Echoes of the Heart, Casey, L.A. [reader novel .txt] 📗

OTHER TITLES BY L.A. CASEY

Slater Brothers Series

Dominic

Bronagh

Alec

Keela

Kane

Aideen

Ryder

Branna

Damien

Alannah

Brothers

The Man Bible: A Survival Guide

Collins Brothers Series

Dateless

Maji Series:

Out of the Ashes

Ripples in Time

Standalone Novels

Frozen

Until Harry

Her Lifeline

My Little Secret

Forgetting You

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

Text copyright © 2021 by L.A. Casey

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Published by Montlake, Seattle

www.apub.com

Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Montlake are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.

ISBN-13: 9781542023320

ISBN-10: 1542023327

Cover design by Plum5 Limited

For my mother.

CONTENTS

PROLOGUE FRANKIE

CHAPTER ONE FRANKIE

CHAPTER TWO RISK

CHAPTER THREE RISK

CHAPTER FOUR RISK

CHAPTER FIVE FRANKIE

CHAPTER SIX RISK

CHAPTER SEVEN FRANKIE

CHAPTER EIGHT RISK

CHAPTER NINE FRANKIE

CHAPTER TEN FRANKIE

CHAPTER ELEVEN RISK

CHAPTER TWELVE FRANKIE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN FRANKIE

CHAPTER FOURTEEN RISK

CHAPTER FIFTEEN FRANKIE

CHAPTER SIXTEEN FRANKIE

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN FRANKIE

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN RISK

CHAPTER NINETEEN FRANKIE

CHAPTER TWENTY FRANKIE

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE FRANKIE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO RISK

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE FRANKIE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR FRANKIE

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE FRANKIE

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX RISK

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN FRANKIE

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT FRANKIE

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE RISK

CHAPTER THIRTY RISK

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE FRANKIE

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO FRANKIE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Did you enjoy . . .

PROLOGUE

FRANKIE

Nine years ago . . .

I awoke to the heart-stopping sound of thunderous banging.

I shot upright and stared around my darkened bedroom. I reached over to my left, expecting to find the warm body of my boyfriend, but his side of the bed was empty and cold. I didn’t have a spare moment to think of where he was because the banging quickly resumed. I kicked my duvet off my body and hopped down from my bed. The harshness of the hallway light almost blinded me the second I opened the door. I rubbed my eyes with my fingers as I scurried down the narrow passageway and came to a stop at my front door.

“W-Who is it?”

“It’s Michael, Frankie. Open up.”

I felt relieved when I recognised the voice. I undid the lock, pulled the door open and stared up at the tall, stocky, brown-haired man who I was not expecting to be banging down my door in the middle of the night.

“Dr O’Rourke?” I blinked tiredly. “What’s wrong?”

“Frankie.” His hands were on his hips, his bushy eyebrows drawn in tight. “I’ve been callin’ ye for the last hour.”

Dr Michael O’Rourke was a Dubliner, from Ireland, but had lived in Southwold for a long time. He was my GP and had been for as long as I could remember. A mentionable fact was that he was also my mother’s boyfriend. My mum having a boyfriend wasn’t a problem for me, it was actually welcomed. I had just turned eighteen and she was a forty-six-year-old widower who deserved to find a good man who loved her. It was just a little bizarre that that man was my GP. They had been dating for a little over three months and I still didn’t know how to act around Dr O’Rourke so I always remained polite, but a little standoffish.

“It’s on silent.” I shivered as the crippling cold of the winter’s night slithered around me. “I was out until late with Risk.”

Upon saying my boyfriend’s name, I remembered where he was. He was a musician who lived and breathed music. When he and his band, Blood Oath, weren’t travelling around the UK playing as many gigs as they could get, anywhere they could get them, they were in a tiny studio writing and recording. Risk Keller spent as much time in that studio as he did with me; if he wasn’t by my side, he was there.

Dr O’Rourke coughed into his elbow. “Can I come inside?”

“Of course.”

I backed into my home as Dr O’Rourke stepped inside and closed the door behind him. For a few moments, neither of us spoke and all that could be heard was the low whistle of the wind outside. It was awkward.

“Uh, would you like a cuppa tea?”

“Please.”

On autopilot, I turned and entered my small kitchen, flipping on the light as I went. I grabbed my kettle, filled it up with water, set it on its stand, plugged it in and switched it on. I grabbed two cups, popped a tea-bag into each one then turned and leaned my lower back against the counter-top. Dr O’Rourke was seated at my two-person table. His eyes were on his hands, which were resting on the table’s surface. They were clasped tightly together.

“Dr O’Rourke—”

“Michael.” He looked up with a tired smile that didn’t reach his brown, hooded eyes. “I’ve been datin’ your ma for a few months now, Frankie. I think ye can call me by me name. Don’t you?”

“I’m sorry,” I said, flushing. “It’s a force of habit, I’ve only ever called you Dr O’Rourke.”

He nodded and we fell back into an awkward silence.

I looked from him to the clock on the wall and stared at the two hands. Twenty-five past five in the morning. Dr O’Rourke was in my home at twenty-five past five in the morning. He had never been inside my cottage before, let alone this early and unannounced. I felt my body began to shake as an overwhelming sensation of dread filled the pit of my stomach. It was an odd experience, to feel my body fall into a hole of panic so rapidly. I could already hear the familiar tell-tale musical sound from my lungs that told me an asthma attack was fast approaching.

“Something’s happened to my mum,” I rasped. “Hasn’t it?”

When Dr O’Rourke looked my way, his clouded eyes were filled with untamed despair and I suddenly felt like I couldn’t breathe. My chest tightened and drawing in air became increasingly difficult, like someone had poured concrete down my throat. I felt