Broken Lives

Broken Lives

Book Two of the Freedom
Trilogy

By Brenda Kennedy

•••

Dedicated to

John and Doris Kennedy

•••

Copyright 2015 by Brenda Kennedy

SMASHWORDS EDITION

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•••

Chapter One: Beautiful Lies

Alec

I cup her cheek with my hand and caress her
cheek with my thumb. “I understand. Don’t be afraid of me. Emma, I
love you, I won’t hurt you.” 

“
I love you,
too.”

I kiss her soft lips. I back away so she can
get into the car.

We drive the short distance to my house. Emma
has never been here. No one but Molly has ever been here. I open
her car door for her and she smiles. We walk hand in hand into the
dark house. Once we are inside, I turn on a lamp in the family
room. “Do you want a drink?” 

“
No, thank
you.” 

I walk over to her and bend down to kiss her.
When she reaches up to wrap her arms around my neck, I lift her off
the floor and she squeals. She wraps her legs around me, and I kiss
her harder. When she moans into my mouth, I reach my hands around
her body and squeeze her butt. My dick turns rock hard when I
realize she is wearing a thong. I moan in her mouth and I can feel
her smile. With me still holding onto her, she reaches behind her
and I hear the zipper of her dress. I pull away from her mouth and
kiss her ear, then her neck. The dress falls from her shoulders
exposing her red silk and lace bra.

I raise my head so I can see. “Oh, God, Emma.
You are so sexy.” I kiss her again.

Her breathing picks up and she whispers,
“Please, make love to me.” 

I walk down the dark hallway, still holding
onto her bare butt. She is kissing me and removing my tie and
unbuttoning my shirt. I bump into the door and she laughs. Once
inside the bedroom, I bump into the dresser and something falls to
the ground. 

“
Ouch,” Emma giggles, “and I
thought I was out of practice.” 

“
Sorry,” I say. “It really
does look like I’m out of practice, too.” 

I turn on the lamp and we both startle when a
voice says, “Are you going to introduce your little friend to your
wife?” I look at the half-naked woman lying across my bed — it’s
Molly. 

“
WHO IN THE HELL LET YOU
IN?” I yell.

“
Is that anyway to speak to
your wife?” 

Emma clears her throat and starts adjusting
her dress so she can fasten it. I realize I am still holding onto
her bare butt. While carefully removing my hands, I make sure she
remains covered before I gently lower her to the ground.

“
Well, is it?” Molly asks,
sitting up slightly on the bed. I look over at her and she is
wearing a black bra and panties. 

“
My wife? Raelynn and I
haven’t seen you in almost a year! We are two weeks away from being
divorced!” 

“
You’re married?” Emma
whispers.

It dawns on me that we have never had this
talk. I have never told her the story of Molly and me. I look over
at Emma — she is standing still and staring at me. “No, yes, maybe,
no.” I crack my knuckles and say, “Only on paper.” 

“
In case you’re wondering?
That means yes, we are still married, and I have got to say, Alec,
I’m a little hurt that you would bring another woman into our
bed.” 

“
SHUT UP!” I yell at Molly
and I can see Emma jump out of the corner of my eye.

“
I… I need to go,” Emma
stutters. She begins to walk away from
me. 

“
Emma, don’t go.” I reach
out and grab ahold of her arm. 

“
Alec, let her go. We have
some lost time to make up for,” Molly says, running her hands
through her long dark hair.

“
I said, SHUT
UP!”

I look at Emma and she looks at me and then
at her arm. I realize I am still holding onto her. “I’m sorry,” I
say, as I release my hold.

“
I need to go,” Emma says as
she walks past me and out the bedroom door. I look at Molly before
I go after Emma. 

“
Emma, please
wait.” 

Emma stops only when she reaches the
door. 

“
Emma,
please.” 

She turns to look at me with tears streaming
down her face. “Oh, Baby, don’t cry,” I say, walking closer to
her. 

“
Stop.”

I stop in my tracks. 

“
Are you
married?” 

“
Emma?” 

“
Yes or no, Alec. Are you or
aren’t you?” 

“
Emma,
please.” 

“
YES OR NO?” She screams the
question. 

“
Yes, but Emma, please let
me explain.” 

“
Explain? Let you explain to
me that you’re married? I think that is pretty self-explanatory,
don’t you? I’m leaving and don’t you dare come after
me.” 

“
Emma!” I say sternly. “If
you think I am going to let you walk out the door and walk home,
you have another thing coming. I’ll take you.” 

She turns to look at me with
sadness in her eyes. “No. I am
not
getting into a car with you!” 

“
Baby, look. I’m taking you
or you are taking my car. It’s your choice, but you are not leaving
here walking.” 

“
Fine, give me the damn
keys.”

I reach for the keys in the glass bowl on the
foyer table. “Here, and this is not what it looks like.” 

“
Really? Because it looks
like your wife is in your bed waiting for you to join her,” she
says as she slams the door shut.

Emma

I walk out the door and I
can barely see through the tears. I start up his car and quickly
pull out of the driveway.
I have no
intention of waiting and letting him drive me home.
He’s married! How could I not have known
that?

I try to remember past conversations — have I
ever asked him if he is married? I remember a conversation I had
with Raelynn.

“
Hi, Raelynn. How was your
Thanksgiving?”
 

“
Fine, we put up the
Christmas tree at grandpa and grandma’s house.”
 

“
That sounds like
fun.”
 

“
It was, but mommy wasn’t
there this year.”
 

“
Oh, did she have to work?”
I ask.

“
No, I don’t have a mommy
anymore.”
 

I never actually asked him if he was married;
I just assumed he wasn’t.

I walk into my dark house and go straight
into my bedroom. Usually I turn the lights on, but not tonight. The
darkness is consuming me. I follow the muted lights burning from
the nightlights into my bedroom. I change into Max’s sweats and
crawl into bed. His clothing no longer smells of him. They smell
musty from being in storage. I don’t care, I feel better just being
wrapped in something of his. He is the one man who would never hurt
me. I should have known that finding love like that twice in my
lifetime was too good to happen. My cell phone chirps to alert me
that I have a new message, and then it rings. I reach over and turn
it off without looking at the message.

I cry myself to sleep and I dream of
cheaters, liars, and Alec, and then I dream of Max. 

“
Em, Emma, wake
up.”
 

I blink a few times and
smile. Max is lying beside me on the bed. He smiles and his clear
blue eyes are beautiful. “You’re here?”
 

“
I am, I have missed you,”
he says, leaning over to kiss the tip of my nose. He gently
caresses my earlobe like he always does. I love you so
much.”
 

“
I love you and I have
missed you.”
 

“
I know, Em, I want you to
know that things aren’t always what they seem.”
 

“
What do you
mean?”
 

“
Sometimes you have to
listen with your heart and sometimes you just have to just
listen.”
 

“
Max, I don’t understand.” I
lean over and touch Max’s scruffy face.
 

“
Em, just open your heart
and you’ll get the answers you’re looking for. Just remember, no
one is perfect.”
 

“
I love you and you were
perfect,” I say, trying to put his sweet face to
memory.
 

“
Em, I was not perfect but I
love you, always and forever?” He smiles.
 

“
Forever and always,” I
correct.
 

I wake up to an empty bed.
No Max, just a memory: a dream. I lie there and think about Max and
Alec. Max would never have hurt me — how could I have been such a
bad judge of character when it came to Alec? I try to not remember
Alec’s wife lying across his bed wearing that sexy black lingerie.
I think of Raelynn and her words come back to me:
“No, I don’t have a mommy anymore. I don’t have a
mommy. I don’t have a mommy.”
Her words
repeat over and over in my head. Why would she say that? The
doorbell chimes and I remember I have Alec’s car.
Great,
I think to
myself.

I storm straight to the door, grab Alec’s car
keys off the table, and throw open the door. “Here’s your damn
keys.” 

“
Well, and a good morning to
you, too, sunshine.” 

“
Sorry, Brooke, please come
in.”

Brooke walks in, carrying her empty coffee
cup. “Haven’t had your coffee yet either, I see.” 

“
No, I was just starting to
make a pot.” 

“
I thought Mr. Kung Fu spent
the night.” 

“
If you thought
Alec
spent the night, why
are you over here so early?” I ask, walking to the coffee
pot. 

“
I wanted to see what all
that yumminess looked like without a shirt on,” she laughs. “Wait a
minute, wait just one minute,” she says, walking over to me.
“What’s going on?” 

I fill the coffee pot up with water and
ignore her.

“
Emma, what did he do to
you?” 

“
Nothing.” 

“
Emma, don’t give me that.
You’re wearing Max’s clothes and you cursed when you answered the
door. Your eyes are swollen and your face is all red and blotchy.
Tell me, what did he do to you?” 

I slowly turn around, and my
nose is already tingling. “Brooke, he didn’t do anything to me,” I
say, walking to sit at the bar to wait for the coffee to get done.
“It’s allergies, I was cold, and if I want to say ‘damn’
—
I can.”

“
Emma,” she says, walking
over to sit with me at the bar. “I am your best friend and I know
when something is wrong with you.” 

“
Fine, he’s married,” I
blurt out, not meaning to.

“
What? What did you
say?” 

“
Brooke, it’s true. I saw
her with my own two eyes,” I say,
wiping
the tears from my
cheeks. 

“
Emma, I don’t know what to
say.” Brooke looks right at me, as if she is trying to read my
thoughts. 

“
What
can
you say? What can anyone say?” I
stand and walk to the coffee maker.

“
Emma, something isn’t
adding up. Something isn’t right about this.” 

“
God, Brooke, she was in his
house last night. She was there in the flesh, half-naked, lying
across his bed, and he actually admitted to being married.” I pour
myself a cup of coffee before turning to fill Brooke’s mug. Once I
put the coffee pot back, I return to my seat across from
Brooke.

“
Emma, think about this. If
he was married, why would he take you to his house? And it must
have been getting pretty serious if you went into his
bedroom.”