Unfamiliar



  Unfamiliar

 

  A Novel by

 

  Erica Cope & Komal Kant

 

 

 

  Unfamiliar

  Copyright © 2014 Erica Cope and Komal Kant

  First Edition

  Cover Design by Eden Crane Design

  Photography by Tera Lankard

  Cover Models: Chase Petersen and Karlie Monroe

  Unfamiliar lyrics © 2013 Get Busy Living

 

  All rights reserved. This book may not be used or reproduced, scanned or distributed in any form without permission from the author except where permitted by law. All characters and storylines are the

  property of the author and your respect and cooperation are greatly appreciated. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

 

  ISBN-13: 978-1496128331

  ISBN-10: 1496128338

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Prologue

 

  Chase

 

  Something was gnawing on the edge of my mind.

  I couldn’t quite put my finger on exactly what was bugging me, but it was there just out of reach.

  Something didn’t feel right. Something hadn’t felt right in a long time and I wished I could figure out what it was.

  Trying to shake the feeling away, I headed upstairs to my girlfriend’s apartment. We had a concert to get to and I had to focus since I was the one performing.

  Heather and I had been together for three years now and despite our problems, I was committed to her. She was the one familiar thing in my life that I wanted to hold onto.

  Stopping outside her door, I knocked on it twice and waited. That gnawing feeling started up again the longer I waited. Seriously, why was she taking so long? Was everything okay?

  Several long minutes passed before Heather finally answered—her thick, dark hair was messy and she wasn’t even dressed yet. All she had on was an oversized t-shirt.

  “Baby, you’re early!” Heather looked flustered as she stared out at me. “You said six.”

  I shrugged, suddenly feeling awkward. “Yeah, I thought we could spend some time together before we leave.”

  Things hadn’t been great between us lately and I didn’t want Heather to think that I didn’t want to be around her. Especially when she was going out of her way to be supportive and go to the concert with me. I knew music wasn’t really her thing.

  “Oh, uh, okay.” She seemed nervous.

  Alarm bells rang in my head--not loud alarm bells, just faint ones that were telling me that something was a little off about the way she was acting. Heather was never nervous. She was always confident and sassy, and never let anything bother her. She was definitely acting weird.

  “Everything okay, baby?”

  “Yeah, everything’s fine.” She seemed irritated now, so I guess she was back to normal.

  “You should’ve called.”

  “I’m sorry, it slipped my mind.” I gave her a small smile. “Can I come inside now?”

  She glanced over her shoulder before turning back to me and nodding. The nervousness was back again and I couldn’t understand why.

  “Uh, sure.”

  As I followed her inside, I knew immediately that something was wrong. The alarm bells grew louder.

  The cushions from the couch had been knocked down and there were articles of clothing strewn across the floor. Heather wasn’t a messy person—this mess wasn’t like her.

  “What happened here?” I asked, an uneasiness building up in my chest.

  That gnawing in my mind intensified with the alarm bells until my head began to hurt. It felt like the disturbance in my head was trying to tell me something.

  “Nothing happened.”

  But I knew she was lying. Her eyes were darting all over the apartment, like she was searching for something. And then suddenly she froze. Her fists clenched and her normally tan skin turned pale.

  Following her gaze, my eyes fell on something lying on the floor at the foot of the couch.

  It was a shoe. A guy’s shoe. And that guy wasn’t me.

  For a second it felt like all the air had been knocked out of me. Without even exchanging words with Heather, I already knew what this meant.

  Why she wasn’t dressed. Why her apartment was a mess. Why some guy’s shoe was lying on the floor like it belonged there. Everything suddenly clicked in a fucked up way.

  “Whose is that?” Anger was slowly working its way inside of me as images began to flash through my mind of what this implied.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Lie number two.

  “Don’t play dumb with me! Who does that shoe belong to? Who’s here?”

  “No one’s here.”

  Heather’s responses weren’t really helping with the anger that was threatening to explode from within me. She’d been lying to me about a lot of things and had been acting weird for months now. Really, I shouldn’t be so surprised. Why the hell was I surprised? It all made sense now.

  All the times she couldn’t answer her phone or call me back. All the times she pulled away from me when I tried to show her affection. All the yelling and the complaining and the fighting. Everything was hitting me at once like a succession of punches to the gut.

  “You’re cheating on me.”

  She didn’t say anything; only stared back at me as though she was too scared to think of anything to say. She didn’t even have the decency to look guilty.

  “TELL ME! ARE YOU CHEATING ON ME?”

  Heather flinched as though I’d stung her, and tossed her hair over her shoulder, looking pissed off. “Don’t yell at me. You don’t scare me. And, yes, I’ve met someone.”

  “You can’t meet someone. We’re together!”

  I wanted to shake her and tell her she was psycho, but I felt so numb that even the anger had frozen inside of me.

  “Stop trying to control me. I can do whatever I want.”

  “You’re my girlfriend! We’ve been together for three years.”

  Heather gave me a look as though there was a bad smell hanging around me. “I’m not your girlfriend anymore. I’ve met someone better who actually has plans for his life.”

  “Where is he?” I was only half-listening as she spoke. “I’m gonna beat the shit out of him. Tell him to come out and face me.”

  Heather took a step forward and shoved me back hard. “Don’t even try and pull some macho bullshit here. I’ll call the police and tell them you assaulted me.”

  “You bitch,” I spat out. “How could you do this to us?”

  “No, you did this to us.” Heather pushed me back again. “Get out of here, Chase. I don’t want to see you again.”

  Somehow I found the strength not to throw something at Heather or to go further into the apartment and drag that asshole out and beat the crap out of him until he learned not to mess around with another guy’s girl.

  When I didn’t move, Heather pushed me again until I hit the wall. “GET OUT, CHASE!”

  And that was what finally thawed me. I turned around and opened the door with an unsteady hand and stumbled down the stairs.

  I wanted to get away from the familiar girl who’d suddenly become a stranger. I wanted to get away from her lies and betrayal. I wanted to get away from the heartbr
eak that was consuming me. Except I couldn’t get away. My heart was shattering, and it was over a girl who didn’t even love me.