Worth Repeating (Worth It All Book 1) Read online

  Worth Repeating

  Elizabeth Perry

  Perry Publishing

  Copyright © 2020 by Elizabeth Perry

  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.

  Worth Repeating

  Our worlds couldn't have been any different. They sure as hell were never supposed to collide.

  I come from the streets, where I've had to use my fists to survive. She may as well have lived in a castle on the hill. She was that far out of my league.

  Even still, I couldn't stop myself. I was drawn to her, from the very first moment that I saw her, losing my head over just the sound of her laugh.

  One taste of her, and I became a feign. If she was the match, I was the gasoline. Sparks didn't just fly between us, the second that we touched, we erupted as the whole damn fire.

  Then, we both went up in flames.

  I've managed to move on. Six years is a lot of time to get over someone, at least, it was, until the day she walked back into my life. It was in that moment that I realized eternity could never be long enough.

  Abby Daron is inked into my soul.

  She's been in a tragic accident, and has lost all memory of the person that she used to be. With an old letter clutched in her hand, she's desperate for answers, and thinks that I'm the person who can give them to her.

  Someone should have warned her to stay away from me.

  She has no idea just how dangerous I am for her.

  And this time, I may not be able to save her from the fire bound to burn us both.

  And in those moments, when you feel afraid to trust love, remember that I have crossed a great ocean of loneliness to find you.

  Mine is not a fair-weather heart. It was built to outlast storms.

  - John Mark Green

  Playlist

  If you ever come back- The Script

  I Won’t Give Up- Jason Mraz

  Calling All Angels- Train

  Dancing On My Own- Calum Scott

  Far Away- Nickleback

  Foolish- Ashanti

  Bleeding Love- Leona Lewis

  Break Up in the End- Cole Swindell

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  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

  Epilogue

  Connect with me!

  Also by Elizabeth Perry

  About the Author

  1

  Liam

  Impact.

  My life can be summed up in a handful of moments of impact. Events so earth-shattering, that once they happened, I knew that I was never going to be the same again.

  The first one, was the day that I lost both of my parents. Losing them started a series of events that have essentially led me to where I am today - quick as ever to throw a punch in order to protect what is mine, and ready to take one if the money is right. The second moment was the day that I met Abby Daron.

  The moment that I laid eyes on her, the entire universe shifted.

  We couldn’t have been any more different. I came from the streets, and she might as well have lived in an Ivory Tower. Abby was never supposed to be mine, not for the long haul, at least. Girls like her aren’t supposed to fall for guys like me.

  Which leads me to my last moment, and honestly, the one that I try to think about the least. That was the day that Abby left me, ending up exactly where she was always destined to be. With a guy who isn’t me.

  So, imagine my surprise, as that all too familiar feeling of having my world completely fucking rocked, happens the second that she walks right back inside of my gym.

  It’s like I’ve been transported back in time, as I watch the gorgeous blond from my past turn hesitantly towards my brother, Luke. She looks exactly the same as the woman who stormed out of here, broken and screaming at me that she hated me, and at the same time, there’s something incredibly different about her.

  The Abby that I fell in love with had a soul that radiated right through her. It was as if a part of the sun lived inside of her body. The light just spilled out of her; through her eyes, in her voice, basically, seeping out of every single pore on her body. The very moment that I laid eyes on her, I became addicted to it. I selfishly found myself trying to bask in some of it, even if it was only temporary.

  She’s still a complete fox; her outer beauty hasn’t changed a bit. But as I stare at her, watching her hand an old, tattered letter to my brother, Luke, I catch her eyes for a moment. The sight of them takes my breath away.

  The light from her eyes is completely gone. They just brush over me, without a single ounce of emotion, before landing back on my brother. I watch as he nods his head towards me, and as she moves in my direction, she studies me with intense curiosity.

  I have no idea what in the fuck is going on here.

  I’ve taken a lot of blows to the head, so I know that I’m not the smartest guy in the bunch, but even I can tell that something about Abby is seriously fucking wrong.

  “You’re Liam?” She blinks up at me, with such indifference that it sends a chill running down my spine. She should be staring at me with hatred burning in the pools of blue that I found myself drowning in for an entire summer. Instead, there’s nothing, and it makes my blood turn cold.

  “Yes.” At my word, I watch her shoulders relax. A small sigh leaves her mouth as they do, and then I watch as the corners of her lips turn up into a small smile.

  “Thank God. Do you know how difficult it was for me to find you?” All that I can do is stare at her. This entire scene is like something out of a bad movie. I honestly feel like I’m being punked.

  She reaches towards me, placing an old, crumpled piece of paper in my hand. As our skin brushes, my breath catches. It’s nothing new where she’s concerned; touching this girl was always like touching a live wire. It’s just crazy to me that after all of this time, her touch still ricochets through my body.

  “Oh.” Her eyes widen. “I…” I watch as her face instantly changes. She blinks a few times and stares down at her hand.

  “I felt that.”

  I ignore the way that she stares at me in wonder, and instead turn my attention down to the paper in my hand. I recognize it immediately. Inside of that envelope, is a letter that nineteen year old me wrote to the love of his life. In it, I promised her the world, professing my love to her on every single line.

  I wrote it exactly three weeks before I broke her fucking heart, shattering mine in the process. I try to hand the letter back to her, but as I do, our skin brushes one last time. The same damn feeling hits me harder this time, rippling through my body, and causing a fire that I forgot even existed inside of me so spark a small flame.

  “Omigod. I felt that, too,” she whispers, and then reaches out, wrapping her hand around my wrist. Emotions rage through me from her touch, burning me like a flame.

  I jerk my arm away from her, but
it doesn’t matter. It’s too late. Hell, it’s always been too late where Abby’s concerned. I was a goner from the very first moment that I laid eyes on her.

  “Finally, I felt it.”

  “Felt what?” My voice is hard. It’s gruffer than I intended, but I’m basically in self-preservation mode at this point. I cannot allow myself to get lost in my feelings for this girl. I already did that once, and it blew up right in my face.

  “Something.” She sighs. “I felt something, which is a whole lot better than feeling nothing.”

  “What are you doing here, Abby?” I take a step back from her, trying to break the spell that she’s threatening to cast on me. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “I came here to ask you if you had written this letter to me. But I don’t need to ask the question anymore. I know you’re the one. I feel it, and my God, it feels good.”

  “You should go.” I dismiss her immediately. Whatever this is, whatever game she came here today to play, I want no part in. Six years ago, I made a deal with the devil, and I had to slay all of my sins, starting and ending with Abby Daron.

  Letting her go the first time nearly wrecked me. It took years for me to turn the pain that I felt over losing her into the anger that I needed to survive. But I’ve done that, and now, there’s no room to feel anything else. She needs to walk right back out of the door that she came in, and once she does, I’m going to board that door up, and then torch the entire place. The place that holds all memories of her.

  “Liam, wait.” Her eyes are pleading, begging me to hear her out. Her lower lip begins to quiver, which is something that I’ve learned over the years is a sure sign that she is only seconds from breaking. “Please, just hear me out.”

  “There’s nothing to hear. You need to leave, Abby. I mean…” What exactly do I mean? Even I can’t be sure of the way that I’m feeling right now.

  Having her here, standing in front of me and staring up at me with eyes designed to wreck every man who dared look into them, is really just too much. Any more time spent, standing here like this will abolish all of my resolve, and that is one thing that I just can’t lose.

  I’m not a teenager anymore, one who sees the goodness in the world and thinks that he also deserves some of that. No, the last six years have changed me, and made me into a man. I’ve accomplished so much since losing Abby, and there’s no way that I’m willing to go back to this place with her.

  That shit was crazy. And I want no part.

  But then, just as I’m willing myself to walk away from her, and my feet finally get the memo to move, her eyes fill with tears, and as her mouth opens, her voice cracks.

  “My memory is gone.” A single tear escapes her eyes, wreaking havoc on my soul. “I was in a really bad accident. I actually just got out of the hospital a month ago. I’m fine now,” Her eyes travel down to her feet, “But I can’t remember a single thing about the person that I used to be. No one in my life seems to want to give me a straight answer, not my parents, not my…” A single glance at her ring finger tells me exactly who she was about to mention. She quickly rushes on. “I found this letter from you by complete accident. I had it buried under the floorboard in my old bedroom at my parents’ house. You used to love me.”

  Used to, is never a word that I would use to describe my feelings for this woman, but I don’t correct her. I’m simply too busy trying to keep my emotions under control, here.

  “So, I need you here, Liam. If you loved me, if you ever really loved me, I need your help. I’m literally drowning right now, and I’m afraid, that you’re the only person on this planet who can help me.”

  Impact.

  2

  Liam

  Some people would call it fate, others, sheer luck. I’m not sure what to call it, but as I sit beneath this old oak tree in the park, studying the woman who has become the fixture of all of my fantasies, I realize that in this moment, it doesn’t matter what you want to call it.

  The universe has decided to intervene.

  The papers that she had been studying intently for the last thirty minutes are blown out of her hands by an unexpected gust of wind. As the white sheets fly into the air, scattering in every different direction, she hops to her feet and quickly tries to collect them.

  She manages to gather most of them back into her hand, all except for the two sheets of paper, that just so happened to land directly at my feet.

  It’s in that moment, that her eyes travel in my direction for the very first time.

  “I am so sorry.” She rushes towards me, reaching out for the papers that are now tucked securely in my hand. “This wind is insane!”

  It is a windy day, but that’s not what I’m finding insane about today. I’m more intrigued by the way her hair shimmers like gold when the sunlight hits it, or how her eyes have managed to morph into the exact same blue as the water glistening behind her. I’m more blown away by the two heart shaped dimples that peak out of the corners of her cheeks, whenever she decides to smile, and the way that just the sound of her voice causes goosebumps to cover my entire body.

  This isn’t the first time that I’ve seen her, of course, but it’s certainly the first time that I’ve ever been this close to her. As the wind blows, the scent of her perfume circles around me, and as it invades all of my senses, my brain immediately turns to mush. I stand, frozen before her, clutching her papers in my hand as she tries to reach for them.

  “Those are mine.” She nods towards them. “Do you think that you could hand them back?”

  What I think I can do, and what my body is actually willing to do at this point, are two very different things. Without even realizing it, I look down at the writing scrawled across the paper. It’s only then that I manage to come back to myself.

  “Better than sex cake?” I don’t mean to snort, but I do, which makes her grunt in disgust. She reaches forward, trying to swipe the papers out of my hand, but my reflexes are fast, so I jerk them back just as quickly and scan her paper.

  “What is your problem?” She jumps, trying to snatch the sheet away from me, which is a wee bit comical, since she only stands about five foot nothing, and I tower over her at six foot six. “Those are my papers, and I’d like them back. Please give them back to me.”

  “I will give them back.” I assure her, finally feeling more in control than I was just a few moments ago. “But first, I need to look this recipe over to see if it’s actually a thing. You see here, sweetheart, I consider myself a connoisseur of one of the items listed in the title. I just can’t imagine how a cake could ever be better than sex.”

  She huffs loudly, her porcelain skin flushing with irritation. I’m pissing her off, and I know it. But whoever she is, she’s too much of a lady to really tell me off. She should- I’m being an ass. But you see, the thing is, I’ve been watching this girl for a full week at this point, never able to actually work up enough nerve to go and talk to her. Now that I have her standing right in front of me, I’m going to do everything in my power to prolong it. Even if it means that I have to ruffle her feathers in the process.

  “Yeah?” She jumps in the air, once again failing miserably at taking her papers back. “Well, that’s because you’ve never had mine.”

  I feign surprise, stepping back from her and staring down at her with the best shocked expression that I can muster.

  “Are you offering me some cake, or, some cake?” I glance down at her lower half, which only makes her face turn even more red. I love the way that she blushes fiercely, even while she’s mad as hell. She’s so damn cute, that I can’t put a stop to this, even though, I really should.

  “Oh my God.” Her foot stomps, and her arms fly up in exasperation before landing firmly back at her sides. “I wasn’t offering anything. I was just stating that my cake is fucking amazing, and yeah, it probably is better than sex. I don’t need to explain myself to you…”

  “Liam.” A full blown smile breaks out on my lips, to which, her glare just deepens
.

  “Liam, huh. I wouldn’t have guessed that to be your name, but alright Liam. I don’t need to explain myself to you. Can we please just cut the shit? Hand me back my papers. Or else.”

  “Or else?” Now she has my full attention. “Or else what, exactly?”

  I watch the way she glances off to the side, as if trying to come up with something terrible to tell me that she will do. Instead of an empty threat though, her shoulders just sag in defeat.

  “Honestly, I don’t know. I was going to tell you to give them back or I’d kick you in the kneecap, but I actually wouldn’t do that. I don’t have any scary threats to dish out to you, just a simple plea. Can you please give me back my paper? I’ve been perfecting that recipe for at least a month, and if I lose it, I’ll be really sad.”

  “I’ll give them back to you,” I tell her, and she immediately relaxes. She reaches for them again, but as I begin to hand them back, suddenly, I realize that I’m not done playing with her just yet. Right before our hands exchange the goods, I thrust mine back up into the air.

  “But I’m curious as to how you’ve been perfecting this recipe. Are you making a cake, and then having sex to test your title? Or are you having sex first, and then trying the cake? Your process here matters, especially when you’re planning on calling a baked good better than sex. I’m not doubting you…” I assure her, to which she rolls her eyes. “I’m just curious. I suppose I’m a cake virgin, so…”