Beyond Love Deleted Scene

Note from Abby: 

Chapter 28 originally went a little differently than it does in the final version of Beyond Love. I’d been reading a lot of darker books and was going through some difficult stuff in my life. Those two things definitely influenced the first version of Beyond Love, and it really culminated in Chapter 28. My husband wasn’t a fan and one of the beta comments was, “Wow! Abby went dark!”  

When I came up with the series idea, I wanted to take this family that had been broken by their father, bring them back together, and heal them. In my mind, they wouldn’t come together easily at first. They would have a lot of anger to work through. So in the original version of Beyond Love, Caleb said some awful things to Wyatt and basically refused to talk to him after the family found out what was going on. Of course, I intended to fix this in the next book, but it didn’t go over all that well. 

After lots discussion and deliberation, my husband finally said something that really hit home. If I left Beyond Love as dark as it was, I was breaking a promise I made in Beyond Words. I was ruining the family everyone fell in love with. 

I decided to soften the book.   

Here is chapter 28 as it was originally written. This hasn’t been edited or revised. This is very much draft-style writing, so please forgive me there. 

After you read, I’d be curious to know, are you glad I softened things? Or do you think I should have left this chapter as it was? 

Chapter 28 

Wyatt 

Just as I was stepping off the porch, ready to turn my back on Kara and walk out of her crazy life forever, the front door opened and Madeline burst through.  

“Well, speak of the devil.” The bitch looked like she had been crying, but nothing about her could be taken at face value. 

Just like her daughter. 

“Wyatt?” Kara’s voice sounded from deeper in the apartment, trembling slightly and wrapped in anxiety. She was probably nervous over the possibility that I had heard what they were talking about, and rightfully so. Oh, I heard all right. I heard enough to set my teeth on edge and my head spinning in circles. 

All this time. 

She had been using me. 

Just like my dad. 

And I was too dumb to notice, even when it was right in front of my face. 

Madeline stormed off without saying goodbye and somehow I found myself inside Kara’s apartment. Without thinking, I crossed the room to her and kissed her deeply, my own quiet goodbye. But she smelled so good. And she melted into me, her lips parting with a moan that went straight to my dick. 

What I felt for her went beyond love. Beyond hate. She was every good and bad thing that ever happened to me wrapped up into one indecipherable package. No matter how much time I put between us, how much she used me, she had a space in my heart and would for the rest of my life. 

This girl I watched turn into a woman. The biggest secret—and deepest regret—of my life. 

Before I had time to think, I bent her over the back of a chair, her shorts pulled down around her knees, my pants barely off my ass as I rammed myself inside her. 

She told me I was her everything, but it was a lie. She saw what she wanted in me and found a way to take it, to work her way into my heart, knocking over everything in her way. My life was a disaster and my heart was breaking. 

I should have walked away, but I didn’t. 

She had taken what she wanted from me, so I took what I wanted from her. Release. I wanted release. 

I wanted it all to come to an end and for sanity to rule again. I wanted an end to the secrets. The lies. The manipulations. I wanted to know that I had everything under control instead of watching it fall to pieces time and again. 

Kara called my name as her orgasm flared to life but I didn’t want her to take any pleasure from this. She had taken everything she would ever get. I pulled out and stroked my dick until I came in two hot spurts on her back. Kara flipped her hair over her shoulder and met my gaze. 

“That was so fucking hot,” she said, panting. “Where did that come from and when can we do it again?” 

I glared at her, so angry I had no words as I zipped up my pants and put my belt back into place. Kara made a face, grabbing at a napkin in the holder and struggling to swipe it across her back. 

“Uhh, you gonna say anything, big guy?” 

I turned and said the only thing she needed to hear. “Now you know what it feels like to be used.”