Love and Law (25 page)

“You guess?” she queries.

Yeah, this woman doesn’t miss a thing.

My eyes begin to dart around the room as I try to determine how to back myself out of that one. Finally, I sigh and meet her eyes.

“She wasn’t exactly nice to me. It’s sad, but I almost feel relieved.” There, I said it. After living eleven years with a mother who abused me, I suddenly feel happy to have said the words.

Tina looks at me sympathetically and nods her head. The gesture is one that sparks something inside me. Like maybe it’s okay for me to feel this way?

“Sweetie, what’s your name?” she asks me.

“Sidney. Sidney Hunter.”

Her smile at my answer has me beaming once again in response. What is it about her that makes me do that?

“Well, Sidney, it is very natural for someone to feel that way if they have been in an abusive relationship. Do you feel that you were abused by your mother?”

Here is the moment of truth. Admitting what I knew all along. My mother was terribly abusive—not just physically, but mentally as well. From what I read in the library books and on the Internet, I was the recipient of abuse. No brainer there. Problem was, I always had trouble figuring out what to do about it.

“Yes. I know that I was abused by her. I’m glad she’s gone. I don’t feel terrible about it either. In fact, I can’t wait to start my life,” I rush out quickly before I lose my nerve.

Her face is sad and full of compassion as she regards me. I’m not used to seeing someone look at me in such a way. Momma was the only one who ever really looked at me, and it was definitely on the opposite end of the spectrum.

“Sidney, what kind of abuse?” Her eyebrows furrow as she asks the question.

I decide that I am taking control of my life. Hopefully this woman will help me.

“Uh, let’s see. Mostly just whippings with her switches. Those are manageable. The baths—the baths are horrible,” I confess, and a shudder racks my body at the thought of one. Tears fill my eyes, but I force them away by blinking wildly for a moment.

“You are speaking in present tense. Sidney, she can’t ever do those things to you again. You’re safe now. Together, we’re going to get you through this.”

And for the first time in the past eleven years, I am suddenly filled with a very foreign feeling—a feeling of hope.

Broken (Book 1 in The Breaking the Rules Series)

Now Available!

5 months earlier…

We were dead.
Not a soul had walked into the café for the last two hours, which was completely insane for New York City. The Taylor Swift concert in Central Park had completely stolen away all of our patrons. Bored to tears, I scrolled through my phone, looking at pictures of me and Brayden.

Brayden was the love of my life. We met our first year at Columbia in Freshman Comp. His messy blond hair and crystal blue eyes had captivated me from the moment he sat down beside me. We had started out as friends but quickly morphed into lovers. He stole my breath every time I saw him.
Even to this day.

Bray was at Columbia on a baseball scholarship, studying Architecture like me. Now that graduation was just two weeks away, we’d be able to start focusing on the rest of our lives. A few months ago, on Valentine’s Day, he proposed to me in Central Park. It was terribly cliché and romantic. Of course now, instead of focusing on finals, I could only think of my upcoming wedding and becoming the future Mrs. Brayden Greene.

I stopped on a recent picture of us after a baseball game. We were so happy, smiling back in the photo.
The All-American couple.
I thought this picture would be the perfect one for our engagement announcement that was going to go in the newspaper soon.

Dragging me out of my daydreaming, my boss Jeanie hollered at me. “Honey, you might as well go home. I can’t afford for us to be this slow and pay you to drool over your fiancé. Think of it as your engagement present. Your one and only day to ever get out early. You can thank Taylor Swift.”

Completely excited over the news because I never got to leave early, I ran over and pulled the gruff woman into a hug. “Thank you, Jeanie!” I exclaimed. Pushing me away with a grunt, she said, “Well, go before I change my mind, little lady. And don’t get any ideas about this happening again.”
Thank you, Taylor Swift.

Bray and I hardly ever got to spend evenings together because of my job at the café and his playing baseball. This evening I was going to surprise him. Give him a taste of what a good wife I could be. He was going to love what I planned on doing to him once I got hold of his sexy body.

Practically skipping the two blocks to my dorm, I rushed into my room and changed out of my uniform. I put on my new black lingerie that I’d been dying to show him and stopped to admire myself in the mirror.
Heels.
I needed heels to complete the look. Just as I slipped them on, the door flung open, revealing my roommate Pepper.

“What the hell, Andi!” she screeched covering her eyes as she made a beeline to her desk.

“I got out of work early and I’m going to surprise Bray,” I told her, smiling. Even with her back to me, I could tell she was rolling her eyes. Pepper was an adorable girl, but she hid behind her glasses, Columbia sweatshirts, and messy buns. She was one of the most intelligent people I had ever met.

Having been placed together as dorm mates, we instantly became the best of friends. I was the sweet, innocent girl in love with a baseball player. She was the Victoria’s Secret model dressed as a nerd with a little—
okay,
a lot—
of
attitude. We came from different worlds and liked different things but meshed incredibly well.

“Are you going to prance on over to his room dressed like a hooker?” she asked in her sardonic tone.

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. “No way! I’m going to wear my coat. He won’t know what hit him,” I laughed. She tried to sound annoyed with me, but Pepper was in no way immune to my happy-girl charms and let out a chuckle.

Wrapping up in my jacket, I blew her a kiss as I walked out the door. Bray wouldn’t be expecting me for few more hours so he was going to be shocked when he saw me. He told me he’d be studying for finals in his room while I was working, so I knew he’d be there. And if his roommate Josh was there, I was going to tell him to get lost. I missed Bray and I wanted to have some hot sex with my fiancé.
Fiancé.
I still couldn’t get used to the idea.

When I got to his room, I quietly opened it, wanting to surprise him. Realizing that the lights were off and that he might be napping, I decided I was going to hop into bed with him and
really
surprise my man. That was until I heard the moan.
What in the world is he doing over there?

Hesitantly, I fumbled for the switch. My eyes froze in horror at the scene before me. A naked girl—with really big boobs—was bouncing on MY naked Brayden.
What?
I was having trouble processing how a naked girl was with MY fiancé.

Everything went in slow motion at that point. The girl jumped up, scrambling for clothes. Brayden asked me what I was doing there while covering himself with the blanket. I was backing out of the room, tears wickedly streaming. He called after me as I ran away. The man had effectively smashed my heart to pieces.

The trip back to my room was a blur. Once I burst through our door, I met Pepper’s eyes. She instantly held her arms open to me, and I ran into them.

“Brayden is a bastard,” she whispered, stroking my hair, knowing without words what had happened. My life was ruined. This happy girl would no longer ever be happy.

A dark two weeks…

I can’t breathe. My heart actually physically hurts. How is this even possible? I thought they were joking when they talked about broken hearts.

But they weren’t lying. This shit hurt! How will I make it without him? I love him. But he ruined everything when he slept with that bitch. God, I hate him. I miss him.

For two days now, I just lie here, thinking about what would have happened had I not walked in. Would we still be getting married? Nothing can bring me out of this terrible place. Pepper tries, but she can’t even begin to even touch the depths of where I am now.

School doesn’t matter. Food sucks. Hygiene? What’s that? She keeps threatening to call my mom but all I hear is “blah, blah, blah”. Whatever.

He keeps texting me, but how can I begin to ever even talk to him? I’m afraid if I see him that I’ll just run right to his arms, hoping he’ll make it all better. But I know deep down that isn’t right. If he did it once, he’ll probably do it again. God, my heart hurts so fucking bad!

I guess I’ll just cry myself to sleep…again.

Present

“Come on, Andi! I don’t have all day. Some of us have been ready for hours,” Pepper called to me from the living room. Of course she’d been ready for hours. She was wearing jeans and a sweater for crying out loud, and it probably took two minutes to readjust her bun.

“Perfection takes time,” I told Olive, who was sitting on my bed while I applied the last of my makeup. “You sure you don’t want to go with us, hon?” I asked, turning to look at her. Olive was our new friend. She was a gorgeous black girl with legs that went on for miles. Her hair was smooth as silk and her eyes were the palest orbs that contrasted vividly against her chocolate skin.

Olive moved in with us about a month ago. She somehow managed to escape an extremely abusive relationship but had nowhere to go. When I found her crying at the café one day, I took her under my wing, praying Pepper would be okay with it. Of course Pepper fell in love with the leggy chocolate goddess as well, and she’d been living with us ever since.

Olive got modeling gigs left and right because she was perfection personified. But her fears of her ex sometimes cripple her socially.
A lot of times.
Like tonight, she was adamantly shaking her head to my offer. She had a fear that she might run into Drake and he’d drag her away from us, never to be seen again. It always gave me the shivers to think about what he must have done to her to make her so afraid. And the fact that she refused to ever let us see her without being fully clothed made me wonder if he’d done something to her body. Just the thought made me sick to my stomach.

The modeling jobs she took were mostly for magazines. She absolutely refused to do any live modeling at shows even though that would have been the best way for her to get noticed by more well-known agents. Olive gave us money when she got paid on these jobs, but we never asked her for any. We just wanted our girl safe with us.

I didn’t make much money at the café so Pepper was our breadwinner. Well, if you call having a monthly trust fund “breadwinning” then she was definitely it. Her dad was a high-powered attorney there in the city and didn’t want his little girl to hurt for anything. We lived in a sweet little apartment and didn’t hurt for much either thanks to Pepper being “Daddy’s Little Girl.” Oh, and she played the part so well. The girl could be downright bitchy, but when—Daddy—was around, her voice was as sweet as sugar.

Thankfully, I was going to start my new job on Monday and would be able to help Pepper out more than just buying the groceries. Even though her dad took care of a lot for us, I still felt guilty about being a total freeloader. Today was my last day at the café and now we were going to celebrate. It took several months after college of applying all over the city to finally land a job at Compton Enterprises. The job I really wanted was to be an architect, but working as an assistant at an architectural firm was a good foot in the door. Everyone has to start somewhere.

“One day I’ll go with you guys. But it’s just too soon. Please have fun for me. I have a date with American Idol,” she smiled at me.

“Okay, fine. But I’m holding you to it. Now, how do I look?” I asked her, flipping my hair over my shoulder.

Ever since the day I found Brayden cheating on me, something in me snapped. Gone was the blond-haired innocent. Gone was my optimism. My outlook on life and love had been ruined the moment I saw that girl’s big tits bouncing as she rode my man. He had stolen it all away from me when he decided to sleep with some bimbo after almost four years of dating.