Unforgivably Broken (The Broken Series Book Two) (29 page)

“Don’t
,” I said, shaking my head as I begged him silently to just let me sleep. “It’s not worth it anymore.”

Waking to pounding on the front door, I rolled out of bed. I made my way to the door
quickly, hoping the sound wouldn’t wake Conner as well. When I looked out and saw Kas, I was immediately irritated.

“What the hell?” I asked once I got the door unlocked
. She shoved past me, into the house.

“What the fuck is the matter with you, Zane? Are you really that stupid?”
Kas spat as she stomped through the house toward my bedroom.

“Where the hell are you going?” I asked, confused and still groggy from the rude wake-up call. I paused to glance in Conner’s room, thankful he was still
sound asleep. He hadn’t been feeling well the last few days and we’d been out late last night.

“I guess you weren’t dumb enough to let her stay the night at least,”
Kas said as I caught up to her, nearly running into her as she stepped back out of my room.

“Who?”
I asked. “What the hell is going on? Would you stop and fucking talk to me?” I continued, reaching for her as she started to storm past me again.

“How dare you! You know what she’s dealing with right now and
you
of all people know what it’s like to be cheated on!” she ranted, her hand landing loudly against my cheek as she slapped me. Shocked, I grabbed her wrist to stop her from striking me again.

“Conner is sleeping,” I hissed, nudging my head toward his door. She yanked her arm free and stepped up into my face.

“You don’t fucking deserve her,” Kas said and the words, as sharp as glass, cut me the way she no doubt intended them to.

“You think I don’t know that? Fuck, I’ve never deserved that girl,” I said, keeping my voice low.

“How could you?” she asked, her face disgusted. I shook my head, still trying to process her words.

“How could I what? What did I do?” I ran my hands through my hair in frustration as her words started to register. “What do you mean I know what it’s like? Do you think I cheated on
Lili?”

“Don’t play innocent with me. If you knew how bad she was hurting… if you had to listen to her make herself sick over this you wouldn’t be treating it like it was some sort of game!” She kept her voice down but her inflection was clear.

“I didn’t do anything!” I shouted.

“That’s bullshit and you know it!”
she replied. When I started to open my mouth again, I saw a tiny head peek around the corner of Conner’s room.

“Wait here
,” I whispered, holding a finger up to Kas, my eyes not leaving Conner. I watch his eyes widen as I approached and he backed into the room. I popped my neck, trying to ease the tension and reign in my anger as I put aside any thoughts other than calming him down. I tapped on his door and my eyes scanned the room, finally spotting him ducked behind the slide on his bed.

“Hey, buddy,” I said softly. His head tilted, one wary eye appraising me. I hated myself when I saw how scared he was. What the fuck was wrong with me? He’d seen more than enough of me and Lizzie fighting and I’d promised myself I’d never let him see my temper that way again.

“Why were you and Aunt Kas yelling?” he whispered, his head coming out a little further.

“I’m sorry. We didn’t mean to wake you. It was a mistake. I won’t yell anymore, okay?” I didn’t know how to answer his question because I didn’t
even know what we were yelling about. I couldn’t think about that right now, though. I needed to calm Conner down first.

“Aunt
Kas said a bad word,” he said, his voice still a whisper. Then suddenly, he disappeared again behind the slide.

“You’re right, Conner.
I did. And I’m sorry. We were mad and we shouldn’t have been yelling,” Kas said, coming up beside me just as Conner’s head started to tilt out again. His eyes were glossy with tears and it tore at me deeper than anything else. The last thing I ever wanted was to scare him.

“No more yelling?”
he asked and I nodded my head immediately, kneeling down on the floor.

“No more yelling, buddy. I promise,” I said, meaning every word. I had no idea what was going on but no matter what it was, it wasn’t worth scaring him. He nodded slowly, stepping out from his hiding spot. When I opened my arms, he walked slowly over to me and I carefully pulled him into a hug. “Hey, why don’t I go make you a bowl of cereal and you can eat it in the living room and watch cartoons
? Sound good?”

He nodded enthusiastically before darting toward the living room. I sighed in relief and hung my head for a moment. When I glanced back up at
Kas, she had her eyes closed. “Take care of him and I’ll meet you in the garage,” she said, her voice calmer.

As I poured Conner’s cereal and got
him all set up in the living room, knowing I would probably spend weeks getting the smell of milk out of the carpet when he made a mess, I tried not to dwell on what was happening. I couldn’t afford to upset Conner again.

“Eat up. I’m
gonna go to the garage so I’ll be back to check on you in a few. Okay?”

He nodded, his eyes glued to the TV as he used his left hand to grab the spoon. He was getting better at it but I would be glad when he could take the sling off and use his right hand again.

I checked the front door, making sure it was locked, and reset the alarm before heading down the hall to the garage. Kas had her back to me when I stepped out but as soon as I shut the door behind me, she spun to face me.

“Here’s how it’s going to work,” she said, her tone sharp. “I’m going to ask a direct question and I expect a direct answer. I want the truth. Got it?”

I nodded, fighting the urge to cross my arms over my chest defensively. I didn’t want to set her off again. I had questions of my own and fighting wasn’t the way either of us was going to get answers.

“Are you fucking Lizzie?”

My jaw tightened at her blunt question. “No,” I answered through my teeth.

“But you’ve been seeing her?”

I sighed and scrubbed my hands over my face. “The lawyer said I needed to let her see Conner if she asked.”

“Is that all it is?”

“Yes. Jesus Christ, Kas, do you really think I’d go down that road again even if I weren’t with Lili? I’m fighting to get my kids away from that woman.”

“Then explain the text you sent last night,”
Kas said, still unconvinced. I blinked, my mind scanning through the previous night.

“What text?”

“The one sent to Lili’s phone by mistake. The one that asked if someone was staying the night and calling them baby.”

I stared at
Kas, still completely lost. “I didn’t send a text about seeing anyone last night. I spent last night with Conner watching Transformers because he was upset after…” I trailed off, shaking my head as the pieces started to fall in place. “After we met his mom for lunch and she had to leave so quickly. Fucking Lizzie. I thought I’d lost my phone somewhere and I was going crazy. I tore the house and my car apart last night while Conner was asleep looking for it. I thought for sure I’d left it at the restaurant or dropped it in the parking lot. Fuck!”

Kas
studied my face as I turned, pacing the garage for a moment before dropping to sit on the bumper of my car. Realization ripped through me and my head snapped up to look at Kas. “Lili. Oh fuck. I need your phone.”

She opened her palm, holding it out to me with an expression that told me she was waiting for me to realize I needed it. I snatched it and immediately dialed
Lili’s number. I was surprised when it went straight to voicemail. She never turned her phone off. I dialed Tish next.

“You’re up early,” he said as a greeting and it took a second for me to register that he thought I was
Kas.

“I need to talk to
Lili,” I said.

All I heard was complete silence followed by a slamming door. “You listen to me and you listen
good. You
will not
talk to her. Not today, not any other day. You made your fucking choice. It’s done. Lili has been through enough and if you have any shred of decency, you’ll leave her the fuck—” The phone was snatched out of my hand as I listened to Tish’s rant, feeling every bit as guilty as if I’d done what I was accused of. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t slept with Lizzie. I still let her mess with my head. I allowed her to worm her way into my mind and screw with me again, and by doing so, I had hurt Lili.

Kas
hissed in the corner of the garage as she spoke, possibly explaining what had happened, possibly planning the next step in their attack on me. I wasn’t sure which and honestly, the way I felt, it didn’t really matter. I sat on the bumper of the car again, running my hands through my hair as I stared at the polished concrete floor.

When I saw
Kas’ feet, I glanced up and she held out the phone. I took a deep breath before I grabbed it and put it to my ear.

“It wasn’t me
.” My voice sounded weak and I wasn’t sure who was on the line, but either way, it was all I could think to say.

Tish sighed. “Yeah, I know. Look, I’m sorry but
Lili said she didn’t want to talk to you. I believe that it wasn’t you, I do. But you didn’t see what yesterday did to her. I can’t bring you up and dump this on her right before we leave to go back to that courthouse. She’s on the edge as it is with her parents and everything else. Just let me get her through today and I’ll tell her as soon as we get back to the room tonight. Okay?”

“No,” I answered as soon as he finished speaking. “No. Goddammit, Tish let me fucking talk to her.” My temper flared again
at hearing what she was going through. I wasn’t mad at Tish, more at myself. None of this would’ve happened if I had gone with her. I should be the one there, not him. “She can’t walk into the courthouse without knowing I’m behind her. Don’t you see that? I can’t let her go through a day like today thinking she doesn’t have me. Please.”

Tish groaned, clearly torn. “Okay fine. I’ll try but I’m not making any promises.”

The phone muffled and I heard a door close followed by footsteps. Then two knocks. “It’s open.” Her voice sounded hollow, even through the distance, and it nearly broke me. I’d done this to her.

“Lee,” Tish started.

“No,” she hissed, her voice suddenly stronger. “I told you no. I warned you, Tish.”

“You need to hear him out. It was
—”

“I don’t care what it was!”
she yelled. I heard rustling as she spat, “Give me the fucking phone!”

Then, the line went dead.

“Fuck,” I huffed and redialed Tish’s number. It rang a few times and then cut off as the call was rejected and sent to voicemail. I stared at it, irritated that she didn’t answer. That was our deal in this. We always answered so we knew the other was okay. And she sent me to fucking voicemail? “I need to go to Lizze’s. This shit is going to end. Today.”

I held out the phone to
Kas and she started to take it but stopped. “No. That’s a good idea, actually. I’ll take Conner to the shop with me and you take my phone. When you get to Lizzie’s, turn on the voice recorder and confront her about your phone. That way it’s all recorded. You can pick up Conner after.”