Broken Road (11 page)

“Well, I don’t have much to compare it to. It’s not like Bradenton is the…”

Morgan rolled her eyes in boredom and cut her off by saying, “Whatever.” Plopping herself beside Angel on the sofa, she grabbed the remote control from her hand and began flipping through the channels, never remaining on one for more than a few seconds. Not saying a word, but inwardly brewing, Angel heaved a quiet sigh and stood up to leave the room.

“I have to stop by my boyfriend’s house later on for a bit. Will you be alright while I’m gone?”

“It’ll be tough, but I’m sure I’ll survive,” said Angel sarcastically. “Tim seems like a nice guy.”

“Tim’s not my boyfriend.”

“Oh. I thought he was. When he came over last night, you two seemed…I don’t know…sort of like a couple.”

“He wants to be. I’m just letting him woo me a bit. I may have to end things with my boyfriend so I can make Tim’s dream come true,” she said with a chuckle.

Surprised, but not shocked, at Morgan’s revelation that she was allowing someone to “woo” her, although she had a boyfriend, Angel simply stared at her cousin in dumbstruck fascination. Sitting back down, she turned toward Morgan.

“What about this boyfriend of yours? Where does he fit in?”

“You probably won’t even get a chance to meet him. He’s been laid up for a bit because of an accident he was in. He’s doing a lot better now, but all he does is mope around when he could be out and about. He keeps saying he’s not well enough yet, but I just think that’s a crock of shit. He’s never been much of a partygoer; he prefers to stay in a lot. I don’t see him in my future anymore.”

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be wiser to just break up with him rather than two-time him?”

“I’m not two-timing him. Tim and I haven’t even kissed. We just flirt around a lot.”

“You were holding hands last night. That’s two-timing.”

“Not in my book,” Morgan said as she stood up and tossed the remote control onto Angel’s lap. Grabbing her handbag, which lay on the floor near the front door, she stopped to inspect herself in the mirror in the foyer. Satisfied with what she saw, she turned her face toward Angel.

“Not everyone is as wholesome, sweet, and good as you, Angelise. Some of us like to live life to the fullest, and if that entails breaking what you might consider to be rules, then so be it. See ya. Tell Mom I’ll be home late.” With that as her parting line, she left.

Twenty minutes later Morgan was at Jarrod’s house. She had been dropping by to visit two, perhaps three, times a week and would stay only a short while each time. That day she walked in the door and greeted Jarrod’s parents and Alec, who were watching TV in the living room. After asking if it would be alright for her to go upstairs, she turned toward the steps and hesitated at the bottom step before moving forward. Alec noticed the brief wavering and frowned slightly.

When he heard Jarrod’s bedroom door close, he turned toward his parents and said, “She’s going to break up with him.”

“What?” responded Janet in a shocked voice while Jim simply stared at his youngest son in a curious manner.

“I’ve heard some rumors and none of them are good.”

“Why do you want to break up?” said Jarrod as he lay motionless on his bed. He didn’t seem upset, just curious.

“It’s just that I feel we’ve reached a standstill in our relationship,” Morgan said as she stood stock-still at the foot of his bed. “Could you please stop changing the channels and pay attention to what I’m saying?” In a disinterested manner, Jarrod complied with her request and tossed the remote on the bed next to him. With slight difficulty he righted himself into a sitting position and folded his hands over his stomach while patiently waiting for her to speak. He watched as she unsuccessfully attempted to pull her pink and white midriff below her pierced belly button, finding it somewhat amusing to watch it ride back up the minute she removed her hands from it. Her tight denim jeans rode low on her waist, emphasizing her curvaceous body.

Upon noticing how he was watching her, she began to feel self-conscious, so she turned away to face the mirror and tousled her short, brown hair to give it that natural, messy, windblown look that usually took over an hour to perfect. When she was certain her hair looked its best, she wiped away a smidge of black eyeliner that had smeared below her big, brown eyes. Big, brown,
boring
eyes, she thought to herself. Why couldn’t she have had blue, green, or even hazel eyes? Brown was so dull and unexciting. Angelise had beautiful green eyes. Jarrod had gorgeous blue eyes. Even Alec, Jarrod’s nimrod brother, had nice eyes. Everyone did but her. It didn’t seem fair.

“Go on. You were saying we’ve reached a standstill. How do you mean?” he asked, impassively bringing her back to matters at hand.

She turned to face him and said, “Meaning that I…I feel that maybe…the time has come for us to move forward and…I just don’t see that happening for us together.” Beginning to feel irritated by his indifference, she began to mentally count to ten, which is what she would do whenever she felt she was about to lose control. She was expecting, perhaps even hoping, for him to feel hurt, frustrated, or even angry, but definitely not this coldness and apathy. He appeared to be aloof and dispassionate and that bothered the hell out of her.

“Why? Because I can’t get around well enough to take you to the mall, movies, the prom…”

“No…no, that’s not it. It’s just that…well, it’s just that…”

“Just say it,” he said as he picked up a copy of the
Sports Illustrated
Swimsuit Edition that was lying on his bed, paying particular attention to page seventy-five.

As she watched him peruse the magazine, she thought to herself that he was probably the most arrogant, coldhearted son of a bitch she had ever had the misfortune of meeting. She was glad as all hell that she was breaking up with him.

“On second thought, maybe yes, just a little. Jarrod, I’ll be eighteen in less than a week. I’m young and I want to do things, go places, and have fun. I feel terrible about all that’s happened to you, but I can’t be expected to sit around and wait for you to heal…”

Tossing the magazine aside and glaring at her, he said, “You think this is easy for me? You think I enjoy lying here waiting patiently for my body to give me a sign that it’s ready to start ‘moving forward,’ as you put it? Well, news flash. It’s not! I’m in fuckin’ hell here.”

I finally hit a nerve
, thought Morgan.

“Jarrod, please…calm down. You need to understand.”

“I totally understand. You’re coming in loud and clear. You want out of the relationship and that’s fine. I won’t fight you on it.”

“I don’t want you to be angry. I’m hoping that we can—”

“Be friends?” He lifted his brows in a questioning manner.

“Yeah. Do you think that it might be possible?”

“Whatever.” After a brief, awkward silence, he added, “You should go now.”

“Jarrod, you may not care at the moment, but I want you to know I’m sorry…I really am.” Walking toward him, Morgan slowly leaned over to place a light, tender kiss on his forehead before turning and walking out the door, shutting it softly behind her as Jarrod coolly picked up the remote and once again began clicking away.

When she made it down the stairs, she quickly glanced into the living room and noticed it was empty. Taking a deep sigh of relief and releasing it softly, she headed for the door as quickly and as quietly as she possibly could. As soon as she opened it, she found Alec sitting on the top step of the front stoop. He turned toward her and said, “Thought you were in the clear, huh?”

“What do you want, Alec? I’m not in the mood today for your bull—”

“What did you say to him?” he asked, cutting her off. He stood up and blocked her path down the steps.

“It’s none of your business,” she retorted. Alec had made it obvious from day one that he didn’t think highly of Morgan, and she was tired of trying to change his perception of her. When Jarrod and she first started dating, Morgan had tried hard for Alec to see a different side of her; but no matter what she did or said, he still always saw her as a scheming, conniving, malicious bitch and treated her like one.

“He’s my brother and unlike you, I care about him. I have every right to know what kind of crap you just fed him.”

She gave Alec an exasperated look and said, “I told him we needed to end things because our relationship had reached a standstill and it was time to move forward. Blah, blah, blah. Now that you know what I told him, would you please get the hell out of my way, so I can leave?”

“As much as I would
love
to see you go, no. Did you tell him you’ve been screwing around with Tim Watson?” He gave her a fierce look while she stood stunned by his accusation.

Regaining a slight fix on her composure, she defiantly lifted her chin in a resolute manner and brusquely said, “You have no idea what the hell you are talking about. I haven’t been cheating on Jarrod.”

“Yet. It’s just a matter of time. Everyone knows that you’ve been throwing yourself at Tim.”

“Just stay out of my business Alec,” she said while trying to get around him, but he continued to block her way by moving in the same direction.

“Just tell the truth and you can leave.”

“I am telling the truth. I haven’t been with Tim. Yes, he’s shown interest, and yes, I sort of like him, but we haven’t been together. I haven’t been cheating on Jarrod.” Morgan was livid now. How dare he interrogate her like this? She owed him absolutely no explanation and didn’t know why she even bothered to tell him what she did. She just wanted to leave, but he was making it so difficult. Why did he have to be so big? Little brothers were supposed to be small and puny, not powerful and well built like Alec.

“I know you, Morgan. You may have everyone else fooled, but not me. I know what you have planned. You know damn well you’re going to hook up with Tim eventually, so you decided to break up with Jarrod before you do, so no one can ever say you cheated. I’m right, aren’t I? Just admit it.”

Feeling like a mouse trapped in a corner, she blurted out, “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I just know that being with Jarrod right now is not the right thing for me. I have big plans for my future, Alec, and things have changed so much that it can no longer include Jarrod.” She quickly realized she had said too much, but it was too late to take it back now.

“Go on.”

At that point she would have said anything to get out of there and away from him and his condescending, holier-than-thou attitude.

“Fine, if you’re so intent on knowing, I’ll tell you.” Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes briefly in hopes of gaining a smidgen of control over her raging temper, she leaned back against the white porch column with her arms folded across her chest. When she opened her eyes, a sudden gleam appeared over them as she looked beyond him toward her anticipated future.

“I want the finer things in life. I want to someday be married to a rich man, have a big house on the cliffs overlooking the skyline and a nice, expensive car or two. A Ferrari would be nice. I want to wear the finest designer clothes and be able to shop as much as my heart desires and not worry about where the money is coming from.” Now smiling softly as though she were experiencing this description of what she foresaw as her future, she added, “I want to be able to pack my Louis Vuitton bags and travel all over the world whenever I feel the whim to blow this pop stand of a town. I want everyone to envy me and say, “Oh look. There goes Morgan Billings, the luckiest girl alive.’”

Now looking at Alec, she said without a trace of emotion, “I almost had all of this with Jarrod, but let’s face it, now that he injured his arm as badly as he did, the potential for him playing ball and giving me all this is no better than nil. I can’t waste my time with him anymore. Like I said, it’s time to move on and that’s exactly what I’m doing.”

Alec was silent at first, causing Morgan to believe that she had shocked him. But on the contrary, he expected something like this of her. He knew she was shallow and materialistic; therefore, her actual reason for breaking up with his brother came as no surprise to him.

“First of all, what makes you think he would have married you?” said Alec calmly.

“He would have,” she said overconfidently.

“I doubt it,” he responded.

“He would have done the right thing.”

Alec paused, realizing what she was getting at. “Are you saying you’re pregnant?”

“No. But if it would have guaranteed a gold ring on my finger from him, I would have made sure I was.” It was true. If Jarrod hadn’t been in that accident, causing all of her plans to pulverize like concrete into dust, she would have gone to whatever extreme measures were necessary to ensure the realization of that marriage, even if it included getting pregnant. It wouldn’t have bothered her to pop out a baby or two; that’s what nannies were for.

“Man, I always knew you were nothing more than a worthless piece of shit, but I had no idea you would go as far as that to get what you wanted,” said Alec with cutting derision.

“Your flattery warms my heart. Where do you come off judging me anyway? You don’t know the first thing about me,” she responded fiercely.