Beautifully Broken (The Broken Series Book 2) (43 page)

“Got
it!” Phil shouted excitedly. “Last team to complete the Great Urban Race is a
rotten egg. Keep it real.” Phil took a picture of the answer and texted it in.

“What’s
next on the list?” I inquired curiously.

Kadyn
looked at the list of challenges. “We need to find a bike vendor near the Tidal
Basin. He’ll let us use the bikes for free if we tell him the moon is made of
banana cream pie.”

“God,
that sounds good,” Phil moaned.

Kadyn
rolled his eyes as he gave Phil the last remaining Peep.

I
poked my head in the car. “Habib… a bike rental place near the Tidal Basin?”

Habib
nodded. “I know where it is. Hop in.” We climbed into the car.

Kadyn
continued to explain the task, “We need to ask for tandem bikes and convince
four strangers to go with us. We have to take pictures to prove that they did.”

I
balked at the idea. “You have got to be kidding me! Who’s going to jump onto a
bike with us?”

This
time, Cenia scouted out four college boys who were willing to come along for
the ride. One of them gave her his phone number when we returned the bikes.

Cenia
grinned as she rejoined the group. “Next task?”

I
wrapped my arm around her, totally excited about the next challenge. “We have
to go to the Marrakesh and take pictures of the four of us feeding each other
Moroccan food and learning how to belly dance.”

A
mischievous smile tugged at the corner of Cenia’s mouth. “The guys have to
learn too?”

I
nodded as a huge grin spread across my face.

“That’s
awesome,” she responded. We piled back into Habib’s car.

We
made Habib join us for lunch. We were surprised to learn that the Marrakesh
didn’t offer any silverware. Our waiter washed our hands for us as soon as we
were seated at a low table surrounded by a pile of colorful pillows. The
challenge prohibited us from feeding ourselves, so I absently shoved a handful
of meat pie into Kadyn’s mouth while I studied the remaining seven tasks. Kadyn
returned the favor. The meat pie was wrapped inside a flaky crust, which was dusted
in powdered sugar. It was absolutely delicious.

I
looked up from the list of tasks. “I think I finally have this one figured out.
We have to collect chocolate from Belgium’s embassy, ice from Iceland’s
embassy, and beer from Germany’s embassy.”

Kadyn
shoved more meat pie in my face as soon as I finished speaking.

I
shot him a dirty look. Everyone laughed as I wiped powdered sugar from my nose.

Cenia
fed Phil a piece of roasted chicken in a more civilized manner. “That should be
easy.”

Kadyn
held up his hand before I could shove another handful of food in his mouth. “I
just finished all ten brain teasers from the Forbes website. Cenia, you need to
take a picture of my results.”

Cenia
wiped her hands on her napkin, picked up her cell phone, and quickly snapped
off a picture of the screen on Kadyn’s phone. She forwarded the photo in a
text. “Great! That’s another task down. We have six remaining.”

“Make
that five,” Phil corrected. “I found a picture of the James Madison statue in
the Library of Congress and was able to enlarge it enough to make out the dates.
Once I played around with the numbers, I was able to decipher the puzzle. It
says, ‘Don’t quit.’”

I
shot Phil an incredulous look. “Just how high do you score on intelligence tests,
anyway?”

Phil
tried not to smile. “One hundred seventy-eight.”

I
turned toward Kadyn. “And you?”

Kadyn
smiled. “One hundred seventy-six, but that was a bit of an off day for me.”

I
looked at Cenia. She just shook her head.

One
of the belly dancers shimmied up to our table. “It’s now or never,” I warned my
friends. The four of us rose from the table. Habib remained seated so I walked
around the table and pulled him to his feet. “No way are you getting out of
this.”

Habib
laughed as I pulled him toward the belly dancers.

As
soon as we snapped off some pictures of each of us learning how to belly dance,
we jumped back into the car so Habib could drive us to Embassy Row. We quickly divided
up the tasks. Phil went to retrieve the beer, Cenia and I went for the
chocolate, and Kadyn settled for the ice. We had to take pictures of each of
the items so we could throw the ice before it melted, eat the chocolate, and
drink the beer.

We
had to find a costume store for the next challenge. We were tasked with finding
uniforms that fit our registered team name. We had registered as the Justice
League, so it was easy to find superhero costumes. The hard part was wearing
the costumes in public for the remainder of the race. Kadyn chose a Batman costume.
No surprise there. Phil was Spiderman. Cenia chose Wonder Woman, and I dressed
as Supergirl. Thankfully, there were six hundred other people racing through DC
in costumes, so we didn’t stand out… much.

For
the third task we had to find a sushi restaurant that would serve us raw squid.
Each and every one of us had to eat the nasty stuff. Phil was the only one who
liked it. I wiped my tongue on the napkin and drank a full bottle of Sprite to
rinse the taste out of my mouth. Cenia and Kadyn assured me it was better than
eating bugs, which they evidently had to eat at survival training. The restaurant
staff gave us the squid for free after we let them take pictures of us in our
superhero costumes.

Habib
drove us back down to the Tidal Basin so we could race relay style in paddle
boats across the basin. It was painfully obvious who the weakest link was on
that task. A number of children approached us after the paddle boat race to ask
if they could take pictures with us. We didn’t think it would be appropriate
for superheroes to refuse, so we spent a good twenty minutes posing for pictures.

We
had to return to the National Mall for the final task. We were promptly fitted
with leg irons and handcuffs. Thankfully our wrists were handcuffed in the front,
because we had to run a wheelbarrow race against ten other teams while still in
the cuffs. Given the arm strength required, we decided the best approach would
be for Cenia and me to hold Kadyn and Phil’s legs while they hopped their hands
across the lawn.

The
four of us collapsed on the ground on the other side of the finish line. We were
the twenty-ninth team to complete the race, which we agreed was remarkable
considering it was our first year in the competition.

Habib
dropped us off at Kadyn’s place. We walked over to his old apartment, where we
joined Mason, Gabi, Marie, and Roger for pizza. There was no end to the ribbing
over our costumes.

It
was after eleven when Kadyn finally drove me home. My entire body ached from
the race, so I grabbed my iPod and portable speaker and ran a bath. I threw in
some lavender bath salts before settling in to enjoy the steaming water. I examined
my wrists and ankles as I lie in the bathtub listening to Ella Fitzgerald. They
were rubbed raw from the cuffs. The angry red marks threw me back to another place
and time... the time when Justin handcuffed me to the bathroom sink and left me
without food for days.

I
tried to shake the haunting images as I washed and rinsed my hair. I was still
battling those memories when I climbed out of the tub. I toweled off, brushed
my teeth, and slipped a silk camisole and short set on as I got ready for bed.

I
took some Ibuprofen and a sleeping pill before burrowing under the covers. I nudged
my thoughts toward the race as I tried to force Justin from my mind. I smiled
as I reflected on the day’s activities. I couldn’t remember the last time I had
so much fun. My thoughts shifted toward Shae and the job she wanted me to apply
for. I yawned as I made a quick mental note to e-mail her my resume in the
morning.

My
smile faded as my thoughts spun toward Rafael. I still couldn’t believe I had
seen him this morning.
What was he doing in Virginia, and why had he walked
away without speaking to me?
My chest tightened as I questioned whether I
would see him again. I had avoided calling Rafael for months because I didn’t
want to be reminded of the life I had with Michael, and I didn’t want Rafael to
feel pressured to maintain our friendship because I knew it would cause
problems between him and Michael.

I
reached for my cell phone, which was still charging on the nightstand. I slowly
scrolled through the contacts. Rafael’s number was still there.
Maybe I
should call...
 My thumb hovered over his number as my vision blurred. I was
still holding the phone when I drifted off to sleep.

*
* * * * *

It
was another dream. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I knew it was another
dream. I wanted out, desperately, but the sleeping pill held me firmly under.
Tears flowed from Michael’s eyes as he grabbed my face and kissed me roughly on
the lips. “Go,” he rasped. I could feel his hand on my face, taste his tears,
smell his cologne.

I
felt myself falling. My knees hit the floor. The words were thick and jumbled
in my mouth. “No, Michael, please don’t make me go. I love you. I can’t breathe
without you. I need you, Michael. Please, I’m begging you to let me stay.”

“Go.
Now,” he yelled more forcefully. “Leave me!” he screamed.

I
sobbed as pain radiated through my chest. I clutched at my chest, but my hands
were already there. “
No
,” my mind whispered. “
Not yours
.” I
struggled to make sense of it. “
Not mine, not mine, not mine,
” echoed
through my brain.

Warm
arms strengthened their hold. My tears stalled as my brain fought against the
remaining dredges of sleep. My eyes fluttered opened and slowly focused. I was
in my room, safely tucked in bed. I sighed. Michael’s words still lingered in
my mind. I could still smell the cedar and cloves from his cologne. My pillow
was soaked, my face still wet with tears. I reached for my chest again, hoping
to ease the pinched feeling that had settled there while I slept.

I
froze. There were hands… and arms wrapped firmly around me. I looked down at
caramel colored skin. I slammed my eyes shut, then opened them again. The arms
were still there. My breath caught sharply. My heart beat a crescendo until I
could hear nothing else. I grasped the arm that was draped over me, needing some
assurance it was real. Slowly, I turned.

His
face looked beautifully broken in the strands of moonlight that poured between
the blinds of my bedroom window. Dark eyebrows were knit with concern, framing soft
brown eyes steeped in pain.

I
tightened my hold on his well-sculpted arm. I was certain he would disappear
the moment I released him. My heart beat once… twice… then stopped. The air
rushed out of my lungs as his name fell breathlessly across my lips.
“Rafael?”

#
# #

I live in Northern
Virginia with my football-crazed husband, two beautiful daughters, two
psychotic Shih Tzus, and two freakishly large goldfish. I teach courses in
international relations, foreign policy, peacekeeping, and human security at
the American Military University. I also work as a reading tutor at my
daughters’ elementary school. What can I say? I still love school. Reading has
long been my passion, so I belong to not one but two book clubs, which I fondly
refer to as my “good girl bookclub” and my “bad girl bookclub.” Suffice it to
say the “bad girl bookclub” is the one that decided to read Fifty Shades of
Gray.

I’ve been writing for
as long as I can remember. In my childhood, I loved writing poetry, song
lyrics, and short stories. Somehow, this morphed into supreme court briefs,
government reports, congressional bills, journal articles, and op ed pieces as
I grew older. And now? I’m writing romantic suspense novels. God only knows
why.

Thanks for reading this
second book in the broken series. Keep reading for more information on book three
in the series. I love hearing from my readers, so please stop by ksruff.com,
drop me a note, and let me know what you thought about the book!

broken
wings