Key To My Heart: Stay

Key To My Heart: Stay

Misty Reigenborn

Copyright 2014

By Misty Reigenborn

Smashwords Edition

Cover Image courtesy of photostock
freedigitalphotos.net

Chapter 1

Twenty-seven year old Acasia Brown was
falling in love. And she didn’t like it one bit. Acasia was the
oldest of the Brown sisters and had moved back home after a
disastrous attempt at a relationship with a man she had thought she
would spend the rest of her life with. But he had cheated, and that
was one of the many things Acasia had told herself she would never
put up with from a man.

So when she had found out that Colton
had been talking to women online and meeting them for sex while he
was calling her the love of his life and talking about marriage and
babies, she had packed up her things and been gone the next day
without bothering to say a word to him. She had left a note on his
nightstand that simply said “I know the truth.” Then she had left
town without bothering to look back.

Colton’s betrayal had hurt. She had
loved him fiercely and fallen for him way too hard and fast. She
had always had a bad habit of doing that, putting her everything
into a man. First with her high school boyfriend, the heartbreaker
Gavin who was the oldest of the three Black brothers, who had left
a trail of broken hearts as long as the small town they had grown
up in; and then with Colton whom she had met in college.

Gavin was no longer living in Clinton.
Jayden, the middle brother was married to Acasia’s younger sister
Nakeisha. They had been together since Junior High, and it had
always seemed as if nothing existed in the world that could tear
the two of them apart. Acasia had always been a little jealous of
her sister’s relationship with Jay, but she knew that her sister
deserved to be happy. The youngest Brown sister Demi had recently
left town to meet the big, wide world. At twenty-four Acasia
figured that it was high time that her sheltered sister set out on
her own for a while at least, but she missed her dearly. It also
seemed a little pathetic to Acasia that she was the oldest and the
only one living at home.

Acasia sighed as she got
ready for work at the local diner. She was sure that Garett, the
youngest of the Black brothers and the unknowing object of her
affection
;
would be
in to have dinner that evening, since he had come in every evening
for dinner since she had started at the diner.

It wasn’t that she didn’t
want to see him. Garett
was kind and funny
and damned handsome, and she had always looked forward to seeing
him before, even when they were growing up and he was a somewhat
annoying kid. Acasia didn’t want to fall in love with anyone at the
moment, let alone the little brother of the man she had lost her
virginity to and had been involved in a relationship with her last
two years of high school.

She was sure that Nikki
would probably think it was hilarious that she had fallen for
Ga
rett
, who had
trailed after Demi like a lost puppy their Freshman and Sophomore
years in high school. Demi had never had any interest in
Ga
rett
though, and
he had finally given up on a relationship with her, though they had
remained friends.

Acasia felt a little
pathetic all around. She was sure that her irritation level had
something to do with her decision to quit smoking, though that had
come at the insistence of her mother, who refused to even let her
smoke outside the house. She really wanted a cigarette at the
moment, and she was dreading seeing Ga
rett
. She was sure that the way she
felt about him was going to be written all over her
face.

She didn’t want to be one
step away from falling in love with Ga
rett
Black. She didn’t want to be
living at home with her mother. Though she loved her mother,
Heather Brown still acted like too much of a mother for Acasia’s
tastes. She felt like a loser to be living at home, falling in love
with a boy from down the block, and in debt with student loans
while her college degree went to waste.

She ran a brush through her hair one
more time, trying unsuccessfully to tame her wild curls. She had
always envied her sisters their straight hair. Her sisters had also
both been lucky enough to be built more like their mother than
their father. Nikki and Demi were both 5’4 and slim, while Acasia
was 5’8 and built more solidly like their father. She wasn’t fat
and had never been fat, but she had to work a lot harder at keeping
her figure than her sisters ever had and probably ever
would.

Acasia met her blue eyes in
the mirror, and shook her head at herself. No way am I going to let
myself fall for
Garett
Black she told herself. But the eyes that stared back at her
told her that she had already fallen for him. She couldn’t stop
thinking about him, and she thought that if she would have had the
money to leave town she probably would have.

She let out another sigh as she grabbed
her apron. She didn’t mind waitressing, but she had gone to school
for business administration and was used to making a lot more money
than she was making now. She hadn’t been working for the last six
months that she had been with Colton though, and they had lived
what he had called comfortably, though when she looked back on it,
it seemed more to be spending almost everything that they made on
things that they didn’t need.

“
I will not fall in love
with
Garett
Black,”
she said out loud.

“
What did you say
Cas?”

Her mother’s voice came from the open
doorway of her bedroom. She felt a blush rise to her cheeks,
thinking that she really must be distracted if she hadn’t heard her
mother come down the stairs.

“
Nothing Mom.” She gave her
mother a weak smile. “Just talking to myself again.”

“
Are you okay
honey?”

There was a look of concern on her
mother’s face.

She put what she hoped looked like a
more genuine smile on her face. “I’m fine Mom.”

“
I know that it hasn’t been
easy for you Cas. Coming back here, being stuck at home with Mom,
especially after Demi left. But it’s gonna get better baby. I
promise.”

Heather
gave her a reassuring smile.

"Thanks Mom. Bernice made fresh pies
today. Do you want me to bring you home a slice of banana
cream?"

"No thank you sweetheart. Have you
heard from Demi?"

Acasia hid a smile. "I think she's been
pretty busy with her job."

"I suppose. I think I have empty nest
syndrome. I'm sorry Cas."

"Your nest isn't empty right
now Mom, but I'll be out of your hair soon enough."

"You stay as long as you
need to. Have you put any thought into going back to
school?"

This was a conversation they had had
before.

"I'm still thinking Mom. Leaving my
options open. I have to get to work."

"Right. Tell Garett I said
'hello'."

Her mother winked at her.

"I will. See you later Mom."

"Have a good night honey."

She wondered why her mother
had winked when she'd mentioned Garett, but tried to put it out of
her mind as she headed out the door. It was hard enough as it was
to try not to think about Garett.

She turned the radio on loud
as she drove the short distance to the diner, but even it seemed to
betray her. All of the songs seemed to be about love, the betrayal
of love, or sex.

The diner was dead, though
the daytime waitress that worked most often before her had a bad
habit of not refilling the condiments so she set about finding busy
work for herself until the usual dinner rush arrived.

Garett arrived right on
time, and headed to his usual table. He gave her a wide grin when
she approached him. She could smell his cologne and it smelled so
good on him that she wanted to lean over and breathe in his scent.
A blush rose to her cheeks and she hoped that he didn’t notice as
she set his usual glasses of ice water and decaf coffee in front of
him.

“
What can I get for you
tonight Garett?”

He gave her a flirtatious grin. “Have I
told you how beautiful you are Acasia?”

She rolled her eyes at him. “I don’t
think you have yet this week Gar.”

He flirted with her quite
often, and she supposed that may have added to her attraction to
him. But he had been clumsily flirting with her since he was
fourteen years old, even when she was going out with Gavin and he
was chasing Demi. He was certainly better at it now, but the fact
that it was old hat between them made it even harder for her to
figure out how he really felt about her. Then again, she wasn’t
quite sure how she really wanted him to feel about her anyway. Even
with as much as she wanted him, there were so damned many reasons
that she knew she shouldn’t.

“
Well, I’ll tell you now
then. You’re beautiful Acasia Brown.”

She shook her head at him. “So
beautiful in a mustard yellow waitress outfit that makes me feel
twice my age and fits me about as well as. . . Well, whatever. This
thing is hideous.”

Garett chuckled. “And you’re still
beautiful. How’s Demi?”

“
I don’t know. I’m guessing
she’s busy. I’m sure she’s fine. Mom forgets that she’s not a baby
anymore. It was time for her to broaden her horizons. Everyone
should get out of this town at least for a little while.” She
remembered then that he had chosen to stay in their hometown, the
only one of the six of them that hadn’t chosen to move on.
“Sorry.”

“
Hey, I did leave town to go
to school remember?” He shrugged. “I’ve always loved this town. I
never really found any reason to leave. How long do you think it
will be before Demi ends up back here?”

“
Hey yourself, that sounded
almost like an insult to my baby sister, the same girl that you
chased for two years in high school.”

“
I mean no offense Cas. I
just always thought that Demi felt the same way about this town
that I did. Is it wrong to love this place? It’s not such a bad
town is it?”

“
I suppose not, but I always
wanted more you know? This town doesn’t really have a lot to
offer.”

“
It has me.”

Acasia snorted. “You seem to
have taken on Gavin’s ego since you grew up. How is he
anyway?”

“
The same I suppose. He’s
not really the best at keeping in touch. Everyone seems to think
that he ran away from something, and I’ve kind of had that feeling
myself for a while now too, but he won’t tell anyone what it is.
I’ll bet it’s a woman.” He raised an eyebrow at her.

“
Uh uh. Gavin broke up with
me remember? If there’s some mysterious woman that Gavin ran away
from, it’s not me.”

“
Demi always had a thing for
him didn’t she?”

“
Leave my sister out of
this. Even if Demi did have a crush on Gavin, the last thing that
she needs is your brother walking in and screwing up her life. Demi
is sensitive and I don’t think she could stand it if a player like
your brother got to her.”

“
You’re the one that dated
him for two years. Gavin really isn’t a bad guy. Dad thinks that he
was born too handsome for his own good. It was always way too easy
for him to get girls.”

“
Like it wasn’t easy for you
and Jay to get girls too.”

“
Well, Jay never really
wanted any girl besides Nikki, and you might remember my failed
attempts to catch both Demi’s eye and yours.”

“
Give me a break Garett. I
don’t know why you bothered to chase after Demi for so long. I knew
she liked Gavin and it scared the shit out of me. She’s always
seemed so vulnerable. I knew that if he decided to make a move on
her that she’d fall right at his feet and that he’d break her heart
like he broke mine, except it would have been worse, because she’s
not as strong as me. And as for you flirting with me, well Garett,
we both know that there was never any chance for us back
then.”