The Broken (18 page)

“I’ve been
looking for you all day. I thought you went out. It’s six
o’clock!”

I must have
passed out after finishing the bottle. I’ve been in here eight
hours. The room spins as I sit up.

“I need you to
drive me to my dad’s.”

Jasper eyes
focus on me, questions creasing his brow “What’s going on,
Sam?”

I shake my head
and instantly regret it when my skull begins a dull thud. I shuffle
past Jasper to the kitchen, blast the cold tap, and wrap my lips
around it, swallowing the water down my parched throat. That’s when
I see her, like an angel, spinning her body around on her deck.
It’s raining heavily but she doesn’t seem to even notice as it
beats against her body. I wrench the back door open and shout over
the fence, “Twink, get out here, now!”

I walk to the
front yard and wait for her to come through the gate, the rain
soaking through my clothes in seconds.

T
he rain is pouring down, drumming against the ground,
causing Sammy to shout to enable me to hear him. He looks beautiful
but broken, just like me. He’s hurting, and I hate that it’s me who
made him hurt.

“I know you’re
scared, Twink, but I love you and I know you love me, too. We
didn’t fuck last night, we made love.”

My soaked
summer dress clings to my body, my weathered hair sticks to my
cheeks, my salty tears mixing with the rain that’s battering
against me.

“Just breathe,
Twink, and let me love you. Step into the future with me, and leave
everything else in your past. Come to me, baby.”

He’s holding
his hand out to me across the small edge of the grass separating
our houses.

“It’s not that
simple, Sammy.” The words come out choked and his eyes plead with
me.

“We were meant
to be together. You know it, Twink. I don’t know what happened with
Danny all those years ago, but I know I shouldn’t have just walked
away. I should have come to you. I didn’t then and it killed me for
four fucking years. I won’t do it again. I belong to you. You own
me River, and I feel it when we’re together. I own you, too.”

My heart is
breaking because he’s right. He owns my heart, my soul. But Danny
owns my conscience. He keeps me prisoner with the knowledge he has
on Blaydon, and he’ll use it against me if I leave him.

“I’ll tell
Danny,” Sammy says. “You don’t have to face this on your own.”

Panic sears
through me. “No! No, don’t say anything to Danny. I will.”

His body
relaxes, his shoulders dropping as he nods his head. “You’re going
to tell him and be with me?”

I don’t answer.
He waltzes towards me, cupping my cheeks and crushing his lips
fiercely to mine. “You’re going to be with me, River. Every day I’m
going to show you how much I love you. Say yes, baby. Say yes.”

I want to drown
in him, let the rain wash away those four years we missed out on
and drown us in each other, but Danny holds so much more power now.
He used Maria’s death to bribe me to marry him, to be trapped
forever. God, the emptiness is creeping its way back in, stripping
me of the fragments Sammy had put back together. Blaydon wouldn’t
survive in prison and I couldn’t live knowing he was there. This is
such a mess.

Sammy’s hands
grip mine, then he looks down and steps back.

“You really did
say yes to him.”

I look down to
the diamond Danny put on my finger.

“Something bad
happened, Sammy.”

The rain washes
down our faces, dripping into my mouth as I speak. Sammy’s body is
shaking, steam billowing from his heated skin from the cold
contrast of the rain.

“You’re right.
Something bad
did
happen. I let you back into my fucking
heart, River. I let myself love you. I’m so done. I can’t be here
watching you marry him.”

He turns to
leave and I feel my head spin. “Sammy! Please, you don’t
understand!”

He stops but
doesn’t turn around. “I’ve never understood, River!” he roars,
leaving me on my own to my fate. The fate Danny claimed those four
years ago. I drop to my knees and let the rain drown me in my
misery.

Four painful
weeks have passed. I can’t eat without getting sick, I can’t
breathe without my heart constricting, bleeding for my lost love. I
haven’t seen or heard from Sammy. Blaydon is falling deeper into
depression. He’s hardly left his room, and he isn’t showing up for
work. Danny is on top of the world, though. He keeps trying to talk
to me about setting a wedding date, but I can’t even fake smiles
for him anymore. I lost everything I was; my soul left with Sammy.
Jasper came home a few days ago. He told me Sammy’s staying with
his dad, but he’s coming home soon for business. I don’t know what
I’ll say to him when he comes back, nothing has changed. I’m still
trapped by the knowledge Danny has. I’m fading into nothing. Soon
I’ll just be mist, an apparition of the girl who once lived here
inside me. I haven’t even been dancing. Bella sold Bella’s, and
closed its doors, its future uncertain. I can’t even face dancing
out the back because it reminds me of Sammy taking me on the
platform.

“Hey.”

I look up from
the desk. I’ve been at work for three hours, and still not done
anything. My eyes collide with Derek’s. He’s in a fitted suit, his
badge sitting on his left hip, a gun on his right.

“Hey,” I
say.

“You okay? You
look tired.”

“I’m fine. What
are you doing here?”

He looks around
then brings his eyes back to mine. “I’m actually here to ask you a
few questions.”

I sit up
straighter in my seat, nerves beginning to eat away at my insides.
“What about?”

He pulls a
picture from his back pocket and hands it to me. “Do you recognise
her?”

God, I’m
looking at a picture of Maria.

“Yeah, I saw
her at a party a few weeks ago.”

He raises a
brow. “And what about with Danny or Blaydon?”

I swallow, even
though my mouth is bone dry. “What’s this about?”

He slips the
photo back in his pocket. “She was found dead at a crack house down
town a few weeks ago.”

I try to look
shocked, but I can tell I’m not fooling him. “Well, that’s a shame.
A lot of people turn to drugs to cope these days.”

He nods. “Yeah,
but she was clean. She died from suffocation.”

A cold dread
creeps up my spine. Blay would never do that, it must have been an
accident.

“River, are you
okay?”

Oh my God, how
long have I been sitting, frozen? Derek is kneeling at my feet,
holding my hands.

“I’m sorry,
it’s just weird after seeing her, and now she’s dead.”

He strokes my
hand. “River, I need to ask you something else.”

I feel the fear
like it’s a living entity, consuming me. “What?”

“Do you know
anything about the disappearance of Mr Knight?”

I blink a few
times, confused. “Danny?”

“Danny’s
father. Mrs Knight said he left the house last month and never came
back. Now, this does happen as you’re well aware. People leave
without a word, start fresh somewhere else, but I need to
investigate all reports.”

He went on
business with Danny. I don’t understand, Danny hasn’t mentioned
anything.

“Have you
spoken to Danny?” I ask.

He stands,
towering over me. “That’s my next stop. Listen, River, I just want
you to know that if you do know anything about anything, and you’re
scared, I will protect you. I’ll do everything I can for you.”

Tears brim my
lashes without permission as I look up at Derek. Can he help me?
Would he help Blaydon? My mouth opens to speak when Stevie
interrupts, saving me from making a mistake.

“River,
sweetheart, you need to order these parts.” He hands me a list.
“Oh, hey,” he adds, noticing Derek.

“Hey. River,
take my card. I’ve written my personal number on the back. Call me
anytime, I’ll be in touch.”

I watch as he
walks across the forecourt to his car.

“Everything
okay, sweetheart?” Stevie asks.

I give him a
smile. “Yeah, fine.”

I stare at
Derek’s card until the numbers blur together.

“Hi.” My eyes
shoot up to find the smiling face of Jasper.

“Hi back.”

He points to my
bag. “Grab your purse, we’re going to lunch.”

We sit in the
same diner he, Sammy and I came to the first time they showed up to
take me to lunch.

“He’s a
mess.”

I peel my eyes
from the menu I’m pretending to scan and look up to Jasper’s
serious gaze. I’ve never seen this side of him.

“I really like
you. I can see why he loves you, but you’re killing him, River. He
was a mess when I met him and it took a lot to pull him back, but
this time it’s so much worse. He’s heartbroken.”

Tears pour
freely from my eyes, the burn a welcome pain. “I love him so much,
Jasper, but it’s so complicated. There’s a reason I’m still with
Danny, and it’s not because I chose him over Sammy.”

He reaches
across the table to grasp my closed fist. “Help me understand
because you’re not making sense. Are you afraid of Danny? Because
me and Sammy will keep you safe.”

A sob breaks
free and I know people are staring at us. “Can you drop me
somewhere? I don’t trust myself driving in this state.”

He squeezes my
hand. “Of course. Let’s get some food in you first, though. You
look slimmer. Are you eating?”

I shake my
head.

I make Jasper
drop me at Derek’s after he fed me. I send a text to Derek, letting
him know I’m at his house, and he messages me back, telling me to
go in and make myself at home. He’ll be at least an hour.

His place is
warm and inviting, despite the size. The dark wooden floors
throughout, and warm rich colours remind me of a posh library. I
sit down on his oversized leather couch and wait.

The scent of
coffee invades my nose. My eyes blink open to see Derek standing
there, holding a mug.

“Hey.” I rub my
eyes and sit up. There’s a heavy blanket laid over me. “I’m sorry,
I must have drifted off. I’ve been tired lately.”

He smiles
warmly. “It’s not a problem. I put the blanket on you and left you
for a few hours.”

My mouth drops
open. “A few hours?” He hands me the steaming mug and I inhale the
scent. “Thank you.”

He walks to the
chair opposite and sits. “I’m glad you came here, but I didn’t
expect to see you this soon.”

I remove the
blanket from my legs as I scoot forward on the seat, holding up the
mug so I don’t spill hot coffee on my lap.

“Can I trust
you Derek?” I ask, in a soft whisper.

He mirrors my
pose and drops his head to look into my eyes. “Yes, River. I swear
I’ll protect you.”

I swallow.
“Why?”

He asked me out
for dinner so he must find me attractive, but he doesn’t really
know me, so I have to know why he would help me.

He sits back.
“Why what?”

“Why would you
help me?”

His eyes scan
my body, making me squirm. “I was drawn to you when I first saw
you. You’re a beautiful girl. I won’t lie and say I don’t hope you
will consider losing the overbearing ass, and let me treat you how
you should be treated, but I know I wouldn’t be the one you turn to
if you did leave him.”

I sip my coffee
and soak in this information.

“You remind me
of someone I lost a long time ago. I couldn’t help her, but I can
help you if you’ll let me.”

I scan his face
but only see truth in his eyes. “Why couldn’t you help her?”

“I didn’t see
how far gone she was.”

He exhales and
looks down at his hands. “My little sister, she was eighteen, and
head over heels for this older, abusive man. He used her and
smacked her around. When I saw the bruises, I confronted him. As
punishment for her telling me, he fucked her best friend, filmed
it, and sent it to her.” His voice wavers. “She killed herself that
night.” He rubs his hands through his hair. “I’ve never told anyone
that. I felt responsible for her as her big brother to protect her.
My mom blamed me for confronting the boyfriend. She hasn’t spoken
to me since the day of her funeral. I know you have no one. I see
the grief and loneliness in your eyes.”