Lost and Found (The West Lake Series Book 1) Read online

  LOST AND FOUND

  BOOK ONE IN THE WEST LAKE SERIES

  Venice Kelly

  Lost and Found

  Copyright © 2016 by Venice Kelly

  All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced or transmitted in any capacity without written permission by the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages for review purposes.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  This New Adult contemporary romance is recommended for readers 18+ due to mature content.

  Copy editing by:

  Bex Aaron

  Cover design by:

  Najla Qamber Designs

  Cover image

  Lindee Robinson Photography

  Cover Models:

  Elena Irene Flip & Marcus Filip

  Formatting by:

  Perfectly Publishable

  Table of Contents

  Lost and Found

  Playlist

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  Stay With You Excerpt

  “It takes one person to forgive, it takes two people to be reunited.” ~ Lewis B. Smedes

  PLAYLIST

  Lost and Found ~ Katie Hertzig

  Stay ~ Rihanna feat. Nikki Meeko

  Let It Go ~ Cavo

  Kick the Dust Up ~ Luke Bryan

  Whisper ~ Chase Rice

  Amnesia ~ Josh Abbott Band

  Drunk On Your Love ~ Brett Eldrige

  Ray Bans ~ JT Hogens

  Waiting Game ~ Banks

  Set Fire to the Third Bar ~ Snow Patrol

  White Flag ~ Dido

  Home ~ Foo Fighters

  I Found ~ Amber Run

  Desire ~ Ryan Adams

  American Honey ~ Lady Antebellum

  PROLOGUE

  Vanessa

  WHEN I AWAKEN sweat is covering my entire aching body. Inside the condo, my eyes adjust to the dark. I can hear Brian’s heavy breathing beside me, and then it hits me why I bolted upright. Another nightmare. I haven’t had one in over two years. I suppose now is the time I would start to have them. There are certain things you can run from. You can run away from your past if you try hard enough, if you go far enough. Nights like these, however, are when it hits you; it always catches up to you.

  Leaning over the side of the bed, I place my head in my hands, taking deep breaths. I move my fingers slowly through my chestnut hair and fight to regain control. It is a little after three and I have to be at work at six this morning. I move from the bed and make my way down the hallway to the bathroom, closing the door and turning on the light. I run cold water in the sink, splashing it on my face. My right hand traces the scar on the back of my neck and I try to forget. My other hand goes to steady my shaking body on the vanity. I haven’t been home in four years. Some would say I ran, but if the truth were known, it was more like I was encouraged to start over.

  So I did. I finished college last year, and started my job at Brickwell Financial. Then I met Brian. Brian was a distraction from everything I’d done wrong; a distraction from home and a break from haunted memories that kept me awake. He continues to take them away, ushering me to another place, where I can escape and hide from everything I have done. A place where I don’t have to think about him, or home or everything that I said goodbye to over four years ago. According to my therapist, nightmares are triggered when I am faced with the past—something she tells me I need to bury in order to move on.

  I find that hard to do when the last thing I remember of that night is reaching into the back seat of my Jeep Wrangler for my cell phone. It had fallen to the floor. The last face I saw was Hannah, in the seat next to mine, wasted from a party at her parents’ cabin. The ringing of the cell phone, Hannah screamed as I turned around to see a whitetail deer dart into the middle of the road. The world faded to black as we made contact and crashed into the lake. I remember the cold water filling the cabin, the distant scream of sirens and looking over to the passenger seat. No one was there.

  Four years is not enough to forgive myself for that night; for one irresponsible decision that changed the course of my life forever. Four years doesn’t erase Hannah’s face in the passenger seat. It doesn’t erase the ache in my heart where my best friend used to reside. It doesn’t take away the hate that Hannah’s brother Jacob has for me. It will never take away that I made a choice that night, one that changed not only my life, but his as well.

  I’ve been running long enough. I’ve hidden away in LA long enough, and I can’t refuse to return home when my mother needs me. Home haunts me, but the one thing that always kept me with the illusion that I could return was my father. He died two days ago. Now returning home is not an option. Even if I have to face the past, even if I have to see my old friends and run into Jake. I’ve been lost for far too long, perhaps going home I can finally be found.

  The knock on the door has my skin jumping and after a few seconds, I hear Brian’s voice on the other side.

  “Babe are you alright?”

  For a few moments, I debate whether I should give him a real answer or a halfhearted reply that will ease both of our minds for the night. Brian knows about my past. It took me a few months to confess it to him but he knows about Hannah and that night. The worst part is, he doesn’t blame me. When we started our relationship, I thought he would. I expected there to be judgment behind those dark brown eyes of his, but there wasn’t. If anything, there was compassion and understanding. I take a few breaths to steady myself and raise my head from the sink, looking into the hazel eyes that stare back at me from the mirror.

  “I’m fine,” I manage to get out, making sure to stop my voice from cracking too much. I can’t give anything away.

  “Are you sure?”

  I run my fingers through my chocolate hair and open the door to the bathroom. The city lights from the street illuminate Brian’s figure in the hallway. I’m unsure what to say when he draws me to his chest effortlessly and lets my forehead rest there. The beating of his heart thrumming against my ear, the comfort that should come, but doesn’t. The only thought that does come is how wrong it feels to be in his arms. It feels like I’m still drowning in the lake; that I’m still frantically looking to be found.

  CHAPTER O
NE

  Vanessa

  (One week later)

  AS MY MOTHER pulls into the driveway I cast a glance over at her, she looks worn down and beaten in the drivers seat she didn’t have to come pick me up or take the two hour drive from the airport that it takes to get home to West Lake but she did. She knows I don’t drive. I haven’t been home to the farm in over two years the last time was Natalie’s high school graduation and I only stayed a few days. The memories associated with the farm, with this town weigh on me, they cause my anxiety and nightmares. My parents knew better than to ask me to return home let alone stay for a while.

  “It is a shame that Brian couldn’t make it.”

  My mother’s voice is soft when she says it and when the truck pulls to a stop in the driveway of my childhood home I simply nod. My mind races with an answer to give her that he wanted to come but I insisted that he stay behind? That I didn’t want him here, I didn’t want him to have to deal with the stares he would receive. I didn’t want him to have to carry my guilt with me.

  “He had to work. He really wanted to be here.” I manage to say.

  My mother Sharon, is graceful for being in her early fifties with light streaks of white in her chocolate hair. Her skin is slightly tanned from the sun, her face looked worn from the past few days. I couldn’t blame her burying my father was something none of us would have thought would happen so soon. The heart attack was something not even his physician saw coming. Stepping out of the truck I opened up the cab to grab my suitcase out of the backseat, I’ve only packed for a few weeks and had to take my vacation time off from work to cover the trip. I don’t plan on staying just long enough to make sure my mother is set given my dad’s life insurance and then I will be gone.

  “Natalie should be here tomorrow.”

  My younger sister is studying up at Colorado State on scholarship where she rides and is part of the equestrian team. I used to ride before the accident in high school and my first few years of college before I transferred schools and moved to California. I was good too on my way to the national team. I cast a glance over the porch to the field and take a breath as I see the horses in the field. My family has been breeding Hanoverians and Thoroughbreds for over four generations. I see her in the field London, I’ve had her since I was a freshmen in high school when she was just a colt I don’t even realize that my hand is trembling looking at her. I suppose I abandoned her too when I left.

  “I didn’t realize that you guys kept her. I told Dad to sell her.” My voice is barely above a whisper as my mother opens the front door to the house.

  “He didn’t have the heart to sell her.” My mother says as she opens up the door into the farmhouse.

  The house looks exactly like I left it over four years ago the oak floors, the white walls, the modern living room off the entryway. Bringing my luggage inside I look at the stairs and then the photos on the hallway leading into the kitchen. Of course there are family photos of me with my parents and my sister Natalie. I stop to look at the one from my senior year in high school and my last high school riding show. I am flanked on either side by Paige Alexander and Hannah Donovan. We are all smiling having just placed into first for the hunter team competition. All going our separate ways to college, Paige to Boston while me and Hannah were going to Colorado State. Reaching out I trace my fingers over the glass for a moment remembering that day, a good day.

  I hear the oven open and close in the kitchen, leaving my luggage at the bottom of the stairs I make way back to the kitchen. My mother has some sort of Pyrex dish on the counter that contains some sort of casserole, while the oven preheats. I notice the pile of bills on the corner of the counter words like past due and final notice catch my eye. The farm has always done well, or it did when I was here. It was doing well till the accident, something that I know put a financial strain on my parents. They had to take out a second mortgage to cover my hospital bills and I know they lost the wrongful death lawsuit that Hannah’s parents brought on them. They also paid for my schooling which wasn’t cheap when I transferred to UCLA from Colorado State in the middle of the semester.

  “Mrs. Parsons brought over this tuna casserole for us. I told her it wasn’t necessary but she insisted.” My mother says, pulling out a pitcher of iced tea from the fridge. She grabs two glasses, filling them and setting one on the counter for me. “Austin came by with her.”

  Austin Parson is two years older than me though our mothers are close. Austin is also Jake Donovan’s best friend, my Jake. Or he was my Jake a long time ago. He was my first in every way that mattered. He was the first boy I kissed, the first boy I made love too. We planned a future together complete with a white picket fence, two and a half kids. Hannah was his sister, we actually met through her while I was a junior in high school and Jake was home from his first semester at college. We didn’t tell Hannah for a few months or his parents. His father never approved of me called me that Harvell girl. His mother Karen was always cordial. Looking back I am pretty sure they tolerated me due to my friendship with Hannah.

  “I’ll call him it has been a while since we talked.” I say picking up the glass and bringing it to my lips. It’s hot outside and the cool breeze from the window filters in. I want to ask about the bills on the counter but I refrain. “I’ll head upstairs and unpack before dinner.”

  Setting the glass down on the counter I walk back down the hallway to the stairs. I look at the pictures on more time before I grab my luggage. I am slow to go up the stairs knowing what awaits me in my room. Pictures, trophies and ribbons. My past jumbled on the walls of my childhood bedroom. I take my Samsung Edge out of my back pocket when I hear it buzz and look at the text from Brian.

  “Did you arrive alright?”

  Pressing the button closed on the phone I shoved it back into my pocket I can’t think about Brian right now. My mind is too cluttered with my past colliding with my present. As I walk down the hallway to my old room I ignore the photo of me and Jacob Donovan plastered on the wall, smiles on our faces. Hopefully I will be in and out of West Lake and I won’t have to see him or his family while I’m here. I don’t want to see him or think about him. I want to forget and then return back to Los Angeles back to my new life with Brian. Opening the door to my room I place the suitcase on the bed. It’s exactly how I left it over four years ago.

  I feel my phone buzz again seeing the reminder from Brian flash on the screen. Swiping my thumb across the screen I let my thumb type out a reply simple and to the point.

  “Yes.”

  Waiting a few seconds I close my eyes smelling the grass outside it was different to be home not like it was in LA. There isn’t the sound of traffic horns honking on the street, the smell of vendors looking to sell their food. No home meant the smell of fresh grass, the patter of hooves on the pasture. Things I used to want and dream about a future in West Lake. Running the family farm with Jake folding my arms and fighting back the sting of tears I unzip the suitcase. There was no sense thinking about that now Jake and I are long gone from one another. Gone in those fleeting moments when the water hit my car in the lake, when his sister was sitting in the seat beside me. The future we had planned together faded away in that moment, that night.

  Hearing my phone buzz again I pick it up and look at the next message.

  “Call me if you need to talk. I’ll be up. Miss you.”

  Picking up the phone I think of something to say only nothing comes and I toss the phone back down on the bed and work on removing my clothes from the suitcase. Just a week that is all I needed to help my mother settle my father’s affairs a week to make sure my mother and sister will be alright. It is only a week away from my life in LA and Brian. Walking to the window I look out over the pasture a feeling of comfort settles in as I look at the stunning bay staring back at me. London, the horse that I spent the days in the field with, the horse Jake and I would go riding on. The horse that I haven’t ridden since the night of the accident. Her golden brown eyes stare at mine and
I stare back until the guilt becomes too much to bare and the fresh tears fall down my face. Closing the curtain I turn away from the window and go back to the task at hand one week.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Jake

  LOOKING AT THE sign to Outdoor Adventures through the windshield. I pull the truck to a stop in the parking space, wringing my hands on the steering wheel. I knew she would come back to town it wasn’t like I expected her to stay gone forever but shit seeing her again. It brings back memories of college, of my sister it was barely a glimpse but I’d recognize her in a crowded room. Seeing her twists my stomach in knots, anxiety fills my chest and my heart strums just a little bit too much like it did when I was a sophomore in college. All those things though are irrelevant we can’t fix the past.

  Stepping out I ignore the contracts in the front seat instead of glancing at the name of Garrett Harvell on the contract he was supposed to sign before he died. My father has been after the Harvell farm for years and finally Garrett made the decision it was time to sell a month ago, now however. I can’t bring myself to even go to the farm it seems cruel to take the farm away from them with him not even six feet under. Donovan Reality has been in my family for over four generations and I started to take over with my dad last year. We specialize in suburban living and commercial construction and the farm is prime real estate. It goes deeper than that for my parents I am sure. They’ve wanted the Harvell’s gone since that night.

  I run my hand over my dark brown nearly black hair and take a look at my reflection in the mirror, my piercing green eyes stare back at me. Hearing my phone buzz I look at the message from Jess.

  Off work in a bit can come over if you want.

  Jessica Ridgeway and I have been hooking up for the last two years on and off, she knows what I like and how to get me there. Now though the text feels like I’m doing something wrong with her. Well most of the women in the texts on my phone. I tell myself it has been years that Vanessa has probably moved on too but that doesn’t ease my guilt. Instead it seems to magnify it to the point where my jaw locks and I get out of the car. Things change when your sister dies, life stops for you. For your family everything changes even though you wish it didn’t. The love you had for woman you planned on spending your life with changes. Especially when that woman awakes and she was driving the car the night your sister was cruelly taken from you.