Eternal Soulmate Read online

  “I have told you time and time again to not talk to me that way bitch.” He threw her to the ground and started to walk to me.

  “Ashlynn you want some of this too? You’re old enough for me to beat your little ass now. Get your ass in the house now before I move you myself.”

  I walked in the house and went back to my room. I heard my mom crying and the yelling continued into the house now.

  “Please just stop this Nick. I can’t keep taking this. You are going to kill me.”

  I heard him either hit or kick her as I heard her gasp for air. I went running into the kitchen and saw he had her by the throat up against the wall. I pulled out the pistol I had found of his when cleaning one day and put it to his temple.

  “Nick I’ve seen you beat my mom for over 12 years now. I AM DONE! You stay the fuck away from me and my mother or I will kill you. TEMPT ME! You’ve destroyed her and I have no issues with killing you and hiding your body. Hell, I’ve even dreamed about it. Better yet I have a friend that would be happy to bury your ass or feed you to his livestock. We’re leaving and you aren’t going to come after us, because if you do, I will make sure you pay for all the beatings. I’ll kill you when you least expect it. Now let her go.”

  “You don’t have the nerve you whimp.”

  “Oh really,” I aimed and shoot to the right, grazing his right ear. He had blood dripping from it and I smiled. I let out a little laugh of satisfaction.

  “Fuck with me or my mom and I WILL KILL YOU!”

  He let go of my mom and threw her to the floor struggling to breathe. I ran to my room and grabbed the only bag I had packed and we left. I know I will have to go back, while he’s at work, to get my mom’s stuff. Shit. Even if I don’t, everything we have was filled with so many bad memories it wouldn’t matter. We’ll just have to get her new stuff. I was finally strong enough to do what my mom never could. We were leaving and never looking back.

  ~Ashlynn~

  Grace and Mc:

  “Hey soul sisters, can you meet today for coffee? I need some girl time and I have some news. I have a bone to pick with you, Miss Gracie.”

  Ash and Mc:

  “Hmmmm this should be fun. See you at our normal spot at 11:00. Looking forward to it.”

  Grace and Ash:

  “Read my mind girls. See ya there.”

  I checked my emails and saw what else I needed to get done today. I had fallen a bit behind, on some things. I worked for a while and then headed out the door. I got to my truck and right before I jumped up to my seat I saw my front tire was flat, I walked to the right front, it was flat too. These are new tires I just got from Grace. Mother fucker! I hadn’t had this truck for long. I drive a 1998 extended cab, forest green truck with tan interior. It’s a gas guzzler but worth every penny. I had always wanted a truck and went and bought it for myself as soon as I could. I loved it and would drive it till it dies.

  They didn’t look like they just went flat? Damn it! There were slash marks in them. What the fuck was going on? Why didn’t I get that truck license plate that I saw?

  I called McKoy to see if she could come get me. This day was going down the shitter quick.

  “McKoy, my tires have been slashed. My front two are beyond repair. Can you come get me from work instead?”

  “Shit Ash something is up. I’m on my way.”

  Chapter 22

  ~Ashlynn~

  So many things ran through my mind. I had always felt safe here. I had never been scared at the shelter.

  Grace met me and McKoy at our normal meeting spot. We meet at Starbucks and got our selected addictions. I looked forward to the times I have with my girls. Damn. Do I have a lot to talk about. We sat at our usual table and talked about our last couple of weeks. We tried to not let our meetings go too far apart, but, we all had jobs and stayed busy. Grace was probably the busiest as she pretty much ran her daddy’s car shop.

  Grace overheard me and McKoy talking about why she brought me and worrying about my tires.

  “What the hell is going on Ash? I just sold you those tires? Did you run over more nails?”

  “No Grace, someone slashed my two front ones, I don’t know what the hell is going on. I have had the strangest bad feelings lately. I at first, just thought it was because I was finally happy. Now, I think that something is really up. Could it be Nick?”

  “It better not be that mother fucker. I’ll kill him. What did Cooper say about it?”

  “Uh, I haven’t told him yet. It just happened this morning. I don’t want to worry him and not to mention, what if I’m wrong?”

  “Who cares if you’re wrong honey, are you forgetting what a crazy ass sicko Nick is? Let’s nip this in the bud now.”

  “Your right Grace, McKoy told me the same thing. I just don’t want to scare off Cooper. I don’t know that I could live without him in my life.”

  “You won’t you foolish girl. Talk to him or I will.” Yep, that is how Grace rolled.

  “I will Grace. I’ll call him the minute we leave here.”

  McKoy changed the subject, Thank God! “Grace are you and Kyle an item again? Beau said he ran into Kyle and he said that you two were back together.”

  Grace laughed. “Who the hell knows? I don’t have time to play his games. He acts like a dumb ass half the time. I honestly am at the point where I don’t care. Daddy has me so busy taking over everything, I don’t have the time to worry about it. He is one man that knows how to please me in bed though.” She raised her eyebrows.

  “Grace that is one thing I love about you. You know what you want and you don’t worry about anything else. I admire that. You are true to yourself.”

  Grace smirked, “Well Ms. Ashlynn, I hear you and Cooper are hot and heavy. Tell me the dets. I can’t wait to hear all about him. From what I hear, you got your hands full. You know I love a man in uniform.”

  “Oh Lord, Grace you crack me up. Yes Cooper is amazing in every single way imaginable. Hey! I actually I have a bone to pick with you Miss Sex I know everything about it.”

  That got Grace’s attention then. Mention sex and she was all eyes and ears.

  “You gave me some false information. Do you remember that night we climbed the moon tower? The one and only time I got drunk, which was your fault by the way.”

  “Hell yes, I remember. Oh McKoy did you miss a good night. I had her so squirrely I could have had her do anything and she would’ve done it. Of course, you would have been like our mama and would have stopped it.”

  “You compared an orgasm to a sneeze!” I was looking at Grace mad now.

  We were all laughing at this point. McKoy spit coffee through her nose which made us laugh harder.

  McKoy looked at Grace with shock. “You told her an orgasm was like a sneeze? Only you Grace, seriously? Of all the curse words you use and you said a sneeze?”

  “That was the closest feeling I could think of at the time. Now, as a woman, I’d say if it was just a sneeze the man wasn’t doing his job, but, back as a teenager, that was about as good as it was. The build up like you were going to sneeze and then a sneeze release. Was I wrong?”

  McKoy giggled. “You are too much for words, you hussy.”

  Grace stated matter of fact, “You can’t really speak from experience Mc. You have only been with one man and think everything with Beau is incredible. Ash, so can I assume you finally hit the Big O with Mr. Cooper? And P.S., some orgasms do feel like sneezes. The bad ones anyways. I can name at least three guys that were sneezes. Congrats are in order!” She put her hand up to high five.

  Ashlynn put her hand up and gave her five. She was grinning from ear to ear.

  “I’d say a sneeze is a ridiculous assessment. I never was honestly even concerned about having an orgasm after you described it to me in that way. I could sneeze three times a day. Why would I need a man for that?”

  Now McKoy and Grace were cracking up. I had always been good at making my girls laugh.

  “So anyway, se
riously Cooper is a man that I’m not letting go. The pleasure he gives me is unbelievable. I have never liked sex and I didn’t get it. I get it now! Holy shit!” I started fanning myself with my hand.

  “I can’t blame you for not being able to find a word to describe it though. I would say better than fireworks, better than any release my body has ever felt.”

  The girls laughed and smiled with pride like they had something to do with it.

  “Grace, do you remember what you said to me on the moon tower?”

  “Of course I do silly girl!” Grace looked at me with loving eyes.

  “Grace, you were so right. I love Cooper more than life itself and me not experiencing really making love until him, makes perfect sense. He is the real thing.”

  I decided to get this conversation on to someone else but me.

  “So McKoy, anything new with Beau?”

  McKoy shared very little information about her and Beau. She said she was waiting to see if he was going to show how much he really loved her. She wasn’t sharing anymore information but over the years I have learned to respect this. If she was not talking, then there was a reason. She was thinking it all over and processing. She is an over-thinker. She’s the one of us three that is the most level thinker. She doesn’t react on feelings initially. She had to learn to take time to think it over and separate herself. Me and Gracie were more hot heads. She went with the sexual part, I with the emotional part. It was just how we operated. We wore these hats and knew each other all well enough to know what we could push on and what we couldn’t. This was one thing we wouldn’t push on with Mc. Beau was off limits.

  After a good two hours of yapping, we all hugged each other and left. We were going to all meet at Copeland Dance Hall soon and hang out with our men. Maybe by then things would be better with McKoy.

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  ~Ashlynn~

  I walked Max twice a day, sometimes more if it was pretty outside. He always had so much energy. I walked my normal route and I kept seeing Max turn around like he was seeing something or hearing something. I turned around each time and saw nothing. I was getting the same feeling Max was getting now. Something was spooking him and I felt the shivers up my spine. He likes me to throw his ball and let him chase it a few times, but, these last couple evenings, I have been throwing it and he wouldn’t leave my side. I had to walk to get the ball with him. We did this three times and I finally gave up. We went in; I lock up and settled in for an early night. I turned on my favorite show and got settled on the couch with my laptop. I saw a light from a truck driving by but, it really didn’t peak my interest. I wasn’t expecting anyone. I heard a car door and looked out the window. I saw a man in a truck in my driveway, but he was too far for me to make out his face. He was wearing a hat and glasses. He got out of his truck, just by his door, and then got back in and started to back up the truck. Who would be looking at my house? What the Hell? Unless he had found me? No, this couldn’t be happening now. I started to panic and couldn’t breathe. Deep breath, deep breath, deep breath. Max was barking like crazy beside me now. He was growling and pacing the floor right by the door. Please don’t let this happen now.

  I picked up the phone and called Cooper. I didn’t know if he was still at work but this couldn’t wait any longer. He picked up after only two rings.

  “Hey baby, whatcha doing?”

  “Cooper I need to talk, do you have a minute?”

  “Yes sure. It’s so good to hear your voice.”

  “I think I’m being followed. I have seen the same truck three different times, and then today, when I was leaving to meet the girls for coffee, my tires were slashed. I had to ask McKoy to come get me. I wasn’t sure that I was being followed but then I started putting the pieces together. Why would I see the same truck several times? I’m just getting the feeling something is not right. Max has been growling and pacing all night.”

  “Ash, how long has this been going on?”

  “A couple weeks. Tonight I had a truck pull in my driveway; he got out of his truck then left. All the times I’ve seen him, I can’t see really anything but a silhouette.”

  “Shit Ashlynn, why would you let this go for that long? This really worries me. I don’t like knowing that someone is watching you. Don’t ever wait and second guess something like this in the future baby. Always tell me so I can help protect you.”

  “I honestly, Cooper, thought it was just coincidence until today. Cooper, what if it’s him? What if it is Nick?”

  “Well I will overreact anytime your safety is at danger. I want to keep you safe baby. I love you. Sweetheart do you know what Nick’s last name is?”

  “I love you too Cooper. I’ll let you go; I know you’re at work.”

  “And Coop, his last name is Adams. Nick Adams.”

  Cooper paused for a minute. “Okay sweetheart. Hey I wanted to call you earlier to ask you if you wanted to go on a hike with me Saturday. I think it would do us some good to get out into some fresh air. Are you up for it?”

  “YES! I love hiking. You have a place in mind?”

  “Hamilton Pool, been there?”

  “No, but I have always wanted to. Great! That sounds like a lot of fun.”

  “Okay Ash, I’ll come get you in the morning. How about 10:00?”

  “Yep, sounds great.”

  “Baby, make sure your doors are locked and don’t leave tonight. Call me anytime you get scared and worried.”

  “I will Cooper, see you in the morning.”

  I hung up the phone and walked to all my doors to make sure they were all locked. I’m pretty sure it is Nick following me. I wonder how many times he had been watching me and I didn’t know it. I had seen that exact truck three times now? Had he been looking in my windows at night? Had he been following me? I know what he wanted from me and that was to see me dead. He wanted to make me suffer for taking my mom from him and threatening him the way I did. I stood up to him and that doesn’t happen, no one stands up to Nick Adams. I would do it all over again with no regrets. I would have when I was 15 if I could have. I was much stronger that my mom ever was.

  Chapter 23

  ~Cooper~

  Ashlynn just told me the name of her stepdad and I am now on a mission. I am going to do as much research on this prick as possible. I ran Nick Adams in the database and as soon as his face popped up, I knew exactly who he was. I knew the name Nick, but, it didn’t click until I entered it. I didn’t think we had ever been able to confirm a “real” last name. He had always lied about it. Just looking at his picture reminded me of all his victims. Beau had to stop me from getting in a fight with him the one time we arrived at his house and he was there. I would have killed him and lost my job for it in the process. I couldn’t believe this man was the one that abused Ashlynn’s mom all those years. The same man that I want to see put away for good.

  I entered his name to look up his history of arrests he has had and women he had issues with. I saw that he was arrested in Austin 14 years ago for a domestic violence dispute. He was taken in when a neighbor had seen him pulling the woman out by her hair of the house. The victim’s name was Liz Adams. Mother fucker. Liz had to be Ashlynn’s mom. Shit. I saw he had only arrested two times in the whole time they were married.

  The second charge was for another disturbance all in public. He had punched her in the eye at a gas station because she went in and got him the wrong cigarettes. He broke her eye socket. Cops were able to haul his ass in on that one since it was at a public place.

  Both occurrences, Liz, went back and dropped the charges so it never held up.

  From what Ashlynn had told me the beatings were at least a couple times a week. He never hid beating her either. Everyone knew about it and no one was brave enough to face him though, even family. For all, I knew maybe he had threatened the family. They all had their own families and this bastard was crazy enough to do that. Maybe her mom just didn’t know how to leave, or maybe she thought it was going to change. Either w
ay, poor Ashlynn lived it. I was between a rock and hard place. Did I tell her I knew of these instances and the other women he had beaten before and since then? I had been a responder to calls of victims of Nick Adams. I had sent his victims to the shelter. What scared me the most was that he was still out there doing this to women. How could I keep Ashlynn safe? I would not lose her or see her in any pain inflicted by such a low life. I had come face to face with this fucker before and he showed no remorse.

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  ~Nick~

  I‘d been following the ignorant bitch for days now. Tonight was close. I pulled up to her house and got out and went against every instinct I had. Her neighbor was out on her porch so I left. Better safe than sorry. I’d have to come back more prepared. I saw her spot me in my truck a couple of times, but, she didn’t recognize me. I have let my hair grow out and it was gray now. I had been growing a beard for years. I was about 20 pounds heavier. Most of the shit heads I partied with were now dead or in prison. I pretty much stuck to whatever woman I was banging and beating along with the few friends I had. The cops had tried to track me down, but, I had a buddy at the station. He would me a heads up if they were heading my way and I would scram. Only one time, did I not get away before the cops arrived. I couldn’t wait to see her shocked face when she finally realizes it is me. Ashlynn actually thought the restraining order was what kept me away or that I feared her. The only reason I hadn’t come after her before was because, I had too much fun with other women and it wasn’t on my list of priorities. I had decided I was going to let her be, as long as she stayed out of my way. She sure as hell wasn’t worth going to prison. It turned out since she was dating a pig, it might be time to take care of her. Mother fucker! I regretted not doing this before instead of waiting to deal with it now. I was getting a little sloppy with my woman I’m dating right now. She was becoming weaker every day. If my neighbors would just mind their own business, it would make my life a hell of a lot easier.

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