Chasing Redemption (Book 2 of Chasing Series)

One | New Beginnings

Hello friends! It's finally here!

Thank you so much for your patience with this story and I cannot wait for you all to see how it unfolds!

Enjoy x

When I was a kid, my mother used to warn me about the dangers of the outside world. Somehow, she just never thought to warn me about those that can come from within yourself.

I step out onto the frozen concrete. The heated reception of New Beginnings facility centre slowly disappears as the sliding doors close. Having that feeling disappear is a nice fucking welcoming. Just being outside my damn room is enough for me, freezing or not.

I reach for the band around my wrist when a gust of wind sweeps my hair across my eyes. I read my patient details before tearing the band off. It falls against the concrete but I don't bother picking it up.

The obscured view through the strands of my hair gives me limited room to work with, but I spot Dean's car as it pulls into the parking lot.

It'd been a year already. A year I didn't miss at all.

The events that led me here may not have killed me, but something died in me along the way. It eventually caught up until I felt nothing at all.

It isn't a feeling I'd gained back either. Not with 12 months of facility treatment. Not with group fucking circles and their redemption stories. Not with nurses offering me their fake smiles and doping me up with medication.

I may not have wanted to die anymore, but I was far from who I used to be.

Chapters close all the damn time. Maybe this was just the start of a new one for me.

"Rhea."

I look up, exiting the fog of my own thoughts. My brother stands with his hands stuffed into the front pockets of his jeans. He's had a haircut since I last saw him. His brown locks that used to sweep around his chin are clipped at the sides, hanging loose at the top as it flops around his brows.

"Hey," I smile softly, stepping towards him.

I don't have to walk too far before his arms are wrapping around my shoulders. I pull him in close and something tugs inside my chest as I let my bags fall to the ground beneath me.

I place my arms around his waist, closing my eyes. "I've missed you," he whispers against my hair.

"Me too," I reply, muffled.

With a sigh he pulls away, picking up my bags as he throws them into the back seat. He opens my door for me, patting down the seat as if he's cleaning for crumbs.

He steps back, waiting for me to take a seat before he closes the door and jogs around the front of his car. I watch him, aware of his trepidation around me. He doesn't know how to act anymore.

Last year we had finally begun to mend our broken relationship, but when I'd decided to admit myself here, that progress had vanished. I hadn't allowed him to see me. Even when he tried every day for the first five months, I was determined to let everyone move forward without my baggage.

He shuts the door and we are cast in silence for a moment. "Got your seatbelt?"

"I do remember how a car works. Thank you," I muse, shoving at his shoulder. He offers me a strained smile and my mouth folds down at the sides.

He starts the engine and I'm grateful for the sudden spillage of the stereo. Music pours out through the speakers, playing softly as he leaves the car park.