Broken and Powerful

Chapter 1

JEDA

The glistening sun shone brightly on her face causing her eyes to squint tightly. The slight wind sent her hair to whisp over her shoulders.

It was warm summer days like this that Jeda missed sitting at the beach with a cold drink in her hand surrounded by friends. Just laughing as if nothing else mattered in the world but that moment.

Those were the days.

Jeda felt sweat trickle down the side of her face as she walked down the street towards her humble home. The day would have been nice to enjoy without the long sleeves and jeans that kept her body heat in. But showing her body or too much skin would be a mistake and she knew it. Nobody wanted to see what was underneath the fabric, not even her.

When she was a house away she took a deep breath and adjusted the heavy bags in her hands. Mentally she prepared herself for whatever she would find behind the closed doors.

Jerad, her boyfriend for over four years, had been upset about something when she left the house. Knowing he was in one of his moods from the yelling erupting out of his office, she quickly made up an excuse that they were out of ingredients for dinner and rushed out of the house like her ass was on fire.

When she made it to the front door, she awkwardly moved the bags in her right hand while attempting to unlock the front door. She had way too many different key chains that it was hard to find the right key so she fumbled for a few minutes before finally finding it.

The heavy plastic bags were starting to make her wince in pain as they pushed tightly into her palm.

"Those look quite heavy," A voice spoke behind her, deep and unsettling. She froze but didn't turn around to face whoever was on her porch. The voice doesn't sound familiar to her but Jerad has many friends so she could have just not recognized it.

Was she so deep in her thoughts that she didn't even hear footsteps approaching?

"Grocery bags just keep getting heavier it seems," She replies in a monotone voice while finally unlocking the door. Jade moves her eyes to where she pictured their abdomens would be then turns towards the men standing on the porch behind her.

Two men were standing rather close for comfort in front of her. Her eyes moved to the man on the rights chests, avoiding eye contact, and looked at them in her peripherals. They were both a foot taller than her with black ink covering the showing skin of their arms and necks. They were rather muscular and intimidating-looking.

If she was someone different and saw these two men on the street, she would scream bloody murder and run the other way. But she was too used to her boyfriend's lifestyle at this point that this was normal.

"What can I help you gentlemen with?" She questions while moving her eyes to focus on the car across the street parked in the neighbor's driveway. Their posture told her they were here for business and not small talk.

"Straight to the point, I see," The man on her left says again with a small chuckle. He seemed to ooze with authority as if he owned the right to it. His voice, posture, and large body frame gave that away. Both of the men were standing so still if it hadn't been for their chests moving slowly she would have assumed they weren't breathing at all.

"Is Jerad here by chance?" The left man asks. An unsettling shiver creeps up her spine from his voice.

She shuffled on her feet slightly, moving the bags to the other hand. "I believe he is but I can go check for you. Are you alright waiting out here while I go find him?"