Kristen Ashley - Heaven and Hell

Kristen Ashley

Published by Kristen Ashley at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Kristen Ashley

Discover other titles by Kristen Ashley:

Rock Chick Series:

Rock Chick

Rock Chick Rescue

Rock Chick Redemption

Rock Chick Renegade

Rock Chick Revenge

Rock Chick Reckoning

Rock Chick Regret

The Burg Series:

For You

At Peace

Golden Trail

The Colorado Mountain Series:

The Gamble

Sweet Dreams

Lady Luck

Dream Man Series:

Mystery Man

Wild Man

The Fantasyland Series:

Wildest Dreams

The Golden Dynasty

Fantastical

Other Titles by Kristen Ashley:

Fairytale Come Alive

Lacybourne Manor

Mathilda, SuperWitch

Penmort Castle

Sommersgate House

Three Wishes

www.kristenashley.net

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personalenjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away toother people. If you would like to share this book with anotherperson, please purchase an additional copy for each person. Ifyoure reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was notpurchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.comand purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard workof this author.

*****

Dedication

Once upon a time, I was a girl from a smalltown in Indiana who had big dreams of everything. Then, atuniversity at Purdue, I met Kelly Brown who by that time had livedon four continents.

Then she introduced me to her parents, Pamand Neil.

They were chic, they were cosmopolitan, theywere cultured, they were well-traveled, they were unbelievablybright and they were extraordinarily generous.

And they opened my world.

So I dedicate this book to Pam, Neil andtheir daughter, my darling Kelly.

Thank you for sharing the world with me.

A Note to My Loyal Readers

In previous works, I appreciate that youveput up with a variety of editing errors, whether youve done itpatiently or impatiently. I hope Ive settled my past issues (tomy girl Kate Dobson, thank you for pointing that out).

With Heaven and Hell, settling thiswas done with the help of Chastity Jenkins, who proofread this bookfor me. In the middle, she got pneumonia. I hope you cant get thatelectronically. Thanks, Chas, for having my back.

And again, many thanks to my Facebook memberswho keep stepping in to help when I get stuck. This time, I haveGitte Doherty to thank simply for having a kickass name I couldsteal. And Jeanice Monson gave Kia her Cherokee but I had so manyideas for vehicles thrown my way from members, it was a tough call.Sam chose the Cherokee.

Sam gives you a big, ole kiss, Jeanice.

*****

Hell

The television was on and I heard him. Likehis voice was a magnet, even though I wanted to avoid that room,would do anything to avoid it unless ordered otherwise, my bodyfloated from the kitchen to the living room.

Cooter was in his easy chair watching itand, automatically, my body stopped nowhere near his chair.

And my eyes were riveted to the televisionscreen, watching the gorgeous man with his white smile andintelligent eyes talking to the sports commentators.

They were probably talking about football,something I had absolutely no interest in whatsoever. But I knew alot about it. This was because Cooter lived and breathed footballduring football season. He was quarterback at our high school,popular, hot, God, Id wanted him. So young, so fit, so talented,so cool, so beautiful.

And, dream of dreams, when I was a juniorand he was a senior, hed picked me.

I was in heaven.

Three years later, that heaven turned tohell.

I heard a yapping but ignored it. This wasCooters dog, Memphis saying hello to me.

When Cooter got Memphis everyone in town wasshocked. Cooter was definitely a pit bull or Rottweiler type of guyand not because both those types of dogs were really cute but forother reasons. So when he came home with a brown and white KingCharles spaniel; I was stunned. When he proceeded to dote on thatdog like it was his child, I was freaked. I didnt think Cooter hadan ounce of affection in him available to give to anyone, no humanand certainly no dog.

But there you go. He did. He adored Memphis.Completely.

Hed named her Memphis with the declaration,Fuck the redcoats, like the English were still our enemies andhim naming a spaniel after an American city would offend them insome way that would cause nationwide distress.

Then again, Cooter had a full supply ofanimosity for a lot of people, places and things and he kept itstocked up.

Not to mention, Cooter was the quarterbackof a winning team in a small town that lived football and thereforehe hadnt had to worry too much about books and, not knowing thisthen, but definitely knowing it now, he was scary lazy so if hedidnt have to do it, he didnt.

So he didnt. I wasnt certain he crackedopen a book throughout high school. But I was certain hedidnt do it in his very short tenure in college.

Therefore, Cooter was not the brightest bulbin the box.

And there he is, folks, Sampson Cooper,thanks for stoppin in, Coop, the commentator said and Iwatched Sampson Cooper smile.

My heart fluttered.

Sampson Cooper. Very tall. Very dark. Verybeautiful.

I adored him. When Cooter was out of thehouse, I internet stalked him. I knew everything about him.

Everything.

Well, everything you could learn on theinternet.

I knew his stats when he played collegeball. I knew his stats when he played pro ball. I knew the exactday he requested to be released from his contract playing for theIndianapolis Colts so he could join the Army. I knew he did this inmemory of his brother, who had died in Iraq and hed died a hero. Iknew this upset Sampson Cooper greatly. I knew, not long after hejoined the Army, hed disappeared off the grid for four years. Ialso knew when he came back. And lastly I, and everyone probably inthe world, knew what he did when he was off the grid consideringa tell-all (but anonymous) book was written about it and a biginvestigation was launched when it was. Therefore, I knew what hedid was dangerous in a way people like me couldnt comprehend thelevel of danger. I knew it was also heroic. And lastly I knew thathe tried to keep a low profile but when he found this impossible,hed come out into the limelight and stayed there but I guessed hedid this because, at least, if it was his choice, he had some slimchance of controlling it.

Anytime, Frank, Sampson Cooperreplied, his voice deep and weirdly rough, not rough likesandpaper, rough like velvet.

My stomach melted.

Babe! Cooter snapped, I jumped andmy eyes shot to him.

Oh no.

He was getting out of his chair and now, tenyears later, he was no longer fit (in fact, he had a serious beerbelly which was only partly due to his copious consumption of beer,the other part was food and the last part was being seriouslylazy). Id discovered he was not talented at all. He was definitelynot cool. And he was anything but beautiful.

At the look on his face, my mind becameconsumed with what my next move would be. I knew one thing; I had afifty-fifty shot at success. I could take a step back and piss himoff more (for whatever reason he was pissed off) which would makeit worse but conversely it could serve as a deterrent, snapping himout of whatever mood had hold of him, or I could stand my groundwhich also led to both options.

Like often happened, I chose wrongly and mychoice was to take a step back.

He advanced quickly and no matter how muchof a beer belly he had, my husband could move.

I didnt have a prayer to avoid it, Idlearned that but, still, I tried.