Broken Dreams: The Franklin Blues, #2

By Elizabeth Princeton

Despite a painful past filled with tragedy and heartbreak, Amy Masters picks up the pieces of her life and puts the past behind her. Moving on, she finds a new job she’s passionate about, friends she loves, and a new niece that she adores.

Lance Underwood has dedicated his life to being a small town detective. He’s loyal to a fault, and will do just about anything to help his friends. He is happy with his life, but he has one regret…a regret so deep he can’t seem to move past it.

When fate throws Lance and Amy into each other’s path, they can’t deny the all-consuming attraction between them, but nothing in life comes easy.

When women start being found, they all have one thing in common; they all resemble Amy. Lance starts a race against time to catch a monster before the one person he cares most for is taken from him.

Are they both strong enough to survive and share a long life together, or will time run out before that life can ever begin?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elizabeth Princeton
• Release date: Oct 29, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386190608

Book preview

Dedication

To Lance Jones, the inspiration behind Lance Underwood and one of my dearest friends. Thank you for all that you’ve done for me!! I love you my #Lancelot!!

Prologue

Amy

Helping people is what I have always wanted to do, especially since my parents died in a car accident and I wasn’t able to help them at all. I was only twelve at the time, but I still remember that day like it was yesterday. They say I was lucky to survive the crash, and honestly, I’m not so sure I was. I wasn’t wearing a seat belt because I was trying to prove a point to my mom. She was yelling at me to put it on, but I thought I would be okay since nothing had ever happened before.

Ever since that fateful night, I have known that I wanted to help people heal and live, especially since my parents couldn’t. I have always loved being able to travel anywhere the job needed me to; traveling is something I am used to. After my parents died, I was bounced around from foster home to foster home. I thought I would end up permanently at one, but things didn’t work out for me and I was in the foster system until they booted me out at the age of eighteen.

After getting out of the foster system, I knew I would have to make something of myself or I would end up a dead beat, and for my parents’ memory, that wasn’t an option. I took a year off to work as hard as I could at dead end jobs to save enough money to get into the local community college. After I started school, I worked my ass off and graduated in three years instead of the normal four it took other students. I wanted to start working and start my life.

I’m shaken out of my thoughts when I hear my name being called. I look over to my husband, Jeremy, and know this is it; it’s time to find out if we got pregnant. He squeezes my hand reassuringly and nods his head. We get up and head back to the patient room. I strip, put on the ugly paper gown they make us wear, and sit on the exam table with Jeremy in the chair next to me.

The doctor comes in and I don’t like the look on her face. I can tell that it didn’t work. We’ve been trying IVF for the last six months and nothing has worked. This the last time we are going to do the treatment because we have gone through all of my parents’ life insurance money, the treatments are very expensive, and it’s really been putting a strain on our marriage. I can tell he’s not happy anymore and sex is now a chore for us. Neither of us are enjoying it anymore, and he’s the only one who gets off from it. I long for the days when we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. There used to be days we’d have sex three or four times a day and still be all over each other, but those days are long over now. We have sex now when it’s convenient for me because I’m ovulating.

I’m sorry guys, it didn’t take. We can keep trying though; this isn’t the end of the road. We will get you pregnant; it’s going to take time and patience on your part.

I look over to Jeremy who is looking at his feet, and the tears begin welling up in my eyes. I’m not sure I can keep doing this, I get disappointed each time and my heart breaks a little bit more. One day there won’t be any heart left to break.

Can we let you know doc? I’m not sure I can keep doing this. This is the fifth time that nothing has worked. We’ll go home and talk about it, and if we decide to keep going, then we’ll call and make an appointment. At this point, I think I need a break from it all, and let’s face it, I’m not sure we can afford another treatment. We’ve gone through all of the life insurance money, and neither of us makes enough to continue.

The doctor nods and lets me get dressed. I look over to Jeremy who still won’t really look at me. Hmm, that’s weird, but I try not to think anything of it, he’s probably as disappointed as I am. I finish getting dressed and we walk out of the office in silence. The whole drive home is spent in silence. I shake my head, I know he’s upset, but he can at least talk to me about it. He’s been in a weird mood for a while now, and I’m starting to get nervous. Maybe he wants to leave me or something. I make a note to talk to him as soon as we get home.

Once we get home, he immediately goes into his home office and shuts the door. He began working from home once we started this whole mess. He said he needed to stay close to home so that when I was ovulating we could make a baby. So far, the only thing we’ve gotten is disappointment.

I can hear yelling coming from his office, and even though I can’t hear what is being said, he sounds angry, angrier than I think I’ve ever heard him talk to anyone. I’m not sure what’s going on but I walk up to his office door. I start to walk in as he walks out, running right into me and knocking me on my ass. He looks down at me with sympathy in his eyes and walks out the front door. I’m not sure what just happened, but I don’t like the look in his eyes as he walked away from me.

I grab my phone and call him. I need to know what’s going on. I call him four times and it goes to voicemail every time. I start to get worried, and I decide to call my best friend, Jessica, to come over and hang out with me until Jeremy gets home. Her phone goes straight to voicemail too, but that’s not exactly weird for her though. She’s always getting a new flavor of the month, and I won’t hear from her until things go wrong. I swear that girl is looking for love in all the wrong places.

I can’t sit at home anymore and decide to go for a drive. I take a drive around Nashville, since it’s not far from our little town of Crossville, looking at everyone relaxing and having a good time. I remember those days, being carefree, able to relax and act my age. You would never guess I am only 24, I’ve aged so much these last six months that I don’t feel my age anymore. I feel almost middle aged. I’m so sick and tired of everything right now.

I’m not sure how long I drive around before I decide to go home, I want to curl up in Jeremy’s arms and have him tell me everything will be okay. I have always felt so content and happy in his arms. I pull into the garage and notice Jessica’s car is in the driveway behind Jeremy. That’s weird, maybe she got my texts and decided to come check on me.

I walk into the house and it’s strangely quiet, you could hear a pin drop it’s so quiet. I walk into the living room and I see clothes scattered on the floor. I’m not sure what to make of it so I keep investigating, walking up the spiral staircase. I fell in love with this staircase; it’s what sold me on the house. I finally hear something, and I’d know those sounds anywhere. I should turn around and go back out to my car, but it’s like I’m hypnotized and I keep following the sounds.

The bedroom door is open so I walk into the room. I need bleach for my eyes when they adjust to the darkness of the room and realize that they are seeing. I never expected to see what I saw when I walked into my bedroom after getting news that I hadn’t conceived this month either, I’m really not sure if my heart can be broken anymore, but once again I’m wrong.

Jessica is on all fours, naked with my very naked husband behind her, pulling her hair and practically fucking her into the mattress. All I can hear is their skin slapping and I have to force myself not to throw up right then and there. Jessica looks over at me and smiles. The bitch actually smiles at me.

Oh Jeremy, fuck me harder. You know what I like, and I know you like it too. Oh, God, yes, like that, Baby, she keeps moaning and screaming. Jeremy, who is completely oblivious to his wife standing in the room, complies and fucks her harder.

How can he do this to me? I thought that we were okay. I mean yeah, we’ve had our share of problems since trying to start a family, but he always reassured me that there were other options too. I need to decide what I’m going to do here. Will I become the crazy wife who goes bat shit crazy, or the cool, calm, and collected wife who lets it roll off her back, picks up and moves on with her life?

Decisions, decisions.

Chapter 1

Amy

Thinking back to the night that changed my path in life is a painful one. I never thought Jeremy would do that to me, I always thought I’d be with him until my dying breath, but life has a funny way of shifting everything you thought you wanted.

I need to stop thinking about that day though, because right now I am in Mr. Temptation him self’s house. I’m not sure why he was adamant that I be the one to take care of him. It’s not like he couldn’t have gotten another nurse with more experience than what I have, to come in after being shot, I have to go where they tell me to go.

Lance Underwood has been on my brain ever since he arrested me for public intoxication; he looked so good in his suit and tie. I’m not sure why he came to arrest me since he wasn’t a patrol cop, but I was really too drunk to think about it. He, of course, called my best friend Hailee, and she had to haul her pregnant ass to come get me.

Now, I find myself sitting in his house, nursing him back to health. The man is hot as hell and I’m not sure how much longer I can hold out on him. He’s made so many sexual innuendos this past month that I’m surprised I’ve held out this long. I have two weeks left, then I can walk away proud of myself for not giving into him.

I hear that damn bell again. I swear to God, if he rings that bell again, I’m going to beat him with it. He thought it was a great idea since the first two weeks he was on bed rest, to ring a bell for anytime he needed something, and it worked out great in the beginning, but now he uses it to get on my last nerve. I know he’s doing it on purpose because every time I go up there, he’s lying in bed with his shirt off. I’ll go over to his side of the bed and his sheet will magically fall to where he’s lying there in a pair of his tight as hell boxers and nothing else. I’m not going to lie; I had to do a drool check the first time it happened. The man has a very nice body covered in beautiful artwork. His arms are covered from shoulder to wrist with all different types of ink, and even though everything is so different, it all fits together well.

When I get up to his room, I notice he’s doing it again, chilling in his bed watching some sports game on T.V.

Yes, Mr. Underwood, what can I get for you this time? Yes, I called him Mr. Underwood; he is, after all, a client. I call all my clients by their formal titles; it’s more professional that way. Plus, doing it with Lance irritates him so I find it comical.

You can start out by not calling me Mr. Underwood, that is my father and I am definitely not like my old man. The next thing is, can you help me get my sling off, its driving me crazy. He doesn’t really need my help with his sling; it’s one of those Velcro ones that he can use his good arm to undo. I shake my head and go over to his side of the bed, sit down, and before I know what’s happening, he’s grabbed me around my waist and rolled me so I am now under him.

You know how I hate when you call me Mr. Underwood. My name is Lance, and you should really start using it. I’m telling you, Baby, you’ll be screaming it one day, so you might as well get used to saying it.

He’s close, too close. He needs to back away before my resolve breaks. I’m staring into his intense brown eyes, and it’s almost as if he can see into my soul the way he’s staring at me. He starts to lean down and I’m in a trance. He gets so close to my lips that I can feel his breath against mine.

Baby, we’d be so good together, why are you denying what I know you feel too? For some reason that does it and the trance is broken.

I push his shoulders up and he must get the picture because he leans away from me and onto his back. I jump up off the bed and leave the room. I can’t believe I almost let him kiss me; that would’ve been the worst thing that could’ve happened. I can’t let anything happen between us. Even if it did, it would only end in heart break. I’m a no strings attached, one-night stand kind of girl. I never used to be this way until I saw how easy it was for men, so I figured why the hell not. Come to find out, I’m good at it, probably better than a lot of men.

I lean against his door, knowing that if anything were to happen with us, there’s no way I’d only want one night with him; one night would never be enough. I need to get these thoughts out of my head. What can I do to keep myself busy?

I walk down and into the kitchen. I decide to make myself some lunch before I start on preparations for dinner. If there was one thing I am good at, it’s cooking. I learned from my mom who said that the way to a man’s heart was through his stomach. I learned that with Jeremy too. He loved my cooking, and I cooked for him on our first date. I shake my head to clear the thoughts of Jeremy. You would think that after three years I’d be over the betrayal, but it hurts as much today as it did the day I found those two in bed together.

I hear Lance coming into to kitchen so I look up and give him a small smile. I know he can tell that it’s forced, but he never says anything.

Is lasagna okay for dinner, or do you want something else? If you have plans let me know, and I will make something for me. It doesn’t matter to me either way; I didn’t want to make too much food.

That’s fine, I don’t have any plans. I was thinking of inviting Shawn, Hailee, Scarlett, and Mason over for dinner. Would that be okay with you or would you rather not have to cook for everyone? I can help you as much as I can, tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.

I look at him for a moment and study his face. He looks kind of nervous, and that makes me giggle slightly to myself.

Inviting everyone over for dinner is fine by me. I’ve been a shitty friend to Hailee lately, and I really want to see my niece. She’s getting so big, and it’s been too long since I’ve seen her. I need to run to the store to get more ingredients for the lasagna, salad and stuff.

I make my way to the front door, lunch all but forgotten. I grab my purse but his hand on my forearm stops me. I look up at him to see what he wants.

Please, let me go for you. You wouldn’t have to go to the store if I hadn’t wanted to invite everyone over. I’ll go, get everything and I’ll stop on the way back home to grab us some lunch too.

I’m kind of shocked that he actually volunteered to go grocery shopping for me and I can’t help but start laughing at him. He looks so confused that it makes me laugh even more.

I’m sorry Lance, I’m not laughing at you per se, I’m laughing that you, Mr. Badass Detective, are volunteering to go to the grocery store for me. Then you looked so genuinely confused that it made me laugh even more. Oh, my God, I can’t breathe. I’m not even sure what was so funny to begin with, but I needed that.

He smirks at me, Maybe we should go together. I mean, I’m not sure that, what was it you called me, oh that’s right, Mr. Badass Detective, would be able to get the right things that I’m sure you’re used to using for lasagna. We can stop and get lunch on the way. So what do you say, go grocery shopping with me? He gives me these puppy dog eyes, and I know right then and there I’d never be able to say no to those eyes.

Fine, stop with the begging. Let’s go.

He chuckles to himself and mumbles something I’m not able to catch. We walk out the door and make our way to his car. He tosses the keys at me. Guess I’m driving. This is going to be interesting.

Chapter 2

Lance

Man, she’s beautiful when she’s trying to be annoyed.  I knew the minute that I was told that I would need around the clock help, that no other nurse would do. She has a fiery personality that you can’t help but take notice of the moment she walks into a room. 

When I had to arrest her a few months back, I really didn’t want to, but I knew that Hailee and Shawn, my best friend