This Broken Beautiful Thing (26 page)

“Let’s talk.” He says looking down at me.

“What do you want to talk about Jace and why do I have to sit here?” I say raising an eyebrow.

“You know what
about and because I can keep you here without you doing that running act of yours you do when you don’t feel comfortable.” He says grinning at me.

“Jace…what do you want to know? I saw Caleb, he asked about her and I told him. Just like I told Brent today, I’m done hiding away from
them. I want Willow to see all the beautiful things out there. You should have seen her today at the park, she was so inquisitive and her eyes couldn’t stop moving over everything. Apart from the club crowd and the quiet park by the pond, I never take her anywhere around here because I was too afraid of walking into any of them.” I say looking down at his chest.

“Brent? You went with him today? What was it
?  Like a date?” he says raising his eyebrow and losing the grin he had on before I mentioned Brent’s name.

“Yes I went with him and no it wasn’t a date.
Why are you looking at me like that? Are you mad?” I ask him watching as he tightens his hands on my upper thighs to the point where it hurts.

He shakes his head and looks down at my hands on my lap,
then he lifts my one hand to his lips and kisses it, keeping his eyes on me the entire time. This makes me blush and look away from him.

“Baby when it comes to my girls and other guys
, I never like it. Even though I know you and Willow are no longer mine. My heart and my head tell me otherwise and I want to be the only man in your life. Even four years later , you’re all I think about and I know I fucked that up babe, all I care about now is that you’re happy and safe but as far as that Caleb fucker is concerned if he comes near you or her…I’ll kill him.” he says menacingly and this makes me shiver.

I
gasp, “Jace, don’t say shit like that! You said you would be cool when I decided it was time to introduce her to her father.” I whisper yell at him.

“
I mean it Harley… or do you
want
him around? I only said that when I thought you both would be mine but if he comes into the picture I know I’m fucked.” he says raising an eyebrow taunting me.

“Jace if he didn’t know about Willow and Ashley
did
lie then I want him to have a relationship with her. He is her father and I don’t ever want to hear you talk about killing someone else again. I don’t care who it is. Okay?” I say backing away from him on the counter.

He places his hands under the bend of my knee and pulls m
e against him with such force that I gasp then he places his one hand on my lower back and the other behind my neck as he brings my face a few inches from his.

“Remember
what I told you, I don’t like to be told what to do. I’m not going to let him take you two away from me. You are mine…you should know that by now.” I feel his breath on my lips.

The look he’s given me is enough to make me shiver, not from want but fear. Jace has kept Raven hidden from me since that night
four years ago and I guess tonight he’s making an appearance.

“Jace…you…you need to stop saying that. I’m not
yours. Please stop this. Let me go before you wake Willow up.” I move to get distance away from him but he looks at the hallway and when he notices that Willow is in fact still in bed he turns his attention back to me.

“But you are mine Harley, y
ou and that little girl. Do you honestly think after all the time and effort I put into you, I’m going to allow you to let that piece of shit back into your lives? In place of where I
should
have been?” he threatens. His hand on the back of my neck starts pushing my face toward his until our lips meet.

I
push at his chest to get him off me but he continues to stick his tongue in my mouth. I feel like I’m suffocating and I need him to get away from me. When his hand reaches and harshly grabs my breast, I bite his lip and the next moment I’m thrown off the counter landing on the floor, smashing the clean dishes off the drying rack.  I touch my lip and it stings, I look down to see blood on my index and middle finger. Looking up to Jace I realize what just happened….he backhanded me.

I see
the shock in Jace’s face as he looks back and forth between me and his hand that struck me. I’m frozen with disbelief, never thought he would be the hitting type, of course he looks like the hitting type but I never thought he’d
actually
do it. I look down at the floor and notice a couple cuts on my legs, many of which have shards of glass still stuck in.

He tries to move toward me
but I back away. His mouth opens and closes but no words come out, I guess I’m the same. He runs his hands through his hair and then in one quick motion he’s gone and all I hear is the slamming door as he leaves.

“Mommy
!” I hear Willow scream and I watch as she comes running to where I’m sitting surrounded by glass.

“Willow wait! Stay right there baby.
There’s glass on the floor, I don’t want you cutting your feet up okay?” I gently try to get up off the floor but I have glass in my feet as well as in some cuts on my legs. Willow stands immobile by the hallway doorway, tears flowing down her face.

“I need you to do mommy a
favor okay sweetie?” I ask her calmly and she nods through sobs.

“
Mommy’s phone is next to her bed, can you go and fetch it for me quickly?” she immediately turns and runs down the hall and a few seconds later she’s clutching the phone to her chest waiting for my next instruction.

“Throw it here baby.” I say and she tosses it my direction. I eventually get up off the floor and pick up
Willow, I ignore the discomfort in my feet as I walk over the glass and place her in the lounge chair telling her not to come in the kitchen. Her sobs are softer now.

I look at my phone and
ignore all the missed calls from Brent. I keep my phone close just in case Jace returns.  I kneel down on the floor to pick up all the tiny pieces of glass that are shattered. I ignore the sting of the cuts in my legs and feet and try pick up as much of the glass as possible. I hear hard knocking on the door and I internally curse myself for not locking it after Jace left. I hear Willows cries raise, obviously she’s afraid. I don’t know if she saw the whole Jace ordeal and I pray she didn’t.

I hear the door being opened and I
attempt to stand up quickly but as I lift my head over the counter the last person I expect to see cradling my weeping Willow to his chest is Caleb.

“
What’s wrong baby girl? Where’s your Momma?” he says holding her tiny body to his chest.

“Mommy fell, she’s bleeding,
hurry.” I hear her muffled sniveling.

“
It’s okay sweetie, I’m fine…just some scratches.” I say to her as I try once again to lean up on the counter and stop standing on the glass in my one foot.

Caleb looks
in my direction in shock then quickly places Willow on the lounge chair and rushes to my side, catching me before I fall. “Jesus Harlz, what happened here?” he says looking around at the glass on the floor.

“I just tripped and fell that’s all. What are you doing here? How’d you find me?” I ask him
trying to avoid looking at his face, as I limp my way to Willow.

“I’ve been calling you all day and you didn’t answer. I had to talk to you about today, I couldn’t just leave things like that Harley. I forced Brent to tell me where you stay and now I’m here.” He bends down and scoops up the bigger pieces of glass and looks around for a bin.
I point in the direction of the bin.

I hold my daughter close to my chest
as I pick her up. Even though the various cuts hurt like hell all I’m worried about right now is making sure my daughter is okay.

S
he wraps her arms around my neck and holds me tight as her cries die down. “Come sweetie let’s get you back to bed.” I limp my way towards her room but Caleb steps in front of me with open arms, his eyes still avoid mine.

“
Let me help you with her Harley, your foot is bleeding.” He says looking down at my foot.

I pass him and keep Willow in my arms, not because I don’t want him to hold her but I need to hold her more right now. My whole body is in shock
, firstly with the whole Jace hitting me ordeal and now the fact that Caleb has found me and knows where I live. My heart is beating so fast right now and I’m battling to catch my breath.

I place Willow into her bed and sit on the side of it wiping her long hair out of her face.

“Mommy… where’s Jacey? Why was he yelling momma?” she asks me innocently and my heart beats faster.

“Did you see Jace leave baby?” I ask her trying to find out how much she saw.

“No mommy I heard him shouting and then the loud bangs and glass then I heard the door slam. I stayed in my room until I found you mommy…I was scared.” She says with a shaking chin as if she’s about to burst out in tears again.

“Don’t worry, everything’s fine, mommy just dropped a couple dishes. Go to sleep my baby…everything’s going to be alright.” I whisper softly
stroking the bridge of her nose, I sit and watch as her eyelids flutter closed. I move my hand away from her face and stand up to tuck her in. I leave her little bed side lamp on and shuffle out the room only closing her door slightly. I don’t see Caleb anywhere in the hallway as I gently shut the door after looking at my baby girl sleeping so peacefully, I wipe away a few stray tears that I didn’t know  even shed then bump into Caleb.

His hands
go around my waist to steady me and a shudder goes through my body at the feeling, I remember the many times his hands held me tight and kept me safe. Caleb would never hit me - ever.

I move away from him and head back into the kitchen to see all the glass is gone.

“Harley, please answer me, what happened here?” Caleb interrupts my thoughts.

“I…uh…just fell. I slipped and fell. That’s all. I know you want to talk and everything but I don’t have the energy right now. Can we rather do this another time?” I say softly out of breath as I find my way to my bedroom en-suit to fetch the first aid kit. I can’t
bear to look at his eyes. I’m humiliated and ashamed of how things went down.

I don’t want Caleb in my home
, Caleb comes from a very wealthy family and my tiny apartment is probably the size of his room. I feel uncomfortable with him being here, it may feel like home to me but I know the furniture looks cheap since it was and when I caught him looking around my apartment I saw the pity in his eyes.

I’m aware of Caleb following me but I don’t have the energy to stop him. My legs are wobbly as I bend down to the bottom shelf of the bathroom towel cabinet and get the first aid kit.

Caleb stops me and picks it up. “Here, let me help you.” He says picking it up and heads out the bathroom, he motions for me to sit on my bed and I do. He bends down in front of me then starts looking through the first aid kit. He takes my foot gently in his big warms hands then gently removes the glass and cleans the blood. He takes the little shards of glass out my legs and we both sit there quietly as he focuses on not hurting me. It’s been so long since the last time I had his hands on me but it still feels so familiar, as if I never forgot what it felt like when he touched me.

I look down as he
gently pats the cuts above my knees with the medicine. He’s changed so much yet he still is the same gentle Caleb he was five years ago. His black hair now sits just above his shoulders, always falling into his face perfectly, he still has those dark eye brows and thick eye lashes with those lips, the bottom of his lip curls slightly. He used to be always clean shaven but I spot the light stubble on his jawline. I notice a couple scars on his face that weren’t there before, the most prominent one being through his one eye brow, I look at his hands as he wipes the rest of the blood off my right knee. I notice scars on his knuckles that weren’t there a few years ago either, his shoulders seem broader and bigger. The outline of his chest and the muscles of his back can be seen through his shirt as he moves his body around my room putting away the first aid kit. He seems much taller and manlier than he was when we were together. He seems a lot more serious and a lot less playful than the Caleb I used to know.  I guess a lot has changed.

I sit quietly watching him as he shamelessly looks my room over, checking the windows and making sure they’re locked, then he disappears and I hear the front door being locked. He comes back into my room and I watch as his attention lands on the various frames on my wall in a collage. The photos consist of me along my pregnancy and a lot of Willow when she was a baby, a couple of her ultrasound pictures and then there are pictures of her with my parents,
Hunter, Jace, Jesse and a lot with Brent.

Caleb strolls towards where I’m sitting on the bed and sits back down next to me
with his eyes still glued to the collage of photos on my wall. I hear him let out a deep sigh then he says.

“
I like that photo of you with her, the one where she’s cuddled up to your side on the sofa. I like the one where you were pregnant too. You’re so beautiful Harley.” He says sadly still avoiding my eyes. I don’t think he’s looked me in the eyes since he got here. I lean over and take the photo out of the frame next to my bed.