Broken #3 (The Broken Series - Book #3) (9 page)

“My God, Natalie, I almost didn't
recognize you. That's a pretty hot getup.”

“What the hell? What do you mean
you almost didn't recognize me?”

The girls started to giggle as an
awkward look came over Jet's face. “No, that's not what I meant. You always
look amazing, Natalie, you know that. But to be honest, I thought you would
avoid costumes like this and go with something
nerdier
,
like a famous painter.”

His eyes fell on Brenda, and he
looked confused. “Are you a man, Brenda? Like a tourist with a camera?”

Julie was bent over, dying with
laughter. She thought Jet was hilarious, but what seemed to be funnier for her
were the holes he constantly dug himself into.

“
Ahhh
no, I'm
Ansel
Adams, the famous photographer. I
apparently went for the nerdy costume.”

He looked like he had some
regrets. “
Ohh
, right, I see. I had no idea what he
looked like, that's all.” He turned to Julie, who was still busting a gut.
“Thanks a lot, Julie. You're a big help. Nice costume, though; you plan on
biting anyone tonight?”

“Oh we'll see; the night is
young.”

“Well, I can introduce you to
some of my friends if you like.”

She smiled. “Maybe, we'll see.
Anyway, Natalie, we are going to grab a drink. We'll see you in a bit.”

I nodded.
“So,
Rocky, right?”

He smiled. “I'm glad you can
recognize a legend.
Yeah, of course.
I'm not really
big on dressing up for Halloween, but my buddies wanted to come, so I thought,
what the hell.”

“Your face definitely matches the
costume. I thought it was makeup at first, but clearly it isn't. So what
happened? Did Katie do that to you?”

He laughed loudly. “No, she
didn't. I had the conference semifinals the other day, and well, I got my ass
whooped.”

“Oh, I'm sorry, Jet.”

“No, don't get me wrong. I won my
belt, and I'm going to the finals, but I still took a really good beating.”

He moved his robe to the side,
and I could see bruises all over his body. “I ended up breaking the guy’s rib;
that's what finally ended the fight.”

“Wow, that's incredible. I didn't
realize they let things go too far.”

“Well, I don't think they
normally do, but the guy kept getting up. He was a monster, and had they not
stopped the fight, he would have kept coming at me, broken bones and all.”

“Really?”
My eyebrows rose; I had a hard time picturing it. “But
you're okay?”

“Yeah, I had to go to the
hospital and get stitches, but that was it. Noting major, but I have a lot of
healing to do before the finals.”

She nodded. “I have those
pictures, by the way, from the fight that I attended. They came out really
well, and I got an A+ on the project.”

“Hey, good for you.
Wow, teachers actually give out
A
pluses? Man, I thought it was just a myth.”

She giggled. “No, Jet. It just
requires studying.”

“Yeah, I don't have time for sure
things. Maybe now I will, though, since I will be resting a lot.”

“Well, next time you come for the
drawing, I'll show you the pictures.”

“Cool.”

Brenda and Julie came back with
drinks, and handed us each a glass of mystery punch. It looked like bad news
right there, but thankfully, we girls had vowed to go home alone.

Jet waved over his buddies, and
the girls quickly started mingling with them.

“Hey, would you like to have
dinner with me tomorrow?”

There was a long pause before I
answered. “Jet, I thought we agreed that we were just friends.”

“Oh, I definitely never agreed to
that. But yes, you have mentioned it. The thing is
,
I
wasn't asking you on a date.”

I looked at him, confused.

He explained. “I have to have
dinner with my brother and father, and it's bound to be really awkward, so I
was hoping you would come as a form of distraction to the whole thing.”

“Now, why is dinner with your
family awkward?”

“It's a really long story, and
not a very interesting one. Will you come?”

“Won't your family think it's odd
that some random girl is coming?”

“You're not some random girl, and
I already told them I was bringing you. It's fine.”

I laughed. “Were you that sure I
was going to go?”

“No, of course not.
I just wanted to make sure that
they were okay with it. Please? You would really save my life on this one.”

I nodded. “Okay, I will go.”

“Thanks, Natalie. You have no
idea how much I appreciate it.”

The night went by perfectly, and
I kept my drinking to a minimum. Although I mingled with a lot of very
different people throughout the night, Jet stayed pretty much by my side for
the entire evening. Julie seemed to find one of Jet's friends interesting enough
to talk
to,
and they really seemed to get along great.
Brenda, of course, already had her beau, who showed up in a Frankenstein
costume.

The night ended well with awards
being handed out for originality, scariest costume and sexiest. Everyone cheered
as I won the award for sexiest costume of the night. I was completely stunned,
but accepted it graciously.

I collected Brenda and Julie
together, and we decided to catch a cab home. We could have walked, but when
you’re drunk, walks like that seem extra-long. I said good-bye to Jet and the
rest of them, and we headed home to warm beds, alone.

Chapter Eight

Jet

Getting ready for dinner with my
family was an extremely painful task for me. I had zero interest in going to
the dinner, and I feared it would be a disaster. I hoped, however, since
Natalie would be there that everyone would be on their best behavior. My father
might refrain from being a jerk if she was in the picture, instead of choosing
to embarrass everyone.

My father always chose the best restaurants
for these meetings, so I knew to wear dress pants and a button-up shirt and
tie. I remembered to message Natalie to let her know to dress-up, and what time
I would pick her up. I could have kissed the girl for going to dinner with me.
There was a real good chance she would save my life that evening, and I was
thrilled that she had agreed to go with me.

I drove to pick up Natalie, and I
made sure to take my time. My nerves were all over the place, and I didn't want
to get into an accident. The truth of the matter was that I didn't want to see
my father at all, possibly ever again. I didn't like the kind of man that he
was, and I feared that I was going to end up just like him.

As I drove down Natalie's block,
I thought about how crushed my mother was when she found out about his affair.
What was so shocking to everyone was that it had been going on for years. No
one had a clue, and my mother, who genuinely had loved her husband, was
devastated. My father had no interest in reconciling the marriage, and was the
one who asked not for forgiveness, but for a divorce. It happened swiftly, with
my mother winning a boatload of money from the guy, which I was grateful for,
since she would be able to take care of herself, but it hadn't been what she
wanted. I knew deep down had he been willing to, she would have forgiven his
transgressions and stayed with him. That's what made me hate him the
most―even after all that, my mother would have taken him back and stayed
friends, and he had no interest in her. No interest in a woman with whom he had
spent over 20 years. It sickened me, and every time I looked at my father, I
saw what he did, and I didn't think there was any chance I would ever forgive
him.

I couldn't believe my brother
had, as he had seemed angrier than I had been when he found out. But he had
always been really close with our dad, much closer than I ever was, so maybe
that made all the difference in the world. In the end, he didn't want to lose
our father from his life, and for me, I couldn’t have cared less.

I parked the car at the curb in
front of her building. I sat there for a moment as I collected myself. I was
starting to lose my temper, and I needed to cool down. I didn't want the dinner
to start off on the wrong foot immediately, especially with Natalie there. She
didn't deserve that. All I wanted was to survive the dinner, say that I went,
and then never go to another one again. The idea that I was going to have to
sit and have dinner with the woman who had an affair with my father just left
my head spinning.

Opening the driver’s side door, I
got out of the car and headed into Natalie's building. I headed up the stairs
and knocked on her door. She answered it wearing a black cocktail dress and she
looked ravishing. Eat your heart out, Craig. I wasn't sure if Craig was
bringing his girlfriend, but either way, I would have the best looking date at
dinner.

“Natalie, you look great.
Great dress.”

“Thank you. You clean up very
well yourself.”

“Are you ready to go?”

“Yes, of course.” She grabbed her
clutch and jacket, and we headed out.

We walked down to the car in
silence, as I was lost in my own thoughts. I opened up the passenger door, and
made sure she got inside the car safely, and then closed it. I headed over to
my own door and slid inside the car. As I was starting up the car Natalie
asked, “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I don't know. You seem a little
off ... really quiet.”

“Sorry. No, I'm fine. Just have a
few things on my mind, and to be honest, my dad isn't the easiest person to have
dinner with these days. I've literally been avoiding it for months.”

“Oh ...” And there was the
elephant in the room. She must have been wondering why I hadn't seen my dad in
months, but I wasn't about to get into it before dinner. It would only upset me,
and again, I didn't want to start dinner off on a bad vibe.

I parked in front of a nice
Italian restaurant, and went to open the door for Natalie. She smiled up at me
as she got out of the car. She really did look beautiful, and I was proud to be
walking into the restaurant with her on my arm.

Everyone was already waiting for
us when we were shown to our table by the maître d’. My brother had brought his
girlfriend, and he had a look of surprise on his face when he saw Natalie. My
father also had brought his girlfriend, and I felt my blood pressure rise. The
girl looked not that much older than my brother and I. I knew she was older,
but I felt like she had probably graduated from college before she got the job
as his secretary, so if I had to guess, she may have been five to seven years
older than I was.

My father stood up when we got to
the table, and so did my brother.

“Dad ... Craig, this is my
girlfriend, Natalie. Natalie, this is my Dad, his ... girlfriend, my brother,
Craig, and his girlfriend, Ashley.”

Everyone said hello, and Natalie
didn’t even blink an eye when I introduced her as my girlfriend, another thing
I was grateful for.

“It's nice to meet you, Natalie.
No one knew that Jet had a girlfriend.” He left that hanging in the air as we sat
down.

My dad ordered a few bottles of
wine for the table, and everyone started looking at their menus. I turned to
Natalie, who smiled over at me.
“Everything okay?”
I
asked.

“Of course.
What are you thinking of getting
to eat?”

“Probably the lobster ravioli.
I love it; I always get it every
time I come here.” I watched as she scanned the menu for my choice, and read it
over.

“What about you?”

“I like the chicken dishes. The
chicken and mushroom penne looks delicious, and I can get it with blush sauce.”
She smiled happily at me, and I told her I thought it was a great choice.

The waiter came back with the
wine and poured everyone a glass. We ordered our meals with salads, and settled
in to wait.

I took a sip of my wine and
thought things weren't going too badly. That was until my father started
talking.

“You have quite a face on you to
come to dinner with. Do you mind explaining to us why you look the way you do?”

Natalie looked startled, but I
just laughed. “Well, Dad, had you attended my fight like Mom did.” I looked at
his girlfriend when I said
Mom
. “You
would know why I look the way I do.”

“I have attended those fights,
son, but I have been busy lately. Not to mention if you can't seem to come to a
simple dinner, I don't know why it's a big deal that I miss your little
scraps.”

I bristled. “They aren't scraps
dad, they’re sport. I think you know that.”