Broken (Broken #1) (21 page)

“
Hmm,” I
agree and sip my decaf latte. “So, what is there to do around
here?”

“
Not much.”
And just like that the conversation changes to better
things.

Chapter
Ten

It’s the morning after my
outing with Paula. I haven’t seen Nathan for a few days, he came
back the Tuesday morning as he said he would and I borrowed his car
to go out but that’s the extent of our conversation. I’m not sure
what’s wrong with me right now. I’m in such a bad mood. Have been
since I woke up thirty minutes ago. Even the fact that I can eat
whatever I want for breakfast again without throwing it up doesn’t
cheer me up.

My movements are heavy because
even my body is angry.

I stomp into the kitchen and
slam cupboards as I prepare food. Even the mushrooms are pissing me
off. Stupid food. Stupid house. Why is everything hurting? I don’t
mean my body, I mean my mind.

“
Morning,”
Nathan says cautiously. I’m ignoring him. I’m ignoring everybody.
“This looks good.”

It tastes like ash and
brimstone, what would you know?

“
Seriously
good.” He moans a little and takes another bite.

Why is he talking to me?

I eat another mouthful of ash
flavoured food. Huh, Jeanine is here, I didn’t notice. She eyes me
warily, I barely glance at her as I pick up my plate (angrily) and
walk past (furiously). I do notice them both exchange a look of
concern, this just makes me worse.

They don’t know me but I
guarantee when my back is turned they’ll have quiet words and
Nathan will probably blame myself and say its hormones. I’m not
hormonal. I’m tired, my back’s hurting, I can’t get comfortable…
and oh yeah. Caleb is dead!

“
Hey my
darling,” Jeanine says and stands by the counter as I wash the
dishes. “I think that plate’s clean now.”

What would she know? Are her
hands in the water? No. It’ll be clean when I say it’s clean.

“
Are you
okay?” I nod and scrub the plate some more. Jeanine reaches into
the hot water and takes the plate from my hand, “I’ll do this. Why
don’t you go and rest?”

“
I don’t want
to,” I snap, instantly feeling guilt but also not caring
much.

“
Okay, why
don’t you bake or something?” Her warm eyes search my profile, I
feel her concern piercing my fury bubble.

“
I just want
to be alone,” I say quietly and brush past her. “Sorry.”

Their hushed tones follow me up
the stairs, I can’t hear what they’re saying and honestly, I don’t
care. As soon as I enter my room I put the photo frame face down
without even looking at it. I can’t deal with your smile today,
Caleb. Life isn’t always a fucking joy. Clearly.

Look at me. I’m a mess. Pining
for a man that’s ash on his mother’s mantelpiece.

Not to mention that, I’m in a
house that doesn’t belong to me, using money that I didn’t earn,
from a man who practically hates me, because of reasons I don’t
fucking know.

There’s a knock at my door.

“
Go
away.”

“
Is this mood
due to something I’ve done?” Nathan starts but I’m not in the mood
to hear him.

I open the door, my eyes
narrowed and hopefully shooting daggers, “Not everything is about
you. Now leave me alone.” The door slams with a little more force
than I intended.

I take my usual spot by the
window, only leaving my room to have a quiet lunch and an even
quieter dinner alone.

I wake up in the same mood and
sleep in the same mood and again and again for the next few days.
Fortunately everybody avoids me for these days. Nathan, when he
leaves my new clothes outside of my bedroom, only knocks and walks
away. I should thank him but I don’t know how.

The clothes are great, all of
them warm and all of them fit my swollen belly to perfection. They
cheer me up a fraction, I won’t deny.

I even have some new walking
boots which I’m grateful for but I’m also curious as to how he knew
I needed some. Maybe he’s been paying closer attention to me than I
thought.

Sucking a long breath in, I
shake my body loose and make my way downstairs.

Nathan is sat in his usual spot
at the end of the table, a bowl of cereal in front of him and one
where I sit. He looks up gives me a nod and turns back to his book.
“I didn’t think you were coming down.”

“
Me neither,”
I sit and roll my spoon around the milk before taking a bite.
“Where’s Jeanine?”

“
No idea, she
didn’t show up for work this morning,” he responds but he doesn’t
seem to care.

“
She’s
probably sick.”

“
Either that
or she’s about to stage an intervention.”

“
What?” I
look up as he places his book down and his eyes come to
mine.

“
You need to
see a therapist.”

My voice is shrill this time,
“What?”

“
We’re
concerned for your mental health. You haven’t left your room in
three days. Only to eat and use the facilities.”

“
So?” I gawp
at him, my earlier anger returning with force.

He leans back in his seat,
“It’s not healthy.”

“
You do it
all of the time,” I snap and push away from the table. “I don’t
want to hear this.”

“
Go and get
dressed, you’re coming into the city with me today,” he states and
his tone tells me there’s no argument.

“
I don’t want
to.” But I argue anyway.

“
Either go
upstairs and make yourself presentable or I’ll drag you to the city
looking the way you do now.”

“
What’s wrong
with how I look?” Arrogant arsehole!

“
You look
like you’ve just rolled out of bed.”

Well… I have. Who cares?

He gives me another pointed
look, I groan with exasperation and leave the room muttering, “I’m
going, I’m going.”

“
Oh, and
Gwen?”

“
What?” I
call from my place at the bottom of the stairs.

“
You’re
welcome.”

Damn it. The clothes.

I forgot to thank him. I rush
back inside the dining room, his eyes go wide when he sees me
charging at him.

Gripping his wrist in one hand
and his shoulder in the other, I press my lips to his cheek, say,
“Thanks,” and leave the room. Wanting to snigger at his shocked
face but not having the energy to do it, I sit and wait for him to
wash his cheek. After counting down from ten I spy him rush into
the kitchen and scrub at his cheek with a clean cloth.

I definitely wish I could
laugh, this would be hilarious. Okay, so I’m evil for playing with
a man’s mental issues. Who cares?

“
Why do we
need to go to the city?” I ask as we pull out of the long driveway,
shocked that he hasn’t chastised me for my earlier
antics.

“
I need to go
into the office to deal with a few things, you can keep my father’s
secretary company.”

“
You’re
dragging me out of the house just so your father’s secretary can
babysit me? That seems a bit extreme, I haven’t been that
bad.”

He doesn’t respond, this makes
me huff.

“
I really
don’t fancy meeting your parents,” I admit after a few minutes of
silence. “I mean… your mum blames me and your dad hung up on
me.”

“
What?” He
seems to be astonished by my revelation. “When?”

“
I called
them, asking them for financial support from Caleb’s trust fund.
They refused. Your mum specifically told me it was all my fault.
She called me back just to tell me.”

“
That…” his
hands twist on the steering wheel. He does this a lot. “Don’t
worry, my parents aren’t here this week. They’re
abroad.”

“
Abroad?” I
squeak in horror. “How can they be on abroad?”

Nathan shrugs, “My parents
aren’t good people, Gwen. I would never introduce them to you.”

Caleb said the same thing.

It takes forever to get to the
city, almost two hours due to traffic being horrendous and the
distance of which we live from it. When we make it to the office
building where he works I’m relieved to see he has a designated
parking space. The parking situation is worse than the traffic
around here.

I’m guided in through an
entrance at the back of the building and straight into an elevator.
We get off at the fifth floor, it’s unremarkable.

“
Come on,” he
says and pulls me toward a large round desk. I instantly spot a
young woman, not too far from my age with huge brown eyes and short
brown hair. “This is… umm…”

“
Sophie,” she
sighs with a roll of her eyes but I can see her heart has been
crushed.

“
Great.”
Nathan pushes me into a chair and walks through a door across from
us.

“
How many
times have you told him your name now?” I ask, noticing Sophie’s
lingering look.

She purses her lips and sighs
heavily, “About a million and one.”

“
That
sucks.”

“
He will
never notice me,” she whines and taps away at her computer. “You’re
Gwen right? The pregnant heathen who stole Mr Weston’s son
away?”

“
That’s me,
although I prefer the term slut if you wouldn’t mind.”

She laughs loudly and her
sparkling brown eyes come to mine, “Ignore them, they were very
protective of…”

“
Sammy!”
Nathan shouts from the doorway. I didn’t notice him come back
out.

“
It’s
Sophie,” she bites out.

“
Know your
place,” he snaps and slams the door. I see her face pale and wonder
what the hell that was all about.

“
Coffee?” She
asks and stands abruptly.

“
No thank
you. I’m not allowed caffeine.” I clear my throat and watch her
smooth down her skirt. “What were you going to say?”

“
I’ll get you
a tea,” she doesn’t meet my eyes as she scarpers through the door
to my left. What on earth was that all about?

She brings me my tea which
tastes foul but I sip it anyway, she clicks away on her computer
and answers the phone on occasion all the while chatting animatedly
to me about the baby and how her sister was when she was in labour.
I listen politely but otherwise lose myself in my own world.

More time passes and I become
more bored by the second. A few people come and go, requesting to
speak to Mr Weston, all of them are denied. There’s still no sign
of Nathan. Now I’m just irritated.

I’ve been sat here for two
hours and the company I’m in isn’t great. She reminds me to much of
Sasha and that hurts.

Before Caleb… died… I had lots
of friends but none of them have called or texted since I left. Now
I’m wondering if they were ever friends at all.

“
Nathan wants
you to go to him,” Sophie says, breaking me from my
thoughts.

I sigh and head towards the
door he vanished behind two hours ago. Giving it a tap, I push it
open and blink when I see him sat at the desk with his head cradled
in his hands.

“
What is it?”
I ask and walk over to him.

He looks up at me, his eyes
tired. “Keep me company.”

“
W…
what?”

He pulls the closest chair next
to his and pats the seat. I sit, all the time wondering what’s
going on. “We’re going to have to stay in a hotel tonight. There’s
too much to be done and I won’t be finished until late.”

Groan.

“
Is that
okay?”

I shrug, “I guess it’ll have to
be, but be warned. I’m never coming here with you again.”

He smirks and I’m shocked at
the motion. He never smiles or smirks. It suits him. “If you like I
can have somebody take you to the hotel now? I’m sure you’ll find
it more comfortable.”

I’m about to say yes but then I
see how drained he looks and reject his offer, “No. I’ll just hang
out here with you if that’s okay?”

He turns his face to his
computer, I swear I just saw him smile but I can’t be certain. He
turned to quick. “As you wish.”

I lean back in my seat and snag
his phone from the desk. His eyes question my actions.

“
I want to
play a game.”

His gloved finger taps at the
screen, I watch it unlock and start downloading after realising he
doesn’t even have Angry Birds and his phone is extremely cool. Who
doesn’t have Angry Birds when they have an extremely cool
phone?

“
Do you need
any help with anything?” I ask after a few minutes of failing to
tear down a building with a bird.

“
No, you play
your game.”

“
It’s lost my
interest. That’s a really pretty necklace,” I point at the screen,
a golden locket with a tiny red gem shines back at me. “Really
pretty.”

“
You think
so?” He asks as I admire the spiralling pattern engraved on the
flat disk, leading to the tiny red gem.

“
Yes,”
obviously or I wouldn’t have said it.

“
Why do you
like it?”

I shrug, “It’s different. I
like the fact the disk isn’t prominent. It makes the gem stand out
even though it’s small.”

“
Huh,” he
licks his lower lip and flicks through a few more images. “Would
you like one?”

Umm… yes. “No. You’ve given me
enough.”