Read I Love You More Than Online
Authors: Kortni Renea
I Love You More Than
I Love You More Than…
Kortni Renea
I Love You More Than… copyright 2014 © Kortni Renea
First Edition Electronic October 2014
Editor: Melissa Flowers
All Rights Reserved
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, businesses, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental. All trademarks, service marks are the property of their respective owners and are used herein for identification purposes only.
All rights reserved under the Copyright. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Kortni R. Osler.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in Federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
I would like to dedicate this book to my friends and family who have stood behind me throughout this journey. For sticking with me through the hard work, dedication and time I had to give, to the detriment of our normal routines. I Love you all more than…
I would also like to dedicate this book to anyone who’s felt hopelessness when they should be feeling love. It is my wish that you take away with you after reading this novel, that you deserve to be happy! Happy in everything you do in life. That’s not to say life is perfect, because it’s not. But it’s much more bearable if you’re doing the things that make you feel good as a person.
Kortni Renea
Table of Contents
Bookartwork created by Taria Ree
d
www.tariareed.net
Felicia Montgomery awoke to yet another morning with the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness. Day in and day out, it was the same humdrum ish. How had her life come to be this way? How it spiraled so much out of control…she could not begin to tell you. Every day she woke up, got her two beautiful daughters ready for school and went to work. Work at least provided some modicum of relief for her. Work is where Felicia went to get away from it all.
For those looking in from the outside, Felicia Montgomery’s life was misleadingly attractive. They felt she had it all. At thirty-three she was a single mother of two, she loved her job as an assistant at Tom Rich designing firm. Despite being oblivious to it, Felicia was a beautiful woman. She was five foot seven, had a lovely chocolate mocha complexion with a sun kissed touch. Thanks to her grandfather who was full blooded Cherokee, Felicia had long pretty black natural deep waived hair that fell to her waist. But believe it or not, in spite of her assets, the first thing people noticed about Felicia, was her smile. She had the most genuine, innocent, infectious smile that could make anyone feel warm from the inside out.
Felicia grew up in Glendale MO, the only child born to Cassandra and Jacob Montgomery. Her mother, Cassandra was retired from the City of Glendale where she worked as a secretary in the office of Budget & Management for thirty-eight years. And her father Jacob was over Missouri Department of Transportation Services. He went to work before sunrise and was home by 3pm most days and looking to retire in the next year or so.
Growing up Felicia was a very sheltered and loved little girl. Her cousins Hailey and Analia, were more like siblings. From birth it was always known that the three of them would grow up, go to college and get married. Of course the kids and happily ever after were automatically supposed to happen.
Felicia’s cousin Hailey married her high school sweetheart Vincent. They were married their junior year of college, have three kids and another on the way. Analia met and married her Calvin seven years ago. They were blessed with their first child six months ago. Both couples seemed to be living happy lives. Fulfilling every little girls’
American dream
. Felicia, on the other hand; being the single one who just could not seem to meet a nice young man, was counted on to do a lot. Whatever was needed, her family used her as their sixth man. Her Aunt Anita and cousins used to rib her a lot, saying that if she’d just lose a few pounds, she’d have a man. Not all men can appreciate a little extra meat on the bones.
Even back then despite being single, Felicia was happy. Happily pinning away, waiting for her best friend Emma’s older brother Harrison Kincaid. Emma and Felicia had been friends since kindergarten. They had
met
when Emma stuck up for Felicia against the class bully, Billy Randal. One day during recess he’d made fun of Felicia until she was crying. Undeterred by her tears, he pulled on her pig tails chanting and singing his insults. Emma walked right up to Billy Randal and kneed him in the balls. You would have thought Emma’s knee somehow decapitated his genitals the way he was wailing.
“Cry baby, cry baby. Billy Randal’s nothing but a big fat cry baby.” She sang as she skipped over to where Felicia was standing off to the side in awe of her. Bending over, Emma plucked a daisy up from the dirt and handed it to Felicia. “Here. I hope this makes you feel better. Don’t pay any attention to Billy, he’s just a big mean bully. My name is Emma! What’s yours?”
That’s all it took for the two of them to become stuck like glue. You never saw one of them at school or a social function without the other. Emma didn’t have a lot of
sleep overs
growing up. She had five siblings so it was a hassle for her parents to find her brothers something else to do or somewhere else to go. Instead, Emma often escaped her chaotic household by trading it in for the quietness of the Montgomery household. She was a normal fixture at their house and was affectionately known as, ‘
you know, that little white girl’
at the family reunions and gatherings.
You would think growing up, having a best friend that was the complete opposite of your own nationality would’ve caused some friction or havoc. But it never did between them. They were Frick and frack. Where Felicia was quiet, shy and reserved, Emma was loud, rambunctious and beyond mischievous. Ninety percent of the punishments Felicia had received were because of Emma. But she would not have traded in her bestie for anything in the world. Any time Felicia needed her, Emma dropped whatever she was doing to be there and vice versa. It was always thought that nothing could come between the bonds they shared… So how is it that a happy, carefree Felicia could get to the point of feeling such despair and loneliness?
When Felicia’s Aunt Anita invited a young man she’d met who was new to the area for Sunday dinner thirteen years ago, never did Felicia think it would be the beginning of her own personal purgatory. David Foster seemed like the most docile sheep you would ever come across in life. The first thing she noticed about him was his height. He was six foot two and weighed two hundred and thirty-five pounds. David’s body structure was like one of an ex-football player whose muscles were in the beginning stages of turning to marshmallow. After that, sad to say you noticed nothing else where he was concerned. That should’ve been the telltale sign right there for Felicia. David’s complexion is dark bronze and no matter what, by mid-afternoon he is always sporting a five o’clock shadow. His head was round, bald and peanut shaped. His full lips were encased in a salt and pepper goatee.
When they first started dating, Felicia thought the stars and the moon hung from David. After all, she was a young naive twenty year old when they first met. There was really nothing he could do wrong in her eyes. Felicia had pretty much always been a homebody, spending all her time either enthralled in a novel or drawing and decorating whatever she could get her hands on. So she was essentially
swept off her feet
when David started taking her out to dinner, movies and the like. He seemed to be genuinely happy and pleased whenever they hung out with his friends. Garnering praise and compliments on how lucky he was. He used to tell her he had a ‘pretty young thang’ on his arm…One that was ‘raised right and knew how to cater to her man’.
So what if David had a short temper…no one was perfect...right?
For the most part David was kind and affectionate, especially when they were out and about around her family or his friends. One of the first insights Felicia had to his dark side was when he came to her place after working a twelve hour shift with the Glendale Police Department. Felicia was standing at the kitchen sink washing the dishes from the meal she had cooked earlier. She heard the front door of her apartment open and close and glanced at the clock on the microwave. Felicia saw that it was going on ten pm. David had been at work since six that morning. She knew he was exhausted and would more than likely be irritable.
“Hey sweetie,” she greeted him as he walked into the kitchen and over to where she stood and grabbed a glass off the dish rack. Lifting the glass up to the light, David inspected every inch and aspect of the glass as if it had committed a crime. After his inspection was over, he just stared at her not saying a word. Trying to quickly diffuse his turbulent violent mood, Felicia tried to talk about something, anything to get past his foul mood. But out of nervousness, she stepped into the snakes nest instead.
“How was work today?”
Shit!
“It was work like always. It would be nice to be able to come to my girlfriend’s house and get a cold glass of water in a clean fucking glass!"
Felicia gave David a puzzled look as she’d just washed that very glass. “David that glass is clean, I just washed it.”
“You call this clean?” He yelled as he held the glass inches from her face. All Felicia saw was streaks on the glass from where the water had ran down the side as it was beginning to dry.
“Yes David I do. Look, there’s nothing on the glass. Those are water streaks.”
You would have thought that Felicia told David ‘fuck you and your momma’ the way he was looking at her with so much animosity and hostility.
“A real woman dries the dishes she has washed. She’s not a lazy fucking slob who just stacks the shit up to dry.”
He turned and walked away from her, giving Felicia a false sense of relief. David walked over to the table and sat down, boring into her with his gaze.
“Do you know why I haven’t asked you to marry me in the three years we’ve been together? It’s because I can’t bring myself to be tied down to half a woman. You’re an incomplete woman Felicia. And if I marry you, I’d just be settling. And that’s one thing I’ll never do. So if you want this to work, you need to get your shit together and grow up and take care of your household like a whole, complete woman. Not some little ass girl.”
Felicia stood at the sink for what felt like hours after David’s stingingly hurtful tirade and lecture. Felicia found herself confused. As was starting to be the norm for her at that point. Like always, she didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. She has been an assistant at the design firm where she had worked since before she graduated college two years prior. And as for cleaning, washing dishes and whatever…How dare he judge her when he didn’t lift a finger to do anything around the house! Yes it was her place, but he was there five to seven days a week.
Unfortunately for Felicia, that wasn’t the first time David showed out and certainly was not the last. She excused the behavior like normal because again, he worked long hours at the police department under high stress. A short fuse was to be expected. Besides that, things weren’t
that bad
. Every now and then, David may let a snide comment slip about her weight. Felicia she had put on fifteen pounds since they’d begun dating. But she could stick it out. She’d worked this long for their relationship. The ring and the key to her happy ending were surely around the corner.
And so it went, the unhealthy cycle that was Felicia and David’s relationship. In the beginning, no one could say anything bad about David. Felicia always found herself coming to David’s defense. Whether it was defending him from her family or from her friends, she always found herself going to bat for him. This was especially the case where Emma and David were concerned. She was always put in the situation of having to defend his actions. Emma and David were worse than water and oil. Nothing could bring the two of them together.
At first she would try to coordinate double dates and group outings. They had gone out together maybe a handful of times, and no matter what, it always ended the same. Emma cussing David out. David saying something out of pocket to Emma, causing whoever she was dating at the time to defend her honor and eventually they would come close to exchanging blows. Finally it got to the point where Felicia couldn’t take it anymore. She did everything in her power to keep the two of them away from each other. This was hard, as she was used to speaking with her best friend daily, multiple times and seeing her at least every other day. But David didn’t like it when she was on the phone with her friends while he visited. He felt all her attention should be directed on him. After all, he had a stressful job and all he wanted to do when he got off was hold his woman. Not listen to her cackle like a fucking hen!