Thick & Thin (Thin Love Book 3) Read online

  Thick & Thin

  Copyright © 2016 Eden Butler

  All rights reserved as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the Author. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Author Publisher.

  Edited by Sharon Browning

  Cover Design by Steven Novack

  Formatting by Tee Tate

  Copy Edits by Karen Chapman

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark owners of any mentioned word-marks and references mentioned in this work of fiction.

  “I loved this book! The hero is a tatted up Irish rugby player who has traveled to the states to play for college. Like the heroine he has a tragic past and when Autumn and Declan meet sparks fly! Nice to read a book that is anything but predictable.” —Kele Moon, author of the Battered Hearts series

  “This book explores emotional heartache, but on different levels. It’s not just about romantic love, but about the love of family (and “family” takes on a whole new meaning. It encompasses friends, too). From disconnect to possible re-connect. From old scars that refuse to heal, to potential emotional mending. You’ll feel it, deep.” —Maryse Black, Maryse’s Book Blog

  “Eden Butler has captivated my heart. From the town she created with its love of rugby to its foundation of friendship and family, I find I wish I could hop on a bus and stay there a while. The characters as flawed yet beautiful, broken yet unbelievably strong. Layers of intense feelings are still trapped in my heart.” —Nichole Hart, Sizzling Pages Romance Reviews

  When I read the first book, Chasing Serenity, I had a bone deep knowing that Eden Butler was a special author. Her ability to pull you into her stories - the world that she creates, the characters that she molds, and her ability to immerse you into the emotions of those characters – is nothing short of spectacular.

  —Mean Girls Luv Books

  This series is what made me fall in love with Eden's writing, and has meant so very much to me. It's been an honor and a privilege to read and review each one. And I'm happy to give Catching Serenity a blinding 5 stars! —The Book Junkie

  “There is a bold mission when [Butler] puts pen to paper to grab our attention, open our hearts, and engage our imagination. Butler didn’t hold back with crafting these characters from different cultures, tossing in some major adversity, and challenging them to dig deep for inner strength. At the end of the day, Thin Love is hearty blend for the soul.” —Michelle Monkou, USA Today

  “Read [Thin Love] in one sitting! Without a doubt, my favorite dynamic of bad boy meets feisty good girl. Superb writing!” —Penelope Douglas New York Times bestselling author of Bully and Until You

  “We LOVED this book [Thick Love] and would recommend it in a heartbeat!” —Totally Booked Blog

  “Eden is continually proving herself in the ranks of every genre of romance, no matter the plot, type or setting, she will pull you in. Prepare yourself.” —Trish Leger, best-selling author of the Amber Druids series

  “When the twists and turns started coming, [in Crimson Cove] I had to hold on tight. Mrs. Butler did not hold back in that department. Great job.” —Jennifer Sons, Through the Booking Glass Blog

  “A wonderful standalone that will entrance you and captivate you from start to finish. I cannot stress how much I enjoyed reading this. #oneclicknow” —Kawehi, Kawehi’s Book Blog

  Crimson Cove is one beautiful, magical, amazing read that brought tears to my eyes, made me laugh, feel giddy, and let me experience the paranormal in a way I haven't before! —A Hopeless Romantic's Booklandia

  SERIES

  Chasing Serenity, (The Serenity Series Book 1)

  Behind the Pitch, (A Serenity Series Novella)

  Finding Serenity, (The Serenity Series Book 2)

  Claiming Serenity, (The Serenity Series Book 3)

  Catching Serenity, (The Serenity Series Book 4)

  Thin Love, (Thin Love Book 1)

  My Beloved, (A Thin Love Novella)

  Thick Love, (Thin Love Book 2)

  Thick & Thin, (Thin Love Book 3)

  My Always, (A Thin Love Novella) – Fall 2016

  Swimming in Shadows, (A Shadows Series Novella)

  Shadows and Lies, (The Shadows Series Book #1)

  STANDALONE NOVELS

  Crimson Cove

  I’ve Seen You Naked and Didn’t Laugh—A Geeky Love Story (September, 2016)

  Platform Four—A Legacy Falls Novella (October, 2016)

  Playlist

  I Hate U, I Love U by Gnash Featuring Olivia O’Brien

  Guardian Angel by Noah Gundersen

  Grow by Kurt Travis & Paul Travis

  Whiskey and You by Chris Stapleton

  Burning House by Cam

  The Blower’s Daughter by Damien rice

  The Wolves (Acts I & II) by Bon Iver

  Machine by Paul Travis

  You Don’t Know What Love Is by Elvis Costello and Chet Baker

  Barely Alive by The Jompson Brothers

  What Are You Listening To? by Chris Stapleton

  A Milli by Lil’ Wayne

  It Was a Good Day by Ice Cube

  Crazy Love by Van Morrison

  Thinking Bout You by Frank Ocean

  Hawaiian Words and Phrase

  Brah – Slang for brother.

  Buggah – (Pidgin) used when describing a person, especially a male.

  Hâmau – Silence, hush

  Kaikamahine – daughter

  Kaikuahine – Sister

  Kaholo – Type of Hula dance

  Kanapapiki – Son of a bitch!

  Ke Aloha – Beloved

  Keiki – Child, Baby

  keiki kane – Son

  Ko`u Aloha – My love

  Kunāne – Older brother of a female.

  Ku`u Lei – My Beloved

  Lolo – crazy/stupid, an insult.

  Makamae – Darling

  Makua kane – Father, dad, daddy

  Makuahine – Mother

  Makua – (For the purposes of this novel only) Short for Makuakane.

  Nani – Beautiful

  Ohana – Family

  Pāʻū – Wrapped skirt

  Pēpē – Baby

  Pilau – Stinky

  Creole Words and Phrases

  Ala de traka – What a nuisance!

  Anmourèz mwen – My love.

  Bata – Bastard

  Bèl madanm – Beautiful lady.

  Bien – Good

  Bonjou – Hello

  Cheri – Darling

  Dous – Sweet

  Eskize mwen – Excuse me.

  Fanmi – Family

  Grann – Grandmother

  Grosoulye – Rude

  Joko – Imbecile

  Kòkòt mwen! – Oh my sweet.

  Kontantman – Joy, contentment

  Kreyol – Creole

  Lage’m – Let me go!

  Manman – Mother

  M ap viv. Et ou? – I’m well. And you?

  Me zanmi – My God

  Modi – Damn

  Non – No

  Oke – Okay

  Orto – Ass

  Ou ban m manti – You lied to me.

  Pa manyen mwen! – Don’t touch me!

  Pinga ou fè sa! – Don’t you do that!

  Poupou – Shit />
  Rete – Stop

  Sekonsa – That’s right.

  Silans – Hush

  Souple – Please

  Tifi – Girl

  Wi – Yes

  Sak pase? – How are you?

  Se te on plezi – Nice to meet you.

  Shoushou – Sweetie

  Author’s Note

  One of my favorite readers, Sarah G., asked me once if I built readers up just to break them down. I do. I admit that and I want to tell you why: because fiction, more so than life, needs to make sense. I’m paraphrasing Twain, but it still rings true. Art—and I do believe fiction is art—is a reflection of the lives we lead. Life, as you all know, is messy and ugly and sometimes it seems insurmountable. But if I’ve learned anything in my forty-some-odd years on this planet, it’s that humans have an indelible capacity to survive. Part of that survival is garnering the skills you need to man the long road ahead. You cannot recover from heartache unless you’ve experienced it. You cannot mourn the loss of someone you care about if you first don’t know love.

  So yes, I break you down. Every time. But I also promise to build you back up, to give you a story about characters who are a lot like me and you. They are careless and vain and selfish. They are cruel and sometimes awful. They are also passionate, loving, talented and willing to give everything they have to see their families happy and whole. I build you and them back up. Every single time.

  This is the end of the road for Ransom and Aly. There will be one more small glimpse into Kona and Keira’s world later this year (a deleted scene novella that is just Keira and Kona, for charity) and then we bid a final farewell to the Riley-Hale family. They have been a blessing and burden to write. They have been a reflection of the life I once led and the life that could have been mine if I had not grown at all. I like to think I did. I thank God for knowing where I was supposed to end up.

  For those of you who stuck by me, who believed that a cliffhanger could bring with it the promise of something very, very sweet, I thank you. Please forgive the struggle you’re about to read. Please know that despite the angst, the secrets, the stupid behaviors and the blinding heartache, there will be laughter, there will be joy. And please, always remember that unlike life, my characters will have happy, or at the very least, happy-ish endings.

  Thanks for trusting me.

  For my fearless tribe and their thick, thick love.

  Table of Contents

  Playlist

  Hawaiian Words and Phrase

  Creole Words and Phrases

  Author’s Note

  Preface

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Six Months Later

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Preface

  Winnie Mayeaux was not impressed. Every month, without any fussing on her behalf, that woman, Aly King, expected Winnie and her husband, Kyle, to fork over two hundred-fifty bucks to keep their fifteen-year-old daughter, Clara, in dance classes. This was no hobby, not for Clara, not if Winnie had any say in it, and, of course, she did. That cost covered not only classes but extra lessons with Ms. King, as well, which guaranteed that Clara, no matter how much she bitched, would work hard to keep her spot on King’s competition team. They’d landed state titles two years running and Winnie was sure that would give Clara a leg up when she auditioned for LSU’s Golden Girls her senior year.

  What Winnie and her husband hadn’t paid for was the spectacle they’d endured during the fall recital. Clara had performed, naturally, with the expertise that came from perpetual practice—all of it at Winnie’s behest. The girl had performed in four numbers, three of which she was featured dancer. But, Winnie guessed, as she moved uncomfortably in the plush seat, front center, front row in the large auditorium, Aly King didn’t give one fig about Clara or any of her dancers as long as she got paid. Well. Maybe the little Hawaiian girl. That child got special treatment because the girl’s parents, Keira and Kona Riley-Hale, were friendly with King; she was even some kind of glorified babysitter for them, if what Winnie had heard was true. And, it seemed it was true, since the ten-year-old had gotten her own feature performance with a row of grass skirt-wearing, lei-donning dancers.

  Ah. There she was, accepting accolades and flowers at the end of the show. The illustrious Aly King. Winnie guessed she was pretty enough—tawny, smooth skin that kept you guessing who her people had been, and bright green eyes, but her hair was a disaster, a mix of wild, out of control light brown ringlets that frizzed too much if she didn’t mind it—sometimes, Winnie thought, the woman didn’t mind her hair at all—with interspersing of dull blonde streaks, supposedly natural. Her butt, though, was simply just too round. Even for a dancer.

  Somehow Aly had managed, for a time, to snag Ransom Riley-Hale, Kona and Kiera’s oldest son. Couldn’t keep him though, not from what Winnie had heard from the other dance moms. College sweethearts never last, really, especially not ones that are so different. Ransom had celebrity parents but Aly King had no family to speak of; a dead mother and a father from Tremé who’d let Aly run off at seventeen. And it’s not like professional football players like the Riley-Hale boy didn’t have loads of women throwing themselves at him; poor woman just couldn’t keep up. Sad really, Winnie supposed if she gave a single thought to King outside of the payments she expected and news related to her daughter’s lessons.

  The stage had calmed considerably, the students backing away, letting Aly stand in front of the microphone, waving the crowd to silence. But suddenly Winnie’s husband sat up straighter in his chair, more engaged now than he had been during the entire recital.

  “What the hell is Ethan Willis doing up there?” Kyle exclaimed as he moved in his seat, stretching his neck to see better as he realized his law office golfing buddy was walking up on stage to stand next to Aly.

  “Didn’t you say he’d been seeing her?” Winnie didn’t need her husband telling her gossip she already knew, but he was such a simple creature, weren’t they all, poor things? She liked to let him imagine she gave a solitary shit about the things he told her.

  “Yeah. A few months now…Jesus, Mary and Joseph!”

  Winnie leaned forward then, right along with everyone else in the auditorium as Ethan knelt down and held up a small Tiffany’s box in his hand. He opened the box, and Aly’s eyes went wide; the crowd hushed, listening for her reply. The quiet “Yes” that came didn’t sound all that sincere, not to Winnie’s ears. It didn’t look like Aly was thrilled at all, not like how women who are surprised by public marriage proposals are supposed to be. Her smile wavered as she answered Ethan. But the audience, the dancers on the stage, and the theater staff who had crowded around the couple didn’t seem to spot what Winnie had. No one, in fact, did. There was too much going on in the auditorium with the troupe of rhinestone and glittered-up dancers festooned in a myriad of costumes, all excited with the end of the show and the thrill of their instructor caught in an honest to goodness romantic moment. The stage too, was still backlit, with the Yankee New York skyline silhouetted in the back from the final routine of the recital.

  Then the moment passed and the dancers pressed up around the couple, excited and giggling. Others came up on the stage, with Aly and Ethan receiving their well-wishers, nodding and greeting all those that bombarded them with congratulations, like some kind of royalty.

  “Suppose I should go give him my best,” Kyle said, not waiting for Winnie to join him as he made his way down the center row and out into the crowded aisle.
r />   All eyes stayed on the stage watching Aly and her new fiancé. The noise of voices and laughter in the auditorium was deafening and Winnie turned to fumble with her bag, searching for her phone to text Clara and find out if she’d gotten away from the backstage crowd. But when she looked up, Winnie was surprised to see that the Riley-Hale assembly, who had been sitting three rows back and been boisterous all night, cheering loudly for their daughter every time the poor girl was on stage, was now strangely subdued. Ransom, in particular looked as though he might be sick. Winnie couldn’t help but notice that the young man’s beautiful, dark complexion paled as his eyes stayed riveted on the couple up on stage.

  Winnie snorted to herself. Men! Once a guy had been with a girl, he considered her his property, no matter how long ago they had broken up.

  Really, men were so pathetic.

  There is saltwater in my veins

  A thousand moments of memory.

  Ancient lives lived,

  Sacred time spent.

  I gave them to you.

  Every recollection

  Every instant

  Every graze of my tongue on your naked flesh

  Every exhale of my breath across your breast.

  I gave them to you.

  You forgot.

  Me.

  One