Laying it Bare with an Ex-Con (Laying it Bare Series Book 2)

By L.E. Martin

On her way home from work one night, Jade Paulson was attacked and almost killed. Three years later she still can’t go out after dark and seemingly mundane things still trigger panic.

At the age of eighteen, Cal Timmons made a bad choice that cost him ten years in prison. And even though he’s earned his freedom, he can’t live past the belief he’s not good enough for anyone.

When sparks fly between the two of them over cookies and laundry, they decide to give into something neither thought they would ever find. But are they too broken to ever piece together what each fears has been lost forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: L.E. Martin
• Release date: Dec 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463950708

L.E. Martin

L.E. Martin is currently working on adding more books to her Laying it Bare Series. She has a couple biker stories in the works and also a rock star one. Her next release is book one of a paranormal romance duet, which is releasing Oct. 15, 2022. There will also be another paranormal story following a side character from the Blood Covenant world releasing after book two of the duet.

Book preview

Laying it Bare

with an Ex-Con

By L.E. Martin

Laying it Bare with an Ex-Con

Copyright © 2019 L.E. Martin

Cover Designed by Emily Rose

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, including electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in reviews. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

For my Husband and Kids

Thank you for your love and support

For my Readers

Thank you for loving my characters as much as I do

One

~Jade~

No! Get off of me! Oh my God, no!

I startled myself out of a restless sleep, screaming and bucking my body, my arms and legs fighting off the remnants of visions that unfortunately at one point in my life were real. Still caught up in my alarm, I jerked up in my bed, sweat soaking the tank top and boy shorts I had thrown on the night before when I had headed to bed. With a trembling hand, I swatted at my bedside lamp until I managed to hit the switch causing a soft glow to spread across my room.

My eyes frantically searched the space, even though deep down I was aware of the fact it was impossible for him to be here in my apartment. But even after three years, those horrid memories had barely faded. For a few moments, I took in some shuddering breaths, trying to calm my racing heart. Even though it was only a dream, his strong fingers wrapped about my throat was as real to me as if it were actually happening again.

Snatching my phone from the night stand, I willed my shaking fingers to cooperate but still managed to drop it twice onto my bed. Once I was confident I had a firm grasp on my phone, I paused for a moment – staring at the early hour – before scrolling through my contacts to my parents’ number and eventually tapping on it before putting the phone up to my ear.

My mom answered on the third ring, Is everything okay, Jade? What time is it? Her voice was groggy from sleep.

No. I don’t know. It’s five o’clock. I rasped out, my voice sounding as if I had swallowed a pound of gravel. My screaming must have started well before the one that tore me out of my nightmare. I’m sorry for waking you, Mom.

Another nightmare, honey? I can tell it was a pretty bad one by the sound of your voice. Go get a drink of water or something.

Twisting my body so my legs dangled from the bed, I dropped down to the floor and walked toward my small kitchen. After opening the refrigerator, I grabbed a bottle of water, unscrewed the cap and downed a couple of gulps. I hope I’m not having a relapse. I don’t want those visions back in my head while I’m sleeping. I returned the cap to the bottle and strolled into the living room before plopping down onto my crème colored couch and kicking my bare feet up onto the wooden coffee table. I was wide awake now so there was no sense returning to bed at the moment.

Hey, it’s been almost six months since the last one. Unless you had one and didn’t call me.

No. I guess it has been that long but shouldn’t they be done? I mean there are still occasions when I’m awake and I’ll see something or experience something that brings back those memories but I thought the nightmares would be over by now. I leaned my head back against the cushions and closed my eyes. When will the time come when I can go to sleep and not have to worry if this is the night those horrors will return?

Jade, I don’t care how good your therapist is. You went through an immense trauma. It’s going to take your mind a great deal of time to completely heal. My mom paused for a moment. Do you want to tell me about the nightmare?

Slowly opening my eyes, I stared up at the ceiling. Amazingly, talking about it helped. I would have thought the best way to move past it was to try to forget about the entire ordeal. I had tried that right after I was attacked but things only grew worse. I had nightmares every time I closed my eyes. After over a month of next to no sleep, my parents found me a great therapist who didn’t blame my sleepless nights on my consumption of caffeine. Miraculously, after only one session with him, my nightmares had tamed considerably. Although I still had them often for months afterward, their intensity had died down.

As long as you’re okay to hear about it. I know what it does to you.

I’m a mom, honey. I want to help you heal.

I tried to push away the thoughts of her cringing and blanching. She had done that the first two months while I was at home recovering anytime I would talk to her and my dad about my night terrors.

It was like I was reliving the whole thing again. He had his hands wrapped around my neck, squeezing so hard my breaths were faltering and I could feel the sweat on his skin. And I could smell his body odor; it made me want to vomit. His body . . . it was pressing down on me, holding me down as he ripped at my clothes. I closed my eyes and shook my head, as if the motion alone could dislodge the real horror that came next. I could feel the searing pain of his knife ripping through the flesh of my chest, the burning. I placed a hand under my breasts to where the faint scars from his knife still marred my skin. I managed to scream myself awake before it progressed to his grand finale. At least I didn’t have to relive that.

Are your therapy sessions still going well? My mom’s voice quivered slightly but she masked it pretty quickly.

Yes. Dr. Parks is pretty awesome for an old dude.

He’s my age.

I chuckled slightly. I know. I needed to lighten our conversation a bit. He keeps coming up with different breathing and calming techniques to use when I feel a panic attack coming on. There just really isn’t anything I can do for the ones that rip me from a sound sleep. Although, talking with you afterward helps me a great deal. Thanks, Mom. I just feel bad waking you.

Hey, don’t you ever not call me just because of the hour. I can fall back to sleep then.

That was a complete lie but I didn’t call her out on it. I’ll always call you, don’t worry.

Not that I will ever mind you calling and waking me, but I wish Anastasia would move in with you. I wish you had someone there with you.

She’d never be here, Mom. She’s always at Dean’s. Not that I begrudge her having an awesome boyfriend. Okay, maybe I am a little jealous. I released a small chuckle. After all, I introduced her to him. So she could have found me someone awesome too. But I expect her to move in with him shortly. There is no sense in her paying rent on an apartment she doesn’t use. Besides, I anticipate him proposing in the near future too. And I would have driven her crazy, waking her in the middle of the night screaming like I do.

My mom let out a small sigh. She wouldn’t have minded in the least.

I know, Mom. I just don’t like bothering others. It’s bad enough I disturb you.

Which is no problem whatsoever. She interrupted. At least the apartment beside you is empty so you don’t have to be worried you’re disturbing others.

It was my turn to sigh. Actually, it’s no longer vacant. Someone moved in over a week ago.

Did you welcome her? Make a new friend?

I rolled my eyes, even though she couldn’t see, and huffed out a breath. This isn’t elementary school.

No but it’s common decency to welcome new neighbors and be friendly. Hanging out for coffee can be something that can come later. She admonished.

It’s a he and he’s huge with tattoos on his arms, Mom. And he was ruggedly good looking in a sexy rough way.

And you shouldn’t judge someone by his appearance, Jade. Her tone mocked me and I couldn’t help but release a giggle.

Oh trust me; I was not judging, at least not how she was thinking. He didn’t look like someone who was interested in making a new friend and if he was looking just to hook up, I so was not ready to indulge in that at the moment.

Anyway, yes you should be cautious; that is sound advice for anyone. But you should also start to live again. Be careful, but start easing back into doing things like you used to. Go outside when it’s just starting to get dark and try to get comfortable so you can work your way back to some normalcy.

I shuddered at the thought of being outside after dark. I don’t know, Mom. That would be quite the undertaking for me. As for the guy next door, I don’t know about that either. No one has said anything about him and it’s been over a week. You know how they are in this complex. Someone moves in and people immediately start gossiping.

Well, maybe there is nothing to tell. Maybe he doesn’t really have a story.

Maybe she was right. I didn’t have a story when I had first moved in to this apartment. But I had a horror story now and people loved to talk about it. I shook my head. I guess I could take him some cookies or something. Since I’m up now, it will give me something to do besides staring at the television. I don’t work today so maybe after I bake and clean up I’ll be tired enough I can fall back to sleep for a bit and then take him the cookies early this afternoon.

I think that sounds like a good idea. I could hear the smile in my mom’s voice. If you’re feeling better now I’ll let you get to your baking and I’m going to get back to sleep.

Okay. Thanks mom and again I’m sorry for waking you.

Anytime, honey. I love you.

I love you too. Bye. I pressed end on my phone and sat it on the couch beside me. Closing my eyes, I thought back to the one and only time I had caught a glimpse of my new neighbor. He was carrying boxes into his apartment and spotted me staring at him while I was turning the key in my lock. To my surprise, he didn’t snarl at me for my rude behavior but to my chagrin he didn’t smile or make any indication that he wanted to be friendly either. His expression was void of any emotion as he continued into his apartment.

It puzzled me that I wasn’t afraid of him. Like I had told my mom; he was huge – at least six five and well built – and compared to my barely five two frame that was enormous. He had ink on his arms but from the distance I couldn’t tell the designs. His unkempt almost black hair – which hung to his shoulders – and his dark piercing eyes should have instantly set off my alarm bells. Instead, his whole package had set off little tingles in my body and I had grown warm. I hadn’t had a reaction like that to a guy in over three years. However, I tabled those unexpected responses to dissect at a later time.

Back to the moment he had caught me staring; when his eyes briefly met mine, there was no threat or malice in them. So maybe my mom was right and despite his appearance there was no need for me to be wary of him.

After opening my eyes and shaking away the thoughts of the mysterious new guy next door, I took a couple more swigs of my water and then rose from the couch. Strolling back into the kitchen, I began rummaging through my cupboards and pulling out ingredients to whip up a batch of chocolate chips cookies.

I mean everyone liked chocolate chip cookies.

At least I hoped.

Two

~Cal~

The irritating generic ringtone set to my incoming calls stirred me from a pitiful night’s sleep. Groaning, I reached over to my nightstand and grabbed the annoying offender if only to silence the fucking thing. I glanced at the screen to check the time – eight seventeen – and sagged in relief at the name showing on my lock screen. I was positive it was going to be the girl from last night. Unfortunately, I had discovered too late that she was a bit clingier than the other girls I had slept with since my release. Thank God I had had the sense not to bring any of them to my apartment. Instead, we had a nice romp at their place and then I excused myself under the pretense of having to be up early for work. It was a load of shit. I could care less if I didn’t get a good night’s sleep before work. It wasn’t like I had to do much thinking while working on a construction site. And I never worked on Sundays.

Even though I wasn’t happy about being woken up for the second time since my late drop into bed, I had to chuckle at the name displayed on my phone. Talia Jenkins. Even her name screamed attorney.

Tapping the accept button on my screen, I jammed my phone into the side of my head, my face still partially smashed into my pillow and my voice groggy from lack of sleep. What’s up with the early call, Talia?

Sorry, I didn’t realize the hour until I had already clicked on your name to dial.

What are you doing up so early on a Sunday? I couldn’t imagine you working on a case at this hour and on the weekend. And you know you don’t have to check up on me. You’re not my parole officer.

And you know you’re not really an asshole either, so stop trying to play the part.

A laugh exploded out of me at her bluntness. Sorry. You didn’t deserve that. I’m tired and I apologize for being grouchy. But Talia, I am an asshole. And still angry at the world for my own mistakes.

Whatever, Cal. I’m your friend, as odd as that sounds. I was checking to make sure things were going well. I’m getting ready to go to Church and I wanted to call and see how the job was going.

I rolled to my back and adjusted the sheet to cover my nakedness. It’s a paycheck and the guys are pretty cool. It’s not what I envisioned myself doing but it’s better than not having anything. I had to pick up a job at the bar down the street too. The construction job is only part time and barely above minimum wage for right now and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to make rent and stuff with just that job.

I wasn’t sure what Sal had available. I’m just glad he gave you something.

Yeah, thanks for hooking me up with that and for finding the apartment. And I can’t thank your brother enough for selling me his bike and allowing me to make payments on it.

His wife had been on his ass for months to get rid of it. I’m glad it’s helping you out. I always thought you got a bad rap.

Then why didn’t you get me off?

You still killed a man, Cal. You could’ve given the gun to one of your buddies.

I released a huge sigh. I know. I can’t help but blame everyone else but I know it was my fault. I got what I deserved.

It was her turn to sigh. Cal, I think you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don’t care that society saw you as an adult. Yes, you made bad choices, even before that horrible event, but it wasn’t like you had someone trying to keep your ass out of trouble. I’m not making excuses; a man died that day because of your actions but I truly believe you were a victim too. The faintest sound of sniffling came across the line.

Talia was over twenty years older than me and I still thanked my lucky stars she had gotten assigned my case. She had visited me during my ten year incarceration when I had no one and she really didn’t owe me anything. But she was more than a great attorney. She had a warm heart and reminded me of my own mom, who was probably rolling over in her grave about the loser her son had turned out to be. I mentally shook myself out of my self-pity party.

Hey, how are your two kids anyway?

She paused for a moment, probably pulling herself out of the gloom. Alec is starting graduate school and Amelia is getting married in three months.

That’s great. So you’ll be a grandma soon? I teased.

Shut your mouth. I am not ready to be a grandma.

I chuckled. Buy them some condoms as part of their wedding gift then. Although you might want to slip her some now.

Change in subject. So did you make any friends at your apartment building yet?

Really? What, did I move to a new school?

No smartass but you need to do something other than work and sleep.

I chuckled.

And I’m not talking about sex with your one night stands. I could almost sense her eyebrow rising. You need to get some friends too. Get to know some of the neighbors. It will help you move past things and start getting a sense of normalcy.

I wasn’t even sure I knew what the fuck normalcy was. I was eighteen when I was locked up and jail was definitely not the place to pick up anything vaguely resembling ordinary. Who in their right mind wants to be friends with an ex-con? Although we had been keeping the conversation light, I couldn’t help the bite that crept into my words.

People who are truly worth it will see past your past and get to know you. What about the person living right beside you?

I thought back to the pretty dark haired girl who lived next to me. I had caught her staring at me – not in a nosy way but more like being inquisitive – when I was moving in the last of my shit. But that was over a week ago and I hadn’t seen her since. It was like she never left her apartment. But maybe she just worked weird shifts or something.

Cal. Are you still there or did we lose the connection?

Sorry, I was caught in my thoughts. There’s a girl who lives next to me. She woke me up screaming last night.

You went over to make sure she was alright –

Of course I did. The harshness returned to my tone.

It wasn’t a question, Cal. Her tone was laced with its own bite. I knew you would. You didn’t let me finish. I wanted to know if you had a chance to talk to her then.

No. It was just a dream or something because I heard her talking to someone on the phone. I had run over to make sure she was okay and heard her mumbling to someone but I couldn’t make out the words. I didn’t hear anyone’s response so I assumed she was talking on the phone not to a roommate. I didn’t bother knocking and disturbing her because she was fine. Besides, she definitely doesn’t need someone like me hanging around her. I sat up in bed and leaned back against the headboard.

Cal, you need to adjust your attitude. You served your time and it’s in the past. And it shouldn’t define you. Try to meet some people and start moving past your mistakes. If my kids lived near you, they would hang around you and not just because they’re my kids. I have to finish getting ready to go but the next time I call I want to hear about some fun things you’ve been doing. Not what you are building at the construction site or pouring behind the bar.

I ran my hand through my bedhead. Geez, you are such a mom. I’m twenty eight years old and –

I know, save it. But you haven’t really had a chance to grow up the way you should have. So let me give you some guidance, ok? I know you can do this. You’re already working two jobs and worrying about a neighbor, so I know you got this. But let me help you. Everyone deserves a second chance, Cal. Even ex-cons.

Thanks, Talia. Go finish getting ready.

Go meet the girl next door. Bye, Cal.

I hit end on the call and stared at my phone. She made it sound so easy but it was anything but. Even the guys at the construction site seemed to give me a wide berth like they thought I was violent