Loch (The Powers That Be Book 3) Read online

  Loch

  The Powers That Be

  Book 3

  Harper Bentley

  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)

  CEP series:

  Being Chased (CEP #1)

  Unbreakable Hearts (CEP #2)

  Under the Gun (CEP #3) coming March 2016!

  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

  http://harperbentleywrites.com/

  Copyright © 2015 Harper Bentley

  Digital Edition: September 2015

  Editors: Franca, Mel & Sam

  Cover image licensed by www.shutterstock.com

  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

  Dedication

  To Sam

  Who always makes me

  feel WAY better

  Even when I’m just bumbling along

  YOU’RE the awesome one!

  ♥

  Table of Contents

  Confession Number One

  Confession Number Two

  Confession Number Three

  Confession Number Four

  Confession Number Five

  Confession Number Six

  Confession Number Seven

  Confession Number Eight

  Confession Number Nine

  Confession Number Ten

  Confession Number Eleven

  Confession Number Twelve

  Confession Number Thirteen

  Confession Number Fourteen

  Confession Number Fifteen

  Confession Number Sixteen

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Confession Number One

  I pushed my glasses up my nose and stood watching as the love of my life danced with Misti Fitzgerald, the prettiest, most popular girl in class, and couldn’t help the tumble that my heart took at seeing him smile down at her.

  “He’s such a jerk!” Marcy Belton, my best friend, hissed as she came and stood beside me at the edge of the gymnasium floor, hands on her hips.

  I couldn’t have agreed more but I just shrugged. I mean, what could I do other than stare as Lochlan Powers rocked back and forth to the slow song that was playing with another girl in his arms. A girl who wasn’t me. Me, who happened to be his date for the evening.

  When the song finished, I then observed with horror him bending and kissing her… on the mouth! Then he held her hand as he led her off the floor.

  “Oh, my God,” Marcy bit out. “I’m gonna let him have it!”

  She grabbed me by the hand and tugged me with her as she crossed the gym floor, cutting through couples and not even excusing herself, to the opposite corner where all the cool sixth graders were hanging out.

  “Marcy! No!” I pleaded, trying to get my hand free from hers, but it was of no use since we’d already arrived at her destination.

  “Loch!” she yelled.

  When he turned to see who was shouting at him, I watched as he regarded us both with annoyed consideration, me especially.

  Marcy marched right up and got in his face. “Simone is your date! You shouldn’t be hanging out with someone else!” She shot Misti a dirty look who gave her one right back.

  Loch looked past Marcy’s shoulder at me with cold, disapproving brown eyes which made my face instantly hot. Then I watched in morbid fascination as he brought the side of his mouth up in a smirk and looked back at Marcy.

  “I don’t date geeks.”

  The kids standing around him laughed to my complete and utter embarrassment and I looked down in humiliation at my first pair of real high heels that I’d ever owned, so cute with the rounded toe and teardrop cutouts. They were black and looked cute with my black and white polka-dotted dress with the flouncy skirt. Compared to the tight, sexy red dress Misti was wearing, I guess mine was kind of babyish but I loved it.

  “Let’s go, Marcy,” I begged, then bit my lip as I avoided the eyes of my cruel classmates.

  “No, Sim! He shouldn’t be doing this!”

  And that was when Loch had gotten mad (probably pretty embarrassed himself at being called out in front of all his friends) and gone for the throat. “Really wanna know why I’m here with her?” The sneer on his face as he tossed a hand toward me let me know that I completely disgusted him. “My mom made me. She felt sorry for her, so she paid me fifty bucks to bring her.”

  This got an even bigger laugh from his peers and I wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

  “Ah!” I cried out as I sat up in bed, breathing hard.

  “Nightmare again?” I heard Marcy holler from the bathroom which was across and down the hall from my bedroom in the cute little house we rented.

  I flopped back down on my pillow, scrubbing my eyes with my palms. “Yes,” I mumbled wishing she hadn’t heard me and pissed off that the stupid dreams were happening again.

  “Anxiety from all your repressed emotions!” she responded making me groan. Marcy was now a psychology major and I’d been diagnosed by her at least once a week since my return. Yippee.

  “Yeah, yeah,” I grumbled as I stared up at my bedroom ceiling.

  I was back in Seattle where I’d been born and mostly raised. Marcy and I had been best friends since kindergarten and there was no telling how many hours we’d spent as little girls plotting and planning how when we got older we’d share a fancy apartment, we’d both date the most handsome boys on Hallervan University’s campus (we’d chosen Hallervan since our parents had gone there and it was smaller than UDub) and we’d both major in veterinary science so we could play with puppies and kittens all day long. But right before my seventh grade year, we’d been devastated when my dad had been transferred to Silicon Valley. And there went our dream.

  My older brother Tristan and I had finished school in Palo Alto. Tristan hadn’t been happy about the move since it had been his senior year, which I couldn’t say I blamed him, and he remained angry the entire year at the fact that he’d had to leave his girlfriend and all his friends behind in Seattle. A week after he graduated, he’d packed up all his things and moved back. Our parents hadn’t been thrilled that he’d left so brashly, but they’d understood to a certain extent. When he’d enrolled at UDub that fall, though, all seemed to be forgiven.

  After I graduated high school, I’d gone on to attend UC Berkeley the past tw
o years. Marcy and I had stayed in touch since I’d moved then last spring she’d called saying her roommate had moved out, that it would be the perfect time for me to transfer and I’d jumped at the chance. When I’d told my parents, they’d reacted about the same way they had with Tristan just not as emphatically since I was leaving on good terms. Their apprehension at my leaving was understandable since I was the baby and Berkeley had only been about thirty minutes away, so I’d come home almost every weekend to see them. But I was going to be twenty-one next month and I felt it was time for me to spread my wings.

  So, yep, here I was, back in Seattle.

  And that’s when the nightmares had started again.

  Don’t get me wrong. I was ecstatic that Marcy and my dream of living together and going to Hallervan had finally come true. But according to her, being here had dredged up hurtful memories that I’d never dealt with.

  Memories of Lochlan Powers, aka my archenemy.

  See, Loch’s mom and mine had been friends while in college, and when Mrs. Powers had opened a daycare, well, that’s where I’d ended up when my mom decided to go back to work. So I’d practically known Loch since birth. We’d shared a crib a few times and had even once bathed together and Mom had the pictures to prove it. Ugh.

  He and I had been buddies throughout elementary school, playing together on the playground and after school at his mom’s daycare. But when we reached middle school things had changed. Since I didn’t go to daycare anymore and the school we attended was bigger, we didn’t see each other as often and kind of lost contact. Oh, I always kept an eye on him. How could I not when he was the cutest and coolest guy in school? He was naturally good at sports and made straight A’s in class and all the girls adored him. Marcy had even once confessed to having had a slight crush on him.

  But as for me? I’d been head over heels for him to an almost embarrassing degree. Yay me. Of course, he’d wanted nothing to do with the bespectacled, too-skinny, painfully shy, nerdy girl he’d grown up with who he often caught ogling him from afar. I hadn’t been popular or a cheerleader or on the Student Council. No, I’d been timid and reticent and nothing but background noise to him.

  Our sixth grade year, our moms had conspired (unbeknownst to me unfortunately) deciding it’d be a great idea for Loch to escort me to the Spring Dance. When he’d asked me, I’d almost fainted, having been so out-of-this-world excited at the prospect of getting to spend time with him again that I’d failed to see the annoyed look on his face.

  And you’ve seen how that turned out.

  So since my return to Seattle, the nightmares had come back with a vengeance and I’d had no idea until now that what had happened at the dance had apparently been so traumatic for me.

  Wait. I take it back. That was me being a big fat liar.

  I actually did know I’d been traumatized because I’d stayed upset for a very long time afterward. I mean, I’d been an impressionable twelve-year-old girl and Loch had definitely done a number on my already fragile ego.

  I also knew that the way he’d behaved had ripped me to shreds and caused me to have all those crappy nightmares.

  Moreover, I knew I’d crawled into a proverbial shell and shut everyone out my seventh through ninth grade years only making friends with Emmalynn Talbot who was the sweetest person ever and friends with everyone and was now at LSU majoring in petroleum engineering.

  And I likewise knew that it had taken Coach Hawkins’ coaxing me out of that shell at the end of my freshman year to get me to try out for the soccer team (which I’d made then played on the next three years and loved every minute of it).

  Lastly, the biggest, most colossal thing I knew was that I hated Loch Powers.

  A lot.

  As in a lot a lot.

  As in, if hate were planets, I’d be Jupiter, a lot.

  I think you get the picture.

  And, dang it, I was now pissed off to no end that I’d been such a frail little wilting flower of a girl who’d let a stupid boy’s actions affect me to the extent that they had. But I wasn’t going to let things get to me anymore because I was no longer the bashful, ugly, geeky girl he’d once insulted.

  Well, crap. I take that back too. I’m still geeky but I can deal with that. Nothing wrong with being geeky.

  Anyway, I wouldn’t say I was beautiful, but instead of the pop-bottle-bottom glasses that had once graced my face, I now wore contacts that with their slight tint made my blue eyes appear bluer, and I also wore my auburn hair in long layers of loose curls most of the time instead of the two braids, ala Wednesday Addams, that I’d worn for years. Yeah, starting in fifth grade, I’d had an Addams Family thing going on. Tristan had had DVDs of both movies and I’d gone through a phase where I’d spent hours in my room watching them. Looking back, I think my infatuation with Wednesday was that she was so mean and said whatever she wanted and I think I wanted to be like that. But in ninth grade, I’d changed my look, having matured and finally grown out of my obsession with the awesome albeit macabre girl. After that I’d been hit on a few times by some very handsome guys so I didn’t think I was lacking too much in the looks department. Also, soccer had been a great workout and made me proud of my fit body. I’d even once overheard a couple boys in my class saying something about my being built like a brick shithouse, which I think meant I had curves. I definitely had boobs and a booty and I dressed in a way that didn’t overtly flaunt them but I didn’t try hiding what I had either.

  So that all being said, the relevancy of it was, I was stronger now, bolder, and if I happened to run into Loch, well, I told myself I’d no longer be intimidated by him. Nope, I’d stand up to him and would probably tell him what a jerk he’d been and how he’d almost ruined my life and that he could go take a hike.

  Yep. That’s exactly what I’d do.

  Oh, and the very last thing I knew?

  All my tough girl talk aside, I knew I was terrified to see him.

  Confession Number Two

  “I’ve only seen him a couple times over the past two years,” Marcy was telling me as she spooned a bite of Honey Nut Cheerios into her mouth. Her dark hair was up in a messy bun and there was mascara smudged under her dark blue eyes. One of the straps of her tank top had fallen down to her tanned arm but she paid it no mind.

  I put a bagel in the toaster. “Don’t really care, Marce.”

  “Yeah, but I’m just preparing you in case you happen to run into him.”

  “There’s what, over ten-thousand students on campus and you think I’m gonna run into him? And on the first day? Yeah, the odds are stacked pretty high.” I rolled my eyes as I got the cream cheese out of the fridge.

  We, of course, were talking about Loch. Goodie.

  “I’m just saying that the Powers brothers have been a big deal at Hallervan for years, Sim. First of all, Zeke was voted Sexiest Man on Campus, like, every year. He was a big football star and is now playing in the pros. Gable was the hottest asshole you’d ever lay eyes on. He smiled at me once when I was walking across the quad and I think I blew an ovary. But he graduated last year and I’m pretty sure he’s working for some architecture firm downtown. Ryker’s now Mr. Intense and Studly Senior Wrestler, and I think every girl I’ve talked to wants to have his babies.”

  It was so weird hearing about these guys who I’d played with for years. Guys Loch and I had tormented constantly when we were little. I let out an exaggerated sigh as I turned to look at her. “And you’re telling me all this because?”

  She lifted the shoulder where the strap was hanging. “Getting you ready for your run-in with Loch.”

  I huffed out a barely there laugh as I spread cream cheese on my bagel. “Like I said, it’s not likely that I’ll run into him.” I hoped.

  She stood and carried her bowl to the sink. “Just warning you.”

  “Warning me about what?” I licked my thumb that had cream cheese on it then took my plate to t
he dining table and sat.

  She turned and rested her butt against the sink crossing her arms over her chest and I saw she’d fixed her strap. “You remember Loch as a skinny sixth grader.”

  I took a bite. “Yeah? So?” I questioned, my voice garbled because of the food in my mouth. Classy, I know.

  “He’s hot now.”

  After taking a drink of orange juice, I looked at her. “He was hot then.”

  “Yeah, but he’s hot now.”

  I shook my head and took another bite.

  “Hot as in man hot not little boy hot,” she went on to explain.

  I was getting ticked off now because what did I care. “So he’s hot. Big whoop. He’s still an A-hole.”

  “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She pushed off the sink and made her way to the back door, plucking her keys off the holder we had on the wall. “All right, off to learn about drugs in Psychopharmacology class.”

  “Gonna be home for dinner?” I asked.

  “It’s Wednesday so Dr. Hoyt has late patients but he might cut me loose early.”

  “I’m making lasagna.”

  “Awesome. I’ll tell him I already have to study for a test or something so I’ll be home around five, ‘kay? See ya later!” And she was out the door.

  Marcy worked as a receptionist of sorts for a psychiatrist who was a family friend, which was good for her future career. I, on the other hand, worked at a secondhand gaming store which had no impact on my career but it was fun playing the games against the guys I worked with when business was slow, which was often.

  After swallowing my last bite of bagel, I went to brush my teeth, giving myself a last going over in the mirror then headed to class.

  ~*~*~*~

  I’d loved Hallervan’s campus from the moment I’d first seen it.

  When I was twelve, a few weeks before the fateful dance, I’d gone with Mom, who as a high school French teacher had taken her senior students on a spring tour of the language department. The whole place had felt exciting, all a-bustle with students hurrying to get to class, mingling in the Student Center, or hanging out on the quad studying, playing Frisbee or just tanning. On that same trip, Mom had told me about how when she and Dad had gone to Hallervan, she’d tutored him in French their sophomore year so he could keep his grades up, hence keeping his tennis scholarship, and how they’d ultimately fallen in love.