Lizzy's Lessons (The Hunt Family Series)

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

© Copyright November 2012 JK Publishing

Reissued February 2013

All cover art and logo © Copyright 2012 by JK Publishing.

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Chapter
One

Ethan Hunt sat at his desk and went through his emails. He had an email from his mother. His youngest sister and his foster sister were both graduating from college. His mother was making sure that he was going to attend their graduation ceremony and after party. Ethan couldn’t wait to be there, not that he cared about the fact that his sister was graduating. He had lived for three hundred years and seen quite a few of his siblings graduate. He liked how his parents still loved each other and continued to build their family, but he found it hard to keep up with his fifteen siblings. No, Ethan was more excited to see his foster sister, the one who wasn’t his blood relative.

He remembered the first time he had met her. He had come to visit his parents at their country home. He had been working hard at the family company making sure their empire ran smoothly, but he needed a break. He had also grown tired of the same old dating game he was playing. He hadn’t found his mate yet, but still desired the company of someone else. He had been a real ladies man for so many years. Having his pick of whomever he wanted. When he was younger, he loved it and could care less about meeting his life mate, but as he got older and decades passed by, he began to loathe it. He wanted to settle down. He wanted to find the one that he was destined to share his life with.

He was in his parent
’
s garden overlooking their many acres when his little sister, Lizzy and her little friend ran out of the woods that lined the boundaries of the field
.
They were both covered in mud and leaves, giggling and waving large sticks in the air while they skipped along the field
.
Ethan didn’t think anything of it until they finally got close enough to him, then he sensed something strange about the young girl that was with his sister.

Lizzy ran up to Ethan and hugged him around his waist, “Ethan,” she screamed as she squeezed as hard as she could
.
“I missed you.”

Ethan hugged her back but couldn’t take his eyes off the little girl that stood behind her
.
She was small, thin, with light brown hair and big blue eyes
.
She had beautiful features even as a young girl, full lips, soft features.

He finally swallowed and look down at Lizzy, “Hey L
izzy, I missed you too
,
sweetie.
”

He knelt in front of her.

“What did you bring me?” she always expected him to bring her something when he came home.

He chuckled and ruffled her already messy blonde hair, “You’ll have to go up to your room to find out.”

“Ok
ay
,” she said, and grabbed the little girl
'
s hand, “Come on Abby, let’s go up to my room.”

The little girl looked at Ethan sheepishly,
and
then ran in the house with Lizzy.

Ethan couldn’t figure out why he was so interested in the little girl
.
She was just a typical nine year old girl, she was a beautiful little girl, but so was his sister, there was really nothing special about her.

Later that evening his mother and father told him about how they were taking her in as a foster child
.
They said that her mother was a heroin addict and recently died from an overdose
.
Her father was very abusive and had her taken away from him after they found large bruises all over her
.
At the
moment,
she was living in another foster home
,
but the woman that cared for her was harsh and really only kept the children for the money the state gave her.

They had already applied to become foster parents and were just waiting for the system to allow them to take her in as a foster child
.
They had considered adopting her
,
but they would have had to go through her father and he would not have given her up that easily
.
It would have been years of fighting in the court system and she would have had to endure it all
.
This way they could keep her safe and not have to worry about her father.

Ethan asked what would happen if the system decided to give her back to her father, but her father was currently in prison serving a ten year sentence for armed robbery and aggravated assault
.
By the time he got out, she would be an adult and would never have to go back there.

Ethan automatically felt protective over her
.
He felt i
t
was his duty to keep her
safe;
a
fter
all,
she had gone through. He began spoiling her more than his own sister
.
Before Abby came along, Ethan thought nothing of staying away from his parent
’
s home for years
.
Now
he found himself visiting two to three times a year
.
He tried to include Lizzy in everything he did for Abby, but he found himself to be more
concerned with Abby’s happiness t
han
with
Lizzy’s
happiness
.

***
**

As the years went by, he was beginning to feel guilty for how he treated the girls so differently
.
The girls were now both turning sixteen and Ethan was going to their sweet sixteen party.
Abby was a week older than Lizzy, so she had already had her birthday when they threw the party
,
but they wanted to have the party for both girls together.

Lizzy had gone from being the cute little blonde that Ethan used to know, to a quite spoiled young lady
.
She was a bit snooty and always got what she wanted
.
Lizzy and Abby had actually grown apart
.
Abby
was quiet, delicate, and compassionate
.
W
hen she wasn’t reading or studying, she was down at the local homeless shelter helping with meals and other things they needed
.
Ethan wondered if that was the reason why he cared for Abby more than Lizzy.

The party had already started when Ethan arrived
.
He didn’t really dress up for the occasion, a pair of blue jeans and a black button down dress shirt
.
He knew Lizzy would be pissed about his attire but he didn’t care
.
His parent
’
s garden was filled with hundreds of teenagers
.
He thought they must have invited the entire state, but it turned out they were all from Lizzy and Abby’s school
.
Loud music thumped as strings of lights lined the
walkways
and decorations hung off the trees
.
It was a luau party
.
Maybe he hadn’t under dressed after all
.
There were people in the pool and other people dancing on the make shift dance floor by the DJ’s stand.

Ethan walked over to a table that held a different assortment of island like foods and drinks
.
He grabbed a glass of what looked like punch and took the flask out of his back pocket
.
He knew he would have to bring his own alcohol to this thing, since everyone was underage
.
He doused the punch with the whiskey from the flask and took a drink.

Suddenly he saw her
.
She stood near the pool talking to a group of kids
.
Her brown hair hung down her back in wild waves, her soft tan skin glistened from the lighting of the pool
.
She wore a blue Hawaiian style dress that ended just at the knees and
flip-flops
.
When she turned and looked at Ethan, her dress made her eyes stand out even more
.
She smiled at him and waved
.
He waved back
,
but got nervous when she started to walk toward him.

She always made him feel strange, he never understood why
.
As she got
closer,
he began to
notice
a scent that he never smelled before
.
It was enticing and wonderful
.
It made his head spin with excitement and his mouth water
.
Just as he realized what the scent was, Abby was standing right in front of him.

He looked around at everyone for a second
,
wondering if it was someone in the crowd
.
Then he looked back at her.

She hugged him tightly and he realized the scent was in fact coming from her
.
He hugged her back and breathed deeply. It suddenly became clear to him why he treated her the way he did
.
Why he was so protective of her, so tender with her, and tried spoiling her every chance he got
.
She was his life mate.

Shivers of excitement ran up his spine
.
He was elated that he had finally found her, and that she was the one perfect
,
beautiful girl that he had already spent years with
.
Then he remembered that she was still only sixteen
.
What was he going to do
?
He couldn’t claim her yet, she wasn’t old enough
.
However,
he ha
d to have her, he had waited so
long.

“Ethan,” she sighed, “I’ve missed you.”

He pushed her away and loo
ked in to her eyes
.
She was his
.
H
e could see it in her eyes
.
What was he going to do
?
His head began to hurt.

“I-I have to go Abby.”

“But you just got here.” her hand caught his elbow as he turned to leave.

He batted her hand away
.
”Don’t touch me.
”
He turned and looked at her and saw the hurt in her eyes from his words
.
He wanted to take them back, he wanted to comfort her, but he couldn’t.

“Just listen to me Abby
.
Y
ou need to stay away from me from now on
.
I don’t want anything to do with you anymore.”

Tears ran down her
cheeks
.
His heart began to break
.

“I have to go.
”
He turned away and started to push through the crowd
.

H
e could hear her calling from behind him, “But Ethan, what did I do?”

His heart ached at her desperate plea for him
,
but he couldn’t go back
.
Not if he wanted to allow her to at least have a life of her own
,
befo
re he claimed her as his
.