Deep Down (Lockhart Brothers #1)

Deep Down

Books By Brenda Rothert

Part One

One

Two

Three

Four

Part Two

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Thirteen

Fourteen

Fifteen

Sixteen

Seventeen

Eighteen

Nineteen

Twenty

Twenty-One

Epilogue

Author’s Note

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Deep Down

Copyright © Brenda Rothert 2015

Published by Silver Sky Publishing Inc.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the author or publisher.

Cover Designer:

Regina Wamba, Mae I Designs

www.maeidesign.com

Cover Photo by: Shutterstock

Interior Design and Formatting:

Christine Borgford, Perfectly Publishable

www.perfectlypublishable.com

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IT HAPPENED WITHOUT WARNING
on a quiet, snowy January day. Or maybe there had been signs that I’d ignored because they were too painful to acknowledge. Either way, the course of my life was changed that day. After it was over I just remember watching the snowflakes through my open bedroom window. Falling silently from the sky, they were the closing curtain on eighteen years of trusting that all people were inherently good.

IT WAS THE FIRST
day back from the winter break and I was wrapped up in the excitement that filled the hallways of Lexington High School. There was an unspoken energy circulating around those of us who were seniors.

Home stretch, baby. The last semester of high school is underway. Your future starts now.

And, for me, this new term couldn’t end soon enough. My mom’s death this past September had plunged me into a deep sadness I still hadn’t fully emerged from. Over the course of the past four months I’d gotten good at plastering on a phony smile to let everyone know I’d moved on. Putting this school year behind me would be more sweet than bitter. Sure, I had great friends I’d miss when I went off to college in the fall. And dance team . . . for sure I would miss
that.
Most of all, I would miss my boyfriend Levi, but somehow I knew that once high school was over I really would be able to move on.

A warm, familiar arm wrapping around my waist from behind made me break out in a genuine grin.

“How was your day, baby?” Levi asked, pulling me against his side as we walked down the hall.

“Good. You?”

He shrugged. “Everybody’s talking about graduation. It hasn’t seemed close until now.”

“Did you get those scholarship essays done?”

“Yep.” He pulled me a little closer, steering me away from a cluster of loud underclassmen who were about to run me over.

“Am I riding with you today? I can catch a ride home with Sami if you’re lifting weights after school.”

He leaned down and kissed my temple. “The only weight I’m interested in right now is yours on top of me.”

I held back a smile. Our after school make out sessions were one of Levi’s favorite things. But between the time off his parents and my dad had taken over the holiday break, we hadn’t gotten much time alone.

“I have to start reading for my English project,” I said, giving him a warning look.

His expression clouded and he pulled his arm away from me. “Sure. Whatever.”

“I don’t mean as soon as I get home. I’ve got an hour or so free.”