Broken and Screwed (BS #1)

The worker’s mouth flattened at her mention, but shedidn’t say a word.

Jesse’s eyes had narrowed on me. He didn’t wait a second. “Yeah, she can stay with me.”

My heart skipped a beat and I forgot to breathe for a second.

“Sweet. It’s all worked out. See you around, Street girl.” Cord winked at me as he led his friends to the elevator.

Jesse waited until they had gotten into one before he touched my arm. He asked quietly, “You’re not here with your parents?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t speak. Tears threatened to spill.

“They’re at The Four Seasons.” He had grown so quiet. “You don’t want them to know you’re here?”

My head wrenched from side to side. I couldn’t tell him they had left to escape me and now we were in the same city. It wouldn’t have been fair to them. So I choked out in a whisper, “They’re doing a second honeymoon thing.”

“Who did you come with?”

“Marissa and her boyfriend. Angie and Justin.”

He settled back. “Got it.” His lip twitched at the corner. “Marissa’s got another boyfriend? I pity that guy.”

“Eric Nathan.”

He went still. “What?”

“She’s dating Eric Nathan.”

His jaw clenched. And then he clipped out, “Good. He’s not your problem anymore then.”

“Jesse,” I sighed.

“Come on.” He reached down and grabbed my bag. “I’m tired. We had an early practice and the guys are going out for something to eat, if you want to come with.”

“You had a practice?” I checked my phone. “At six in the morning?”

He flashed me a grin. “Yeah. And it was at five this morning, but Coach is giving us the day off. We just have to show up for a team dinner tonight and promise that we’ll get eight hours of sleep tonight before the game tomorrow.” Then he stopped suddenly.

My heart constricted. A flash of pain came over him. I knew this wasn’t going to be good.

The corners of his mouth turned down, briefly. “Your parents are coming to the game tomorrow.” He took a breath. “My coach knows about Ethan. I’ve talked to him about it and when he found out that your folks were here…they want to do a thing for them during the game.”

“What does that mean?” I swallowed tightly. My throat was burning in pain.

“There’ll be some footage of them, probably just where they are in their seats and they’ll dedicate a song in memory of Ethan. I know most people won’t care, I think it’ll be during half time or something and they’ll do it while other stuff is going on, but I thought you should know. Do you want to go with them? I can get you a ticket.”

I shook my head. Everything was so raw now, again. I spoke in a hoarse voice, “Marissa got tickets from Cord, but now I don’t know.”

His hand grasped my arm. He pulled me close. “I want you to come.”

Oh, God. The idea of my parents being there, of the announcer dedicating something to them… pain of a different level flared inside of me. I struggled to keep from buckling over and crumbling to the floor. They would announce Ethan’s name. He would be remembered by thousands of people. I pulled away from Jesse’s hand and shook my head. I was so tired of crying, so damn tired. As I swiped some of the cursed tears away, Jesse pulled me back to him. He made a soothing sound as he replaced my hands and wiped them away instead.

More slipped out.

He dried them too.

And then he glanced up, cursed under his breath, and ripped himself away.

I looked up, into Angie’s eyes. She seemed horrified and her mouth was open. A strange gurgling sound came out and she raised a pointing finger towards us. “You—you two—what?”

Jesse bent close and whispered in my ear, “Room 2612.” Something was pushed into my hand and he stalked away to the elevators.

I glanced down at the key card in my hand. Nothing was making sense again.

Then Angie was at my side and she whispered, “Oh my god.”

Oh my god indeed.

The elevator opened and he got on. I yelled out, “Wait!”

The door started to slide closed, but it opened again. He stepped halfway out of the elevator and did what I asked. He waited.

Then I turned to Angie. “I’m staying with him.”

“What? But—”

I rushed around and hurried to where he was holding the door for me. As I slipped past and he let go of the door, Angie followed. Shock was evident in her eyes as she merely watched us. Her mouth was still hanging open, but then the door slid closed.