TWISTED FATES BOOK 2: EVEN MORE TWISTED

Sammie felt her eyes slowly begin to flutter open. The light from the moon was the only thing providing any illumination within her room. Immediately she realized two things at that moment. One, she was back in her bed, and two, her appearance was no longer in the same condition as it was before things changed for her. A strong arm was wrapped around her slight frame, and the sweet scent of peppermint, white chocolate, and whipped cream permeated her nostrils.

Devon.

Her mate was lying next to her.

Sammie carefully shifted onto her side, gazing at the beautiful man cradling her in his arms. His ebony locks were messy, and dark circles adorned his lightly tanned appearance. Even in a deep sleep, his brow was furrowed. Sammie understood that his unkempt exterior was because of her, and it wounded her deeply.

She felt as if she had betrayed her mate. Even if Justin hadn’t done what he had, the fact remains that the supposed dream she had with Jareth was, in fact, no dream at all. According to Justin’s allegations, it was real, and she had been an all too willing participant. Maybe this was why Justin felt that he, also, had the right to lay claim over her. Was it possible that she could have prevented it had she not been so weak and blinded by her visibly mislaid loyalties towards her former sire and mate? The man who had pledged his undying devotion to her. The man who even had gone so far as to sacrifice himself for her salvation. Were Jareth’s actions merely a ruse to rid himself of Sammie’s presence from his life? Had she meant so little to him that he could violate her body and soul without a second thought? Could Jareth be that heartless?

After everything she had heard from Justin and Samantha, she just wasn’t sure of anything anymore. She just didn’t know.

All these questions festered within her like a tumultuous storm bubbling and writhing their way, skewing the person she believed herself to be. The truth of the matter was that she was clouded by her own inventions while rationalizing her encounter with Jareth as being a mere dream when, in fact, it had been a reality. One that she had justified as a carnal fabrication of her mind’s construct, quickly brushed aside just as effortlessly as she had been by her former mate.

Perhaps Justin was right all along. Maybe she deserved what happened to her.

She was a cheater. She was a whore.

Sammie had hoped that she had tried with every fiber of her being when she had fought her attacker. But did she genuinely fight hard enough? The implementation of her former mate into this complicated equation only made her question herself even more.

She felt dirty.

She needed a shower.

Sammie was well aware that no matter how much she would attempt to cleanse her outer shell, the fact still remained that she would never be able to rid herself of the filth that made its way inside her. She would never truly be clean again.

She lightly traced her finger along Devon’s soft lips. She pitied him for being mated to such a catastrophe magnet such as herself. She had arrogantly believed that things were getting better. Yet again, destiny tossed the proverbial wrench in the fabrication of her life, mocking her happiness.

She was fate’s bitch.

She felt dirty.

She needed a shower.

She didn’t want her mate’s body to be sullied with her appalling filth.

She carefully escaped the confines of Devon’s arms and lifted herself off her bed. He stirred for a second but then fell back into his deep slumber.

Sammie crept into the en-suite bathroom attached to her bedroom and quietly shut and locked the door.

Turning the shower onto the hottest possible temperature, Sammie allowed her skin to be immersed in the blistering spray of water, scarring her tender flesh with its scalding tendrils without mercy. While these wounds would quickly fade, the agony surrounding them was Sammie’s purifying deliverance.

This was her sanctuary now. Here is where she could acknowledge the agony she was enduring internally.

From now on, she would have to pretend to be well. To be happy. To act as if the perfidy and abuse she received never ensued.

She understood this was the only way to protect her loved ones and herself. Should they an inkling of what she honestly was thinking or planning, not only would it hurt them, but she knew they would try and stop her from what she had planned in the days to come.

No.

It was the one thing she was sure of.

There was no going back now.

Not after Justin had spoken his hurtful words, revealing to her that her former mate that she had loved, lost, and grieved for, had betrayed her.

She wasn’t sure how, but Sammie knew that she would hurt Jareth just as profoundly as he had done to her one day soon.

*************************************************************

Two weeks later

Sammie

To say things have been going well would be a lie. Well, at least the reality of things for me. In front of my friends and Dev, everything is peachy.

Same old Sammie.

When I returned to my bedroom the first night, I woke up; Devon was awake, leaning against the headboard in wait.

I made sure my walls were up the moment I saw him and flashed my trademark smile.

I could tell, at first, he was unsure. His eyes carefully studied my movements and expressions. Luckily, being a vampire allows you to have one hell of a poker face when needed.

I quickly sauntered over to Dev, still in my towel, and planted a chaste kiss on his cheek as I headed towards the direction of my closet. He immediately grabbed my wrist. Had I not built my safeguards up, surely, I would have recoiled in fear. But as it was, I was able to maintain my cheerful demeanor.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Where are you going, baby?”

“Closet, to grab something to wear.”

“OK.”

“Everything alright, Dev?”

’Huh…what? Oh yeah, sorry baby, everything’s fine. I was just surprised you decided to grab something from your closet. Normally you just slip on one of my shirts. That’s all. Slade and I love it when you wear my shirts.” He winked at me.

Shit, I totally forgot.

Damn me for being a creature of habit.

I tossed a fake giggle towards Devon and grabbed his black cotton tee, pulling it over my head before dropping the towel I was wrapped in onto the floor at my feet.

I grabbed the wet towel and tossed it into the laundry basket in the bathroom.

I somehow managed to convince Devon to go back to sleep since he looked so tired. I had promised him a hearty breakfast made by yours truly when he awoke.

I silently made my way all the way down to the lowest level of my home and headed towards the gym. If I wanted to beat this, I needed to build up my strength, stamina, and abilities. Training in the gym was the perfect outlet for me to let loose my angst and aggression, at least until I needed to practice on more challenging targets. But I would cross that bridge when the time comes. Until then, this was my safe place. I stepped into my home gym and flipped up the three switches located inside the massive room’s entryway. My eyes scanned around, trying to determine which form of machinery I would decide to use first—taking a mental inventory of the vast array of workout equipment at my disposal. The gym’s inventory consisted of four treadmills, three ellipticals, four NordicTracs, five PrecorFTS Glides, four ProForm Exercisers, four ProForm Carbon HIITs, as well as several medicine balls, yoga mats, balls, bands, Heavy bags, and finally, gymnastic horizontal and parallel bars a boxing ring, and an indoor pool. Goddess, talk about overindulgence. Once Jareth had discovered my proclivity to physical training and exercise, he immediately had anything and everything imaginable brought in when this room was designed for me. The substantial sized gym takes up the entirety of the lowest level of my home, and despite its origins, it has now become my refuge.

I made my way through the gym into the small locker room, where I changed into my workout gear, black lycra shorts, and matching bralette with some cross-trainers. I quickly pulled my hair up into a tight pony. I slipped on my AirPods and grabbed a clean towel off the towel rack, then headed back into the gym for my workout.

Deciding to take out some needed aggression, I opted to spend some time on the Heavy bags for a while. I didn’t even bother to bandage my hands as I began aggressively punching the massive hanging sawdust filled bag. My mind began dispersing every deep-rooted painful emotion that I had been holding back into each and every punch and kick. I could feel the skin on my knuckles break, causing blood splatters to begin decorating the heavy bag in dark crimson flecks from every raging jab I provided it. I didn’t care. I’d heal in a matter of minutes, so it made no difference to me. The small stinging sensations of pain only reminded me that I was still weak, but soon enough, I would be strong. This, too, would be nothing. I continued pummeling the sawdust filled heavy bag for an hour. Each blow to the bludgeoned inanimate object was another attack at my own inner demons that plagued the inner sanctum of my sanity. The bone-crunching reverberations of my hands were the only sounds that penetrated the otherwise unsettling silence of the dimly lit gym. I thrust one final blow onto the heavy bag causing it to split in two. The sheer magnitude of force and fury encompassed with my last strike shattered the remaining bones of my right hand as well as the connecting wrist. Bones protruded through my soft tissue in a bloody rhapsody of pain, producing a shrill guttural scream to emerge from my mouth. The pain was excruciating, but this was what I had wanted. It gave me a reason to cry. To feel. My visits to the gym would now part of my new daily ritual.

My alarm went off at 4 am; it was time for me to clean myself up and go make Dev’s breakfast.

I picked up after myself, took a quick shower in the locker room, and changed back into Dev’s shirt before making my way back through the gym to leave. For a brief moment, chills ran up my neck. I felt as if someone was watching me. My eyes scrutinized their surroundings, finding nothing out of the ordinary before I shut off the lights and made my way back upstairs.

Time to play happy Sammie once again.