Between Now and Heartbreak: The Forever Trilogy Book 2 Read online

  Praise for The Forever Trilogy

  “An electrifying love story filled with heart, heat, and an engaging plot. If you want a page-turning story filled with passion, pick up Carter and Elisabeth’s story! Definite five star read!”-- Jenika Snow, USA Today bestselling author

  “This book has everything, angst galore, intriguing storyline, amazing amazing characters, and all the feels!”- Book Twins Reviews

  “Dylan Allen has written a groundbreaking romance. This story has a purpose, a message and a call for change. Between Now and Forever is only the beginning of an epic saga. But I can already feel this story is going to make a difference.”- PP’s Book Shelf

  “Ms. Allen has swung for the fences with bold and vivid descriptions, heartrending deeply emotional situations that put her characters through the wringer and back again. For lovers of roller coaster romance stories, this is absolutely the one for you.” - Words We Love By

  “Between Now and Forever will pull at every heartstring. It will leave you an emotional mess. It’s a story full of twists and turns with enough angst, pain and heartache that’ll have you clenching your chest.”- Ness Reads

  Between Now and Heartbreak

  The Forever Trilogy Book 2

  Dylan Allen

  Hello, Dreamer.

  Are you on Facebook? If you are, then PLEASE join my private reader group, Dylan’s Day Dreamer. It’s where I spends most of my time online. My Day Dreamers get exclusive giveaways, sneak peaks, glimpses into my every day, and lots of other fun bookish things! It’s fantastic and I my favorite place on the internet.

  Click here to join and make sure you introduce yourself.

  Copyright © 2019 by Dylan Allen

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  The book is dedicated to the girls with stars in their eyes and a fire in their hearts. Don’t wait a second longer to do the thing you love.

  If it requires a leap of faith, I implore you to jump. Because you, my love, were born with wings.

  I can’t wait to see you soar.

  Love,

  Dylan

  “My whole heart

  Will be yours forever

  This is a beautiful start

  To a lifelong love letter”

  from “I Choose You” by Sarah Bareilles

  Contents

  Introduction

  1. HISTORY

  2. LIAR, LIAR

  3. JUST LIKE THAT

  4. FUCKING MS. AMERICA

  5. WHAT GOES UP

  6. STUPID CHOICES

  7. UNDENIABLE

  8. A PROPER GOODBYE

  9. TELL THE TRUTH, SHAME THE DEVIL

  10. AMBUSH

  11. TELL ME WHY

  12. SOUL TO THE UNIVERSE

  13. GARDEN OF DREAMS

  14. ONE MORE TRY

  15. LIVE FREE

  16. CENTER OF A LIE

  17. WHO WE ARE

  18. HAPPY BIRTHDAY

  19. BETWEEN NOW AND HEARTBREAK

  20. FORTUNE

  21. HELLO HEARTBREAK, MY OLD FRIEND

  22. MERCY

  23. KNIFE TO A GUNFIGHT

  24. GOOD VIBES ONLY

  25. CELEBRATE

  26. LIKE FLYING

  27. YOU’LL HAVE TO KILL ME FIRST

  28. DID I DIE?

  29. THE TRUTH

  30. SISTER SOLDIER

  31. EXILE

  32. BLUE

  33. BEST I EVER HAD

  34. ORNAMENT

  35. FUCK THIS OLD HOUSE

  36. JEALOUS

  37. FINISHED

  38. NOT REAL

  39. MOVING ON

  Afterword

  STAY IN TOUCH

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Dylan Allen

  Introduction

  Dear reader,

  Beth and Carter’s path to happily ever after will make you want to throw your kindle at times.

  But hopefully it will also make you clutch it to your chest and hug it.

  It will feel dramatic at moments, but I ask you to remember that there’s nothing in this book that’s not based on a real human experiences. Either my own or that of the people I interviewed and studied while I was writing this story.

  Where these characters start is not where they end up. I hope you fall in love with them the way I did and that at the end of the third book you feel like you never want to let them go.

  If you’re ready for the kind of heartbreak that is the unavoidable wage of epic love, then you will love this story.

  Thank you for taking this journey with me. I promise, in the end, it will be worth it!

  Love,

  D.

  1

  HISTORY

  BETH

  “In my day, when a girl was engaged to be married, she didn’t get dressed up to go out without her man.” My father complains.

  I stiffen, and my perfunctory kiss glances the rise of his cheekbone before I straighten completely.

  “This is not what was promised to me when you came home. We’re six months in and you’re dawdling.”

  “We’re not dawdling.” I say as obligingly as I can.

  His eyes dart to my mouth and I realize I’m biting my lip.

  I stop.

  It’s a new and very irritating habit of mine - when I’m nervous - my lips start to tingle. Since Duke pulled the rug out from underneath me and proposed three months ahead of schedule, the sense of control I had over this situation is starting to slip and jittery nerves are my constant companion.

  “Duke came to see me. He’s ready to move forward and set a date.”

  I struggle to keep my expression neutral. My ears are ringing. We were supposed to discuss this before he went to my father. I’m so sick of these men who think they’re gods. And as much as I want to put it off, the sooner I walk down the aisle, the sooner I’ll be free of them.

  “I see, well then that should get things moving,” I smile with all the excitement I don’t feel.

  Suspicion and warning narrow his eyes and he leans back in his chair, his elegant hands resting on the worn leather arms of his vintage Herman Miller chair.

  I know that my heart’s accelerated beat is muscle memory. But under the weight of his wordless, inscrutable gaze, I have to remind myself that I’m not afraid.

  “I’m leaving for our long tour of our global offices right after your little party next week. We’ll be back in time for the annual shareholder’s gala.”

  “Won’t you be here for James’ one year anniversary?”

  “Anniversary?” He chuckles, but his eyes are mirthless. “You make it sound like a happy occasion. Do you think a stupid service will make me feel better? Nothing will make up for the loss your recklessness brought about.”

  The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. But I don’t say another word. When he’s in this mood, anything I say will bring up back how James is dead because of me.

  “Don’t interrupt me, again.” He doesn’t raise his voice, but he doesn’t need to.

  “It’s where I’ll officially announce my candidacy and Wolfe’s succession plan. Duke, of course, will be standing next to me when I tell everyone that he will be my successor. ”

  “How nice. You must be glad to have that settled. ” My smile is all compliance and deference. My heart though, is raging and rebelling. That a man like Duke will be
the one to step into James’ shoes is a bitter, jagged pill to swallow.

  “We’ll also announce the wedding date that evening. It will give the shareholders the reassurance they need.”

  I’m shocked out of my self-preservationist neutrality by those words.

  “But, that’s in two months. It’s so soon.”

  The panic in my voice sends his eyebrows shooting up and draws his attention away from whatever he’s reading.

  His winter blue eyes pierce me with that intensity that he’s famous for.

  “You do like the way things are now, don’t you?”

  There’s no mistaking the threat in his voice.

  It’s the first time he’s even mentioned my confinement. I have let myself believe that it wasn’t a possibility I needed to worry about.

  He couldn’t send me back to my grandmother’s now without causing a public relations nightmare. And that is the last thing he wants right now. But, I can see right now, that I was wrong.

  If he decided to send me back right now, no one could stop him.

  But, I don’t need his threats to incentivize my behavior.

  I glance to where Fiona’s sitting in a rocking chair she had built near the little bay window. My baby sister Cameron, is asleep in her arms. She was born a few days after I got home and she’s the reason living in this house is bearable. She’s my reason for everything. I’ll swallow a hundred jagged pills if it means she’ll have the choices and support I didn’t.

  “Can I hold her?” I ask Fiona, knowing already what she’s going to say. She’s very protective of Cam. And holds her almost constantly. She doesn’t have a nanny. And she only lets me take care of her when she and my father have to go out.

  “It took me so long to get her to sleep, ” she says with an apologetic smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. In fact, I can tell she’s annoyed I asked.

  Since I’ve been back home, she’s gone back to the distant role she played in my life before everything.

  When I replay our visit at my grandmothers I can see things I missed in the moment. Yes, she set up the scheme that led to me being able to come home. I might still be there if she hadn’t. But, I can see now that her concern was laced with cunning.

  If that day wasn’t so clear in my memories I’d be easily convinced that I’d imagined that. Because now, she’s back to being my father’s docile, obedient wife. There is no hint of the woman who came to ask me to help her undermine his grasp on her daughter.

  I drop a kiss goodnight on her downy little brow and inhale her sweet baby smell.

  Fiona’s not subtle throat clearing is my cue to pull away.

  I make my way back to the kitchen to wait for Dina.

  All of this is my fault. I’ve let my guard down since I came home.

  Duke, until his recently, has been on his best behavior. He made good on all his promises. Besides his insistence that I wear a pink something every day, he hasn’t said a word about my wardrobe.

  He flew in some hairstylist from Los Angeles to make a custom wig for me to wear until my hair is long enough to dye and put extensions in.

  As much as I don’t like being blonde, I have to admit that it’s amazing. Unlike the one I ordered for myself from amazon It actually fits and looks like it’s growing out of my head.

  When he was brought in as acting CEO, he got a huge salary increase and he’s been really generous with it. Especially when it comes to me.

  Nothing but the finest will do.

  And he doesn’t skimp on himself either. Duke looks every bit the young, powerful leader that he plays every day at Wolfe.

  We went on our first public date less than a month after I got home and he took me to a really fancy restaurant in Austin where a very high profile blogger also happened to be having dinner.

  Our picture was in the paper the next morning and suddenly, we were off to the races.

  I had invitations to parties every weekend. I was asked to join the Junior League and two girls who used to call me Scar Face in elementary school, Georgia and Eva, are suddenly my every day #lunchbuddies, my #workoutbuddies, and my #spadaybesties. And all the other hashtags they’ve come up with to chronicle every single second of our time together.

  At first, I didn’t hate it…In fact, it felt nice to not have to be on the defensive all the time. Being treated like I belonged didn’t suck. The feeling started to grow on me.

  Duke, however…has done the exact opposite.

  On my first day in my new position at Wolfe, he sent flowers. Not a huge bouquet, but a little posy that looked handpicked but was too expensively arranged to be. And he’s sent one every day since.

  And while I haven’t cooed and swooned the way my co-workers have when those little bouquets arrive, there have been a few days where I’ve …swayed a little.

  He’s still a greedy, overly confident douche with a shit eating grin and more ambition than sense. But he’s also turned out to be the perfect gentleman and when we’re alone, he hasn’t tried anything that makes me uncomfortable.

  That doesn’t mean he hasn’t made it very clear that he wants things to be more than just transactional. And, I have moments, usually right before my period starts, where I wonder if I shouldn’t just use him to scratch my itch.

  To date, I’ve never done more than wonder.

  Sure, I can get caught up in the attention, the flattery, the access that looking like this has brought me.

  I’m not apologetic about the fact that I like blending into the tableau instead of ruining it.

  But, swayed is not fooled.

  Forgiven is not forgotten.

  Duke didn’t wake up and suddenly realize what a great catch I was and decide to make the most of this arrangement.

  This money means a great deal to Duke. Publicly, everyone thinks he’s golden. The youngest son trying to find his way still. But, that’s because his father is very good at cleaning up his messes.

  For all Duke’s ambition, he doesn’t like hard work. And since there is no such thing as success without it, he’s failed at every endeavor he’s turned his hand to.

  The chairmanship of Wolfe - which is largely a figurehead role that is checked and balanced by an excellent board - is just the place to put him.

  His father needs money, my father has it in spades.

  My father needs political capital, his father is the bank that mints it.

  We’re both just pawns they have found use for.

  But unlike Duke, I’ve got other options. I’m not scared that if I left my family’s money on the table that I’d be destitute.

  I’d wait tables. I’d give art lessons. I’d find a way.

  The only thing keeping me here is baby Cameron and knowing that with the money I’ll inherit, I can make sure that she’s got someone in her life, other than her father, who can help her be more than what he wants for her. Like James tried to be for me.

  Duke sees this money as his only option.

  When he surprised me by proposing months ahead of schedule, I knew it was because he was feeling anxious about the money. He was smart. He did it in front of a group of people at his father’s house and made me saying no impossible.

  Since then, he’s been avoiding being alone with me. He stood me up for dinner last week. He hasn’t returned any of my calls all week, instead sending texts saying he’d call me back. He didn’t. Now I hear he went to my father to talk about wedding dates.

  Months ahead of schedule.

  Just like his proposal was.

  I’ve lost control of the situation. And I’m dreading this party my father is throwing us next week.

  My phone buzzes with a text from my best friend, Dina.

  “I’m here, your cunty housekeeper just let me in.”

  I grin, genuine excitement welling inside of me for the first time in forever. She was here for James’ funeral, but couldn’t stay. Before that, she hasn’t been back to Winsome in years. In high school, she’d been my best friend. We’ve
stayed in touch by email but while I was at my grandmother’s we weren’t in touch at all.

  She’s already in the foyer when I get there. I start toward her, crossing the cavernous space as quickly as I can.

  She looks up from her phone when she hears the clack of my heels on the floor. Her smile is already in place, but it falters when she sees my much altered appearance, confusion clouding her dark eyes for a moment before she shakes it off. Even if I wanted to talk about things with her, which I don’t, this isn’t the time. I haven’t told her anything about what happened last summer. I don’t know how to talk about Carter without telling her the rest of the what happened. How do I explain the six months where I fell off the map? So, she just thinks I was grieving at my grandmothers.

  She was one of the first people I called when I got a new phone. We talk at least once a week, but this is our first time seeing each other since the funeral.

  “Lizzy,” she squeals, her arms opening for a hug.

  “Dina, hi,” I try to make my voice bright and relaxed, but it comes out like a squeak.

  I look over my shoulder, half expecting to see my father standing there. He’s not, but the feeling that something is breathing down my neck spurs me forward.