Lucas: #3 (Luna Lodge: Hunters of Atlas) Read Free

cities he played baseball at in college. To her, he had been perfect.
    When he graduated and asked her to marry him, she said yes instantly. Her father had a small ranch hand house on the property that wasn’t getting used, and they had been so excited to have their own place.
    The plan was to live there and help her father make something of the ranch again. To use Dave’s communications degree to get their name out to the public. Really go big with the business.
    Then he had gotten the call that changed everything, a spot on the local minor league team. It would mean traveling for a good part of the year for very little pay, but being the loving wife, she supported his dream.
    At first, things were great. He would call her at night, and they would talk about all the things they had done during the day. Every chance he got to come home, he would. Then the calls became less frequent, and traveling home was too much effort. Or so he said.
    There was a point where Dave complained she wasn’t like all the other wives who tagged along to the games. They were there to cheer on their husbands like a good wife should.
    Taylor saw red. She knew the truth on why those women followed their husbands around. It was to make sure that no one else sunk their claws into them. Because she trusted her husband, she was the bad guy.
    In the end, though, all that trust had been for nothing.
    Kimberly was her name. She called his cell one morning when Dave had just gotten back from a long stretch of away games. Taylor had decided to let him sleep in since he’d gotten in so late and answered.
    The poor girl was a sobbing mess, and it took several tries to even understand what was going on. Well, until the word pregnant. Taylor’s ears started to buzz, and the room rocked under her feet.
    Her husband, the man she trusted without a thought, had gotten some nineteen- year-old girl pregnant.
    He denied it at first, tried to tell her it was a scam some women tried, but he couldn’t explain away how she had gotten his cell number.
    Caught in a lie, Dave became furious at her. He tossed all his things into his shiny red convertible and drove out of her life.
    Unfortunately for her, that wasn’t good enough. He and his mother had to make sure they ruined any chance of her happiness by spreading lies and rumors around town. It didn’t take long for customers to come up with excuses why they needed to go with another meat supplier.
    That hurt the most of all. Her mistakes shouldn’t have haunted her father.
    All the while, her father had stood by and watched her go from happy and in love to a hollow shell.
    The phone rang from the office, shaking her from the memories.
    “You clear, and I’ll get that,” her father said.
    He made his way to the office.
    She moved quietly, hoping to pick up on what was being said. It seemed her father was fielding more and more calls behind closed doors.
    Taylor didn’t like it. They were in trouble. It was more than clear to her they were, and the longer he tried to hide that fact, the harder it made it on both of them.
    The dishes slipped into the sudsy, hot water she’d started while making dinner. She listened as she placed all the leftovers into the fridge.
    “Things are starting to pick up for us,” her father said. His voice was strained, and she knew that even with the increase from Nyx and her people, it still wasn’t enough.
    Taylor cursed Dave in her head. Not only had her shitty ex been a terrible husband, but he and his mother had single handedly ruined them.
    No one wanted to go against the town superstar. So, in the end, they lost business because she didn’t want to be with a man who cheated.
    “Bastard,” she grunted as she scrubbed the griddle, trying to focus her anger on the pan.
    “You’ve got to give us a little more time.” Her father raised his voice a little, and she held her breath. How long before they took it all away from them? “You know I’m good for the payments.”
    The