Broken #4 (The Broken Series - Book #4)

BROKEN
#4

Book
4

By
Claire Adams

This
book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are
products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not
to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual
events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Copyright
© 2014 Claire Adams

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Chapter
One

Natalie

I
woke up and recognized immediately that I was not in my own bed―that I
was in fact in Jet's bed. This time, however, there was no fuzziness, no
hangover clouding my thoughts. I woke up feeling refreshed, and my body hummed.
It had been pleased a great deal the night before, and I could still feel Jet's
touch all over my body. I was a little sore as well from the sex, but it was
certainly the kind of sore I didn't mind having. I was actually glad to be
there in bed with him. Usually I would have been slinking off in the early
morning hours, but I didn't feel the need to do that at all. It probably had a
lot to do with the fact that I normally ended up there drunk and waking up hung
over, and filled with shame.

I
looked over to watch Jet sleeping and realized that something had changed that
night. Something had shifted between us. I wished that I knew if it was good
for me or not, this shift. I smiled as I remembered the night before, when Jet
had pulled me in to kiss him at the bar. His kisses were so hot and powerful
they stole my breath instantly. I warmed up just thinking about them. We shared
a powerful connection that ignited those kisses in the most delicious way.

Katie
must have wanted to climb the walls when she saw him kiss me. She had been dry
humping him when I walked into the bar, and thought she had her claws into him.
I noticed her watching us when he came over to talk to me, and she paced the
floor talking to Kyle the whole time. So by the looks of things she was pretty
upset that he stopped dancing with her to come to my aid. So imagine what she
must have felt like seeing Jet pull me in for a kiss, and it didn’t end as a
simple kiss; we had full on made out at the bar. It was one of the hottest moments
of my life, no question about it.

I
felt bad for Katie. It wasn’t like she had done anything wrong to me, and I
certainly had nothing against the girl, but it was clear she wanted Jet for
herself. And since I hadn't snapped him up, he was essentially far game, so I
couldn't really blame her for wanting to grab him while he was still available.
She must have thought I was crazy for not having done it sooner.

Jet's
chest rose and fell as I watched him, and I wondered if I had been stupid for
not snapping him up immediately. Why did I have to be so scared all the time?
Scared of being hurt, scared of having the past repeat itself.

And
then there was Julie―a whole separate issue I would have to deal with. I
smiled as I shook my head. Imagine
siccing
Jet onto
me to avoid a drunken night, and then disappearing. I hadn't been sure if she
had bailed on me or if she was just in the bathroom, but sure enough she had
left me there with Jet. So what had her game plan been? Did she think that Jet
would make me forget all about Tom? Had he?

I
checked my phone and realized it was time to get up and go to school. I had
photography class, and the teacher was not a fan of tardiness. I rolled out of
bed, went in search of my panties and found them inside my jeans. I slid into
both of them and started buttoning my jeans. I found my dress top and my bra,
as well. I snapped my bra into place as Jet roused from sleep. He rubbed at his
eyes and sat up in bed. I pulled the shirt over my head as he ran his hands
through his hair.

“You're
not sneaking out again, are you?”

“No,
I was planning on waking you. I was just getting dressed. I need to be in class
very soon.”

“Now
that's a shame.” He reached over and pulled me into the bed, wrapping his arms
around me. He bent down and kissed me, and it was exactly as I had remembered
it. The kiss continued until my tongue was in his mouth and he moaned softly.
That was probably my cue to get out of there before things got out of hand.

I
sat up. “I really have to go, Jet. I don't want to be late.”

“Alright,
I'll let you go, but only under one condition.”

“Oh?
And what's that?”

“Be
my girlfriend.
For real; no fooling around, no more talks
about how we need to be friends.
I want you to be mine and only mine.”

Stunned,
I smiled at him. I had not expected that at all. Even though I knew that Jet
liked me all along, he had never used the term girlfriend, or even suggested
that he wanted that from me. It certainly changed my opinion about whether he
was just trying to use me for sex or not. But just because I was his
girlfriend, it didn't protect me from getting hurt. If anything, it made the
possibility more likely. After all, look what Tom had done, and we had been
together long enough to be married. Maybe I wasn't making the right decision,
but for once I was going to go for it. I would hope for the best and see where
that took me.

“Yes,
I will be your girlfriend.”

He
raised his eyebrows.
“Seriously?”

I
nodded.

“Finally!
Man, what does it take to get a girl to say yes! What's it going to be like if I
ever propose? Will I have to literally bring you the moon first?”

“Whoa,
cowboy, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s make sure we don't kill each
other first.”

“Okay,
deal. Have a good class; I'll see you soon.”

I
nodded. “I also need to do the next drawing of you, so figure out a day that
works for you.”

I
bent down, kissed him, and headed out the door.

Chapter Two
 

Jet

I lay in bed for some time after
Natalie left, pretty much lying in my own bliss. Man, it had taken quite some
time to get that firecracker to agree to be mine.
Definitely
a first-time experience for me.
Usually I didn't even have to ask; it
was just assumed the girl wanted to be with me. I had never fought so hard to
be with one girl before; for a while there it had seemed like Natalie could
either take it or leave it. I didn’t think it mattered to her either way if I
was her boyfriend. That was definitely a hit to the ego for a guy like me. I
was used to girls falling all over me, and Natalie wasn't that kind of girl.
She chose the men she wanted. She didn't chase money, popularity, or looks. A
guy could have all those things and she would just turn him down. Trust me; I
knew that much.

It made me wonder what would have
happened if Natalie had not shown up at the bar―would I still have had to
chase her longer? And what was the deal with this ex? I would have to discuss
that with her at some point, even if I didn't want to. As far as I knew, things
were over between the two of them, but she had been very upset that he had
contacted her. Given what Julie had told me, it sort of sounded like he wanted
to rekindle their relationship. So the question was
,
was there a part of Natalie, however small, that wished she was back with her
ex?

But she had shown up at the bar,
and I made my move before the beautiful thing could get any alcohol in her
system. Sad but true―I just wanted to make sure that if she kissed me that
night, it was because she wanted to, and not because she was drunk. It had been
nice waking up for once without seeing an empty bed, although the girl had come
darn close, and I wasn't sure I believed her when she had said she had planned
on waking me up before she left. She was a sneaky little vixen, and I almost
had to tie her down to get her to stick around. Hmm ... tie her down...

I shook my head; there was no
point in getting my head in the gutter right now. The lady was gone for the
time being. I had to get up out of bed and attempt to be productive for the
day. As I rolled over, I realized just how sore I was after the fight. I would
need a very hot bath that day, for sure. Now that Natalie was my girlfriend, I
would try to get a massage out of her as well. Those were the sort of treats a
guy was supposed to get from a girlfriend. But in the meantime, I would need to
consider acupuncture, and my brother was just the person to do it. He had
studied up on it many years ago when we had first started fighting amateur
fights. It had become invaluable to both of us.

There was a knock on my door,
which would have been a first from Kyle, but maybe he was finally learning.

“Yeah?”

“Can I come in?”

“Yup.”

Kyle
peeked
his head in and looked around. “Did she slink out on you again?”

I laughed. “No, she just had a
class to get to.”

“Your brother is here, man.”

“Perfect, just the guy I was
looking for.” I slipped into some flannel pajama pants, and headed to the
living room. I hoped my brother had his acupuncture kit with him, as that would
be a lifesaver. I had not spoken to him since the dinner disaster, so I could
just imagine what the visit was all about. It would be nice if he had come to
visit me for once, without any ulterior motive. But chances were that he was
there on my father’s behalf.

I walked out into the living room
where he was sitting on the couch. Kyle was putting a pot of coffee on, which I
thought was a brilliant idea.

“Hey, Jet, congrats on the fight
last night. I'm sorry I couldn't have been there. I had to work.”

“No problem; Mom was there, but
still no Dad.”

“Yeah, he's not going to let it
go easily, Jet, you know that.”

“Well, one day he will realize
that fighting is what I was meant to do, and nothing else. But by then he will
have lost a son.”

Craig frowned at me. “Well, I
hope it never comes to that.”

I shrugged. “I don’t suppose you
have your kit here with you, ‘
cause
my body is pretty
broken right now.”

“Yeah, I do, but it's in my
truck. Let me run and get it.”

“Cool; I'll get you some coffee.”

Kyle pulled out a bunch of mugs
and poured coffee into them. He took care of his own cup while I added cream in
mine, and cream and sugar into Craig's mug.

I sat down at the kitchen table
and considered my breakfast options. I was in so much pain that it was really
hard to care about food at that point.

“Hey, I'm making sandwiches,”
Kyle said. “Do you want me to just make a bunch?”

“That's cool, man, thanks. I was
just trying to figure out what I wanted to eat.”

Kyle took a sip of coffee and
stared at me. Confused, I stared back until a smile formed on his face.

“What the heck happened last
night, Jet? I've really been trying to figure you out for a while now, and I
just don't get it.”

I laughed. “That sounds pretty
heavy, Kyle. What's to figure out?”

“You and Katie.”

“What about me and Katie? In
fact, there is no me and Katie, so what's the issue?”

“That's just it. All night the
two of you are hot and heavy on the dance
floor,
and
the next thing I see is you making out with Natalie. Now normally I'm all for
threesomes, but I don't think that was what you were really going for.”

I just stared at him, growing
annoyed.

“Katie is like every fighter’s
wet dream. She's ridiculously hot, like fire with breasts. Her body is insane,
and if all that wasn’t enough, she's one of the coolest chicks we know, by far.
She can outtalk most guys about fighting, never mind the fact that she kills it
every time she's in the cage. Most guys would kill to fuck that girl and claim her,
and you barely seem interested. Our teammates are dying to date her, and you
get the chance to go home with her, but instead you start making out for the
hundredth time with a girl who flakes on you all the time.”

“Are you done? Why do you care
who I sleep with?”

“I don't know. Katie was pretty
upset last night when you left with Natalie. Do you care about that?”