Shadowed Strength: Shadowed Series Book One Read online

  Shadowed

  Strength

  Shadowed Series Book One

  by

  Wendi L. Wilson

  Copyright ©2015 by Wendi L. Wilson

  Kindle Edition

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, or distributed, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without express permission of the author, except by a reviewer who my quote brief passages for review purposes.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Cover Design: SelfPubBookCovers.com/FrinaArt

  For my husband, who never stopped believing in me and supporting me through this multi-year process. I love you.

  Prologue

  She would look back at this moment later and curse herself for not running. Why did she just stand there, looking at him with her mouth hanging open? Her heart was pounding. Her palms were slick with sweat. Maybe she was paralyzed.

  Maybe it was true, what they say about fear freezing your body and your mind, so you can't move, or speak, or even think. She stood there on that darkened street, looking at him, dressed in black from head to toe. The only part of him left uncovered was his eyes, glowing faintly through the holes in the black ski mask he wore. She almost giggled at the cliché… almost. But she couldn't even do that. She was, quite literally, frozen in fear.

  She should have run. She should not have taken that shortcut. The long way was well-lit by unbroken streetlights. She shouldn’t have decided to walk home by herself. She shouldn't have been here at all! She hadn't even wanted to go to that damn party. She knew she'd regret it. But not like this. She never imagined this would ever have happened to her. Not in a million years.

  Chapter 1

  "You are beautiful. You are a beautiful girl. A gorgeous woman."

  As she stared into the mirror, quoting those familiar lines, Melanie willed herself to believe them. This was her own feeble attempt at self-administered therapy. She had heard somewhere that you should see yourself as you want others to see you. A fat lot of good it was doing, though. No matter how many times she said it, Melanie still saw herself the same way everyone else saw her: plain and fat.

  She stared at her reflection, trying to find and focus on her best features. She had long, wavy brown hair. Brown. Not auburn or chestnut. No natural highlights or lowlights. Brown. And it was a tangled mess that frizzed and looked horrible, especially in the morning.

  Gazing into her own eyes, she noted that they, at least, were interesting. They were not quite green, not quite blue, but a subtle mixture of the two. They seemed to change color with her moods. They were also big, dominating her face. As far as Melanie was concerned, they were her only redeeming feature.

  Of course, there was a downside. Every emotion she felt was reflected in them, so she couldn't hide anything from anyone. She couldn't conceal pain or anger or resentment. There was no hiding behind a cool facade like the other kids her age. She could never lie to someone’s face. Sometimes her eyes were the bane of her existence.

  Her eyes moved down to the rest of her body and her face filled with disgust. There was no nice way to put it. She was shaped like a pear. Oh, her mom tried to convince her that it was only baby fat and that she would outgrow it and slim down, but she knew the truth. She would never be able to shop at the skinny-girl stores. Her hips and rear were round and full, and her waste was only slightly thinner. And to make matters worse, her boobs refused to grow.

  She wrinkled her nose in distaste and focused on her face again. "You are a beautiful girl. You are a-"

  "Melanie, Tara is here!"

  Her mom's voice interrupted her mantra. She quickly finished off her make-up by smearing on some pink lip gloss and rubbing her lips together. She tried for a sexy pout, which, to her, looked like a painful grimace, so she stuck out her tongue instead and flipped off the light. "Here we go," she whispered to herself as she jogged down the stairs.

  "Bye Mom. Love you," she hollered as she ran through the den toward the front door.

  "Be home by midnight!" her mom yelled back from the kitchen. Her curfew was midnight on the weekends, and she dared not be late, or there would be hell to pay. "Be careful! I love you, too!"

  Melanie shut the door, locked it, and turned toward the driveway. Tara sat there in her brand new, cherry red convertible Mustang. The radio was blaring and Tara was singing along at the top of her lungs. Melanie couldn't help but laugh at her best friend. They were so alike, it was scary sometimes.

  Their similarities were in personality only, though. In looks, they could not have been more different. Tara’s board-straight blond hair never frizzed or looked out of place. The shoulder-length gold strands had so many natural highlights and lowlights that they actually sparkled in the sun. She had big, chocolate brown eyes with long, dark lashes. Add to that a dainty nose, lush lips and perfectly straight white teeth (thanks to three years of braces), and she was just plain beautiful.

  But her body was what Melanie really envied. It was perfect. She had big boobs, a tiny waist and a great butt. Everything Melanie lacked. Melanie knew she didn't even come close to Tara's beauty. It seemed the boys thought so, too. Whenever they were out together, the guys seemed to be magnetically drawn to Tara.

  Melanie was just a buddy. Someone the boys could hang out with, joke with, feel comfortable with. Her mom kept telling her that if she didn't stop being a buddy, she'd never be a girlfriend. Melanie couldn’t help it though. It was just the way she was wired. She compensated for her lack of good looks with her sense of humor and friendliness.

  Tara turned down the radio and yelled out the window, "Hurry up, let's go!"

  "I still can't believe your parents bought you this car," she said as she opened the passenger door and slid in.

  "I know,” Tara replied. "They said it was because they were so proud of me for getting straight A's last semester, but I'm not stupid. Who gets a car, much less a fully loaded Mustang for Christ’s sake, for a good report card? It's because of the divorce."

  "Yeah, but don't you think this is a bit much?" Melanie asked.

  "Of course it is," Tara replied, with a mischievous grin on her face. "But you won't hear me complaining or trying to give it back. This car is awesome!"

  Tara put down the top and they both squealed in delight as she peeled out of the driveway. The spring air was still cool without the humidity they’d be forced to endure when summer hit. With the engine roaring, the radio blasting, and the wind whipping their hair, they were free.

  They drove to the mall and parked in the back lot. That's where all the teens parked and hung out on weekend nights, until long after the mall itself closed for the day. It was pretty much deserted now, being that it was only 4 p.m. They got out of the car and headed inside. Time for some window shopping, people watching, and gossip.

  "So," Tara began after they had stopped for a slushy at the food court.

  "So?"

  "When are you going to do something about it?"

  "Do something about what?" Melanie turned her head away and grimaced. She knew this was going to come up sooner or later. It always did.

  "Don't play dumb with me Melanie Johnson! You know exactly what, or better yet, who, I am talking about!"

  Melanie groaned audibly. She stared into a store window at scantily clad mannequins, hoping Tara would get the hint. Tara always managed to steer the conversation back to this, and Melanie always
dreaded it.

  Jeremy Stevens. A sweet, funny, absolutely gorgeous guy she'd been crushing on for over a year. Unfortunately, the day they met, Melanie had decided to be herself. Jeremy immediately and most definitely put her firmly in the friend zone. Tara was convinced that if Melanie bared her soul, told him everything she felt, he would sweep her up into his arms and kiss her senseless. Melanie was more realistic.

  "I am going to do what I've always done; adore him from afar." They started walking aimlessly again.

  "Mel, if you don't at least try, you'll never know what might happen."

  "He could laugh in my face," Mel whispered.

  "He would never do that, Mel."

  "I can't take the chance, Tara."

  Tara stopped walking. "Listen, I know you're afraid he'll reject you, but Jeremy would never be that cruel. You know him. You know he wouldn't."

  "I've been wrong before," Melanie said miserably.

  Tara gave her a sympathetic smile. In eighth grade, Melanie had a crush on Jason Dawkins. He was hot with a capital H. He was also popular, rich, and captain of the middle school football team. Melanie decided to face her fear of rejection head on, tell him how she felt and let the cards fall where they may.

  Too scared to actually talk to him, she wrote him a letter. She told him she liked him, and asked him if he wanted to meet up at the mall or the movies one weekend. She got a bathroom pass during first period and snuck down the hall to his locker. Holding her breath and crossing her fingers, she slipped it through the slats in his locker door.

  The rest of the morning, she felt like a ticking time bomb. She checked her locker repeatedly for a return note, but never found one. When the lunch bell rang, she entered the cafeteria to find a mob of people crowded around Jason's usual table. As she walked closer, she heard the peals of laughter. Her face blanched as she realized the words she heard him reading aloud were her own.

  He had made of her a laughingstock. She ran out, but not before she locked eyes with him and saw no regret. Since then she bottled up her feelings and trusted no one. No one except Tara.

  Tara had tried repeatedly to convince her that Jeremy would never do anything like that. Jason was a jerk. Jeremy was not. They knew him well enough now to know that. But Melanie was not willing to take the chance. It was too much of a risk. Even if he was sweet and sensitive, and let her down easy, their friendship would suffer. That was something she wasn't willing to lose. He meant too much to her.

  "Well," Tara said with an evil glint in her eye, "I think you should walk right up to him, throw your arms around his neck and kiss the daylights out of him. That way, he couldn't laugh even if he wanted to!"

  Melanie tried to give her a stern look, but her lips twitched. Tara waggled her eyebrows at her and Melanie burst into laughter.

  "Oh," Melanie said, wiping the tears from her eyes, "that would be something, wouldn't it? He would never expect that!"

  "He might just sweep you off your feet and carry you into the sunset."

  "Yeah, and break his back in the process, or just drop me right on my ass!"

  "Mel, stop it! You are not fat!"

  Melanie sighed. "Can we just change the subject please?"

  "Yeah. Okay. Then let's talk about Karen Watson's party tonight."

  "Ugh. I think I'm gonna be sick. Maybe you should just take me home."

  "What?!? We've been looking forward to this for weeks! What are you talking about, you're gonna be sick?"

  "Correction," Melanie replied, "you've been looking forward to this weeks. I've been dreading it for weeks."

  Tara's pink mouth formed a pout. "But you said you wanted to go," she said dejectedly.

  Melanie threw her arm around Tara's shoulder. "Only because you really, really wanted to go. Now that Chris finally asked you out, he's your date, not me."

  "I thought we'd all go together," Tara whined.

  "Oh, yeah. Right. So I can be a third wheel? No thanks."

  "Melanie Johnson, you have never been nor will ever be a third wheel! You come first, and if you're not going, then neither am I!"

  "Don't be ridiculous. You've been waiting for Chris to ask you out for months, since the day he transferred here. You can't stand him up now." She took a deep breath and sighed heavily. "Okay, fine. I'll go. But I am not going to like it."

  Tara hopped up and down while clapping like a three year old. She threw her arms around Melanie and hugged her tight.

  "I promise you won't regret it. You know he’s Jeremy’s cousin, right?” Melanie nodded. “So, we will have an ‘in’ to get you and Jeremy together at the party. Who knows what might happen?”

  "Hello, ladies."

  They both jumped in surprise and turned around. It was their English teacher Mr. Hughes. They both tried to stifle giggles and said hi. Melanie blushed and looked at her toes while Tara stared unabashedly at his face.

  Mr. Hughes was the newest teacher at their school and the youngest. At twenty four, he seemed barely older than them and was a total hottie, as Tara would say. Melanie whole-heartedly agreed. His golden blonde hair fell in waves to just below his collar. His eyes were ice blue, and crinkled around the corners when he smiled. He had an athletic build, and rumor had it he was a swim team champ in college.

  "You girls be careful tonight,” he said as he turned to go. "See you in class."

  "Bye Mr. Hughes," they said in unison. They both mock swooned as he turned the corner and meandered out of sight.

  Chapter 2

  As Melanie sat in her chair in the corner, she watched everyone dancing and drinking and tried to keep a fake smile plastered on her lips. It was bad enough that she was totally miserable; she didn't need to let the whole room know how pathetic she was. It was a good party.

  Of course, Karen always threw good parties. Her parents travelled a lot and always left her cash for "necessities." Only the household staff was left to keep an eye on her, and she had them wrapped around her little, gold-plated finger. Despite being wealthy and popular, she was really nice and always invited everyone to her parties.

  In the huge ballroom- Melanie still couldn't believe this house actually had a ballroom! -the music system was blaring the latest pop song. People were swaying and sweating and bumping to the beat. There was a huge buffet table set up on the right hand wall, filled with chips and pretzels, mini sub sandwiches, and sodas of every variety.

  There was also a punchbowl filled with pink lemonade that Melanie had helped herself to earlier. She had taken one sip and spewed it all over the beige and white Persian carpet. Someone had spiked it with vodka. She shivered at the memory. She hated vodka. Gross.

  Tara and Chris were having a great time. Melanie had seen them sneak out the French doors at the back of the room about twenty minutes earlier, obviously looking for a private place to make out. Tara would never go up to one of the many empty bedrooms with him. They had just started dating and she wasn't ready to take that step yet, but she never turned down a good make out session. That girl loved to kiss, and Chris didn’t disappoint.

  Chris was quite the catch. His parents were travelling abroad and had actually rented him his own apartment their hometown of Amblin, Georgia. At eighteen, he was obviously able to take care of himself without any adult supervision. His mom was Jeremy’s mom’s sister, and they lived in up-state New York before he moved here.

  Tonight, he looked scrumptious, in black jeans and a black t-shirt. His black, inky hair was wavy and fell in slight curls around his ears and neck. Melanie was sure every girl at Baldwin High had at least a slight crush on him, including herself. He had bright brown eyes and dimples so pronounced that you could see them even when he wasn't smiling, which wasn't often. He was happy-go-lucky, always laughing, a real charmer.

  And he had picked Tara! Melanie was truly happy for her best friend and would only admit to herself that she was a bit jealous. Not jealous that Tara had Chris, in particular, but that she had a boyfriend. Someone she liked, that liked her back.
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  From her seat in the corner, Melanie had a clear view of the front door through the archway that led into the foyer. She could see everyone that came in or went out. Every time that door opened, she perked up and held her breath, only to slump again and sigh when it wasn't Jeremy who walked through. He still hadn't shown.

  "What are you doing sitting over her by yourself?"

  Melanie's rear came about two inches off her seat. Tara had snuck up and startled her, no doubt on purpose, when she was intently focused on yet another group of new party-goers showing up that did not include Jeremy.

  "Oh my God, Tara! You have a humongous hickey on your neck!"

  "What?! Where?” she exclaimed while trying to cover her entire neck with her hands.

  Melanie laughed. "Gotcha!"

  "Why, you little-"

  "Hey now," Melanie cut her off, "don’t forget I'm your bestest best friend."

  Tara smiled at her. "Well, at least you haven't lost your sense of humor sitting over here by yourself."

  "Yeah, well, that's all I've got going...for...me..."

  Her words trailed off as the front door opened again, and Jeremy walked through. If this was a movie, a romantic power ballad would've been playing and he'd be walking in slow motion with wind blowing his hair. Melanie straightened her spine as her face lit up.

  God, he is beautiful, she thought.

  His dark brown hair had this gorgeous curl that flopped onto his forehead that Melanie always wanted to smooth back. His eyes were dark too, almost black, like dark chocolate. Paired with dark eyebrows, a straight nose, lush lips, and a square jaw, he was perfect in Melanie’s eyes.

  Her mouth started watering. Her eyes moved down to his body. It was toned and muscular. This was a mystery to Melanie, because he didn't play any sports or take any weight lifting classes.

  Maybe he works out at home.

  Her eyes seemed to glaze as she stood up and started to wave him over. They were friends, after all. That wouldn't be too weird. Her hand stopped half way up, then fell back to her side. Her face fell, and she slumped back down into her seat.