Blinded Read online

  Table of Contents

  Epilogue

  Newsletter Sign Up

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Seven Years Later

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Also by Maya Hughes

  Afterword

  About the Author

  Blinded

  Breaking Free Series # 1

  Maya Hughes

  Contents

  Newsletter Sign Up

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  11. Seven Years Later

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Epilogue

  Also by Maya Hughes

  Afterword

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2017 by Maya Hughes

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is pure coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictionally.

  The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark ownership of all trademark, service marks and word marks mentioned in this book.

  Created with Vellum

  For my wonderful husband, whose love and support has been made my writing possible. And a special thanks for all my friends for all of your feedback and support from beginning to end.

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  1

  Glancing at her phone for the fifth time in three minutes, Alex Davies reread the same line for the third time. Ben was listening to some sports game in the kitchen while he prepped the soups and specials for the dinner ‘rush’ that would hopefully come. At least the lack of customers gave her plenty of time to study. Algorithms and computer architecture were seriously kicking her butt right now. Whoever said community college classes would be easier had obviously never taken one.

  Transferring from next semester was going to be a shock; ever since she’d graduated a year early from high school, she’d been the odd woman out when it came to social interactions—that is, with everyone other than her best friend Jen, who badgered her on a regular basis until she relented and did something social at least once every few months.

  A pang of sadness washed over Alex when she remembered the cajoling, and the good time that invariably followed once she finally gave in and went with her. Jen was leaving for law school at the end of the year, which was going to suck.

  Staring out the windows, looking at the dreary skyline over the ocean, she wanted to cuddle up on the couch with a good book and relax. The clouds were hanging heavy over the ocean and everything was deserted. The waves were crashing and everything seemed to be grey. Even the plants looked like they had been transformed without the lively summer crowds to perk up their spirits.

  Looking back down at the book in front of her, she moved to push up glasses that were no longer sitting on her nose. Even after wearing contacts for five months, she still caught herself engaging in the old habit. Jen had dragged her to the one-hour eye care store and practically forced her into the chair to get these things, but when your head’s in the books, you revert to muscle memory. It was time to get ready for the evening ‘rush’ anyway.

  Hopping off the stool behind the bar, she grabbed a dishrag and started to wipe down the already clean bar. Sighing as she worked, she realized this was likely going to be a long and unprofitable night.

  She hoped that it would be busy later, but not so busy that she didn’t have some time for studying. She wanted to get all the dinner prep out of the way now in case she got her wish. Torn between not wanting to interact with people, and needing to put some cash in her pocket, she decided that a few tables would be a good compromise.

  The restaurant was usually slow this time of year. New Jersey shore towns were notorious for shutting down once summer was over, and it was late October. The only reason they were still open was because Ben, her boss, wanted to drum up some extra business with the filming crew that was set to start production in a couple of days. She’d begged him to keep her on as his fall waitress. Even at a shitty waitress minimum wage, she earned great tips during the summer and had lots of study time during the fall, while still making a few extra bucks.

  Get paid to study? Yes, please. Only one more year and she’d graduate with her bachelors in computer science. Staying in town off-season helped keep her costs—like rent—down, and the commute to school wasn’t too bad from there on the train. She still didn’t know how she convinced Jen to stay there with her, but being away from her dad seemed like enough of an incentive for Jen. At least in their apartment, she was left to her own devices and could sketch and paint to her heart’s content. Jen’s dad did not approve of her artistic pursuits and took every chance he had to make sure she knew it.

  “Hey, are you guys open?” came a voice from the door. She’d told Ben repeatedly that they needed to keep it locked until she was ready for the evening shift, but he never listened. She put down her bar towel and turned to greet the man.

  “If you can just give—,” The words stuck in her throat as she stared into the bluest eyes she’d ever seen. He walked up to her in his pale blue t-shirt that only helped bring out his eyes. Even from afar, the guy was seriously ripped; his chest strained against the fabric of his t-shirt and his slight five o’clock shadow and tousled chestnut hair seriously threat to her sexual sanity. Judging by his arrogant smirk as he sauntered to the bar, he knew what affect he was having on her.

  “My eyes are up here,” he laughed, waving a hand in front of his chest.

  “Right, sorry!” She jerked her eyes away from those amazing pecs, embarrassed to have been caught staring. “Um, we’re open as soon as I can get everything set up. Just a couple more minutes. You can grab a booth, if you don’t want to wait outside.” It was a rainy, crappy day, so she didn’t really blame him for trying to get out of the cold.

  “Yeah, no problem; I’ll grab a seat. Take your time
.” He smiled as he made his way over to the booth closest to the bar.

  She walked into the kitchen to let Ben know that they had a real live customer. He nodded, but kept chopping vegetables.

  “Oh, and when’s the film crew supposed to show up?”

  “Today,” he grunted, “and it’s about time too.”

  “Okay. I’ll keep an eye out and let you know when they get here.” She headed back out to ask Mr. Hottie for his order.

  “Oh, and here’s the menu. It’s kind of short, we like to keep it simple off season to make sure everything is fresh,” she explained.

  “I’m sure whatever you have will be delicious,” he replied as he scanned it. His phone vibrated on the table and he glanced at it, then held up a finger to her.

  “Give me a couple of minutes. I need to take this, then I’ll order.”

  “No problem, take your time.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and ducked her head as she backed away from the table and promptly slammed her hip into the table behind her. “Son-of-a—” she mumbled as the silverware on the table rattled. Smooth, Alex, smooth. She righted herself and turned to walk away, cheeks aflame.

  She quickly moved around the restaurant trying to look busy. There wasn’t too much prep because she didn’t anticipate many customers, but she didn’t want to just lean on the bar and appear to be waiting, either. She could feel Mr. Hottie’s eyes on her as she moved around the restaurant and goosebumps formed on her arms. She peeked at him every so often while he was on the phone, and each time she did, his gaze was on her.

  Finally, he hung up the phone, gave the one-page menu a quick once-over, and laid it on the table. Dumping her algorithms textbook into her backpack, she tucked it behind the bar and walked back over to his table. His gaze tracked her from the time she made it out of the double doors from the kitchen until she was standing tableside. It was a little unnerving to have someone watching her so intently.

  Her apron was clean and she thought that she looked at least presentable, but fading into the background was what Alex did. Having someone take notice of her was usually not a good thing, so it freaked her out a bit, but she tried not to let it show. She started to squirm until she realized he was probably only looking at her because he was waiting for her to take his order.

  She cleared her throat and pulled out her note pad and pen. “What can I get you?” Even though he didn’t have many choices, force of habit made her write it down. You never knew when you were going to encounter that one super-picky, exacting customer who wanted eight condiments layered in a specific order.

  “I think I’ll just go with a cheeseburger and fries.” He handed back the menu, grazing her fingers. A slight shock travel up her spine.

  “Excellent choice!” She broke finger contact and cleared her throat. “How do you want your burger cooked?”

  “Medium.”

  “Ok, perfect and to drink?” He licked his lips and ran his thumb over his upper lip as he thought it over.

  “I’ll have a Coke,” he replied, but she zoned out, her gaze glued to what his thumb was doing. He had the most perfect mouth she’d ever seen. She shook her head because she was not this type of woman. She was not the swooning, giddy kind of girl, but Mr. Hottie was making her all kinds of flustered.

  “Great,” she answered, snapping her gaze back to his eyes. “I’ll just put in your order, it shouldn’t be long.” She speed-walked over to the window and gave the ticket to Ben.

  He glanced at it and tossed it back on the window ledge. “That movie crew was supposed to be here three weeks ago. Had I known they were going to start this late I would have closed us down, taken Maggie on a nice vacation and reopened,” he grumbled as he moved to the grill.

  “But then you wouldn’t have been able to see my smiling face every day,” she chirped.

  “Yeah, well you better hope the crew are big tippers or this week is going to be rough for you.”

  She took the guy his Coke. “It shouldn’t be very long, Ben’s just dropped your fries.” Curious about who he was, she couldn’t walk away. She started rocking back on her heels. Feeling awkward, she started to bounce while she stood there. She wasn’t normally so nervous around customers, but she didn’t usually get customers who got her panties wet by just looking at her.

  “So, are you part of the movie crew that’s coming through? Or just passing by?” She tried to cut the awkwardness.

  “Yeah, I’m here for the movie. I’m in a little bit earlier than most of the circus. Just a few crew guys around; I told them this place was open, so you should expect more company soon. This town is dead.”

  “Well, that’s pretty standard in the off-season in a shore town. You guys are only here for a few of weeks? I didn’t think they filmed movies that quickly,” she said.

  “Why don’t you sit down? You’re making me nervous standing over me.” He smiled and gestured to the seat across from him in the booth.

  “Sorry. Yeah sure, no one else is here.” She looked to the window to see if Ben was watching, but he was busy cooking. He didn’t mind her studying when no one was in the restaurant, but if there were customers, then there was no slacking allowed. The last time she’d been studying when there were customers in the diner, he’d made her clean the fat trap in the fryer for a week.

  Satisfied that she wasn’t in imminent danger of being elbow-deep in the grease pit again, she slid into the booth. He reached his hand across the table and held it out for a handshake.

  “Gabe.”

  “Hi Gabe. Alex,” she said, placing her hand in his. His hand was strong and smooth, but slightly calloused on the fingertips. She relaxed her fingers and moved to pull her hand back, but he held on just a bit longer and brought their hands down to the table still clasped.

  She shoved her hair behind her ear as an excuse to remove her hand from his. She didn’t want him feeling her hands getting sweaty or her racing pulse.

  “And to answer your question, no, not usually. We already did a lot of the filming—we’re just doing reshoots. Major reshoots. That’s not usually a good thing. I’m one of the leads, so this may be my first and last rodeo.” His shoulders slumped a bit.

  “The lead, wow, that’s cool! I’m sure it’ll work out and everything will be great. What’s it about?”

  “It’s kind of top secret. I’d love to tell you, but I’ve had to sign a mountain of waivers and non-disclosures.”

  “Wow, sorry, I didn’t realize.”

  “No, don’t be sorry. I can tell you that it’s a love story with a twist.”

  “Sounds intriguing. How long have you been acting?”

  “Not long. They had an open call in Philly for this role and my friends dared me to go. I didn’t have work that day, so I figured, why the hell not.” He shrugged. “And the rest as they say is history. What about you? How long have you been waitressing?” The ding of the kitchen bell cut her off before she could speak.

  “I’ll be right back; let me get your food.” She stood up and walked over to the window. “So, I take it Mr. Romeo over there is trying to woo your panties right off, huh?” he said with a big goofy grin on his face.

  “Shut up Ben,” she muttered, “it’s slow, what else am I going to do?”

  “Oh, I’m sure you’ll think of something.” The weird kissy noises and smooch lips faces he was making made her laugh. There was just something about a giant guy in a white t-shirt making kissy faces that was hilarious, even if he was making fun of her.

  Just then, what seemed like a busload of the crew came streaming into the restaurant. Within a few minutes, she was pushing full steam ahead taking orders, getting refills, and delivering food to an entire restaurant full of people.

  At least ten more tables of very hungry people kept her busy after the initial rush, and a few even hang out at the bar. She was run ragged from handling both waitressing and bar duties by the end of the night, but tips were generous.

  Mr. Hottie hung out for the rest of the even
ing, even as some tables cleared out. She would catch his eye every so often. She liked having him there—she’d never had someone look at her like he did. It was like he wanted to eat her up, and the feeling was mutual. As she was making her last rounds for refills and dropping the final checks, she noticed he’d left. Disappointment crashed over her. Apparently, she’d lost her chance with Mr. Hottie, but hopefully he’d make it back in. After all, he was going to be there for a few weeks.

  2

  With pockets stuffed with cash, she was wiping down the last table of the night while Ben was finishing up in the kitchen. Her plan to stay until the end of October would finally pay off. If the crew coming in kept up until their shoot was over, she would be able to pay her rent, tuition next term, and maybe have a bit leftover to eat.

  She’d be graduating and that was the most important thing. Getting out of this town and getting a job that paid well was sole her focus. Taking the train an hour into the city wasn’t ideal, but the money she saved in rent was worth it, especially in the off season. Plus, the commute gave her lots of time to study. The school had been good about letting her take time off when she needed to work to pay for the next semester and taking many of the basic courses through the much-cheaper community college also helped.

  “Five minutes and I’m locking up, kiddo,” Ben called out from the kitchen, clanging and banging all the pots and pans as he cleaned up. She checked out the rest of the dining room and made sure it was in pretty good shape. Even though she wouldn’t be in until lunch, she got everything ready for the morning because Ben was opening for breakfast.

  “Wiping down the last table now. See, I told you it was a great idea to stay open,” she gloated.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he grumbled as he popped out of the kitchen door with a ring full of keys in his hand. He twirled them around his finger as he surveyed the room.

  “See, all tidy and ready to go for tomorrow,” she said holding her arms out and showcasing the dining room.