stop by. The more you're around me, the higher the chances of you gettin' sick. I'll be fine. If I need anythin', I'll let you know. I promise."
Tess studied me. "I don't know. You're over there at that big ol’ house all by yourself. What if you get too weak to go get help? I still don't understand why you wouldn't stay with me this summer. That's our tradition. Late night reading and girl talk. I'm gonna miss it," Tess said. I looked away as the disappointment registered on her face.
My decision to spend the summer alone at my father's house rather than with Tess had everything to do with Tess's “adopted” son. Tess unofficially—and more than a little begrudgingly—adopted the now eighteen-year-old Lorenzo after his mother was killed in an accident several years ago. I love my father's sister the way I'd love a mother if I had one. Unfortunately, my love and respect for Tess doesn't spill over to Lorenzo.
For reasons I still don't understand, Owen demanded Tess become Lorenzo's mother, and she knew refusing wasn’t an option. Not in the commune.
Instantly, Tess becomes the proud parent of a sociopath. I roll my eyes at the absurdity of my father's demands.
Lorenzo's mother, Viv Bijou, had been a beautiful and eccentric woman. For my entire life, I had heard rumors about her. Most of the gossip centered on her being a tainted union hall whore. In the commune, tainted is slang for a woman who's had an out-of-wedlock affair.
In Viv's case, her affair was with a man outside the commune, and it left her pregnant with Lorenzo. When Viv's daddy found out what she had done, he tracked her down like a bloodhound, dragged her back to the commune, and let The Community's elders beat her nearly to death with a razor whip.
To this day, I still remember accid
ently walking in on Viv while she was trying on some hand-me-down clothes at Tess's house. The red-raised scars that angrily crisscrossed her back were gruesome and ugly. Viv's unfortunate decisions made her the poster child for the commune's young girls... an example of what happens when you try to leave, an action not tolerated by the commune's leaders.
Even now, it saddens me to know Viv's scars were the reason Lorenzo's daddy refused to take Viv back or have anything to do with his son. Scarred for life, pregnant with an illegitimate child, and now tainted, Viv had been sent to live at the union hall. After she delivered Lorenzo, she was given no choice but to become a whore, because in the elders' eyes whoring is all tainted women are good for.
I never once cared that Viv was tainted. What scared me was the fact that she was deeply disturbed and, at times, filled with a rage that frightened even the bravest commune resident. Regrettably, Viv's mental problems and pure hatred were passed down to Lorenzo.
I jumped at the banging on the bathroom door. "Tess, what's going on in there," a harsh and angry voice yelled.
Like a bitter sibling, Lorenzo hates every second Tess and I spend together. Since the locked door was preventing him from knowing exactly what we were doing and every word we were saying, he was pissed.
Lorenzo's a man amongst The Community's leaders now that he's eighteen. I had to remind myself so I wouldn't tell him what I really thought about him.
Tess's head snapped toward the banging. For the briefest of moments, I saw a flash of fear in her eyes.
"Y-you're right, Emi. I want you to go home and get some rest. I'll come by in the mornin' to check on you. Call me if you need anythin'," Tess said, tenderly pushing an invisible strand of hair behind my ear.
Ashamed of my dishonesty, I nodded and looked down before Tess realized there was nothing wrong with me but the web of lies I was spinning and the pounds of guilt weighing me down. Tess opened the door for the tall and muscular Lorenzo. He looked past her, and his stare raked up and down my body. He made me feel naked even though I was wearing conservative cutoff shorts and a halter-top. Unconsciously, I crossed my arms.
