Unforgivably Broken (The Broken Series Book Two) (17 page)

“She said I should give you a break when you’re being overprotective because it’s just how you show you care,” I said, hoping to break down the anger still clearly visible on his face a little more.

When he finally opened his eyes, they were a little softer but the tension was still clear in his muscles. He sighed and carefully turned on his side to face me
. He wrapped his other arm around my hip and pulled me flush against his body, leaning his forehead to mine.

“I love you,” he said the words with a quiet finality. There was something about his tone that unsettled me. He closed his eyes and I stayed quiet, a part of me certain he wasn’t finished talking yet.

My phone chimed again from my pocket but I ignored it, feeling Zane’s grip on me tighten. He didn’t want to break this moment either. I could feel it, whatever it was, building.

He took a deep breath and pulled his head back, keeping our faces close as he opened his eyes to look at me. A knock on the door had us both sighing.
“Yeah?”

“Sorry. Um… there’s someone at the door for
Lili. She said her name is Nikki?” Paige’s voice floated through the door and I rolled my eyes, shaking my head as I slid free of Zane’s grip. I tried to help him to his feet but he brushed away my hand, clearly still trying to prove he was fine.

When we walked out into the living room, Nikki eyed us from the couch, her smirk telling me all the things she no doubt wanted to say out loud. “Well, well, well. I see you’ve finally slept with the hotness monster.”

“Nikki,” I hissed the word, glancing around for Conner.

“Oh relax. They took him to the kitchen. They said to tell you that dinner is ready,” Nikki said, clearly enjoying the uncomfortable silence that followed.

I turned to Zane, wrapping my arms around his waist as I looked up at him. “Go eat something so you can take more medicine.”

He chuckled and bent down to kiss the tip of my nose. “I love it when you try to boss me around.”

“I love it when you listen,” I responded, raising an eyebrow. He laughed and stepped back, raising his hands as he conceded.

“It was nice to see you again, Nikki,” he said, winking at her and turning out of my reach as I swatted at him.

“Jerk,” I muttered and he laughed again as he disappeared down the hall. I turned toward Nikki, moving to sit beside her on the couch. “So, what’s up?”

“What’s up? What’s up is that I got called into work tonight because Shannon said you quit. What’s going on? Did Zane put you up to this?” She dropped her voice on the last question, her eyes drifting toward the hallway where the voices of my family filtered to us.

“No.” I shook my head, realizing she must have heard from either Shannon or Heaven about the fight Zane and I had at the bar. “No, I…” I sighed, realizing I had to tell her something. “My shitty past is rearing its ugly head and between that and Zane fighting for custody of Conner, it was going to come out that I’m not old enough to work there. I quit so Shannon wouldn’t get in trouble.” I told her the same story I’d told Shannon, knowing for Nikki at least, it would only be a temporary cover. She would know the truth eventually, I just couldn’t tell her now.

Her eyes flicked to mine and back toward the hallway. “You’re like, legal though, right? You’re not going to get Zane arrested or anything, are you?”

“I’m nineteen,” I said hotly.

“Oh. Okay. I was just going to say if you needed someone to pretend to be with Zane to cover for you…”

I couldn’t help but laugh and shake my head at her.

“So, you’re sleeping in his bed?”

I nodded, grinning.

“And you’re using the ‘l’ word?”

I nodded again.

“Are you…” She wiggled her eyebrows as she trailed off suggestively.

“If I were, would it be any of your business?”

“We always talk about it,” she pouted and I shook my head.

“Well, we’re not, so there’s nothing to talk about.” I looked down at my hands, suddenly uncomfortable with the questioning.

“You’re really no
—”

“No, we’re not. Okay? It’s… different now. I can’t…
we’re just not.”

“Okay,” she said, apparently realizing she’d upset me. “I just came to check on you and make sure you were okay. If you need anything, you know I’m here.
Right?” She reached over, rubbing my arm.

I bit the inside of my lip and nodded. I did believe her. Nikki had always been behind me, even when we first met. I wasn’t usually good at being friends with girls but Nikki was one of the solid few I knew had my back. It was crazy to think about where I was now from where I was two years ago. I had people behind me then but it was different. They didn’t really care what happened to me unless it interfered with their ultimate goals.

Now, though? Now I had a life. I had friends. I had a family.

After dinner, I gave Conner a bath and helped him into bed. I left the TV on for him, giving him a little time to doze off on his own once he took another dose of medicine. I wanted to stay with him but Nikki’s visit reminded me that I hadn’t heard from Jackson since I was released and I wanted to make sure everything was okay now that the twins were home.

While I waited for him to answer, I slipped out of the bedroom and headed for the laundry room. I couldn’t wait for
Lili and I to find our own place. It seemed like there was someone in every room of this house and I couldn’t go anywhere to have a private conversation.

“Hello?” Jackson sounded groggy and I pulled my phone from my ear to check the time. It wasn’t even nine yet.

“Hey, man. Sorry, did I wake you?”

“Yeah.
No worries. I’ve been picking up some extra shifts.” He yawned through his response, clearing his throat as he woke.

“Oh. I was just calling to see how everything was going and how the twins are doing,” I said
, feeling guilty that I wasn’t back at work. The way he’d said he was picking up shifts made me wonder if it was voluntary or if I was leaving them short-handed.

“The girls are good.
Great. A handful but we love having them at home. Although I think Syd is just glad her mom finally left.” He chuckled.

“How is everything else? I barely remember seeing
Syd and I never really got to apologize to either of you about everything that happened.”

“Don’t. It wasn’t your fault,” Jackson sounded almost pained. “None of it was your fault.”

“I just feel bad. None of you should’ve had to deal with any of that. Not even Lili. But I’m sorry your family was dragged into it.”

“Can we just move on? I really don’t
wanna talk about it,” Jackson sighed. I heard something in his voice that sounded like nervousness. It only took a second to put the pieces together. He was worried about his family. Adam was unstable and on the loose still and while we had no proof he would go after them, he could. He was clearly far more disturbed than any of us realized.

“Yeah.
Sure,” I conceded, leaning against the washing machine as I shook my head.

“How are things with you and
Lili now that you’re home?” Jackson asked, obviously forcing lightness into his voice.

I chuckled, pushing my hair back as I thought about our day apartment searching. “Well, actually, we’re looking for a place of our own. I’ve decided to fight for full custody of Conner so I asked her to move in with me.”

Jackson was quiet and I thought he may say it wasn’t a good idea. I kept waiting for someone to tell me they didn’t think it was smart or that it was too soon. “Have you found anything yet?”

“Not really. Every apartment I can comfortably afford isn’t somewhere I would want Conner growing up and the few apartments I actually like are way out of my price range.” After another pause, I started to think maybe I was making Jackson uncomfortable but then I heard a muffled voice in the background.

“Hang on a sec,” Jackson said and the phone went silent as he muted it. I cradled the phone between my shoulder and my ear, starting to push myself up with my hands to sit on the washer before I realized my mistake. The phone slipped free as my back stiffened, the pain causing me to wince as I pulled my arms forward to stretch out the still too tight muscles in my back.

“Fuck,” I breathed, squatting carefully to retrieve my phone.

“Zane, are you there?” Sydney’s voice surprised me as I put the phone to my ear.

“Sorry. I dropped the phone. I’m here.”

“Hey! Jackson said you and Lili were looking to move. Is there a certain area of town you’re looking for?” she asked.

“
Uhh, not really. Just a decent neighborhood. Why? Do you have something in mind?”

“Actually, I do. My aunt had her house title transferred into my name about ten years ago when my uncle passed away and we had to put her in a nursing home several months ago. Jackson and I have been struggling to make both house payments while it’s on the market. It’s in the
Summerlin South area and actually backs up to the golf course. It’s gorgeous and you’d be doing us a favor if you took over the payments for a while.”

I stood, stunned as I listened to her offer.
Summerlin wasn’t a bad area at all. Lizzie and I had looked there before we found our place in Spring Valley but we couldn’t really afford it at the time.

“Well, what are the payments?” I asked, still hesitant. Houses in that area were on the high side and I wasn’t sure if I was setting myself up by hoping to get lucky.

“We can talk about that once you see the place. Jackson is off tomorrow if you want to meet us there?”

“Sure. Sounds good,” I said, reminding myself
, yet again, not to bet on something that sounded too good to be true.

Once I finished the phone call with Jackson, I headed back to check on Conner. It seemed to take him longer than usual to fall asleep. Maybe that was just because I felt exhausted and stressed. I was worried about the next step in this trial. I’d filed all the paperwork to start the process and it was officially underway. But it could end so badly.

I stayed with him, curling beside him on his little bed and ignoring the pain. It was starting to feel like every day with him was one to remember. Probably because my fear of losing him was clawing at my insides. What would I do if I lost him? I shook my head, brushing the hair off his forehead to kiss him. I couldn’t lose him. That was all there was to it.