Life Cycle of Chaos by Shannon Pritchard here are a few pages of my novel

Prelude

Life is difficult and full of surprises. When my parents died I never thought I would have a love compared to what I remembered them having, until now. Finally I have found someone that has given me everything I have ever wanted or dreamed of in a relationship. I have my law degree, a new career and my beautiful family home. Now picture your life, just like mine.  Then have everyone you love in your life threatened to be stripped away from you at any moment. The man you love is not who you thought he was, which permanently changes your life forever. Everything you knew about your life and parents is a lie and you are being threatened and terrorized every time you close your eyes. This is what my life has become.

Chapter One

When I woke up this morning I couldn’t shake away the fear from the nightmare I had last night, I can’t help but feel that something bad is going to happen. My body shivers as I roll over in bed and look at my alarm clock. “Crap! I scream as I jump out of bed, “I’m late! Either I forgot to set my alarm clock or Michael shut it off again before he snuck off to work hoping I would stay home!” I should have gone to work last week but Michael has been keeping me home with this same game for a week. I ran down to the kitchen hoping he made me coffee before he left this morning and sure enough he did, plus he left me a note saying: Stay home please, there is so much I have yet to due to you and it hurts me knowing I will have you next door to me all day at work and have to think about it. Call me if you have a change of mind. Then it is signed love M. But back to the real world, it’s really Monday morning and the first day of my new career, one I have spent a fortune on college to get. I hope Michael and I can keep our relationship a secret until I have proven myself to everyone at the law firm. Laughing, I run to my bathroom to take a quick shower. Keeping our secret will be almost impossible with workplace gossip.  After showering I blew dried my hair and quickly styled it then ran to my closet to get dressed. Luckily I had set out an outfit the night before because that usually takes the most amount of time when I get ready for anything. Dressed and ready to go I gave myself the once over making sure I looked both professional and a little sexy. Soon I was downstairs searching for my car keys and brief case then running out the door.  Getting ready in under twenty minutes is an all time record and a miracle, if I can make it downtown without getting stuck in traffic I should only be a few minutes late. Walking to my car I noticed there was a letter on my cars windshield. For the third time in a week I got a letter from my next door neighbor telling me not to park so close to her car. Enough is enough, I quickly flipped it over and wrote go to hell, if you could possible stop being such a rude bitch I might respect your wishes and try a little harder in the future. In closing I wrote I hope you have a great day. Then I placed it on her cars windshield, hopped in my car, and peeled out of there. God she is so rude. Who does she think she is? I have been so nice to her since moving in. What is wrong with people nowadays?  I don’t get it. How can I help if there is not much parking in our neighborhood? What a wonderful way to start off my day!

            When I arrived at the Law offices of Smith and Sellers, Jarred Jackson my new co-worker, was waiting for me. Jarred is Michael’s assistant and is super cute. “I’m glad you made it Susan, I was getting ready to call you to make sure you had not changed your starting day again.” “Sorry Jarred, my car had a flat tire,” (I lied). “No Worries, nothing has started yet, Michael should be here any second to start our Monday morning staff meeting, let me show you to your office,” said Jarred smiling like he new I was lying.  Jarred quickly introduced me to the receptionist Sunshine who is a drop dead gorgeous blond as we walked past her. The office is decorated with historical black and white art of the waterfront and Union station. The walls are all painted in warm colors, with red, dark brown and green colored accent walls. There are cubicles framed in mahogany making this entire office the most extravagant setting I have ever seen for an attorney’s office. There’s a lounge area with a mini kitchen that has what looks like a fully catered brunch and cappuccino machine with several flavors of coffees. Jarred walked me down the hall past all the secretaries and assistants which all stopped working and stared at me as I walked past them. Then we came to another hall off of the main offices. My office was located just past Michael’s private entrance. When Jarred opened the door to my new office, I was shocked, my office was lined with windows that looked at the downtown Tacoma waterfront, and even has a view of Mt. Rainer. The walls are painted a warm creamy butter color with a rusty red accent wall. I noticed that to the left there is a private bathroom and also a door that Jarred said is attached to Michael’s office. The walls have abstract floral framed paintings, which I love, no wonder Michael has been keeping me home for the last week. “Jarred, Thank you for everything, this is absolutely perfect.”  “Not a problem, that’s my job,” he tried to say but I interrupted him saying, “No, this goes way over and above your job, I can’t believe how perfect this is.” “Michael said to spare no expense he wanted everything to be perfect for you. Michael picked everything out himself, he knows you so well,” smiled Jarred.  “This is way too much I don’t want the others to think I am getting special treatment. I should be treated just like everyone else here.” “Susan, you know very well you deserve this beautiful office. Anyways I will come get you when its time, in the meanwhile why don’t you get settled and give me a shout if you need anything, anything at all,” said Jarred as he left my office. Now I was alone and looking at my future, questioning everything. What could Michael possible see in me? Why do I feel so insecure about everything lately? Why do I feel so terrified about the future? One positive is how patient Michael has been with me. I have been moving back from college and remodeling my home and have been a completely stressed out monster for weeks. My family home has been empty since a few years after my parent’s death and needed a lot of work before it was livable. Leaving my friends from school and starting my new career proved to be both exciting and sad but it did nothing to prepare me for what I was going to experience in the very near future.

After about twenty minutes Jarred came to get me for the meeting. When we entered the conference room there was about twenty other employees seated staring at me as I entered the room. The conference room has windows that look out over the waterfront and is very tastefully decorated like the rest of the office. Michael stood as I approached him. “ I would like to introduce you to our newest Jr. Associate, Susan Travis, she will head up all pro-bono cases and second chair all my cases, I would like everyone give a warm welcome to SUSAN TRAVIS, ” Exclaimed Michael Sellers, my new boss and a named partner. I glanced around the table to all the new faces and suddenly found myself terrified. Instead of smiles everyone looked irritated and hateful.  With a huge smile on my face, I said, “I am so grateful to work with each and every one of you. I understand I am new and it will take time for you to trust me but I sincerely hope we can work together and make this a positive experience for everyone.” One by one everyone got up to leave making sure not to make eye contact with me as they left the room. That was a friendly bunch I hope this hostility won’t last too long. Before leaving the conference room Michael asked if he could speak with me in private. He smiled and it made my heart rate speed up. Michael is the most beautiful human being I have ever seen with his haunting emerald green eyes. His body is muscular but not too hard and looks awesome in the charcoal grey suit he is wearing today. As we walked to our offices Michael walked with his hand placed protectively on my low back leading the way to his office. The whole walk all I could think about was how warm my body felt under his hand and how amazing he smelled. Michael has a very unusual fragrance that always makes my senses and imagination go wild. I have got to find a way to keep this completely professional. I can’t have the entire firm thinking that I am sleeping with the boss. I want the other staff to know I got this job because of my talents and nothing more. When we reached his office, he opened the door and politely led me into his office.  Pointing to the sofa he asked me to take a seat. Michael’s office is very similar to mine except much larger. Sitting on the sofa I wait for what Michael has to say when before he spoke a word we were in each others arms kissing. First, it was just the presence of his lips on mine and the brush of his tongue in my mouth soon there was not an inch of my body that wasn’t enveloped in his. God he is amazing, I can’t imagine what life would be like without him. Suddenly, Michael pulled away, got up and walked to the window. Just then there was a knock at the door and Jarred entered. Feeling a little exposed I got up and walked to the book shelf pretending to examine what books Michael had. “I’m sorry to interrupt you, here is your schedule for today and your coffee sir,” said Jarred. “Thank you. But I need to speak to Susan in private, can you please make sure there are no further interruptions for the next hour or so,” said Michael, with a finality that no one would second guess. Jarred quietly left and Michael immediately came back to me after locking both of the doors. With a hand on each of my arms he pulled me into an embrace and immediately started kissing me again. This time there was an urgency and passion that the other kiss lacked. Michael’s hands immediately moved up and down my body then started to unbutton my blouse the whole time kissing my neck. Wanting to stop anything further from happening I tried to pull away but he has a power over me that makes saying no to him impossible, so I gave into the pleasures of his body. Soon we were on the floor naked making love. Time seems to stand still whenever we are together. I love the way his body fits with mine like we were designed specifically for each other. I can’t help but want to be with him all the time even though I know that this relationship must continue to be secret which cause some problems with us or even ruin our relationship.