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    Soaring Betrayal
    Soaring Betrayal
    Soaring Betrayal
    Ebook105 pages1 hour

    Soaring Betrayal

    By T. L. Cooper

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Soaring Betrayal details accounts of heart-wrenching betrayal that leaves in its wake broken lives, broken spirits, and futures forever changed. In moments where love goes wrong, hurtful decisions are made, and obsession turns to violence, hope beats in the hearts of men and women who would have good reason to abandon humanity. Inner strength and resolve surface in the harsh realities of deception and loss. The men and women in each of these short stories search for ways to soar above the betrayal that threatens to destroy them.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherT. L. Cooper
    Release dateJan 28, 2018
    ISBN9780984686292
    Soaring Betrayal
    Author

    T. L. Cooper

    T. L. Cooper is an author and poet whose work aims to empower and inspire through an exploration of the human condition. Her poems, short stories, articles, and essays have appeared online, in books, and in magazines. Her published books include a collection of short stories, Soaring Betrayal, her Silhouette Poetry Series, and a novel, All She Ever Wanted. She grew up on a farm in Tollesboro, Kentucky. When not writing, she enjoys yoga, golf, hiking, and traveling. She currently lives in Albany, Oregon with her husband and three cats.

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      Book preview

      Soaring Betrayal - T. L. Cooper

      Soaring Betrayal

      T. L. Cooper

      The TLC Press

      Copyright © 2014 by T. L. Cooper

      All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means without prior written permission of the author, except for brief passages as part of a review.

      ISBN: 0984686290

      ISBN-13: 978-0-9846862-9-2

      The TLC Press

      Albany, Oregon

      All stories in this book are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, public or private institutions, corporations, town, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used factiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

      The Soaring Betrayal book cover, is a derivative work created by altering and combining two works Kiss Me (https://www.flickr.com/photos/scented_mirror/2449493164/) by Mariana Amorim (https://www.flickr.com/photos/scented_mirror/with/2449493164/) used under CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode) and Point Cape Scenery (https://www.flickr.com/photos/82955120@N05/7645792196/in/set-72157630648140498 and http://freestock.ca/africa_g99-cape_point_scenery__hdr_p1870.html) by Nicholas Raymond (https://www.flickr.com/photos/82955120@N05/ and http://freestock.ca/view_photog.php?photogid=1) used under CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode). Soaring Betrayal book cover is licensed under CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode) and http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode) by T. L. Cooper and Loay Abu-Husein.

      Dedication

      Dedicated to anyone who has soared above betrayal to discover the strength within as well as to the people in my life whose betrayal pushed me to find my wings.

      Betrayal

      Meredith opened her brown eyes and looked around the unfamiliar room. She shifted in the dark brown micro-suede armchair. She had no business being there. She only agreed to come because Jonna asked, because Jonna needed her, because she didn’t know how to say no, because she had no life. For all those reasons and none of them.

      Silence permeated the space. She didn’t see Jonna or Erik. She looked for a clock but found none. She glanced at her wrist. Empty. She left her watch at home.

      Jonna had asked her to come along to keep her from making the same mistake as last time – the same mistake she always made when she tried to talk to Erik. Apparently, she failed.

      Jonna, where are you? Meredith pushed her tall, lanky body from the armchair, shook her tingling arm, stretched her stiff neck, and rubbed her hair over her short, spiky dark hair. She stepped around a stack of folders. She glanced down. They looked like files from the store.

      She looked into the kitchen. No one. She passed the open bathroom door. No one. Why bother? She knew where they were even, but she avoided letting her mind entertain the thought. Still, she held out hope and looked in the guest room. No one. She sighed. Only one room left.

      Meredith stopped outside Erik’s door. She felt strange about knocking, but she wanted to go home. She refused to spend the night in Erik’s house.

      Every time Jonna came to talk to him about separating both personally and professionally, they ended up in bed. Well, maybe not exactly in bed, but in a naked embrace anyway. The breakup never happened.

      Meredith came to help Jonna not fall for Erik’s charm, but Erik talked so endlessly about nothing Meredith couldn’t keep her eyes open. She fell asleep before Jonna got around to breaking up with him.

      Meredith stood with fist poised to knock when Jonna quietly opened the door and slipped out. She averted her hazel eyes but not before Meredith saw a flash of defiance in them. Let’s go.

      Jonna.

      I don’t want to talk about it. Jonna tugged her clothes over her well-proportioned curves and glanced up at Meredith’s face.

      We have to. Jon, you’ve got to do this and soon. He’s going to destroy everything you’ve worked so hard to achieve.

      I know, Mere, honestly I do. She shook her brown hair over her face, grabbed Meredith’s arm, and pulled her toward the door. I can’t. Not now. Let’s get out of here.

      Jonna fumbled in her purse for her keys. Finding them, she pushed them into Meredith’s hand. You drive. We had a couple of drinks after you fell asleep.

      Sure. No problem.

      As Meredith backed Jonna’s midnight blue Toyota Camry out of Erik’s driveway, she asked. Have you ever considered talking to him in a restaurant?

      He hates restaurants.

      What? Meredith glanced over at Jonna. You can’t be serious.

      Jonna shrugged. That’s what he says. We’ve only gone to a restaurant once.

      In three years?

      Jonna nodded. He felt so anxious, he became physically ill. We left before the entrée arrived. Took the food to go. And he still refused to eat it.

      That’s just weird. You’ve got to find a public place to end this. It’s not working and you know it. It’s draining you in too many ways.

      Maybe there’s another solution.

      Another solution? Get real, Jonna. He’s going to destroy your store. He’s useless as a boyfriend.

      Not useless. She smiled. He’s great in bed.

      Is good sex worth everything else in your life?

      Of course not.

      Do you love him?

      Jonna looked out the window without speaking.

      Oh, damn. Do you?

      I don’t know. We’ve spent three years together. We’ve had some good moments. Things used to be good with us. We had plans.

      Jonna, you know he’s been using your business to hide.…

      Don’t say it. I don’t know anything for sure. I suspect something. He’s good to me. He’s always supported my….

      What more evidence do you need?

      You don’t understand. He doesn’t mean any harm. He just gets… caught up in things.

      Meredith didn’t reply. She clenched her jaw and focused on driving. Jonna turned on the radio and switched through the stations.

      ***

      The next morning Jonna stepped into her bookstore. She loved this place. Spending her days surrounded by books was her dream come true. She’d been an avid reader for as long as she could remember. The bookstore offered her a forum to get paid to encourage people to read. She took a deep breath. Something about the scent of a room filled with books comforted her. She pulled the drying fresh flowers from the vase beside cash register and replaced them with daisies she’d picked up from the florist a few doors down. He put a display of her books and her business cards by his cash register and provided her with fresh flowers every few days. She straightened his business cards and smiled. The subtle hint seemed to work. Customers often went from one store to the other buying both books and flowers.

      A glance at her watch reminded her she had another hour before the store opened. She placed her book bag, purse, and coat in the office. For the next few minutes she walked around the store straightening displays and replacing books left on tables. Along the way she made mental notes about displays that needed changed or updated. She refilled the newsletter bin and the stack of bookmarks with the store logo and website on the table by the door.

      The busy work allowed Jonna to avoid what she didn’t feel quite ready to face. She looked around. She sighed, squared her shoulders, and headed to her office. She had to figure out why the books refused to balance. She wanted it to be a mistake. She wanted it to stop pointing at Erik. She needed to find an explanation.

      Erik had handled the bookkeeping when she went to North Carolina to handle her mother’s estate a few

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