Broken #5 (The Broken Series - Book #5) (7 page)

I rolled over toward him in the
bed, and kissed his shoulder. Her groaned and rolled over to face me. I kissed
his sleepy lips and his eyes blinked open.

“Good morning, sleepyhead, we
better get up and go. We have a long drive ahead of us.”

“Sounds good, baby.
By the way last night was
incredible.”

“I think so, too, Jet, though I
am a little sore.”

“A good sore, I hope.”

I smiled. “Yes it's a wonderful
reminder of what happened last night.”

“
Mmm
,
maybe we can try a little bit again on the way home. I promise I will be
gentle.”

I giggled. “We'll see, now get
up.”

We both got up out of bed and
proceeded to get dressed and ready to go. We had packed our bags the night before,
after we had finished playing games with my parents all night.

I finished brushing my hair and
headed downstairs, with Jet in tow. My mother was in the kitchen making
breakfast. She knew we weren't planning on staying, so she had packed us up a
breakfast basket of fruit and muffins for the road.

“Thanks, Mom, you didn't have to
do that. We could have hit up a coffee shop on the way.”

“Oh, sweetheart, it was nothing.
I also have a thermos full of coffee here for you.”

We hugged and said our goodbyes,
and my parents welcomed Jet to come back anytime. He seemed genuine when he
hugged each of them. We piled everything into the car and then settled in
ourselves. We watched as my parents went back into the house, and I turned to
Jet. “Hey, sweetheart, thank you so much for coming here with me.”

He smiled.
“Anything
for you, Natalie.”

I leaned over to him in the car,
and kissed him full on the mouth. When I pulled back I whispered, “I love you,
Jet.”

At first, I wasn't sure if he had
heard me, because there was a long pause after my declaration, and then he just
kissed me back. I pulled back and leaned my head against the window, feeling
confusion rush in. He seemed to be avoiding making eye contact with me, so I
was quite certain he had heard me. So why didn't he say it back? Did he not
think the moment was right, or did he not love me at all?

It was hard to believe that he
wouldn't by now, but guys were different about these things, and maybe he just
wasn't ready. I feared, however, that maybe he just didn't feel the same way
about me, and that truly terrified me. What was even worse was that I worried
that he wasn't even ready to hear
I love
you
. What if he freaked or bolted because he wasn't in the same place as I
was emotionally?

His lack of admission pretty much
killed our whole trip home. Compared to the way we were when we travelled down,
it was the complete opposite. We barely talked, we didn't laugh at all, and it
got so awkward, in fact, that I finally just opened a book and read the entire
thing on the ride home. At that point I knew for sure that he had heard what I
said, because at no point during the trip did he ask me if anything was wrong.
I asked him to forego the hotel this time around and just drive the full way
home.
 
It was very reminiscent of the
drive home after Thanksgiving. It concerned me that we weren't able to
communicate what was wrong. I was completely embarrassed by my admission, but I
felt like I shouldn't be. I felt that it was the right time for me to have said
I love you, and regardless of whether he felt the same way, he should have
accepted my sentiment and not shut down for the entire trip home.

I had to fight off tears a few
times on the trip, but when he finally pulled up in front of my apartment, I
quickly kissed him on the cheek and exited the car. I grabbed my things from
the trunk and ran into the building, without looking back even once.

Chapter Ten

Jet

Every year after the championship
fights were over, the school hosted a parade for the community. It was a great
way for the school to get out in the community and raise awareness for the MMA
program, which was still fairly new in the area. The school had all the art
students help with building and decorating floats, and when it was all said and
done, everything looked pretty cool. All my teammates were there, getting ready
to board floats and celebrate, and the mood in the air was very festive.

It was a cool winter day for the
parade, but there was no snow on the ground that would affect the floats
driving around. I was personally hoping that the parade didn't last very long,
because I wasn't a fan of the cold, and the idea of being out in frigid
temperatures didn't make me feel very happy.

I was the king of the show, of
course, due to my win at the finals, so I sat in a special chair at the top of
one of the floats as if I was homecoming queen. The whole thing seemed pretty
absurd to me, but it was
gonna
be just the beginning
of my fame. I had big plans for my future, and one day I wouldn't have to worry
about being involved in community parades.

Natalie was also there, helping
out due to her art class, and she wanted to be there to support me as well.
Ever since she landed
the
I
love you
bomb on me, things had been a
little tense between us. I felt terrible that whole ride home after Christmas,
and I wished that I could turn back the clock and change that, because she must
have felt terrible the whole ride
home,
and I did
nothing about it. In fact, I probably hurt her a great deal, and did nothing
about it. She had just caught me off guard, and hearing her say those words to
me had not only stunned me, but scared me as well. This was all new to me, and
I didn't want to rush into anything without being sure that I was doing the
right thing, not only for myself, but her as well.

She didn't deserve the reaction
she got from me, and I felt terrible about it. She had expected me to say the
same thing back to her, and instead I had ignored her, and then proceeded to
not talk to her for the next ten hours. It was a stupid thing for me to have
done, and I should be grateful she didn't dump me on the spot. She was still
there, however, and I would have to make sure I didn't lose her over something
so stupid.

“Okay, guys, let's get into
positions, and get this parade on the go,” the Dean announced, and Coach got us
all settled into our positions on the floats.

The parade lasted about 45
minutes in total, and by the time it was done, my nose was red, and I was in
desperate need of a hot chocolate. The school had thrown a small party after
the parade, where plenty of hot chocolate.

Natalie found me talking to some
teammates as we were warming ourselves with our hot drinks.

“Hey, Jet, how did the parade go?
I saw you guys up there; it looked like fun.” She was acting perfectly normal and
happy, but there was something about her body language that told me she was
keeping her distance from me, and that was the last thing I wanted. I said good-bye
to my friends, and pulled Natalie aside.

“Hey, can we talk?”

She suddenly looked embarrassed.
“Of course.
What's up?”

“Things have been a little weird
between us since Christmas, Natalie, and I don't know what to do about it.”

“Yeah, I guess it has been
weird.”

“So, let’s talk about it, figure
things out. What are your thoughts? I need to know why you are acting this
way.”

“You mean to tell me that you
don't know?”

“No, I'm pretty sure I do know.
But I would still like you to tell me.”

“Well, I guess I just don't know
where I stand anymore in our relationship, so it makes me feel uncomfortable
around you.”

“You're my girlfriend, that's
where you stand. I know you wanted me to say
I love you
back, Natalie, but when I didn't, it wasn’t for the
reason you thought it was.”

“It wasn't?”

“No, of course not, I'm crazy
about you. You know that. This is just all new to me, Natalie, having a
girlfriend, and I just need time, that's all. It doesn't mean that I don't care
about you, or that I want to break up. It just means that I need to do things in
my own time.”

“I can understand that. I'm
sorry. We probably should have talked about it before.”

“Yeah, and again, that was
probably my fault. I didn't handle any of it properly.” I laughed ruefully.
“You just really caught me off guard, and I didn't really want to say anything
that I wasn't ready to back up at that point. I hope that's okay.”

“Of course it is. And I'm sorry,
too.
 
I shouldn't have overreacted. I
just got scared, that's all.”

I hugged her then. “There is
nothing to be scared about; I would never do anything to hurt you, ever.”

“I know you wouldn't, Jet, and
thank you for talking to me about it. I want us to always have open
communication, as we can really ruin our relationship by not talking through
our problems. Please don't shut me out again. If there is a problem, talk to me
about it.”

She grabbed me by the back of my
head and pulled me in close for a kiss. Our mouths met, and once again, it felt
like nothing had changed between us. She was very possibly going to be my rock.

Chapter Eleven

Natalie

School was still out for the
Christmas holidays, but there I was, still haunting the hallways of the campus
trying to figure out what my grades were for that semester. I felt like I did
really well, and I couldn't wait for report cards to arrive in January, I
needed to know now how well I did. The grades were posted in one of the wings
for all students to go and check out, so that's where I found myself on New
Year’s Eve. Jet tried to stop me from going, stating that I should just wait
until January because no student in her right mind would care enough to go look
at her grades.

He was wrong, of course, because
when I arrived there were three other people also looking at their grades.
However, they did appear to be nerds, so maybe Jet had a point. I approached
and looked at the sheets before me until I found my name. I was delighted when
I saw I received an A on both of the art projects I worked on with Jet.
Satisfied, I left there, knowing that I had to go and get ready for the New
Year’s party we were going to. Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about picking
out a new outfit―I had the dress that Jet had bought me for Christmas.

When I got back to the apartment,
Julie was there already pre-drinking, and already glammed up and ready to go.

“Well, you don't waste any time.”

“Hell no, girl.
It's New Year’s; let's get this thing
going.”

I
messaged Jet, and told him I was getting ready so he could stop over in an hour
if he wanted to. I then grabbed a beer out of the fridge, and cracked it open.
I took a sip as I headed back to my bedroom to begin getting ready. I undressed
quickly and slipped into some black lace panties and a bra to go with it. I
then slipped on the red silk dress that Jet had bought me for Christmas. It hung
on me in the most luxurious manner, and I didn't think that I had ever had
something so soft and beautiful against my skin. Julie walked into my bedroom
just then, and gaped at me.

“Oh my God,
where did you get that dress?”

“Jet, for Christmas.”

“My God,
it looks incredible on you, Natalie. Wow, the guy has good taste.”

I laughed.
“I'm pretty sure his sister picked it out, but yeah, it's very nice.”

“Nice?
It's fit for royalty.”

I slipped
my earrings in the holes in my ears, and twirled around the room.

“Diamonds
too, right? Wow, are you sure Jet doesn't have a single brother?”

“Nope,
just the one, and he seems pretty hitched to his girl.”

“Dammit,
isn't that always the way!”

I
giggled. I went into the bathroom and plugged in the curling iron. While it
heated up, I applied foundation to my face, and finished it off with eyeliner
and blush. I picked up the curling iron and proceeded to curl all my hair for
the next 20 minutes. When there was a knock on the door, Julie left to go get
it, and came back with Jet.

He took
one look at me, and started shaking his head. “Wow, you look stunning. I'm
going to have to buy my sister a car now, for finding me a dress like that.”

“Why, thank you. And you look
pretty handsome yourself there.”

“Thanks.”

The party was your typical New
Year’s shindig, full of way too much booze and college kids. It seemed like
everyone on campus was right there in the house. Jet and I walked around and
talked to lots of people from my classes, as well as Jet's teammates. We
eventually found Julie, who had disappeared on us throughout the night, making
out with Curtis in a corner. He was the guy she had vowed to have pity sex with,
and it looked like she was making tonight her night. I knew it would end up
being more, however. Julie wasn't capable of having a one night stand; those
two would be dating in no time.