Broken Read online

  Logan

  Henry must have hurt her more than I initially realized. Hayley isn’t normally one that seeks revenge, but if it makes her feel better about herself, then I’m all in.

  I place my spoon down and turn to face her. I swivel her stool around and pull her closer to me, her legs now resting between mine.

  “I don’t think we should tell her just yet.” My eyes are on hers. She begins to speak, but I gently press my finger to her lips. As I go on to continue, she kisses my finger and takes it in her mouth. Shit, I have to take a big breath and tell my dick to stay down. “You’re trying to distract me,” her tongue licks it. “Just hear me out.” Her hand comes up, taking mine, her mouth lets go of my finger. “Thank you.” If she'd kept going, I sure as shit wouldn't have remembered what I was going to say to her.

  “Fine,” she rolls her eyes, but I see that smile, the sly smile she's trying to hide.

  “I’ll try again. I think we should get a P.I.on board and get some more dirt on him. The images I have, aren’t enough for a court case. He could tell a judge he was drunk, or he could say the slut was coming onto him.” I pull her closer to me.

  “I’m not going to lie, I’d love to do it, now, but if I have to wait so we’re sure we can fuck him over on my mom's behalf, then that’s what I’ll have to do.” She shrugs.

  I lean in and press my lips to hers. I was just planning on a quick kiss, but she deepens it as she crawls into my lap.

  AFTER WE’D MADE LOVE, twice, I decided to put a call into Lucas. I want to be sure I have copies of all the images he shot of Henry and the whore at the airport.

  “Dude, everything okay?” he asks.

  Smiling, I hate to admit it, but I miss the asshole. “Yeah. The fucker threw her out. You have a new roommate.”

  The phone is resting upon the dining table, on speaker, but before he can answer, Hayley’s arms come around my neck, her chest pressing up against my back. “Sweet. It’s about fucking time. Is she okay?”

  I look up at her. “I’m fine, Lucas. Thanks, though.”

  “No problem. It’s about fucking time he moved you in. Fuck, I thought he was going to do it the week after he met you,” Lucas laughs.

  My arms move behind me, and I take hold of the backs of her perfect thighs. “I wanted to move her in the second I saw her.” Hayley kisses my neck. “Anyway, I'm calling because I want to know if the images of Henry you sent through to me were all of them, or do you still have more on your phone?”

  “There are a few more. I’ll email them to you, bro. I’m sorry, Hayley. It wasn’t something we wanted to have to use.”

  “I want the fucker to go down.” She's still as mad as hell.

  “Logan, are you sure that’s our Hayley you have there? It doesn’t sound like her.” Lucas is weary.

  “He fucked her over, she’s pissed and looking to take out revenge on him.” I drop my head back and look up at her. She isn’t happy, but she isn’t sad either.

  “He doesn’t love or even care about me, Lucas. Why should I care about him? If you saw the way he talked to me the other day, you would have kicked his ass. I want him to be left without a penny to his name. Fuck him. I know he married my mother for money, so I’m going to take it from him. You don’t kick me out and cut me off without payback. I’m done.”

  “I like this Hayley, Logan,” Lucas laughs.

  “Just send them through for me. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  “Yep. I have a car picking me up from the airport, so I’ll be home before lunch.”

  “Cool. Thanks, dude, I’ll see you then.”

  “No problem, bro. Bye, Hayley.”

  “Bye Lucas.” And we hang up.

  LUCAS STUCK TO HIS word and he sent the rest of the photos through, but they didn’t show much more than the ones I already had in my possession.

  One of the P.I's I'd sent a query email to the night before, finally got back to me in the afternoon.

  Greg, the P.I, informed me that he's going to start trying to dig up any dirt on Henry. I explained that money wasn’t an issue and that he was to do whatever he had to, to get the asshole caught on film in the most disturbing of poses, if possible. Greg assured me he'd do what he could and that he'd call me the minute he had anything to go on.

  LUCAS ARRIVED HOME at eleven, and Abby dropped in just after lunch. Coincidence? I think not.

  While lounging around the pool, Lucas suddenly jumps up and yells my name. “What?” I call in return. I have no idea what his problem could be. Why is he so mad? He was fine just a moment ago.

  He comes over to us, Hayley’s laying between my legs, and she has her head resting on my chest. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” He keeps coming forward and he reaches out, taking Hayley’s hand in his. “You gave her Nan’s ring, and you didn’t tell me? What the fuck, dude?” He’s so fucking pissed off his nostrils are flaring.

  Shit. I should have told him. “Fuck, I’m so fucking sorry.” I feel like an ass.

  “I know I wasn’t here, but I thought we were close. I thought you would, at least, call me and tell me you fucking got engaged.” It's abundantly clear that he’s upset with me rather than being angry.

  “What?!” It's Abby's turn to

  have a go at me. She then jumps up off the lounge and races towards us.

  “I really am sorry. There’s been so much going on. It wasn’t planned. I was a dick and didn’t plan anything. She deserved better, but for whatever reason, it felt right at the time.” I’d thought about how I'd propose to her a hundred times since the first time I saw her. In not one of those scenarios did I do it while we were in bed, two seconds after we’d made love.

  “It was right. It was perfect. I would have hated a spectacle,” she smiles up at me, then shifts her attention to Lucas. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I’ve had him preoccupied with the shit heap that is my life. He’s done nothing but fucking worry while trying to help me fix things. Please, if you’re going to be mad at anyone, be mad at me,” she begs him.

  He pulls on her hands until she’s up on her knees and hugs her. “I couldn’t be mad at you, sister-in-law. Hang on,” he keeps a hold of Hayley but turns to face me. “Didn’t you make a promise to Pop?”

  I nod. “I’m keeping my promise. I needed her to know that I wasn’t going anywhere.” My eyes lock with hers, and she smiles. Then I hear someone sniff.

  “Are you crying?” Hayley asks Abby.

  Abby waves her hands around in the air. “You two are just so fucking cute. Stop staring at me.”

  “Go and fuck her, will you?” Hayley asks Lucas.

  “I don’t need to be told twice.” Lucas hugs Hayley one last time before he throws Abby over his shoulder. “Let’s go.” He slaps her ass, and I laugh.

  “Just get together already.

  You would be a perfect couple,” Hayley yells but doesn’t receive an answer.

  I shake my head and chuckle. “Come here you,” I hold my arms out for her. She straddles my legs and kisses me.

  NOT MUCH HAPPENED OVER the next week, thank fuck. We lounged around while Lucas and Abby humped like rabbits. But on Friday, before school was to go back, we had a call come in from Greg, the P.I. that's been following Henry.

  “Greg, what have you found?” I ask as we're seated around the island in the kitchen.

  “A lot, honestly. I’ll send over the file, but it seems that he has a mistress in every town he has restaurants in. I’ve had my men follow him twenty-four hours a day, and we have collected a vast amount of evidence so far. Would you like us to continue watching him?” Greg asks.

  “Yes,” Hayley and I answer in unison.

  “We need as much evidence as we can get our hands on. I need to know that my mother is protected,” Hayley explains.

  “Not a problem. I will keep you informed, and you should have the email containing what we've found later this afternoon.”

  “Thank you. I'll send my credit card details in the return email,” I
tell him.

  We’d hung up soon after, and Hayley takes a seat in my lap. “I can’t let you pay for my family’s bullshit. I'll call my mother as soon as we have the email and get her card number. This is our bullshit to pay for, not yours.”

  She comes in to kiss me, but I pull back. I take her hand in mine and raise it. “Do you know what this means to me?”

  She lets go of a breath. “We’re not going to be married for four years, until then, I pay my way. I don’t care if I have to get a job. I will, and it won’t bother me,” she shrugs.

  My head tilts so I can see her better. “My grandfather left Lucas and I everything he had. We each inherited over two-hundred-million dollars.” Her eyes widen. “Exactly. Paying an investigator is chump change. We never need to work. I want to, but I don’t want you forcing yourself to go out and get a job because you feel you need to. You don’t have to, and I don’t particularly want you to work while we're in college. It would be a huge distraction, one you don’t need. I want you to, at least, pretend we're married. I want to take care of you. I'll have your name on everything I own, well before we’re married. You own me, Princess. You own all of me. Money means nothing. I wouldn’t be fazed if I didn’t have any. You are what I want. You are what I need. Everything else comes second, third, and fourth. Please don’t fight me on something as stupid as finances.”

  I watch her think, and finally, she agrees. “I promise I won’t fight you when it comes to money. But I need you to know that the only reason I have fought, is because, like you, money isn’t my number one priority. You are.”

  My smile is wide. “I love you so goddamn much.”

  Her smile now matches mine. “I love you too, babe.”

  As she leans in and kisses me, I hear Lucas come down the stairs. “Oi, Terrance is having a huge kick-ass blowout at his joint tonight. Abby’s in, how about you two?” he calls as he comes around the corner and into view.

  My gaze finds Hayley’s. “What do you think?”

  She shakes her head. “I’m not up to it. I don’t know if it’s the bullshit with my father, or what, but I can feel a migraine coming. There's pain right behind my eyes. It isn’t bad, yet, but it will be.”

  I look to my brother. “Nah,

  dude. Sorry.” I’m not leaving her.

  “Uh, huh," Hayley interjects. I look up at her in question. “I want you to go. All I’m going to do is take a couple of sleeping tablets, drink some ginger beer to calm my stomach, and go to bed. I’ll be sleeping most of the night.” I don’t want to leave her. When Hayley has a migraine, they’re bad. She vomits until there's nothing left in her stomach, and I’ve had to call a doctor in so that they could give her a shot of morphine, mixed with some anti-nausea meds, in the past.

  “What if you need a doctor?” I question.

  Her beautiful eyes meet mine, and I reach up and brush the straying hair back over her shoulder. “I’ll keep my phone on me. I’ll use Siri to call you and the doctor if need be. Please go and have a good night. I’ll be fine.” I can see that the migraine is already worsening because her eyes are now squinting, trying to avoid the light.

  “Let me get you some tablets and the ice pack first.” I won’t leave until I know she has everything she needs. I’d prefer it if she’d come with me, but I know she’d be miserable.

  ONCE I TUCK HER INTO bed and make sure she has everything she needs, I ask, “Are you sure you want me to go? You already don’t look well.” She can get so sick from these migraines. Whether she’s put the pieces together as yet, I don’t know, but they seem to rear their ugly heads when her parents have given her any kind of grief.

  She closes her eyes. “I’ll be okay. Go have fun.”

  I lean in and kiss her. “I’ll call to check on you.”

  “Okay.” She snuggles her head into her pillow. “Go, I’m fine,” she grins.

  Hayley

  I don’t know how long I’d been asleep, but I was woken when my phone beeped. Blindly, I reach for it and tap the screen. Someone’s sent a message, it isn’t from a number I know, but I open it anyway, and when I do, immediately, I regret it.

  It’s a photo of a shirtless Logan, with Ashleigh on top of him, their mouths locked.

  My stomach churns. Pulling back the covers, I run to the bathroom and throw up. My head is still aching, and my heart has been crushed into a million pieces, I need to get out of here. I can’t stay here in this lie.

  I gather what I can and go to leave the room, but then I remember the ring. The one he gave me when he’d asked me to marry him. Pulling it off my finger, I throw it across the room.

  The instant I’m in my car, and I'm behind the wheel, my throbbing head stops me from starting the engine. I need help, so I dial Abby’s number.

  “Hello,” she answers, but I can barely talk through my sobs. “Hayley, what happened?”

  “I need to leave, but I have a migraine. I need help,” I cry.

  “Where are you, sweetheart?”

  “I’m in the asshole's driveway, but my head hurts so much I can’t drive my car. I need to leave. Please help me,” I beg.

  “I’ll get dad’s driver to bring me over now so I can drive the Escalade for you.”

  “Thank you. Please hurry. I can’t be here when Logan gets back. I’ll kill him, Abb’s.”

  “Give me five minutes.”

  “Thank you,” I whisper and hang up.

  Blindly, I reach out and hit the CD player needing a distraction, and the most appropriate song starts playing. It’s ‘So much better’ by Eminem.

  That song is perfect for how I feel right at this very moment, I do wish I was dead.

  While I sit back and cry, true to her word, Abby shows up to be with me within the five minutes she’d promised. “Where are we going?” she asks as she climbs into the driver’s seat. I’d moved to the passenger side while I waited for her to arrive.

  “My parent's house. Dad’s gone.”

  “Okay.”

  She doesn’t press me for answers straight away, but she will once we’ve arrived at my house, but not yet.

  As soon as she’s helped me up into my old bed, Abby lays down beside me, taking me in her arms, and asks in a whisper, “What happened?”

  My chest aches from my sobs. “Go into messages on my phone,” I manage.

  My eyes are closed, but I know when she’s seen the photo because her breath hitches. “Mother fucker.”

  Just as she reaches over to place it on the bedside table, it starts to ring. “It's Lucas. Do you want me to answer?” she asks.

  “Tell him his brother is a cunt, and hang up.” All I have left in me is pure hatred.

  “Lucas. You fucking listen to me, tell Logan he’s a cheating cunt, and that he is never to contact Hayley again!” She hangs up. “I’m going to block their numbers so they can’t get through, okay?”

  I nod in response. “Can you hit the switch and close the front gates? I don’t want them getting in.”

  “Sure thing.” I feel the bed move, and I hear her footsteps as she walks down the corridor.

  My crying causes my chest to heave. I love Logan with everything I have. I love him more than I ever thought would be possible, and he does this to me? Why, why didn’t I listen to Ashleigh the skank, when she kept trying to tell me that he would leave me for her? Why didn’t I listen when she said that he always goes back to her?

  First, my father treats me as if I don’t exist, he kicks me out of my home, disowning me, and now Logan has done the same. Why did I think that I could have a great life? Shit, my parents don’t want to hang around, why would anyone else?

  Moments later, I hear Abby return. “Here.”

  I open my eyes and see she has a bottle of water in one hand, and a box of painkillers in the other. It’s hard, but I do manage to sit up just enough to take them. “Thanks.”

  She takes the bottle from me, places it down on the bedside table, and lays down beside me. “So what are you going to do?” Abb
y asks.

  My eyes close again, my head is still aching. “Well, now that my father has proved me wrong, I’ll stay here. I feel like such an idiot. Ashleigh told me that no matter what, he always goes back to her. I should have taken that warning seriously. I should have listened. Never will I fall for a guy the way I did with Logan, ever again.” Never in my wildest dreams could I have ever been prepared for the hurt I’m feeling right now. The man that proposed to me a week ago, the man I didn’t hesitate to say yes to, has managed to rip my heart out.

  Thankfully, it isn’t long before the pills kicked in and sent me to sleep.

  WHEN I WAKE, I LOOK for Logan, out of habit, and then it hits me all over again. I roll onto my side and begin to cry until I hear the crinkle of a piece of paper under my head. I pull it out and read it.

  Hey, Hayley.

  I had to go home for a bit, I hope you don’t mind, but I took the Escalade since the driver had taken me to meet you last night. I won’t be too long. My grandparents are coming for lunch, so I have to be there. If you need the car, call me.

  Both the boys have been trying to call me, so I blocked their numbers. If you need anything while I’m out just let me know and I’ll grab it on my way back.

  Love, ya. Abb’s.

  Once I’d been to the bathroom, I took some more sleeping tablets and climbed back into bed. I couldn’t lie awake. I couldn’t think about him.

  Just as I closed my eyes, the buzzer from the front gate sounded.

  Once I’ve reached the monitor, my heart stops beating. It’s both Logan and Lucas.

  I press the intercom button, “Fuck off and drop dead you fucking asshole.” I see that he’s going to press the buzzer to talk, so I hit the silence button, and curl back up in bed, my tears soaking the pillow. Thank god, for sleeping pills.

  I manage to successfully sleep through the rest of the weekend. Each time I wake, I take a handful of pills and cry myself back into a slumber.