This Broken Beautiful Thing (15 page)

He’s qui
et still looking at me with sad eyes. “You are so strong Harley, you don’t deserve what he did. He didn’t deserve you babe, you can do so much better. I can’t believe he did that to you. You were so good to him and he fucked it all up.” He runs his hand through his thick messy blond hair and whispers the last bit as if not wanting me to hear.

“If it makes you feel better he hasn’t been himself since you left that night. After your
accident, he blamed himself, he wanted to see you and speak to you, try explain to you why-”

I interrupt him, “Brent…
no…I don’t want to hear this and I don’t want to speak about him or hear how he’s doing. I want to forget him and that night. Please.” I beg him.

“
Sup Brent, who’s the hottie?” Some jock comes over to us and puts his hand on Brent’s shoulder and looks down at me winking. I just shake my head and look to Brent who’s now eating my half eaten burger and drinking the rest of my soda. I smile, many people have changed through the years but Brent has stayed the same no matter what. Of course he’s flirty and always joking around with me but he will always be like a big brother to me. I shouldn’t have shut him out like I did, guess he’s really one of the true good friends I did have.

“Trevor, meet Harley, Harley this is my cousin.
Trevor, off limits got it?” Brent says with his mouth full of food glaring at his cousin.

Trevor greets me but I hear the door bells go off again and once again I tremble praying Jace hasn’t found me. Instead in walks a group of the girls that hang around the club, Rache
lle included.

What the
hell? Is this the local hang out or what?

“Why do you look so jumpy every time the bell rings?” Brent asked confused.

Trevor looks at the door and spots the group of barely clothed girls. His lip curls in disgust, “Argh…look what the cats dragged in.” He winks at me then walks back to his table with the other guys.

I look down at my
hands, shake my head and let out a deep breath, “Tell me about it.”

“You know those chicks?
Please don’t tell me you hang out with them.” Brent says looking at me worried pushing my now empty plate to the side.

I almost want to stand up to the girls and ask him what he means but I know exactly what he means , he thinks we are
better than them and I shouldn’t be associated with girls like that but I don’t stand up for them.
Look where it got me last time? Those girls did this to themselves…

“Nah…don’t know them but know of them.” I look back to where Rache
lle was minutes before and I look up just in time to see her walking towards me.

“Harley, I’m so sorry about earlier. I heard you saw us.” She looks down at her long red fake fingernails ashamed.

“No Rachelle, don’t bother apologizing to me. I stood up for you last night. That dude was double my size and I fucking hit him with a bat for you. I risked mine and my child’s safety for you, only for you to act like the slut that they were accusing you of being. Then I find you sucking him off? No-” I shake my head, “-don’t bother, I’m done with apologies, they don’t mean shit.” I get up and throw money on the table, enough for the meal and a big enough tip.

“Y…your child?” Brent stutters, in my angry state I forgot he was even around.

“Oh. My. God, you’re pregnant. I…I’m so sorry Harley, I don’t know what I was thinking-” Rachel trembles but I ignore her and Brent and run out the Diner.

I’m leaning on the side of the wall trying to get my breathing to return to normal, I can’t have a panic attack out here.

Breathe…just breathe Harley…In…out…in…

“Harley! Wait! Shit, you need to stop running away like that!” Brent comes running up to me out of breath leaning his hand on his knees hunching over.

“I’m sorry…” I mumble finally catching my breath looking up at him as he stands up, waiting to see the judgment in his eyes.

“You’re pregnant?” he simply says.

“It’s not his Brent, don’t ask me questions…just know, it’s not his…”
It’s mine,
I don’t say that out loud though.

He looks at me with a shocked expression on his
face and then surprises me by pulling me in for a hug. “You need anything babe, you call me.”

“Thanks.” I say squeezing him tight.

“Come with us to the park? I’ll take you home after. Please?” he begs me.

“Okay...” I smile and he pulls me along to his truck where all the guys are already sitting on the back making a ruckus.

We
’re sitting at the park in the middle of the night, I’m sitting next to Brent as I watch the other few guys hanging around down by the pond all chatting and laughing with drinks in their hands.

The park is
my favorite place around here, it’s so beautiful and peaceful especially at night.

“So who was that chick and why did you hit some guy with a bat?” Brent says interrupting my thought
s.

I sigh knowing he
isn’t about to let me get away with it.

“Well last night,
she was struggling to get this guy that was forcing himself onto her so when he didn’t listen to me telling him to stop, I got a baseball bat. I hit him a couple times and yelled at all these guys when they called her a slut. When they told me that she was doing her job I defended her but then…” I mumble not really wanting to bring up the memory of seeing them together.

“Then what babe?” Brent says looking intensely at me obviously engrossed in my story.

“Then I kinda found her…with Jace a few hours ago…she was um…giving him head.” I say sadly but he looks confused.

“Who’s Jace?” he asks.

“He’s the guy that I crashed into and well it’s complicated, I don’t know what we are or what we were. It’s weird but I thought we were together because he kind of acted like we were but I guess I was wrong. I suppose I can’t even be upset with him or what he did. It reminded me of the whole Caleb and Ashley thing.” I say sadly wiping away a stray tear and looking away from him, not wanting him to see my watery eyes.

Brent pulls me close
r to him so I’m snuggled into his side and puts his arm over mine. “I’m sorry you have bad taste babe.” This makes me laugh underneath him and his chuckle joins mine.

“Do you want me to beat him up for you?” He winks.

“Who do we have to beat up?” Trevor says lying next to me leaning on his elbows.

“Sweetie, no offence…Jace will destroy you. Both of you.
Same time.” I tease them and they chuckle, little do they know that all of what I’m saying is true.

We hear the roar of
motorcycles come up and I know my time is up. I roll my eyes and snuggle closer to Brent, he smiles at me then looks up to the parking lot to see a couple bikes as they park.

“Wonder what these guys want.” Trevor says twisting his
head to see a couple of guys jump off their bikes. I turn my head back to the pond, wishing that I had a little more time to enjoy the peace.

“They’re here for me.” I simply say and both
boys’ heads whip around to look at me.

“What?
Whoa! Check out that big dude. Please don’t tell me that’s Jace…” Brent says quickly taking his arm off my shoulder.
Good idea…

I take a glance back and turn my head back to the pond.

“Nah that’s Hunter…Jace is scarier.” Brent chokes on his beer and I chuckle.

“Bad taste huh?” I say winking
.

“Princess, up…let’s go.” Hunter simply says. I let out a deep breath and Brent helps me up. Hunter gets in between us but I manage to slide past him and grab Brent in for a hug. He feels so familiar and harmless. I whisper in his ear, “I’ll call you and we can catch up okay?” I try pull away but he pulls me back tighter against him.

He whispers in my ear, “Are you safe with him Harley?”

“Yeah…he’s good.”
I’m safe with Hunter…not so sure about Jace though.
I kiss his cheek and he smiles. I swear I hear Hunter grumble from behind me but I don’t care.

Brent reluctantly lets go and
Hunter takes my small hand in his. He pulls me along with him up the hill back to where their bikes are parked.

“Raven isn’t going to like that.
” he says as he puts a helmet on my head and makes sure everything is buckled tight.

“What?” I ask confused.

“You cuddling up to the Jock, he won’t like that….I don’t like that.” he shakes his head.

“He
’s the only friend I have left here, I don’t care what anyone says. I’ve lost too much already, I’m not losing him.” I say looking away from Hunters concerned face.

“I’m your friend Harley. Aren’t I?” hunter says and I look at him and I notice he looks hurt.

I smile at him and squeeze his large muscular tattoo covered arm. “Yeah…you are. Thank you Hunter.” He smiles at me and seems more relaxed.

“Okay good, where’s my kiss then? Huh?” He gives me a cheeky grin. I’m not fooled by his good looks, I know a player when I see one but I oblige and give him a kiss on his cheek as he bends down.

“Thank you for looking after me in the bathroom tonight and…everything else.”  He smiles at me.

“You’re
welcome Princess. Let’s get you home before Rave rips the entire club house to shit.” Hunter says climbing on the bike motioning for me to climb on behind him.

Arriving at the
house, I don’t know what to expect. As I get off the motorbike, Hunter helps me take off the helmet. I looked up at the dark apartment above the bar and shiver. I’m scared. I text Anna telling her I’m home safe and delete all the missed calls from Jace and a few unknown numbers.

Hunter places his heavy arm over my shoulder
s and guides me in. 

“Don’t stress
cupcake, he won’t do anything you don’t want him to. I’ll be right there.” He takes my hand and guides me in.

The noise gets louder as we head up the
stairs. I hear banging and a few guys shouting. I hear glass cracking and I shiver. Hunter squeezes my hand.

We open the door and Hunter stands in front of me. I
sneak a peek from behind him as I watch three guys holding Jace down on the floor as he continues to scream and shout at them.

“Where the fuck is she?
You need to find her!” He screams out loud, he pulls his hair roughly rocking back and forth as he sits there. “Why do I have to fuck up everything?” he mumbles and the guys continuously tell him to calm down.

I move around Hunter, I don’t like the way they’re holding Jace down and even though I should hate him, I want to make
sure they don’t hurt him.

I step closer and I feel Hunter
step up behind me. A few guys notice and then Jace looks over their shoulders and his raging eyes spot me.

This isn’t my Jace…Jace is gone….Raven is here and I’m
afraid of Raven.

His black hair is all messy; his face is red, eyes bloodshot.

“Harley, it was a mistake… please come to me. I miss you. Come here.” Jace says sadly standing now with open arms looking from me to Hunter continuously as if trying to piece something together.

I stand still and don’t say a word, the guys eventually let go of Jace but I can see they
’re cautious.

“Baby?” he says coming closer. I want to run away and lock myself in my room but I’m not sure if that can keep Jace away from me.

“Come here…” he repeats seriously.

“Now Harley!” he
roars and I flinch. He walks closer to me and I back into Hunter.  Hunter puts his hands on my shoulders protectively.

Jace looks at
Hunters hands then glares at Hunter full of hatred.

“Better get those hands off my girl.” Jace says in a more qui
te tone but I can see the anger and it’s about to resurface any moment.

“Raven brother, you need to
quit, you’re scaring her.” Hunter says from behind me.

“Don’t fucking tell me what to do! You don’t know shit about her! You think you can just come
here and take her away from me? You’re not my fucking brother! She’s mine!” Jace jumps for Hunter behind me ignoring the fact that I’m standing in the middle. He grabs Hunters shoulder tackling him, in the process elbowing me in the nose and tackling me too. I land on the ground with a heavy oomph, the air is smacked out of me by the force of the fall on the tiled floor. I managed to crawl away from the two boys who are now punching and fighting each other. I feel a few hands help me up but I push them away, I can’t stand to have any man’s hands on me right now. I look at the floor and see blood.

Oh God no…please not again.

I look to see if the blood is coming from between my legs and notice it’s on my shirt. I touch my nose and wince. My nose is bleeding. Thanking God my baby wasn’t hurt I ignore the pain in my face from being elbowed and cover my nose with the sleeve of my jacket.