Broken: The MISTAKEN Series Complete Second Season (31 page)

Y
esterday

I
shrugged
his hands from my shoulders, trying my best not to allow myself to acknowledge the feeling that what he said felt like a punch in the gut. Daniel was many things. He’d lied to me. He’d treated me like shit. He had made me believe that he had killed himself and allowed me live with that guilt for far too long. But I knew—I
knew
he hadn’t done the unspeakable things that Brandon was saying.
Him
, on the other hand … I could definitely believe it about Brandon.

“You have to let me explain, Jen. You need to give me a chance…”

I shook my head. “I’ve given you so many chances. So many…”

“One last one. That’s all I’m asking you for. I can explain everything. I know why Cade wasn’t there…”

Robin’s voice came screeching down the street. “Are we going to do this or what? I’m getting wet, here…”

He looked into my eyes, searching for something. “Please, Jen. One chance. If you don’t believe me when I’m done, I’ll let you go. I’ll let you go and I’ll never come looking for you again.”

I felt my stomach flip as if it was responding for me. I still loved him. I still loved him and I knew I had to at least listen to his explanation, as unlikely as it might be that he wasn’t lying to me. Even though everything seemed to point at him, even though I knew I should blame him for everything that had happened … there was something. Something that said I at least had to listen. At least that.

We walked down the sidewalk, stopping in front of his car where Robin stood drenched from the rain.

He unlocked the passenger side again, opening it and motioned for me to get in. He walked around to the driver’s side and got behind the wheel, opening the window. He looked over at me as he pulled a paper from the dashboard in front of me. He signed the bottom, then held it against the steering wheel, motioning for Robin to lean in to sign the paper through the window.

“You’re not going to let me in?”

He shook his head. “You’ve been in my life long enough. If you want out for good, sign it then get the hell away from me.”

I could see she was holding back tears as she leaned in to sign the paper.

He handed the paper to me. “Will you notarize it so she can stay the fuck away from me forever? Can you do this for
us
?”

I nodded and didn’t even look to read what it was I was stamping. I signed my name inside the seal and handed it back to him.

He held it out the window for her, and she grabbed it, stuffing it under her shirt to keep it from getting wet in the sprinkling rain.

“Brandon, we should at least say goodbye … hug or something…” Her eyes were almost pleading with him.

He turned on the ignition and looked over at her. “Move.” He pressed the button to roll up the window and she walked back over to the sidewalk, watching as the car pulled away.

I turned to face him. “What was that?”

He shook his head. “Something I should have done a long time ago. Something I never should have done in the first place.” He glanced over at me. “I let her out of that goddamned contract. The only reason she keeps coming around.”

I let out a sigh, almost from relief than from anything else. “And tonight was the best time to do it?”

He glanced at me again. “I was busy last night.”

I rolled my eyes, remembering why he had been busy only twenty-four short hours ago. Remembering what we had been doing before my father had called him into that meeting in the back room of that restaurant in Sacramento. If we could have just stayed in that hotel room, none of this would have happened tonight. I wouldn’t have seen a dead woman in her son’s bathroom. My stomach clenched again at the memory. I turned to face him again. “Explain.”

“Robin called me this afternoon and asked me to go with her to what she said was going to be a dinner party. She’s a fucking liar.”

If I wasn’t still reeling from the whole dead body thing, I might have commiserated—Melissa had lied to me about the size of the party, too. If Brandon and I had one thing in common, it was our distaste for large crowds, though I think my fear of them far outweighed his dislike of them. But I actually didn’t care about Robin. “I meant about Amanda.”

“How do you know her, anyway?”

“Seriously? I’m sure I told you I’ve been giving Mason piano lessons for the last six weeks…”

He coughed and I thought for sure he was choking on something—only he hadn’t been drinking or eating. “What?”

“What do you think I do in Palo Alto every week?”

“I had no idea you were in Palo Alto every week.”

I nodded. So much for him knowing where I was and who I was with every second of every day. I should have known that was bullshit. “How do you know her?” I paused, clearing my throat. “How
did
you know her?”

“I didn’t kill her, Jen. I was hoping I could talk to her tonight—that was it. I was going to warn her. She was doing things to piss your father off. Doing things she knew she shouldn’t be doing.”

“But how did you
know
her? Because you
did
know her, right?” Something just told me he did. I didn’t have any way of knowing if he had or hadn’t, but there was something…

“I didn’t know her. I’d never met her before in my life. I know her brother—step-brother. I’ve worked with him for years.”

“Ryan is a venture capitalist. What in the hell would you need to work with him for? You told me you…”

He shook his head, staring at the road. “Ryan is as much a venture capitalist as I am, Jen. That’s just a cover for his frequent traveling. It’s something to tell people so they leave you the hell alone. So they don’t ask questions about what you do for a living.”

“Oh.” I felt like he had punched me in the stomach again. I didn’t know why I felt so stupid about this—about what he did. I knew he was a fixer—I’d known it since I figured out who he was. I’d been around politics long enough to know that people like Brandon—and maybe Ryan—existed. I just wasn’t close enough to the action to care about them.

He went silent again. I wasn’t sure if that meant I had touched a nerve or not, but he didn’t say anything else.

“You said you knew about Cade. What about him?”

He worked his jaw for a few moments. “Ryan paid him to stay away that night. To look the other way.” He turned to look at me, his gaze boring into mine before he turned his attention back to the road. “When did you meet him? Ryan?”

“At the gala. The night I caught you with your tongue down Robin’s throat.” Shit. I hated thinking about that night. I hated that I had seen him in that office, stealing files from a computer. And I really hated that he had made it clear that he was there that night with
her
.

He nodded. “And Amanda?”

I shrugged. “Same time.”

“And you had never met either of them before? You’re sure?”

My brows knitted together. “I’m sure. Why?”

He shook his head and went silent.

“Take me back to the house, Brandon. My car is back there—I need to get home and get packed.” As devastating as it was to think about, it was true. I needed to get my crap together and go face my real future. Brandon wasn’t in my future anymore—my father would see to that. And as much as I wanted to believe whatever it was he was trying to tell me, it didn’t matter in the long run. A woman was dead and I was going to be a dead woman myself if I didn’t show up for my date with destiny in D.C. And the little boy … I pulled out my phone and texted Melissa.
Ryan took Mason
.

I had just hit the send button when Brandon pulled the phone from my hand. He hit the button on the door to open the window and tossed it out.

My eyes went wide and I stared at my empty hand. “What the fuck, Brandon?”

“You won’t need it.”

My jaw dropped. “Are you kidnapping me? Is that what this is?”

He shrugged. “If that’s how you want to think of it. I can’t let you go back there.”

I rolled my eyes. “Back to the house? Or back to D.C.?”

He shrugged again. “Neither. Both.”

I shook my head. “You are unbelievable. You think I won’t open the door the next time we’re at a stop light? You think I’ll just lean back and enjoy the ride?”

He hit the lock on his door and leaned back in his seat. “You’ve found my rides fairly enjoyable in the past.”

I rolled my eyes again. “Seriously?” I turned to look at the door and pulled the lock up manually. “And you think talking dirty to me is going to keep me in my seat? Have you lost your fucking mind, Brandon?”

“I engaged the child lock. You aren’t going anywhere until I open that door for you.”

Even though we were now speeding down the freeway, I pulled on the door handle. Even though the door appeared to be unlocked, it didn’t budge when I pulled the handle. I leaned back in the seat. “You really are unbelievable.”

“I know.”

I shook my head. “Tell me why she had to die.”

“She didn’t.” He looked over at me again. “I told you before—I didn’t do it. She didn’t have to die.”

“I knew her, Brandon. She wasn’t the type to commit suicide. She wouldn’t have…”

“
You
tried. Are you the type?”

I winced. We had never talked about my suicide attempt before. I had never mentioned it, except maybe in passing when I talked about my time at the recovery center. At Shady Shores—the private loony bin in Maine my parents had sent me to after the hospital determined I was medically stable enough to go. After they had pumped my stomach and held me restrained in bed for two days while they “monitored” me. But I was sure he didn’t know about it—at least not about the circumstances leading up to it. “That isn’t fair.”

He shrugged. “You don’t know what other people are thinking, Jen. No one does.” He turned to look at me again, his lips pressed together. “Did I hear you say that you had a date with a bottle of pills tonight?”

I narrowed my gaze and folded my arms across my chest. “I meant with my sleeping pills, asshole. I wasn’t planning to take the entire bottle—just enough to get to sleep. My psychiatrist gave me a new prescription the other day, and today was the first chance I’ve had to fill it. You know, because you dragged me to Sacramento and everything…”

I heard him mumble something under his breath, but I didn’t understand what it was.

My body tensed. “If you have something to say, just spit it out. Don’t do the fucking passive-aggressive thing with me, Brandon. Just say whatever it is.”

“I said, you don’t need any fucking pills. You only need me.” He turned to glance at me. “Was that clear enough for you, Jen?”

I slouched down in my seat, crossing my arms in front of me again. “Perfectly clear.”

“Good. Because you slept just fine a few nights ago—the night I got to hold you in my arms for the first time in
two fucking months
. Two fucking months, Jen.”

I shook my head. “I was protecting you.”

“Bullshit.
I
was protecting
you
.”

“My father told me he’d kill you if I came near you again.”

“Your father told
me
he’d kill
you
if I came near
you
again.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s perfect, Brandon. You expect me to believe that my father would say that? You think he would do anything…” And then I remembered the whole “elimination” talk from the night before. How my father had made it perfectly clear that he was not only able to harm the hairs on my precious head, but perfectly willing to harm them as well.

“That’s the kind of man he is, Jen. I know it’s hard to believe, but he’s not a nice person. He’s not one of the good guys.”

I turned my head and looked out my window, watching the lights pass by and tried not to think about how Cade had told me that
Brandon
was one of the good guys. These men all seemed to have some twisted notion of what the word “good” actually meant. “Should we call the police? To come get Amanda’s body?”

“They’ll find her. I want us as far away from that mess as possible. You don’t need to be anywhere near that.”

Because of the press.
My mother’s voice hissed in my head again. Everything was about how we looked in front of the fucking
press
. It was the only thing that mattered. I looked over at him. “Swear to me. Swear it again, on whatever it is you love most in life, that you had nothing to do with what I saw in that bathroom. Because, Brandon, I’m going to see that image in my head every time I close my eyes for the rest of my life. And if you don’t want me to think you’re responsible every single time I close my eyes, swear to me…”

“I swear on you. I swear on the woman sitting next to me … on the thing I love most in life … that I had nothing to do with that. Not a goddamned thing to do with it.” He glanced over at me. “Can you believe me? Can you believe me if I swear on
you
?”

I still didn’t know if I could believe anything he said, but I was locked in his car without an escape route. So I nodded.

“Good. You don’t need pills. You sleep in my arms tonight. You sleep in my arms every night for the rest of your life.”

If I hadn’t known better, it would have almost sounded like a proposal.

“
J
en
, I have something important to ask you.”

My heart fluttered in my chest. I wasn’t prepared for this—not tonight. Not knowing that I still had to face my father and Daniel tomorrow. I wasn’t even sure how I was going to respond to this… “Brandon…”

“Do you have your passport? If you don’t, we’ll need to think of something else…”

I blinked a few times, unsure that I had really heard the question. “What?”

He glanced over at me. “Your passport? You don’t have your purse…”

“My wallet is in my pocket.” I reached into my jacket and made sure it was still there—it hadn’t fallen out during the melee at Amanda’s house. “My passport is in there.” I turned to look at him. “Why?”

He only nodded, rubbing his jaw.

I turned to look back out the window, allowing him his time to think about whatever harebrained scheme he was cooking up this time. Even with a passport, it wasn’t as though my father wouldn’t be able to find me. I would have to use a credit card to buy a plane ticket—and I knew my father had access to my bank accounts. I could leave the country, but he would know where to look for me if I did. “I thought you were taking me to Montana. Wasn’t that what you were talking about last night?”

He glanced over at me, shaking his head. “Not far enough away.”

I rolled my eyes before turning to stare out the window again. Whatever it was he had planned, I knew it wasn’t going to work. I knew it was only going to be a short term plan. There was no way my father—or Daniel—was going to let me get away from them that easily. No way that hopping on an airplane to
wherever
was going to be far enough away. I knew there wasn’t
anywhere
far enough away—Montana or wherever he was planning to take me. It was a romantic gesture, but it wasn’t realistic. He had to know it, too.

The drive to the airport from Palo Alto was short, and we were there only a few minutes later. He drove into the long-term parking area and pulled into a stall. The rain had mostly subsided; the raindrops pelted the car just hard enough to hear against the roof and to make it difficult to see out the windows into the dimly lit parking area.

He turned to me, shutting off the ignition. “Jen, I’m sorry. I’m sorry you had to see that tonight. I’m sorry about all of it…”

I nodded. “I know.” I did know he was sorry. I didn’t know for sure if anything else he had said that night was true—but I did know that his apology was sincere.

He tilted his head and leaned toward me, his lips crushing against mine. He tasted my bottom lip with his tongue before pulling away slightly. He breathed his words into me. “Tell me, Jen.”

Before I knew what was happening, his body was straddling mine and I felt the seat tilt back. He pressed his lips to my neck—to that spot just under my ear that he knew would melt me. He almost groaned into me. “Tell me you love me.”

I almost moaned the words, bowing my neck under his kisses. “I love you.”

His hands slid up my waist and under my jacket, his thumbs grazing across my breasts. His lips were on mine again and he pulled my bottom lip between his before breathing his words into me again. “Tell me who these lips belong to.”

I didn’t need this. I didn’t want the possessive thing tonight. I tried to tell him in the way I said his name, more in protest than in stating what he wanted to hear. “Brandon…” I slid my hands up to his shoulders, trying to increase the distance between us. I felt my body responding to his touch, but my brain…

His hands found the hem of my dress and he slid his hand under, caressing my thigh and tracing up my leg until the pad of his thumb reached the silk of my panties. “Tell me, Jen.” His lips found that spot under my ear again, sending another electrical jolt pulsing through me.

“Brandon, please…” I pushed against his shoulders again, trying to move him away. My body was betraying what my mind was screaming at me—this wasn’t the right time. Or the right place.

My neck bowed again and I gasped as he laved at that spot under my ear. I felt his hand push its way under my panties, his thumb sliding between my folds and circling my clit. He groaned into my neck again. “Tell me who you belong to, Jen.”

Something about the words stung and I felt tears welling behind my eyes for the millionth time that night. “Brandon, stop.”

His body froze for a long moment before he pulled his lips away from my neck and looked down into my eyes. His voice was barely a whisper. “What?”

My own voice was barely audible. “Stop.” I felt a few tears slide down my cheeks once again. “Please, stop.”

He pulled his hand from under my dress and was back in the driver’s seat before I had time to process what had happened, what I had said. He gripped the wheel with both hands, his body hunched over as though he had just taken a punch.

I wanted to tell him it was fine—that I was okay. But I wasn’t. I tilted the seat back up and looked at him for a long moment. “Brandon…”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Jen. I thought…”

I blinked back the tears. I didn’t know how to make him understand that it wasn’t
him
I was rejecting. “Brandon, you don’t have to do the caveman thing.”

His brows knitted together and he turned to me. “What?”

“It seemed like you were ready to drag me by my hair through the parking lot to show off your conquest.”

I saw a hint of a smile flash across his face before his look turned grim again. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I’m doing.” He paused for a long moment. “I don’t know what
we’re
doing.” He started the ignition. “I should take you home.”

I reached over and turned the ignition off. “The things you said to me. The things you said on the sidewalk…”

He looked out the windshield into the rain. “I meant everything I said, Jen. I wish you would believe me.”

I nodded. “I don’t know very much about you, Brandon. I’ve known you almost six months, but I don’t know very much about you. I’ve been an open book with you.”

“Jen…”

“I love the way you smell. I know you hardly ever shave, so I know it isn’t aftershave. I think it’s just you.”

“Jen, you don’t have to…”

“I love that you can cook. I love that you can paint pictures that actually look like something. I love that you read books. I love that you brush your teeth whenever you think you might kiss me.”

He chuckled. “Fresh breath is important…”

I smiled. “I love that you practically adopted two kids who aren’t even yours. I love that you loved your grandmother. I love…” I looked down, feeling the tears welling behind my eyes again. “This is going to sound so self-centered and selfish, Brandon, but I love who I am when I’m with you. I love that I can play the piano for four hours and I love that you sit there watching me the entire time, just as mesmerized as I am. I love that you don’t say anything when my hair is messy or if I’m wearing something that will get me on the worst-dressed list. I love that you love me for who I am—for what I’ve given you. And I love most of all that you don’t expect me to be Jenna Davis. I love that with you I get to be Jen.”

I let him kiss me that time. I let him claim me with his mouth and own every inch of it with his tongue. I let him kiss me for as long as he needed to, because I needed it just as much.

He smiled at me when he finally pulled away. Something had changed in him—maybe it was just that he knew I believed him. I couldn’t really explain what had changed for me. I just knew that I believed him and that at least for the moment, I trusted him.

“Where do you want to go?” He had an almost child-like excitement in his eyes. “Somewhere warm?”

“Warm is good.” I knew this was going to be a mistake. I knew my father or Krystal—or someone—was going to come find us. I knew it, but I didn’t want it to stop him. I wanted to be able to enjoy the few hours I had left with him. I knew when my father found out, there wouldn’t be many hours left for either of us.

“What about Australia? I’ve always wanted to go there.” He rubbed at his cheek—the one I had struck earlier—and it began bleeding again. He looked down at his hand that was now stained with blood. “Shit.” He motioned toward the glove box. “There’s a first aid kit in there.”

I opened the glove box and took out a bandage, placing it over the small cut over his cheekbone. I pressed a kiss against it when I was done. “I’m sorry.”

“I deserved it.” He narrowed his eyes. “I always knew you were a princess, Jen. I just didn’t know you were a ninja warrior princess.” He lifted a brow. “Shall we go in? I think there might be a red-eye to Sydney.”

I looked down at my bare feet. “We have another problem.”

He looked at where my gaze had fallen. “Your ankle is fucked up, isn’t it?”

I hadn’t really paid much attention to my now purple, swollen ankle. “I’m a little more worried about my lack of shoes. Were you planning on carrying me in?”

He smiled. “I think I can hook you up.” He opened the car door and walked around to the trunk, returning a moment later with an overnight bag. “I didn’t let Robin get her bag before we left.”

“I can’t take her stuff, Brandon.” It would have been weird, anyway, but considering it was
Robin’s
…

He sighed. “I just gave that woman at least five million dollars a year for the rest of her acting career. I think you can take a pair of her shoes, Jen. And whatever else you want in there.”

I was just hoping for a pair of flip-flops. I didn’t want anything else that she might have had. I unzipped the top of the bag and rolled my eyes at the first thing I saw in there. I tossed the box of condoms at Brandon. “It’s the twenty-four pack. I’m guessing she was planning on staying with you more than one night. Or perhaps you’ve been holding out on me…”

I had never seen him blush before that moment, but his cheeks stained a deep shade of crimson. “Jen…”

“You may want to hang onto those, Brandon.”

He shook his head, tossing them onto the dashboard. “No need.”

“Well, you know, I don’t have my purse with me. Which means no birth control pills. Which means unless you’re ready to have little Richardson babies toddling around…”

“I’m ready whenever you are, Jen.”

My cheeks were the ones that blushed red at that comment. We hadn’t really talked about having kids, and that moment didn’t seem like the time to start. I shuffled through the bags and bags of makeup and the lacy lingerie Robin had stuffed in the bag to reach the bottom. I pulled out a pair of pink flip-flops and held them up in triumph. They were a size too small, but they would get me through the airport.

I put them on my feet and he opened the passenger door for me so that I could get out of the car. My ankle looked a lot worse than it felt, and I was able to hobble my way in without too much of a limp.

Sure enough, there was a departure for Sydney about an hour away when we arrived. He hurried me to the ticket counter and insisted that he pay with his credit card, telling me it would make it that much more difficult for my father to track us down. Not impossible, obviously, but more difficult.

It was all just a little
too
easy. There was no line for ticketing. The woman at the counter offered us a complimentary first-class upgrade when she looked at my passport and recognized my name. There was no line going through security. I think we both should have known it was all just a little too good to be true.

There was even a shop open that had shoes for sale. I was able to trade Robin’s too-small pink flip-flops for a slightly better pair—one that fit, anyway.

He twined his fingers through mine as we walked down the concourse, swinging our hands back and forth. I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen him smile like this—like he was actually
happy
. And I felt it, too. It was almost like a weight had been lifted from both our shoulders. Like there would be nothing else to worry about if we could just make it on that airplane.

I heard his phone chime and I knew he’d received a text. He didn’t even reach into his pocket to check—he just looked over at me with a smile. I couldn’t believe he was really ignoring that phone—that phone that had caused so many problems in the past few months. I almost wished he would have tossed his out the window after mine on the way here—I probably should have suggested it. I probably should have insisted on it.

I saw her walking toward us before she spotted the two of us there. Brandon’s phone began to ring as soon as I made eye contact with her. She was unmistakable, her tall frame towering over the other people walking on the concourse. I saw her snap her phone closed when her gaze fixed on mine and his phone stopped ringing. I saw him look at me from the corner of my eye, but my gaze was already on hers. And she never looked away from me.

Krystal had arrived in San Francisco. I knew she was there to make sure I kept the
other
flight reservation I had booked in a few hours. To make sure I was on that flight to D.C.