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  Tainted

  Kallie Mathers

  Copyright © 2020 Kallie Mathers

  All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction that shall not be shared or sold without the authors permission.

  Dedication

  Thank you to my readers, without you, my dream would be dead.

  To my father, I miss you so very much, I wish you were here to guide me. I love you.

  Prologue

  Mia

  My earlier years were some of the best years of my life. My two parents seemed to love each other, and both my brother Chase and I always felt loved, but my teen years were some of the worst years of my life. My mother walked out on my brother and me when I was the tender age of fourteen.

  When she up and left to be with her new toy-boy, our father suffered from a mental breakdown. He had always been a wonderful, full of spirit kind of man, but my father loved my mom and he wasn’t able to cope with the loss.

  While my brother, Chase, did his best to shield me from the outside world and all the atrocities, but by the time I turned seventeen, my life took a harsh turn for the worst.

  Chapter One

  Mia

  As I open my eyes, the pain becomes so great I snap them shut. I can’t remember much of the previous evening, so I also don’t know how many drinks or pills I consumed, but I ‘do’ know it was enough to leave me feeling queasy and desperate for water.

  “Shit! Mia, Mia are you alive?” I hear my brother Chase call, his voice dripping with concern. My insides twist. I’d managed to run away from my home LA many months ago, how the hell did he find me?

  If he’s really here and I’m not hallucinating, then that’s just fan-freaking-tasic. Not!

  Now I’ll be on the receiving end of yet another lecture about how I’m killing myself. I’m not suicidal, I just like to party, so I need not deal with the reality that is my pitiful life.

  “I’m not dead, just hungover,” I tell him, but I don’t dare open my eyes.

  “For gods sakes. Why, why do you keep doing this to yourself?”

  “How do we get her out of here? This place is a health hazard.” Hearing his voice makes my body stiffen with anxiety.

  Why is my ex Carter here? I broke up with him a few months back when I realised just how much time he was spending worried over me.

  Sure, I went downhill emotionally when my father committed suicide last year, but I know what I’m doing. These two have absolutely no faith in me. It’s the part that eats away at me most.

  “What is ‘he’ doing here?” I snap.

  “Just shut up so we can get you out of this hell hole,” Chase snaps back. “Can you stand?”

  “I don’t know, but I do know that I can’t open my eyes. It hurts too much. It’s too bright.”

  “Take my hand, I’ll help you up.”

  I then feel my brothers hand take hold of mine but pulling me up is a useless feat. My body isn’t all that strong these days. I don’t eat much and when I do, I make sure it isn’t over two hundred calories. Does that mean I have an eating disorder? I don’t know, but even if I do, I won’t stop me. Being thin is important. It’s always at the forefront of my mind. Even when consuming alcohol, I always check the calorie content.

  Because I love the feeling of being wasted, when the buzz would wear off quickly thanks to my body building a tolerance to them, I knew I would have to turn to party drugs since they have no fat or sugar in their contents. I get the high I need without jeopardizing my weight.

  “Dude, take her other hand, she’s dead weight. Fuck, Mia!”

  For the life of me, I have no idea what happened next. I felt my body go limp and I must have passed out.

  Carter

  Mia was the love of my life. Sure, I was seventeen and she was fifteen when we met, but in my gut, I knew she was the one.

  The first thing that made me notice her was her piercing blue eyes, long pink hair and her banging ass that looked so sexy while she wore a pair of super tight skinny jeans.

  When I gained the courage to approach her, I couldn’t believe that someone so beautiful, someone so sweet was single.

  As we stood in the mall, we exchanged numbers and it was the beginning of something I couldn’t explain. I knew she was mine and vice versa. I would have done anything she asked of me, not that she ever made a request. No, Mia is a strong headed woman, even at the tender age of fifteen.

  She refused to rely on me, even when I begged her to let me in. I begged her to let me take away some of the burdens laid upon her, but the girl would always flat out refuse.

  One summers day, as I was helping my mother in the garden, my phone rang, it was Chase.

  “Hey, what’s happening, dude?” I asked.

  “I need you at the house, now!”

  Confused I ask, “What’s going on? Is Mia okay?” My stomach churned.

  “Dad killed himself. I just found his body. While I was seeing if he still had a pulse, Mia walked in. She saw the whole thing. I’m going to need your help.”

  “Fuck! Be right there!” And I hung up the phone.

  “Everything okay, son. You never use that word around me?” My mother, Sara, a woman in her early forties asks as she stands. My mom always suffered from mental illness, and it’s only getting worse as she gets older, but her carer comes in when I need to leave the house. It’s helped not only my mom, but me also.

  “Clint committed suicide and Mia walked in and saw him. I need to get to her.” Mia had a habit of blaming herself for things that happened around her and my gut was telling me this time wouldn’t be any different.

  “Oh, my dear boy. Go, go, make sure she’s okay. What a terrible situation. Please call me if they need any help, I’ll be right over.”

  She steps towards me and she wraps her arms around me. “Thanks mom. I’d better go.”

  In my black Dodge Charger, I sped like a bat out of hell until I pulled up outside Mia’s house. As I turned the car off, I looked over only to find a cop car and an ambulance parked in the driveway of the lavish two-story home.

  Mia’s father wasn’t short of a buck. That was for sure. Clint owned a chain of supermarkets throughout the United States, and they were extremely popular, especially with housewives.

  As I raced up through the front gates and then through to the grand entrance of the home, I’m stopped in my tracks when a police officer steps out in front of me holding up his hand.

  “Sorry, no one is permitted to enter at this point in time.”

  Looking at the short string bean, all I wanted to do was push past him, but I knew he it would only get me into trouble and keep me from Mia.

  Ignoring him, I called Chase.

  “Where are you?” He answers his phone on the first ring.

  “I’m at the front door but the cops won’t let me in.”

  “Mother fuckers. I’ll be right down.”

  And he hung up the phone.

  Not one minute later, I saw him come barrelling down the stairs. “Let him in! I need his help. He’s the only one that can stop my sister from drinking herself into a coma!” He yelled at officer sip shit.

  Chase pushed past the man, giving me room to enter the home.

  Following him up the stairs I asked, “How is she?”

  “In shock, but that will we’re off and I’m scared of what she’ll do to herself when it does. You know what she’s like.”

  “Unfortunately, I do.” Once we reached the first-floor landing, I scurried up to Mia’s bedroom.

  The instant I spotted her, my heart shattered. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring into thin air. I’d seen this before. She was in shock and she wouldn’t react to anything or anyone until she’s ready to do so.

  Taking a seat beside her, I slipped my
arm around her back and I waited. I didn’t say a word, I just made sure she knew I was there for her.

  Chase sat on the opposite side and he too didn’t utter a single word. We knew it was a waiting game. In the past, when we’ve tried to get her to react to us while in that state, it never turned out good for any of us.

  She would always become violent and then she would disappear. She’d be gone for days, torturing herself with pills and booze. The fact that Mia had all the money in the world, never helped because she could do what she wanted wherever she wanted.

  As we sat and waited, an officer (not officer dip-shit from downstairs) popped his head in the door, placing his attention on Chase. “May I talk to you for a moment?”

  “Sure. Be right out,” Chase told him as he stood, facing me. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  I nodded, in response before he turned to leave the room.

  Not two minutes later, I felt Mia move beside me, and when she did, I turned to look at her. “You okay, bub?” I asked in a soft tone.

  Slowly, she moved her head to face me. “No. I don’t know. He was so dead. So blue. Why did he do it? What am I going to do now? Everything is now upside down. I’m scared,” she whispered with tears in her eyes.

  Bringing her closer she rests her head on my chest. “I don’t know what will happen from here, but I ‘do’ know that I’ll be by your side through anything and everything that may come. You’ll never be alone again. That is a promise I ‘can’ make.” I didn’t care if I had to move in with her. I would keep my promise, one way or another because I loved her, and I damn well knew she would have returned the favour if I was the one suffering.

  Over the next four days, I sat with Mia up in her bedroom while the ground floor was littered with people wishing to pay their respects.

  Mia refused to see anyone. The only people permitted to enter her room was myself and Chase. She tried and tried to lose herself in alcohol, but I wouldn’t let her. I knew what would happen if she did get her hands on a bottle of booze. She would have drunk herself into a coma. That or she would have snuck out, leaving me stressed of her whereabouts.

  Time after time she wanted me to be intimate with her. But I refused. I knew that she only wanted to use sex as a distraction, and I wasn’t sure it was a good idea. That was until she threatened to leave.

  Days later when the house was empty and Chase had left to go to the funeral home to make the arrangements for Clint’s funeral, something Mia refused to participate of, again, she tried to get me to sleep with her as we lay back on her bed staring at the ceiling.

  “Come on, if I want to use your body as a distraction, then you should lap it up. Fuck, I’m not asking a lot,” she blurted as she sat up.

  Unsure of what to do, I too sat up and I threw my legs over the side of the bed. “I don’t want to take advantage of you, Mia. You’re facing one of the hardest times in your life, and I sure as shot know you’ve been taking pills, I just don’t know where you’re getting them from. I’m scared for you. I need you to know I love you.” I always did.

  Huffing, she raises from the bed, and she storms towards the door, but suddenly, she turns, her body fueled by anger. “You always do this! You always pity me and I’m sick of it. You don’t act like you’re my boyfriend rather a father figure. Shit, I get enough of that crap from Chase, I don’t need it from you too.” She threw her hands up in the air out of frustration. “If you’re going to continue to scrutinise everything, I do then you can get out and never come back!” I hated seeing her in a world of pain and knowing I was the one to cause it ate at my heartstrings.

  Swiftly I stood, and I made my way towards her. Taking her in my arms, I pressed her back up against the door, my lips then crashed down onto hers.

  For a moment, I felt her shock, but she soon relaxed and she reciprocated my love for her. But only moments later she took full control of the situation.

  Gathering the hem of my shirt, she pulled it up and off me, throwing it to the ground.

  Her passion was unmistakable. Mia pushed herself off the wall and guided me over to the bed where she was the one to remove our clothing. Anytime I tried to help, she smacked my hands away.

  As much as I wanted to take my time to worship her the way she deserved to be worshipped, I was told to lay back and enjoy the ride, and what a ride it was.

  As she leaned over me, I caught one of her nipple in my mouth and as I do, her back arches, pressing herself into me while rubbing against my dick.

  “Fuck!” She moaned.

  Reaching down, she lowers herself over me, my eyes rolling into the back of my head. I love how tight she is. She’s the perfect woman.

  Thrusting inside her, I feel only bliss. It isn’t long before I feel her walls tighten around me, I thrust harder and faster until we explode. Leaving us both breathless.

  ***

  The next morning was Clint’s funeral, a day I knew I wasn’t prepared for. No matter how I tried I knew that getting Mia through the day would be a difficult task.

  When my eyes opened, I looked over to Mia who was facing me. “How long have you been awake, Bub?” I questioned.

  “Too long. I couldn’t sleep. Would it look bad on my part if I skipped the funeral?” She asked and I was left stunned.

  “What? Why wouldn’t you go?”

  Laying her head down on my chest, I slipped my arm beneath her, using it to pull her closer. “I don’t want all those people pitying me. I don’t want them feeling sorry for me and telling me they’ll be there for me when I know they won’t. It’s always the same. People are there for you in the beginning but eventually, they disappear from your life because they fulfilled their karma duties. They feel better about themselves for offering help, and they walk away. It’s just how it is. Hell, both my mother and my mother’s family walked away when Chase and I became a burden to them. Thankfully my father’s side stuck around but it proved that you can’t count on those who are supposed to love you. If any one of them show up today, I’ll be in lockup.”

  “I won’t let them get anywhere near you. I will shield you from the outside world the best I can. I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  It took me a good two hours and help from Chase to talk Mia into getting dressed. But she eventually did, especially after Chase explained that he knew she would forever regret not taking the chance to say goodbye to her father.

  Mia loved Clint, she was daddy’s little girl but his heart was broken beyond repair when Johanna walked out on him. They were high school sweethearts. Never had Clint ever been with another woman. Nope, Jo was his one true love, it was just a pity she didn’t feel the same way about him.

  When the limo had picked the three of us up and we arrived at the funeral home, Chase had arraigned with the funeral director for us to sneak in through the back entrance of the home.

  The funeral director, Alley who I noticed was a very attractive girl, of course, I wasn’t looking for myself, but I didn’t want Chase to miss getting laid. Anyway, Alley, did her best to make Mia feel comfortable by taking us up a side hallway to a door that opened at the very front of the room saving Mia from having to walk through the crowd of mourners that had packed the room, but the very instant she spotted the open casket, with Clint laying inside, her body stiffened and her breathing became laboured. I helped her sit down.

  Unsure of what to do I tried to keep those in attendance away from her as she stood from her seat and slowly made her way over to the coffin.

  Looking over at Chase, I tell him, “Get up there with her, I’ll keep this lot away from her,” I nod toward the crowd. He gives me a curt nod and follows his younger sister.

  “Let me through!” I hear a female’s voice yell.

  Quickly, I turn to find the owner of the voice and that’s when I see her. My stomach churns with disgust, and my muscles immediately tense.

  When she pushed through the sea of mourners, she comes to a halt before me. “Let me get up there!�
� She demands.

  “Fuck off, Johanna. No one wants you here,” I seethe with disgust.

  The bitch rests her hands on her hips, and she gives me a smug smile. “And who do you think you are, Carter? You’re a nobody, get out of my way, now!” She again demands.

  “That’s never going to happen.”

  Just then, a young man comes strolling up behind her. “Everything okay, dear?” He questions.

  Fan-fucking-tastic, she brought along her toy boy. What the he’ll happened up Jo? She used to be the most caring mother around, but suddenly, everything changed.

  “You! Get your Sorry ass the fuck out of here, you dirty whore! Now! Or I will stab you!” Mia says through clenched teeth.

  “Oh, sweetheart. I’m only here to support you, I’m very sorry to hear about Clint’s passing. No matter what went on between us, never did I want to see him hurt.” Liar, she was there to seek attention.

  As she tried to walk towards Mia, I eyed Chase, but he shook his head telling me to let the situation play out, so that’s what I did.

  While Mia stood in place, Johanna carefully approached but when she opened her arms, in a split second, Mia had her mother in a head lock.

  Yes, I should have stopped her, but the fact this woman disappeared from her children’s life only to show up at their father’s funeral, told me the bitch deserved what she got.

  For the next few months, Mia stayed hidden from the outside world. On the days I needed to go to work, Chase would sit with her, but no matter who was there for her, she always managed to get her hands-on pills and booze.

  Mia’s mental state deteriorated rapidly, especially when Jo took both Chase and Mia to court to contest Clint’s will.

  It turned out Clint left every cent of his fortune to his children, and nothing to Jo.

  Unfortunately, Mia was required to attend the hearing, and thanks to both their lawyer and the judge, Jo wasn’t to receive a penny.

  Hell, the judge told her she was a dreadful mother and that he felt the fact that she tried to take money away from her children’s inheritance was deplorable. He also granted a restraining order against her. She wasn’t to come within one thousand yards of Mia or Chase.