Unforgivably Broken (The Broken Series Book Two) (26 page)

“Make sure you check first,” he warned and I nodded, standing on my toes to reach the peephole. Kaitlyn stood on the other side of the door, glancing to her right and biting her lip nervously as she waited.

I lowered myself and nodded at Tish again. I closed my eyes, taking a breath to steady myself before I opened the door. Kaitlyn smiled the moment she saw me and though I expected her to rush inside or try to hug me, she did neither. Her hands were clasped in front of her, her fingers threaded as she tugged at them.

“Hi, Kaity,” I said, hoping to break the tension between us. I hadn’t been very nice to her when she’d shown up in Vegas and she honestly didn’t deserve the way I’d treated her.

“Okay, Ky.
Don’t be mad…”

I instantly tensed at Kaitlyn’s words as a movement beside the door caught my attention. I covered my mouth with both hands, the
nausea returning in full force at the sight of the woman who, though she looked a little older, I recognized immediately.

“Oh my God
.” She breathed the words and I felt my knees buckle. Warm hands grabbed my upper arms and my weight fell against Tish’s body. I had been so distracted, I hadn’t even heard him come up behind me. “It is you. It’s really you.”

Before I could react, she engulfed me in a hug. It was awkward, both because I was too emotionally shocked to respond and because Tish didn’t relinquish his hold on me. Kaitlyn watched as our aunt sobbed against me, her grip tight. When she finally released me, she seemed to notice Tish for the first time. She took a step back, her eyes moving from him to me, to his grip on my arms.

I felt the tension building then and I realized Tish was probably worried about who this was or how I would react to the unexpected guest. I sighed, pushing slightly into him so he’d step back and we could move from the doorway. “You might as well come in.”

As we all moved further into the room, Tish released me long enough to flip the latch on the door. “Tish, this is my Aunt
Denni. And you remember Kaitlyn,” I said, gesturing between them. I saw Denni straighten, the prim-and-proper training coming out as she stepped up and extended her hand to him.

“Gardenia.
The girls have always called me Denni.” She surprised me by smiling at Tish. I climbed up by the headboard of my bed and curled my legs under, still feeling shaky from the ambush.

The mood was still tense
as everyone settled into the room. Kaitlyn and Denni tried to carry on conversations with me, but I was distracted by all the questions I had. The silence grew longer and heavier until finally, I decided I needed to either get some answers, or ask them to leave.

“Did you know what happened?” I directed the question to
Denni, my eyes locked on her face.

“Th
e first I heard about any of it was two weeks after you went missing. When I got back to an area with cell service, my voicemail was full.” Her eyes stayed on mine as she came over and sat beside me. “I booked the plane ticket home after the first message from my niece, who was crying, obviously hurting, and begging for me to help her.”

I couldn’t contain the sob that escaped as the memories flooded my mind. I remembered leaving that message.
Denni wrapped me in her arms again and this time, I returned the embrace, clinging to her the way I did when I cried to her as a child. She was always a source of strength during my childhood. I left that message in one of the most desperate moments of my life, when I felt like I had no one else to turn to.

“I never should’ve left. If I had known…” she trailed off and I started shaking my head against her. I couldn’t stop the tears, I could barely breath through the sobs, but I didn’t want her to blame herself.

Instead of reassuring her, I just held on tighter, wishing more than anything that this nightmare would end.

Sitting in the booth Conner chose at the pizza place Monday afternoon, I watched the door for Lizzie’s arrival. After confirming with my lawyer that I needed to allow Lizzie to see Conner when it was reasonable, I asked her first to meet us for lunch.

I was edgy, worried about what seeing Lizzie would do to Conner but he was busy coloring as I listened to Tish on the phone, letting him fill me in on the events of the previous few days with Lili’s aunt and sister arriving.

When I saw Lizzie approaching, I took a deep breath, trying to somehow prepare myself for the day ahead. Tish noticed my reaction. “Did you tell
Lili where you were going?” The directness of his question was expected.

“Where, yes. Who I was meeting, no,” I answered honestly, sighing at Conner when he crawled over the table to sit with Lizzie. She eyed my phone, rolling her eyes as she carefully loved on Conner.

“Do you really think that’s smart?”

I frowned at his condescending tone. “Do you really think she needs something else to worry about? With her aunt showing up that way, she’s already got more than enough on her plate. Besides, there’s
nothing
for her to worry about.”

Lizzie huffed.
“Zane, seriously?” She gestured to the phone and I narrowed my eyes at her.

I heard Tish’s near growl and knew he’d heard Lizzie snap at me. “Yeah, sounds like you have the bitch leashed
—” he stopped at the sound of a door opening. “I’ll call you later.” He hung up and I dropped my phone onto the table, irritated.

“You know, it wouldn’t kill you to pretend for one night that we’re a family,” Lizzie said, causing Conner to look up at her and then at me, his expression almost hopeful. It killed me.

“Stop.” My voice was low, trying to hold in my temper and not fight in front of Conner. She glanced down at him and kissed his head, reaching over the table to pull the coloring book I’d brought across to occupy him.

“You’re right. I’m sorry,” she whispered as I stared at the menu. I nodded in response. My phone vibrated against the table and I grabbed it, hoping it was a text from
Lili. It wasn’t.

You know, we weren’t all bad.

I looked up at Lizzie, who had her phone in her palm as she watched Conner color. She was trying to talk and give respect to the fact that I didn’t want him to overhear us at the same time.

We weren’t?

She looked down at her screen and when her eyes lifted to mine, there were tears in them. Fuck. I hadn’t meant to make her cry. She glanced back at Conner before looking down at her phone again.

No. We did have good times. Remember the hotel room on prom night?

I stared at the screen, trying to avoid her eyes as the memory replayed in my mind.

Lizzie held my jacket over her hair, trying to shield herself from the freak downpour as I pulled her around the corner, tugging her to me and kissing her hard.

“Zane,” she squealed, pushing away from my drenched tuxedo. “Stop screwing around! Where are we going?”

“I told you, it’s a surprise,” I chuckled, moving down the alley and pulling her behind me. We darted out onto the far South end of The Strip. I pulled her around the last corner and into the side entrance of the hotel I’d chosen.

Guilt had inspired this entire plan. Guilt over the last year, over the mood swings and the anger and the way I had completely closed myself off to her. She looked around as I led her through the back, making my way to the elevators. She finally placed her surroundings.

“What are you planning to do? Sneak into one of these rooms?”

I shrugged, not giving anything away as I waited for the elevator to arrive. The older couple standing nearby eyed us with distaste as my shoes squeaked along the marble tiled floor and I took my dripping jacket from Lizzie, not wanting her to ruin her dress.

When the elevator closest to us opened first, I gave the couple a smug look and guided Lizzie inside, knowing they would choose to wait for the next one.

“You’re such an ass,” she laughed, catching my wink at the older man as he shook his head while the doors were closing.

“What did I do?” I asked, chuckling again as I pulled her to me.

I slid the room key from my pocket and she watched as I slipped it into the slot in the elevator before pressing the button for the top floor. “What did you do?” Her voice was soft and I leaned closer.

She squealed a little as I shook droplets of water from my hair into her face before kissing her, making the most of our time in the elevator together and not caring that there was a camera mounted in every corner of the small box. When the doors opened on our floor, I surprised her by reaching down, grabbing her behind her knees and lifting her into my arms.

She wrapped her hands around my neck, staying still in my arms. Given that she was almost taller than me in her heels, it made carrying her feel all the more unnatural. It wasn’t until we arrived at the door to our suite that I realized my mistake.

“Shit. I put the key back in my pocket.” As soon as I said the words, her hand slid between our bodies, grazing over my cock before reaching into my pocket and pulling out the key. “Sneaky,” I said, biting down on the shoulder closest to me.

She giggled, shifting slightly to get away from my teeth before popping the key in the lock and opening the handle. I’d booked one of the best suites they had for tonight and spent most of the day setting it up while she was primping.

“Oh my God,” she breathed, the words barely making a sound. Even through the rain, the lights of Las Vegas were visible in the massive window that dominated the space just in front of the entryway where we stood. “Zane, this is…” she trailed off, sliding from my grip. I’d wanted to carry her into the bedroom but I could see she was bent on exploring the suite in her own time.

I knew the moment the rest of the living area came into view. She
gasped, her hands over her mouth as she slowly rotated to take in the wrap-around windows running from one wall all the way across the entire suite. Her heels clacked on the marble as she walked slowly forward. I kicked off my wet shoes by the door, using the wall as support as I yanked off my drenched socks as well. My eyes never left her as she moved around the bar and headed toward the window.

“This is too much,” she whispered when I stepped up behind her. We both jumped when a flash of lightning lit the sky in the
distance and she leaned against me as we listened to the sound of the pounding rain against the glass. After a moment, she turned in my arms. “You didn’t need to do this, you know.”

I shrugged, pulling her into my body before kissing her deeply. I’d gone all out
. When Tish realized I’d stolen his emergency credit card and nearly maxed it out to book this suite, he was going to be pissed, but the look on her face made it worth the lecture I would no doubt be getting and the months I would spend trying to pay him back.

When I started to pull away from the kiss, she groaned. I couldn’t help but smile at the sound. I knew what she wanted and we would get there
, but it wouldn’t be in the living room of the suite. At least, not yet.

I led her toward the bedroom, pausing by the dining table to let her open the double doors. When she did, she gasped. Pink rose petals, her favorite, covered nearly every surface. She followed the trail of them and I walked behind her, watching as the room opened up, bringing the bed into view. She glanced
in that direction before turning to take in the entire room. Thunder rumbled in the distance, not quite loud enough to cover the pounding of my heart as she turned toward the bed again, her eyes locking on the petals there.