Broken and Screwed 2 (The BS Series) (26 page)

The pain doubled in me. “Ethan wanted this kept from me?”

“I was left fucking instructions from his lawyers.” A threat of violence mingled with his tone. It was low and heavy. It sent shivers down my back. If Ethan had been alive...

“Will you come to the game? Please come.”

I broke. I heard myself saying in surrender, “I won’t sit with my parents. I can’t do that.”

“Fine. But they want to do dinner after the game. Your mom emailed me. She wanted me to ask you, but…” Sensing my resistance, he pulled me close again. “I want you to come for me. Be there for me. My dad’s going to be there. No doubt some whore will be with him and my sister. I can’t get through this damn dinner alone. I need you.”

“Jesse,” I murmured. My head fell to his chest. The fight was leaving me. Every second he touched me, it was becoming harder to pull away.

His hand cradled that back of my head. His thumb moved back and forth against my neck in a soothing manner. “Please, Alex. I don’t usually ask for much.”

“You don’t ask for anything.”

“Except sex.”

I felt the rumbling in his chest from laughter.

And he finished with, “I really, really enjoy screwing you.”

What every girl wants to hear.

I refused
to sit with my parents or Jesse’s family so I asked Hannah and Beth to go with me instead. Our seats were across the gymnasium and higher up. The view was perfect for me to spy on Jesse’s new sister. I already knew what to expect with my parents, avoidance, and I knew Malcolm Hunt was a douchebag most of the time. I also had met a few of his girlfriends to know they were the same. Model thin, big breasts, and an aspiring actress/supermodel/singer/take your pick. A few had made sexual advances on Jesse when they were bumped off the line by his father.

Hannah put her binoculars down and sat back. “Jesse’s dad is hot. He doesn’t look like some big-time movie producer. He looks like an actor or someone who’d be in front of the camera, if you know what I mean.”

Beth grabbed for the binoculars, but she put them in her bag instead.

“Hey!” Hannah tried to grab for them again.

“No.” She moved the bag out of reach. “I can’t believe you brought these. I’m emo and I think it’s embarrassing. That says something.”

“What do you mean by that? I can’t see. This place is huge.” Hannah dove for the bag again.

Beth threw it on my lap as she held her cousin away with a hand on Hannah’s forehead. “That I usually don’t give a damn what people think about me, but that’s too much. It’s embarrassing on Alex’s behalf.”

I shrugged. “I don’t care.” I was tempted to use them myself.

“See. She doesn’t care. Only her opinion should matter.” She reached over and snatched them from my lap. No one stopped her this time.

Beth glanced over. “You really don’t care that Hannah has binoculars to scope out Jesse’s family?”

“I don’t. Really. I’d like to use them too.”

“Oh. Here.” Hannah had pulled them out and held them across Beth’s lap. “You were spot on about the girlfriend. I think she’s a Playmate. The sister looks weird. And your parents are still bitches. They won’t talk to the sister or the girlfriend.”

“The sister looks weird?” As I put the binoculars in front, I was able to follow along until I saw a girl sitting between Malcolm Hunt’s girlfriend, or I figured because of the long legs and big cleavage, and my mother. Ignoring the tension that came over me, I skipped over my parents and centered on Jesse’s father. He was striking, just like his son. He had a similar build, tall and lean with broad shoulders that tapered down to a slim waist. However, unlike his son, who had inherited his mother’s dark eyes, Malcolm had green eyes. It’d been years since I had spoken to Jesse’s father and judging from the confident authority that clung to the movie producer, I wasn’t looking forward to it. I hadn’t been surprised by Hannah’s comment. Malcolm wasn’t a womanizer just from his money. He had the looks to draw them in, but I was among the few that realized how careless he was when it came to his son or their relationship.

I backtracked to Jesse’s sister. She was petite with golden brown hair. It looked lightly curled and I could tell that it was long. Sitting down, it covered her shoulder and fell to her waist. It was then that I caught a slight movement. She had a hand wrapped around her hair. It was hidden underneath her other hand, but as her arm tensed the strand of hair tightened as well.

She was nervous. I understood.

“She looks weird.”

I lifted a shoulder. “She’s scared.”

“I don’t know what about. She’s set for life. Didn’t you say that he paid her off?”

I was regretting my one moment of confession with Hannah and Beth. Even though I still hadn’t given them any explanation of my relationship with Jesse, they weren’t stupid. They knew things had gone south so I had been interrogated why I was going to his game. So I broke and told them Jesse’s new sister would be there and I was curious. That started a whole new interrogation, which I tried to appease with a quick recant of the illegitimate daughter’s court case that never made it to court.

I hesitated about the mother, but figured they’d kept quiet about his sister. I hoped they’d keep quiet about her mother as well. “He paid off the mother, not the daughter.”

Hannah snorted, fixing the binoculars on them again. “Yeah, right. I’m sure she got a nice settlement.”

Beth punched her in the shoulder. “Stop that. He’s trying for a relationship with his daughter.”

“You don’t know that.”

“He brought her to this game.”

“Yeah, his legitimate son’s game. If he wanted a relationship, don’t you think he’d meet her in private for a while, father/daughter bonding and that crap? My bet, it’s some guilt manipulation to work on Jesse. And why are your parents here as well?”

I sighed. I gave them some explanation, but like my falling-out with Jesse, they had heard from Tiffany about my real relationship with them as well. Finally, I murmured, “I have no idea what my parents are doing here. But they like Malcolm. They went to one of Jesse’s games last year with him too.”

“Yeah, but that was before it was out of the can. Right? That they had dumped you.”

Swallowing over a tight knot in my throat, I willed my body to relax. I couldn’t dwell on what they’d done or even the last time I had talked with them. I’d been healing since coming to Grant West. I intended to keep healing. My parents would not have that power over me anymore. I refused to allow myself to relapse back to the slightly crazed state I’d been over the past summer.

Beth punched her cousin again. “Hannah, you’re being really rude. Watch what you’re talking about.”

“What? I’m just trying to get all the facts straight. Mute Girl here doesn’t say two bits to us all year. She finally opened up and I’m capitalizing. She knows all my embarrassing stories.”

I grinned. “You and Jamie. Fond memories.”

“Shut it.”

Reaching over, I snagged the binoculars from her. “Not that I don’t understand, but like Beth said, I’m a little sensitive with some of this information being talked about like it’s the weather.”

“I’m being a friend.”

“You’re being nosy and you know it. Stop it.”

Hannah stuck her tongue out at her cousin before she slumped back in her chair.

Hip hop music blared in the gymnasium and the crowd stood. Excitement started to build. The players would be coming out. They didn’t do grand entrances, not like some teams, but I knew when they came the place would go crazy. And as the air filled with deafening cries, I was right. Jamie was the first on the court. Not a shocker. Jesse trailed towards the end. His head was bent to the side as he was listening to something a coach was saying. His hand was on Jesse’s shoulder. The two passed where my parents and Jesse’s family was sitting without any acknowledgement of them. I knew that’d been intentional. He never enjoyed when Malcolm went to his games.

Hannah fanned herself with the program. “Holy, Alex. Why are you not sleeping with him again?”

“Sssh!” Beth hushed her, looking around us.

“No one can hear over the screeching.” Hannah shook her head at the crowd. “I think that woman over there pretended to have Jesse’s baby and give it to him.”

“You don’t want your stuff broadcasted so stop broadcasting Alex’s business.”

Her cousin rolled her eyes. “You just don’t want me to talk about your stuff. And you’re scared because I’m happy.”

Beth explained to me, “When she’s happy, she’s chatty. About everyone else except whoever’s screwing her.”

“I’m happy. So sue me.”

I frowned at both of them. I was starting to think I should’ve come alone, but then I tuned them out. They bickered throughout the entire game—when it started, during the halftime, and towards the end. It wasn’t the normal dynamic. I was used to Beth’s silence and Hannah’s anger, but now Hannah was happy, giddy almost, and Beth didn’t like it. As Hannah kept asking me questions about my relationship with Jesse, I was starting to understand her cousin’s reluctance. She
was
nosy.

As the buzzer ended the game, we’d won by ten points. Jesse had been fouled and earned eight of those himself, but it’d been a close game.

“That was fun. I’m excited for this year.” Hannah was all smiles as we followed the crowd from the stands. When we got through the stairs that opened onto a wider area behind the stands, I started for the players’ door. Hannah called after me, “Hey!”

I turned around. This was the part I hadn’t shared with them. “Hey, uh, I’m going to go and say hi real quick.”

The two gave me similar looks. They were dumbfounded.

Hannah frowned. “You’re going to what?”

Beth was smarter on the uptake. “What are you really doing?”

Well, here we go. “Jesse didn’t ask me to come to the game. He asked me to go to dinner with them.”

Hannah’s mouth dropped while her cousin prodded, “With
everybody
everybody?”

“His dad. I’m assuming the girlfriend.”

“And your parents?”

“Holy fuck! I can’t believe you’re going to do that. Are you kidding me? Why did you even break up with him?”

I’d been asking myself the same question, but then I remembered the pain in his eyes. I succumbed every time so I only shrugged. They wouldn’t take that as an explanation. “I have to. Jesse and I are family.”

“You two are so confusing.” Hannah spun around in a tight circle before she stalked off.

“Forget her.” Beth moved closer so we weren’t crushed by the crowd.

“Is she leaving you?”

She shrugged. “Dorm’s two blocks from here. I’ll be fine.”

“Well.” This hadn’t gone how I expected it. “Come with me. Maybe Jesse got more people to go to dinner.”

“Sure.”

I grinned as Beth fell in step with me. With her suddenly chatty cousin gone, she seemed to have returned to her quiet ways. This was the friend I was comfortable around. And as we turned the last corner and went down the back hallway and headed towards the waiting area, I was glad she’d come. I hadn’t admitted to myself all week, but seeing my parents again was threatening to send me into another cycle of pain and misery.

When we stepped through the last door, I was surprised to see Tiffany and Kara beside my parents. They were in dressed with high heels. The hair and make-up was done so both looked stunning. A girl stood in the far corner, dressed similarly to them. I glanced down at myself. Jeans and a tank top. Jesse hadn’t said where dinner was going to be, but I should’ve known. This was Malcolm Hunt. He only went to the most expensive restaurants.

My gratitude for Beth’s presence went up another notch. She had dressed the same as me.

“Alexandra!” Malcolm threw his arms out and swept across the room to me. He embraced me in a tight hug and squeezed. “It’s so good to see you again. It’s been years.”

When he let me go, I nodded. “Yep. The day after Ethan’s funeral.”

“That’s right. His funeral.”

“You weren’t there.”

“Oh.” His welcoming smile fell. And he took a step back. “That’s right. I was…” His eyes widened as he remembered. It’d been the next morning when his girlfriend found her car had been keyed. She went to Malcolm, who stormed into Jesse’s bedroom. We’d still been sleeping. “Well.” He twisted and glanced at the new girlfriend, who stood with my parents. “Well then. It has been a while.”

I nodded. That’d gone exactly how I expected.

“What are you doing here?”

I glanced over, surprised at the hostility in Tiffany’s tone as she addressed her cousin. I spoke for her, “I asked her to come.”

“Why?”

Blinking at the scathing look she gave me, my eyes then narrowed and my chin tightened. “Because I wanted to.”

“Jesse said you were coming for dinner.” Malcolm’s smile resurfaced. His eyes twinkled as he nodded. “That’s wonderful. Have you two continued…your…um…you know?” He moved closer and lowered his voice so my parents wouldn’t hear.

“They found out before Christmas,” Jesse spoke for me. Unlike his father, he was tense and trying to drill holes into his father from across the room. He was dressed in a Grant West blazer over jeans. Freshly showered and tired from the game, his cheekbones were more striking than normal. He gave off an air of danger. It sizzled among everyone and they grew silent, watchful as Jesse jerked forward a step. His hand was clenched around his bag.

“Oh. Well.” Malcolm laughed at himself. “Cat’s out of the bag, hmm?”

Jesse narrowed his eyes and his mouth clamped shut. I watched as his jaw clenched and knew he was two seconds away from yelling at his father. Hurrying over to him, I glanced around and was surprised that no one else witnessed what I had. Everyone seemed unaware of the potential explosion, but as I touched his hand and moved him away from the group, Jesse seethed, “Don’t worry. I never lose it around my friends.”

“Yeah, well, you have around me.” The time when Malcolm found us had been the first explosion. I had heard others over the two years, even though his father never knew I had been in the other room and there’d been moments before Ethan’s death.

He forced out a breath, trying to calm himself, but he muttered, “I can’t fucking stand him.”

“Keep it together.” I skimmed a hand over his jaw, tapping it so it loosened. As it did and he tried to smile at me, I shook my head. It was a poor imitation. “Introduce me to your sister.”

I started for the girl, who had been keeping to herself in a back corner, but Jesse caught my arm and dragged me farther away. He took me in the opposite direction until we were out of earshot of the group. Then he caught my face in his hands and made me hold his gaze. “Stay with me tonight.”

“What? No.” I tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t release me.

“Please. I’m going nuts. Stay with me.”

“You know the deal. Tell me the—”

“Yeah, yeah. Tell you the secret and what then? You’ll come back? You’ll stay with me?”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. We never defined us. I had no idea. I finally moved my shoulders in a movement that I hoped looked like a shrug. “Tell me Ethan’s secret and we can figure it out.”