The Broken (6 page)

I click the
camera and the flash sparks as I take his picture. His mouth drops
open and his eyes bulge slightly. I bite my lip and then we both
burst into a fit of laughter.

“What’s so
funny?”

My eyes
reluctantly leave Sammy and glance up to a yawning Jasper, who is
descending the stairs. He’s also wearing only boxer shorts. His
body is slimmer than Sammy’s. Sammy is over six feet tall, and
broad like a line-backer, whereas Jasper is slightly shorter and
trim, but ridiculously ripped. My eyes scan him quickly before
resting on his face. He is really good looking; dark hair, with
light blue eyes, like Sammy. Damn, these two together must get so
much action. “Twink was just taking pictures of me to masturbate to
later.”

My eyes snap to
Sammy, a hot blush creeping over my skin.

“Is that
right?” Jasper laughs and he holds his arms out. “Would you like a
real man’s pictures to fantasize about?” he strokes his hand down
his stomach. “I’ll even lose the boxers, give you the full works.”
He winks, and my cheeks feel like someone is holding a flame to
them. Sammy’s chest shakes with silent laughter in my peripheral
vision. My mind berates me not to let them see me so flustered. I
moisten my lips then narrow my eyes on Jasper’s crotch and scrunch
my nose. “Sorry, my camera doesn’t have a zoom button.”

I bite my lip
to stop from laughing, but Sammy breaks into a loud stomach-holding
belly laugh. Jasper’s eyebrows rise nearly up to his hair line. He
drops to the last step, grabs my hand and cups it to his crotch.
“Mmm,” Jasper says into my ear. “My package is plenty big enough to
get you screaming, sweetheart.”

He isn’t wrong.
His package begins to grow underneath my pinned hand and it’s
impressive. I know he is only being playful, but I’m not use to men
being this familiar with me because Danny would kill them.

I gulp and look
over to Sammy, who has stopped laughing, and now has a scowl on his
face. Jasper laughs and releases me from his grip, walking into the
kitchen. I cradle my hand to my chest like it’s injured. I’m still
rooted to the spot when Jasper strides back into the living room,
holding a box of cereal and eating them dry, straight from the
box.

“I brought
milk.” I hold the carton up and Jasper beams a perfect smile at
me.

“Awesome.”

“So, Twink,
sexual groping aside, what did you come here for?” Sammy asks with
a raised eyebrow and an annoyed edge to his tone.

“I thought Jase
would need milk to go with the cereal,” I answer, confused at his
change in attitude.

“Well, you’re a
half hour late. My aunt picked him up early for a day at the
zoo.”

I check my
watch. It’s 7:45. “Oh, okay. Well, I’ll just go, then.”

I turn to
leave, but Sammy’s question stops me. “Twink, what’s with the
top?”

I look down at
my work logo and then to Sammy. “I run the office at the
garage.”

He shakes his
head, confused. “What about college? You were offered an early
dance scholarship?”

My shoulders go
limp and a sigh leaves my lips. “With everything that happened, I
couldn’t accept the scholarship. Blaydon needed me, and Danny...” I
don’t finish because saying Danny would rather kill me than let me
leave him isn’t something Sammy will understand. He grows stiff at
the mention of Danny’s name so I leave without a goodbye.

I leave feeling
punctured. Telling Sammy I gave up the scholarship was so painful,
bringing back the reality that I don’t get to have the things I
want. I belong to Danny, and I’ll never belong to me or Sammy
again. I walk down the path leading to my Mustang GT 500 that Blay
had bought me when I was eighteen. Back then, it resembled scrap
metal, but he restored it to its former beauty and I love her;
she’s my small sliver of freedom. I dig around my pocket and slip
the keys out, unlocking the door and sliding in behind the wheel.
The engine roars to life with a twist of the ignition and begins an
aggressive purr. I’m just about to pull out when I notice an old
Nissan pull up to the curb in front of me, and Chelsea Banks steps
out. My stomach threatens to expel any remnants that line its
depths. Chelsea fucking Banks. I hate that bitch. Memories of her
with Sammy re-run in my mind like episodes of torture. Why is she
here? I watch her apply more lipstick to her already overly made-up
lips. I can’t pull away, so I watch her saunter up the garden path
and knock on the front door. Sammy answers, still in his boxer
shorts. Her manicured hand rakes down his perfect abs, then with a
smile from him, and his eyes flicking in my direction, he welcomes
her in and closes the front door. I have no rights to him, but the
squeeze in my chest hurts. Even after all these years, Sammy still
owns my heart.

I
can’t believe River had to give up her scholarship
and is now running the fucking offices at K’s. She’s suffered so
much since I left. Her haunted eyes hold secrets I’m scared of
discovering. Why hadn’t Blaydon got in contact with me? I was
selfish to leave him. We were best friends, and it’s only these
last few months I even bothered to contact him.

I hear a V8
engine roar to life outside and I spring from the chair I’d planted
my ass into to look out the window. “Fuck me,” I mutter, looking at
River sitting behind the wheel of a gorgeous red Mustang. I notice
her watching an old Nissan pull up, and then Chelsea folds out from
behind the wheel. There’s no comparison. Chelsea is the definition
of easy; her short, tight skirt shows too much, her make-up is
plastered on, she’s pouting and applying more crap to her face as
she saunters up the path with River’s eyes burning a hole into the
back of her head. I smile and go to the door to greet her. Her eyes
devour my near-naked body, an undeniable sexual glint in her eye.
Her fake nails rake down my body. I flick my eyes to River and
usher Chelsea inside. Once I close the door I point her in Jasper’s
direction. “This is Jasper, he’s going to take care of your needs,
Chels. I’ve got shit to do.”

Jasper cocks an
eyebrow, looking her up and down. She licks her lips.

“Follow me,
sweetheart.” Jasper smirks and leads her upstairs.

Chelsea had
always been a slut. I remember when I first fucked her in the back
of the cinema. We were on our first date; I was sixteen and hurting
because Blaydon had told me River was going to a dance with a guy
in her class. I wanted to be the one taking her to dances, but
although our age gap is nothing now, back then it was a big gap.
She was only fourteen, so I used Chelsea, and a couple of other
easy cheerleaders, for a year until I couldn’t stand touching them
when River was the only girl who occupied my every thought. So I
began the final wait. A full year of no dates, no hook-ups, just to
be crushed at the end when River didn’t wait for me.

I climb the
stairs to my room, pull on some jeans and a t-shirt, and bolt back
down the stairs so I don’t have to listen to Chelsea wailing like a
chick being cut up in a horror flick. I jog across the lawn and try
the handle to Blay’s house. It gives under my hand so I push it
open.

“Yo, Blay?”

His head pops
around the kitchen door. “What’s up, dude?”

He’s ironing.
My brow furrows and he laughs. “You know my sis can’t iron for
shit, so that job’s been delegated to me.” He holds up a tiny K’s
work polo. “Not that this takes much ironing, but believe me, she
still manages to come into work with wrinkles, so I iron her shit
and she does everything else.”

He grins,
slipping the shirt onto a hanger. “What’s up?” he asks, redirecting
my focus back to the reason I came here.

“So, I know
this is probably a delicate subject, but what happened with the
garage when your dad left?”

His body
stiffens. “We run it.”

“We?”

He pulls his
eyes from mine, picks up a bigger work shirt, and begins ironing
it. “Me and River. I do the work and she runs the books and the
office.”

I cross my arms
over my chest. “What happened with Saunders?”

“When Dad …was
gone, we just took over. We did most of the work there anyway, man.
You know he was hardly there. Danny sorted the accounts for me and
it showed that Saunders was skimming off the top, pocketing himself
extra cash.”

Holy shit.
Saunders was the manager of K’s. He ran things because Keith was
living more and more for the bottle.

“So, is the
business in your name now?”

Blaydon pales
and his hands shake. “No, it’s still all in Dad’s name. Danny got
me passwords and account numbers for his bank and shit. We run it
as if he never disappeared.” He looks up at me. “Why?” His tone is
cold, bitter.

“I was just
curious. I saw Twink and I didn’t know she worked there. I know she
had a scholarship.”

Pain crosses
his face, his lips press tight, a gloss coats his eyes. “I love my
sister more than life. She’s the reason I breathe. I want her to
have a good life, Sam. She’s not the same person she was when you
left. Neither of us are the same. Dark shit has plagued my fucking
life, and as much as I tried to keep her in the light, the shadows
pulled her in.”

He’s totally in
his own world, his eyes gazing at the floor in front of him. His
hand stills, the steam billowing from the iron now burns into the
polo shirt. I reach forward, lifting his hand. “Oh shit, sorry.
What was I saying?”

I pat his
shoulder. “Nothing. It doesn’t matter.”

Shit has
darkened River, but my girl is still in there. She’s the girl who
danced in the yard, she’s the girl who sassed me when I challenged
her, she’s the girl who came over to cook for us and brought milk
this morning. My girl is still in there, underneath the broken girl
who now wears her face.

D
anny has left numerous texts throughout the morning,
telling me he’ll phone me at two o’clock, and to have my phone
ready. It’s coming up to one o’clock so I put my cell out on the
desk and debate ringing him to stop the stirring nerves in my
stomach.

I remember the
day Danny turned up with his stuff and just moved in to my house.
He didn’t ask, he just told Blaydon that he and I were in love, and
he wanted to move in so he could be there for me when I had
nightmares. Blaydon thought it was sweet. He was out of it most of
the time, so he thought it was a good idea having Danny around for
me. Little did he know, Danny was just there to tighten the leash
he had wrapped around my neck the night of my sixteenth
birthday.

I stare at the
computer screen, rereading the order Stevie gave me to process
three hours ago. My mind is stuck at the front door of Sammy’s
house. Where no-tits Chelsea Slut Face Banks had been this morning,
touching him. God, I need to clear my thoughts. I need to get over
Sammy. I can never be with him, Danny would never allow it, so why
am I pining for him?

I press
“purchase” on the checkout menu on the screen and drop my head down
on the desk, banging it a few times while mumbling gibberish.

“That bad,
huh?”

I look up,
startled, to see Sammy and Jasper smiling back at me.

“Hey.”

“Come on, we’re
taking you to lunch.”

Sammy moves
closer, poking his head though the glass partition and my breathing
halts. He smiles, his eyes boring into mine. “Breathe for me,
Twink, and get your bag.”

I inhale, grab
my bag and hurry out from the office towards them.

“Sweet place,
Twink. This how you afford to drive that sweet ass ride of yours?”
Jasper asks, looking out the window around the forecourt.

“You don’t get
to call her Twink,” Sammy tells him and Jasper laughs.

“You don’t own
that nickname. I can call you Twink, right, Twink?” Jasper walks
over to me and puts his arm over my shoulder.