Unbroken

by Jasmine Carolina

  I stop just short of his table, then extend my hand to him.

  “Put this on your face, or you’ll look like a blowfish before the night’s over.”

  He nods appreciatively, and obliges a second before I walk off.

  Thirty minutes later, I’m balancing all three of their entrees in both my hands and walking back to their table. Dalis doesn’t waste even a second before digging in to her food. Cason mutters a quick thank you in my direction before doing the same thing. Brody glances down at his plate and then looks up at me momentarily. After a second, he averts his gaze.

  “Okay. Let me know if you guys need anything,” I say.

  I’m walking away when Brody pushes away from the table and follows me. “Hey, Sabrina? I’d really like to talk to you. About what happened last week.”

  I glance toward the kitchen, where Ms. Archer is looking at me through the window, and I sigh. I don’t want to get in trouble at work, especially when I’m still in my probationary period.

  “I already had my lunch break an hour ago, and my shift doesn’t end for two and a half more.”

  “I’ll wait.”

  Those two words stop me dead in my tracks. They don’t say much, but at the same time, they say everything. He’s willing to wait two and a half hours for me, and for what? I don’t know. And although I’d usually object to something like this, I want him to wait more than I’ve ever wanted anything in the world.

  “Okay. Enjoy your meat. Enjoy your balls.” I smirk at his confused expression when I walk away, and hold that look in my mind as I head back to finish my shift.

  …

  ALL I’VE DONE IS THINK about Brody for the remainder of the evening. That look on his face, him holding that ice up to the space just beneath his right eye, the way he said, “I’ll wait”.

  I grab my purse out of my locker, then close it and make my way back into the dining room to say goodbye to everyone. I scan the room for Brody and his siblings, a feeling of bottomless disappointment taking over when I don’t see them anywhere. I held onto hope because of those two words he said to me, and now I feel like a complete idiot for it.

  Fighting back tears, I sling my purse over my shoulder and walk out of the restaurant wordlessly. I grab my car keys and press the unlock button on my remote. I get to my car and open the driver’s door. I take one last longing glance toward the restaurant when my heart stutters.

  I close the driver’s door and walk over to the front of the restaurant.

  We have these benches on the outside, for our patrons to sit on should we ever get overcrowded and the wait time is too long. There, on the bench just to the left of the restaurant, sits Brody. Dalis has her head in his lap, her knees pulled up to her chest, and she’s sound asleep, his jacket thrown over her sleeping figure. Cason is sitting on the opposite end of the bench, cell phone in hand, and Brody’s steel grey gaze draws me to him.

  With a smile, I wrap my arms around my middle to hold my waterfall cardigan closed against the wind.

  “Hey. You waited,” I say.

  “I said I would, didn’t I?” he responds slyly. His lopsided grin returns, and he looks me up and down hungrily, appreciatively. “Easy A.”

  His words catch me completely off guard, and I take a few minutes to myself before giving up. I don’t know what the fuck he’s talking about. “What?”

  On a laugh, he elaborates. “Enjoy your meat. Enjoy your balls. That was a quote from the movie, Easy A.”

  I can’t help it, now I’m laughing. Most times, book, movie, and T.V. show quotes come second nature to me. I spit them out without even thinking about them half the time, but usually, no one knows what I’m talking about. The fact that Brody does is an extreme turn on. It also makes him a worthy opponent.

  “I totally forgot about that. It just sort of…came out,” I tell him.

  Cason looks over at us like we’re insane and then resumes whatever it is he’s doing on that phone. I give him a once-over, and it’s right then that I notice the bags. I don’t know how I missed them before, while they were in the restaurant. Probably because they were under the table or something, I don’t know. But it’s a bit suspect to me, and I wonder where they’re planning on going. And then, I start to wonder if they even have anywhere to go.

  “Hey,” I say, before I can even think of what I’m saying, or the possible repercussions of me saying it. “Do you guys need a place to crash tonight?”

  Brody’s gray gaze pins me in place, and both his eyebrows raise at my question. His lust-filled gaze eats me up, drinking me in like he’s a blind man seeing the sun for the very first time.

  “Why would you ask me that?”

  I gesture to Dalis’s sleeping figure and then to the three bags sitting at Cason’s feet. “I’m guessing you didn’t sit outside for three whole hours with your bags and two minors just for the Hell of it. Where were you planning on going before you ended up here?”

  He shrugs halfheartedly, and averts his eyes. “I was going to crash at a friend’s place for the night. But then I decided that I wanted to see you, and I ended up here.”

  I make the decision before I have time to process it. I don’t even tell him that I’ve made a decision, because it’s just second nature. This is one of those moments my mom prepared me for when she talked about how she fell in love with Daddy all over again. It’s one of those moments where someone needs you so much, but they’ll never admit that they do. And half the time, you don’t need them to admit it, because when souls are so attuned to each other like mine appears to be with Brody’s, we know what the people in our lives need long before they know it themselves. Right now, he needs to let go of his foolish pride and let me help him.

  I kneel down and grab two of the bags. I sling one over my shoulder, and put the other in the corresponding hand. With my free hand, I pop the trunk open and head toward the car.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” he asks, half-shouting—I assume because he doesn’t want to wake his sister.

  “You’re coming to my place tonight. Whatever happens next, we can decide in the morning.”

  He shakes his head as if to object, and I put a hand up to silence him. He looks at my perfectly manicured hand like it’s some foreign object, and he proceeds to speak anyway. Damn. That normally doesn’t happen.

  “Sabrina, you’re nice and everything, but…But I could never ask you to do that for me. I could never ask you to do that for us.”

  I laugh. “You didn’t. I’m not going to wait for you to, either, because it’s fucking freezing out here. I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer, so why don’t you just say, ‘thank you’, and get in the car before we all freeze to death?”

  He stares at me long and hard, and I can tell he’s weighing his options. By the fact that they’re carrying their bags around with them, and they’re sitting out in the chilly weather, I know he doesn’t have a car. So they’re on the bus. There’s no way he can pass up a free ride in a car with an amazing heating system, just because of foolish pride.

  “Only if you let me make it up to you somehow,” he says, still shaking his head in disbelief.

  “I’ll make sure to hold you to that. Now come on before we all get sick.”

  I head over to the car, pushing the trunk door open and tossing their bags inside. Cason follows behind me with the last of the three bags. He climbs into the backseat wordlessly.

  I’m left watching in awe as Brody gathers his sister’s sleeping body into his arms and stands up. He grabs her arms and drapes them around his neck as he cradles her to his chest. Walking slowly, he finally makes his way over to the car. He gestures to the door, and, broken from my trance—I mean, that was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen—I run around the perimeter of the car and open the door for him. He sets his sister down on the seat, and her eyes flutter open. She gazes at the two of us momentarily, and then grabs the seatbelt and buckles it around herself. Brody closes the door once he sees she’s coherent enough to secure herself,
and I watch through the window as she sleepily pulls her knees up, and then nestles against the door.

  “Hey, Brody? What’s your favorite cake?” I ask, a mischievous grin etched on my face.

  “German chocolate. Why?”

  I pull out my cell phone and type out a quick text to my mother.

  Mami:

  Could you bring home a German chocolate cake tonight? I’ll give you the money when I get home.

  Once it’s sent, I get into the driver’s seat and close the door behind me, putting my key in the ignition. I drive out of the parking lot, my heart racing and pounding at all I’ve just seen. He’s so young, and I can see there’s an entire world of responsibility on his shoulders. I hate it for him, but I know I’m going to have to help him a few times along the way, if only to make sure he doesn’t get overwhelmed.

  I don’t know how he got thrown into my life, or why, but I’m glad he did.

  It looks like we’re going to need each other.

  NINE

  “MOM! MOM, CAN YOU COME in the kitchen for a second?” Sabrina yells the minute we’re inside her house.

  Dalis collapses onto the couch, and Cason follows suit. He’s grumpy because once we got in the car, I took my cell phone from him. He was being a little asshole earlier, and he should know it. If he doesn’t, he’s about to. Because he won’t be disrespectful to anyone in Sabrina’s home.

  We sit in the kitchen at the table, and Sabrina gets me a soda out of the refrigerator. She sets it in front of me, then takes one for herself and sits across the table from me. She pops her soda open and takes a long sip from it. She crosses her legs, and turns toward the doorway to the kitchen.

  Her mom is stunning. She reminds me so much of my own, it’s incredible. She has a baby on her hip, and she smiles as she strolls casually into the room. She hands the baby over to Sabrina, and Sabrina takes her gingerly.

  “Hi, honey,” her mom says, taking a seat next to her daughter.

  “Mom, this is my friend,” Sabrina says, bouncing the baby on her lap. “The kids in the living room are his brother and sister. They’ve had a rough night and they need a place to stay. I was wondering if they could stay here for a while?”

  She hands the baby over to Sabrina, then leans over to whisper something in her ear. Sabrina pales, and then stands up, baby in hand, and walks out of the room without giving me a backward glance. My gaze follows her as she retreats, and once she’s completely gone, I turn back to her mother.

  “I’m Anastasia Matteo, but you can call me Ana. What’s your name?” she asks.

  “Brody Durham, ma’am. My sister’s name is Dalis, and my brother’s name is Cason. I really didn’t mean to put you out like this, or show up unannounced. But Sabrina…she refused to take no for an answer. I was coerced,” I say on a forced laugh.

  She nods, leaning forward on her elbows. “Yeah. I know my daughter is a force to be reckoned with when she wants something. Tell me your story.”

  She says it in such a demanding way that I know immediately this is where Sabrina got her pushy nature from. Even though I feel awkward telling people what goes on with me in my home life, this woman somehow forces it out of me. Within the next hour, I tell her about Mom, how sick she got, and how she passed away. I tell her about the funeral, and how Dad didn’t waste any time in drowning himself in alcohol and making a complete ass of himself in front of all her friends and family. I tell her about everything, from the very first beating to the very last one, and by the time I’m finished, both of us are near tears.

  “Well, Brody,” she says, pensively, “you can stay until you graduate high school. I’ll talk to my husband and let him know what’s been decided. My home is always open for those who need it. I can put Mila in my and my husband’s room, put Grace in Bianca’s room, put your siblings in Mila’s room, and you and Sabrina can each have your own rooms.” She folds her hands atop the table and pins me in place with a glare. “Now on to the next order of business. What are you doing with my daughter?”

  It’s a question I was expecting, but all the preparation in the world wouldn’t give me an easy way to answer it. I don’t know what I’m doing with Sabrina. As of right now, she’s still a stranger. She’s a kindhearted stranger who went out on a limb for me and the two people I love most in the world. However, I’d be lying if I said that’s all she is. I’m attracted to her. Insanely attracted to her. Hell, I’m attracted to her in more than just the physical sense. But how can I explain that to her mother?

  It doesn’t make sense that for the past two years I’ve held onto this image of a girl I didn’t know, just because there was some karmic force pulling us toward each other. Nor does it make sense that for the first time ever, I’m considering giving her the piece of myself I’ve never given to anyone else. Sabrina Matteo is seared into my heart, and she always will be.

  I can’t explain it to anyone, because I barely understand it myself.

  So I give the easiest answer I can think of right now.

  “I don’t know,” I reply.

  Ana cocks her head and looks at me skeptically, like she’s trying to decide whether she believes me or not. She sighs, and stands up. “Well, at least you’re honest. Just know that the last person we let into our family all but ruined us. I won’t let anyone tear my family apart, and I won’t let anyone hurt my girls again.”

  Her comment strikes me as odd. She said “girls” as in plural. What does that mean exactly? How do I make sure the party responsible pays for what they’ve done? How do I ensure that it won’t happen again?

  “I would never hurt Sabrina, ma’am. And I wouldn’t hurt any of you if I can help it.”

  I know I don’t have much. I don’t have parents. I don’t have my own roof over my head. I don’t have much money to my name. But I do have my word, and to most people, that’s nothing. To me, it’s everything.

  Ana nods and pushes away from the table. “Sabrina will show you to your room when you’re ready to go to bed.”

  She’s gone just as quickly as she came, and I’m left wondering what the Hell just happened. A strange woman just offered me a place to stay for the rest of the semester, and I think I agreed to it?

  This could either be the best or worst thing to ever happen to me.

  Sabrina enters the kitchen with the baby at her heels, running after her. She seems to hear the baby coming up behind her, because she whips around and scoops her up.

  The first thing I notice besides the tender way she deals with her sister is the fact that she appears to have changed out of her work uniform. Her slacks and white button up shirt have been replaced with a tank top and boxer shorts. Her hair is out of the ponytail and it drapes down her back like a waterfall as she parades around the kitchen.

  I mentally give myself a slap in the face. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to handle living with this girl. Living with this girl will make me a walking hard on and I know good and damn well she knows it. Perhaps this is my punishment for the games I played with Michele and Belinda. If it is, I’m regretting it already.

  “Hey, could you take the baby for a second?” she asks, turning to me with a hand on her hip.

  “Uh, sure.”

  I extend my arms for her, and she squeals with delight as I take her from her sister.

  “This is Mila. She’s one.”

  I secure Mila in my lap, looking down at her. She’s totally adorable. She grabs my t-shirt in her hand and her head lolls to the side until it falls against my chest. Hazel eyes peek up at me through half-hooded lids and long, thick eyelashes. With her free hand, she twirls her fingers through short curls.

  I look away from her for a moment and Sabrina is staring at me with a pensive smile on her face. She hands me a bottle, and I hand it to Mila. Her hand drops from my shirt as she puts the bottle in her mouth.

  “You want a piece of cake?” Sabrina asks. “It’s German chocolate.”

  I narrow my eyes at her for a moment, wondering how she kne
w that was my favorite flavor of cake.Then, I vaguely remember telling her earlier because she asked me. “Sure.”

  She nods toward Mila, who is drifting in and out of sleep, and smiles. “You can take her to the living room. We’re gonna watch The Avengers. You happened to show up on sibling movie night, so you get to meet my other sisters.”

  Mila in hand, I make my way into the living room. I sit on the couch and prop Mila up on my knees as she drinks her bottle. Sabrina follows behind us shortly, and, handing me my slice of cake, she gestures to her sisters. One looks almost exactly like her, except she has green eyes instead of brown, and the smaller one looks just like their mother. “This is my sister Bianca, but we all call her Bee. And the little turd over there next to Dalis is Grecia. You can call her Grace if you can’t pronounce it.”

  She curls up against the back of the couch, her knees beneath her. Almost absentmindedly, she reaches up and touches the side of my face that’s bruising. I wince at her touch, and she pulls away. With a small smile, she moves over and rests her head on my shoulder. I close my eyes, surprised at how good it feels to have her so close to me. She peers over my shoulder to look down at Mila, and then she glances up at me.

  “She must really like you. She won’t go to sleep on just anyone.” She reaches up again, and her hand hovers over my face. “What happened?”

  I know she doesn’t mean it that way, but it comes out as a loaded question, one that I already answered for her mother not too long ago. I don’t want to tell her what’s happened, don’t want to tell her my story. I don’t want to send her running away, but worse than that, I don’t want my story to force her to stay out of pity.

  “I ran into a doorknob.”

  She laughs, and all eyes in the room turn to look at the both of us. She sounds ridiculous, and I don’t know what she’s laughing about, because I don’t find anything about this situation funny.

  “Yeah, that might have worked when you were five and your face was actually adjacent to a doorknob, but there’s no fucking way I’m gonna believe that,” Sabrina says. “What happened?”