A Broken Us (London Lover Series Book 1) (15 page)

I look over to her and try and decipher where
she’s going with this.

“I just know, deep down, this is where I was
always meant to be, and I’m with who I was always supposed to be with. They are
my parents. And that jewelry line is my baby…my everything. I’m incredibly
passionate about it. I hope you could feel that,” she says, looking at me
seriously.

“I definitely felt it,” I nod.

She smiles again, “Call it God’s plan, fate,
faith…whatever. But something definitely brought me to them and I’m thankful
for that everyday.”

I nod, mulling over what she’s saying.

“And the jewelry is a great perk,” she adds,
laughing.

“Jewelry is a sweet perk!” I agree.

Sheila has a great laugh, it’s infectious. When
we both finish laughing, she says, “They don’t do that with everyone you know.”

“What’s that?”

“I mean, they tell the story of
Faith’s Miracle Jewelry
, but not quite
like that. They really do like you, Finley.”

I smile back at her; it’s so easy to smile with
this family.

“We’re a small family business and we don’t let
outsiders in…ever. This is a big step for us to expand. Going international has
always been my mum’s dream. I’m glad we have someone like you to help us in the
process. I know you’ll always keep our best interests at heart.”

“One-hundred percent,” I reply, looking at her
seriously so she sees my sincerity.

She smiles back at me and looks out at the road
again.

When we arrive at the rail station, Sheila
gives me a big hug and two kisses. Like mother, like daughter. It’s amazing how
different they look from each other, but are so incredibly alike. Instead of
looking over notes and beginning to organize my proposal for Val, I simply
stare out the window and enjoy the scenery on the ride back to London. I truly
feel like the
Adamsons
gave me a glimpse into a world
I needed to see. I smile to myself thinking about Sheila’s
faith
comment.

The
Adamsons
look at
their daughter, Sheila, as an amazing gift from God. I’ve never even met
someone who was adopted before. I feel ashamed to admit that I am surprised
with how deeply she feels for her parents. I always feared an adopted child
would want to know who their real mother and father was at some age, but Sheila
doesn’t seem anything but perfectly content with her parents and
Faith’s Miracle Jewelry
.

Sheila even inspired Mr. and Mrs. Adamson to
build a business that helps people cope with loss and hang onto their faith
when they may be floundering. I can’t contain my giggle when I picture Mr.
Adamson’s face watching his two girls talk excitedly about their jewelry. What
a good day. What an amazing family. I consider the idea that I never would have
met them if I hadn’t come to London.  

After my meeting with the
Adamsons
,
I’m jam-packed with work for the next few days. Val and I have to Skype a lot
to work out a marketing strategy. Val seems to have an extra investment in
their success, too. I suspect it’s because of her history with struggling to
conceive a child.

I tell her about the
Adamsons
wanting me to be their point person indefinitely and she brushes it off since
she knows I’m coming back in the next couple months. I still don’t have the
nerve to tell her my plan, so I let it lie for now. She’s more than willing to
have me work with them exclusively while I’m still in London. I’m excited at
the prospect of going back out to their house and working with them again.

Liam continues to text me and is getting a
little disgruntled about my lack of response to hanging out with him. He told
me he wasn’t going to make it easy on me and he was right. When I finally
finish my proposal and email it off to Val, I decide to throw Liam a bone and
invite him over for movie night with the roommates. That should be safe enough.

As I’m picking out my clothes for what Frank
calls family flick night, I’m torn between dressing for comfort and dressing
for Liam. I choose somewhere in between and grab a soft pair of
jeggings
and a thin white tee. I slip on a bright pink bra,
easily seen through the tee, and head downstairs. It’s a little provocative,
but fashionable looking and comfortable. I’ve worn this several times before so
I don’t feel like I’m calling too much attention to myself. Leslie would be the
first one to call me out for trying too hard.

I come bounding down the stairs as Frank
appears out of the dining room with a bowl of popcorn in hand.

He tosses a few kernels into his mouth and
says, “Like your tits in that top.”

I laugh and say, “I thought you hated my wobbly
bits.”

“I do…when they are naked. I can appreciate a
good see-through top as long as you have undergarments on.”

I finally take in what Frank is wearing and I
burst out laughing.

“What the hell do you have on?”

“What the bloody hell is wrong with it?” he
barks back at me.

He’s standing in a solid red
onesie
pajama outfit with
footies
and everything.

I shake my head and watch him head into the
living room and burst out laughing again when I read the back.

On the top it says: O.C.D. And then below that:
Obsessive Cumming Disorder. He adds a little wiggle to his walk and I run into
the kitchen to grab a pop, laughing.

I hear a knock on the front door and run to
grab it, but Frank’s already there greeting Liam in all his
onesie
glory.

As Liam comes in the door, Theo steps in right
behind him. This should be interesting.

Frank leads them into the living room just as
Leslie comes flouncing down the stairs singing loudly, “
faaaamily
fliiiick
niiiiiight
.” She’s
attempting unsuccessfully to get really high on the last note and I shoot
daggers at her to stop.

She’s dressed head to toe in the same PJs as
Frank, only hers are cheetah print. I rush over to her and grab her shoulders,
roughly facing her toward the living room so I can look at her back before
anyone else can. Please don’t let them say Obsessive Cuming Disorder on the
back. Please don’t let them say Obsessive Cuming Disorder on the back! Thank
fucking God, the back is blank.

Liam and Theo are looking into the foyer at us
where I’m holding Leslie from behind and I feel Leslie’s whole body tense as
her eyes land on Theo.

She quickly turns in my arms and looks at me
with wide eyes. I silently push her back toward the stairs and follow behind
her as quickly as I can, but the bitch is fast. Apparently, Theo is faster and
comes bounding past me, quickly following right behind Leslie into her bedroom.

“Theo!” I shout, but the door is slammed in my
face.

“Liam! Frank!” I shout down the stairs and they
both come running up the steps as I press my ear to the door to listen and make
sure Leslie is okay.

“Is she okay in there with him?” I bark at Liam
accusingly as Julie and Mitch come out of their bedroom hand in hand.

“Yes! Of course she is!” Liam answers back
confused.

“Well, it would have been nice if you would
have told me you were bringing him, for God’s sake! This is a great way to get
uninvited from our house ever again, Liam!” I yell at him, pounding my finger
into his chest. I can’t help it. Theo just manhandled his way into Leslie’s
bedroom uninvited and I feel completely helpless right now.

“She’s fine, Finley. Theo wouldn’t hurt a fly.
He’s…,” he pauses, looking nervous for a moment.

“What?” Frank and I both say in unison.

“He fucking loves her, I think!” Liam says,
running his hand through his thick blonde hair on top of his head.

“Someone loves the
Lezbo
?”
Frank says with his jaw slightly dropped.

“She’s a lesbian?” Liam asks.

“No!” Frank and I both shout in unison again.

I press my ear up to the door and hear soft
murmuring between Leslie and Theo.

“Leslie! Are you okay in there,
hon
?” I ask, knocking at the same time.

“Umm,
uhh
…yes!” she
yells back through the door. “We’ll be down in a minute!”

I breathe a sigh of relief and glare at Liam.
Julie, Mitch, and Frank shrug their shoulders and head downstairs.

“I’m sorry!” Liam says, looking at me with
puppy dog eyes. “I really didn’t think he’d march in like he owns the place.”

I shake my head and move past him to head
downstairs. He grabs my hand and pulls me backwards into his chest.

“Hey,” he breathes into my ear. “I haven’t even
had a chance to say hello to you yet.”

“Hello,” I reply lightly, enjoying the feel of
his warm breath on my neck. He smells awesome, like a fresh laundry detergent.

I feel his lips gently kissing my shoulder and
moving their way up my neck.

“Liam,” I shake my head back and forth, feeling
a shiver prickle all over my skin.

 
“Finley,”
he growls into my neck and nips at my ear.

Goosebumps crawl straight out from the spot he
nips me and I break away from his grasp.

“Friends, remember?” I say, holding my hands up
defensively toward him.

He scrunches his lips to the side, “I don’t
like the sound of that.”

“I know, I’m sorry, but it is what it is. Let’s
go downstairs. It’s family flick night for goodness’ sake.”

I start to make my way down the steps and Liam
rushes up behind me, throwing his arm around my shoulders playfully. He growls
in my ear, nipping at it again. I giggle into his touch and my heart hits the
floor as my eyes glance down to the foyer.

Dead in my tracks, I stop. Everything around me
blurs as Liam continues his descent and looks up at me, grabbing my hand. When
he takes in the frozen expression on my face, I hear him say my name, barely. I
can barely hear him because blood is rushing in my head. I can feel my heart
beat pulsing in my eyes as I begin to feel faint.

Brody is standing in the foyer with a small
suitcase in hand. Brody. In. London. Liam drops my hand and turns to look at
what I’m looking at. I hear Leslie and Theo come down the steps behind me. They
stop beside me when they see me frozen in place. Leslie gasps as she sees
Brody.

A steely expression smears over Brody’s face
and I see the muscle in his jaw tick rapidly. Even in his obvious anger, he
looks incredible. His brown curly hair is longer than I’ve ever seen it and I
love it. My hands twitch instinctively, imagining what it feels like between my
fingers. He has a thin five o’clock shadow, likely from a long flight. Holy
shit. Brody is in London.

“Finley?” Liam says my name again and I can
hear him a little better this time. “You alright?” he says to me, coming up to
stand just one step below me.

“Yeah Finley,” Brody’s voice cuts through the
foyer loudly and authoritatively. “Are you alright?”

He smiles, meanly. I’ve never seen such a mean
and nasty smile before. I get a nervous feeling at his tone. Liam turns his
head and looks down at Brody and I can feel tension building in his shoulders.

My eyes fill with tears at the realization of
Brody being here in London.

“What are you doing here?” I ask Brody, unable
to move from the step I’m on.

“I wish I fucking knew,” he spits out, shaking
his head. He turns to walk out the door.

“Brody!” I cry out, but he doesn’t turn around.
He stomps out the door, slamming it closed behind him.

I rush down the stairs but Liam grabs my hand.

“Let me go, Liam!” I cry urgently.

“I just want to make sure you’re okay, Finley,”
Liam says with desperation in his eyes.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll be okay. Just let me go.”

He releases me and I ignore Leslie calling my
name behind me. All I care about right now is Brody and getting to him before
he leaves. Seeing Brody again awakens all the old feelings that have always
been there for him. I don’t care about being barren or not having an us baby. I
care about Brody. As I sprint through the foyer, images of Brody and I flash
through my brain. Images of happiness, laughter, lightness, us.

“Brody!” I screech as I burst out the front
door, my voice cracking with emotion.

I run down the outside steps and see Brody
crossing the street toward the skate park.

“Brody!” I shout his name again and see him
tense and stop on the corner right by a set of bleachers.

Traffic is zooming down the road; I begin to
run into the street but stop quickly as a car honks.

“Finley! Be careful!” Brody shouts out.

Oh my God, his voice, Brody’s voice. It sounds
like Brody again. Loving. Protecting. Us. I need to get to him. I need to touch
him. I dance on my feet, waiting for a clearing in traffic, glancing at him as
he watches me. My eyes fill with tears as it pains me to be so near him and not
be able to touch him.

His steely expression softens as he watches me.
Finally, there’s a gap in the traffic and I sprint across the road as fast as
humanly possible. Without slowing down, I run directly into his arms, smashing
into his soft familiar chest.

His arms instinctively wrap around me and hold
me off the ground.

“Brody,” I cry his name this time, relishing in
this moment of him being here in London and having my arms around him again. I
slide my face along his rough cheek so I’m face to face with him. I blink
quickly, making sure he’s actually here right now. Without waiting for
permission I connect our lips and kiss him with all the ferocity I can muster.

I kiss him and open my heart up, hoping he can
feel and understand just how much I’ve missed him and how wrong I’ve been for
breaking us. His grip around my back tightens and his long arms nearly wrap
around me twice as he squeezes me as close to him as he can.

I release my hands from behind his neck and
bring them to squeeze his cheeks while reverently rubbing my thumb over the
stubble. Brody is kissing me back. He’s kissing me back hard. Nobody kisses
like Brody. Nobody. How could I ever think I wanted to kiss another man ever
again? He brings his hand up to my face and runs all four fingers from my
forehead down to my jaw. When that doesn’t satisfy him enough, he breaks the
kiss and I gasp for breath, flashing my eyes desperately from each of his eyes,
unsure which one I want to look at more. I’m desperate for his lips to be on
mine. He ignores my silent plea, sets me down and runs his fingers from either
side of my forehead to my neck letting his thumbs drag over my lips. My eyes
close as he familiarizes himself with my face.

“Is this really you, Finley?” Brody croaks, his
voice thick with emotion.

“Yes, Brody. I’m so sorry. I’m so…” I begin to
cry and he kisses me, swallowing up my pain. I kiss him back and throw all my
pain into my kiss. I don’t allow myself to think of the future or what I’m
going to tell him or what we’re going to do. I just kiss him like I’ve never
kissed him before.

I break the kiss this time and reach out to
thread my hands with his. His hands feel warm, soft and dry. Firm and
comforting like always. I release them and place his hands back on my face
kissing both his palms first.

“God, Finley,” Brody groans, leaning his
forehead against mine, softly stroking my cheeks with his thumbs. I thread my
fingers through his thick curly hair and pull gently.

“I wasn’t sure I’d ever get you like this
again,” he whispers, his voice cracking as we breathe each other in.

“I’m here, Brody. I’m so sorry. I’ve missed you
so much,” I cry, trying to catch my breath.

I press my lips to his once more for a softer
kiss this time. More comforting. More soothing.