Redeeming Lainey
by Kaitlyn Hoyt
Release Date: 07/18/14
Summary from Goodreads:
When Lainey left the
little farming town in Iowa on her eighteenth birthday, she thought she was
finally free. She didn’t have to live in fear anymore wondering which day was
going to be her last. For those two years, she was able to live in peace. She’d
made a new friend, was going to a school she loved, and was setting the path
for her future career.
That all changed with one phone call from her mother.
With the push of her best friend, Randi, Lainey goes back into the town she once promised was forever in her rear-view mirror. The dark memories of her past loom around every corner, and Lainey can’t seem to conquer the demons inside of her in order to fully move on.
Bryce, on the other hand, had moved on. During middle school and high school, Lainey was his best friend, and it tore him apart when she left with only a note. A simple note saying good-bye and have a great life.
Without his best friend around, Bryce’s life quickly spiraled out of control. He got into drugs, had some trouble with the law, and found himself partying a little too hard. Sweet Annabeth brought him out of that stage in his life, and ultimately saved his life.
With Lainey back in town, Bryce is at a loss at what do. She wants nothing to do with him or the town, but he is the only person who knows her full history and may be able to help her. Knowing that Lainey’s a flight risk, and with one wrong move, she’d pack everything up and leave again, Bryce steps out to help her find the one thing she doesn’t know she needs.
Redemption.
That all changed with one phone call from her mother.
With the push of her best friend, Randi, Lainey goes back into the town she once promised was forever in her rear-view mirror. The dark memories of her past loom around every corner, and Lainey can’t seem to conquer the demons inside of her in order to fully move on.
Bryce, on the other hand, had moved on. During middle school and high school, Lainey was his best friend, and it tore him apart when she left with only a note. A simple note saying good-bye and have a great life.
Without his best friend around, Bryce’s life quickly spiraled out of control. He got into drugs, had some trouble with the law, and found himself partying a little too hard. Sweet Annabeth brought him out of that stage in his life, and ultimately saved his life.
With Lainey back in town, Bryce is at a loss at what do. She wants nothing to do with him or the town, but he is the only person who knows her full history and may be able to help her. Knowing that Lainey’s a flight risk, and with one wrong move, she’d pack everything up and leave again, Bryce steps out to help her find the one thing she doesn’t know she needs.
Redemption.
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Excerpt
Bryce Aarons
I
look down at the paper and see my name written in her perfect handwriting. My
heart plummets into my stomach, because without even opening the note, I know
what it’s going to say.
I
drop the flowers on the porch and turn around. I can’t read this here. Not
caring who sees me, I run to our spot. Cutting through yards and parking lots,
I take the shortcut through the field and stop when I reach the county line
edge. Lainey loves sitting beneath the tree at the back of the field—the large
one at the entry line of the woods. The woods scare her, but for some reason
she always loved sitting at this tree. As years passed, it sort of became our
spot.
I
stop beneath it and try to catch my breath. Leaning against the tree, I look
down at my name on the paper.
Lainey
left. I just know it.
Taking
one deep breath, I unfold the paper and start reading.
Bryce,
I’m sorry I have to tell you this
in a note. If I could do it any other way, I would. I couldn’t risk you talking
me out of this. I need to do this. I need to get away. I can’t take it here
anymore. I’m scared all the time. I’m afraid Gregg is going to get so drunk one
night that he’s not going to know what he’s doing. I’m afraid he’s going to hit
me in just the right spot and I’ll never wake up from it. I don’t want the last
thing I remember to be his fist coming toward me. I’ve been beaten too many
times by him. I cannot take it anymore.
I want to be set free. I want to
spread my wings and fly away from this hellhole. I want to find my own little
piece of heaven in an otherwise dark world, and I know I can’t find that here.
We had all these plans we were
going to do—all these dreams we were going to accomplish together—and I’m sorry
I’m ruining everything, but I have no other choice.
Thank you for being my best friend
when no one else would. Thank you for staying by my side even after you found
out the truth. You’ve always been there for me. You never left, and I can’t pay
you back for that. I’m so, so sorry.
I don’t know where I’m going to go,
but I’m eighteen and they no longer have any control over me. They can’t tell
me what to do, and I’m not going to let him hurt me anymore. I feel horrible
about leaving my mom, because I know she’s just as much of a victim as I am,
but I have to. I have to, Bryce. Please understand that.
Someday I might come back, but
please don’t count on it. Move on. Forget I exist. You are destined for big
things, Bryce Aarons. Despite the joking and hassles I always give you, I do
see a successful career for you with a beautiful wife and two kids. You’re going
to make it. You have it in you. Don’t stop fighting because of me.
I won’t stop either.
You were my guardian angel. I don’t
know how you did it, but you brought me out from under my dark cloud. You made
me stop cutting, which probably saved my life. When I was around you, I felt
alive. I didn’t get that feeling anywhere else.
You’re my best friend, and I’m
sorry this is how we end. I wish things were different, but as I’ve learned
over the years, wishing is pointless. Some things in life can’t be changed. The
only way to create change is to do it yourself, and that’s what I’m doing now.
Go to college and get an education.
I seriously do believe you have greatness ahead of you.
Lainey.
P.S. Please keep an eye out for my
mom. Though I’m not there, I don’t want anything to happen to her.
About the Author
Currently a student at Ball State University, Kaitlyn Hoyt is pursuing her passion for writing while working towards a Wildlife Biology and Conservation degree. Vegetarian. Proud tree-hugger. Lover of comic book movies. Avid Reader. She has an unhealthy obsession for the soothing music of Josh Groban. She discovered her love for writing during the summer of 2012 and hasn’t stopped writing since!
Currently a student at Ball State University, Kaitlyn Hoyt is pursuing her passion for writing while working towards a Wildlife Biology and Conservation degree. Vegetarian. Proud tree-hugger. Lover of comic book movies. Avid Reader. She has an unhealthy obsession for the soothing music of Josh Groban. She discovered her love for writing during the summer of 2012 and hasn’t stopped writing since!
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