Irreparably Broken

by K J Bell

  When she finishes her dance, she strolls back over to me seductively. She’s oozing sex, and my dick twitches. Dropping to her knees, she stares up through thick black lashes as she unfastens the button on my jeans and slowly guides the zipper down. I let her slide my jeans down my legs. My dick springs free, pulsing with need. I throw my head back onto the cold vinyl so I don’t have to look at her. I clench my hands into fists, and close my eyes. But that only makes the shame and guilt worse. Tori’s face is in my mind. I’ll just pretend she’s Tori, and that will make everything right. But as Monica slides her fingers around my shaft, everything wrong about me being here slams into me full force. Before Monica’s mouth is on me, pictures of Tori roll through my mind, her soft lips, the curve of her waistline, her warmth and her tenderness.

  “Fuck! I can’t do this.”

  I gently push Monica back and stand up. I pull on my jeans and toss another hundred at her. Without looking back, I storm out of the room and rush back to my truck.

  Chapter 25

  Tori

  Dread weighs me down the more I think of getting out of bed this morning. Facing Liv and her family after everything that happened last night, is going to be near impossible to deal with. Brady never came home last night. I’m sure of this because I’m in his bed. When I got in last night I came to his room, wanting to immerse myself in as much of him as possible. A sense of loss pooled in my stomach all night, knowing I may never see him again, and it’s worse now that I’m awake and he’s not next to me.

  After Brady left me, Harrison found me crying in the parking lot. He explained that Vanessa was his cousin and that they’d been close. He’d been the one to introduce her to Brady. It was tough listening to his version of the story and understanding he feels just as responsible for Vanessa’s death as Brady does. He’d had his friend drive me home when I couldn’t find Liv or Tug.

  With a glimmer of hope, I glance at my cell phone to see if I have any missed calls from Brady and am disappointed when I don’t. I do, however, have a new text from Harrison telling me that he wants to meet so we can talk. It’s not a good idea, but I decide to do it, praying he’ll tell me what’s going on with Brady and his family. After texting Harrison that I’d meet him at the Bean at noon, I climb out of bed and prepare to face the Hunters.

  Tug is standing at the island, drinking coffee. He turns to me, and I expect things to be weird. His lips curl into the little-boy grin I adore so much.

  “Good morning, sleepyhead.”

  Okay, he seems like the typical Tug. It always amazes me that no matter how much Tug drinks, he never seems hung over.

  I wave timidly. “Morning.”

  “And how are you feeling?” he asks.

  I rub my head. “Truthfully…I’m still a little confused.”

  “Only one way to clear a foggy head after a night of drinking.” He hands me a cup of coffee. I realize he doesn’t know what happened last night. Thinking about it, I don’t remember where he was when things exploded last night between Brady and Harrison.

  “Hello, Tori.” Tug interrupts my thoughts. “Exactly how much did you drink?”

  I didn’t drink anything. It’s Tug’s brother who’s making my head a cloudy, confused mess this morning. “Huh, oh…not much. I guess I’m a little tired.” I take the cup of coffee from his hand, take a sip and immediately spit it out all over the counter. “What’s in this?”

  “Bourbon.” He looks perplexed and peels off a paper towel from the roll. He wipes up the coffee with it and laughs. “I told you there is only one thing for a hangover.”

  I grimace and scrape my tongue with my fingers. “No, thanks, I’d rather feel crappy.”

  “Guess that means you won’t go out with me tonight.” Tug states the obvious.

  His question distracts me from my dismal thoughts, and I love the hell out of him for it. “I’d rather eat toe jam than go out with you, Tug.”

  “Oh, now that sounds fun.” He chuckles, and holds his bare foot in the air, wiggling his toes. “I have a little fetish for girls who like to suck toes.”

  I cringe at the thought, looking at his mangled toes. “So not happening, Tug. That’s disgusting!”

  He chuckles deeper and casts his eyes over me. He takes me in his arms and hugs me. Tug is a great hugger. “There’s the smile I love to see. Now, tell Tug what’s up with you. I have a sneaky suspicion my brother’s to blame.”

  He’s right, of course, but I won’t be the one to tell him about it. If Brady wanted Tug or Liv to know, he would have told them already. I inhale a deep breath. “He’s just hard to figure out, that’s all.”

  “You’re right about that. Just don’t give up on him. I saw him with you last night, and I’ve never seen him look at anyone that way before. My brother doesn’t think he deserves you.”

  My heart aches. Brady doesn’t think he deserves happiness in any form after Vanessa. He’s punishing himself.

  Tug kisses me on top of my head. “You’re good for him, Tori. I hope it works out.” He leaves the kitchen.

  I hope it works out, too.

  While I’m making a cup of non-alcoholic coffee, Liv enters through the door that connects the garage to the kitchen. Her hair is a rumpled mess, and her eyes look like a raccoon’s. Obviously she didn’t sleep here last night, and she’s been crying.

  She throws her stuff down on the table and glares at me ferociously. I stand wordlessly, waiting for her to demand answers, although I don’t have any to give her. I found out about Vanessa when she did.

  “That fucking asshole is cheating on me! Can you believe it?”

  “Tyler?” I clarify, because with Liv you never know.

  “Yes, Tyler.” Her eyebrows reach the sky, and she shakes her head. “While you were losing all our money to Brady, I left with him to go to his place. I told him from the first date that if we were going to get serious, then I wanted to be exclusive, he agreed and I thought he meant it. Last night I finally slept with him, and it was incredible.”

  “Okay,” I say, and wait for her to explain the part where Tyler cheated.

  She pours a cup of coffee and sits at the table. I take a seat next to her and rub circles with my hand over her back. “When I woke up, he was still out cold. His phone alerted that he had a new text, and I couldn’t resist. I peeked. It was from some girl named Heather. She said she missed him already and had such a great time with him yesterday.”

  I study her a moment, thinking about what she said. I guess I was expecting the text to say something more detailed, like Thanks for the fuck.

  “Did you ask him about it?”

  Guilt creases her brow, and she looks away. “No.”

  Uh-oh, I know that guilty look. I remember how she keyed her last boyfriend’s car when she found out he’d cheated on her. “Liv, what did you do?”

  “Nothing horrible,” she admits. “But I wanted to. Instead, I wrote ‘fuck off’ on his bathroom mirror in lipstick and came home.”

  I smile and brush my hand up and down on her arm. “Liv, I love you. I think you need to talk to him. The text didn’t exactly give much away. Maybe he can explain.” I try to reassure her. She’s never been happier and I hate to see her give up on a good thing without clarifying first.

  With her mouth still turned down, she shrugs. “You’re right. I’m going to go call him.”

  Liv leaves, and I slink in my chair. Neither Tug nor Liv knows anything about last night. Now if only Brady would come home, all would be wonderful in my world.

  Brady

  A tapping on my window alerts me, and I bolt upright in my truck. My head hits the roof, and I recoil in pain. When I look out the window, Rodrigo is there and he doesn’t look happy. I grab my head with one hand and open the door with the other.

  “What the hell are you doing, sleeping out here in your truck?” Rodrigo asks.

  I shield my eyes with my hand to look at him as the bright sunlight shoots pain to the back of my eyeballs. “It was late wh
en I arrived, and all the lights were off.”

  “And you’d obviously drunk too much to be around kids.” He fans his hands in front of his nose. “You look like shit, too.”

  I chuckle, and it sends a wave of nausea through my gut. “Rough night, Rodrigo.”

  “Let me guess, you ran her off.” I nod because talking makes my head pound harder.

  “Why do you do this shit to yourself? I think this one likes you even.”

  I shrug regretfully.

  “Come on, let’s go inside. You stink. You can take a shower, and I’ll make you something to deal with that hangover.”

  Once I’m in the shower, I scrub my skin raw, trying to rid myself of last night’s memories. The only one I want to hold on to is the one of Tori sliding out of that wetsuit and climbing on top of me. She blew my mind last night. She fucked me knowing I was going to leave her. She left her mark so I would never forget her. And I won’t. That girl has ruined me, like she hoped she would. I can never be with anyone else. Just thinking about her breath in my ear, screaming my name when she climaxed, makes me want to go to her.

  I can’t, though. Harrison’s announcement made things impossible. When my mother finds out what happened, she is going to rage. If she learns I have feelings for Tori she’ll do something drastic, maybe even to hurt Tori. I can’t risk it. I switch the water to cold and let it cascade down my body until I’m nearly frozen.

  Emerging into the kitchen, I feel somewhat human again, but my head still hurts and my heart is still broken.

  Rodrigo slams a glass of something green on the table in front of me. My stomach flinches at the thought of drinking it, and I think I might throw up.

  “Have a seat and drink this.”

  I lean over the glass to smell its contents, which makes me gag. “I can’t drink that.”

  “Don’t be a pussy. Plug your nose and down it. You’ll thank me later.” Rodrigo leaves me alone with the glass of hell.

  I man up and do as he says. It’s just as repulsive as I thought it would be.

  Chapter 26

  Tori

  I’m a little late getting to the Bean. Harrison is leaning against his car with two cups of coffee in hand. He gestures to me with one of them as I pull into the spot next to him.

  I’m nervous to be around him after everything that happened, and I walk toward him with my head down.

  “Hey, chin up.”

  I look up at him, and the warm smile on his face eases my nerves. Only now, I see the bruises from last night. His left eye is nearly closed and his right cheek doesn’t look much better.

  Harrison must notice my expression because he says, “Yeah, Brady did a number on me, but I’ll be fine.”

  “Oh.” What else can I say? I feel bad about it, but Harrison chose to egg Brady on last night.

  He hands me a cup and smiles. “Mocha, double shot, your favorite.”

  I smile back and take the cup. He suggests we take a walk on the beach. I agree, and we walk toward the water side by side. There’s an awkward silence lingering between us as I gulp down my mocha, savoring each swallow until it’s gone.

  I stop him just before we get to the sand, take off my flip-flops, and toss my coffee cup into the trash bin. I hold my flip-flops in my hand and we continue walking.

  Harrison and I stroll along the water’s edge for a while without uttering a single word. I smile watching a little boy dump water over the top of his sister's sand castle. She chases him up the beach, throwing sand at him.

  I don’t want to bombard Harrison, but I want answers. What do I ask? Will he even be honest with me? As I debate with myself, he breaks the silence.

  “Do you believe me now that Brady is dangerous?”

  I instantly flash red. That’s why he wanted to see me. To prove that Brady is some reckless, uncaring bad boy who will chew me up and spit me out. He doesn’t know Brady like I do, and I’m livid he thinks he does. Brady might have broken my heart, but it wasn’t because he doesn’t love me. It’s because he doesn’t love himself.

  I stop and send an angry look his way before I let him have it. “What happened to Vanessa was a horrible accident. You can’t fucking blame Brady for that. No one is suffering more than he is, so lay the hell off.” I bite down hard on my lip.

  “It’s not the accident that makes him reckless, Tori.”

  “Stop saying that! He’s not reckless! He’s heartbroken and he’s crushed, but he’s not reckless,” I shout. "Since we’re on the subject, if I'd died on that jet ski last night, would it have been your fault? Wasn’t that reckless?" Harrison had apologized, and I know he never intended to hurt me, but how dare him act like a complete hypocrite.

  “Did he tell you about the money?” Harrison asks bluntly. Apparently, he’s not going to discuss his faults.

  Remembering the fight the two of them had, I was curious. Harrison told Brady to shove his money, and I'd wanted to ask Brady about it last night but hadn't. Mostly because I knew he wouldn’t tell me.

  “No, I didn’t think so.”

  I don’t care for the snide tone in his voice.

  “About a year ago he suddenly had all this cash. Vanessa started asking him questions. They fought all the time about how frivolous he was with it. Vanessa started to suspect that he was into something illegal because Brady would never tell her where he was getting it.”

  I hate hearing this because I’ve had those thoughts as well.

  “And now she’s dead, Tori.”

  As I take in his words, I’m completely shocked. “Oh, my God. You think Brady killed her on purpose. That’s crazy. What happened to Vanessa was an accident.”

  Harrison shrugs, and he looks away. “Maybe…I once thought that too.” Bringing his eyes back around to me, he says, “But when Brady and his parents offered Vanessa’s family five million to keep quiet, I quickly changed my mind.”

  What? That’s an obscene amount of money. He has to be confused. “What are you talking about? The Hunters don’t have that kind of money,” I argue.

  “No, but Brady does.”

  “Brady doesn’t have that kind of money, either. You have to be mistaken.” I think about it for a minute. The Center, the envelope I saw him give Rodrigo and everything he’s done there, the new truck and jet skis. Oh, God, is Harrison right?

  Harrison is looking down, sliding his foot back and forth in the sand. “He does, and I was the only one who knew Vanessa was asking questions about it.”

  Money questions aside, I’m absolutely positive Brady couldn’t have done anything so horrible. “I don’t know where the money came from, but he didn’t murder Vanessa because she asked questions. He would never have hurt her intentionally.”

  He looks down at me and gently clutches the side of my arm. I back away from his touch. “I wish I could agree with you, but I signed the contract, too. Five million dollars to keep quiet and ask no questions about the accident. Why would they not want anyone to ask questions, Tori? Think about it. His mother was downright nasty about the whole thing. Why is that?”

  I can’t answer that. I don’t know why his mother is involved. It explains some of Brady’s comments about her lately, though. “I don’t know, Harrison, but Brady loved Vanessa, and he could never have murdered her.”

  “Look, Tori, I care about you, and even if you’re in love with him, I had to tell you. I’m afraid you might start to question him. And I’m afraid something might happen to you if you push too far.”

  Boldly, I take a step toward him and look directly in his eyes. “He didn’t fucking kill her.”

  “Okay, easy,” He puts his hands on my shoulders. “I understand why you believe that. I don’t want you to hate me. I only wanted to warn you. I care about you, and I want us to be friends.”

  My shoulders relax, and I exhale a cleansing breath. “We can be friends, Harrison, but that’s it. I’m in love with Brady.”

  He nods. “Just be careful, please.”

  Harrison accepts my d
ecision regarding Brady, although it’s obvious he’s not happy about it, and we walk back to the Bean in silence. I do want us to be friends. I understand where he’s coming from. I only wish he knew Brady the way I do.

  Brady

  It’s been almost three weeks since I’ve seen her; since I’ve felt her, since I smelled the sweet scent of her skin. I miss her so much it’s painful. The first week I was here I kept hoping she’d figure out I where I was and would show up to confront me with her sassy attitude. But she never came.

  I spend my days here helping out, teaching English to the kids, and working out as much as I can to keep my head clear.

  I dip into more of the cash that has cursed my life from the moment it appeared, and Rodrigo and I hire a contractor to build a gym for the kids. My bitch of a mother is not pleased in the least about it. She thinks I’m pissing it away. Little does she know that her opinion only makes me happier to do invest money here. The only reason she doesn’t push too hard is because it’s a tax write-off.

  In the morning, I take a seat next to Paco at breakfast. He reminds me of Tori, and I’d been avoiding him. He brightens up and smiles when he sees me. As he looks up at me, he nudges me in the arm.

  “Did you mess things up with Tori?” he asks me innocently. The little twerp is far too perceptive for his own good.

  I smile and laugh. “Yeah, buddy. I think I did.”

  He talks with a mouth full of oatmeal. “Well, you should fix it. I like her,”