The street was a blur of black top and sharp deadly rain as Jacob sped down the bustling freeway towards Katie''s home. Buck up. Fix this. Your fault. The harsh demanding words kept playing over and over in his head and his speed increase the angrier he became. Jacob was angry at his mother, angry at the hospital for not fixing Katie yet, but mostly angry at himself for hurting her. Cheri was right, this was his fault, and he didn''t need her to tell him that. Jacob knew it.


    White knuckling the leather steering wheel Jacob made the turn onto the off ramp just a little too sharply and nearly lost control of his pristine Mercedes Benz Actros. Until then he had considered his truck his most prized possession, but he''d give it all up to make all of this go away.


    You''re as weak as your father was, his mother''s words echoed in his head as he turned onto Katie''s street. Weak... to fast but who cares. Weak... he turned into Katies driveway nearly missing the hundred-year-old oak tree that stood prominently in her front yard. Weak... Jacob screeched to a halt but not before slamming into Katie''s garage door. With a hard crash his head careened forward, slamming his chest into his steering wheel. His heart felt like it stopped and thudded with pain.


    "Great, one more thing for me to fix! Two more things I need to fix."


    Jacob sat, seething in his car for what felt like an hour, until the adrenaline coursing through his veins subsided enough to turn off his car. Jacob got out of the truck to survey the damage he had rendered to both the garage door and his vehicle. The door was bent in where it had given away to the two-ton vehicle leaving a six-inch gap between it and the cement, probably not going to open again until fixed. His truck ceased to be drivable. Steam billowed from the engine, and it was leaking from several different systems.


    With the rain pelting him like minuscule daggers Jacob fell to the ground and leaned against the front tire of his truck. His body finally gave into the barrage of emotions that he''d been holding back for the last twelve hours.


    Jacob, in shock, stared at the rain pelleting the cement driveway but all he could see was the shattered remnants of his life. Only 12 hours ago everything was perfect. He had a beautiful, intelligent woman who made him smile and laugh every day. He had a career which fulfilled him and could provide nicely for his growing family. And he had a mother who he loved dearly. Now, because of his mother, his fiancée was laying catatonic in the hospital, his career was in jeopardy, and all he felt toward his mother anger and hatred.


    Tears broke free and ran down his face as the torrential rain battered his shaking body. His wet fingers slipped into his pocket and pulled out the plastic baggy he had slip in earlier. Even in that small sliver of a shard he could see his life lying in shatters with no hope of being happy again. And when he looked into the shard of glass what he saw staring back at him was nothing he recognized. His hair was plastered to his head from the rain, his eyes where blood shot and the dark circles made him look like a drunk coming off of a five-day binge, but the worst was the deep cut in his cheek closed with dried blood. No memory of having been cut, he could only assume Katie had cut him accidentally before the EMT''s got to her house.


    "Jacob..." he heard a soft whisper. Jacob turned around to see who was there. No body was anywhere to be seen.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Jacob slammed his elbow into the car he was leaning against. "Pull yourself together. You have things to do."


    He pulled himself up off the driveway and headed towards the front door. Good thing he had clean dry clothes here, otherwise he''d be even more fucked than he already was.


    "Men don''t cry in public," his mother has told him that many times as a child.


    After letting himself into her house Jacob stood in the foyer for several minutes to just take in the scene. Other than the broken mirror the room was pristine. Which was odd, Katie wasn''t the deep cleaning type of person. She''d rather hire someone for that then do it herself. She wasn''t a dirty person, just like to detail clean and today even the floorboards shined.


    Jacob made his way to the master suite, Katie''s room, in order to change his clothes. Good thing he still had a drawer full of clothes here because he was dripping rainwater with every step he took. The short walk confirmed his thoughts. The hallway needed vacuuming, the bathroom mirror was spotting with dry water, and her room still had clean unfolded laundry on the chair in the corner of the room. Odd behavior for Katie to spend so much effort to clean up the foyer and ignore the simple cleaning tasks in other rooms. She usually spent Sundays doing the mundane cleaning chores she hated.


    After changing his cloths Jacob quickly packed a box full of Katies stuff including her favorite blanket, pillow, pictures of her mother, grandmother, and one of the two of them on their first date.


    Jacob couldn''t stop the tears from flowing down his cheeks. This was all his fault. He didn''t have to listen to his mother. The horrible woman had forced him to choose between the love of his life and the Montle legacy, and he chose wrong. Jacob held on to the picture as the memory of their first date invaded his mind.


    It was the last quarter of his last year of university. His fraternity was throwing the Halloween Bash this year. He hadn''t even wanted to be a member of a frat, but his mother insisted. He was a legacy, and apparently, he was supposed to be making connections that would benefit him his entire life. However, all he could see was a bunch of degenerate party boys intent only on blowing their inheritance before they could even receive it.


    Everything changed when he saw her standing in the corner sipping something from a red solo cup. Jacob had seen her around campus and at other parties several times before this but never had the guts to ask her out.


    "Hi," Jacob gave her his most winning smile "I''m Jacob. Are you having a good time?" He hadn''t even realized he had walked across the room straight to her until the moment he said hi.


    "I know who you are, we''ve been introduced twice now. I''m Katie, since you''ve seemed to have forgotten."


    Katie''s laugh sent sweet intoxicating chills down his back. No, he hadn''t forgotten meeting her, he just couldn''t believe she would remember him.


    "Are you having a good time?"


    "It''s a party," Katies smirk told him that she was just enduring the loud music and crowded room, probably to satisfy one of her friends. "We should go out. Maybe grab some dinner and get to know each other."


    "I''d be up to that." There was that smile again. "When?"


    "Now!" Jacob gently took Katie''s hand and started to lead her out of the party before she could change her mind but wasn''t quite fast enough."


    "Wait! I can''t just leave without telling my friends, they would worry."


    Jacob watched Katie scan the room until she located Cheri dancing with a group of drunk college kids and made her way towards her. She leaned over and whispered something in her ear that made Cheri giggle with sheer delight.


    "Hey Jacob!" They had started to walk away when Cheri had called out to them as they turned around, she snapped a picture of her phone. "Just in case I can''t find her in the morning I know who to send the cops after." She was giggling but Jacob understood this was a precaution most girls took those days, and he hadn''t mind at all.


    Six months later Cheri had given Katie that picture in a beautiful silver and pearl frame. The picture had come out pretty good and had become one of Katies most cherished possessions.