One Simple Step (Journey Series) (29 page)
Read One Simple Step (Journey Series) Online
Authors: C.A. Williams
The Journey Series:
Chasing Leah, Book #1
Limitless, Book #2
Imperfect Perfection Series:
Chaotic, Book #1
Twisted Bliss, Book #2 (Coming early 2014)
Stand-alone books:
Full Count
The Crush
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Now, here’s a sneak peak from Twisted Bliss, the follow up to Chaotic from the Imperfect Perfection series. Releasing in early 2014!
Chapter 1
“Oh my God, Nash. Please.” I groaned, squeezing my eyes tightly shut. I just needed it to stop. Now.
He grunted loudly, and I felt his arm brush against my stomach when he finally moved. “Della,” he stated hoarsely in a calm tone. Of course, he could be calm, when I felt like punching someone in the face. That was just Nash. “Quit you’re bitching.”
My eyes popped open and I saw him grinning from where he was balanced on his elbow above me. I tightened my fist, and pushed it roughly into his t-shirt covered chest, knocking him off of the couch that we had fallen asleep on last night after a late night movie marathon.
“Owe! Thanks for knocking me onto this hard-ass floor of yours.” I peaked one eye open to look down at him, making sure that he wasn’t actually in pain, and then closed my eyes once again.
“Let me guess, Mariah?”
“Yup,” he answered, and I could hear his voice fading away as he left the room, most likely to call her back. She had him on one short leash since they had gotten back “together.” We all knew the only reason for him doing that was because of the fact that Mariah was pregnant. Nash, though, never once complained about the whole situation. I liked to believe he was somewhat happy with her, but I guess I would never really know.
Things had been a little awkward, to say the least, after Nash called things off between us at the end of the summer, once he had found out about Mariah. I was glad that I hadn’t ended things first, because I know I probably would have lost his friendship. If I had ended it, he would’ve known that it was because of Justin.
Luckily, Nash and I had known each other since we were little. Some would think, oh the boy next door type of thing, and at one time, I had even thought of that as a possibility. He was one of my best friends, and even though we had lost contact over the years when my mom had whisked me off to Connecticut after the divorce, as soon as I was back, we easily fell into our old friendship. Of course, Nash had wanted things to be more, and we had tried, but my heart just wasn’t in it. I was glad my mistake hadn’t ruined things between us.
Now, Nash was getting ready to be a dad, which was a little surreal for me, so I’m sure it was beyond words for him. He was still trying to be as much of a normal college guy as he could be, though. Mariah was due in a few short months, so while she dropped out of school, Nash continued on. He wasn’t living near campus anymore to save on money, so a lot of the times he ended up crashing at the house I shared with Callie, Zoe and Mia. I had no clue why he would
willing
want to stay here, since most of the times I didn’t even want to come home.
Yes, I was closer than ever with Callie and Zoe, but Mia was another story.
My relationship with my stepsister, had never really been close. Our parents had married when we were both preteens, so getting a new sister wasn’t really that glamorous to either of us, plus Mia lived with her mom the majority of the time.
I always saw Mia as perfection, her grades were always excellent, she respected her dad and my mom, and she participated in every possible activity and club during high school. So, when I started going through my acting out phase, and ultimately wound up pregnant, which ended with an abortion, I think I despised her even more.
After swallowing a handful of pills, I vaguely remember Mia coming to the hospital, peering over my bed to look down at me. I remember the pity in her eyes, with a hint of distaste, and it reminded me of the same look my mom had given me. So, I simply didn’t try with Mia.
Then, when I was finally starting to pick up the pieces of my life, and get it back into somewhat of a working order, Mia was the one suddenly falling apart. Gone was the mousy girl who followed all of the rules, and always made me look like the problem child. She had been replaced by someone even worse than me, if that was possible.
My relationship with my mom had been somewhat repaired, as I continued to change, and my mom now saw me as the golden child. So, she felt that
I
could be the one to get the old Mia back, since I had made such a drastic change in my own life, which is how Mia ended up living with me and my two best friends. Go figure that one out.
“Hey, I have to get going.” Nash tucked his phone into the pocket of his shorts, and bent down, flicking a lone sock into my face.
“Ugh.” I hurled it back at him, which he easily dodged. “Mariah need something?” I tried to say it without any sarcasm in my voice what-so-ever, but it was pretty freaking hard. Mariah brought out the worst in me. I had a feeling she had trapped Nash on purpose, but for now, I was keeping my mouth shut. I didn’t want to lose Nash’s friendship by pissing him off. So, lips zipped.
“Yeah,” he smirked as he pulled out his keys, and twirled them on one finger, “never thought I’d see the day, but she’s craving a burger. That girl hates anything greasy, but little junior is pretty demanding.”
I rolled my eyes at the name Nash had donned his unborn baby with, even though I could totally picture a mini-Nash, and he would be the cutest thing ever. “Well, make sure to tell Mariah I said hi.” I gave him the sweetest smile I could muster this early in the morning, and collapsed back onto the throw pillow that I had fallen asleep on last night. I heard him snort loudly before opening and closing the front door.
Nash knew Mariah and I weren’t exactly besties, even though he wanted us to get along. I think he had glazed over any type of relationship that we had ended up having, which was fine with me. I knew he wasn’t ashamed of me or anything, it just made his life easier. Especially since Mariah knew he stayed over here occasionally. I told him to just to lie about where he stayed, but Nash being the guy that he is, didn’t want to. Things had been a little tense between the two of them, but eventually, Mariah had gotten over it…at least that’s what Nash said. He ended up dragging me to lunch with her one day, and she had been surprisingly friendly. Maybe pregnancy
was
a good thing for Mariah.
I heard the front door open up minutes later, and I popped my eyes open, expecting it to be Nash. Callie and Zoey had taken a road trip to Ohio for the weekend, and of course had invited me along, but I had just started back up at Shorty’s a little over a month ago. Brian was a pretty easy going boss, but I really didn’t want to take advantage of him.
I groaned when Mia skipped in, slamming the door hard enough behind herself, that it made the picture frames that lined the top of the entertainment stand rattle. “Oops.” Mia giggled, placing a hand over her mouth. “Sorry. Late night with Nash again?” Her brows pushed into her forehead as she gave me a pointed look.
Mia didn’t get that Nash and I were just friends. I had explained to her over and over again, that yes, girls really could be
just
friends with guys, but clearly, she wasn’t convinced. I guess I didn’t help my own case much since Nash and I had gone from being friends, to being a couple for an insanely short amount of time, back to being just friends again.
Whatever.
I shrugged one shoulder, sitting up to tuck my legs underneath me. “And where were you all night?” I asked, twirling a piece of my hair between my fingers. I needed to try to concentrate on that, so I didn’t go into full on bitch-mode with Mia.
“Oh you know.” She grinned slyly as she kicked off the stripper shoes she seemed to wear everywhere, and collapsed onto the other end of the couch. Luckily, she had enough common sense to pull down the hooker dress she was wearing, so I didn’t have the courtesy of seeing her hoo-ha. I’m sure it had been on full display enough recently anyway.
Ugh, quit being a hypocrite, Della. I had done my share of whoring around after the whole mess that had went down after the abortion. I still hated even
thinking
about that word, much less saying it, but everyday seemed to heal me just a little bit more. It wasn’t something that would just go away after time, it would be with me for the rest of my life.
Sex had seemed like something to fill the void, in whatever messed up way that sounded, until—well, I guess it all started when my mom had decided to ship me off to North Carolina. She couldn’t
handle
me any longer, which now that I think about it, I can see why. I could barely handle
myself.
In all reality, sending me away to be with my grandparents, and a fresh new start, was the best thing for me. Meeting new friends, my roommates, Zoey, and Callie, and even Justin, had all changed me for the better.
Acknowledgements
First of all, I want to thank the readers. Whether you’re a new reader, or have read all of my books, you are the most important part of this whole thing, and you’ll never truly understand how much you mean to us Indie writers.
When I first started writing over a year ago, I had no clue what I was doing. An editor? A formatter? A book cover designer? These were all foreign to me when it came to self-publishing. So, I’d like to
think
that my books have gotten better, while I’ve grown as an author, and found all of these wonderful resources along the way.
I want to thank my husband, who was the first person to encourage me, and didn’t tell me I was crazy when I decided that I wanted to start writing books. In each of my books, there’s always something in the male character that resembles my husband. Most of the time it’s his cocky attitude that I say gets on my nerves, but is really one of the things that I love most about him.
Then there’s my three little munchkins; Cole, Easton, and Bailey. I don’t know if I should really be thanking them since they tend to make working a little bit harder, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Bailey, my youngest, was actually a bit of a writer’s block for me while I was working on One Simple Step. The story was there, but I just could not get the motivation until about a week after she was born, and finally, the words started flowing out.
And the rest of my family and friends. They have all been so supportive of this process, when, really, I was so nervous to tell them about it in the first place. What if my books were horrible? What if no one liked them? After a while, I realized that it didn’t matter, as long as I had my family behind me, then I would be just fine.
Lastly, I want to thank everyone who’s helped me on this particular book. Katie Mac put together a wonderful crew, and without them, I probably wouldn’t even be finished! This is the first time I’ve used an actual beta group during the whole writing process, and those ladies helped me tremendously. I couldn’t wait to hear their response back to what I was working on, and their comments were overwhelming. So, a big thanks goes out to Julie Deaton, Tina Bell, Danielle Plane, and Stacia Newbill.
Also, a big thanks goes out to my editor, Lea Burn. I’m most definitely going to have a bumper sticker made just for you,
WWLD.
It’s like we were meant to work together. I’m really amazed at how a few words added here, and a few switched around there, make everything sound so much better. She is probably one of the most detail oriented people I have ever worked with and that is one of the most important type of people to have in this business. She is also probably editing the acknowledgments right at this very moment. Sorry, I didn’t want you have to edit this, too!
And of course I can’t forget Stephanie over at Steph’s Cover Design. I used her services for this book, and also for Twisted Bliss, and I have loved the results. The image that she used for this cover from MH Photography was simply stunning, and the cover model, Rainey Wilson was a perfect fit for the role of Ally.
Again, thanks for reading, and don’t forget to leave a review. Reviews help out authors tremendously, and spreading the word is really what helps us out.
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