Unbroken (14 page)

“I actually have some…extenuating circumstances to deal with today. My best friend’s father passed and I’m needed. I’d be happy to stop by the bakery tomorrow, though.”

I hug Dalis and take my phone from Cason on my way out the door. I bid the girls and Mr. Matteo goodbye, then trot down the stairs as I close the door behind me. I make my way down the street, using an app Mama Quinn put on my phone to help me find the quickest bus route to Nic and Colin’s apartment.

I hear a car coming up behind me, and I turn to look and see who it is. Doing a double take, I notice Sabrina’s Pepsi blue Honda, and the passenger window is rolled down. I halt immediately, leaning inside the window and grinning at her.

“Hey, get in,” she says.

I narrow my eyes at her, and I shake my head. “No, it’s alright. I have a bus pass, and I have to learn the system around here eventually, right?”

Her eyes roll and her entire demeanor changes. She has this habit of wearing her entire heart on her face. I can tell when she’s annoyed with me, when she’s excited, and I can even see when she’s so attracted to me that she hangs onto every word that comes out of my mouth. Right now, the twitchy way her fingers tap against the steering wheel, the arch in only one of her eyebrows, and the hard, angry press of her lips into a firm, taut line tells me she’s in the take-nobody’s-shit mode.

“I wasn’t
asking
you, Brody. I’m
telling
you. Get in. No one in my family rides public transportation. Don’t make me get out this car.”

I’m not normally the kind of guy who obsesses over things, especially things that girls say. I think nine times out of ten, most girls talk simply because they have lips. However with Sabrina, she’s different. Sure, she speaks because she likes to hear herself talk sometimes, but she always, always, always chooses her words meticulously. Her words are never empty. If they escape those precious lips of hers, they mean something to her.

So somewhere in her bossy, take-no-shit mode, she basically included me as part of her family.

So of course, I climb inside the car and put my seat belt on. There’s no point in arguing with her, and I may get to Nic and Colin’s quicker if I just go along with what she wants. She rolls the window back up and drives off.

“Where to?”

“67th and Marine. It’s an apartment complex.”

She gives me a curt nod before getting on the freeway. Sabrina has been my blessing in disguise. She’s what kept me going the past two years, and she’s what’s keeping me sane right now when everything in the world should be falling apart.

I wish I knew what it was about her that drew her to me so. I wish I knew how to approach our ever-growing attraction. But as always when it comes to girls, I
don’t
know. That’s the problem. I never know how to act around them because I don’t know why they affect me the way that they do.

Sabrina, however, is an emotional dilemma who stumps me at every turn.

On the one hand, I want to be her friend, because she’s the first girl besides Nickayla who appears to actually
know
how to be one. On the other hand, I want to be so much more, because she’s worth so much more and she deserves so much more and I want to be the only person in this world to give it to her.

I let my arm rest on the console between us, palm up, and she glances down at it before dropping her hand atop mine. Our fingers interlock, and she squeezes gingerly. I almost ask her if she’s okay with this, with holding my hand, but the flush in her cheeks and the slaphappy grin on her face tells me it’s more than okay.

I smile, too, and we ride in silence before she pulls off the freeway and stops at a Popeyes.

“What are we doing here?” I know for a fact I didn’t ask her to stop here.

“Your friend’s dad passed away. So likely he hasn’t had time or even the presence of mind to eat. That’s where you come in. You take care of what he can’t.”

I nod, remembering how Grandma and Granddad came to our house everyday, bringing us food in the form of casseroles and baked goods. I remember I ate Grandma’s tuna noodle casserole so much, I thought I was going to turn into one. Now, I wish I had thought ahead just like Sabrina did.

Thirty minutes later, we’re pulling into the parking complex behind Nickayla and Colin’s apartment. I have two boxes full of chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, red beans and rice, and biscuits. We also stopped for a variety of two-liter sodas, paper plates, paper cups, and plastic cutlery. I feel prepared for an evening of being someone else’s shoulder to cry on for a change.

“Give your friend my condolences. Text me when you’re ready to come home, and I’ll come get you.”

Cocking an eyebrow, I smirk knowingly at her. “You know I don’t have your number.”

She laughs, putting the car in drive an instant before I open the car door. “Ah, you don’t know me well at all, Mr. Durham. I stole your phone while I slept in your arms and programmed my number in your contacts with a
very
flattering selfie to accompany it.”

Now it’s my turn to laugh. Bags in hand, I lean over the center console and press a kiss to her temple. “Thanks, Dove. I’ll see you soon.”

Blinking in surprise, she gives me a small smile and a timid wave. I hop out of the car, closing the door behind me. I wave back.

She drives off, and I stand on the edge of the curb, watching until her car disappears.

Once I’m clear of her presence, I trudge upstairs and knock on the door to Nic and Colin’s apartment. I often forget which apartment number is theirs, but the fact that their apartment is the only one in the entire complex with a
Welcome
mat in front of the door helps out during times like these.

I’m embraced by Nic the minute the door is opened, and she thanks me for the food as she leads me into the kitchen. She starts chattering about Colin and the issues he’s facing with his dad now being gone for good, about his friend Madilyn’s too-convenient visit, and how grateful she is for mine and Michie’s friendship right now.

I’m hearing everything she’s saying, but all I can think about is Sabrina. Absentmindedly, I stuff my hand in my pocket and pull my cell phone out. I swipe it unlocked and search the various home screens for my contacts app. I scroll until I find Sabrina’s name in the short list. I open her contact and click on her picture until it enlarges.

I do a double take when I see the picture she’s attached. She’s on her back in my bed, our hands intertwined and resting beside her. Her ample cleavage looks phenomenal, and her hair encircles her head like an ebony halo.

Motherfucking angel.

ELEVEN

I’M MEETING A COUPLE FRIENDS for lunch, because I need advice on the Brody front. I can’t get him out from under my skin, and I’m not even sure I want to. I just need to know how to move forward, if that’s what he wants. It’s
definitely
what I want.

Kelsey, Henry, and I have been friends for a while. Well, Henry and I became friends sophomore year, the minute I enrolled at Valley Public. Kelsey transferred to our school during junior year, and they started dating shortly afterward. Our circle is small, but it’s impenetrable. Well, it has been ever since I kicked Kelsey’s ass.

When she came into our lives, she had a problem with how close I was to Henry. However, I told her I wasn’t going anywhere unless Henry asked me to—which was
never
going to happen as long as we both shall live, Amen—and that led to her trying to pit him against me. Once I realized what was going on, I approached her in the hallway at school one day. She had her back turned to me, and I
hate
a bitch who’ll hit someone with their back turned. So I politely tapped her on the shoulder. I was totally fair. I gave her enough time to turn completely around and say, “What?” before I clocked her. We fought until one of us forfeited—it wasn’t me—and then we talked out our differences in front of Henry.

We’ve been copasetic since then.

Today, they’re meeting me at Ana’s Sweeties for coffee, a slice of cake, and book talk.

The logo was designed by my artistically inclined sister Bianca. At the time when she opened her first location, she had three daughters, so Bianca sketched a woman who looked just like Mom to lean against the ‘A’ in ‘Ana’s’. For each of the ‘e’s’ in ‘Sweeties’, she sketched a different cupcake—each according to our favorite cupcake flavor. Devil’s food for Grecia, red velvet for herself, and strawberry cheesecake for me. When Mila arrived, she edited the logo so Mom was holding a tray with a single cupcake atop it. Mila’s cupcake is carrot, because carrot baby food has always been her favorite.

Mom’s bakery is different than most. She runs a secondhand bookstore—she calls them Previously Loved Books instead of ‘secondhand’—attached to each bakery location. The layout of the bakery is set up more like a library. Sofas, love seats, beanbag chairs, and the like adorn every small corner of the premises, and coffee tables sit near each seating area. Rather than offer free WiFi, she offers a free Previously Loved Book to each of her bakery customers. She hasn’t had any complaints about how she runs things here.

The doorbell above the door chimes when I make my way inside. Henry and Kelsey are seated in a love seat at the back of the bakery. They’re completely facing each other, engrossed in whatever conversation they’re having.

“Hey,” I say, tossing my purse onto the couch across from them and plopping down. “I need boy advice.”

At that, Kelsey squeals and Henry narrows his eyes. He’s concerned that I’m going to forgive Maddox for all he’s done, but little does he know, there’s a new guy in my life now. And I can’t wait to give him all the details. What’s more is, I can’t wait to give Kelsey the details because now maybe she’ll quit questioning my friendship with her boyfriend. I was here first, so I’m not going to back off unless he tells me to. But I’m also not going to defend our relationship at every turn just because she’s insecure.

“Ooh, tell me
everything
!” she exclaims.

See?

I wait for Ivy, the manager of this location, to approach our seating area and take our orders. I never go to the counter unless I’m making a quick pit stop on my way somewhere.

She strolls over to us, arms at the ready for a hug, and jots down my order. I ask for a chai tea latte, a slice of strawberry cheesecake cupcake, and a bottle of Fiji water. Henry orders the same, and Kelsey substitutes the strawberry cheesecake cupcake for a gluten free vanilla cupcake with sugar free icing and the chai tea for a decaf black coffee with two sugars. She’s trying to drop ten pounds by prom.

I don’t understand her whole diet craze anyway. I was born with my curvy, Latina figure for a reason.

I don’t count calories.

I collect them.

“So, who is it?” Henry asks, leaning forward and away from Kelsey’s embrace. “It’s not Maddox is it?”

I shake my head. “God, no. I haven’t thought
that
way about Maddox since everything went down.” With a sly grin, I decide to tell him about our most recent encounter. “I did see him not too long ago, though. You’d be so proud of me. I warned him to get away from me, and when he didn’t, I threatened to hit him with my car. I didn’t, but I’m sure he knows by now I’m crazy enough to do it.”

Henry starts laughing so hard he claps his hands, and Kelsey shoots him a death glare. He continues hooting and hollering to his heart’s content, not caring that it’s annoying his girlfriend.

“So if it’s not Maddox, who is it? I need details!”

Henry’s excitement startles me, but maybe he’s just ready to finally see me happy.

“His name is Brody. His best friend is my coworker. He came in drunk off his ass one night complaining about his ex, so I threw ice cold water in his face and yelled at him. Last week, while I was in L.A. visiting my mom, he came by my job to visit me, but I wasn’t here. He came back last night, and now he’s living in my house and I slept in his bed last night and I’m so attracted to this guy I can’t fucking see straight and I don’t even know how to approach this subject with him because I have no way of knowing if he wants the same or if he even
feels
the same!”

The end of my tirade is spoken on one breath, and I have to practically hyperventilate to get my breathing regulated again.