Broken Dreams

by Rissa Blakeley

  “Okay. You let me know if you need anything. Don’t hesitate. You can call my cell, if need be.”

  “Thanks.” Jennifer sat back down, still worried. Henry rushed off to his office, grabbed his ball cap, drank a couple vials, and headed back out. He was in and out in about ten minutes.

  He stopped at the local burger joint for lunch. Their food was great and their bar was even better because they stocked what he liked to drink. He sat up at the bar, like usual.

  “Let me guess…the usual?” The barmaid leaned over and rested her elbows on the bar, making sure that her cleavage was available for Henry’s viewing pleasure. She always flirted with him. When he visited the joint, she would practically crawl over everyone to wait on him. He figured she would shove an elderly person or a child in the way of a moving vehicle just so she could get to him first.

  She wanted him, and he had considered her a few times. But, after seeing that black-haired beauty at the bookshop, he wasn’t interested in the barmaid anymore.

  “You know me so well. Make the food to go today, please,” he said with a flirty smile. She grabbed the bottle of Walkers and poured him a double.

  “You in a hurry to get out of here today?” Then she squinted at him. Her eyes darted around his slightly bruised face. “What happened? Did you get into an accident or something?”

  “Yeah, something like that.” Henry picked up the glass of whiskey and took a sip, feeling the heat hit the pit of his stomach. “I’m fine. I’m just busy today.”

  “Well, if you need someone to nurse you back to health…”

  Henry held up his hand. “Look, you’re nice and quite beautiful, but I’m interested in someone else.” Her face dropped. Everyone at the bar was giving side glances toward him, then looking at the barmaid.

  “Got it,” she bit out, then put his order in for his meal. He wondered if she was going to have the chef spit on his food. It was probably a good time to find another place to get his lunches, liquids, or otherwise.

  He nursed the double whiskey, and tuned into the conversations all around, as usual. Then he realized he heard a familiar raw and raspy voice. He peeked around his left shoulder, and what dumb luck did he have?

  There she was.

  The black-haired beauty with the meaty ass. She was finishing up lunch with a guy he presumed was her brother, considering they looked quite similar. Christ. Henry had a momentary thought of her using his lap as the seat. He had to shake his head to get the image out before he got hard right in the middle of the fucking joint. He turned back around and tuned into their conversation.

  “See, you asshole? See what happens when you don’t show up? I could have totally avoided that whole confrontation.” Her voice was full of bitterness.

  “I’m sorry! Jesus, Elaina. How many times do you want me to apologize?” Her brother had a smooth and rich voice, unlike hers.

  “More than you have,” she muttered. Henry chuckled. Her attitude was priceless and he loved every bit of it.

  “I don’t know what to tell you.” Henry could tell that her brother was absolutely annoyed by her. He guessed she was the younger sibling.

  “Whatever, Nick.” He could hear the eye roll in her voice.

  “How’s the new job?”

  She groaned. Henry closed his eyes, imagining that groan while she was in a compromised position…preferably while he was at her apex, making her writhe with great pleasure under his tongue.

  “Let me just tell you, that hag is a total fucking bitch.” His eyes popped back open.

  “Christ, Elaina.”

  “She accused me of flirting with a customer because I was chatting with him about the books he was purchasing. And she did it right in front of him! Hello, you hag, it’s a fucking bookshop. Aren’t I supposed to talk to the customers about the product we sell?” Henry worked hard not to burst out in laughter. He could have used a good laugh after the morning he had.

  “Bite your tongue, for once in your life. If you get fired from this job, Mom is going to disown you!” There was a moment of awkward silence between them. “Can we talk about Mom and Dad’s party?”

  “I’ll call you about that later. I found some ideas online last night, but I left the details at home.”

  “Typical.”

  “Oh, shut the hell up.”

  “Well, give me a call then,” he said. Henry heard her laugh. It was beautiful. It was almost a giggle, but not quite. “What?”

  “Are you going to be out with the next love of your life?”

  “I do have a date.”

  “Of course you do! Well, I’ve got to get back to the hag.” Henry looked back over his shoulder and saw her stand up. It looked like they were getting ready to pay. His heart raced. He wasn’t ready for her to leave. He wanted to follow her, but his meal hadn’t arrived yet. Normally, he would just leave the cash and run, but his gut was three levels of angry hungry. He needed to eat.

  She walked past him, and he glanced at her as she stopped at the register, which was two bar stools down from him. He inhaled as she passed by him. She smelled like vanilla. Goddamn, it was delicious. He wanted that wrapped around him, enveloping him. When she spoke with the cashier, her voice was like music to his ears.

  A soft smile graced his face. He watched her ass sway back and forth as she left the diner. Antsy didn’t even describe how he felt at that moment. He wanted to get out of there so he could follow her.

  Several minutes, and another double whiskey later, his meal finally arrived. He tipped back the rest of his drink and turned to get off the stool with paper bag in hand, full of greasy deliciousness. Then he saw that her table still hadn’t been cleared. His eyes darted around the table, trying to see what she was eating. A burger and fries, obviously. There was some ketchup smudges and a few fries still lingering about with the dejected lettuce. He liked a girl who could eat. None of that “I only eat salad” bullshit. Then he saw it.

  Her phone. Dumb luck was on his side. He grinned.

  Henry took a quick glance around the diner and then walked to the table, pocketing the phone. It was so busy in there that no one noticed. He left the diner with a huge motherfucking grin on his face.

  He rushed out to his truck and pulled out her phone. The teal silicone case smelled like vanilla, just like she did, which was heavenly. He felt like a complete jackass for holding the phone to his nose, inhaling the scent, but he wanted his nostrils full of her scent forever. He didn’t know if it was a perfume or a lotion, but he didn’t care. He just wanted it all over himself.

  The phone was a similar smart phone to his, but an older model. The screen had a small crack in it. Easy enough, he thought. After he dragged the unlock key across the screen, he discovered there wasn’t a passcode needed to access it. If he could fist bump himself, he would.

  And there it was…all of her information, contacts, and pictures. He even perused her Facebook page for a few minutes, letting out a chuckle or two over some of her posts. She should have been more careful about her privacy, he thought. He was almost as excited as a kid waiting for St. Nick on Christmas Eve. He noted that there wasn’t a boyfriend contact, or pictures with her and a guy. A big plus for him. Most of the pictures were of her with that mother hen ginger friend of hers. He smiled at some of the close ups. She was beautiful. Absolutely, fucking stunning.

  Henry drove back to his apartment and devised a plan while he sat and ate at the breakfast bar in his kitchen. He looked through the pictures with a careful eye and noted a gold-colored, older model compact car, possibly a Honda, in a few of them. He would look for that car when he went back to the bookshop later that day to see if she was still working.

  He cleaned up his lunch remnants, neatly folding up the wrappings, and tossed them in the trash can. Then he grabbed the spray cleaner and a single paper towel. He scrubbed down the entire counter top, even though he only used a small section of it.

  Henry decided to shower again and shave. He felt dirty after eating his gr
easy meal, and he wanted his beard cut down so he was less recognizable to her. He performed his usual washing routine, which was quick but efficient. He jumped out of the shower and meticulously toweled off. He wrapped the white plush towel around his hips and stepped up to the mirror.

  A frown crossed his face. The bruising was light, but not all that noticeable. In general, he didn’t like what he saw in the mirror. He learned to not like the way he looked through the years of being in the program. They cut him down so many times, in so many different ways, that he almost hated himself and how he looked. He never understood why women threw themselves at him all the damn time. He grabbed his beard trimmer and took his beard down to his usual five o’clock shadow.

  Henry grabbed his toothbrush and gave his pearly whites a quick polishing. He pawed through his damp hair and looked at his stitches. They looked good. He opened the jar of hair wax and gave himself his usual messy hair.

  He yanked the towel off his hips, hung it on the towel bar, and walked through his bedroom, naked as the day he was born. He went through his drawers and pulled out his D&G black micro-fitted boxers, Diesel dark wash jeans, and a plain charcoal-colored t-shirt. Standing in front of his closet, he selected a dark navy zip-up hoodie. There was always a method behind his madness.

  He grabbed the fully loaded Sig and his weapons vest off of his dresser. Then he walked out to the living room. He opened the out-of-place antique trunk and exposed the modern metal trunk with a keypad within. He entered the code and opened the lid. His eyes danced around the interior and was careful to select the tools that he felt he may need: an extra magazine and his favorite long-bladed hunting knife. He tucked his weapons discretely away on his body. With the hoodie on top, no one would know a damn thing.

  Henry pulled on his Nike’s, then headed out to get the show on the road.

  ***

  Henry pulled his truck around the side of the building where the bookshop was located. He looked around, and there it was.

  The gold Honda.

  He smiled. Besides the fight at the gym that morning, he was having a stellar fucking day.

  As he jumped out of his truck, Henry looked all around, ensuring that his stunt would go unwitnessed, and pulled the knife out from underneath his hoodie. With a grin, he slashed her tire. After that, he just had to sit and wait. It was just too easy.

  He sat in his truck, making it look like he was waiting for someone which, technically, was true. He kept checking the ridiculous expensive Omega watch that was wrapped around his wrist, drummed his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the music on his iPod, reorganized all the compartments around him, read a little, and played a few time sucking, mind numbing games on his phone.

  About three-and-a-half hours later, his patience finally paid off.

  There she was. Henry noticed that she looked really upset, and she hadn’t even made it to her car yet. He wondered what had happened. After pulling off his aviators, he set them on the dash and sat back in his seat, watching her.

  The black-haired beauty threw her arms up when she saw her flat tire. She began ranting. Probably cussing a blue streak, which caused him to smirk. He loved a woman with some raw edges.

  “Patience, Daniels. Patience,” Henry drawled to himself. He saw her digging through her purse. “And there’s my cue.” He jumped out of the truck just as she dumped out her purse on the sidewalk. He squatted down in front of her.

  “Do you need any help?” He knew his smile was warm. Then he locked eyes with her. Holy shit. She had the most beautiful eyes that he had ever seen. Wet, but stoic. They were the color of the sky. He wished he had eyes that were like that. He wanted to be able to stare into them every day for the rest of his so-called life. Her lips parted as she stared into his eyes.

  Her eyes made him feel things he had never felt before. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t noticed them when she waited on him in the bookshop. Probably because he was trying to be inconspicuous. Plus, he was too busy looking at her meaty ass then. Besides, locking eyes with her in the bookshop would have been detrimental to his plan.

  Henry knew, at that moment, that he didn’t want to do the job anymore. He wanted out of the program.

  For good.

  Chapter 1

  -October 2014-

  T

  here I was, standing in the corridor of the church with my father, waiting for my cue to proceed down the aisle. My legs were shaking, my stupid shoes were causing me to have a slow and painful death, and I was sweating bullets.

  I hate sweating. This girl does not do sweating. Oh, did I mention I hate weddings? I just hate the whole fucking process: picking the venue, the food, the cake, the napkins. Seriously, who gives a shit about what color and material the napkins are? You’re just going to wipe your grubby hands on them.

  The only thing that I was excited about was marrying the man of my dreams…Henry Daniels. He was everything I could have hoped for. He was kind, proper, gentle, sweet and, well…wealthy. But that was just an added bonus.

  He was in great shape. He wasn’t ripped, like a body builder, but he had some great tone and hard edges that I found most sexy. His hair was the perfect shade of brown with a tousled, “just fucked” look to it.

  And his eyes…I could gaze into them forever. They mesmerized me because they were the color of sparkly emeralds. They always sucked me in with their captivating quality. I remember the first time that I locked eyes with him.

  -October 2012-

  I had just gotten fired from another job, my car had a flat tire, and I was downtown, which wasn’t exactly where I wanted to have car troubles. It wasn’t the seediest area, but there were always handfuls of freaks and weirdoes around. It looked like the typical man rescues the woman who had car troubles, but that was not the case for us.

  I was standing on the sidewalk in complete frustration next to my ass-crap of a car. It was getting late, and it was getting nipplely outside. I was so not in the mood to take a cab, ride a bus, or hoof it home.

  I was digging through my bag for my phone, cussing at myself the whole time because I just had to have that trendy, gargantuan hobo bag. I spent almost an entire paycheck on it. Sometimes I think a rhino would have gotten lost in that stupid bag.

  I couldn’t find my phone so I stomped my foot like a two-year-old and grumbled. Then I had the brilliant idea to dump my purse out on the sidewalk and sift through its entire contents. Just as I dumped it, someone squatted down in front of me. I looked up and nearly drooled.

  He had this amazing smile. So warm and sweet. Those eyes drew me in, like a moth to a flame.

  My tongue was tied when he asked if I needed help. I had a few thoughts run through my head, but nothing that was appropriate to say to someone you have known for a mere two seconds. Instead, I said, “Well, yeah, Captain Obvious.” I thumbed toward my flat tire.

  After I saw his startled look, I apologized. I was so flustered and so stressed out. This god-like man took my hand and we both stood up. I was taken aback because his hand was icy cold.

  He said, “Shamefully, I have no idea how to change a tire.” I looked at his hand in a curious way. He let go of mine and tucked his hands in his pockets, looking away with embarrassment. “I can’t believe I just admitted that to someone, especially a woman.”

  At first, I was a bit thunderstruck by his statement, but then I giggled. I mean, really, what man doesn’t know how to change a tire? Apparently, the Adonis that stood before me. He must have been far too busy looking sexy to learn silly car stuff.

  Then it occurred to me that he made me giggle. There haven’t been too many guys that have made me do that. Definitely no one as divine as the man standing before me, who was admitting to an embarrassing fault. There was just something about him, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

  Then he offered his cell phone, for which I was grateful because mine was MIA. I couldn’t get ahold of my father, and my brother wasn’t any help, as usual. He was on yet another date with a
nother girl, whom he insisted was “the one”. Phone or no phone, I was fucking screwed. After I hung up with my brother, I wanted to chuck the phone, but then I locked eyes with him again. I tentatively handed it back.

  “Uh, I suppose I should introduce myself. I’m Henry. Henry Daniels.” He held out his hand. I took it and he still felt chilled, even though his hands had been in his pockets for the past several minutes. But the warmth of his smile made me smile back.

  “Elaina. Elaina Cooper,” I said in a business-like manner. I didn’t want to let on that I was melting on the inside, and the “I want to fuck this man” light was flashing in my head with atomic power. However, the childish giggle may have said it all.

  “Pleasure to meet you, Elaina. Ahh…” He jammed his hand in his hair. “Since you are having a hard time trying to find someone to help you, let’s go grab a cup of coffee, get warmed up, and we can call for some help…if you promise you won’t throw my phone.” He must have noticed that, but I wasn’t going to make any promises that I couldn’t keep.

  “Umm, well, if it’s close, since driving this will be an issue.” I was jumping up and down on the inside, and I was working hard not to release my inner school girl giddy behavior. I was hoping the god-like man would sweep me off of my feet.

  “Right. Yes. There’s a café, Gemelli’s, just down around the corner. We could walk there and I’ll grab you that cup of coffee. My treat. Then we can find a number for a tow truck.” At first, I tried to act skeptical. I narrowed my eyes at him. His beautiful face was still…and had some slight bruising. It wasn’t any of my business so I wasn’t going to ask.

  “You wouldn’t be trying to take advantage of me, would you, Mr. Henry Daniels?” I said, even though I would have fallen for the trap in a split second. In my head, I was yelling, Yes! Please take advantage of me, Mr. Henry Daniels! I’m begging you!

  “Of course, Ms. Elaina Cooper. Why wouldn’t I want to take advantage of a beautiful woman such as yourself?” Then he winked at me. It was official. I melted. My cold exterior was now in a puddle on the concrete sidewalk.