Thursday, August 06, 2015

 Chapter One


“Test today was negative,” Laynie said as I walked in the office, not bothering with any greeting. “Im never going to get pregnant, Gwen.”
I dropped my purse on the couch and bit the inside of my cheek before I responded so that I didnt laugh. “Youre kidding, right?”
“Nope. It was a big fat minus sign. Which means negative. Not pregnant. No baby. Infertile. Nothings growing in this soil.”
 I couldnt help myself—I laughed. “Its been two months since you started trying. Thats not even long enough to let the Depo run out of your system yet, is it? Have you even had a period?”
Alayna—Laynie—had only gotten married in April to Hudson Pierce, one of the countrys richest men under thirty and the owner of The Sky Launch, the club where we worked together as co-managers. I hadnt heard a word about her wanting children the whole time theyd been engaged, but by the time shed come home from the honeymoon, she was in full family-planning mode. Technically my boss, Laynies most notable trait was her ability to focus intently on a project until it was completed. In other words, she was a little obsessive.
It was actually a great characteristic when it came to work. She always thought of everything, never missing a detail. Her brain worked on overdrive, and while she liked to talk incessantly about business, her passion and creative ideas made sure the subject never grew old.
An obsessive partner was good for me, really. Besides my family and friendship with Laynie, work was all I had to fill my time. Well, pretty much all I had. And since she and the other two important people in my life—my sister Norma and my brother Ben—had significant others, I spent a lot of time focused on my job. It definitely helped with the loneliness.
But now Laynie was obsessed with having a baby.
God, I knew nothing about babies. Or pregnancy. Or marriage. Or being so in love and committed to a person that I wanted to procreate with him. Somehow the constant talk about it made me feel more alone than ever. And she hadnt even conceived yet. What the hell would it feel like when she actually had another human to fixate on?
“I have not had a period yet,” Laynie said as I crossed over to my desk, which was set at a perpendicular angle to hers. “And that makes it even harder to guess when Im supposed to test. But I had all the symptoms of ovulation two weeks ago—the raised temperature, the change in cervical fluid and firmness. That means I should have started today. But since I didnt, it’s possible I’m still pregnant and the test just didnt say it yet—right?”
“Youre not really asking me that, are you?” I slumped into my chair and logged into my computer as I spoke. “Because you know I have zero knowledge about anything related to conception.”
“But I just told you everything you need to know on the subject. I should be having a period. Im not. Test says negative. Those contradict. So I could be pregnant. Right?”
“Sounds like you answered the question on your own.” I could sense she was about to protest, so before she did, I added, “Hey. Youre on your own with this. I cant give you any insight or opinion. Now if you want to talk about narrowing down the selections for the new chef, I can say plenty.”
She opened her mouth to say something then shut it. When she opened it again, she said, “Im obsessing, arent I?”
I put my thumb and forefinger up and indicated an inch. “Little bit.”
She groaned and dropped her forehead to her desk.
“Aw. Dont beat yourself up. I know its frustrating. You decided you wanted something and now you cant see anything else.” Man, did I know how that felt. But I also knew that life could go on through waiting. Even when the wait was indefinite.
At least she didnt have to do the waiting alone.
I stopped myself from saying that, afraid it would come out bitter, and it wasnt her I was bitter at. “It’s going to take time. Didnt the doctor say it might be a year before your reproductive system was reset?”
Her head still down, she let out another muffled groan edged with an exaggerated sob.
“Im not saying it will take that long. Just…be patient.” Easier said then done. I knew that. “Meanwhile, keep trying. Have as much fun as you can being a newlywed.”
She sat up abruptly, her brown hair flying from the movement. “Oh, believe me, were trying. All. The. Time.” She waggled her brows and her suddenly upbeat tone suggested she was next going to erupt into a sordid tale from her insanely abundant sex life.
Her stories had only recently begun to induce a streak of envy that blazed hot and fierce inside me, but I refused to let her know. Once they brought to mind vivid memories of my own—of the man I was waiting for, of the way he and I had been whenever we were together. Id liked those memories. Theyd given me something to hold onto. Something to look forward to.
Now they only reminded me of what I didnt have.
But I forced an encouraging smile, preferring her spicy talk to her baby disappointment. “Please, Laynie. Dont act as if youre doing it any more than you were when you weren’t trying. You two have sex drives that are insatiable.”
She grinned. “Its H. He can go forever. This morning, he woke me up before five, and he still was only half dressed when his driver rang the bell at a quarter to eight. The Pierce stamina…I tell you…”
No, don’t. I can barely look at him with all I know as it is.”
“Im just saying I bet theres a cousin or something we could fix you up with.” She winked.
It was my turn to groan. “Please, no.” As for Pierce stamina, I had a feeling it was more Hudson stamina. I certainly hadnt found my own Pierce lover to be able to go very long. Though, perhaps that was just because of their differences in age.
And that little extracurricular arrangement was not one I was sharing with anyone, least of all my coworker. It was embarrassing and wrong—on so many levels, not just because of the years between he and me. I was sure Laynie and I were close enough friends that she wouldnt judge or scold, but still. I felt guilty. As I should. I should feel every rotten feeling from shame to disgust to remorse.
Laynie would tell me I was being ridiculous. Shed said before that I couldnt waste my life away waiting for someone who had obviously flat-out disappeared. And maybe a part of me agreed. Maybe that was why Id let that other Pierce work his way into my life. Into my bed.
But I hadnt let him anywhere near my heart, because no matter how much time had passed, it belonged to someone else.
“Fine. No setting you up with Hudsons family. As soon as you say the word, though, Im fixing you up with someone. Just let me know when youre ready.”
I chewed on my bottom lip and gave her a tight, “Mmhmm,” pretending to be distracted with what was on my screen. Thank goodness she couldnt view it from where she sat or shed see that I was staring at the desktop. It wasnt that I didnt want to discuss the topic, necessarily. I just didnt know what else to say to her. “Dont bother, Im hopeless,” would only urge her to convince me otherwise. And I didnt want convincing. Because as far as I was concerned, Id never be ready.
“Well, whenever.”
I felt her staring at me for a few seconds before I heard the clickety-click of her fingers on her keyboard. She really was thoughtful to try like she did. It was just still difficult for me to know how to deal with people who cared about me besides Norma and Ben. People like Alayna and Hudson and Boyd—Normas boyfriend—and Eric, my brothers fiancĂ©. It hadnt been that long since Id been closed off to everyone, shut up inside, unwilling to let go or let others in, and it was sometimes awkward to respond to the attention. Which was silly, probably. It wasnt like Id turned into the captain of the cheerleading squad in terms of social life or anything. But Id definitely changed. And that took getting used to.
Alayna wasnt pushing, thankfully. That meant I was off the hook, and I willed my attention to turn to work.
I let out a long breath and opened up the shared folder on my computer labeled Restaurant. While I was mainly in charge of operations and Laynie was in charge of marketing and human resources, we found our best innovative ideas happened together. So even though she primarily worked days and I worked nights, we made sure our hours overlapped several times a week so that we could collaborate and touch base. Friday nights we ran the club together. She wasnt needed then—we had more than enough qualified managers to cover all the shifts without her having to take a weekend night—but she said it kept her in touch with what made the club thrive. Frankly, I was surprised Hudson let her work when he wasnt at the office. He was as controlling as she was obsessive. Somehow the two made it work. Perfectly, even.
However they did it, I was grateful that we had shifts together. Besides being a good friend, she was an amazing businesswoman. She had worked at The Sky Launch for several years, but shed only taken over as manager at about the same time I did. Id been impressed from day one with her plans for expansion of the nightclub, including her idea to highlight the clubs best feature—the private bubble rooms on the second story that overlooked the dance floor below. Wed focused on bringing in more small parties, partnering with various businesses around town and starting a citywide promotion campaign through one of the best advertising firms in NYC.
Recently wed moved our focus to her idea of having a restaurant on the premises during the day hours. The last club Id worked at, Eighty-Eighth Floor, had a similar model of day-to-night presence that wed tweaked to bring to The Sky Launch. Presently, we were looking at chefs.
“Did you confirm with Fuschia MacDonahough for tomorrow?” I asked, looking at our To-Do List. For months, wed met every Thursday for dinner at the penthouse she had with Hudson. It was our chance to hang out in a non-work setting, though for the last couple of weeks, wed added a bit of the job to the routine by bringing in one of the chefs on our short list of potential hires to prepare the meal so we could audition their cooking.
The recurring date had strengthened our friendship. Norma, my sister, sometimes joined us, and every now and then Ben and Eric as well. Wed become a family of sorts, pieces of broken people coming together like a patchwork quilt. It was a night that I looked forward to with as much intensity as I dreaded the loneliness of the Wednesday night that preceded it.
Yep. Then next week weve got Jordan Chase confirmed. After that were going to have to make a decision.”
Her brow wrinkled, and I prayed she didnt go where I sensed she was going.
“Jordan Chase,” she said again. “That could be what JC stands for.”
And there shed gone.
JC.
JC wasnt a cook.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’m sure.” And the C likely stood for a middle name, definitely not his last. Of the few things hed told me, one had been his last name—Bruzzo. Id kept that information to myself like most of what hed told me that final time Id seen him.
“His name could still be Jordan.” Good old Laynie. Obsessing again. “I kind of like that. It has a nice ring.”
If I had the strength, Id let her ramble on and not react.
But I had no strength when it came to JC, and Alayna knew it.
I twisted my seat toward her and glared.
She was staring out into space though and missed my evil eye. “Gwen and Jordan. Jordan and Gwen. I like that. Real catchy.” Finally, she looked at me. “What?”
“One minute you want to fix me up with someone, the next youre bringing up JC. Do you want me with him or not?”
I don’t want either. I mean, I want you happy. And from what youve said about this guy, I think he makes you happy. So I wish he would come the fuck back from wherever he disappeared to and do that.” 
Me too.
I didnt want to go down this road tonight. I nodded and hoped shed take my cue when I swiveled back toward my screen.
She didnt. “But if hes not going to come back…”
“Then you think I should move on. I know, I know.” Shed told me enough times in enough ways for me to feel like I understood her position on the matter.
She surprised me, though, saying, “Im torn, Gwen. He sounds amazing. Perfect for you. And after everything Hudson and I went through, I believe that love can overcome incredible obstacles.”
Nice sentiment. I wanted to believe it too. “But our only obstacle is that he isnt here.” Well, that and hed gotten married to someone else in Vegas while he was too drunk to know what he was doing. That was another thing I hadnt told Alayna.
“Exactly. He has to be here. And hes not. So you need to make a decision about how long youre going to wait for him. How much of your life is worth letting pass by while you wait for him to show up? What if he never shows up?”
It was the question I asked myself every day.
The answer was, Id be lost. I was lost. Because of him, I was open and looser and closer to happy than Id been for most of my life. But the heart of me—the part that believed in love and ever after and sweet kisses and romance—that part of me was lost.
Honestly, I wasnt sure that Id ever completely found it. Id glimpsed it, though. Seen pieces of myself that had hinted it was inside me. If it really was there, I knew without a doubt I wouldnt find it for real without him. Without JC.
But Alayna had a point. How long could I wait before at least pretending to move on?
I don’t know,” I said with raw sincerity.
Laynie was silent for a moment, and I could hear the wheels in her head turning. “I get you,” she said finally, “I do. Ive wasted so much time on less promising relationships than yours, and the ways I coped were far less healthy than you simply taking yourself off the market. But Lauren, my favorite therapist, used to say that sometimes we arent even interested in the thing were after anymore. Weve just gotten in the habit of focusing on it.”
Was that what JC had become for me? Merely a habit?
I didnt want to think that was all he was. But if hed taught me anything, it was that living in the past was not living at all.
Id never struggled with addiction, yet now I felt like I had a smidgeon of an idea of what it must have been like for Alayna when shed had to face her obsessive tendencies over men. How hard it must have been to finally try to “quit.” It was why my father had never been able to put down the bottle and why hed turned to heroin—because it was that hard to give up the thing that you lived for.
In the same way, it was nearly impossible for me to think about giving up JC, even when hed only become a memory.
And with that clarity, I realized that was exactly what I had to do—give him up. Because I didnt want to be anything like my father.
Laynie was right. I had to check in to JC Anonymous. I had to quit. Tentatively I asked, “What would this Dr. Lauren of yours say is the way to stop?”
Well.” She was just as tentative in her answer, all too aware of the difficulty it took for me to even think about “quitting.” “Shed suggest setting a date. A date that you plan to quit waiting, or in my case, obsessing, and then on that date, you stop. Like a job. Hand in your notice today and know that this is all the time you have left before you move on.”
“So I should pick a date to be over JC? That sounds a little simplistic, doesnt it?”
“It does. But it works.” She thought for a second then corrected herself. “Or it helps anyway. Nothing really works except not giving up.”
I twisted my lips, considering what shed said. It would be easy to apply her words to reasons to not quit JC. If I truly believed we could be together then I shouldnt give up.
But it had been almost a year since hed left me. Almost twelve months since hed told me that he was the key witness in a murder. That he had to go into protection until the trial. I had no way of knowing when the trial would end, and when it did, he was the one who had to find me. Which could prove difficult since Id left every part of my old life in my own need for protection. In my case, protection from my father.
I had faith that he could find me. But would he look? Because, yes, I still had feelings for him, but really, when I thought about it logically, it was ridiculous that I did. Because in the seven months Id known him before he left, our relationship really only added up to a total of two weeks time together. Ninety-five percent of that had been just sex. So what was it I was actually waiting around for? A man who had openly loved me for the space of…what? A day and a half? That and good sex. Amazingly good sex.
It wasnt enough to justify being stuck for so long.
And if he actually did love me like hed said he did, I had a feeling hed say the same thing.
There was only one smart thing to do.
I looked down at the keyboard where my fingers were absentmindedly tapping over and over on the same two letters—J and C.
No. I couldnt live like this forever.
I pulled my hands into my lap and sat back in my chair. “The Fourth.”
Id been silent long enough that Laynie took a moment to register my meaning. “Of July?”
I swallowed. “Yeah. Independence Day. Sounds like a good day to let someone go.”
She nodded, her expression somber, her eyes both compassionate and hopeful. “It sounds perfect,” she said. “A total celebration. Were all going to be on Hudsons boat for the night. Well watch the fireworks and everyone will think theyre going off for this big patriotic holiday thing, and only we will know theyre really just for you.”
The year before, Id spent the holiday watching the fireworks alone, missing JC with every fiber of my being. Yet somehow this years celebration sounded even lonelier.
“Perfect,” I said. Id expected to feel a weight lifted from me, but instead, it felt almost suffocating to commit to this new plan. Felt like something inside of me was tightening and constricting, making it hard to breathe. Like my lungs were full of sand and my heart that had once been open was starting to close.
FIND ME is the HIGHLY ANTICIPATED sequel to FREE ME and the Conclusion of Gwen and JC's Story and will be available on August 25th!  
PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY AT:
Blurb
Gwen Anders came to The Sky Launch to begin fresh, away from the horrors of her past. She fit in quickly, becoming good friends with her co-manager, Alayna Withers and the owner of the club, Hudson Pierce. Though the circumstances that brought her here were not the best, she's never felt more at home.

But starting a new life means letting go. And there are some things she doesn't want to leave behind - like JC, the man who taught her how to let loose. The man she wasn't supposed to fall in love with. The man she doesn't want to lose.

Now, with the reason she ran still a threat, Gwen fears she'll never be able to move on completely. And if she does, can she still hold out hope that JC loves her enough to come and find her?


FGBB’S EARLY SPOILER FREE REVIEW
5 Stars 
Find Me gave me everything I wanted and then topped it off with more!
“It was nearly impossible for me to think about giving up JC, even when he’d only become a memory.”
Find Me is the second book in the spin off duet from the bestselling Fixed Series by the amazing Laurelin Paige.
When we first see Gwen again in Find Me an entire year has passed since she’s last seen or heard from JC. Even though she is trying to move on from the man that lit her up from the inside out and freed her in ways she never thought possible, she is struggling. She is haunted by his touch, dreams of him and the moments they shared, no matter how brief the time was. She’s missing him more than she thinks she should.  She’s still hiding from her deadbeat addict of a father and if it weren’t for her best friends (sister and brother), Norma and Ben, she would be much worse off than she actually is.
“I was lost. Because of him, I was open and looser and closer to happy than I’d been for most of my life. But the heart of me-the part that believed in love and ever after and sweet kisses and romance-that part of me was lost.”

Find Me takes a completely different path than I could have ever imagined, yet in a totally wonderful way. Laurelin Paige not only allows us to spend some time with the characters that we’ve come to know and love, Alayna and Hudson, but also continuing our journey with Gwen and JC in their quest of finding each other again. It’s a journey that is not all smooth sailing. They encounter rough seas many a time and, more than once, I was worried that their end may not be what I needed it to be.
“There was always something, wasn’t there? Always distance. Always a secret. Always a barrier.”
Paige’s writing is once again spectacular. The romance, the passion, the lust, and the intense emotional connection are all there, but there is also danger, uncertainty, and secrets that are threatening to wreak even more havoc. Just when we think that they may be on the right path yet another twist makes sure that this couple is challenged and struggles all over again. Gwen and JC’s story is one that will resonate with all romance readers, and it’ll leave you feeling happy, sated, and looking forward to more, should their story continue on. Now knowing that Chandler will be given his own story I look forward to revisiting these characters yet again, I don’t know that I will ever grow tired of spending time in the Fixed universe that Paige has created.
Well done, Laurelin Paige I didn’t know when I began these books that I would come to love Gwen and JC just as much as Hudson and Alayna, but you made it happen. Kudos once again for another beautiful book, and I cannot wait for the next.
“I had faith that he could find me. But would he look?”

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Meet Laurelin…
NY Times & USA Today Bestselling author Laurelin Paige is a sucker for a good romance and gets giddy anytime there’s kissing, much to the embarrassment of her three daughters. Her husband doesn’t seem to complain, however. When she isn’t reading or writing sexy stories, she’s probably singing, watching Mad Men and the Walking Dead, or dreaming of Adam Levine. She is represented by Bob Diforio of D4EO Literary Agency.
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