Broken #2 (The Broken Series - Book #2) (9 page)

“Class, believe it or not, but I
think I should have just stayed in bed today.”

“Why? What happened to you?
What's with the limp?”

“
Ahh
, I
had a fight the other night, and I hurt my back. Not exactly an ideal situation,
but not much I can do about it. I have spasms in my lower back, and they’re just
killing me. I could not sit comfortably in class; I had to get up and leave.”

“That's shitty, sorry to hear
that.” He smiled at me, and I was starting
to
really
like his smile.

“It's all part of the game, I'm
afraid. It'll heal. I think I need to go have a very hot bath.”

“I probably have a better
solution.”

“What's that?”

“I can't believe I'm saying this,
but my mom is a massage therapist, and she taught me how to give a pretty damn
good massage. I could give you one.”

He stopped in his tracks. He literally
stopped walking in the middle of the sidewalk. I almost stumbled over him.
“Seriously?
You want to massage me, ‘
cause
that's the best news I've heard in a really long time.”

“Take it easy there, cowboy,
let's not get ahead of ourselves.”

“You just offered me a massage,
and I am accepting it 100%.”

“Well, hold on. I'm not just
offering you a massage. I'm not that foolish. I want a little give and take.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Well,
what do you have in mind, little lady?”

“Here's the thing, I was invited
to go to a wine tasting event with my friend, Brenda. She was the girl in the
booth with me the day you bought that picture.” He nodded. “Well, she's going
to be bringing a guy, sort of like their first date, but she's really nervous
about the whole thing. She doesn't date a lot, and she asked that I go as well,
to make sure he's not some weirdo,” I laughed nervously.

“That's a little weird,” he
chuckled.

“Maybe, but I can understand. A
group event relieves the pressure, ya know?”

“Actually, I don't know,
Natalie.”
 
We laughed together.

“I guess maybe you don't. But
it's also different for girls; it's not always safe to go off alone with a new
guy.”

“So what do you need me for?”

“Well, I'm not really the third
wheel type, ya know? Plus, it might be a little awkward for the guy for me to
be there. But a double date wouldn't seem like a bad thing, right?”

“Oh, I see where this is going.”

“Come on, be a sport. You'll get
the pleasure of my company, plus you’ll get a massage.”

“Wine tastings aren't really my
thing. Who is this guy, anyway? What kind of guy takes a girl to a wine tasting
on their first date?”

I shrugged. I knew he was just
playing hard to get, and that he would cave instantly if I told him to forget
the whole thing. “She likes the guy, that's all that matters. So ... are you in
or are you out?”

He stared at me, and I could tell
that the wheels were turning in his head. I wondered if he was thinking about
my hands on his body. Would that be the deciding factor? The thought of me
touching him intimately, was that what was going through his head? I almost
blushed at the thought.

“Please, Jet, this is a win-win
for both of us. Don't make me go to this thing alone.”

“Okay, I will go. It's not my
thing, but you are certainly my thing. So I will do it for you.”

“Thank you. You don't even know
how much I appreciate it,” I couldn't have felt better about the situation; the
last thing I had wanted was to go to the wine tasting alone. Instead, I would
have a handsome guy by my side, even if we weren't together.

“So when is this little hoopla?”

“Not for a couple of days yet.
Can you handle the suspense?”

He chuckled. “Not sure. The
bigger question is, when
are you
giving me that
massage, cause girl, I could sure use one right now.”

“Sorry to disappoint. But it's
going to have to wait until tomorrow. I have plans tonight.”

“With who?
Not another guy, I hope.”

“It's none of your business, Jet,”
I winked at him.

“So tomorrow then?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, I can live with that.”

“I'll see ya tomorrow, then. Go
home and have a bath,” I waved at him as I walked away.

Chapter Twelve

Jet

I checked my phone, and realized
that I didn't have a whole lot of time before Natalie was going to arrive. I
couldn't be more excited to see the girl, in more than one way, and for more
than one reason. That gorgeous redhead was coming over today to give me the
massage she promised me. I couldn't even explain what that did to my mindset.
My dreams the night before had been porn-filled, with images of Natalie with
her hands on my body. I couldn't help it, and no other guy would blame me.

I needed to take a shower before
the beauty showed up at my door. I wanted to be squeaky clean for her. She was
massaging me, after all, and didn't want to be touching some sweaty, smelly
guy. I grabbed my boxer briefs, and a towel, and headed to the shower. I
adjusted the water temperature, and waited until it grew hot. My clothes
dropped to the floor, and I jumped into the shower. I rinsed off, letting the
water drill into my back like hot acupuncture. I had been taking baths almost
exclusively, and they had helped a little, but I had some healing to do, for
sure. I put shampoo in my hand, and lathered up my hair. I rinsed it quickly,
and grabbed the bar of soap to wash my body. I didn't stay in the shower long; I
just wanted a quick clean, to be nice and fresh.

I stepped out of the shower, and
dried off. The towel felt nice against my coarse skin. I felt great, and I was
about to feel even better. I pulled a beer from the fridge, and sat down on the
couch and took a pull from it. I had to admit, I was a little nervous to have
Natalie so close to me again, and she would be sober.

There was a knock at the door,
and I quickly head over to open it. There was a vision at my door, and I was
almost rendered speechless ... almost.

“Hey, I was just having a beer in
preparation for you.”

“Can I have one, too?”

I liked that, so I smiled. I let
her in the apartment, and she headed straight for the couch. I went back to the
fridge, and grabbed
her a
beer, taking the cap off of
it. She took it from my hand when I ventured into back the living room.

She took a slow drink from the
bottle, watching me carefully. I had never wished to be the bottle more in my
life. She was gorgeous, and she was even more gorgeous when she was drinking
that beer.

“What are you thinking?” she
whispered.

I chuckled. “I'm thinking you
should drink beer more often.”

She smiled; actually, she glowed.
“Oh, is that right?”

“Yes, that's definitely the
truth. You are so sexy drinking that beer.”

“Oh, you're just playing with me.
I don't think I've been sexy a day in my life.”

“You would be surprised, Natalie.”

She took another pull on the beer,
and I started to think I wanted my massage.

“So where should we do this?”

“Your bed should work just fine.”

Wow, that's all it took for my
heart to beat tough. My bed would definitely do just fine. I grabbed my beer.
“Let's go, then.”

“Okay, sounds good,” she got up
with her beer as well, and followed me to my bedroom. She sat on my bed, and I
started to undress. I took off my shirt as well as my undershirt, and then I
took off my pants. She gasped as I did so, a shocked look on her face. I kept
going, mainly because I wanted to see what she was going to say. I dropped my
drawers and stood before her, naked as a jaybird.
 

“Jet, you don't need to be
completely naked to have your back massaged,” she laughed, but she did it
nervously.

I knew exactly what I was doing,
and I didn't care, but I was willing to play stupid if I had to.
“Oh, really?
I could have sworn this was what people did
when they got a massage.”

“Yeah, I bet you did. You're
ridiculous.”

I smiled, grabbed a towel, and
laid it down on my bed. I
lay
down on the towel, face down,
and tried to relax. I almost laughed when she grabbed the other pillows on my
bed, and put one on my butt, and the other two on the sides of my legs, to hide
my nakedness. She never allowed me to get away with anything. I thought I had
tricked her, until she came back with the pillows. She straddled me, though it
must have been difficult with all those pillows. She started kneading into my
shoulders, slowly at first, and then a little faster and harder. She definitely
knew what she was doing. I could feel the tension leaving my body almost
instantly. When she got to my lower back where the injury was, she was gentle,
making sure that she didn't hurt me, but she applied enough pressure that I
thought I just might have a great night’s sleep.

“It feels amazing, Natalie. How
long have you been doing this?”

“Geez, I don't know.
Maybe since I was fifteen.
Not too long, but long enough to
learn good technique. My mom is very good, though―one of the best in the
city. She's practically a miracle worker when it comes to removing pain from the
body.”

“She must love it, then. I'm sure
glad she taught you how to massage, because this is fantastic.”

“Thank you.”

She worked on my back for 45 minutes.
I couldn't believe her hands didn't get sore. She kneaded and rubbed and
stretched my muscles. She would rub my muscles, and then she would slowly just
touch my back gently. I wasn't sure what I enjoyed more, the soft touching, or
the hard rubbing. I felt like melted butter when she was all done with me.

“There ya go.
All
done here.
You should be feeling much better now.”

“God, Natalie, I feel amazing.
Thank you; that really helped.”

“I'm glad. I think it was just a
tight muscle, no real injury. You probably won't have a lot of pain.
Just the soreness now from the healing.”

“Maybe you are a miracle worker,
too.”

“
Haha
,
that's sweet.”

She got up, and slid off the bed.
I pushed the pillows off, and I began to get off the bed as well.

“Stop!” she yelled. I stopped
immediately, as she took me completely off guard, and I wasn't sure what to
expect, or why she was telling me to stop.

“I
gotta
go. But you can meet me at my place Thursday night at 6:00 p.m., and we'll go
to that wine tasting, okay?”

That was all she said to me
before she left. All I heard was the bedroom door open and close, and then
nothing. It was like she just disappeared as I lay in my bed, confused as all
hell. Was I losing my touch or what? I couldn't believe she hadn't been tempted
to sleep with me again after I displayed my supreme nakedness for her. I rolled
over in my bed, and stared at the ceiling, beyond perplexed. I wasn't sure what
I was going to do with this girl―she was continuously throwing me for a
loop. What exactly did she want?

I started to sit up as Kyle burst
through the door, scaring the shit out of me. I grabbed a pillow, and covered
myself up with it.

“What the hell are you doing,
Kyle? What do you want? I think you really need to start knocking before you
storm into my room.”

Kyle laughed. “Naw, man, I just
wanted to see what it looked like to see a man who was just turned down.”

I threw a pillow at him as he ran
out the door, laughing. I was going to kill him.

 
Chapter Thirteen

Natalie

I found it hard to try to define
what part Jet played in my life. My friends were starting to think that there
was something going on with him, but the truth that I told them was that he was
just a friend. Certainly he was a friend with whom I had experienced a one-night
stand, but that was about as intimate as we had gotten in all that time. Brenda
showed up at my apartment, looking fierce, and the boys would be meeting us
there as well. I would message Jet when I was almost ready to go, and he would
head over.

The only way I could describe my
relationship with Jet at that time was that we needed each other. Maybe
me
more than him, but somehow, in some fucked-up way, we fit
into each other’s lives like two puzzle pieces. I needed him so I could excel
in school, and to avoid being raped, and he needed me to provide him healing
and pleasure, though I refused to offer him the type of pleasure he was really
seeking out. I was really beginning to like Jet, and to enjoy spending time
with him, but I didn't want it to go beyond a friendship, because I didn't
trust him. He scared me in ways I couldn't quite put into words.