Awakened

Awakened

Smashwords Edition

* * * *

Awakened

Copyright © 2012 by C. N.
Watkins

Cover image © Jose AS Reyes

Licensed by
shutterstock.com

Cover design by Sarah Hansen
of
okaycreations.net

ISBN-13:

Without limiting the rights under
copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written
permission of the above author of this book.

This is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the
product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The
author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of
various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have
been used without permission. The publication/use of these
trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the
trademark owners.

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N. Watkins at
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.

Smashwords Edition License Notes

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This book is dedicated to my
knight in shining armor.

Thank you for always having
faith in me and putting up with me during this long
process.

You are my everything, I
love you forever.

“
Whatever our souls are
made of, his and mine are the same
.”

-Emily Bronte

Chapter One

He was looking right through me like
he had my whole childhood. I looked around; how was I in this spot
again? Wasn't I supposed to be far, far away? Nobody knew where I
was...who I was. He was yelling at me with a fire in his eyes that
was always there. Nothing could put it out.

"Dad, what’s going on?"

He stopped yelling and walked over to
the table that sat by the couch. The all too familiar couch that I
had hid behind several times as I cried and begged for him to leave
my mother alone. He picked up the glass with whisky in it and took
a big swig.

My dad was in his 40's and a drunk.
When my dad was sober, he was the best father, but when he was
drunk, which was 95% of my childhood, he was intimidating and
ruthless.

He looked at me and it felt like he
was glaring into my soul.

“
Jenny, I told you to come
over here and let me help you with your homework. I asked you very
nicely to sit on Daddy's lap and let me help you. You know how well
I handle the word no, girl, why push me?" He paused, looking down
at his hands than back at me. "Come here, let Daddy see
you.”

I hated when he called me
Jenny,
My name is Jennifer!
I got up and walked to him, but I didn't want to
go. I couldn't turn around; it was as if my body was calling the
shots, not my brain.

"Daddy...please, don’t!" As the words
fell out of my mouth, I braced myself for the lashings. I saw his
hand take his belt out of his jeans but I couldn't move. What was
wrong with me? Why couldn’t I leave? I saw him bring the belt into
the air and...

I jolted awake.
Oh thank you Lord!
It was
only a dream. I was still safe!

I looked over to my alarm clock,
5:45am. I was going to have to get up soon to get ready for
school.

“
Jennifer, it’s time to get
up! We need to get ready! I need to get to the campus at least an
hour early so I can find my classes. Get up, or I will come up
stairs and drag you out of bed!”

Kennedy was my best friend
and knew me better than anyone. I never allowed myself to get close
enough to let people get to know the real me. But Kennedy had been
there with me through it all. We had been best friends since
3
^rd
grade and her parents were practically my parents. I was
always with her mainly to stay away from my house and my screwed up
family. Kennedy and her parents gave me the love and security I
thought I deserved. When I left Las Vegas to start a new life in
Oklahoma she moved with me. I don’t know what made me choose
Oklahoma, but I know that my father would never come looking for me
here. He had previously lived in Oklahoma while trying to get his
life straight, but after one year, he decided it was much easier
staying down his current path living in Las Vegas with my mom than
clean himself up. After everything I realized she was the only
family I had left.

“
I still have 15 minutes!
Stop freaking out!” I knew that within two minutes she’d be
stomping upstairs and into in my room bouncing with energy. I got
up and went downstairs. Kennedy already had a pot of coffee made
and my coffee cup and sugar out and waiting for me. She knew me all
too well. I grabbed the coffee pot and poured the hot liquid into
my cup. Just as I added a little sugar, Kennedy marched into the
kitchen.

She was tall and slender with blonde
hair and blue eyes. She was obsessed with her appearance; she
tanned and got her nails and toes done every other week. After the
first day Kennedy had every guy at Oklahoma University begging her
to go out with them. She rarely took them up on their offer, just
enjoyed teasing them instead. It was fun to watch. Even though I
always knew how it would end.

“
Well Jennifer, last
semester at OU, what are we going to do when we graduate? I feel
like all I have ever known was being a college student,” she looked
at me, sipping her coffee. She was already dressed and to the naked
eye you thought she was ready to walk out of the door, but I knew
better; her make up wasn’t done yet and she never left the house
with no make-up.

“
It’s too early for this
kind of talk. I haven’t even finished my coffee.” I yawned, before
taking another drink of my coffee.

“
By the way, Ayden wants to
go out tonight after classes.” She waited for me to object. I never
really liked to go out and party. I preferred getting in my PJ’s
and watching TV instead of trying to dress up and go out to the
club. She knew this about me but always asked assuming I would give
in.

“
Okay, I’ll join you. Is it
just Ayden going?”

“
Ayden’s cousin, Stefan, is
in town and he wants us to join them for a beer.”

“
Okay,” I said to her
turning and walking upstairs to the shower. I loved having an
entire house for just the two of us.

Kennedy’s dad was a big time movie
director; once we decided to go to OU, he bought us a house to live
in so we wouldn’t have stay on campus. I was forever in debt to
Kennedy’s parents; they took me under their wing and never made me
feel guilty for all the things they have given me.

After I finished my shower
I changed into my jeans and V neck and threw on my chucks before
drying my hair. I put some eye-liner on; I always liked to keep my
make-up simple then grabbed my back pack and headed downstairs to
wait for Kennedy. It was seven and classes started at eight, so I
knew she would be coming downstairs any moment. I decided to go
over my schedule for the day to try and pass time before she was
ready. I looked up at the stairs, noticing she still wasn’t down
here.
Ha!
She
hollered for me to get up and get ready but here I am waiting on
her slow ass to get down here. After a couple of minutes she came
downstairs.

“
How do I look?” She smiled
as she waited for my response. She was dressed in a short skirt
with a low V neck,
maybe a little too
low
, and rhinestone sandals. She wore her
long, blonde hair down, sexy just like Kennedy liked it. I knew no
guy would be able to concentrate on their studies today.

“
Uh, don’t you think that’s
a little much for class? You’re not going to a party; you’re just
sitting in a class and listening to teachers read the syllabus all
day.”

“
So I look fucking hot and
I’m going to be turning heads all day, perfect! Come on, ya
ready?”

I laughed silently. She knew what she
was doing, and she did it well. We made our way out to her car. It
was an Audi TT, red with chrome wheels and convertible; it was her
graduation gift, her baby. She hopped in and placed her back pack
in my lap. I spent the next five minutes or so riding to school
listening to her go on and on about Ayden and how she couldn’t wait
to see him. Why she wasn’t dating him, I will never understand.
When you watched them together you’d swear they’d been dating a
life time. Kennedy wasn’t ready to commit and Ayden was respecting
her wishes, even though I knew it was difficult for him.

We pulled into the parking lot half an
hour before class started, but the campus was already crawling with
students. As we were getting out, Ayden came to Kennedy’s door,
opened it and stretched his arm out like he was a valet boy ready
to park her car. Kennedy giggled and looked at me; I rolled my eyes
in response and stuck my tongue out. I hated how she always took
full advantage of Ayden. He was exactly her type; well over six
foot with a couple of tattoos, tanned, and lived to work out. He
knew girls looked at him the same why guys looked at
Kennedy.

“
Kennedy, look at you! You
look amazing!” He kissed her cheek and grabbed her back pack. “Who
are you trying to impress this semester?” He looked at me and
winked. I smiled back at him as we started walking to our first
class. Being shy and more reserved I was happy we all had almost
every class together. Having to make new friends meant letting
people in and I wasn’t about to do that.

“
Jen, my cousin, Stefan, is
coming into town tonight and were all going out, you
comin’?”

“
Kennedy mentioned it to me
this morning,” I said with a smile. “and yes, I’m coming. But I’m
not going to stay out late. I still have class tomorrow and I can’t
fall asleep in class the first week.” Ayden rolled his eyes at me
and laughed. We walked into our first class and chose seats near
the back of the room. I noticed about half the seats were already
occupied and the students were all starring at Kennedy and Ayden
walking to their seats. I shook my head and sat down by
Kennedy.

“
What?” Kennedy asked as
she elbowed me in my arm.

“
I think it’s safe to say
you two have stolen the show once again.” She looked at me and
swung her blonde hair behind her shoulder.

“
You know they look at you
too. With your dark hair and green eyes you are every guy’s
fantasy.”

“
Not like they look at you,
Kennedy.”

The professor came in so Kennedy
simply giggled in response and relaxed into her chair, prepping
herself for a long, miserable day.

I felt like a walking robot by the end
of the day. As we made our way to Kennedy’s car all I could think
about was going home and putting my feet up and relaxing. I knew I
needed to let my brain process everything from today. Ayden was
begging Kennedy to ride with him to Club Pink, but Kennedy wasn’t
budging. She never rode with anyone else. Kennedy always asserted
her independence and hated relying on anyone for anything,
especially a man. I got in the car as Ayden said goodbye; he’d meet
us at our place around 9 to hang out before going to the club.
Kennedy smiled and waved goodbye as she shut her door.

“
Sometimes I love him and
sometimes I just stare at him wondering if he’ll ever stop his damn
talking.”

I chuckled out loud; she always caught
me off guard with her humor.

“
Kennedy, he
really
likes you. He has
been trying to get you to go out with him for the last two years
and you keep coming up with every excuse in the book as to why you
can’t go. Give it up already. Why are you afraid of just being with
him?”