Broken: The MISTAKEN Series Complete Second Season

by Peak, Renna

  My eyes flew open and I fought through the cobwebs that had formed in my mind. I wanted to sit up, scream at Robin for taking that ring out of my pocket. I put it there when Jen threw it at me. When she’d been so pissed at me that she threw it at me and I shoved it in my pocket before taking that job away from her. That idiotic job that I knew she didn’t really want. Was she really here? I tried desperately to remember what they had said to me before they took me in for surgery. What had they said? She loves you. I looked up at the blonde woman towering over my bed. My stomach sank through my body when I realized they had been talking about Robin, not my sweet Jen. Shit, my memories were betraying me, too.

  I wished I had died on the table.

  6

  I was surprised to find Melissa on the other side of my front door after answering the incessant knocking. I lifted an eyebrow. “What, you don’t let yourself in anymore?”

  Her eyes crinkled a little with her grin. “Well, since I don’t live here anymore, I thought maybe it would be polite to knock.”

  “You? Polite?” I rolled my eyes, matching her grin, and I let her in.

  She wore the same red dress she tried to wear for our date on Friday. “Well? Are you up for it tonight?”

  I let out a long sigh. I hated clubs, hated crowds in general, but I knew it was something she wanted to do. “Yeah, sounds fun.” The flatness of my voice would surely betray the words I had spoken.

  “God, you’re a horrible liar.” She elbowed me on her way to sit on the bar stool at the kitchen counter. “You should get dressed so we can get going. I know how you feel about staying out late.”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. “Right.”

  She giggled and shooed me into the bathroom to finish with my hair and makeup.

  “How was Amanda today?” Somehow, hearing Melissa tell me about the crazy antics of her new boss could always lift me out of even the foulest of moods.

  “As insane as usual. Today she decided that the office needed a dedicated cable for internet service. Not just our own, you know, internet service. She wants the city to run a frickin’ cable into the office. Like hard wire our little office.”

  “Why?” I tried to wind my straight, brown hair into something resembling curls; unsuccessfully, of course.

  “Oh, who the hell knows? She’s nuts.” She paused for a moment. “Hey, Jenna.”

  “Hey, Mel.” I unplugged the curling iron and tossed it aside, grabbing my makeup bag. My hair would just have to be acceptable as is.

  “Do you still want to teach piano lessons? You know, to little kids?”

  I shrugged my shoulders at myself in the mirror. “Maybe. Why? Who’s asking?”

  I heard her giggle. “Me?”

  “You’re not a little kid, Mel.” I peeked my head around the corner of the bathroom door and looked out at her. “Besides, we tried that, remember? You’re tone deaf.”

  “No, not for me.” She paused for another moment. “Hey, I am not tone deaf. A little tone impaired, maybe…”

  A snicker left my lips as I returned to the mirror to put on my lip gloss. “For who?”

  “Well…”

  I left the bathroom and turned the corner to face her. “Your evil boss?”

  “Not exactly. Her kid.”

  My eyes narrowed. “How old?”

  “Four. She’s pretty convinced he’s the next Mozart.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Of course he is. What is she looking for?”

  She shrugged. “Not sure. Lessons at her house, probably.”

  “She has a piano?”

  “A baby grand. It’s beautiful, and I don’t know a damned thing about pianos. Apparently, the brat plays on it all the time. I guess he played something that sounded like something the other day.”

  “Huh. Something that sounded like something?” I lifted an eyebrow.

  “You know, it was almost a song. I don’t know. The brat can do no wrong, so what do I know?”

  I nodded. “Does this brat have a name?”

  “Yeah. Brat.”

  My brows furrowed together. “Her son is seriously named Brat?”

  Her lips turned up into a grin with her lilting laughter. “No, that’s just what I call him. I think his name is Mason.”

  My eyebrow lifted again. “You think?”

  She shrugged again. “I told her you played. I might have told her you were a little bit of a, you know…”

  “A what?”

  “You know, a freak of nature. A prodigy, kind of.”

  “God, Mel, why did you do that? I clearly won’t be good enough for her son…”

  “Sure you will. At least until he surpasses your abilities in a few months.” She snickered. “I’m joking. I’m sure he’s gifted, though. That’s what I hear, anyway.”

  “It’s a bad idea. That woman does not like me.”

  “Nah, she likes you just fine. She’s just pissed that you wouldn’t do her bidding while you were at that party.”

  I shook my head with a frown. “I’ll think about it.” I picked up my bag from the counter. “Can we go now?”

  “Yeah, yeah. No driver tonight?”

  My brows knitted together again. “What are you talking about?”

  “Your rental cop. Cash, or whatever his name is.”

  “He’s not a rental cop, Mel. Cade has been working for my father for thirty years. What about him?”

  “He must have the night off. He’s not out there.”

  “Well, he does get time off, you know. He isn’t a slave.” But there was always someone there, especially since the Secret Service guys had been called off a few weeks ago. I never went anywhere alone, not since my father first announced his bid for the presidency, anyway. I shrugged it off; it probably wasn’t a big deal. Someone probably forgot to call someone or there was a mix-up with the schedule. It wasn’t like I was actually in any danger; this bodyguard thing was all my dad’s idea.

  “I guess that means you’re driving, because I’m definitely drinking tonight.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Super. I’ll try to keep you from ripping your dress off on the dance floor.”

  She let out a long sigh. “That happened one time, Jenna…”

  A small giggle escaped my lips. “As long as it doesn’t happen again.”

  She sighed again, shaking her head. “Let’s just go.” She grabbed her purse from where she had tossed it on the counter.

  Mel gave me directions to the new club she had been raving about all week. It was a place her boss had funded, and looked pretty normal, almost ambiguous from the outside. I found a nearby garage and parked and we walked to the entrance.

  “You’re sure this is the right place?” It looked like any other office building from the outside. There were no bouncers, lines of people, loud music or any of the other things I would have expected a club that Mel wanted to go to would have.

  She looked down at her phone. “It’s the right address.” She looked over at me. She lifted her shoulders and raised her eyebrows. “Maybe it’s inside?”

  “Maybe.”

  Mel opened the glass door to enter the office building and we walked down the hallway. She pointed to another set of curtained glass doors ahead of us. “That’s it, Club 99.”

  I frowned and glanced back down the hallway. “You’re sure that’s it? It doesn’t look like the kind of club we usually go to, Mel. You know, the kind with loud music. Dancing.”

  She nodded. “That’s it, though. I got the liquor license for the place, so it is definitely it. It’s supposed to be less, I don’t know, clubby. More for professionals. Grown-ups.” She walked up to the door and turned back to me.

  “So we’re grown-ups now?” I lifted a brow at her.

  She opened the door and we walked through. It was just a typical bar, like one that could be found in the lobby of a hotel. There was quiet music playing over a speaker system and there were many businessmen in expensive suits sitting at the tables that littered the room. But that wa
s it—there were only men. I looked around and didn’t see any women, at least not in the front part of the bar.

  A chill ran through me as I looked down at my low cut cocktail dress. “I think, maybe, this isn’t the kind of club we should be at, Mel.” I looked around again. “Is it for, I don’t know, only men?” I looked over at her.

  She shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. Why would the Agostinos have funded…” Her eyes widened. “Oh. You think, maybe?”

  I nodded. “I think we don’t charge enough to be here.”

  She licked her lips, looking around the room. All eyes had turned to the two of us, standing at the door.

  I felt like I was on display, like one of the prize-winning goats at one of the myriad county fairs I had attended during my brief campaign tour through Iowa. I turned back to Melissa. “We should go.”

  She nodded and we turned back to the door.

  “Jenna Davis?” A man’s voice rang out from behind me. “What are you doing here?”

  I glanced over my shoulder, not recognizing the voice. My eyes widened and I smiled when I saw who had recognized me. “Ryan.”

  He pulled me into a light embrace and kissed my cheek. “We just opened last week. We’ve been having trouble getting women in the door. I think it’s the location, but my sister was sure…” He turned to face Melissa, whose jaw was almost on the floor. “Who’s your friend?”

  “Ryan Agostino, this is your sister’s assistant, Melissa Bishop.” I turned to look at her, cocking an eyebrow. “Mel, this is Ryan. The guy who signs your paychecks.”

  Her jaw lifted into a wide, glimmering smile. “Hi. I mean, hello. I’m Melissa.” She extended her shaking hand.

  He was mesmerized. He stared into her eyes for a moment too long. “Melissa. We have a lot to talk about.”

  She let out a nervous laugh. “I suppose we do. This bar, for one thing.” Her grin widened. “I mean, I guess I’m partly to blame, but Amanda won’t let me anywhere near your clients.”

  “I’m sure we have a lot of stories we can swap about my sister.” He ran a hand through his sandy brown hair. “Can I buy you a drink?”

  “Yeah, of course.” Her eyes widened, realizing she had forgotten I was still at her side. “I mean, you don’t mind, do you, Jenna?”

  I smiled at them. “Of course not.” I motioned to the room full of men, still staring at us. “I’ll go mingle.”

  “It’s ladies’ night, Jenna. All drinks are on the house.” He turned back to me for a moment. “Every night is going to have to be ladies’ night if we don’t do something about this disaster.” He turned back to Mel. “I don’t suppose you have any ideas for that, do you?”

  I had never seen her smile like that. “I might.”

  He motioned with his head toward a table in the back of the room and the two of them went to sit down.

  “Great.” I made my way over to the bar, taking a seat on one of the bar stools. I ordered a white wine and tried not to make eye contact with any of the men I could feel staring at me.

  “You’re Jenna Davis.” I guess there were other women there, because a woman sat down next to me, smiling.

  The bartender handed me the wine glass and I turned to the woman with one of my prim smiles. “Guilty.”

  She let out a laugh. It was hard to tell if it was genuine or if she had just had a little too much free alcohol. “I’m Lexi. Lexi Mitchell.” She extended her hand to me. “It’s good to finally meet you.”

  I accepted her handshake, giving her hand a momentary squeeze. “Nice to meet you.”

  “He didn’t tell you about me, did he?” She rolled her eyes, widening her smile. “It’s like him, though, don’t you think?”

  “Sure.” I nodded, not really knowing what the hell she was talking about. Maybe she had me confused with someone else.

  “I’ve been working with him for the last few months.” She took a sip from the cocktail sitting in front of her. “You’re way more beautiful in person than you are in the pictures. People probably tell you that all the time.”

  I pressed my lips into another smile, sure the woman next to me was either drunk or out of her mind. “Not really, no.”

  “God, you really are down to earth, just like he said. I can totally see what the fascination is.”

  “Fascination?” I took another sip of my wine while meeting her gaze.

  “It’s almost an obsession, isn’t it? You’re all he talks about.” She downed what was left in her glass and motioned to the bartender for another. “But he’s smoking hot, isn’t he? I wouldn’t mind having a piece of that ass.” She giggled, clearly drunk. “If he wasn’t so into you, I mean.”

  “Right.” My eyes felt tight and cold, and I stared across the bar at nothing in particular. She worked for Brandon. He definitely had not told me about the gorgeous woman that was sitting next to me. Her sleek, black hair hung perfectly around her shoulders, framing her face in a way that my mousy locks never would. She was striking. She was probably a model when she was younger. I downed the last of the wine in my own glass, needing the little bit of liquid courage to get through the rest of this conversation.

  “He’s here. We followed you, but he wasn’t sure if you’d go willingly to see him. I told him you would.” She staggered off the bar stool, taking a drink from her new cocktail. “Who wouldn’t want to see him, right? Power is so fucking sexy.”

  My voice deepened. “Power, right.” I felt my nostrils flare. I was almost like a parrot, just mimicking her words. He was here? Why hadn’t he just called? Because you wouldn’t have answered the phone, dumb ass. “Right.” I breathed out my words on a sigh. “Is she here, too? Robin?”

  The woman pressed her lips into a line, shaking her head. “I don’t know any Robin. Just him and me. Me and him.” She laughed and took another long drink of her cocktail. She bowed her head, looking at me through her bangs. “Not that I could ever come between you and him, though, obviously.”

  I motioned the bartender over and ordered a Long Island. I was going to need a lot more alcohol than a little glass of white wine to be able to face him tonight. He needed to answer for what he had done, give me some kind of explanation. Something. The bartender brought my drink over. I pulled out the straw, taking a long sip from the edge of the glass. Liquid courage. Maybe that really was the answer, at least for tonight.

  I motioned to the back room with my head, where I assumed he was before looking back over at Lexi. “Take me to see him.”

  7

  I took another long drink of my cocktail as we made our way to the back room.

  Lexi motioned to the back corner, where a man with dark hair faced away from the rest of the small room. I knew who it was without an introduction, and it definitely wasn’t Brandon.

  Daniel was the man who was following me.

  I took another pull from the glass and crossed the room. I slid into the seat across from him.

  His crooked smile took over his face. He smiled so deeply, his dimple appeared on his left cheek. I stared at the damned dimple that I had once found so endearing. “Jenna.” His voice was gravelly, sexy, exactly how I remembered.

  Damn it, I was getting drunk. “What are you doing here, Daniel? You followed me?”

  He glanced over his shoulder and Lexi gave him a wave. “Is that what she told you?”

  I nodded, gulping again at the drink. Maybe this would be easier if I was drunk. This needed to end, this—whatever this was. Obsession, fascination, it didn’t matter. He needed to let it go, for the love of God. I needed to end it fast, rip it off like a bandage.

  “She’s drunk.” He raised a glass of an amber colored liquid to me. “Looks like you’re on your way, too.”

  I shrugged. I didn’t like being out of control, but I couldn’t have faced either Daniel or Brandon that night without some alcohol in my system. “You didn’t answer the first question.”

  He narrowed his eyes, nodding. “We need to talk.”

  My head
shook from side to side and I felt a bead of sweat form on my forehead. “No more talking. We already had this conversation, Daniel. I moved on. I’m sleeping with your pal, Brandon.”

  “Not anymore, you’re not.” He raised his glass again in a mock toast and took a gulp. “I happen to know that for a fact.”

  My face fell into a frown and I blinked several times. “How do you know? You’re following me?”

  “So you admit it.” He grinned again, though I couldn’t see his dimple this time. He leaned across the table toward me, lowering his voice to almost a whisper. “I know a secret.”

  I pushed myself back against the wall, as far away from him as I could get. I had a suspicion that he was a little drunk, too, but it didn’t quell the fear I could feel in my chest. “What secret?”

  He leaned back into his seat, his glass in his hand. He rubbed his bottom lip with his index finger, cocking his head at me. He pinned me with his gaze. “You’re beautiful when you’re confused.” His grin widened, and I could see the dimple just starting to peek out again. “Actually, you’re always beautiful.”

  I dropped my shoulders, not realizing I had lifted them almost to my ears. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. Now, about my secret.”

  My head was starting to spin. I drank the booze too fast, and it was already going to my head. I blinked a few more times, trying to clear my thoughts. “I don’t care about your secrets.”

  “Oh, you’ll care about this one.” He tilted his head, leaning forward and gazing into my eyes. “Because it means I won.”

  “You won what?”