Falling Completely (Starling Falls #1) Read online

  Copyright © 2015 by Aidan Willows

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law

  For permission requests, write to the author, addressed “Request: Copyright Approval” at [email protected]

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products 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.

  The author is in no way affiliated with any brands, songs or musicians or artists mentioned in this book.

  ISBN: 9781310527463

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Epilogue

  Author’s Note

  Sneak Peak – Falling Sweetly

  To The Most Incredible Parents,

  For everything you do.

  And To Ivy,

  For making me say “I’m going to be a writer” out loud.

  If we deny love that is given to us,

  If we refuse to give love because we fear pain or loss,

  Then our lives will be empty, our loss greater.

  - Margaret Weis

  FALLING COMPLETELY

  Chapter 1

  Maliya

  4 months ago…

  “You want to do what?!?”

  I stared in disbelief at my usually timid and cautious sister.

  “You heard me Liya. I want to move to Starling Falls to help Aunt Trudy with her bakery while she heals.” Niki said, quietly but firmly.

  “You didn’t even want to go abroad for Pastry School. But now you want to up and leave London and a job you love, move thousands of miles away, to run a bakery in a town you know nothing about, for a relative we barely know? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND ANNIKA?” my eyes were wide as I ogled my baby sister and took out my phone.

  “Are you seriously going on your phone in the middle of our conversation?” Niki asked indignantly “What are you doing?”

  “I’m Googling ‘how to tell if someone has been taken over by a pod person.’” I told her as I typed the very important query into the search engine.

  Niki rolled her eyes and pulled the phone from my hands.

  “Don’t be so dramatic Liya. You may not have wanted to get to know our grandaunt, but I’ve gotten closer to her over the years. You know I’ve kept in touch with her ever since she came for Mama and Daddy’s funerals.”

  I failed to see how a few sporadic phone calls over a decade had allowed her to get close enough to a woman to actually want to run her business for her.

  Niki’s eyes filled with the tears that usually appeared whenever she spoke of our parents. She brushed the tears away roughly as they fell down her cheeks.

  Well done for upsetting her dickhead.

  I opened my mouth to reason with my hopefully only temporarily insane sister, when she stopped me by raising her hand.

  “Liya. Just listen to me. Aunt Trudy is the only family we have left. We may not know her well, but I think that means we should get to know her better. She’s hurt and is struggling but is too stubborn to ask for help. I could hear it in her voice when I spoke to her. Her heart is breaking at the thought of having to sell that bakery.”

  “Doesn’t Aunt Trudy have employees there who can run things while she recovers? Say, for example, someone who perhaps lives locally and not across the fucking Atlantic Ocean?”

  “It’s more than that Liya. I think she’s too stubborn to trust anyone else and she’s struggling financially. She seems to be a great baker, but not a great business woman. From everything that I’ve learnt from Paulette, I’m sure I would be able to help her.”

  After finishing pastry school Niki had gone to work for an amazing Pastry Chef named Paulette St. Pierre at a fancy bakery in Chelsea called ‘The Baker’s Dozen’. It was a highly sought after position, which made her decision all the more confusing.

  She took a deep breath and continued. “Also, I don’t love it at Baker’s Dozen anymore. I haven’t been happy there for a while now. I want more. I want a new challenge, Liya. I’d been thinking about doing something different for a while now and I think this could be just the change I need.”

  Eyes similar to mine, met my gaze and I saw a determination in them that I had never seen before.

  “I’ve made my decision and I’m not going to change my mind. I’ve already given my notice in at the bakery. I figure by the time I sort everything out I should be ready to move in about three or four months. This is my life Liya and I need to do this. I’m going to do it, with or without your support.”

  Niki stood up and looked down at me. Crossing her arms in front of her ample chest, she took a deep breath obviously gearing up for whatever retaliation she felt I was going to throw at her.

  I knew my sister well enough to know she was anxious about this decision but this was also the most determined I had ever seen her. My heart sank slightly as I realised that she was serious about moving.

  Niki was the only family I had left since my parents had died. Throughout our lives, I had always felt like it was my duty to watch out for my sweet, naive younger sister.

  However, I had depended on her just as much as she had needed on me. We’d always been close and had never lived apart. My gaze fell to the infinity symbol and pair of ladybugs, one slightly bigger than the other, tattooed on my wrist and then to the matching tattoo on Niki’s wrist. We had gotten the matching tattoos on the day of our parent’s funeral.

  I simply couldn’t imagine my life without Niki in it. I knew separation would be inevitable, that we both would have to eventually move on and lead separate lives, but at that moment, I just wasn’t ready to let go yet.

  There was a heavy silence between us.

  Fuck my life.

  “Okay then, Little Bug.” I sighed heavily in a resigned tone.

  “Okay… What?”

  “Okay, I guess we’re moving to Starling Falls.”

  “WE?” she asked her eyes widening.

  “You didn’t think I would let you move to some random little town in the middle of nowhere by yourself did you?”

  Note to self: Check out murder rate statistics in Starling Falls and surrounding areas prior to move.

  Getting off my chair, I stood in front of her, mimicking her stance. Niki gave a deafening squeal as she threw her arms around me.

  “Oh my God! That would be incredible. But what about your job? And your plan to go to Oxford to study Medicine in September? You’ve worked so hard to be
accepted there this year.” The excited look on her face turned wary.

  “You matter more than my plan, Niki. And besides, I’m sure there has to be a hospital or clinic or somewhere in Starling Falls in need of a nurse. I’m twenty seven and have never lived away from home. Who knows, a change of pace might be good for me.”

  “Liya. I don’t want you to move just for me and end up resenting me because your career isn’t where you want it to be…”

  “Hey. Firstly, I would never resent you and secondly, I never said that this move was going to be permanent. Just for a year. Until you’ve settled in and I know you’re happy living in Starling Falls. I’ll contact the University this week to ask about deferring my entrance to next September.” I said reassuringly.

  “Eeeep! I was nervous and excited about the move, but knowing that you’re coming with me makes it so much better.” She clapped and jumped up and down before she started dancing our happy dance we had created together when we were children.

  It was a mixture of the Monster Mash and the Macarena and we rocked it every time. Needless to say, we were extremely popular as teenagers.

  She grabbed my arms, forcing me to dance with her. I rolled my eyes in mock reluctance as I joined in with the dorky little dance.

  Seeing Niki happier than she had been in months, confirmed that I had made the right decision in following her, even if I did think she was batshit crazy.

  We started dancing around our tiny living room to imaginary music, gaining speed, spinning in circles until we collapsed on our sofa giggling.

  My beautiful sister turned to look at me and I took in the sight of her. She looked so much like our mother that it caused a painful squeezing in my chest.

  Big almond shaped brown eyes and full, coral coloured lips framed by black hair cut in a long bob. She had a slightly overblown hourglass figure and creamy light brown skin that always seemed to have a beautiful glow.

  As striking as she was, it was my sister’s generosity, hopefulness and kindness that really made her so lovable. Where I had always been known as the snarky, sarcastic elder Abbot sister, anyone who met Niki was usually smitten by her sweet personality and caring nature.

  “This move is going to be good for us, Big Bug. I can feel it.”

  I snorted at the nickname. My parents had said that I looked like a cute little bug when I was a born, and when Niki had come along a couple of years later, they had thought that she also looked like a bug.

  Hence, the nicknames Little Bug and Big Bug had been created. The nicknames always made us laugh; our parents were brilliant people, but they definitely lacked creativity when it came to giving their children pet names.

  As I looked around the house we had grown up in and all the memories I had tried to forget over the years, because remembering was just too painful, I sincerely hoped that Niki was right.

  Chapter 2

  Caleb

  Bed.

  That was my only thought when I threw open the door to my room and face planted onto the middle of my bed with a groan of happiness. I wanted to try to get a couple hours of sleep before I had to be up again.

  Creak. Thump. Creak. Thump. Creak. Thump. Creak. Thump. “Oh God, yes Josh! Right there! Don’t stop, baby”

  You have got to be kidding me.

  After a 48 hour shift at the firehouse this was not what I wanted to come home to. I looked over at my clock. 7:30 a.m.

  “Oh yeah, Candy. Suck harder. Oh, Yeah. Just like that.”

  Candy? Really? Where does Josh manage to find these women? I groaned and tried to bury my head further under my pillow.

  “Fuck me harder, Joshie! Oh God, Yes! Yes!” The sound of the groaning from the other side of the wall increased and I realised that my idiot brother and his fuck buddy were no closer to being done.

  Fuck. I wonder what maximum penalty for fratricide is.

  I banged on the wall separating the rooms “Hey! Shut the fuck up Joshie. Some of us are trying to sleep here!”

  “Sorry bro. My bad.” My brother said over the shrill giggling I heard coming from his newest lay.

  Flipping over onto my front, I tried to find a more comfortable sleeping position. I had just started to doze off, when the thumping and creaking started up again with an increased vigour.

  Josh is definitely getting slapped upside his head when I see him later.

  From past experiences, I knew there was no way my brother with his jackrabbit-like stamina was going to be finished anytime soon. I groaned and rolled out of bed. Since any chance of me getting sleep was shot to hell, I decided to go for a run.

  As I threw on a blue T-shirt, I realised that one of my brothers had stolen my favourite black sweatpants. My money would be on Jake. The lazy asshole could never be bothered to do any of his own laundry and would just resort to scavenging in mine or Nate’s closets when he ran out of clean clothes.

  I pulled on a pair of grey sweatpants, found my iPod, cell phone and keys and left my room, rolling my eyes at the animalistic sounds coming from my Josh’s room. I walked through the modest four bedroom house I shared with my brothers to get a bottle of water from the fridge. As I walked out of the kitchen, I stretched out my stiff muscles and rolled my neck from side to side.

  Selecting the playlist I had created for running, I walked out the door, making sure that it was locked behind me. I started jogging at a slow pace towards the centre of the town.

  Morning had always been my favourite time of day, when the town was peaceful and still, before the usual hustle and bustle of the town began as people went about their lives.

  I ran down the wide street our house was on, past the shops and headed downtown towards the park. Starling Falls was a friendly little town built on flat terrain, surrounded by dense, lush wooded land and overshadowed by a small mountain range. Growing up my family had spent many days getting lost on the various trails and fishing in the lakes.

  As I reached the town centre, I ran past Trudy’s, the only bakery in town and saw that the lights were on, I could make out a figure moving around inside. At the window there was a sign that read “GRAND REOPENING MONDAY!”

  Someone must have finally bought the place. It had been closed for the past six months while Ms Trudy who owned it was recovering from surgery for a broken hip. Having run the place for over forty-five years, the irritable old woman had finally decided to retire and had put the shop up for sale.

  I had only ever heard good things from my Aunt Debbie and brother about the food they sold there, but people were reluctant about actually going in the bakery when Trudy was there. According to the town she was one intimidating old lady.

  I made a mental note to tell Jake about Trudy’s opening again. He had been in mourning over the loss of his daily cinnamon roll ever since the place had closed.

  I got to the other side of town and ran past my Uncle’s house to get to the park. Memories of seeing the house for the first time when I was eight came back to me. It had looked like a mansion to my young eyes despite being a relatively modest four bed detached house.

  My childhood could have been a lot different if it wasn’t for my Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Debbie. They gave me and my siblings hope, and a chance to move away from the cesspit we were born into. There were six of us in total; Nate was the oldest, followed by me, then Jake and Josh who were fraternal twins, and Alex and Adelaide who were also twins, were the youngest.

  Our mother was “a woman who lost her way” according to my Aunt Debbie. Though in my opinion she was just a woman who had a bunch of kids, she never really cared about, with a couple of different men she also didn’t care about, and put getting her next high ahead of providing for her kids. She’d never been an affectionate or attentive mother.

  None of us really understood what it felt like to be loved by a parent, until my Uncle came and collected and brought us to live with him and Aunt Deb. Though it was twenty years ago, the memory of that night never faded.

  20 years ago…

 
; My older brother Nate and I had just come home from school with Jake and Josh to find Addie, our four year old sister, on the knee of one of our mother’s latest friends. She was shaking in fear as he stroked her hair and face and whispered in her ear. Alex was crying in the corner curled a foetal position; his face showed the beginnings of a black eye and a split lip.

  Bile started churning in my stomach as I stood frozen. There had always been shady men around our place, but this was the first time any of them had touched one of us. Our mother lay passed out on the sofa. I heard Nate throw his bags down as he went running up the stairs and came back with a baseball bat.

  The man must have been high, because he was slow to react when Nate grabbed Addie off of him and began swinging the bat, hitting him wherever he could. The man fell off the chair and onto the floor moaning unintelligibly.

  “Caleb! Go get Alex and Addie and get them all outside!” the shout from Nate shook me out of my frozen state as I did what he said and gathered all my siblings outside on the dead grass of our tiny lawn, near the gate swinging off its hinges.