Welcome to Lake Ventures (New Haven Book 2) Read online

  Contents

  Title Page

  Disclaimer

  Dedication

  Author's note

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Epilogue

  Other books by Dawn Doyle

  Welcome to

  Lake Ventures

  Dawn Doyle

  Copyright © 2015 Dawn Doyle

  This is a work of fiction.

  Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.

  Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Published by Dawn Doyle at Smashwords

  Edited by Dawn Doyle

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is dedicated to the people who encouraged me to follow my dreams and not to give up, even when I thought I couldn’t go any further.

  My family and friends who, without them, I would never have had the confidence to keep writing even though, a lot of the time, I didn’t think I was good enough.

  Thank you for believing in me and encouraging me to keep going.

  And my three beautiful children who keep telling me how proud they are of me.

  XxXxX

  Authors’ note

  This book is a follow on from the first book, Welcome To New Haven, although is can be read as a stand alone.

  This has also been written in dual POV’s. This story isn’t based day-to-day as before.

  Characters text and email, so beware of lengthy digital discussions!

  There is a lot of dialogue in this book because, I feel, that the characters interactions tell the story a lot better than I could explain with a description. Some will have Americanisms like ‘Mom’ and ‘Ass’ when an American character is speaking. However, those same words will become “Mum” and “arse” when an English character is speaking. When the characters, Emily, Holly and Kim talk, try to imagine, if you have heard it before, them talking with a Liverpool, or scouse, accent. G’s are usually dropped from the end of words and T’s are dropped in the middle of some. For instance ‘little’ becomes ‘li-uhl’ and ‘kettle’ becomes ‘keh-uhl’. ‘H’s are sometimes dropped from the beginning of words. “Have” becomes ‘ave’. ‘My’ usually changes to ‘me’ which turns the words ‘My hair’ into ‘me air’. ‘My Mum’ into ‘me Mum’. Some of the words will be written as the person would say them, when their accent is strong, thickened by emphasising their mood, or style of conversation.

  Emily’s accent is thicker than Holly’s and Kim’s but becomes softer as the story progresses.

  There will be some slang words, which will be explained within the text, and I hope you can visualise the character speaking in that manner. Please be aware that not all scousers sound the same. We don’t. There are still many slang words and sayings I don’t understand myself and I was born and raised in Liverpool!

  But mostly, I hope you enjoy Emily and Nick’s story, as much as I had writing it.

  Dawn.

  Prologue

  Smile, you’re happy, you’re done. Smile, you’re happy, you’re done.

  That was Emily’s mantra on the day of her graduation. Shaking her tutors huge, sweaty hand, she accepted her degree in business.

  Smile, you’re happy, you’re done.

  Emily was wearing her graduation robes and hat. She smiled but she didn’t feel happy even though she was done.

  Done with everything.

  Done with University, done with the UK and done with men.

  Emily had only had two men in her life that treated her like a princess. Her biological Dad, James; He’d died when she was thirteen. Knocked down by a drunk driver right in front of her little sister, Holly, on her ninth birthday. Then there was her Step-Dad, Oli. He treated them both like they were his own daughters.

  Nobody else though.

  Emily had had a relationship with a guy named Jeff, but when she saw him for who he really was, and saw how other men treated their ‘woman’ she swore off them. Not that she didn’t appreciate ‘eye candy’ but she wasn’t going to let another arsehole into her life, only to take everything from her and screw her over again.

  Not a damn chance.

  Emily repeated her mantra when the camera flashed for the photo.

  Smile, you’re happy, you’re done.

  Chapter 1

  Eight hours.

  Eight hours Emily had gone back in time. Not in the literal sense, but she was in a different time zone.

  Where she would normally be tucked up in bed asleep, the people there were mostly just sitting down to dinner.

  Five O’clock. Her body was still at three in the morning.

  She had a major headache and her bum had gone numb from sitting down on the plane from the twelve hour flight she’d just gotten off. It had stopped for one hour in New York, but she never left the airport.

  Walking through the baggage claim, Emily wasn’t in the mood to be waiting around all evening for her suitcases. She wanted to pick up her stuff and go.

  The passengers sat near her, especially one guy that got on at New York, wouldn’t leave her alone almost the entire trip. If there hadn’t have been any kids there, she would’ve given him a mouthful.

  He wanted to know everything about her. Maybe he was just trying to pass the time by having a conversation, but the way he spoke to her, it felt like she was having an interview.

  ‘What’s your name? Where are you from? What do you do in your job? What are your qualifications?’

  Then it turned personal.

  ‘What do you like to do? Do you go out with friends?’

  Then the not-so-subtle- relationship question… ‘Does your boyfriend take you places?’

  Oh God!

  “Maybe we could go out sometime? When you get back.” He’d asked her.

  Emily never felt such relief when she told him it was a one-way ticket. That sparked a whole new batch of questions.

  Why? Why did I choose a later flight? I could’ve avoided this dickhead!

  A four am flight had never looked more appealing than ever to her.

  She shouldn’t really complain. They guy seemed nice enough, he was even cute, but Emily wasn’t interested. Especially because he was another corporate Big-Wig.

  Once he found out she’d just passed her degree in business management, he seemed a lot more interested than before. He wanted to talk investments, marketing, expansion, blah blah. Yeah she might have her degree but talking to strangers about it wasn’t something she liked.

  Never again.

  She’d made that mistake once and had broken free over a
lmost two years ago.

  Jeff was an arsehole and Emily was glad to be shut of him.

  He’d used her. Used her business skills to better his company, taking advantage of the fact that she’d be busy studying too.

  The shit.

  She didn’t want to think about it.

  Her thoughts were halted when she saw her suitcases on the conveyor belt.

  “Can I help you with those?” A male voice came from behind her.

  Big-wig

  “No thanks. I can get them.” She said as politely as she could.

  “It’s no problem” he insisted. His blonde hair not moving as he shook his head. Not surprising with the amount of product it looked like it contained.

  “I said I’ve got them.” She replied with a little snap to her tone.

  “Oh. Um…Ok, sorry.” He took a step back and had a hint of hurt in is expression.

  “I’m sorry, I’m just tired.” Emily apologised and wheeled her suitcases away before he had time to speak.

  Walking quickly through to the exit, Emily spotted her sister, Holly and her Fiancé, Alex.

  They’d gotten together only a couple of months before and got engaged a week after. It was true love for them.

  They were made for each other and Emily was glad Holly had him. Alex was so good for Holly and the way he looked at her could bring you to tears.

  Emily had broken down when she’d visited the last time, for Holly’s eighteenth birthday.

  It had been a couple of days before that, when Holly had been taken, at gunpoint, by a crazy girl who had stalked Alex for two years and had begun to stalk Holly after starting at the High School.

  Of course, Holly was found safe and well, and kicking the shit out of the girl, with the girl getting arrested and sent to the loony bin.

  A couple of days later the morning of her birthday, he proposed. Apparently, it had been planned the week before, at Alex, and his twin sister’s, Dev, eighteenth birthday party. Emily’s mum, Kim, had called her and told her that the twins’ grandmother had gotten the girls to try on her engagement ring to check the fit for hers, and her husbands, mothers’ rings. Alex wanted to do it on her birthday, and Emily had a sneaking suspicion that he did it after doing it. Especially when they had both come downstairs, that morning, looking flushed.

  Alex always held Holly close and was constantly touching her if she moved away. It was like they couldn’t bear to be apart.

  He’d held her in his arms, looking into her eyes and Emily had to excuse herself to cry. It was so beautiful.

  Nobody had looked at her that way. Not even Jeff.

  They’d been together for over a year and a half too. Most of the time she felt like she wasn’t even in a relationship. She was always busy and the times she wasn’t, Jeff was. They hardly saw each other, which actually didn’t bother her and she should’ve noticed the huge warning sign there. She was so engrossed with her studies and putting her knowledge to practical use, she was blind to what was really happening, right under her nose.

  “Em!” squealed Holly and threw her arms around Emily’s neck. Alex was right behind her, and then hugged Emily too.

  “Hiya babes. I. Am. Done. In. That flight was horrible!”

  “What happened?”

  Emily told them all about Big-Wig and the other nosey passengers on her flight, as they exited the terminal.

  “So you didn’t fancy him then?” Holly asked with a smirk.

  “Not in the slightest. He was a pain in the arse. He just wouldn’t shut up!”

  Holly and Alex were both chuckling at her when they got in the car.

  “It’s not funny. Six hours I had of him. Six hours! I wanted to just…choke him!” she said, holding her hands out in a strangle hold.

  “Come on, Em. I bet he wasn’t that bad.”

  “He sounded like another Jeff.” Emily said quietly.

  Holly knew all about what had happened with Jeff. She was the first to go after him and threaten to chop his balls off.

  “What a nob. Even though he was a massive fuck’ed I bet Big-Wig wasn’t as bad as him.”

  “He asked what I did and when I told him I’d just gotten my business degree, he was like a puppy with a new ball. I’m sorry I opened my gob. I should’ve just put my earphones in and pretended to sleep. But then again, his constant yapping would’ve just gotten my back up.”

  “Well, it’s over now, so let’s take you home and get you a brew.” Said Alex with a smile, using the slang word for tea.

  “You said the magic words Alex. I could do with a decent cuppa. That plane shite was like dishwater.”

  They laughed at Emily, again, as Alex drove out of the airport and took them home.

  Once there, Emily went straight to her room. Exhausted from the flight and the time difference, she just wanted to sleep.

  Emily awoke at four in the morning, which would have been midday in the UK. It was light outside, due to it being the summer, and she quietly got out of bed and headed to the bathroom, next to her room, for a shower.

  She grabbed her Macbook and crept downstairs, trying not to wake Holly and Alex. He’d been staying over most nights with Holly and the nights he didn’t, she stayed over at his house. Emily wondered if they’d actually spent any time apart at all.

  Her Mum and Oli, who she called Dad, had their bedroom downstairs but it was far away from the dining area and Emily knew she could stay there without disturbing them.

  She booted up her Macbook and checked her emails. Emily’s heart jumped and then her stomach turned with what she saw in her inbox.

  Emails from Jeff.

  She opened the first one and snorted. He had the audacity to ask how she was doing!

  Oh my God, the cheeky get!

  Emily closed that email and opened the next one that was sent two hours later. He had some nerve trying to contact her after what he did. Emily read through the email, resisting the urge to send a picture of herself giving him the finger.

  ‘Hi Emily. I know you must wonder why I’m contacting you. I just want to know how you are and to tell you that I miss you. We made a great team and I know I made some stupid mistakes, and that you’d never forgive me, but I wanted to tell you that you’ll always have a place with the company and if you would consider coming back, it would mean the world to me.

  Love Jeff.’

  Emily deleted the emails and got to work setting up a new email account. She sent her new address to those she knew she could trust, and then deleted her old account. She’d already changed her phone number but that was the first time Jeff had tried to contact her by email. She wasn’t even sure he knew it.

  He probably had to search the company records to find it.

  Emily had a feeling why he was contacting her. Since she left his company, after finding him face deep between another woman’s legs, his business had taken a steady decline.

  She wasn’t surprised really, she was the one doing all of the work and Jeff had no idea what he was doing.

  That’s how he had time to screw around behind her back. Whilst she was busy diving into company finance reports, he was diving into other women’s beds.

  Emily often thought why, and how, she didn’t see what was happening right under her nose. She was happy with building up and helping to run the business, even though she did it on her own, that everything else went unnoticed.

  That’s how Jeff had liked it.

  He’d even urged her on, keeping her busy with work then she would be busy with her studies. Emily barely had time for anything else and would often be too tired to pay attention anyway.

  Whenever they’d gotten intimate, it never felt loving or passionate. Like Jeff was just rushing to the finish and not bothering whether she was enjoying it too. She would be left disappointed and unsatisfied, but she never went elsewhere. In the whole time they were together, she could’ve counted the amount of times they’d slept together on her fingers. Another sign she didn’t see.

  Th
e last time she stepped foot in the office was when she’d forgotten her pen drive. Emily wouldn’t have gone back if she hadn’t needed it for her Uni course work. She’d turned her car around and drove back to the building.

  Walking quickly to her office, she grabbed the pen drive off her desk when she heard a noise coming from Jeff’s office. It sounded like somebody was either hyperventilating or having a really good time.

  Silently moving over to the door, Emily opened it and saw a half naked woman sitting on Jeff’s desk, her legs open wide and over the back of a guy’s shoulders as his face was between her thighs.

  Jeff.

  The woman screamed when she opened her eyes and saw Emily standing there. Jeff turned, his mouth swollen and wet, his eyes bulging in shock at being caught with another woman. He quickly stood and rushed to Emily.

  “Emily, sweetheart, it’s…”

  He didn’t get a chance to finish whatever bullshit that was coming from his mouth because Emily slapped him hard across the face.

  “Don’t fuckin’ talk to me ever again.” She growled before leaving the office, the building, and his life.

  Emily had put everything into his company. Her own money, her hard work and all of her spare time. She’d given him everything and he’d used her.

  Now he had the balls to contact her and practically ask her to come back to work for him! Not even if hell froze over and the demons took up winter sports, would that happen.