Her Wings

  Her Wings

  A Sexy Neighbor, Secret Romance Novella

  By Liz Peters

  © Copyright 2019 by- Liz Peters -All rights reserved.

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved. The characters in this book are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is entirely coincidental. WARNING: Contains mature themes and language.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One | Ali

  Chapter Two | Ben

  Chapter Three | Ali

  Chapter Four | Ben

  Chapter Five | Ali

  Chapter Six | Ben

  Chapter Seven | Ali

  Chapter Eight | Ben

  Chapter Nine | Ali

  Chapter Ten | Ben

  Chapter Eleven | Ali

  Chapter Twelve | Ben

  Chapter Thirteen | Ali

  Chapter One

  Ali

  Alicia Hansen had always been a little different than her peers. It made it difficult sometimes to fit in, or to find people she could relate to. She was also wise beyond her years, yet fun and some might say immature.

  During her childhood and teen years, she only had one true friend, Sabrina Woods. Ali and Sabrina always accepted and encouraged each other despite their differences. They found a way to listen to each other’s deepest secrets and created a bond they were sure would last a lifetime.

  When Ali started dating Tyler Kimmel back in tenth grade, Sabrina thought it was a bad idea. She voiced her opinion, then kept her mouth shut. Tyler and Ali stayed together all through high school and when they were still a couple after graduation, Sabrina decided she’d better accept it. Things between the young lovers were looking more and more serious by the day.

  Tyler was a star athlete and was on the school’s varsity team. Ali was a cheerleader. Everyone thought they were the perfect all- American couple, including both of their families. Tyler’s dad owned an auto repair shop and had Tyler’s life laid out for him, expecting him to take over the family business. He had even hinted around at setting Tyler up with his first family home as soon as he was ready to “settle down.”

  Ali had no idea how or when she would ever be ready for that, but it was starting to seem as though her entire life was slowly evolving into something she hadn’t quite decided on for herself. She didn’t have any real objections to it, but she couldn’t seem to rid herself of the nagging feeling that there was something bigger in the world out there. She’d never ventured very far out of her small home-town, but traveling the world was a dream she just couldn’t get out of her mind.

  One day she brought it up to Tyler. They were relaxing on a blanket, having a picnic on a lazy summer afternoon just before Ali’s nineteenth birthday. Ali gathered up her nerve and said “Hey Ty, do you ever think about visiting Italy? I’ve heard Rome is beautiful in the fall.”

  “No, I guess I’ve never thought about it. I’ve been busy working so many long days at Dad’s shop that the only thing I really look forward to is the time I get to spend relaxing and hanging out with you.” He gave her the sweetest kiss and she decided to drop it.

  Tyler came from a very large family and they all loved to gather. He started to tell her about yet another family party that was in the works for the next weekend. He seemed to have more cousins than Ali could count and especially loved the little ones. He often spoke of having lots of kids and when he did, Ali felt a tightness swell up in her chest. It wasn’t that she didn’t want children, it was just that she felt there was so much to do before she would be ready for that kind of commitment.

  It was definitely getting to be time to take stock of her life and where it was heading. She couldn’t really talk honestly to her mom about it because Julia Hensen was such a big fan of Tyler’s. Having her daughter married to a successful business owner, living right down the road raising children in a little house with a picket fence was all Julia could ask for. Going to college to get a “degree in something” was about all Ali would be encouraged to do. No, discussing her future with her mom would definitely not be productive.

  Instead, Ali spent the night at Sabrina’s house and the girls stayed up until the wee hours of the morning chatting about their future. Not surprisingly, Sabrina was also feeling trapped in their small town and encouraged Ali when she admitted that she was thinking of breaking up with Tyler.

  Sabrina’s reaction was loud and clear; “Oh my gosh, Al! It’s about damn time!”

  “I know, right? I’ve been keeping that thought to myself for so long. It feels really good to be able to say it out loud to someone. I was afraid you might think I was crazy. How can I give up a solid future with a great guy just because I’m feeling a little restless?”

  Sabrina knew that heartache that was in store for her friend if she didn’t follow what her heart was telling her now. “Look at all the girls that got pregnant and settled down in this little town. Why is it just assumed that’s the right thing to do? Half of them will be divorced single moms by the time they hit thirty. Not only am I not going to judge you, but I think I want to join you.”

  Ali couldn’t believe her ears when she heard her best friend’s response. They hugged each other tight, then made a pact to get out of town together and try to make a new life for themselves.

  The next day, Ali was feeling a little less enthused about having to tell Tyler, but it was something that needed to be done. She could no longer go on playing a role that wasn’t true to herself. It simply wasn’t fair to anyone.

  Tyler called her and as if to make things easier, he said he wanted to take her out for the evening and that he had something he needed to talk to her about. She felt a little apprehensive at his words but was too busy working out what she wanted to say to him to try and guess what he was up to. Besides, the timing was exactly the same as it was every Saturday night.

  He would come over and pick her up at 6:00, and they would have their weekly date, usually going to the town fair, out to dinner or to the local theater to watch a movie. It was very predictable; nice, but predictable.

  Tyler didn’t tell her what he wanted to do, so Ali chose her favorite yellow sundress. It was perfect for whatever he had in mind; comfortable yet pretty. She felt good wearing it and it gave her the confidence boost she so badly needed. She had practiced her “It’s not you, it’s me” breakup speech. She was even planning to throw in some nice “we can still be friends” lines to make it easier. Still, she knew this was going to be difficult. It absolutely needed to be done, but that thought didn’t make it any easier and by the time he came to pick her up, her stomach was in knots.

  She put on her bravest smile when he showed up, hopped in the car with him and the two of them headed out for the evening. Tyler squeezed her hand as he drove and talked excitedly about going to the county fair. Ali was relieved that it wasn’t going to be a fancy restaurant where people would be seated close to them, and she’d have to feel guilty about breaking up with him after an expensive meal.

  They arrived at the fairgrounds and as soon as they got out of the car Ali was hit with the familiar smells of hot dogs, caramel corn and cotton candy. She’d been coming here every year since she was a little girl and had fond memories of this place. However, tonight the sights and sounds were making her feel a little sick.

  Tyler took one look at her face and said “Are you alright, Babe? You’re looking a little pale. I’m thinking the ferris wheel might not be such a good idea.”

  Ali looked around
for a gap in all the people and said, “Yeah, maybe not. I think I’d rather walk around a bit first.”

  They spent the next hour walking hand in hand around the fairgrounds. Tyler was being especially sweet and bought her a big teddy bear and a heart-shaped balloon. She accepted the cumbersome gifts as graciously as she could. It was awkward, but at least her stomach was starting to relax a bit and she began looking for an opportunity to break her news to Tyler.

  She saw an empty picnic table and was just about to ask Tyler if he would sit down with her, but her thoughts were interrupted by a voice over a loudspeaker getting ready to announce the winner of a pie-eating contest. Tyler seemed especially interested and dragged her by the hand over to the stage near where the announcer stood.

  Ali had no choice but to follow him, and her nerves were getting so bad that she barely heard the words the announcer was saying: “Ladies and gentlemen we have a special request by a young man in our audience who would like to take this opportunity to say a few words.”

  The next thing she knew, Ali was being led by the hand up to the stage. The announcer handed the microphone over to Tyler. Standing there holding the giant bear and balloon, Ali felt a crippling wave of stage-fright hit her. She looked out at the crowd to get her bearings and noticed her mom, dad and both of Tyler’s parents waving and smiling up at them. What the hell??

  As if in slow motion, Tyler got down on one knee and reached into his pocket to pull out a small velvet box.

  She managed to pull herself together just in time to hear him say “... and so would you, Alicia Anne Hensen do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

  That was the last thing Ali heard before she noticed the bright lights behind Tyler swirling around in circles just as everything around her turned to black.

  THE NEXT FEW DAYS WENT by in a blur. Ali had people checking on her and of course, speculating. Was she pregnant? Diabetic? Drunk? Dear Lord, how she hated this gossipy town!

  Tyler had checked in on her too, yet somehow realized she needed some space. Finally, they had a chance to talk. They took a walk to the backyard together where they could be alone for a bit. “What’s going on with you, Ali? Obviously, you weren’t overcome with joy when I proposed.”

  Ali was finally ready to share her heart. “You’re right, I was a little overcome with emotion that night, but it wasn’t joy. I just don’t think I’m ready to settle down, Tyler. I love you, you know that. But you’ve got your whole life planned out, and I’m still trying to decide what I want to do with mine.” She looked up at him, trying to give him her sweetest smile.

  Tyler jumped up, furious. “You ungrateful little bitch! Do you even know how lucky you are to have someone offer you a stable future?! I was willing to give you the best of everything. My family adores you. What am I supposed to tell them now? You made a fool out of me in front of this entire town!”

  Ali was completely caught off guard by this side of his personality that she had never seen before. She recoiled slightly, then realized she had to stand her ground. It wasn’t her fault that she wanted something else in her life, and she wasn’t about to be bullied for speaking her truth.

  She chose her words very carefully, lowered her voice and said: “Tyler, I’m just so sorry that things worked out this way.”

  Fuming, Tyler looked her straight in the eyes and said “Oh, you’re going to be sorry, alright. I’m going to tell everyone in this town what you really are. No one is ever going to love you again Alicia Hensen.”

  Ali was left sitting there speechless as Tyler stormed out of the yard. He hopped in his car and sped off out of the driveway with his tires squealing.

  She had absolutely no idea what he meant by that. The words hung in the air and they stung. She felt like crying for all the heartache she had caused herself and Tyler. Yet for some reason, all she could think of was how glad she was that she got out just in the nick of time.

  Clearly, it was time to call Sabrina and discuss a detailed plan to get out of town. She had some serious living to do.

  In the following months, Ali and Sabrina became a force to be reckoned with. They made a commitment to their timeline and totally supported each other in making it happen. As it turned out, they decided not to just leave on a whim. Instead, they stayed in town working odd jobs and saving their money. They had a common goal and would let nothing stand in their way of seeing it through.

  True to his word, Tyler had worked furiously to ruin Ali’s reputation. He would tell anyone willing to listen that she had cheated on him and only wanted him for his success as a business owner’s son. Ali’s response was to keep her head held high. She would not respond to gossip or try to defend herself in any way. Her parents, who had initially been quite disappointed that she wasn’t settling down, soon saw Tyler’s true personality for what it was. Although they weren’t pleased that she was planning to leave town on her own, they at least supported her ambition to work hard and save her own money.

  It took longer than they had hoped, but eventually, Ali and Sabrina had earned enough money together to purchase a car and save for the first and last month’s rent on an apartment in Florida. By their twenty-first birthdays, they had loaded up their few belongings, kissed their families goodbye and were headed off to a new adventure and new chapter in their lives.

  TWO YEARS LATER...

  The world was magically quiet just after the sun rose on Sunday morning. Ali enjoyed this part of the day more than someone her age really ought to. It was only six-thirty in the morning and she was out for her morning jog. This had been her routine ever since she’d been old enough to head out on her own, though when she was still in school it had been an hour earlier. There was something about being free and out in the fresh air every day that gave her a wake-up she didn’t get if she slept in.

  Ali paused for a moment at the intersection of a pair of familiar streets. This was where she could decide to take the long way or the short way back home. She stretched both of her arms and then her legs before adjusting the ponytail that held her long, red hair in place as she considered the two options. It was the weekend, and she had all the time in the world, but this was going to be the last day that she was able to have entirely to herself for a while.

  Tomorrow, Alicia was going back to school for the first time since high school. Ali had always hated school, but this time she was excited. She was finally on the path to making her dreams come true.

  After finally leaving their home town she and Sabrina had moved into their own apartment as close to the beach as they could manage. Since then, they’d been working as waitresses or bartenders and doing a pretty good job of making ends meet. For the first two years of living on their own, everyone back home kept telling them that they really ought to come back and go to college. By now, most of them had given up on that ever happening, but that didn’t mean that Ali was done surprising them.

  She had always wanted to travel the world, and there was no way she was going to be able to do it on a bartender’s income. It was one of the only things that had ever made her second guess the way she’d decided to live her life, but instead of heading back with her tail tucked between her legs, she’d decided to take matters into her own hands. Six months ago, she had started putting in applications to nearly every airline in the area to become a flight attendant. It was the only job she could imagine where she was going to get to see new places regularly and still manage to get paid for it. Besides, it was also going to put her in direct contact with a variety of handsome pilots, and Ali could only see that as one of the many perks of the job.

  Six months was a long time to wait, but eventually, Ali had finally gotten a call to come in for an interview. That had started a whole whirlwind of a process that lasted about a week before she found out she was going to be starting the flight attendant training class. She was taking Saturday and Sunday to get herself together, and then Monday was when all of the fun began—starting with eight weeks of training. That training was supposed to s
tart at eight o’clock sharp tomorrow morning.

  It took Ali a moment to realize that she was just standing here at this intersection thinking over the next chapter in her life. It was a lot to wrap her head around, but it wasn’t something she had to think about until tomorrow morning. For today, she could focus on taking one last day for herself to enjoy the fact that she was young, single and living in Daytona Beach with nothing to worry about for at least the next twenty-four hours.

  Glancing at both of her options, Ali immediately set off on the longer path. They both ended in the same spot, and Sabrina wasn’t going to be awake any time before ten in the morning considering she’d been working till three am last night. That meant that Ali was free to have the rest of this run to herself before she had to think about anyone else.

  THREE HOURS LATER, Ali found herself sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of hot coffee resting in front of her. The steam was still curling from the liquid in the cup as she waited for it to cool down enough to drink when Sabrina walked into the room. The tiny girl had a head full of dark hair and a deep golden-brown skin tone that Ali had always been jealous of with her own fair complexion and a handful of freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose and cheeks. They couldn’t have been more different in appearance, though, they had been best friends since the day they’d met back on the first day of kindergarten.

  It had probably been destiny that they were going to end up living together. Sometimes it was like Sabrina and Ali were the same people. Other times, they were total opposites, like about what time they woke up. Sabrina was firmly in the camp that being up before ten in the morning was an abomination while Ali didn’t know how anyone could stay in the bed past eight am. It just meant that Ali spent most mornings on her own, which was perfectly fine with her, but by the time that Sabrina got out of bed, Ali was usually ready for her best friend’s company.