Tears of the Broken (27 page)

“
Oh,
sorry. Well, I’m glad you got to him before me. The poor thing.”
The cat’s attempt to break free won over; I released my hold and
watched him bolt over the hedge fence—into the front
yard.

A
long shadow appeared beside my feet, sending my heart skipping
happily into my throat as I faced the tall, dark knight behind me.
I can’t believe he’s actually here—as beautiful and glorious as he
always is. And the white fitted t-shirt with the dark denim jeans
makes him look like a tanned underwear model.

David’s eyes flicked over my face as I angled my chin to look
up at him, studying his perfectly symmetrical features with a hint
of confusion. How is he so damn good looking? It’s not
natural.

He
wedged his hands into his pockets, and my gaze travelled up his
forearms, to his shoulders, and traced the square line of his jaw,
finishing finally on a small knick of blood under his lip. “You—” I
pointed to my chin. “I think you cut yourself shaving.”

David’s eyes widened; he quickly drew his hand from his
pocket and wiped his thumb across the blood. “Oops.”

“
It
looks good.” I reached up to cup my hand over the side of his
face.

“
What does?” He pressed his hands against my
hipbones.

“
You. Clean-shaven. I like it.”

“
So,
ah, how are you feeling today?” he asked, clearing his throat.
“After everything we talked about yesterday.” He took a step back
and dropped his arms to his sides, looking deep into my eyes. It
makes my heart shake inside my chest, the way he looks at me
sometimes, how one of his glittering green eyes seems to pull on
the inner corner, like he’s smiling, and the other is more focused,
like he’s trying to figure something out.

“
I’m
really good. I mean, I still hurt inside, all the time, and I never
stop thinking about them, but—” I shrugged.

“
It
will get easier.” David ducked his head a little so our eyes met in
perfect alignment. “You will always think about them, but I can
promise you that missing them will get easier.”

“
You
sound like you speak from experience?” Actually, he might be. All
this talk about me, and I hardly know one thing about
him.

“
Well, I’ve had a lot of loss in my life.” He nodded smoothly
and looked away. “But, I find more people to love, and make my life
about them.”

As
our eyes met again, his warmed with a soft, simple
smile.

“
If
you’d told me that a week ago, I might not’ve believed you. But
today?” The suppressed desires in my body took over then, forcing
my hand to reach out and stroke my finger over the short side burn
just beside his ear. “I’m glad my dad told you, David—about my mum.
I think I’ve decided I’m not going to yell at him. I mean, he was
just doing what he thought was best for me, right?”

“
Right.”

My
smile twisted up with a frown and I shook my head. “I just can’t
figure out why he gave you the touch-my-daughter-and-you-die
speech?”

David pulled his lips into a tight smirk and his eyes
narrowed a little as he cleared his throat again.

“
That…wasn’t the speech, was it?” I asked slowly.

He
shook his head once, and the supressed grin crept up into his
eyes.

Assumptions. I’m good at making them, not so good at seeing
the truth behind the intuition. I dropped my arms to my sides. Like
a cat that just lost its ball to a mouse, I feel cheated. “I told
my dad off, you know, for giving you that speech? And worse, he
played along. How could you two just conspire against me like
that?”

David laughed aloud, tilting his head back so his canines
showed. “I’m sorry.” He shook his head, failing to subdue his
amusement. “I shouldn’t laugh—you’re just so funny when you get on
a heated rant. I love it when you do that—” He pointed to my
hands—wedged firmly on my hips; I dropped them.

“
So what
was
my dad saying?”

“
He
was asking me to keep an eye on you, since I already knew about
you, and you had apparently already taken a liking to me.” He
grinned and stepped a little closer. “I told him that I had
absolutely no intention of letting you out of my sight.”

Humph! “Well, it’s nice to know my dad approves of you, but
how did he know I liked you?” Surely I wasn’t that obvious. Then
again, he might’ve spoken to Mr. Benson, who all-too-clearly saw my
ogling.

“
Something about sultanas?” David’s dark brows pulled together
and his lips turned up on the corners, setting deeply into the
sides of his mouth.

I
laughed, thinking of Dad’s earlier mention of the teacher lingo.
“So, when he caught you on the oval…stalking me…what did you tell
him?”

“
Ara, I wasn’t stalking you,” he said impatiently. “I merely
spotted a pretty thing in the garden and stopped to watch you swing
for a while. Mr. Thompson, I mean, your dad, asked me what I was
staring at, and I said you were the most beautiful girl I have ever
seen.” David’s eyes glistened then, and his voice lowered to an
almost whisper. I looked to one side, hiding my smile and sudden
flushing cheeks. “When he said you were his daughter, I apologised
for my forward behaviour, and he said it was okay, that I was
right, anyway.”

“
But
everyone at school knows this is my dad’s house—so you must’ve
already known I was his daughter.”

David smiled. “Yes. But I wasn’t going to tell
him
that I’d taken to
hanging out on the oval at lunch just so I might catch another
glimpse of his pretty daughter.” He laughed once. “He’d have given
me detention. So, I played dumb. Then I asked him why you don’t
come to school, and…that’s when he told me.”

“
So,
when you said you didn’t know he was my dad, that day after History
class?”

“
I
lied.” David’s smile slipped away. “He asked me to keep it from you
that I even knew your name.”

“
Yes! You said
Ara-Rose
—in the library, on the
first day I met you, but no one here knew that was my name until
after History class. You sneaky little thing.” I pointed at him.
“Well, at least now I know you were only joking about my dad giving
boring lectures, right? You were just being
funny?”

He
nodded, pressing a grin between his lips, then it dropped. He
focused on my eyes and took only my fingertips in his delicate
grasp. “I’m sorry I deceived you. I meant no ill
intent.”

“
It wouldn’t matter what you did wrong,
David. I’m incapable of being mad at you. Well, for long anyway.” I
smiled, drawing my shoulder up to my ear. “I’m glad you talked to
my dad. If you hadn’t been so
forward
in your behaviour, I would
never’ve talked to you, and I would’ve wished every day that I
could.”

“
Not
possible. I would’ve seen you eventually. When I did, it would only
have been a matter of time until you were mine—if that.” He slowly
brought his hand up to my face and rested it against the side of my
neck. “Once I’ve made my mind up about something, I don’t usually
stop until I follow it through.”

“
Does that mean you’ve made your mind up about me?”

He
blinked softly and the smile returned to his eyes—where it belongs.
“What do
you
think?”

Feeling the rise of awkwardness threatening to turn my cheeks
pink, I wriggled my toes against the moist, kind of sticky
grass—warming already from the summer sun. But as I looked down at
my feet, blood rushed into my cheeks, and my hands flew up to cover
my chest. I’m still in my pyjamas! The outfit I chose this morning
before I dusted my room is still hanging over my desk chair. My new
boyfriend has just seen my pink cotton shorts and the pale-blue
singlet top I slept in—and I’m not even wearing a bra.

David studied my nightwear and grinned. “You’re adorable.”
When his arms circled my waist and he lifted me off the ground, I
let myself fall into him, closing my eyes as my face touched the
silky-smooth curve of his neck. We spun around a few times before
he placed my feet back on the earth and brushed my hair over my
shoulder. “You know, I—”

“
Ara-Rose!” a high-pitched and rather cross voice called from
behind. Vicki stood on the back porch, her hand on her hip and a
tea towel still clutched in her fingers. “Get some clothes on,
please.” She shook her head as she turned away.

“
Yes, Vic-er-mum,” I yelled back, then rolled my
eyes.

David smiled as I grabbed his hand. “She’s just being
protective.”

“
No,
she’s just being annoying. Come on.” I pulled him along. “I’ll show
you my room.”

“
What’s this one?” David called out.

“
What’s what one?” I called back from my wardrobe.

“
The
playlist called ‘Mike’?”

How
rude. He’s snooping through my iPod. “Oh, it’s just all the music
that makes me think of him, and the fun we had. You know— that kind
of thing.” I shrugged and shimmied out of my bed-shorts.

“
Should I be worried? There’s no David list?”

“
Not
yet.” I smiled to myself. “After a few weeks, maybe.” Should I tell
him I do have a David list, but it’s just on my computer? I threw
on my emerald green dress—the one that’s the same colour as David’s
eyes—and stepped back around the corner, smiling at my amazingly
cute boyfriend.

He
looked up and his mouth fell open. “Ara, that colour is beautiful
on you. It really brings out the pinks in your skin.”

I
flattened the front of my dress, then blinked a few extra times
when I looked up—straight into the chest of David. I didn’t even
see him move. Before my eyes managed to focus on him, they closed
again when he ran the back of his finger over my cheekbone.
“Emerald green,” I muttered, getting lost in the way the tingle of
his touch made my teeth feel numb. “It’s one of my new favourite
colours.”

“
One
of? What’s your favourite, then?”

“
Yellow.”

“
Yellow? Any reason for that?” He kept his furled fingers
against my face.

“
It’s a happy colour. The colour of the sun.” I opened my
eyes. “I just refuse to think everything in life has to be all dark
and gloomy all the time. So, I like yellow,” I said. “What about
you? What’s your favourite colour?”

He
stared at me for a moment and smiled as he looked down at my mouth,
then back into my eyes—catching them in a breathless hold.
“Sapphire.”

“
Why
sapphire?”

“
Because, since I met you—” he brushed his thumb over the bone
above my eye, “—I’ve seen nothing but magic in the world. You might
say that sapphire represents the blue of a brighter horizon, and
it’s a colour I see every time my heart skips a beat—” his eyes
narrowed with his smile, “—every time I look into your
eyes.”

My
lips parted but refused to form words. In this small space between
us, it would be so easy to just lean forward and touch my lips to
his. But what would he do? Would he turn his head away, would he
kiss me back for a second and then regret it?

The
warm sun heated the room around us, and the tranquil hum of the
weekend filled the air, but he stayed motionless as a lion stalking
his prey, until a loud rumbling disturbed the peace.

“
I
know that sound.” David broke our immoveable stare and looked down
at my belly. “You haven’t eaten yet, have you?”

I
shook my head. “No, I was just happy messing about in here by
myself. I didn’t really feel up to conversation with the parental
units.”

“
That’s all very well, but the belly is more
important.”

“
You
know me too well, already.” I took David’s hand and pulled him
along.

“
You
have no idea,” he said, closing my door behind us.

Vicki made us breakfast and sat with us while we ate. David,
who insisted on helping, was promptly put on coffee duty. I’m
thinking about asking him to meet me here in the mornings before
school so I can have a coffee like that every day.

After we finished, we stalked back upstairs to my
room—leaving the door open, as Vicki requested—and both flopped
down on my bed. With my head against David’s stomach, and my feet
dangling off the side of my bed, I listened to the soft rising and
falling of David’s chest with each breath.

Does
life get any better than this? “Your hands are so warm, today,” I
whispered, sliding my fingers into his palm.

He
tightened his grip around them and laughed, a short, breathy laugh.
“It’s strange, you know—you have the coldest hands I have ever
touched.
I’m
usually the cold one.”

“
Well, you know what they say?” I smiled. “Cold hands, warm
heart.”

“
What if you have no heart?” David asked.

“
Then you’d have very cold hands—since you’d be
dead.”

David breathed out, but I heard the smile under his
breath.