Out

By M.E. Clayton

What happens when all your dreams finally come true?

You go out and chase one last dream.

Sebastian
It wasn’t always easy to stay positive, something that Sebastian Havoc struggled with. Having been raised by two parents that couldn’t have cared less about him, his easygoing personality was a result of years of neglect. Nevertheless, he’d gotten through his childhood with his four best friends at his side, and after a lot of hard work and constant prayers, he had come out the other end better for it.

Ten years later, Sebastian is a phenom in the MLB, being one of the best catchers in the league. His childhood nightmares now a thing of the past, he was living a life that others would kill for. He was no longer that little boy from Hammond, Illinois, wondering if there was a better life out there. His life was full of nothing but blessings, though he still had one more dream that he was chasing.

Nova
It wasn’t always easy to stay positive, something that Nova Knight knew well. Though she’d been raised in abject poverty, her brother had always done his best to take care of her, despite being only one year older than her. She’d also been lucky enough to have grown up with more than just her brother at her side. As far as she was concerned, she had five brothers, and she loved them all dearly.

Ten years later, Nova is the director of ỖSTAR, a charity organization founded by her brother and his friends, and she couldn’t be happier. The organization made a difference in children’s lives, and that’s all that she could ever ask for. Yeah, it took up a lot of her time, but having been one of those children herself once, she wasn’t confused about her priorities, something that all the guys supported.

When friendship is no longer enough...
After years of doing the right thing, Sebastian has to finally make a decision regarding his life, despite the possibility of a Pandora’s Box happening. Nevertheless, having been in love with Nova Knight for almost fifteen years, he knew that it was time to let her know how he felt or finally move on. With her brother’s permission and the deal of the century, he no longer has an excuse to keep quiet.

After years of doing the right thing, Nova doesn’t know how not to do the decent thing. Because her family was so famous, she was just as well-known, so she did her best to always present herself in the best light. So, as a result, her love life suffered greatly, her little crush on Sebastian Havoc something that she tried really hard to forget, though it was hard when the man was sexy as sin.

When the truth finally comes out, it seems like everything couldn’t be more perfect. However, jealousy and hate quickly rear their ugly heads, threatening to ruin everything that they hold dear. After all, it’s not just their relationship that is threatened. Placed in a position where family will have to pick sides, there’s more at risk than just your normal heartbreak.

Note: This book contains adult situations, adult language, sexually explicit encounters, mention of abuse, mention of child abuse, and threats of violence. If sensitive to any of the aforementioned issues, please do not purchase.

• Language: English
• Publisher: M.E. Clayton
• Release date: Feb 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9798201937799

M.E. Clayton

M.E. Clayton works fulltime and writes as a hobby only. She is also an avid reader and Pinterest addict. When she's not working, reading, writing, or on Pinterest, she is spending time with her family and friends, or her dog, Boy, or her cat, Seatbelt. She lives in California with her husband and enjoys doing nothing but reading. Seriously. She does nothing but read. However, that's how she likes it.

Book preview

Just a couple of things before I let you go and get your read on. While I am doing my best to work with better editing and proofreading software, all my books are solo, independent works. I write my books, proofread my books, edit my books, create the covers, etc. I have one beta who gives me feedback on my stories, but other than that, all my books are independent projects.

That being said, I apologize, in advance, for the typos, grammar inconsistencies, or any other mistakes I may make. Since writing is strictly a hobby for me, I haven’t looked into commitments in regard to publishers, editors, etc. My hope is that my stories are enjoyable enough that a few mistakes, here and there, can be overlooked. However, if you’re a stickler for grammar, my books are probably not for you.

Also, I am an avid reader-I mean an AVID reader. I love to read above any other hobby. However, the only downside to my reading obsession is when I fall in love with a series, but I have to wait for the additional books to come out. So, because I feel that disappointment down to my soul, when I started publishing my works, I vowed to publish all books in my series all at once. No waiting here…LOL. Now, the exception to that will be if enough readers request additional stories based off the standalone, such as in Facing the Enemy. At that point, if I decide to move forward with a requested series, I will make sure all additional books are available all at once. As much as this is a hobby for me, I am writing these books for all of you, as well as myself.

Thank you for everything!

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I really appreciate you reading my book and I would love to hear from you! Now, unfortunately, because I do have a full-time job and one part-time job, plus a family that I love spending time with, I’m not very active on social media. However, for the sites I do participate in, here are my social media coordinates:

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Dedication

My daughter & son –

These past few years have put us to the test, but we passed with flying colors. I love you both, and I’m so proud of you.

Prologue

Staring out into the night sky, a beer in my hand, my four best friends sitting on the roof with me, I wondered how life could be so perfect, yet so shitty at the same time.

All our dreams were coming true, and the future was ours in a way that didn’t happen to kids like us. The fact that it was happening for all five of us was short of a miracle.

No, that wasn’t true.

It was a miracle.

This fucking sucks, Titan blurted into the quiet night

I looked over at him, feeling the same. No shit, I agreed.

The five of us had been best friends since kindergarten, and we’d been through some rough shit over the years. Though we weren’t related by blood, Raven King, Atlas Braylon, Titan Miller, Orion Knight, and I had been as tight as blood brothers, and taking this next step without each other was going to be tough. Doable, but tough all the same.

We were all headed to the college of our choice, and that in itself was a godsend. We were poor kids from a fucked-up neighborhood, and we were getting out. We had the chance of a lifetime staring us in the face, and we were going to make the most of it.

With full scholarships, Raven was on his way to play football, Orion basketball, Titan soccer, Atlas hockey, and I was on my way to play baseball. All our hard work, good grades, and perseverance were going to pay off in the best way, but that victory came with the depressing fact that we were going to be scattered all across the country, our safety net in one another no longer within reach.

Graduation was tomorrow, and though we still had the summer together, just like the theory of relativity, those two months were going to go by too fast for any of our liking.

After another sip of his beer, Atlas said, It’ll be fine. We’ll get through college, and once we’re in the pros and making some real money, we’ll be able to visit each other all the time.

Provided we can stay out of trouble long enough to make it to the pros, Orion replied, the tone in his voice making my gut tighten. Orion was the only one of us that had a sibling, and leaving Nova behind was doing a real number on the guy.

Still, I felt his pain.

Titan’s voice came through the dark. No sweat. When we all looked his way, he asked, What?

Ever the dad of the group, Raven said, Dude, you were ten seconds away from being a teenage father. It’s not us who have the problem staying out of trouble.

And I learned my lesson, Titan said, grinning. No babies over here.

Look, we still have the summer together, I reminded them. It’s not like we’re saying goodbye tomorrow or anything.

That quieted everyone down, and I knew that the guys were lost in their own thoughts just like I was. However, with the exception of Orion, my thoughts also included Nova Knight and the regret that one of us couldn’t take her with us. She was a year younger than Orion and still had one more year of high school to get through. With her parents as poor and mentally abusive as they were, leaving her behind was going to be a motherfucker.

Raven finally broke the silence. Pros or no pros, we stay family, he said. "Money, schedules, women, fame…none of it comes between us. None of it becomes more important than this right here.’

Fuck, yeah, Titan said, seconding the motion.

Amen, Orion agreed.

Nothing and no one, I vowed.

The five of us and Nova, Atlas added, and the mention of her name had my gut tightening up again. I was in love with the girl and had been since I was twelve-years-old, and even though I had Orion’s blessing, I’d chosen to keep my feelings to myself.

If I told Nova how I felt, and she ended up confessing that she felt the same, then I’d give up college to stay with her, and I couldn’t do that. There was no way that Orion wouldn’t expect me to take care of his little sister the best that I could, and I couldn’t do that if I threw away my chance to play ball professionally. Nova deserved better than what she had now, and that meant that I needed to be the best version of myself possible before I told her how I felt about her.

I wasn’t that man yet.

However, one day, we were all going to come out on top, and it would be about time.

Chapter 1

Sebastian~

Most people would look at me and feel no sympathy. However, anyone that’s ever played sports or had ever been a slave to their competitive nature would definitely feel sorry for me right now. Yeah, I already had two championships under my belt, but that still wasn’t good enough. Though impossible, I wanted to win the championship every fucking year.

Taking another pull of my beer, I knew that it was time to take a breath and count my blessings, something that I did often. Growing up in Hammond, Illinois had been no joke, and it hadn’t help that my parents had been neglectful as fuck. Granted, they could have been worse, so talk about acknowledging the silver lining in a jacked-up childhood.

Paul and Sandra Havoc had been able to hold down jobs, but that was probably the only good thing that I could say about them. Yeah, we’d had food, clothing, and the utilities had never been shut off, but for the most part, I had raised myself. My father had worked as a mailman, and my mother had worked as a waitress, and they still held those jobs as far as I knew. Since I didn’t owe them a damn thing, I couldn’t be sure. The second that I’d taken off for college, I had left my parents and the city of Hammond behind me.

Now, while I’d had more than most of the kids that’d been unfortunate enough to live in Hammond, my parents had been neglectful enough that I’d had to learn how to cook for myself at the age of six. Of course, I could have chosen to starve to death, but children were a lot more resourceful than adults gave them credit for. I had spent most of my childhood fending for myself, and it was a miracle that I was as well-adjusted as I was. The guys said that I was the funny one out of the group, but my sense of humor had come from a dark place. I’d had two choices, and they’d been to either develop a good sense of humor or go to prison. I had chosen to go with developing a good sense of humor.

Luckily for me, it hadn’t been all bad. While my parents had been horribly neglectful, my house had always been full, any one of the guys staying over to get away from their own shitty home lives. Even though I’d considered Raven my best friend if I’d had to choose, Atlas had spent a lot of time at my house growing up. While our stories were all different, they had one common denominator, and that’d been how crappy all of our parents had been and still were. Had any of us been weaker men, our parents would still be holding us prisoner, but we weren’t their dependent sons anymore.

Growing up, my best friends in the world had been Raven King, Atlas Braylon, Orion Knight, and Titan Miller. We’d all met as children and had grown up together, making sure that gangs, drugs, poverty, or crime hadn’t taken us down. It was easy to avoid all that when you had a strong support system, and that’s what I’d had in the guys. Even Orion’s little sister, Nova, had played a significant role in our lives, and in all honesty, she still did.

In a miracle that I still wasn’t sure that we had deserved, we had all managed to tap into our natural athletic abilities, and those talents had gotten us all out of Hammond. Between our skills and academic achievements, we had all managed to get full scholarships to college, and the only time any of us had looked back had been to check on Nova. A year younger, we’d had to leave her behind until she’d gone on to join Orion the following year.

Ironically enough, none of us played the same sport, but that didn’t stop us from being just as close as we’d always been. Raven had made us swear that life wouldn’t get in the way of our friendships, and thanks to Nova and that damn calendar of hers, ten years later, we were still incredibly close. In fact, the press called us The Loyal Five after Titan had posted a picture of all of us at Nova’s college graduation. The moniker had taken off, and that’s how we were all referred to during interviews.

If I had to describe us, I’d say that Raven was the serious one. Though we were all the same age, Raven had always been the father-figure of our group. I could always remember him taking the heat for a lot of our shit, making sure that the rest of us hadn’t gotten in trouble, especially Atlas. Raven’s parents had been gamblers, and he’d eaten at my house lots of times. Nowadays, Raven King was one of the top wide receivers in the NFL, and he played for the Bratton Spartans. He was also happily engaged to the love of his life, and we couldn’t be happier for him.

As for Titan, he was the player of the group. The man sure did love women, and he’d been hard to rein in when we’d been younger. In fact, he’d had a pregnancy scare that had terrified the shit out of all of us, and Titan Miller was the reason why we were all so dedicated to condoms. His parents had been abusive, though not too bad once Titan had outgrown his father. Titan had gone to become one of the best soccer forwards in the MLS, playing for the Highland Wolves.

Now, when it came to Atlas, he was the most volatile one out of us all, but he had come by it honestly. His parents had been real shit human beings, and they’d had no mercy on the poor guy. They had hit him with the perfect trifecta of abuse; emotional, mental, and physical. Luckily, they had spared him any sexual abuse, but they didn’t really get points for that. Atlas’ body was riddle with scars, and the sonofabitch wore them proudly. Atlas Braylon had no tattoos on purpose, despite being the best goaltender in the NHL for the Seaside Acers.

Orion was the calm one of the group, but that was because he had spent a lot of his childhood raising Nova. Orion’s family had been the poorest, and his parents had gotten off on mentally abusing their kids. They’d continuously blame their poverty on having to provide for Orion and Nova, and it was short of a miracle that Orion and Nova didn’t have self-esteem issues. Now, while Nova had gone on to direct a non-profit for kids, Orion Knight was a point guard in the NBA, and he played for the West Corral Devils. While we were all good at what we did, Orion was a goddamn phenom in the basketball world.

I had managed to escape my childhood horrors through baseball. I was a catcher in the MLB for the Torrent Eagles, and every second of my life after high school had been filled with blessings that I did my best not to take for granted. Even with Raven in California, Orion in Texas, Atlas in Michigan, Titan in Arizona, and me in Colorado, we were still as close as we’d ever been, and I considered my friendships with them my greatest accomplishment in life.

My phone chimed as