Protective Secrets (The Protective Series, Book 3)

Chapter One

Author's Note:

This story is the sequel to both Protective Services and Protective Shadows, and is the final book in the Protective Series. If you have not read any of the titles mentioned above, please do before you start to read this one, as the events and characters may be confusing, and will be better understood if the others are read first.

As with my other works, and every other author's works out there, Protective Secrets is covered by copyright law. If anyone attempts to steal or duplicate my work and publish it elsewhere, please let me know so that I may deal with the matter. Unauthorised duplication may result in legal action against the individual involved.

The protagonist of this story is fabricated and is not an actual real person, as with the other characters in this story excepting two of the three members of Protective Services.

As always, please enjoy the story, and do not hesitate to press that share, vote or comment button.

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Life hasn't been the same since Janne died.

Everything is black and white; the sky is no longer blue, the blades of grass no longer green like they once were, back when everything made sense. Not even the four walls of my room seem the same rich shade of aqua blue that they've been ever since I moved in there five years ago and painted them that precise colour. Blinking at them, resting the side of my face against my palm, I see nothing but pitch black darkness, coaxing me forward with motioning fingers.

A huge part of me was ripped from my body the night he was murdered. At the time, I'd been too numb to feel a thing, but a few days later, the pain came full force, and I wasn't prepared for it at all. It was unbearable, like I was being stabbed over and over again in the heart with the world's sharpest and thinnest bladed knife. But instead of bleeding out into unconsciousness, losing every sense of self-identity and every memory, I was awake through it all to feel every second of it, dragging into what felt like hours of endless, merciless agony from which I had no escape. I physically felt the throbbing pain of my heart breaking into tiny fragments inside my chest, as the stinging tears collected in the rims of my eyes and trickled my cheeks, dampening my pillowcase.

Janne was always there to break my fall in the past, but the moment his soul left the earth, the solid surface beneath my feet had cracked and collapsed in on itself, plunging me into an infinite abyss of darkness. He was my soul mate; my one true love, and without him, I felt completely lost. I didn't even feel like Jed Pearce anymore. The Jed I'd been for more than half of my life was never depressed, or suffering in past memories. I am a skeleton of who I once was, and as much as I hate to admit it, I don't think things will ever go back to the way they were. Nothing stays the same. Everything changes.

My Samsung Galaxy S6 vibrated from beneath my pillow, averting my attention from my muddled, disconnected thoughts. I sighed, sliding my hand beneath the cold material and drawing the rectangular device 20 cms from my face. The lock screen flashed with a preview of the text from Asko, depicting a sad face emoji, along with the concerned words 'are you okay?'

It'd been a year since I last saw him, or Dominik and Jarmo for that matter. From what I researched online, and saw in my Facebook newsfeed, the guys were planning to release a new EP soon with their new frontman, Mark. It stung a little, knowing that they could move on so fast, and pretend as if I never existed. At least Asko had the decency to check up on me every day, even if I never responded to his texts. It was too soon, and I knew I couldn't talk to him without falling apart at the seams all over again.