Broken Trouble (Broken Storm #1) (16 page)

              The rope tightened around my arms and I heard a dark chuckle from behind me.

              I should have known that silence from Jayden meant trouble.

              "Jayden," I warned, even if my lips were pulling up in a smirk.

              He pressed up against me, sandwiching me against the fence as he made quick work with the rope. I struggled against his weight and the ropes, but it was no use. The ropes were tight and knotted, making it impossible for me to move my arms.

              Jayden's warm breath wafted across my skin as he nuzzled my ear. "See, the point is tie the calf up so it can't get loose. It's completely at your mercy.”

              I shivered slightly, but resisted my feelings. This was just Jayden being Jayden and I mentally kicked myself for letting my guard down again. He was infuriating, always managing to get whatever he wanted when it came to me. I had to be a lot stronger than this.

"Jayden."

              He groaned in response, his hands staying firm at my arms to keep me from darting off to the side while he trailed his lips across the back of my neck. "I love hearing you say my name," he murmured.

              "Let me go," I demanded, putting as much strength and anger in my voice.

              A white muzzle appeared in front of my face as Landon and Dylan came to my rescue.

              "Jayden, let her go," Dylan ordered, though I couldn't see his face around Landon's horse.

              "I will in a minute, I was just showing her the proper way to tie a knot."

              "Well, she doesn't like it, so let her go," Landon ordered. I could hear boots hit the dirt as they both dismounted their horses, hopping over the fence to confront Jayden.

              "Ah, she likes it. Don’t you, Sweetheart?" I could practically hear the smirk on his lips.

              "Not especially," I grumbled, struggling to get loose. It amazed me that I wasn't having a panic attack from the ropes confining me like this.

              "Are you sure about that?" Jayden murmured in my ear before he was jerked back away from me.

              "What the hell? I'm just screwing with her," Jayden cursed as I turned around to try and see what was happening.

              "Yeah, I'm sure that's what you'd like to do, isn't it?" Landon shoved Jayden back again.

              "What if I do?" Jayden asked, his eyes hardening in a cold stare, "Who's going to stop me?"

              "I will," Dylan spoke, and for the first time since I've known him, he actually looked angry. It was surprising and it showed just how serious this was getting. They were fighting for me. Over me. Jayden needed to back off, sure, but that didn't mean I wanted them to fight.

              "We all will," Landon spoke and I finally noticed that the other guys were watching too. Gavin was watching us from the truck with his arms crossed over his chest, while Wyatt was making his way through a fence towards us.

              I managed to move my hand to my pocket, where I pulled out my pocket knife and started cutting at the ropes to get loose. If this situation turned bad, I would need my arms. "Guys,” I spoke, trying to get their attention. I was ignored.

              "You all can't stop me."

              "She can," Landon said, pointing to me before poking Jayden in the chest, "You better respect her."

              "What are you going to do? Poke a hole in my chest?" Jayden smirked.

              "If I have to. Would you prefer a knife or a pitchfork?" Landon growled.

              "Guys, stop it!" I yelled, wishing my knife was sharper. These ropes were really thick.

              "Ooh, you're so bad ass right now," Jayden taunted. Landon threw a punch at his face before tackling him to the ground.

              I felt the knife finish sawing through the rope and was untangling myself from them when a feminine, authoritative voice cut through the air. Polly stood with her hands planted firmly on her hips, looking ready to dish out punishment. "What in the heavens is going on here?"

              "Well?" Polly demanded the truth, raising her eyebrow. I was glad that her eyes were zoned in on the guys, because I really didn't want to suffer her wrath. Polly looked mad and the guys were probably lucky she wasn't holding a frying pan in her hand.

              "Jayden was being disrespectful of Nova," Landon explained. Just because the guys had a brotherly bond, didn't mean he wouldn't shove Jayden in front of the Polly-bus when he felt like he deserved it.

              Polly looked at me. "Are you okay, Honey?" Her voice was surprisingly soft compared to the one she was using for the boys at the moment.

              "Yeah." Jayden may have been doing something I didn't like, but he hadn't hurt me.

              Polly nodded, then snapped her fingers and pointed to the ranch house, her eyes locking back on Jayden. "In the house, now," she ordered, her voice full of warning.

Jayden kept unusually quiet, showing how worried he was. They headed off towards the house, the only sign of Jayden's discomfort was his silence and the way his back muscles bunched beneath his shirt.

              Polly hadn't even asked for the full story, though I figured she already knew as much as she needed.

Polly was mad and I wondered what she would do. I was both disappointed and relieved that she wasn't punishing him in front of everyone.

              Landon dusted himself off and Dylan stepped towards me, his eyes softening. The anger that had flashed across his face moments before disappeared without a trace. "Are you sure you're okay?"

              I smiled. "I'm fine Dylan, he was just being annoying."

              "An annoying jerk. He needs to back off," Landon grumbled.

              "I can handle him," I assured him, not really knowing if that was the truth. The guy was good at turning my mind to mush whenever he wanted to.

              "Well, luckily you don't have to. Polly has it covered now," Wyatt assured, leaning against the fence beside me.

              Would Polly really be able to keep Jayden under control? Did I even want Jayden under control? Sure he was frustrating and somehow kept forcing me into doing things I didn't really want to do, but that didn't mean I wanted him to stop completely. I just wanted him to show me some respect. What had I really done here that would warrant any kind of respect from him? I’d burnt down the barn, which sank me down really low on the respect meter. Then again, Jayden didn't seem to care about the barn, so maybe it had nothing to do with that and everything to do with me not standing up to him. Maybe it was time to start.

What did I need to do to earn the respect I wanted?

              A loud motor cranking and rattling to a start broke through my thoughts. I turned and watched as Gavin started the truck, black smoke bellowing out of the exhaust pipe. The truck coughed and sputtered before it evened out into a loud, rattly purr.

              The guys let out whoops of celebration and Gavin got out of the truck, raising both his fists in the air in victory. It was the first time I had seen Gavin celebrate anything other than hurting me.

              The puppy barked and jumped around, its little butt wiggling as he treated the truck like a giant beast he’d defeated.

              "Do you know what this means?" Landon asked, his mood lightening. I guess he was trusting Polly to take care of Jayden, so there was no need for him to worry about it anymore. "We're going out tonight!" he yelled, throwing his arms in the air.

              Dylan smiled, while Wyatt nudged my arm and said, "You're coming with us."

I glanced around at the other guys, who were smiling and happy. No one seemed like they didn't want me to go, even Gavin didn't seem bothered by it. It would be nice to go somewhere and get off of the ranch for a while.

              "Where are we going?"

              The guys exchanged glances and Gavin shook his head, going to turn off the truck.

"You'll see," Landon said as they all went back to work.

              Didn't guys know that girls needed to know how to dress? Going out could mean anything from watching movies to going clubbing, but that was what city people did. I had no idea what country people did when they went out. I needed help and I knew exactly who to call.

              Starre.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

              Calling Starre was kind of weird, it had been forever since I’d called anyone, let alone a friend.

              Starre was ecstatic though and at the ranch house to pick me up before I could even hang up the phone. I had a bag full of my clothes to choose from, hoping there was something in there that would work.

              There wasn't anything I needed to be doing at the ranch today, so we decided to go back to Starre's house to get ready.

              "First thing’s first; it's movie time! We'll do our nails during, and then do clothes and hair after."

Starre jogged through the house, turning on the TV with one hand while picking out a DVD with the other. "We'll watch Mulan first, since we planned on watching Tangled tomorrow. Sit!" Starre ran through the house while I set my bag of clothes down. I sat on the couch and waited for her to come back. When she did, she had a container filled with a variety of nail polish colors along with nail polish remover.

              She sat the things down, then went back to the TV, shuffling through the DVDs. "Where's the Mulan DVD?" she asked, her voice rising in panic as she tossed DVD cases aside in her search.

              "Umm, isn't it in the DVD player?" I asked, pointed at the TV, which had the main menu for the Mulan movie on the screen.

              "Ah, right,” Starre threw the DVD cases over her shoulder as she hopped onto the couch. "You're going to love Mushu and Khan!"

              I sat back on the bed, using some cotton balls and the nail polish remover to remove the nail polish I’d worn on my date. I couldn't help but smile at the memory, wondering if Dylan would ask me out again.

              I felt a hand smack my arm and my head snapped up to see Starre glaring at me, "Eyes on the screen, girly!"

              "Okay," I drew out, trying to judge if she was mad at me for daydreaming during the movie. She pointed to the screen, but the corner of her lip twitched, telling me she was serious, but not upset. She really loved her Disney movies.

              I looked back at the screen, watching as a girl cut off her hair with a sword before dressing in Samurai clothing.

              So Mulan was a tough chick; she was someone I could relate to. Maybe I could learn how to handle Jayden from her. There had to be a hot guy in this movie somewhere, there always was. When he finally appeared, you knew that he was the one she would fall for. Starre was right; I immediately fell in love with Mushu.

I painted my nails black while watching the movie and made a total of a mess of it. I would need some nail polish remover just to clean up all the mistakes I made while staring transfixed at the screen.

              I couldn't decide which character I liked better; the short, husky-voiced guy, or the shy giant. I definitely liked Shang, he was a total hunk. This movie had me thinking like some fangirl who fawned over every likable character.

              I quickly finished my nails by painting the ends orange so I could watch the rest of the movie without being distracted.

              Starre would sing along with the songs and say her favorite phrases with the characters. In one part, she clutched her hands to her chest as if she was feeling the same things as Mushu.

              I was starting to wonder where the happy ending was. Didn't all Disney movies end in the girl and guy falling in love and living happily ever after? When Shang appeared on the screen, I smiled. There he was!

              The movie had ended too soon and I found myself staring at the end credits. I wished I had an old, spunky grandma like Mulan's.

              Starre hopped around. "What did you think? It was awesome, wasn't it? I can tell by the look on your face that you liked it. Who was your favorite? Do you want to watch it again right now?" Words and questions flowed from her mouth in a solid stream, her hand on the remote like she was ready to press the button to restart the movie again.

              "It was good," I admitted. Maybe I shouldn't have written off Disney movies as bad right away. Then again, maybe they were good because I had a friend to watch them with, and my life was headed in a not-so-bad direction at the moment.

              "Just good? Come on, you have to give me more than that!" Starre yelled, grabbing my arms.

              "Okay, so it was really good. Mushu was cute."

              "And Shang, too?" Starre asked knowingly.

              "Shang, too," I agreed.

              Starre's phone rang, interrupting us. "It's my boyfriend," Starre sang out before answering the call. "What? And you just now called to tell me that? No excuse. Okay, I'll see you in a bit. Love you, too," Starre hung up with a sigh, then squealed, "I'm going with you tonight! But we don't have very long until we have to go, so we have to hurry and get ready."

              We went upstairs to Starre's room, where I shuffled through the bag of my clothes. I finally settled on a white lacy long sleeved top that hung from my shoulders, black faux leather leggings, and tall boots that Starre let me wear for the night in exchange for a set of earrings she said would go perfectly with her top.

              I dressed in her bathroom before stepping back into her room to work on my makeup, switching places with Starre so she could finish getting dressed. When she walked in, I whistled. "Trevor’s going to be tripping over his tongue tonight."

              Starre blushed, then spun around in a circle and struck a pose. She had on a gray shirt that buttoned up the side with a loose, low hanging neck line, black skinny jeans, and gray ankle boots.

              "He's not the only guy who's going to do some tripping tonight. You look amazing!" Starre dug through her necklaces, searching for the perfect one while I straightened my hair.

              We were finishing up the last touches when Trevor appeared at the door. I guess since he was her boyfriend, her parents were past the whole “letting him in the house” thing. Starre didn't seem surprised to see him.

              "The guys are waiting in the truck outside for you, Nova," Trevor said, motioning to the door while he walked toward Starre.

              I smiled and headed to the door. "Okay."

              "Ah good, I want to ride with Nova," Starre said, heading towards the door, only to have Trevor's arm wrap around her waist, and hold her back.

              "I want you to ride with me, Starre," Trevor said, his voice hinting at some underlying meaning. They communicated with their eyes in a way that only a really close couple could do. It was something I saw Polly and Chili do.

              Starre pouted, but finally relented, "Okay, we'll follow you in my truck in a minute."

              When I headed outside, I noticed Gavin was in the driver's seat and everyone else was piled in the back. I headed over, wondering if this was normally how they traveled when they all went somewhere. I was pretty sure it was illegal for people to ride in the bed of the truck like this, but maybe things were different in the country.

              "Hop up," Landon said, making drumming sounds on the side of the truck. Dylan grabbed my hand as I climbed to keep me from falling, a slight blush to his cheeks. Wyatt grabbed my hand and led me past the other guys to the front, pressing my hand onto the rail that was attached to the back of the cab.

"Hold on," he said, before smacking the roof of the truck. Gavin started it, the engine rumbling to life.

              We lurched forward, peeling out of Starre's driveway, dust bellowing out behind us. I willed myself not to fall and positioned my legs to get better traction, thankful I hadn't worn heels. Landon let out a loud whoop from behind me. I glanced back and watched as all the guys leaned against the side of the truck, smiles wide on their faces. This was probably something they did all the time, but I’d done things much more dangerous than riding in the back of a truck. I just had to remember not to get mad at one of them and accidentally shove someone to their death.

              We took a turn onto the main road and Landon toppled over before scrambling back up. Everyone laughed.

              Maybe they would accidentally fall out on their own. I hoped no one got hurt, because I was started to get pretty attached to them. I had a feeling tonight was going to be a wild night.

              I felt my hair whip around my face. It would look wild by the time we got where we were going.

              "Gavin, turn it up!" Landon yelled over the wind, smacking the side of the truck. I expected Gavin to yell right back at him, but instead the radio was cranked up louder. The truck may have been old, but it had a killer sound system in it.