Blinding Rain, Season 2, Episode 7 (Rising Storm)

  Blinding Rain

  By Elisabeth Naughton

  Rising Storm

  Season 2

  Episode 7

  Story created by Julie Kenner and Dee Davis

  Blinding Rain, Episode 7

  Rising Storm, Season 2

  Copyright 2016 Julie Kenner and Dee Davis Oberwetter

  ISBN: 978-1-945920-02-8

  Published by Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.

  Book Description

  Blinding Rain

  By Elisabeth Naughton

  Rising Storm, Season 2, Episode 7

  Secrets, Sex and Scandals …

  Welcome to Storm, Texas, where passion runs hot, desire runs deep, and secrets have the power to destroy… Get ready. The storm is coming.

  As Tate Johnson struggles to deal with his brother’s relationship with Hannah, hope asserts itself in an unexpected way. With the return of Delia Burke, Logan’s old flame, Brittany and Marcus see an opportunity to help their friend. But when the evening takes an unexpected turn, Brittany finds herself doing the last thing she expected—coming face to face with Ginny…

  About Elisabeth Naughton

  Before topping multiple bestseller lists—including those of the New York Times, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal—Elisabeth Naughton taught middle school science. A voracious reader, she soon discovered she had a knack for creating stories with a chemistry of their own. The spark turned into a flame, and Naughton now writes full-time. Besides topping bestseller lists, her books have been nominated for some of the industry's most prestigious awards, such as the RITA® and Golden Heart Awards from Romance Writers of America, the Australian Romance Reader Awards, and the Golden Leaf Award. When not dreaming up new stories, Naughton can be found spending time with her husband and three children in their western Oregon home. Learn more at www.ElisabethNaughton.com.

  Also From Elisabeth Naughton

  Click to purchase

  Eternal Guardians

  (paranormal romance)

  MARKED

  ENTWINED

  TEMPTED

  ENRAPTURED

  ENSLAVED

  BOUND

  TWISTED

  RAVAGED

  AWAKENED

  Firebrand Series

  (paranormal romance)

  BOUND TO SEDUCTION

  SLAVE TO PASSION

  POSSESSED BY DESIRE

  Against All Odds Series

  (romantic suspense)

  WAIT FOR ME

  HOLD ON TO ME

  MELT FOR ME

  Aegis Series

  (romantic suspense)

  FIRST EXPOSURE

  SINFUL SURRENDER

  EXTREME MEASURES

  LETHAL CONSEQUENCES

  FATAL PURSUIT

  Deadly Secrets Series

  (Romantic Suspense)

  REPRESSED

  GONE

  Stolen Series

  (romantic suspense)

  STOLEN FURY

  STOLEN HEAT

  STOLEN SEDUCTION

  STOLEN CHANCES

  Anthologies

  BODYGUARDS IN BED

  DARK NIGHTS DANGEROUS MEN

  WICKED FIRSTS

  SINFUL SECONDS

  ALL HE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS

  DANGEROUS CONNECTIONS

  Foreword

  Dear reader –

  We have wanted to do a project together for over a decade, but nothing really jelled until we started to toy with a kernel of an idea that sprouted way back in 2012 … and ultimately grew into Rising Storm.

  We are both excited about and proud of this project—not only of the story itself, but also the incredible authors who have helped bring the world and characters we created to life.

  We hope you enjoy visiting Storm, Texas. Settle in and stay a while!

  Happy reading!

  Julie Kenner & Dee Davis

  Sign up for the Rising Storm/1001 Dark Nights Newsletter

  and be entered to win an exclusive lightning bolt necklace specially designed for Rising Storm by Janet Cadsawan of Cadsawan.com.

  Click here to subscribe.

  As a bonus, all subscribers will receive a free

  Rising Storm story

  Storm Season: Ginny & Jacob – the Prequel

  by Dee Davis

  Table of Contents

  Book Description

  About Elisabeth Naughton

  Also from Elisabeth Naughton

  Foreword

  Family Trees

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Rising Storm

  An excerpt from Blue Skies, Rising Storm Season 2, Episode 8, by Dee Davis

  1001 Dark Nights

  Special Thanks

  Family Trees

  Allen Family

  Alvarez Family

  Douglas Family

  Grossman Family

  Johnson Family

  Moreno Family

  Murphy Family

  Prager Family

  Rush Family

  Salt Family

  Chapter One

  Standing behind the bar at Murphy’s Pub, Logan Murphy reached back for a bottle of Jack Daniels from the glass shelves behind him and momentarily considered saying screw it to the patron waiting for his drink. He was in the mood for his own damn drink. More than one drink. In fact, downing the entire bottle of whiskey currently in his hand sounded pretty freakin’ good right about now.

  “I know that look.” To Logan’s right, a barstool scraped the old wood floor at the same moment Marcus Alvarez spoke. “That’s the ‘my life is fucked, I might as well get tanked and run for the hills look.’ Don’t do it, man. Trust me. It won’t help.”

  Scowling, Logan pulled the bottle the rest of the way off the shelf and sloshed whiskey over the ice he’d already filled in a glass as he glared at his oldest friend. “My life is fucked when Marcus Alvarez, bad boy extraordinaire, has become the voice of reason.”

  Marcus chuckled as he sat on the barstool and rested his forearms on the gleaming bar top. Dark hair fell over his eyes, and he shook his head to force it back. “What can I say? I’m wise beyond my years.”

  Logan huffed and added Coke to the tumbler, then moved down the counter and set the drink in front of one of Murphy’s regulars. Grabbing a dishtowel, he wiped his hands as he walked back to the computer, keyed in the order, then turned to stand in front of Marcus, more relieved than he wanted to admit that his friend had shown up at the perfect time and saved him from making yet another terrible decision. “It’s two o’clock on a Wednesday. What are you doing in here? Shouldn’t you be working?”

  “I was.” Marcus grabbed a pretzel from a bowl on the bar and popped it into his mouth. The bar was only sporadically filled, but in a few hours it would be hopping. “Took off early. I’m meeting Ian in a bit. We’re heading out to look at some property.”

  Logan nodded and tossed the towel over his shoulder as he studied his friend. Marcus’s family life might be shit in a hundred different ways now that his old man
was back in town, but Marcus had something solid. He had Ian Briggs on his side—a man who was more of a father to Marcus than Hector Alvarez had ever been. Logan knew Marcus was stressed about what was happening with his mother and sisters now that his abusive father was back in the picture, but because of Ian, Marcus had a shot at a real future now—a partnership in a new ranch, land soon to build a home, freedom from the hell he’d grown up in. Heck, Marcus even had the perfect girl to start his new life—Brittany Rush. The prettiest girl in all of Storm, Texas.

  Logan’s chest pinched because he knew that wasn’t true, at least not for him. The prettiest girl in Storm, Texas, wasn’t blonde and blue-eyed like Brittany. She had dark curly hair, even darker eyes, and a belly that was rounder every time he saw her thanks to her pregnancy.

  His mood took a serious nosedive, and he glanced back toward the bottles on the shelves behind him. Man, he needed a drink. Standing here talking to his friend should make him feel better but all it was doing was making him relive the shitstorm that was his own life. Why couldn’t he stop thinking about Ginny Moreno? He hadn’t dated her that long. She’d already been pregnant when they’d gotten together. They’d never even slept together. That baby growing inside her was never going to be his, and he’d known that from the start. So what did it matter if she was carrying Jacob Salt’s kid or Senator Rush’s brat?

  Bile swirled in his gut, edging its way up his esophagus. Because it mattered to him. It mattered that she’d slept with a married man. It mattered that she’d told the world she was carrying Jacob’s baby so the truth about her affair with Senator Rush would never come out. But mostly, to Logan, it mattered that she’d lied to him. That during the months they’d dated when he’d thought they’d connected on a deeper level, the whole time she’d just been using him to make herself feel better.

  That’s what really burned. That he’d been a fool the whole time. That he’d been played. He’d shared everything with her—his time in Afghanistan, the friends he’d lost, even his fucking PTSD—and she’d shared virtually nothing. Nothing that the rest of the world didn’t already know. Everything that mattered, everything intimate and secret and true about her she’d kept from him. And now he wasn’t even sure who she really was.

  “I know she loved you.” Ginny’s sister’s words from weeks ago echoed in Logan’s head, making his heart speed up. “She still loves you.”

  Could he believe Marisol? He wanted to, but there was too much crap between him and Ginny, too many lies. And even if he could get past it all, if he could somehow find a way to forgive Ginny, when she had Senator Rush’s baby the prick would forever be a part of her life, reminding Logan time and again what an idiot he’d been.

  “Seriously, dude,” Marcus said behind him. “Alcohol is not going to fix what’s bugging you.”

  “Yeah?” Logan glanced back at his friend. “And what will?”

  Marcus eyed him across the bar. “Forgetting about her will.”

  Logan huffed, and that ache in the center of his chest he’d been living with the past few weeks seemed to grow wider instead of narrower. “Easier said than done,” he muttered. “The only way I can forget about her is to get out of this miserable town.”

  When Marcus frowned like that was a stupid idea, Logan said, “Could you do it? If it was Brittany? Just forget about her?”

  Marcus’s jaw tightened. “Probably not. I’d wanna get shitfaced and run. But we’re not kids anymore. Once the buzz wore off, the problem would still be there, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years it’s that you can’t get drunk enough or run far enough to escape your problems. They’ll still be there when you sober up. Trust me, with all the crap going on with my dad, the only thing I wanna do is get the hell out of this town too, but I can’t. And you can’t either. We’ve got people here who need us. My mom and sisters. Your mom and dad, your brothers. Responsibility sucks, but it’s part of life.”

  It did suck. And hearing about Marcus’s family only made Logan feel guilty for whining about his love life—or lack thereof. “How are things at home?”

  “Like shit. I can’t get my mom to stand up to the bastard.”

  Logan’s gut twisted. Yeah, he was a dick for moping about Ginny when Marcus was reliving the hell of his youth. “I’m sorry, man. Is there anything I can do?”

  “Yeah, there is.” The bell over the door jangled, and Marcus glanced over his shoulder where Ian Briggs was stepping into the bar. Marcus looked back at Logan as he pushed off his stool. “You can be thankful for what you have. You’ve got a special family here, Logan. People who care about you and just want you to be happy. It’s killing them seeing you so miserable. If you can’t forgive Ginny, then let her go. Put her behind you and move on. If not for yourself then do it for them. Hell, do it for me. We all love ya, jerk.”

  Marcus turned away, greeted Ian with a handshake, and the two headed for the door. Behind the bar, Logan watched them go and thought about the things Marcus had said.

  Let Ginny go. His head knew it was time. His heart, though—that ache in his chest grew so wide it felt like the Grand Canyon was swallowing him whole—wasn’t sure that was possible.

  Someone down the bar laughed and called, “I’ll have another, bartender.”

  On a deep breath, Logan sighed and pushed his body into motion. Reaching for a glass, he scooped up ice and went to work making another kamikaze. Regardless of the ache, Marcus was right. He had to move on...for his family, for his friends, but mostly for himself. Because torturing himself like this was only prolonging his misery. He wasn’t about to run. He wasn’t about to abandon his family again. And he knew Ginny wasn’t leaving town. Which meant the only way he was going to be able to get on with his life was to put her in the past where she belonged.

  Along with every other mistake he’d ever made.

  * * * *

  “They’re perfect,” Ginny said, looking at the bouquet Kristin Douglas had put together for her at Pushing Up Daisies. While Kristin was more a party planner than a florist, she’d been picking up more duties at Hedda Garten’s shop since Joanne Alvarez had quit. “Marisol is going to love them.”

  Kristin leaned on the counter and eyed the arrangement of lilies. “It’s sweet of you to get these for her.”

  “Well, she’s been really great to me.” Ginny fingered an orange blossom and shook her head, thinking about her older sister and everything Marisol had endured because of her. “I lied to her so much. I lied to everyone.”

  Her mind flitted to thoughts of Logan—to the hurt she saw in his eyes every time their paths crossed in town, to the way he couldn’t even be in the same room with her anymore thanks to her lies. If there was one person she should have been honest with about the paternity of her baby, it was Logan. He’d been there for her when no one else had been. He’d been willing to be a father to Little Bit even knowing it would never be his biological kid. And he’d loved her when she hadn’t been able to love herself. She’d fallen for the former soldier hard and fast after Jacob’s death, and instead of being scared of the truth, she knew she should have shared it—with him.

  Blinking back the burn of tears, she shook her head and told herself she was doing the best she could. He’d come around eventually. At least she hoped he would because living without him was all but killing her. “I can’t change that, but I can try to make it up to Marisol. This isn’t nearly what she deserves, but I want her to know how much I appreciate everything she’s done for me.” She placed a hand on her round belly. “And Little Bit. Plenty of people in this town just want to act like we don’t even exist.”

  Kristin sighed. “Are the Salts still giving you the cold shoulder?”

  Thankful her new friend hadn’t immediately thought of Logan, Ginny huffed and lifted her gaze from the flower to Kristin’s russet hair. Behind Logan, the Salts were next on the avoid-Ginny-at-all-costs list. “More like the proverbial freeze out. They aren’t even entertaining the possibility Little Bit could be
Jacob’s baby.”

  “And you are?”

  Ginny heard the skepticism in Kristin’s voice, and her first reaction was to say, “Yes, I am,” but she bit her tongue. Ginny was sure Kristin was only trying to help her keep things in perspective, but her bluntness made Ginny miss her old friends Jacob and Brittany. Jacob was gone, and Ginny couldn’t bring him back no matter how much she wanted to, but Brittany was still in Storm. And Ginny couldn’t help but remember a time when Brittany would have defended Ginny to the ends of the earth. Before Ginny’s lapse in judgment, Brittany would have sided with Ginny on everything. Now—because that lapse had involved Brittany’s father—Brittany could barely look at Ginny.

  Just like Logan.

  Ginny glanced back at the flowers, her mood sliding south fast. Man, she’d made a giant mess of her life, hadn’t she? “There’s still a chance Little Bit could be Jacob’s baby.”

  “A very small chance,” Kristin said softly. “I just don’t want you to get your hopes up, honey.”

  “I’m not. It’s just—”

  The bell above the door jangled, and Ginny turned to look then caught her breath when Celeste Salt stepped into the shop with her daughter Sara Jane. Both women were halfway into the store before they saw Ginny and realized their mistake.

  Celeste drew to a halt and went rigid as she stared at Ginny with wide, unreadable eyes. At her side, Sara Jane glanced from Ginny to her mother and back again with a worried expression. Placing a hand on her mother’s arm, Sara Jane whispered something Ginny couldn’t hear.

  Tension filled the room like thick smoke. Ginny’s heart rate shot into the stratosphere. In Ginny’s belly, Little Bit jumped around as if he or she sensed the excitement, and all Ginny wanted to do was run, but Kristin’s voice at her back, whispering, “Just act normal,” kept her still. At least for the moment.