Uncontrollable (Key West #3)
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Authors: C. A. Harms
Uncontrollable
The Key West Series Book Three
By C.A. Harms
Uncontrollable
Copyright © 2015 by C.A. Harms. All rights reserved.
First Print Edition: September 2015
Limitless Publishing, LLC
Kailua, HI 96734
Formatting: Limitless Publishing
ISBN-13: 978-1-68058-278-9
ISBN-10: 1-68058-278-X
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. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.
Dedication
Thank you, Lydia. You helped bring
Uncontrollable
to completion. Your take-no-excuses rule gave me no choice but to continue. You have in a short time become an amazing friend. Thank you.
Table of Contents
Kade
“I just thought we could hang out here, maybe watch a movie. Just you and me.” Jenna sat on the edge of my bed, pouting. She always pulled that shit. She felt like everything should come second to her needs and would use her sad eyes in an attempt to get her way.
Normally it worked, but tonight I was still so hyped up on the adrenaline from winning our football game against our biggest rival that I needed to get out for a while. Everyone had decided to meet down at the beach and burn off some excitement—just a bunch of seniors celebrating our success and looking forward to graduation.
I was sifting through my closet, searching for my gray Henley with my back to Jenna. When I turned around, I found her gazing up at me with those damn eyes of hers. I slowly made my way to the bed and sat down next to her, then nudged her knee with mine in an attempt to lighten her mood. When she looked up at me through those long, gorgeous lashes, I almost caved. Looking into those baby blues was like getting lost in the bluest of skies.
“Maybe we could meet up with everyone for just an hour, then come back here and end the night together,” I said, giving her that smile she said she loved.
“Kade, I just want to spend time alone with you. My parents and I are leaving Tuesday for a week, and I just…” She shrugged, pulling off that wounded, heartbroken look she’d mastered. “I thought you would want the same thing, but clearly I was wrong.”
My father had told me on more than one occasion that I had to stop putting Jenna on a pedestal and that she took advantage of my kindness every chance she got. Hell, she knew how to play me, and she knew if she pushed hard enough, I would give in. She was used to it. She was an only child, so her parents spoiled her rotten. In their eyes, she hung the moon and could do no wrong.
That night I could see exactly what he meant. I wanted to go out, have a little fun, and celebrate. The last thing I wanted to do was curl up on the couch and watch some sappy girl movie.
“I just don’t want to go down to the beach and stand around rehashing the magical plays you all performed,” she groaned, her voice laced with irritation. “I was there, Kade. I don’t need a play-by-play.”
I fought against the urge to give in, but I too was growing irritated. The games she played to break me down were truly getting old.
“Then don’t go,” I said.
She whipped her head in my direction and narrowed her eyes.
“I’m not sure what else you want me to say, Jen. I wanna go and you don’t. It seems like the only solution we have left.”
“How about, ‘Yeah, Jen, I would rather spend time with you then go hang with the guys’?” She stared at me, her nostrils flaring. But I wasn’t taking the bait. When I didn’t say anything more, she stood up and yanked her jacket off the bed. “Fine, I’ll go home. I understand that hanging at the beach with Lacey and Regan as they hang on your every word sounds so much more appealing than some alone time with me. I won’t beg for your attention, Kade.”
Lately every disagreement we had led back to her being jealous of other girls or thinking I wasn’t doing enough for her. We argued almost daily now, and it was exhausting. “Why the hell are you acting like such a baby?” I asked. “I said an hour, Jen, that’s all.”
“Just forget it. Go have fun. I’m going home.” She spun around on her heel and stormed from the room.
I should have just let things be, but no, I was a stubborn ass who always let my mouth get ahead of my brain. I stalked after her and caught her by the elbow just as she was reaching for the front door.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” I asked. “Every day, every night, we do what you wanna do. I asked for one hour, and you acted as if it would kill you to let me do what I want for once?”
My mom stepped through the entryway from the dining room and placed her hand on my shoulder. “Okay, you two, what’s going on?”
Jenna looked at my mother with her pouty eyes, playing up the
I’ve been wronged
act. The idea she was trying to gain my mother’s sympathy and make me look like a dick only intensified my anger. “Don’t even think about it,” I snapped. “Tell her the truth, Jenna. Tell her you’re being controlling and throwing a fit because for once I’m not giving in.”
“Why are you being such a jerk?” she spat.
“You know what, maybe you should go home.” I let go of her elbow and stepped back, dropping my hands to my sides. The foyer felt like it was closing in on me. I loved Jenna, don’t get me wrong. We had been together for over two years, but things had become so stressful lately. I felt claustrophobic around her all the time now. “In fact, I think we need to keep our distance from each other for a while,” I added.
“What?” she whispered, and the hurt was obvious in her voice.
I was so irritated I could no longer care about her feelings. At this point I just wanted her to leave before I said things I couldn’t take back. “I think we need to take a break. This trip you’re going on with your parents will give us some time apart.”
My mother stood to the side, and I could tell by the look on her face she had no idea which of us she should offer her support to.
“You know what?” Jenna glared at me as she slipped her jacket over her shoulders. Tears were pooling in her eyes, and I could tell she was trying to hold them back. “I don’t need a week to help me decide something I already know.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I asked.
“Could you two calm down and please tell me what is going on here?” my mother demanded. I had forgotten she was still standing at my side. “You’re both so upset, and nothing is going to be solved by all this bickering.”
I looked away from Jenna, and my gaze connected with my mother’s. “I’m done being her puppet.” My anger had taken over.
I heard a gasp and turned just in time to see Jenna throw the door open and rush to her little red convertible.
“Jenna, wait.” My mother called out in an attempt to stop her, but she didn’t listen. She jumped into her car and peeled out of the driveway, causing an approaching driver to lay on their horn and slam their brakes to keep from hitting her. My mother jumped in surprise and placed her hand on my forearm. “She shouldn’t be driving when she’s so upset.”
The reality of the situation set in, and my stomach dropped. Without saying a word, I ran from the house, jumped into my truck, and took off after her. She always took the same path when she left my house, and I knew she couldn’t be that far ahead of me. I’d literally gotten into my car a minute after she left.
The moment I turned the corner on East Shore, my heart felt as if it had dropped into my stomach, and I struggled to breathe. A mangled mixture of red-and-black metal was piled in the center of the intersection. Even from inside the cab, I could hear a horn blaring loudly.
I don’t remember putting my truck in park or even climbing out of it. I don’t even remember walking toward what had once been Jenna’s vehicle. Smoke barreled out from under the hood of the twisted remains of a small black car that was now half atop what had been Jenna’s red convertible.
The driver’s side of her car resembled a tin can that had been smashed inward. The sound of the horn still blaring from Jenna’s car filled the silence as I grabbed for the passenger door handle and yanked it open. Immediately, I fell to my knees in the middle of the street at the sight before me.
Jenna’s once-blonde hair was now caked with blood as she lay crookedly hunched over the console. My midsection tightened, my stomach lurched, and I turned to the side, empting its contents on the pavement.
She wasn’t moving, and there was so much blood.
I crawled inside her car from the passenger side and placed my hand against her shoulder. Her head hung forward just to the side of the steering wheel as her other shoulder was lodged against the horn. Her hair covered her face, and I brushed it aside, leaning in closer toward her. She stared forward at the floorboard, her eyes no longer holding the spark they once had.
Someone gripped my shoulders from behind and attempted to guide me backward. I hadn’t even heard the paramedics arrive, but now I realized that sirens were blaring all around me.
“We need you to step back, son,” a man said
I shook my head violently and tried to wrench out of his hold. “I have to get her out.”
It took two of them to pull me from Jenna’s car, and they placed me on the curb just five feet away.
“Please, I need to help her,” I begged, looking up at them. “She’s bleeding. I need to stop the bleeding.” I realized tears were trailing over my cheeks and dripping from my jaw. “Please.” My throat felt raw and my body shook.
A young woman in a paramedic uniform knelt before me, giving me no choice but to meet her worried stare. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
I knew immediately what her words meant. I think I knew what the outcome would be the moment I saw the condition Jenna’s car was in, but hearing the woman’s voice shake and seeing her eyes fill with tears confirmed it.
Jenna was gone, and it was my fault.
The dreams were always the same. Every single time I closed my eyes, I could see her blue ones staring back at me with the same lifeless look as I held her beautiful face in my hands, begging her to just breathe. To show me some sign of life.