Page 6 of Shattered Mind

My selfishness resulted in me missing the signs that my best friend, the only person I had left in this world, needed me.

My eyes burn from exhaustion after a long few days of travelling and moving in and I blink several times as my surroundings come back into focus. I turn away from the living room and head towards my bedroom.

It’s not much right now. Just a bed and chest of drawers, but with a cute rug and some accessories, I’m sure it’ll feel more like home in no time.

I haven’t given much thought to what life in Rosewater Creek will look like for me. I’ve always been kind of a free spirit, taking each day as it comes, with no real plan for my life. I have no job. No hobbies. And honestly, no fucking clue what I want.

After my parents died, I was left with no home and a fuckton of money. I knew they worked hard. Knew they both had good jobs and earned a decent wage. Our house was a telltale sign of that.

We didn’t live in a mansion by any means, but we lived comfortably in our four bedroom, detached home on the outskirts of London. The house was big, sure. Big by UK standard that is, but it always felt like a home. It was warm. Welcoming.

I’m yet to step foot inside it.

I’m afraid that the familiar warmth will be gone. Because it was them that made it the home it had been. The sound of my mothers old fashioned record player filtering through the halls. The soft laughs from my parents as they slow danced around the kitchen. The distinct smell of my father’s cologne permeating the air. All of those things – gone.

After my parents died, everything that was theirs, became mine. Their house, their cars, their money. I had no other living relatives. No grandparents. No aunts or uncles. Just me.

I didn’t have access to the inheritance until I turned eighteen, of course, but in the almost ten years since they passed, I’ve not had the courage to go home. Before we left, I decided I would pull on my big girl pants and go there one last time. I made is as far as the driveway. The moment I saw the overgrown lawn and dark, dingey windows, I climbed back in my car and cried for an hour straight before I pulled my phone out and called my good friend Carter.

We came to an agreement that I would continue to pay the bills in the house with the inheritance my parents left me in exchange for him living there and taking care of the place until I’m ready to sell. It’s a little strange to think that there’s someone living in my childhood home, but I trust Carter, and I know he will look after it in my absence.

One day, I will go back there. I’ll pack up their belongings for the final time and get the closure I’ve longed for since I was fifteenyears old. Just not today.

CHAPTER 3

GRAYSON

TWO MONTHS AGO

My brother is a rat.

That’s the only thought I have in my mind as I pull up to the annual Fourth of July festival being held in the town square.

Once upon a time, I loved coming out to celebrate with the people of my town. I was proud of the effort each and every one of them put into today. I still am. But now it’s just a reminder of the last day I had with my best friend.

Hunter knows this. Yet he all-but begged on his hand and knees for me to be here today. Something about scoring points, he’d said.

So, here I am, on a day I’d rather get black-out drunk in front of the firepit, attending a fucking festival to impress the best friend of my brother’s girl.

I park next to Killian’s truck and climb out just as him and Noah do the same.

“Hey, man. Weren’t sure you’d come,” Noah says, holding a teddy bear wearing a tutu.

I shrug, nodding my head at the stuffed toy in his hands. “What’s with the bear?”

Noah smiles proudly. “It’s for Savannah’s kid. Think she’ll like it?”

I shoot Killian a look that says, ‘is this guy serious?’which has him barking out a laugh. “Sure, Noah. I’m sure she’ll love it.”

Killian leans over and whispers in my ear. “Apparently her best friend’s hot,” he gestures towards the bear in Noah’s hands, and suddenly my little brother’s intentions become crystal clear.

Seems like Hunter isn’t the only one trying to score points.

I was surprised to find out that Savannah – the blonde from the bar – had a daughter, but I was even more surprised that Hunter wasn’t deterred in the slightest by that fact. If anything, it just seemed to make him more determined to win her over.

The three of us make our way into the festival, heading towards the designated meeting point and it’s not long before my brother approaches, Savannah at his side clutching the hand of a miniature version of herself.

It’s the woman on the other side of Savannah’s daughter that has my attention though. Killian had said that she had a hot best friend, but as I take in her long tan legs, midnight black hair and soul-piercing blue eyes, I realise hot is too trivial a word to describe her.

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