Breaking Through the Wall (Guarded Hearts Book 2)

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Copyright 2013 © Ashley Piscitelli

Published by Beau Coup Publishing

http://beaucoupllc.com

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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.

After a traumatic event, Jason becomes involved with the one girl who could possibly force him to change his ways. Will he be able to commit to her, or will he drive her away before he ever has the chance to claim her?

Madison and Carter have finally found happiness, until their lives are suddenly turned upside down by someone who refuses to go away. Justice doesn't always prevail, sometimes the bad guys win.

Can their relationship survive the tragedy and pain?

What do you do when your whole world is turned upside down? When everything comes crumbling down around you, will you have the will to fight and break down the wall?

This book is dedicated to my family that has supported me every step of the way. I love you all so much and I couldn’t have done this without you.

I would like to thank all of my family and friends who have believed in me and supported me. Especially my husband who has been constantly encouraging me throughout this whole process. I couldn’t have done it without your love and support.

I would also like to say thank you to my friends who endured me constantly talking about this book and its characters as if they were real. You gave me advice and listened when I was frustrated and just needed to vent.

I would like to thank Genevieve Scholl from Big Bang Book Services for the amazing editing opportunity she gave me! I appreciate you working with my very small window of a deadline!

Thank you also to my cover designer Laura Gordon! She is so amazing and does a great job. She did the cover for both books in the series.

I would also like to thank the bloggers that read and gave me advice on the book. I really needed to hear what you said
, even if I didn’t like it at times. I am not naïve and I know that I would not be able to do this without the support of all of the lovely ladies who do this every day.

I would like to thank a couple of bloggers who have helped me immensely with their guidance. They are Alaina Keller, Tiffany Tillman, Bradelyn Harris, Kelly Graham, and Jodi Murphy. Thank you girls for taking the time to talk with me, give me advice, read different parts of the book I sent you, and definitely thank you for helping me get my name out there! I appreciate each and every one of you so much!

I also want to thank the readers. I have spoken to many of you about the book. We have laughed and I have sympathized with your frustration over the end of Playing With Fire. I hope that Breaking Through The Wall was everything you had hoped for!

If you liked this book please consider leaving a review for it!

Jason

I swear to God, if she doesn’t shut the fuck up I’m gonna kill myself with this damn fork. Why the hell did I listen to Madison and go on a damn date?
I had it right before, you take ‘em home, give it to them good enough that they can’t talk after, and pretend to pass out or just put on Sports Center until they leave on their own. Trying to pretend that I was interested in half of the stupid shit she was spouting was fucking exhausting.

“Isn’t that just crazy?”

Shit. I hadn’t listened to her for at least the past ten minutes and truthfully I really didn’t care if she knew it. She could be the best lay in the world, but it wasn’t worth sitting here another minute. “Yeah, this whole night has been crazy. I’m gonna go now, though.” I threw enough money on the table to cover the food and tip, then got up to leave.

“You’re leaving?”

“Yeah, I got some shit I need to do.” It was technically the truth; Maddy and I had a movie night planned. I was actually running late right now because jabber jaws didn’t realize I couldn’t care less about TMZ, her sorority, or who won American Idol.

“I thought we were gonna go back to your place after.” She stood up next to me and ran her hand up and down my arm.

“Not tonight. I’ll see you around campus, Beth.”

“My name is Carol.”

“Okay.” I started walking to my car and checked my phone. Shit, I was a half hour late. Maddy better not have some Nicholas Sparks shit picked out, because I had enough torture tonight already.

I guess tonight was my fault, anyway. When Maddy told me I needed to put myself out there and go on a date, I knew she meant with Nicole. I was not ready for that shit, though. I knew, just from the couple of times we slept together, that she was different. She wasn’t the kind of girl you had for only a night; she was the kind of girl who got under your skin and never left.

I didn’t need that, but I couldn’t get her out of my mind, either. I was perfectly content sleeping with women and saying goodbye, until New Year’s when I got a taste of heaven. Every time I brought a girl home since then, all I saw was her. I tried to use them to erase her, but all it did was remind me they weren’t her.

I knew Maddy wanted me to give Nicole a shot, and it might eventually happen, but not now.
I just turned onto the street where Carter and Maddy lived, when I saw something that made my stomach drop. Chris had just shoved Maddy into his car and was now racing out of the driveway.

I followed him at a safe distance and called 911. “My friend was just kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend and I’m following the car now. I’m heading west on 9
th
street, I just passed Porter street.”

He
was starting to speed up now. I wondered if he noticed that I was here. I was in Carter’s car, but it was late; at this point, there was no way I was going to lose them. I called Carter, but he didn’t answer, then I saw their car racing toward a red light.

When I notice
d that he wasn’t hitting his brakes, I panicked. That crazy motherfucker was gonna run it. My heart stopped when I saw the truck coming, and then everything happened in slow motion. The truck clipped the back of Chris’s car, sending it spinning and flipping over a couple times. The only thing that stopped it was the telephone pole that the car finally ran into. I raced out of the car and over to the accident, screaming Maddy’s name. I could hear the sirens coming now. Her side of the car was the one smashed against the pole, so I was trying to look through the driver’s side window. Chris wasn’t in the car anymore, so I had a clear view of her. “Maddy! Maddy! Can you hear me? Shit, answer me!”

She
had a huge gash across her forehead, and duct tape stretched across her mouth. She was strapped into the car with the seatbelt, but her arm was hanging at an unnatural angle. I saw the paramedics coming over and started screaming at them to hurry up. “Over here! She’s trapped in the car!”

They start
ed working on trying to get her out and I pulled out my phone to call Carter again. The phone just rang and rang, though. This was the third time I had called him. Maybe he couldn’t hear it in the club. I googled the number for Rebellion. He was gonna freak out when I told him what was going on. It rang for a couple minutes and, just when I was about to give up, someone answered.

“Rebellion.”

“Hey, can I talk to Carter James? It’s an emergency.”

“Carter? He left here about an hour ago. He said he had to check on his girl and he would be back.”

“Shit! He hasn’t come back? Are you sure?”

“Nope, I haven’t seen him, but if you see him tell him to get his ass and my car back here, now.”

If Carter had left work, it meant he was there when Chris took Maddy. He would have never let that happen, so I knew whatever I was going to walk into when I got there would be bad. I needed to see where they were taking her and then I was going back.

I ran up to the paramedics to see if they knew anything yet. “Do you know this girl?”

“Yeah, she is a friend of mine. Her name is Madison Stevens.”

“She have any family?”

I remembered last time Maddy was in the hospital and Carter had to lie and say she was his wife just to see her. This time was much worse and I knew it would be the same. “Just her husband, Carter James. I’m trying to track him down now.”

“Ok
ay, well, tell him we are taking her to the hospital and he can meet us there.”

The other guy was buckling Maddy into the stretcher, but she was still unconscious. She looked so pale, all I could do was pray that she would be okay.

This was why I didn’t let people in. When something happened or they were gone, it hurt too fucking much. I could have never stopped how attached I had become to Maddy, though. She reminded me so much of my sister Sara, and I was so scared I would lose her too.

I heard someone yelling from the grassy area on the side of the road. “We found the driver!”

I hoped that asshole was dead, because if he wasn’t I was going to kill him myself. The paramedic I was talking to grabbed my arm. “Hey, you know who the driver was?”

“Yeah, his name is Chris Johnson. He is her ex, and a psychopath. You can tell the cops he is the reason for this and if he does make it, then they need to cuff him to the hospital bed. I’m gonna go find her
husband. I will meet you guys at the hospital.”

I pulled out my phone again and called the only other person I could think of.

“Hello?” Hearing her voice made me smile, even with all of the shit that was going on around me.

“Hey, Nic.”

“Jason? What’s going on? I thought you were going to Maddy’s tonight.” She sounded irritated and I really couldn’t blame her. I had been blowing her off since January.

I
didn’t know how I was going to tell her this right now. Nicole and Maddy were so close. She was going to freak out. “What are you doing right now?’

“I’m driving home from a friend
’s house, why?”

“Pull over, I need to tell you something.”

I heard her sigh. “Listen, Jason, if this is more of the ‘it’s not you it’s me crap,’ I don’t want to hear it.”

Ugh! This girl made me fucking crazy.
She just didn’t get it, and that was not even why I was calling. “It’s nothing to do with us, now just friggin’ pull the car over!”

“Al
l right! There! Now, what the hell is it?!”

“There’s been an accident, Nic. I’m not really sure about all the details yet, but Maddy is on her way to the hospital.”

I heard her sharp intake of breath. “What happened?” I could hear the tears in her shaky voice and I wished I was there with her.

“I don’t know
. I was pulling up to the house and Chris was putting her into his car. He sped off and I followed him. I think he saw me, though, and he ran a red light. A truck hit their car and the paramedics just took her to the hospital. I called Carter at work, but they said he left over an hour ago to go check on her. I’m getting in my car now to go check the house to see if he is there.”