Broken

by Teigen Harper

  He kisses back over my chest, up to my neck, and back to my lips. “I love you with all I have.” The next kiss is so deep, but as my tongue explores his mouth, Logan grips the back of my thigh, and as he pulls it up, he slips inside me.

  My head falls back. The feeling of him inside me always makes me feel lost, lost in a good way. His tongue licks my neck, and my eyes close, my legs wrap around his waist and my back arches, I want him to fill me to the brim. Logan’s hand cups my cheek bringing my lips back to his.

  Once he’d made sure I was well taken care of, I lay back in his arms. “When are you leaving for New York?” I ask.

  Logan kisses my temple. “Saturday. I wish you’d reconsider and come with me.”

  I wish I could, but then there’d be a massive shit storm I’d have to face when my father found out I wasn’t here to see him because I was away with Logan. “I know. The fight that would come after, would be too much to deal with.”

  “The offer’s there. If you change your mind, or if he becomes too much, you need to tell me. I’ll have a car at the house to get you to the airport and I'll have a ticket waiting for you. Okay?” I shift onto my side and kiss his chest.

  “Okay.”

  Chapter Three

  Hayley

  This week has been the week from hell, at school. Anytime I’d be separated from Logan and Lucas, that fucking slut Ashleigh would be in my ear. If she tried to tell me about her sex life she had with Logan before we had gotten together, one more fucking time, I was going to punch her.

  Ashleigh also continued to pester me about some girl named Callie. Apparently, Logan had been seeing her regularly last year. She told me that if our relationship was as serious as we claimed it to be, then I should already know about her because there’s a huge secret that's being kept from me. I haven’t brought the subject up with Logan because I know it’s just something she's trying to use to cause a rift between us. It won’t work.

  LOGAN LEAVES FOR NEW York tonight, and the only person that knows how hard it will be for me, is my best friend, Abby. I met Abby the day I moved into our new house. She’d lived next door to me for the first three months of my being in Orange County, but then her family soon moved to a bigger property.

  We still go to school together, and when we get the time, we spend it doing girl stuff that the boys hate doing. Like go for manicures, facials, and all the other girly up keeps we have to do to our bodies, so we don’t repulse the boys.

  Lucas and Abby claim to only be fuck buddies, but I know their feelings run so much deeper than that. Sure, Luas sleeps around, but that’s only because he doesn’t want to admit that he has feelings for her. I’m always telling Abby to go and hang off a new guy in front of Lucas because I want him to realize she won’t wait forever. Abby deserves to be happy, and he needs to pull his head out of his ass and tell her that he loves her. Before it's too late.

  “What time do you have to leave?” I ask Logan in bed.

  His hold on me tightens. “I leave at five in the morning. I have to go to practice first, then go back to the house, pick Lucas up and leave.” I don’t want him going anywhere. “Fuck, I’m going to miss the shit out of you,” he whispers. “Come with me, please?” he’s begging.

  I snuggle closer to him, sleeping at night isn’t going to be easy for me, not until he's back home. “I wish I could, but dad will be here at ten. As much as he’s an asshole, I do miss him. I miss mom more, but he’s my dad,” I shrug. “I guess I just want a couple of days where he's physically here and acts like my father, the way he did when I was a kid.” I was my daddy’s little girl, once upon a time, but the minute I turned sixteen, it all changed. He lost interest and told me that I could fend for myself and he handed me his credit card.

  Logan kisses my cheek. “Whatever you want, but you call me if the shit hits the fan?”

  “I will,” I promise him. I hope things will run smoothly since Logan and Lucas will be on the other side of the country, but you never know what can happen with my father.

  LOGAN’S ALARM GOES off just after four AM, and I unfairly wrap myself around him, not letting him move. “You aren’t playing fair,” he chuckles.

  “Not trying to,” I whisper as I nibble on his neck.

  He rolls us until he was hovering over me. “I love you,” he whispers, and as he cups the back of my knee and pulls it up, thrusting inside me at the same time.

  “Shit,” I breathe as he thrusts, “I love you so goddamn much.”

  He moves until we’re breathless and exhausted. “Coach is going to kick my ass,” he laughs with his face buried in my neck.

  “Why?” I ask as I run my hand through his beautiful blonde hair.

  “He's told me I’m useless to him after being with you in the morning. I’m not allowed to have sex the morning of any game. He tells me I’m sluggish,” he continues to laugh.

  “Tell him it was my fault. Tell him you woke up and my hand was on your dick. Even he wouldn’t be able to berate you for that one, he is a male, after all,” I chuckle as I kiss his cheek.

  “That might just work,” I hear him take a breath, he’s about to leave me.

  “I know.”

  “I wish you would come. Five days is a fucking long time.” His hands grip me a little tighter.

  I take a breath, “I know, babe. I’m going to miss you. Stef’s looking forward to seeing you guys, and you’ll be able to do that family session with the doc at the treatment facility. It sounds like your mom’s trying.” Celeste entered an establishment just outside of New York. Stef told her she'd take part in the family sessions. I think it’s a great step forward for his family. I just wish mine was also making progress, but it will never happen because my parents don’t seem to think that there is anything wrong with the dynamics of our relationships.

  He agrees and heads to the shower. Not five minutes later, he’s freshly dressed and hovering over me. “I love you.”

  Desperately, I’m trying to hold back the tears. “Damn it,” they betray me and fall.

  “Oh, baby.” He leaned in kissing me.

  My lips pulled away from his. “Ignore me. I’m just hormonal. I know you have to go, I just don’t want you to,” I try to smile.

  “I know. I’ll call you before I board. I love you so goddamn much.” His lips find mine again.

  While we kissed, I mumbled, “Love you too, babe. Be safe and make sure you come back to me in one piece.” I pull away, grab the front of his shirt, and wait.

  “I promise you that I will come back in one piece. I love you.”

  “Bye.” He gives me one more kiss before leaving the room.

  My tears fall faster when I hear his car leave. Five fucking days. I just must keep my shit together for five fucking days.

  Logan

  “Come on, fuck face,” I call to Lucas. I’ve been waiting in the driveway for the last ten minutes. I’d told him to pack his suitcase last night, but he went and got some strange pussy instead.

  When he hops in the car, I pull the door closed. “I told you to be ready.”

  “You should have seen this chick last night. If you were single, that was a piece of outta town strange even you would have gone after. She was like, half Latino, and the way she moved her ass, fuck that ass was a masterpiece itself.”

  My head shakes from side to side in disbelief. “Good for you. Let’s get to the airport before we miss our flight.” I pull out of the driveway and head for the freeway.

  “Was Hayley okay this morning?” he asks.

  Sadly, I shrug. “I wish she’d have come with us. It’s going to be a long five days for me.”

  “Henry fly’s into town this morning, doesn’t he?” Henry is Hayley’s father.

  “Yup. He’d better not fuck with her. I don’t give a shit if he is her father. I have a feeling she will be moving in soon,” he can’t keep his mouth shut, and there are no ways that I will ever let him take her away from me.

  ONCE WE ARRIVE AT THE termin
al, we check-in and head for the airport lounge. “I need a drink. You want one?” Lucas asks.

  “Yeah, whatever you’re having.”

  I watch as he walks away,

  and I slip my phone out of my pocket.

  Me: Miss you already.

  Hayley: I’m going nuts, and it’s only been three hours.

  Me: I love you.

  Hayley: Love you too, babe.

  “Fuck head,” Lucas calls, and my head raises.

  “What?”

  He points towards the bar, where I see Henry, feeling up a woman, one that isn’t Toni, Hayley’s mother.

  My smile is wide. I have the fucker right where I want him.

  Lucas comes closer, and I stand. “You gonna say something?”

  “Fuck yes, I am.” Lucas is by my side, step for step.

  Henry isn’t a good-looking man, not at all. It just goes to show that money, will get anyone laid. He has a pudgy gut, he’s balding, and there aren’t any good features about him. So the twenty-year-old-looking blonde that's hanging off of him, knows he’s loaded.

  I come to a halt behind him. “So, this is what you do instead of spending time with your only daughter?” I start.

  I see his body stiffen, and slowly, he turns to face me. His sweaty fat face is seething with anger and hatred. “Who are you to question my judgment?”

  I give him a snort. “You want me to stay away from your daughter, but it’s not me that makes her feel unloved and as if she doesn’t matter. No, no, that is all you. You have no idea what a beautiful bright girl you have, you leave her alone for months at a time so you can live your devious cheating life. Toni know about her?” I point to the blonde that’s hanging off him.

  He starts waving his finger in my face, but I don’t dare budge. “You will stay out of my business, and away from my daughter.”

  I interject. “Nope, I won’t,” I shake my head. “Unlike you, I actually love her. You’re just another piece of shit she doesn’t need in her life. She doesn’t deserve such a pathetic asshole as a father. She doesn’t deserve the shit you put her through. You come in every few months, tell her what to do, and fuck off again.”

  He moves towards me, but Lucas slips in between us. “I can take him, bro.” I reach out taking his shoulders and shift him to the side. This is my fight, not his.

  Henry’s face is red and sweaty. “You will never see my daughter again.” He looks as if he’s about to blow.

  “I’m going to marry her because I love her. You have no say in it.” And I walk away.

  Hayley

  Logan: I’m sorry, babe. I just ran into your dad at the airport.

  My gut churns when I see the message. It’s going to be bad, I know it is. So I hop into the car and drove to the closest ATM. I know I have six hundred dollars at the house, but I need to be covered if shit goes to hell, as I suspect it will.

  I pull out another five thousand, the maximum I can get for the day. I then head back to the house, pack a couple of bags, and throw them in the car. As I walk up the steps to the entrance, a limo pulls in behind me.

  “Hayley,” my father calls, and I come to a standstill.

  I give him a sweet smile and pretend as if I have zero knowledge of what happened between him and Logan at the airport. “Hey dad, it’s so goo-” that's as far as I get.

  “You’re still seeing that Reed kid, aren’t you?” he asks stomping towards me.

  No point in lying now, “Yes, dad. It’s lonely here.”

  He stops in front of me, his face is now right in mine, and I can smell the booze on his breath. I’m screwed. When he has been drinking, he becomes an asshole, just like Celeste. “I told you that you were to stop seeing that parasite. He is nothing but trouble. He and his asshole bro-” I cut him off.

  I’m done with this shit. “Stop it. You’re never here,” I scream. “You used to give a shit about me. You used to care if I was dead or alive, but these days, I’m only on your priority list when you want to take the one person from me that gives a shit.” Here come the tears. “Logan and Lucas do give a shit about me. Hell, their father calls to see if I’m okay because you don’t. I don’t know what I did to make you and mom hate me enough that you never want to spend time with me, but I’m done.” I turn on my heels to walk into the house, but he pulls on the back of my shirt, bringing me to a halt.

  “Get out!” he roars as he points towards the gates. “Go and fend for yourself. You think I’m horrible, then go and live off someone else. I’ll cancel your cards, and you may as well hand over your car keys because that belongs to me too,” the fucker smiles. He fucking smiles. What did I ever do to him to deserve to be treated like this? My entire life, all I’ve done is strive to be better. To try and make my father proud of me, and this is what I get in return? I hope he fucking chokes when he eats that whore’s pussy. I hate him. I hate him so fucking much.

  Rolling my eyes, I tell him, “First off, you brought me the Jeep. That’s in the garage, you can keep it. But the Escalade,” I point towards my car, “I bought with my own money. From the money that was left to me by my grandmother. You can’t have that. My name is on the title. And just before I do go, let me tell you that you suck as a father, you suck as a husband, and from this moment forward, you don’t have to think of me anymore. You are free, the ties are cut.” I don’t pay him any more attention. I walk to my black Escalade, but before I close the door, I yell, “You can do what you have wanted to do for so long, you can forget that you ever had a daughter. Have a nice life, asshole.”

  I never looked back. I drove to the Bradstone, a hotel close by, and through my tears, I managed to get a room and go upstairs. I threw my handbag on the white sofa resting in front of the television, and I collapse on the bed, too exhausted to do anything else.

  Logan

  As soon as we’d landed, I tried calling Hayley, not to have her answer. I began to worry she was taking the shit for what I’d done. I continued trying to call, but still, there was nothing.

  Me: Babe, why aren’t you answering? Did I fuck up and get you in the shit? I’m so sorry if I did. Do you want me to come home?

  “What’s going on?” Stef asks. We’re now at her modern-style loft in Manhattan.

  “She won’t answer.”

  Stef knows I’m stressed, and she places her hand on my shoulder. “Do you want me to try and call her?”

  “I’ll try anything. She’s probably pissed at me.” I’m kicking myself. I fucking went after him and left town. I left her to deal with him. I’m pulling at my hair, guilt consuming me.

  Stef clicks her fingers in front of me, she’s managed to get Hayley on the phone. Fuck, she is pissed. She must be, why else would she talk to Stef and not me?

  Hayley

  I can’t answer his call, he’d hear the emotion in my voice and try to come home. But just as I’m tapping out a text to Logan, Stef calls. “Stef?”

  “Are you okay? Logan’s been trying to call.”

  “I know, could you leave the room?”

  “Give me a Sec.” A moment later, I hear a door close. “What happened?” she whispers.

  “I don’t want Logan knowing anything until he is back home, okay? Because he would try to come back, he doesn’t need my shit right now. He needs to be there for family counseling, and your birthday. Agreed?” I won’t tell her anything until she makes me that promise.

  “Okay,” she sighs. I know she hates keeping things from her brother, but at this moment, in time, she needs to.

  “I take it he told you what happened at the airport?”

  “Lucas did. Logan’s kicking himself over it.”

  “He shouldn’t be, he was standing up for me. Anyway,” I go on to tell her what happened between my father and me back at the house, and that I’ve checked into a hotel.

  “Shit. He really should go home, Hayley. You need him more than we do.”

  “No. Logan isn’t far from snapping. I'll tell him when he does come home, but n
ot a moment before then. I’ll be fine.”

  “Why don’t you come here? I’ll book a ticket-” I cut her off.

  “Nope, I’m not going to gatecrash. Can you just tell him I’m getting my nails done, that’s why I didn’t answer? Also, make sure you tell him I'm not pissed off with him? I’ll text him in a minute. I just need to chill out and get rid of these tears.”

  “Okay, call if you need to talk.”

  “I will. Thanks, Stef.”

  “No problem. Love ya, chick.”

  “Love you, too. Bye.”

  “Bye.” We hang up.

  Logan

  I pace the living room waiting for Stef to return. When the door opens, I come to a halt. Stef is smiling. “She’s fine. She’s with Abby, getting her nails done. She was texting you as I called.”

  “Why did you leave the room?” Something isn’t right.

  Stef puts her phone down on the table in front of her. “Because they had all of those nail file thingies’ going on in the background. That and the fact Lucas was babbling on about something when no one was even listening to him. She’s fine.”

  My phone beeps.

  Hayley: Sorry, babe. All is good. I did have a fight with dad, but I’ll call you when we’re finished at the salon, and fill you in. I love you.

  My heart slows, and relief fills me.

  Me: Thank God. I thought you were pissed at me. I fucking hate it when you’re so far. Are you sure you can’t jump on a plane?

  Hayley: I’ll see you in one-hundred and thirteen hours.

  I smile to myself.

  Me: I can’t wait.

  Hayley: Me either. I’ll call you later, or do you have plans? I can call tomorrow if you do.

  Me: Hell no. Nothing will get in my way of talking to you. Love you, babe.

  Hayley: Love you, too.

  HAYLEY

  Abby called me a little later in the day, asking why my car wasn’t in the driveway back at the house. “Shit, I’m so sorry Abb’s, I forgot to tell you I got kicked out.”