All This Time

ALL
THIS TIME

Copyright
© 2014 Marie Wathen

All
Rights Reserved

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 permission in writing from the owner. Excerpts for
reviews–only when stated as such and quoted–
are an exception
.

This is
a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the
product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Resemblance to
actual person, living or dead, events or locales, are entirely coincidental.

Editor: Toby Joiner

Published by Marie Wathen PO BOX
239 Vincent, AL 35178

Cover Art Design & Formatting:
Covert It! Designs

Photographer: Michael Brown
Projects Photography

Model: Joshua Sean McCann

Additional Photos:
Dreamstime

This story is approximately
126,000 words

**WARNING: This story contains
explicit language and erotic scenes, M/F and is intended for adults, 18+ only.

Table of Contents

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Three

Chapter Forty-Four

Chapter Forty-Five

Chapter Forty-Six

Chapter Forty-Seven

Chapter Forty-Eight

Chapter Forty-Nine

Chapter Fifty

Chapter Fifty-One

Chapter Fifty-Two

Chapter Fifty-Three

Chapter Fifty-Four

Chapter Fifty-Five

Chapter Fifty-Six

Chapter Fifty-Seven

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Chapter Fifty-Nine

Chapter Sixty

Chapter Sixty-One

Chapter Sixty-Two

Chapter Sixty-Three

Chapter Sixty-Four

Chapter Sixty-Five

Chapter Sixty-Six

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Chapter Sixty-Eight

Chapter Sixty-Nine

Chapter Seventy

Chapter Seventy-One

Chapter Seventy-Two

Chapter Seventy-Three

Epilogue

More books by Marie

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Dedication

To my very first and best friend, Barbara Summers Gonzalez.

I adore you and I’m so blessed to have you in my life. I
can’t name all the things about you that I am grateful for because I already
wrote a book and have met my word limit, but I can say that not one day has
gone by that I haven’t thanked the big guy above for bringing you to me. I
dedicate this book to you my friend because the subject matter for which I
write truly affects your life in more ways than any one person should have to
endure. There will come a day when all the answers to life’s hardest questions
will be given and I hope you’re first in line to hear them. Heartache and pain
isn’t something we seek out in life, but it can make us better. Yes, I know
you’re rolling your eyes at the last sentence, but if you aren’t a testament to
that being the truth then I don’t know who is. You’re daughters are amazing,
beautiful, talented, and loving women because you set the example for them. I’m
so sorry that your Chelsea wasn’t fortune enough to find an Angel on this earth
before it was too late. Thank you for allowing me to share a piece of Ari with
the world. I love and miss her each and every day too.

Quote taken from the Facebook page of
Ariane
Chelsea Gonzalez and used in this story: “Waiting on an angel because I don’t
want to go alone.” You will never be alone again, Ari-doodle.

Prologue

Thirteen
months ago…

I
say goodbye.

Turning
around, I walk away from a future with the man I love. I fade away into an
angry mob yelling for justice and forcibly guiding me toward the perimeter of
the hospital property. These people are hungry for someone to crucify. My heart
breaks with the crush of reality and everything I’ve experienced in the last
forty-eight hours. Somehow managing to bury my internal meltdown, I steal one
last glance over my shoulder. The news crews flash their camera lens toward the
front steps of the now empty emergency room. Canton City Chief of Police
Jackson Summers and his new sergeant gather for an impromptu press conference.
Echoing shouts of the chief’s name by the reporters, demanding his attention,
are the only sounds I hear as I reach my car. A melancholy smile slowly spreads
across my lips as I slip behind the steering wheel. I punch the gas pedal,
heading west and within two hours I cross over the Alabama state line. After
six more hours of driving south, I’m on a ferry crossing the Gulf of Mexico,
heading back to my family home on Willow Island.

I
truly believe in fate, destiny and all the other descriptors that determine
ones future. I even buy into the whole superstition of taking a bite from a
fortune cookie before reading the tiny piece of wisdom tucked inside. The
difference between those little scraps of hope and destiny is sometimes fate
doesn’t hold up its end of the bargain and deliver everyone a fairytale ending.
That is exactly what happened to me. I got a heavy dose of cruel happenstance.
Destiny’s design has a hand in every detail that brings me back to Willow
Island today. The course of events that leads me back are just as hopeful and
tragic as I have learned to expect from this unpredictable journey we call
life.

After
growing up in England most of my life, I thought I had a flawless plan laid out
for my final destination–return back to the states to attend college, a
fabulous career, maybe one day a husband, and oh good lord if I can bear the
thought of children. Fortunately for me, I accomplished the first couple early
on, but after the current events and a new job offer that I accepted a few
hours ago, I adjust my travel plans and purpose, focusing on a course due
south.

Willow
is where I was born, but I never expected to return for any reasons other than
holidays or family gatherings. After graduating high school I accepted an
academic scholarship at Jacksonville State University, in Alabama. Their
criminal justice program is top notch and being able to attend without
depending on my parents to fund it urged me to accept.

JSU
is not a mega-size campus like the other more popular, in-state schools, the
University of Alabama or Auburn University, but after a campus tour I fell in
love with everything about it and the quaint town in which it resides. It
reminds me a lot of Willow, which is exactly what I needed. In the sweet little
town everything is close and convenient to the campus and the southern U.S.
college isn’t a stuffy old pretentious university like those back in England.

I
grew up with two younger brothers, twin brothers actually. Marcus and Morgan
are two of my favorite people in this world and we are close. Well, I’m close
with them. They are currently suffering through a separation brought on by some
skank bitch, which Marcus dated, but Morgan ended up having an affair with.

A
floozy like the one they are fighting over is exactly the type of conniving
woman that proves my beliefs in only having men as friends. Women are catty
bitches and I never wanted that jealousy shit in my life. Until college, I
didn’t even have sleepovers with friends from high school. Unfortunately,
campus life dictates communal living and the fact that I was attending on an
academic scholarship I begrudgingly accepted my fate and a girl roommate.

Sharing
space and a few classes together, Kristie Daniels and I got to know each other
on a very personal level. With Kris’ friendship, it didn’t take long for me to
stop generalizing all women into the category of sister haters.

I
earned my four year degree in two years because I took summer, online, and
every mini course that the school offered. I wasn’t trying to get away exactly.
I just wanted to move on to the next phase of my life. Starting when I was a
little girl, becoming a police officer was my life’s dream. I remember sitting
on my Gran’s lap watching her favorite television show and there was a woman
police officer on who was a total bad ass. She did this swinging leg, high-kick
move disabling a bad guy and saving some people during a bank robbery. I was in
complete awe of her skills and instantly inspired to help others. Plus, Gran
told me that I could do
anything
that I wanted.

My
family owns a private business which my grandfather Mac Walker has guided to
the top of Forbes Fortune Five Hundred. Granddad set up positions for his sons,
my father Barret Walker, and my uncle Beck Walker, after he provided them with
the means to earn their graduate’s degree from Stanford. He has thoughts of
grandeur and hopes of a distinguished legacy which includes his grandchildren
following the same path.

Being
the natural born rebel, I opted out of Granddad’s offer and chose a career in
law enforcement instead. Looking back now, I realize I was always at a
crossroads, but I never even thought about the intersection.

My
grandparents offered to pay for my higher education, but I knew better than to
allow it. Not that they would ever hold it over my head. Hell, they are the
most loving and giving people I have ever known and they always support my
dreams. No, if I had accepted Granddad’s offer it would have been my father who
would see it as a slap in the face. According to him, I turned my back on the
family when I passed on coming aboard.

Honestly,
I don’t really believe that my father wanted me following in the family
business. After moving our family to England when I was a child, he would spend
time with my brothers drilling the ins and outs of Walker Corporation, but he
never once asked me to join them. At the tender age of twelve Morgan was
working on project ideas that could rival some of dad’s senior staff members.
He is a true chip off the old block, in more ways than one. Marcus did not
share in Morgan’s enthusiasm and is following me into law enforcement. Oh, I’m
jumping too far ahead now. Let’s back up just a little.

After
graduating from JSU with honors and subsequently the police academy, I was
offered a coveted position on the Atlanta Police Departments Drug Task Force
Unit. Because I look much younger than my chronological age, I was easily
immersed into the drug scene and accepted as just another addict. At that
point, my sweet grandparents insisted on providing a safe place for me to live
locked behind the secured walls inside a gated community. Being a newly
graduated student and too proud to ask my parents for access to my trust fund,
I certainly couldn’t afford a place on my own until after I started earning a
salary. Needless to say my grandparents refused to accept any compensation so I
sullenly accepted their generous offer and moved into a lavish country home in
Canton Georgia, a charming little city north of Atlanta.

Coincidentally,
my best friend Kris was from the area so she moved in with me. Kris received
her nursing degree from JSU and worked for a small family practitioner in town,
but all along she had aspirations of landing her dream job at Canton General Children’s
Hospital. Her desire to help others inspires me daily. Although we are as
different as night and day, Kris is my soul sister and ours is a friendship
that transcends eternity.

Since
becoming friends with her, my good opinion of this shitty world greatly
increased. She sees everything through rose-colored glasses and finds only the
good in everyone. Kris tried to mesh some of her idealist ways into my realist
heart. She failed. There isn’t a romantic bone in my body and I do not have
time in my life for love. That is until my eyes landed on the deep haunting
essence of Blues for the first time. All I know is those amazing sapphire
tinted eyes look like coming home and destiny is proving her worth as a cruel
manipulator by making my soul mate the one person I could never have.

My
name is Samantha Walker, and this is my serendipitous story.