Bliss (The Prince of Highland Park Bk ll)

By Marilyn Faith

Evelyn is finally getting her life together; she’s on the road to accomplishing what she had set out to do. Even though her plans have been altered to fit around her current situation, she is trying to make the best of it.

Ryan has been through a life altering situation that causes him to look at things differently. He is working on getting to a good place which includes breaking away from his aggressive and controlling parents and finally living his life for him. He’s coming into his own and feeling comfortable with it.

Will these two find their way back to each other, overcoming all the obstacles that tore them apart or will they succumb to the pressure and give up on TRUE love?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marilyn Faith
• Release date: Oct 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310471964

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Bliss (The Prince of Highland Park ll)

Copyright © 2015 Marilyn Faith

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission of the publisher or author, which constitutes unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property, except in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by the copyright law.

Thank you for supporting the author’s rights. FBI Anti-Piracy Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution o

Bliss (The Prince of Highland Park ll)

Copyright © 2015 Marilyn Faith

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission of the publisher or author, which constitutes unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property, except in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by the copyright law.

Thank you for supporting the author’s rights. FBI Anti-Piracy Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of the copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.

This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, locales, or events, is entirely coincidental.

Bliss (The Prince of Highland Park Book ll)

Edited by:GWE

Cover Designer: MajorLeague S.O.M

(Cover Image, courtesy of Dollar Photo Club)

Dedication

To hope, and love.

To finishing what you started.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgement

Title Page

Chapter1-Evelyn

Chapter2-Ryan

Chapter3-Evelyn

Chapter4-Ryan

Chapter5-Evelyn

Chapter6-Ryan

Chapter7-Evelyn

Chapter8-Ryan

Chapter9-Evelyn

Chapter10-Ryan

Chapter11-Evelyn

Chapter12-Ryan

Chapter13-Evelyn

Chapter14-Ryan

Chapter15-Evelyn

Chapter16-Ryan

About The Author

Acknowledgements

I want to thank my family and friends who have been in my corner, motivating me to finish Evelyn and Ryan’s Journey.

BLISS

The Prince of Highland Park Book II

By

Marilyn Faith

Chapter 1

Evelyn

I’ve tried to analyze how things went down the way they did all those years ago, to this day, I’m still trying to understand how things could have gotten so out of control the way they did. Only God knows how I’m still reeling from it, especially when the love of my life pushed me away. The last time I saw Ryan, he was laid up in a hospital bed, hurt and afraid—afraid of what I don’t know. I never got an explanation of what happened to him, and with all the time that has passed; I don’t think I ever will. At the hospital, his mindset was to get rid of me and far away from him, and I made that task easy for him. Assumingly he must have thought he was helping me somehow, but that’s debatable, depending on whom you ask. If he had given me the chance then, he would have understood that I loved him beyond anything he went through. But he didn’t give me that chance—the chance to show him how deeply rooted my feelings for him were. Years later, I am still pondering, ‘What could have been?’

I can’t believe I told him I loved him before he rushed me out of his room. How insane was I? I mean, I love him—I love him more than I could put into words, but that wasn’t the way I wanted to tell him. Not for the first time. All these years I’ve analyzed everything that went down between us and my one regret was that I made it so easy for him to get rid of me. I should have fought for him— made him listen, but I was weak, I can admit to that. I should have stayed and fought for him—fought for us, no matter what he said or how much he bitched about it. Because I knew in my heart he was worth fighting for, but I didn’t fight. Instead, I ran like the coward I was.

It has been four years. Still, I wish an opportunity would present itself somehow, for me to show him that even after all the years that have passed, I never stopped loving him. But I reckon sitting here questioning myself if things would have been different, is not going to do the situation justice. So I need to get it together and stop thinking this way because I’m sure he has moved on with his life and is not somewhere pining after me. I need to get my head in the game—this game called life and stop with this daydreaming madness. If we were meant to be together, we would be. But we are not together, so that within itself should tell me something. And it is where I convince my heart it needs to be on the same page as my head. Good luck with that one.

Fast forward Four Years

My life has changed over the last four years, in ways I never imagined it would. But it did, and I’m here maneuvering my way through those changes. Sometime I question myself, how did I get this far? With the only answer I can think of. I got this far with the help of my friends, and my determination not to give up. But trust me; there was a time I wanted to do just that—I wanted to give up. During that time, all I wanted was to be left alone so I could lie down and die in my misery. I had nothing left to fight for, but I was wrong; I had something to fight for.

Today I’m on the home stretch to getting my BSN, which will be a great accomplishment for me considering at one point I wanted to throw in the towel. Give up on my dream to go to college and make something of myself. My brother said I was a dreamer, and his one advice was if you’re going to dream, might as well dream big. Even at an early age, I knew I wanted to be a doctor, a pediatrician to be specific, but things didn’t work out the way I had planned. I had to figure out my next move as soon as I found out that pursuing becoming a pediatrician would take more than I could give. I had to adjust my plans and come up with a plan B— the fallback plan. Concluding, I would not be a doctor, I still know then with certainty I wanted to stay in the healthcare field; that much I was positive about. So when the time came I got into nursing and here I am two months away from completing my degree.

The ringing of my cell snaps me out of my head and back to the present. Glancing at the name splashed across the phone screen, I mumble, Oh, shit, swiping my finger across the screen. Hey Jules, I’m so sorry I’m running late. The time flew by so fast…you what, never mind, I’m leaving, I ramble, as I gather my things.

Whoa, slow down Ev; no need to rush. I’m calling to tell you I’m not working tonight, so you don’t have to break your neck to get here. I stop from grabbing things like a mad woman and take a deep breath.

Are you ok? I ask concern because Jules never takes time off from work.

I’m fine; I didn’t feel like going in tonight.

Are you sure you’re ok?

Yeah, I am sure. So stop worrying so much.

Ok, fine I’ll stop. So how’s the little one doing? I ask sitting back down so I could go over this project I’m working on for Dr. Carlson before I get out of here.

Hell, the little demon is tearing up the house as usual. You know how he gets, she answers sounding exhausted.

You sound tired, are you sure you’re ok? Maybe you’re coming down with something.

Ev…

Fine, I won’t ask again. Well, since you aren’t going to work, I will check over these files one last time for cranky pants before I leave. It shouldn’t take long. I want to make sure everything is in order before I send it over to the hospital. Once I’m done with that, I’ll be on my way.

Take your time, I’ll be here, Jules says. Oh, on your way home, could you grab me a bottle of Moscato d’Asti, please? she adds

Sure, I’ll stop at the liquor store after I leave here. Only the wine, or is there anything else you want me to pick up while I’m there?

Nope, the wine will do for now, she confirms. No one get between that girl and her wine.

Did you guys have dinner already? I inquire, hearing my belly growl reminding me I haven’t had anything since the protein bar I had for lunch. And I’m so not in the mood to cook tonight.

No, we didn’t, but I could rig something up, or I could order something and have it delivered. I’ll leave that up to you. All I want is my wine, and I’m good. Just then, I heard a little voice calling her. Let me go see what this little rug rat is up to now. I’ll see you in a bit. Something rustles before the line went dead. I can imagine what that little boy is up to. Laughing, I shake my head because that boy surely knows how to keep her on her toes.

Back to the files in front of me, I check and recheck to make sure everything was correct and in order. My vacation starts tomorrow and I’m not in the mood to get a call tomorrow from my boss for something minute and stupid. I know that sounds a little exaggerated, but trust me, my boss would. Yes, cranky pants Carlson would call me on my vacation time and chew me out. He’s peculiar and a perfectionist when it comes on to his work. If you ask me, he’s an all-out ass advocate for perfection. Dr. Ass would be more appropriate for him, but I settled for cranky pants. Not to his face, I might add. Oh, hell no. What the hell, you think I’m crazy?

In all fairness, other than him being meticulous, he’s a great boss to work for. I have to give him his props; he is very knowledgeable on his craft, he pays me well, and he’s a gentle soul—well, as gentle as a druggy trying to get his next fix. Other than his mood swings, he’s a well-respected doctor in his field of pediatric surgery around the world. And I am grateful that he took me under his wings at the start of the nursing program. His moodiness I can suck up and deal with. But credit or no credit, that doesn’t stop me from calling him a meticulous ass. I am entitled. I can live with his peculiarity, as long as he can live with compensating me for having to deal with his cranky ass. We have to have a balance.

I reviewed the file, making sure everything is documented and correct. Everything looks perfect, I mutter to the empty office before hitting send. Now I’m off to begin my vacation, one I can’t wait to start. I dig out my keys from the bottom of my purse; I switch off the computer, and lock up the office door before heading out. The weather outside is hot, a bit humid for my liking, but I won’t complain too much, coming from the bipolar weather I escape from in Illinois.

I moved here to Orlando, Florida, about four years ago, when I got a full academic scholarship to UCF. But a three months in, I had to take time off for personal reasons. The greatest thing is my time away didn’t push my graduation date out too far, thank heaven for that. The reason it didn’t push me way out from my goal was during my senior year in high school, I attending OCC. I had finished all my high school credits by the end of my junior year and could have graduated early, but I didn’t want to stay home with my brother and see my friends. So I took classes at the local community college during the days, and practice with the school band and friends in the evenings. So I was grateful for those college courses because they helped when I needed it most.

After I got back to school, I fall into place right where I needed to be. Then I went on a mission to finish as fast as I could, so I applied for the accelerated program. Once I got accepted into the program, I busted my ass studying while working for Dr. Carlson full-time. Looking back I could say it has been a rough road, but instead of viewing the glass as half-empty, I look at the glass as half-full, choosing to concentrate on the positive.

I got in my car and started it. The music came blaring out of the speakers, frightening the hell out of me. I turned the volume down, needing to get myself relaxed and into my no-work-for three weeks groove. I shoot Jules a text, telling her I’ll pick something up for dinner. Now on my way, I made my stops. One at the liquor store to get the wine Jules requested. Two at the gas station to fill up my tank because I hate it when the gauge is lower than quarter. Anal yes, but I need it to be above, in case of an emergency. My last stop, I picked up dinner from this little Chinese place not too far from home where Jules and the little one loves to eat.

Everything I’ve set out to do is done, and I’m back in my car on my way home, jamming to Beyoncé’s ‘Partition.’ The first time I heard this song, I wondered if it was particular to her life in any way. If it was, then I guess it’s good she’s bold enough to sing about it. All I know is she’s sexy as hell and I love her. Not in the sense I want to get with her. Take your mind out of the gutter, people. But I admire how she’s sexy and knows it and she’s not afraid to show it. Her confidence makes me want to shout from the roof top ‘I’m sexy as fuck and ‘m loving it,’ but that’s me wishing I was like her.

Exhaling I pulled into the garage of the house Jules and I rented from an older couple four years back. The Monroes’ were looking for renters when we stumbled across it. They were moving overseas to France, where they could be with their daughter, who was having a hard time. Their daughter’s husband was always away working, and she was having their first grandchild and they didn’t feel comfortable with her being over there by herself. It worked out perfectly. It was our luck to be at the right place at the right time. The rental price was fitting for one person budget, and with Jules and I splitting the cost of everything, it made the deal that much sweeter. And now that Jules and Travis moved in together a few months back not too far from here, I could manage the rent by myself.

Opening the door from the garage, I walked into the kitchen, placing the food on the counter before making my way over to the sink to wash my hands. Since I started working in the medical field, I’ve come to have a new outlook on hand washing, which immediately became a pet peeve of mine. I dry my hands and head towards the living room, where I could hear Tom and Jerry playing on the TV. Once I rounded the corner, I was spotted by the little guy who makes a mad dash to reach me, screaming, Mommy’s home, Mommy’s home.

I got down on my knees, bracing myself for his crash. His little body slams into me, almost knocking me off balance. Yes, baby, I’m home, I coo at my son, his body molding into my arms as I hugged him as tightly as I could without squishing him. I miss this little guy—I miss him so much when I’m away from him all day. He wraps his arms securely around my neck as he snuggles his head into my shoulder.

Miss you, Mommy, he says, sniffing my neck. I have no idea where he picked that up from, but he always sniffs me when he’s into my arms. But I don’t mind because I love his smell too. I never thought I could love someone so unconditional until I found out I was pregnant with him. I loved him to the moon and back, even before I met him.

It all began the day I left the hospital after seeing Ryan; and spoke with Detective Mason, who informed me that Chloe, Ryan’s ex-girlfriend, was the person responsible for what landed Ryan into the hospital. He couldn’t go into detail of what happened because it was an ongoing investigation and I was not a relative of Ryan, or some shit to that effect. What he could tell me was that Bryan confessed that in Chloe’s attempt to have me eliminated from Ryan’s life, Kevin; my brother got caught in the crossfire. When I heard that I swear my heart stopped. My mind jumped back to the night Kevin died.

Kevin and I were coming from the ice cream parlor when we heard popping sounds. Kevin shoved me down onto the pavement and jumped on top of me, to protect me.

From what I understood from Detective Mason, Chloe had an unhealthy obsession with Ryan, and she had been watching our movement for a while. Which means all those times when I felt like someone was watching me, it wasn’t just me being paranoid; it was my sixth sense warning me that there was danger out there. Even though I never saw any danger, I sensed it. But with nothing to go off, I pushed those eerie feeling to the back of my mind.

The day Kevin died a part of me died with him, at least that’s how it felt. I didn’t feel that lost when my father killed my mother and then killed himself. Even though the day the murder/suicide occurred, a lot of things made sense. That day, I found out that the man I often wondered why he hated me so much, the man I thought was my father, wasn’t my biological father. After I found out I often questioned if that was the reason he despised me the way he did. I wonder if he somehow knew I wasn’t his from the beginning and could never love me the way he should. I never divulged that information to Kevin. That was the one secret I ever kept from my brother. How could I tell him? After living all those years knowing that the man I called dad hated me, it should have made me feel better we were not related, but it didn’t, and I didn’t want to add another thing for Kevin to think about.

The man who put a roof over my head was verbally and physically abusive. Sometimes the sight of me turned his stomach, he told me so. I didn’t know what to make of it, and I never dared question him or my mother.

The night my mother told my dad I wasn’t his child, I sill sometimes wonder if she said it to hurt him or if it was the truth. The way he treated me was so wrong whether I was his or not. No matter how I inspect all the hurtful things that came out of his mouth, all the unnecessary beatings I took, him not being my dad was no excuse. I wanted that man to love me so much I would have done anything for him to hug me once, but that never happened. That fatal day, I don’t think my mother ever thought she would have gotten that reaction from him when the words came out of her mouth.

Kevin was the only one who loved me. Kevin didn’t get off from being mistreated though; nope, he didn’t, they treated him like shit too. But after Kevin got older, taller, and stacked on more than a few muscles, his father didn’t fuck with him after he stood up to him. The last time that man hit me, he beat me so bad I couldn’t sit for days. When Kevin saw what he did, he told him if he ever put his hands on me again, he would kill him. I guess the look he saw in his son eyes that day scared the living shit out of him, he never put his hands on me again; instead, he kept up his verbal beatings.

Kevin was my savior in that house. I depended on him for everything. He was my brother, my protector, my parent, my adviser, and my friend. I wanted to die when he was taken from me. I live with the guilt of that day, every day. Knowing that the one person you had in the world died protecting you, is not an easy pill to swallow. I carried that guilt with me, of what he sacrificed so I could still be here. When Detective Mason told me why it happened, it solidified that guilt tenfold. If I wasn’t with Ryan, Kevin would still be here.

The most fucked up part of the situation was that Chloe got away with murder. After all the devastation she caused, her evil deeds were over looked because of her parents’ money and their influence. Chloe was apprehended at a small airstrip while trying to flee the country. Her lawyers pleaded her as being mentally unstable. She was not held accountable for what she did to Kevin or for whatever she did to Ryan.

I would have been satisfied with knowing she was locked up, fighting for her life in prison before she rotted away. Instead, she got tucked away at some posh facility, living the fucking life she should not be allowed to live. Is she mental? Hell fucking yes, she is mental. But she was not mental enough not to be held accountable for her destructive ways. The only reason things went the way it did was because her parents paid some fucking mental doctor himself to testify that she was unstable. And in his professional opinion, locking her up with hard core criminals wasn’t the answer, she needed professional help. After that news, it broke the last bit of myself I was trying to hold together.

For weeks, I locked myself away from my friends. I locked them out, not wanting anyone near me. I believed that I was no good to them. But they never gave up, especially Jules, she would come by, and she was not deterred by my lack of communication. Every day, she’d be by my side reading a book. She sat with me as the deafening silence expanded between us. And even though she never said a word, I knew she felt what I was going through. I also knew she would not leave my side no matter what I said, so I kept my mouth shut. Kyla, Madi, Mel, Travis, Brent, Eric, and Jack gave me my space, but after a while they, too, put a halt to me wallowing in my sorrows.

By this time I had lost so much weight, because I wasn’t eating, and I when I ate I couldn’t keep it down. One night it got so bad, I was so sick I passed out. Thank goodness Brent and Jules were there and could rush me to the emergency room. That’s the night everything as I knew it, changed. After the doctor ran many test, I found I was pregnant. When they did the ultrasound, I was about eight weeks along. I found myself pregnant, dehydrated, and severely depressed. Being pregnant was a major shock to my system, so when the doctor informed me that my little one was in danger, in that instant I knew I had to get my shit together. If not for me, then for the little blimp I had growing inside my belly.

I stayed in that hospital for four days, four days before the doctor would discharge me. He wanted to make sure that the baby and I were doing well before he released me. During that time, I had a lot of time to think. Ryan was going through something, and I knew he needed to concentrate on getting better. I also knew I had to take care of the little one and myself until he could. There was no question, without a doubt I knew I wanted this little blimp that Ryan and I had created, even though we were only intimate one night, he’d obviously left behind a piece of himself—a piece I would forever cherish.

There I was, pregnant and confused, contemplating if I should or should not tell Ryan about the baby. I didn’t want to add to his distress, and I didn’t want him to