Broken: Book One of the M Series Read online

  BROKEN

  Book One of the M Series

  Ryanne Anthony

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Broken Family Tree

  Prologue Mandy

  Chapter One The Main Issue

  Chapter Two Patterns

  Chapter Three Total Recall

  Chapter Four Problem

  Chapter Five Revealed

  Chapter Six Man at Twelve

  Chapter Seven Calling for Help

  Chapter Eight Nice to Meet You

  Chapter Nine I Married…

  Chapter Ten Let’s Go On…

  Chapter Eleven I So Know You

  Chapter Twelve Another Pattern

  Chapter Thirteen But Did You Know…

  Chapter Fourteen One More…

  Chapter Fifteen Joshua & Mandy

  Chapter Sixteen October Second

  Meet Ryanne Anthony

  Excerpt: Book Two of theMSeries:Mariah

  Excerpt: Book Three of theMSeries:Marcus

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to the person who introduced me to words and gave me my first book without pictures.

  I’m sorry you didn't get to read this. I would have loved to see you cringe.

  Love you always, Daddy. Rest in peace.

  BROKEN:

  Book One of the MSeries

  Family Tree

  The Cannons

  Dr. Stephen Marcus Cannon

  {‘Dad’, husband of Katherine}

  Katherine Anne Crawford-Cannon

  {‘Mother’; called ‘Lovey’ by her husband, Stephen}

  Dr.Marcus Alexander Cannon

  {Oldest son, called ‘Cramp’; ‘Boo’ by his wife, Mariah}

  Mariah Hollander-Cannon

  {‘Cookie’; called ‘Baby’ by her husband, Marcus}

  Matthew Oliver Cannon

  {Second son, called ‘Toad’; 'Smf' by his wife, Madison}

  Madison Copeland-Cannon

  {‘Sugar’; called 'Smooch' by her husband, Matthew}

  Russell Collins

  {‘Russ’}

  Evelyn Turner-Collins

  {Only Cannon daughter and Russell’s wife; called ‘Evie’ or ‘Blossom’}

  Joshua Andrew Cannon

  {Last Cannon son and Mandy’s husband; called ‘Twerp’}

  Mandy Plummer-Cannon

  {Joshua’s wife; ‘Barbie’}

  The Harveys

  Dr. Thomas Harvey, II

  {Father of Tom, Ethan and Lisa; husband of Rachel and stepfather to Mariah; called Pops}

  Rachel Hollander-Harvey

  {widowed mother of Mariah; current wife of Thomas II}

  Caspar Reed

  Dr. Lillian Harvey-Reed

  {First wife of Thomas II; current wife of Caspar and mother of the Thomas III, Ethan & Lisa}

  Dr. Thomas Harvey, III

  {First child of Thomas and Lillian called 'Tom'; husband of Monica}

  Monica Sumner-Harvey

  {'Brownie'; wife of Tom}

  Ethan Harvey

  {Second child of Thomas and Lillian. Attorney, husband of Alissa}

  Alissa Juarez-Harvey

  {'Picante'; attorney and wife of Ethan}

  Dr. Nathan James

  {Husband of Lisa; best friend of Mariah’s}

  Lisa Harvey-James

  {Last child of Thomas and Lillian, called 'Twinkie'; wife of Nathan}

  Dr. Timothy Fields

  {‘Tim’, husband of Vicky}

  Dr. Amy Victoria Fields

  {‘Vicky’; Therapist and wife of Tim}

  Prologue

  Mandy…

  All right, Vicky, here’s my ‘closure’ as you call it.

  Smirk.

  I’m what you call, uh… anal-retentive is the best I can think of. I write everything down. Everything. I got into that habit when my interior design business took off.

  I redecorated my parent’s formal living room and suddenly every friend my parents had that saw the room, wanted me to do their homes. I booked them all and was doing five homes at one time and actually had to waitlist a few. I was in demand and for the first time, I was making my own money.

  I loved it. Until I messed up.

  I mixed up two clients. One wanted subtle and the other wanted strong, bold. Once I realized my mistake, I fixed it. I took Mrs. Rand to Mrs. Kingston’s home and vice versa, and as I suspected, they wanted each other’s rooms. Took me a month, but I managed to hire crews to work simultaneously and fix my foul-up. Since then, I’ve given each client their own portfolio and wrote everything down and soon, I started doing that in my personal life. Again, everything.

  One afternoon after I sent my sons to their Aunt Monica’s home to do some kind of video game tourney with her boys, I sat in the kitchen checking over my schedule for the coming weeks. Summer was coming so that meant school was out and before the boys started their summer activities, I wanted us to do something as a family.

  I looked over dates, so that I could sync with Joshua soon so he could prepare to take some time off, and saw that I had three homes that were going to be finished within a month and I had an office to do in the fall. I decided not to take on anyone new during the entire summer; I was going to dedicate most of my time to my ever-growing sons. They were growing so fast; Andy, my oldest was already nine.

  I went back over the month with a frown, looking for red hearts. That’s the symbol I used every time my husband and I made love.

  There were none.

  That’s when I realized how tense I was and how Joshua came home just as it was time to sit down to dinner and as soon as the boys were dismissed, he went to his home office and barely said a word to me. He also stopped kissing me hello and goodbye and he was gone before I opened my eyes in the morning.

  Usually, he wasn’t going out the door until he was sure I was able to get our boys up for school. If Dad had to use his booming voice in the morning, privileges were taken away, so our boys jumped up and hit the shower as soon as I wake them. If Joshua’s voice wasn’t needed, he rushed off to the office.

  I looked at the calendar again and stared at the last red heart, almost a month ago. It’s now February… twelfth? February, two days before Valentine’s and we haven’t discussed any plans or anything romantic for the holiday? And now I realize he hasn’t touched me, at all, in well over a month.

  Our last time having sex was January eighth. He’s never let us go this long unless we had a new baby. After the third baby came, Joshua said he didn’t want any more children; that the six-week wait to be with me was torture and getting worse by the child. He loved the boys but he didn’t want to wait that long to be with me ever again. I agreed and got an IUD; being without him and having to look at his naked body during my restriction, especially when he’s fresh from a shower, all wet and his skin glistening, so fresh and smelling so good… I just… well…

  I brushed it off and blamed ‘work stress’ but then six weeks without him passed and I was feeling… tortured and started remembering some of the best times we’d been together like our honeymoon… our birthdays… Arbor Day… Any given Sunday…

  Giggle.

  * * *

 
Lying in bed two months after our last time, I waited for Joshua to come to our room and shower, just as he always did when he’s ready to lie down for the night. Like I said, lately after dinner the man went straight to the office and I didn’t see him again until I was ready to nod off for the night. Usually, I was sleep when he came into the room.

  This night, I made sure to be awake: I took a nap while the boys were at school. I was going to get some from my husband and make him scream. I was good at that when he let me. As long as I didn’t get on top of him, he’d let me do practically anything to get a scream from him.

  I had my bath, oiled and got in bed naked. Knowing how much he hates when I play aggressor or just make the first move, I nervously waited for him, hoping I wasn’t going too far with him by being naked already but I wanted to show him how much I wanted him. How very much I needed him.

  I knew I was taking a huge risk, doing this. Joshua hates sexually aggressive women and won’t respond if I ever come on to him. Instead, I wait for him to be in the mood and he makes the wait short and worth it, every time.

  Under the covers in the darkened room, I heard as he crept through their hall into each boy’s room to say good night to them, even if they were already sleeping.

  I heard our youngest, Tyler, giggling and knew he suckered Joshua into a story and it was a funny one. It was the first time since becoming a mother that I hated that he was spending time and showing affection to one of our sons.

  Finally, Joshua entered and went straight to our bathroom. I heard the shower then him brushing his teeth. I actually grinned when the bathroom’s door opened and he shut off the light. I was about to get me some loving from my sexy, handsome husband and just the thought made me throb in anticipation.

  Joshua got into bed and laid on his back, not touching me. In fact, he was so far away from me, you’d think we were in twin beds, like Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. After a hard sigh, his breathing changed almost strained. I frowned, wondering what was stressing him.

  He didn’t say a word, just laid there. I turned and cuddled into him. My naked skin, specifically my hardened nipples, rubbed him and I heard him inhale, long and hard. He bolted from the bed and raced into the bathroom. I saw how erect and red his member was and I wanted to cry because we could have taken care of it together and been dirty about it.

  When the door slammed shut, all I could think was, why did he run?

  * * *

  He denied me for weeks longer and I was just beyond confused. I needed him and he wouldn’t even look at me. I spent extra time in the mirror, trying to figure out why the man I loved, the man I was going to spend the rest of my life with, the man who was going to have to look at me when I decided to let my hair go gray, watch me get middle-age spread, the man who promised to love, honor and cherish and to forsake all others, no longer found me attractive.

  I could lose weight, I thought as I looked at myself. Where? I was already a size two and if I got any smaller, I’d looked… weird. I already appeared sickly next to my sisters-in-law. None of them were as small as I was; they were women with meat on their bones and they look so fucking wonderful in their skin.

  Maybe I could try a new hair color, I thought as I looked in the mirror. I went red once and I remembered fondly the hot, erotic, sensual response it got from Joshua.

  I made the salon appointment as soon as I stopped shaking from that memory.

  * * *

  That Friday, I got the color change and a new hair cut then went shopping, happy at the second looks I got but still there was only one man I wanted to look at me that way. I bought new lingerie and something… persuasive, suggestive… to wear to dinner.

  It was a low cut tank top in light blue, a color Joshua believes looks best on me, and a short skirt in the same color. I also got some nude stilettos. Once home and I had all that on with my face made up, I winked at myself. I looked good and just knew he wouldn’t resist me. He couldn’t resist me tonight, no way in hell.

  I grinned as I entered the dining room, maybe five minutes late. I watched the boys, knowing Joshua’s eyes were on me and feeling the heat he was giving me with his glare. My husband remained quiet as I kissed each of my sons’ cheeks and wiped off the lipstick I left. I let a soft giggle escape when I wiped Connor’s cheek, thinking of how well that color was going to look on Joshua’s shaft, later.

  I sat in my chair and smiled at my sons as our housekeeper served us. We were having seafood as I requested -salmon for the boys and oysters for Joshua and me- and enjoyed a hearty meal it.

  Well, I was until I finally looked at my husband when he directed a question at me. He was looking at his plate and tapping the table with is fingers as he asked about the vacation plans that summer, holding what looked to me to be a disgusted expression. My heart broke as I whispered four words: I don’t know yet.

  He didn’t want me anymore.

  I sat through dessert but couldn’t eat one thing more and what I did get down before I saw that look, wanted to come right back out.

  I stayed an hour after the meal and chatted with my boys, wanting to keep up appearances while Joshua went off to his office. He left so quickly, I thought I saw dust behind him.

  I got a headache and asked the nanny to supervise the baths that night. I went off to have a long bubble bath. While I was waiting for the tub to fill, I called my hairdresser to go back to blonde. No sense in keeping the color if my husband didn’t like it, especially since I did it for him. I began counting down the days to when I could get rid of the color and attempt to forget this night. Two weeks, he said. That was the earliest he would change it back. I sigh as I hung up, mad I had to live with this color but since Joshua didn’t like it, I was glad it was going to torture him.

  * * *

  The next morning, I woke to Joshua in bed with me. I peeked at him under the covers as he slept and saw he had major morning wood and I wanted… I desperately wanted to make him respond to me. My mouth drooled and I bit my lip and leaned in but at the last second, I couldn’t do it. I would be beyond stressed and hurt if went too far. He needed to make first moves. Throwing the cover off me, I wanted to hit something.

  Showered and dressed, I entered the kitchen to see Joshua wrangling the boys after breakfast. I decided to go my sister’s and hang out with her all day while Joshua took our sons to their respective soccer and baseball games. I hated missing their games but I was not myself. I needed to talk to my sister. I kissed my boys goodbye, wished them luck and got the hell out of there without looking at my husband.

  * * *

  I just reached Elka’s front door and was about to knock when I heard Rob laughingly shout, “Gotta go, Lovebug! You know I love you!”

  The door opened and I smiled at my older sister’s wonderful husband.

  “Hiya, Rob.”

  “Hiya back, Mandy. It’s a beautiful, sunny morning, isn’t it? Babe, Mandy’s here!”

  Smiling, I accepted his hug then my three nephews ran out, hugged me and kept going.

  “Where’s the fire, boys,” I laughed.

  Rob answered, “Late for the soccer game. Did Josh leave yet?”

  “Not sure,” I smile, trying to hide how destroyed I felt at the mention of Joshua’s name. “When I left, they were just finishing breakfast, so it’s possible.”

  “Ah, okay. Glad you’re here, Mandy. Elka’s pissed at me.”

  “What did you do to my sister, Robert,” I scowled.

  “I’ll let her tell you!” He grinned then quickly kissed my cheek. “I can hear her. I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Robert Thomas Brand II! I’m not done talking to you!”

  “Screaming at, you mean! Gotta go,” Rob shouts back. Laughing, he runs to his car.

  My sister appeared at the door, looking like she was about to crack him over the head.

  “You have to come back sooner or later! This is not over!”

  “To the moon and back, Lovebug,” Rob winks as he starts the car.

&nb
sp; “I’m calling your mother!”

  “She’ll be on my side about this and you know it, baby!” Rob laughed as he drove off.

  “I know,” Elka screamed. “She probably talked you into doing this to me!”

  Huh? I frown as I ask, “What did he do, Elka?”

  “I knew he wasn’t wearing a damn condom! Bastard got me pregnant again! Damn it! I thought we were done. I’m going to kill that fool.”

  I counted to ten as my head screamed I needed to get away from her before I scratched her eyes out. At least, her husband finds her attractive.

  “Shut up, Elka,” I sighed, walking past her. “Rob still wants you and shows it. Get over yourself and be happy about your new little one.”

  “Excuse me, Mandra Denise Plummer-Cannon,” Elka shouted. “What crawled up your ass and died?”

  I smirked as I turned back to my sister, thinking ‘nothing’s been up anywhere on me lately.’

  “Nothing, Elka Serena Plummer-Brand,” I shouted back then beeline to the bar in her living room. I poured a vodka neat and drop on a couch, gripping my glass in one hand and the decanter in the other. I planned to attempt to finish the bottle in as little time as possible.

  “Do you realize it’s… Damn it, Mandy, it’s only nine-fifteen in the morning! What the hell are you thinking?”

  I took a long gulp, remembering the day Marcus found out Mariah’s name and felt his love and desire for her were only going to destroy him and his beliefs. He had the right idea that fucking day. I drained the glass and poured more. Right sentiment, wrong couple.

  I stared, trying to hold back the tears. “I’m thinking my husband doesn’t want me anymore so you can drop the Cannon part.”

  Elka moved to my right and turned me to her. I kept my gaze on the floor, afraid to see her face.

  My sister is only three years older than me but she has this air about her that demands that you listen to her and take heed to what she says. She is a lot like my father in that way.