Drake (The Powers That Be, Book 5)
Drake
The Powers That Be, Book 5
Harper Bentley
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2017 Harper Bentley
Editors: Franca, Mel & Sam
Cover image licensed by Shutterstock
Cover Photo design by Jada D’Lee Designs
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 the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locations is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior express, written consent of the author
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Check out other titles by Harper Bentley:
The Powers That Be series:
Gable (The Powers That Be Book 1)
Zeke (The Powers That Be Book 2)
Loch (The Powers That Be Book 3)
Ryker (The Powers That Be Book 4)
CEP series:
Being Chased (CEP #1)
Unbreakable Hearts (CEP #2)
Under the Gun (CEP #3)
The High Rise series
The Fighter
Serenity Point series:
Bigger Than the Sky (Serenity Point Book 1)
Always and Forever (Serenity Point Book 2)
True Love series:
Discovering Us (True Love #1)
Finding Us (True Love #2)
Finally Us (True Love Book 3)
True Love: The Trilogy: The Complete Boxed Set
The Wait series:
Thursdays (The Wait Book 1)
http://harperbentleywrites.com/
Dedication
To my family
Who’ve been nothing but supportive
from day one
I love you all more than life itself
♥
Acknowledgments
To Renee whose encouragement, love and steady guidance for, oh, like, my entire life has made all the difference. I love you soooooo much and can’t wait for you to join me in this craziness! Mwah! ♥
To Franca, Mel & Sam, You guys. I know I thank you every time but, my lord, I mean it every single time too. You guys are the best of the best of the best! Thank you for always being there for me! It makes my heart so happy to know that I can text/message/email and you all are there in a flash. I love you all TONS!
To the Harlots & Hellbenders, Oh, how you lovelies never cease to amaze me! To Shannon, Michelle, Gemma & Swess especially, thank you for your endless support & promoting my books! You guys all rock my friggin’ world! <3 you hard!
Anne Mercier, Your friendship means the world to me! You are the most generous and sweetest person ever! Knowing I can text/message/call/send smoke signals at any time & you’re there no matter what makes me flove you even more. Cage match 2017 fast approaching! Can’t wait to give you a big ol’ slobbery cheek smooch & great big bearhug! Love you much! xo
TC Matson, Well, damn. Look at all the shit we’ve been through over the past 2 ½ years and yet we’re still acknowledging each other’s existence lmao! I lobe you gobs & appreciate everything from the quick text messages cheering me on to the 2-hour phone calls where we scheme to take over the world. One day, drinks are on me, baby hands ;)
To Amy Dunlap, who I forgot to mention in my last book & I’m truly sorry. Your loads of encouragement & love for my books astounds me. You’re truly a sister to me which is crazy! Miss you & love you bunches! <3
Erin Spencer, Thank you for always hooking me up at the last minute. I’m thinking you’re starting to figure out my MO now so I’m past the shocking you stage. <3 you more!
To the many bloggers who’ve spread the word about my books, thank you x a kajillion. Know that you are appreciated GOBS!
And to the readers, this is all for you. Thank you for making my dreams come true <3
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
About the Author & Sneak Peek of Rock The Dream!
Chapter 1
“Victor! Betsy won’t start again,” I said to my brother from where I stood in his bedroom door.
His flavor-of-the-day turned over in bed, squinting at me through a tangle of bleached-blond hair. As she shifted, I got a glimpse of naked body parts that I never wanted to see, not in a million-bazillion years, and looked quickly away. Gross.
“Hey,” she mumbled, putting her arm out and shaking my brother by the shoulder. “Some whiny chick in scrubs wants you.”
I rolled my eyes at her wanting to tell her to fuck off, but odds were I’d never see her again. So instead of wasting my breath, I put her on ignore and crossing my arms on my chest called, “Vic!”
“What?” came his muffled reply from under his pillow.
“My truck won’t start,” I repeated, wondering if maybe good old Betsy had finally bitten the dust for good.
“Get the screwdriver. Put it in the choke on the carburetor. It’ll start,” he grumbled.
On a sigh, I answered, “I tried that. It didn’t work. Can you give me a lift?”
“Call Jeremiah,” he mumbled.
Jeremiah was my “kind of” boyfriend of almost four months. “He’s working.”
“Jesus,” I heard Victor groan, then a moment later his pillow flew across the room and with a kick of his legs he sat up in bed.
Before I saw anything naked on him I didn’t want to see, I scooted out of his room hollering, “I’ll be in the kitchen waiting!”
I felt bad asking him to take me because he was a bartender/assistant manager at a fairly upscale and popular bar and usually didn’t get home until around four in the morning. And after calculating in time for his banging this latest chick—again, gross—he’d probably only gotten a couple hours of sleep. Oh, well. But no way was I going to pay a cab to take me to class.
Now glancing at the clock on the stovetop, I saw that if I held my mouth just right—and he got up instead of canoodling some more with the chick in his bed—I’d barely make it to class on time. That was a big, fat if, especially if the chippy he’d brought home had been any good. Annnnd even grosser.
But lo and behold, I heard the bathroom door close and quietly rejoiced that he’d gotten up.
A few minutes
later, I heard the sharp click! click! click! of heels on the hardwood floor and Vic’s one-nighter rounded the corner and entered the kitchen. She stopped, giving me a once-over, eyebrows raised, showing she wasn’t one-bit impressed with my purple scrubs. I raised my eyebrows right back, taking in the silver micro-mini dress she wore under a white faux-fur coat and stifled a laugh.
Would these chicks never learn that that shit might get Vic for one night but that was about it?
“I’m Cheri. Victor’s girlfriend,” she challenged, cocking a hip and putting her hand on it, striking a pose like she was a model who’d stopped at the end of the runway before making the turn.
“I’m Honor. Victor’s sister,” I revealed, watching her attitude dissolve right in front of my eyes at finding out I wasn’t the competition.
“Oh! Nice to meet you!” she replied, all grins and cheery now.
Uh huh. Sure.
“Likewise,” I murmured just as Vic came in wearing his usual jeans and long-sleeved thermal.
“Ready?” he asked, looking at me and running a hand over his buzz cut. He grabbed his black leather jacket off the hook by the back door and pulled it on.
“Yep,” I answered, peering at the clock again knowing I’d just make it on time if he sped a little, which I was certain he would.
“Oh! I’ll leave my number,” the blonde said. She wrote it out in pink chalk on the board I’d hung next to the back door and turning to Victor suggested, “Walk me out?”
His eyes cut to mine. “Meet you at the bike,” he stated then followed her out the door.
Just as I was thinking that at least he was being a gentleman, as he went by, he reached a hand out to the board and smeared her number leaving it illegible. Jeez. My brother the player. I shook my head and chuckled as I grabbed my bag and pulled the door closed behind me.
~*~*~*~*~
“Th-thanks,” I said, teeth chattering in the chill of the February, Seattle morning as I got off Victor’s Harley. He’d bought it used, but it was nice, it was fast and it got him where he needed to go quick. As I tried getting my shivering under control, at that moment I wished he’d opted for a car because scrubs definitely did not protect against the cold.
He grinned. “Any time, baby sister.”
“Sorry I c-cut your morning short,” I said, shivering as I took off my helmet and handed it to him with a shaking hand.
“Don’t be. She wasn’t worth it anyway.” He took the helmet clipping it onto the bar behind the seat.
I looked at him wondering if he’d ever settle down, afraid he was following in our father’s footsteps. Vic was four years older than I, and at twenty-five, he was the same age Dad had been when he’d promptly cut out on us, leaving to be with one of the many women with which he’d had an affair. Oh, but thank God Dad—who was a career Army man—had stuck around long enough to give us what he called our military names, for which I was eternally grateful. Yeaaahh. I mean, who in their right mind with the last name of Justice, named their kids Victor and Honor? Lord. Anyway, since I’d come to live with Vic three years prior, there’d been an endless string of women in and out of his bedroom, never the same one twice, and this worried me.
There had been a time before the revolving door to his bedroom began, though, when he’d hooked up for almost a year with my best friend Krystal when she and I were freshman at the University of Washington. I wasn’t sure what’d happened between them that’d led to their breakup as neither felt the need to clue me in—Krystal telling me she didn’t feel comfortable talking with me about my brother and it wasn’t like Vic would share anyway—but something had gone wrong and they hadn’t spoken to each other since.
“S-so, you think you could take Betsy in somewhere?” I now asked rubbing my hands up and down my arms as I danced from foot to foot trying to ward off the cold.
“I’ll see what I can do. Probably take it to Powers ‘cause I know them.”
“Thanks. I’ll pay for it. That’s not a problem. And I’ll hitch a ride to the nursing home after class too so you don’t have to pick me up.”
He gazed at me for a moment. “Who you gonna get a ride from?”
“I’ll, um, call Krys. She’ll take me.”
I watched his hazel eyes—the same color as mine—narrow, a flash of hurt sparking in them for a split second before they went hard. “Yeah. You do that.”
“‘Kay,” I answered, biting my tongue to keep from asking him—for the umpteenth time—exactly what’d gone wrong between them. “Thanks.”
“Yep,” he replied.
I leaned in and kissed his cheek telling him goodbye then made my way quickly to class, the roar of his bike buzzing in my ears as he drove away.
~*~*~*~*~
I sat in my pathophysiology class, one of my undergraduate courses that would hopefully lead to my being an occupational therapist someday, soaking up the information my professor was raining down on me, and as usual felt tremendously lucky that I was there. The only reason I could afford college was that Dad had transferred his GI Bill towards my education—one of the few decent gestures he’d made toward Vic and me. So that and the various grants and scholarships I’d received, along with my working since I’d been in eighth grade and saving as much as I could, had helped pay for school. Vic could’ve used the money from Dad too, but he hadn’t been interested in furthering his education, barely making it out of high school where he’d been bored to death except for playing sports, but I always knew I wanted something more.
At a pause in the lecture, I texted Krystal.
Text Message—Mon, Feb 15, 8:09 a.m.
Me: Could you give me a ride to Colonial Manor after class?
Krys: Yep. You get out at 11?
Me: Yes. THANK YOU! I’ll bake you turtle brownies ;)
Krys: Yes, yes, you will lol
Me: You know it!
Krys: See you in a bit
Me: You’re the best <3
Krystal and I had been best friends since fifth grade. She’d been through the David-who-punched-Mom-every-time-he-was-angry-whether-it-was-her-fault-or-not-two-years, the Brad-who-cheated-the-entire-four-months-four-months, the Wayne-who-was-an-alcoholic-but-hid-it-well-year-and-twelve-days, and finally the Albert-seven-months-and-I-had-no-idea-how-much-longer-he’d-been-in-the-picture-because-I’d-gotten-the-hell-out-of-there times with me. All of these men had been Vic and my stepdads.
The last one, Albert, was an ambulance chaser who made a ton of money taking every personal injury case he thought he could win, but he didn’t shy away from civil suits either. He even had commercials—touting himself as Seattle’s best attorney, which was a joke—that ran on TV late at night. He’d given me the creeps from the first time I’d met him, and when I’d voiced my misgivings to Mom, she’d replied that I was just jealous. Um, okay. You know, because I so wanted a forty-five-year-old controlling jerk who flirted with other women and me—shudder—right in front of my mother.
The summer after I’d graduated high school, one night when Mom had been working a double shift as a nurse, Albert had come into the bathroom, without my knowledge, while I’d showered. I’d just turned off the water and pulled open the curtain to see him standing there holding a towel out to me, which had made me yelp and cover myself with my hands before grabbing the towel from him, wanting to throw up at the lurid leer he’d given me.
Gross. Gross. Gross!
I’d screamed at him to get out, and hearing him chuckle darkly as he left, the salacious sneer on his face as he pulled the door closed, had made my fucking skin crawl. I’d quickly gone to my room and in tears had called Victor who’d been furious and told me to “pack my shit” that he’d be there as soon as he could get someone to cover him behind the bar. He’d shown up thirty minutes later ready to “stomp a mudhole” in Albert’s ass, which he hadn’t even ended up getting one good punch in because Albert had been smart, knowing I’d call my brother, and called the police before Vic had even shown up. Victor almost got arreste
d, but after telling the cops my side of the story, they’d questioned Albert who, of course, had denied the entire incident.
Victor and I had left but only after Vic told Albert he’d kick his ass if he ever saw him again.
Then my brother had gone and made things worse by posting fliers in the bar’s bathrooms with Albert’s picture on them and “Pedophile” printed underneath. Vic had almost gotten fired when Albert had called the bar manager to complain, threatening to sue for libel. Vic had explained to Jerry Finch, his boss, what’d happened between Albert and me, and since Mr. Finch had daughters of his own, it pissed him off what Albert had done to me; also, Vic had worked there for two years always picking up shifts when people called in, so Finch let it go, thank God.
The worst thing about it all was that Albert vowed he’d get Vic back no matter what, but Vic assured me he was only bluffing.
Later, when I’d called Mom to tell her about what’d happened, she’d blamed me for not locking the bathroom door, which I’d sworn to her that I had. She hadn’t believed me, and we hadn’t spoken since.
Krystal had stood beside me throughout everything, wanting to kill Albert for what he’d done—I think their protective instincts over me were what had brought her and Victor together—but I’d have done the same for her. Not that she’d be subjected to anything that disgusting since her parents were happily married, thank God.
Anyway, I loved her like a sister and would do anything for her, being my entire point.
When class was over, I waited outside the building until Krystal pulled up in her BMW. Yeah, her parents were wealthy, but you’d never know it by the way she and her family behaved. They were the most down-to-earth people I’d ever met and treated me as if I were their own.
“I owe you,” I said as I got in, putting my bag on the floor in front of me.