Broken (Broken #1) (19 page)

I nod and continue slowly
wiping at his smooth skin, watching as the dark trail leading from
his naval to places unknown, shines with droplets of water. “I
don’t think I’d have been as affected as I was if she hadn’t made
me stay in there, you know?”

He nods, “Was she a good
mother?”

“
As good as
she could be. She was good to me but she was also selfish. She
helped me pay for University as much as she could, she just wanted
me to have a good life but didn’t know how to do that. She wanted
herself to have a good life and forgot about me whilst getting that
sometimes,” I say, running the cloth over the rim of his trousers,
being extra careful not to touch where I shouldn’t.

His throat bobs as he gulps,
his body no longer trembling. “Thank you.”

“
Better?”

He nods and I slowly remove my
hand before throwing the cloth in the sink.

“
I’m going to
have a shower… could you?” He motions to the ground where the
lasagne has splattered. “If it’s too much, leave it and I’ll deal
with it.”

“
I’ll do it,
you go,” I reassure him, my eyes lowered again and allow him to
pass. Once he’s left the room I squat and clean. It’s not easy,
it’s not comfortable but it takes my mind off what just
happened.

What did just happen?

Chapter
Nine

Nathan didn’t come out of his
room again last night, I don’t mind, he’s probably embarrassed even
though he shouldn’t be. Maybe it’s after what I did with the cloth,
I shouldn’t have been so… sensual and slow about it. Maybe he read
into it wrong, I was just trying to comfort him but I can see why
he’d think I wasn’t.

Nah, I’m being ridiculous. He
didn’t read into it at all, I’m the one reading into it too
much.

Unfortunately due to the heavy
rain and strong winds Paula reschedules our lunch date for Friday.
This is aggravating, meaning the weather, but also a relief. I’m
not ready to socialise with the outside world yet. As ridiculous as
that sounds.

It hurts me to see other people
happy.

Maybe I should see a
therapist.

No. I need to just keep myself
busy to keep my mind off it.

Stupid knots in my stupid hair.
Comb through damn you.

There’s a knock at my door.
“Come in,” I call, still trying to get the tangles out of my
hair.

Nathan steps inside, “I’m sure
I don’t have to remind you.” He begins, I look at him through the
mirror. “That anything that happens between us, anything you see
that relates to me, is confidential.” Anything that happens between
us? This could be read into wrong so I choose to read into it in
the safest possible way and assume he’s referring to conversations
and other daily things.

“
Duh,” I roll
my eyes and place the brush handle in my mouth as I use both hands
to pull my thick hair atop of my head.

“
That’s
disgusting, you’ve…” he clears his throat and looks away for a
moment.

I quickly drop the brush from
between my teeth, it lands softly on my thighs. “Better?”

“
Yes,” he
takes another step into the room and his brow quirks. “You’re very
tidy.”

“
Always have
been. I like everything to have its place.”

“
OCD?” He
asks politely.

I shake my head, “No, I’m just
organised. How are you feeling?”

He runs his tongue over his
bottom lip, his face becoming a hard mask. “I’d appreciate it if
you didn’t mention yesterday.”

“
Of course,”
I stand and make my way back to my not even nearly finished jigsaw
puzzle. Crossing my legs, I sit on a scatter cushion and finger the
pieces until one jumps out at me.

He’s still here. Why’s he still
here?

“
I’m serious,
if I hear whispers of it pass over even Jeanine’s lips I won’t be
happy,” he snaps, shocking me.

I blink up at him, “I won’t say
a word.”

“
Make sure
you don’t.”

His eyes burn into mine for a
moment longer, imploring me to soak up his words, before he turns
on his heel and leaves my room.

I can’t believe how… cold he
can be at times. I get that what happened isn’t something he wants
to talk about but can’t he at least speak to me with a little more
respect? I feel like a naughty child.

He’s so… back and forth with
his demeanour towards me. I can’t tell if he hates me being here or
not. If I’m such a burden why not just rent me a place? From what I
can tell he has enough money to house me somewhere else, at least
then he wouldn’t have to deal with me on a daily basis. None of
this makes sense.

Or maybe I’m just overanalysing
it like I do everything.

Sitting back on the floor I
continue on with the jigsaw. It’s boring to say the least but
there’s nothing more to do around here. My eyes linger on the bed
where I long to just curl up and forget everything in a world of
darkness. It takes everything I have to stand and leave the room.
The baby gives me a few kicks and I’m assuming it’s because he or
she is grateful that I’ve chosen to be more active.

I can’t go outside the rain and
the wind is too strong. It looks tempting though. To just run
through the winds and the heavy droplets of water that fall from
the sky. Imagine how freeing it would feel.

“
I’m bored,”
I say to my bump as I descend the stairs. “I can only imagine how
you feel.”

The room is dark due to the
thick grey clouds covering the sun and the shadow from the nearby
trees casting over the bay window. I blow out a frustrated breath
and switch on the TV, it’s new and so is the equipment beneath it
but there’s nothing on. DVD’s are nowhere to be found either so I
can’t even watch a movie.

I call Sasha but she doesn’t
answer, neither does Tommy. I’ll try again later.

After twiddling my thumbs for
all of twenty minutes I enter the kitchen and decide to have a
snack. I’m not feeling too hungry after a lonely breakfast this
morning but I should eat, so I do.

At the table I sit with a
persimmon fruit between my hands, I use a plate to catch the sticky
juice and cringe when it begins to dry on my fingers. This is the
highlight of my next hour. Eating fruit and washing my hands. I
don’t remember ever being this lonely or bored at home, but that’s
probably because I always knew Caleb would be home soon and I
wasn’t forever trying to keep my mind busy.

A crackling noise shakes the
house making my hands automatically grip the worktop for support.
The cracking noise is soon followed by a deep rumbling. It’s a good
thing I’m not scared of thunder and lightning or this would be
awkward.

Although I’m not sure how I
feel about all of the lights flickering off. I can still see, it’s
not dark but it’s still eerie and I’m now completely convinced
there’s some kind of ghost breathing down my neck.

I scramble off the stool, not
daring to look behind me for fear of seeing something there that
I’ve imagined in my strange mind. My footsteps hammer the stairs as
my heart hammers in my chest. I just need to get back to bed and
everything will be fine.

Crack! The hall lights up
casting strange shadows along the walls. I’m too frantic to try and
rationalise it.

Feeling like a child I race
into my room, dive onto the bed and pull the blanket over my head.
All the while my mind chants, “It’s not real, it’s not real.”

The rumbling follows, it’s
louder and more ominous than before and it’s freaking me the hell
out.

The rain seems to get heavier
and the wind more powerful. Shaking hands clutch the blanket tight
to me. I curl my body into a ball, not daring to even poke a toe
out from beneath the covers.

My ears pick up footsteps
above, that’s Nathan, that’s got to be Nathan. But if that’s Nathan
then what just opened the door to my room?

Oh my god. Ghosts are real. I
think I’m going to cry.

The blanket is whipped from
over my head, I scream.

“
Guinevere!”
Nathan shouts and seizes my flailing by gripping my
wrists.

“
Huh?” I
blink open my eyes and look up at the shadowed male who looks like
Caleb. Seeking comfort I latch onto him, my arms around his waist
and my head squished to his chest.

“
You’re
trembling,” he says not returning the hug but I refuse to let go
right now.

“
If you’re
down here then who’s upstairs?” I whisper when I hear more
footsteps from above.

His hand rests on the top of my
head as his other unwinds my arms from around him. I peek up at him
through my lashes. “I have company.”

“
Company?”

“
Yes,” he
responds and peels himself away from me. “What
happened?”

“
You didn’t
see the power cut out?” How could he not have noticed
that?

“
I was
occupied,” he states and I see a female step into the bedroom. A
very pretty female with thick golden hair and no clothes. Why’s she
walking in just a robe?

“
Oh,” why is
he fully dressed when she isn’t? Why is it any of my business?
“Sorry.” I scoot back on the bed, looking between him and the
female.

“
I told you
to wait upstairs,” he snaps at the girl who immediately lowers her
eyes.

“
I heard her
scream, I got worried and thought you might need help.” She murmurs
and takes a step backwards.

I glance between her and
Nathan’s burning eyes aimed at her. He doesn’t look happy and her
excuse seems legitimate so I’m not sure if she warrants his
anger.

Nathan’s eyes come to me as if
waiting for me to react in some way.

“
Thanks but
I’m fine,” I explain to the female who can’t be more than five
years older than myself. “That was kind of you though. I’m not a
fan of the dark.”

“
Yeah, this
house is pretty creepy when it’s dark,” she giggles but immediately
stops when Nathan glares at her again. “I should go,” she whispers
and gives me a small smile.

“
Yes. I
believe you should,” Nathan bites out and her face
falls.

“
Tomorrow?”
She looks confused and a little bit hurt.

“
I’ll call
you. Escort yourself out, I have to see to the fuse box.” Nathan’s
tone is stern and unyielding. I want to slap him for
her.

Shockingly she says nothing,
she only scarpers away with her metaphorical tail between her
legs.

“
Do you have
to be so mean?” I snap at my kind of brother in law. His eyes come
to me, he only looks bored. “She was only trying to
help.”

“
She was
trying to be nosy when she had no right to be.” He takes my arm in
his hand and leads me out of the room, back into the creepy
landing.

“
I don’t want
to go back downstairs.”

“
Tough, I
need you to hold the torch while I check the box.”

“
Can’t
blondie do it? She was eager to help.”

“
No.”

“
But…”

“
I’m not
leaving you on your own for another second. I don’t trust you not
to start making that awful noise again.”

“
Noise? You
mean my screaming? You ripped the blanket off my head! I thought
you were upstairs!” I defend myself but he doesn’t care.

“
You were
screaming before then Guinevere, what do you think made me come
downstairs in the first place?”

I stop in my tracks, “I wasn’t
screaming.”

“
Yes you
were.”

“
No I
wasn’t.” I know with one hundred percent certainty that I wasn’t
screaming, why’s he lying? “And I didn’t hear any screaming from
anywhere else. Maybe it was blondie.”

“
Her name is
Lorna and yes you’re right, maybe it was.” Ewww. It doesn’t take a
genius to figure out what he’s referring to. Even though I referred
to it first, it’s only natural that I feel grossed out by his
confirmation.

“
Nobody was
screaming,” I return to my previous argument as he leads me into
the kitchen and searches under the sink for something. “Why did you
come downstairs?”

He doesn’t respond, he does
however, find a large torch. “Come.”

“
Oh no. No
way… no… not a chance,” I back away from the door leading to the
basement. “This is exactly what they do in horror
movies.”

“
The basement
isn’t like basements in horror movies. It’s a gym. Come on,” he
sighs and guides me towards the narrow steps. I inhale a deep
breath and allow him to lead me down the staircase. The torch
lights the way well enough but I’m still freaking out.

He’s right, this basement isn’t
creepy like horror films, it holds a treadmill, some weights and a
load of other work out equipment that I don’t know the name off. I
follow close behind Nathan, my hand on his shoulder as he guides me
to the far corner.

“
Hold this,”
he says and hands me the torch. I shine it on the box as he opens
it and watch him flick a few switches. After a moment he sighs and
takes a step back. “It’s a local power cut. We’ll just have to wait
it out.”

“
Can’t we go
somewhere else?” I plead, handing him back the torch.

Another loud crack lights up
the sky followed by the hideous rumbling.

In the glow from the torch I
see him run his tongue over his lower lip, he seems to relent,
“Fine. Come on.”