Beautifully Shattered (The Beautifully Series Book 1) (26 page)

I move beside him and
lean against the counter. “Do you need any help?”

Kohen pauses long
enough to give me the don’t-be-stupid look before returning to his
task. “No, just relax, baby, and let us men folk cook you dinner
for your accomplishment today.”

Jumping on the counter,
I allow myself to relax while I tell them about the interview. Being
so focused on retelling everything in perfect detail, I don’t even
notice that I’ve finished my glass of wine until Kohen takes my
glass. I’m more surprised when he washes my glass and puts it away
instead of pouring me another.

“I would like some
more,” I say quietly into his ear.

He shakes his head.
“One is plenty.”

“I would like another
glass.”

I hate that I’m
whispering, but I don’t want Logan and Connor a part of this
conversation. It’s embarrassing that Kohen is trying to dictate how
much wine I can have. He sets down the menacing knife and stands in
front of me. As he bends his head down to murmur in my ear, an act
that looks like he’s whispering sweet-nothings, my skin breaks out
in goosebumps, and not the good kind.

“If you’re thirsty,
I will pour you a glass of water. You will not get drunk and
embarrass me in front of your brother and Connor.”

It’s on the tip of my
tongue to explain to him that two glasses of wine will not get me
drunk, but when he squeezes my hand, harder than necessary I refrain.
Instead I nod and finish telling everyone about the interview.

“I had a feeling I
had it in the bag when he showed me where my office would be. He then
asked if I was interested in looking around to see if I thought it
would be a ‘good fit.’ Hello! It’s Malcara Enterprises, of
course it’s a good fit, but obviously I didn’t tell him that.”

“Obviously,” Connor
deadpans.

I go on and on about
how it seemed like everyone enjoyed what they were doing. How all of
the employees seemed nice but busy. It isn’t until Connor staking
plates that I realize I left out the most important part.

“Connor, you would
not believe how hot this girl is that works there.” I bite my
knuckles like I’ve seen him do in the past.

I smile, knowing I have
his complete attention. I go for nonchalant as I describe the pixie
woman that I immediately intrigued me.

“Tinkerbell, the
nickname that I secretly gave her, is the hottest little thing I’ve
ever seen. I don’t know where she’s from since I only talked to
her for a second, but somewhere southern because she has that sweet
southern accent.” I say the last part in a butchered southern
accent, that doesn’t do her justice, but it gets the reaction I
wanted.

Conner raises an
eyebrow at me in a silent get-on-with-it manner as he prepares
everyone’s plates. I hop off the counter.

“Oh, and she’s so
out of your league,” I say to Connor while I pass him to sit down
at the cozy oval table.

My brother pats Connor
on the back before joining me. He sits across from me, while Kohen
sits beside me and sets a glass of water down by my plate. I have to
remind myself that it’s just wine, nothing to fight about, and bite
my cheek to keep from saying anything. Conner takes the head of the
table, muttering under his breath that I can’t hear. This is going
to be fun. I decide to poke the bear a little more tonight.

“What was that,
Connor, I didn’t quite hear you?” I ask.

Connor opens his mouth
to speak, but Logan beats him to it. “So does Tinkerbell have an
actual name or did her parents hate her that much?”

“Harper, but I think
Tinkerbell suits her better.”

Connor finally asks the
question I knew he was going to ask; it was just a matter of time.
“Vague much, Addie? What’s her last name?”

As deadpan as I can
manage I say, “Bell,” as nonchalantly as possible.

Connor gives me a death
glare.

Staring at him I say
slowly, as if I’m speaking to a child, “You’re a whore, so you
won’t be getting her last name because we know you will charm your
way into her pants just to piss me off. So don’t ask.”

Connor’s mouth hangs
open. He closes and opens it again, then wisely shuts it. As the boys
start talking about sports, I decide not to tell them they’re wrong
about their predictions. It would only hurt their fragile egos for me
to nicely point it out.

I smile when I see how
much Kohen gets along with my family, almost as if he belongs here by
my side. He even played a basketball game with them the other day at
the gym. I love that he likes to hang out with my family without me
there. I love that he cares so much about me and wants to be a part
of everything in my life. He’s simply amazing. I know he plays a
huge part in helping me heal, even if he doesn’t know it.

I’m smiling like an
idiot when I’m finally pulled out of my thoughts and notice that
the room has gone quiet. Everyone is watching me. My face turns red
from getting caught staring at Kohen. Awesome.

“Eh . . .What?”

From the look on
everyone’s face, it’s obvious that I missed something, again.
Kohen wraps an arm around my shoulder, bringing me closer to him, and
kisses the top of me head.

“I have to go, babe.
I’m sorry, that was the hospital.”

I look at him,
confused, because I honestly have no idea what’s going on. Kohen
pushes back his chair while saying his goodbyes to the guys. That’s
when it clicks into place.

“Wait, you’re
leaving?”

Whoever said there’s
no such thing as a stupid question has never met me. I fight the urge
not to smack myself in the face. Of course he’s leaving, he just
said that. Kohen helps me out of my chair and engulfs me into a hug.

He breathes me in.
“Yes, I’m sorry, enjoy your night though.”

“Go and save lives.”

I kiss him, forgetting
that we’re not alone, but Kohen hasn’t forgotten because he pulls
back before it gets interesting. Saying a final goodbye to the guys
and thanking Connor for dinner even though he cooked most of it,
Kohen rushes toward the elevator. After watching Kohen leave, I turn
to help with the clean up. When Connor starts to collect the plates,
I stop him.

“Go sit down and
watch T.V. or something. We’ve got this.”

I grab the plates out
of his hands and make my way to the kitchen. Logan puts away the
leftovers so I rinse off the dishes before loading them in the
dishwasher.

Afterwards, Logan joins
Connor in the other room for a beer. Once I’m left alone, I take my
time cleaning up, wondering if I should leave or not. I know Kohen
will check up on me to see what time I come home. I’d rather be
home when he calls than explain to my brother why it matters where I
am.

Even though I’ve
cleaned the counter enough, I continue wiping it. I know I’m
stalling and yet I can’t stop. When the kitchen sparkles and I have
nothing left to do, it’s time to make my decision. If I stay, I’ll
have fun, Kohen will pretend not to be upset, and I won’t go home
to a lonely apartment. If I go, I’m doing it because of Kohen. I
tap my foot, contemplating. I need to live my life for me and not
someone else. Just to spite Kohen, I snatch a beer from the fridge
before striding to the living room.

The feeling of
something moving slightly wakes me. I feel someone’s arm pulling me
closer and I sleepily wrap my arms around his neck. I crack an eye
open to see Connor’s face. I close them again and drift to sleep,
but wake when I feel him lay me on his bed. Connor fixes his blanket
over me. Pushing my hair out of my face, he kisses my forehead.

“Get some sleep,”
he whispers.

I try to smile in
acknowledgement, but I doubt my face is even working, I’m that
tired. I squint through bleary eyes at my brother whose behind
Connor. He runs his hand over his buzz-cut. He’s so handsome, one
day he will make a girl very happy.

“You’re going to
sleep here tonight, okay, Addie?”

I don’t know if I
manage to say anything before sleep takes over again. All too soon
the sound of crashing and breaking rudely awakens me. I nearly fall
out of bed. Rubbing the sleepiness from my eyes, I sit up. As soon as
I take in my surroundings I notice that I’m in Connor’s bed.

The chaos outside his
bedroom door sends goosebumps over my entire body. I know who’s out
there. When his voice carries through the closed door, my body
trembles. With a mind of their own, my legs swing out of bed and I’m
suddenly standing next to the door. I pause with my hand on the knob.
What am I doing? He shouldn’t still have this effect on me. I’m
so angry with myself, I have to stop from punching a hole in Connor’s
wall. I don’t care what’s going on out there.

I go back to bed, but
pause mid-step when I hear another crash. I’m so tempted to open
the door to face him, but the fear of him rejecting me again wins. So
like the coward that I am, I pull the covers back. As I start to
crawl into bed, Connor mumbles something, but I can’t make out any
of the words from here. I should have stayed beside the door.

“Why is Ads here?”
The man that invades my every thought ask too loudly.

I gasp from the sound
of my nickname on his lips, and the obvious threat in his voice.
Connor mutters something that I can’t hear because Jax is now
yelling over him.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN
IT’S NOT WHAT I THINK? WHY THE FUCK IS SHE IN YOUR BED!”

Something hard smashes
by the door and I’m out of bed, running towards the noise, hoping
that Jax didn’t throw Connor into the wall. When Connor talks in
his scary calm voice, I stop myself from turning the knob.

“I’ll let that
pass, but if you try that again, your drunk ass will be on the floor.
Now calm down and I’ll explain.”

Gah, the temptation to
open the door is overpowering. I have to clench both hands at my
sides to keep from reaching out. I lean against the door to hear
better.

“She passed out on
the couch. We tried to wake her, but she couldn’t keep her eyes
open long enough to stand on her own two feet. LOGAN and I decided to
just let her sleep here, instead of trying to get her back to her
place when she was PASSED OUT,” Connor says with annoyance.

I can’t help the
little giggle that escapes. I slap my hand over my mouth to keep from
groaning. What did Jax expect? For Connor and me to be doing the
nasty in here? Yuck! That thought alone makes me want to bleach my
brain.

I don’t understand
why Jax is so angry; he knows nothing between Connor and I would ever
happen. I think of him as a brother. I get Jax wanted to come over
here and hang out with his friend, but me being asleep shouldn’t
stop him. It’s deadly quiet and I have a minor panic attack
thinking I said something out loud. I’m relieved when Jax starts to
talk, oblivious that I’m awake and hanging onto each word that
falls out of his mouth.

“What happened to
her?” he slurs.

It’s unmistakable
that he’s drunk. I check the digital alarm clock. I’ve been
passed out for a little over three hours. Connor asks the question
that I’m dying to know. Thank goodness he can apparently read my
mind right now since it’s not like I can open the door and confront
Jax.

“What do you mean
what happened to her? I just told you she fell asleep. Would you like
to know the exact time? Or what part of the movie? Maybe instead of
hounding me, you should be sleeping it off.”

I think Jax tries to
whisper but fails. “How is she?”

Usually his raspy voice
sends my blood into overdrive. It still does but for a different
reason. Instead of turning me on like it usually does, I’m pissed
off. Who the heck does he think he is? He can’t disappear from my
life and ask questions about me. If he wants to know how I’m doing,
then he can grow a pair and ask me himself.

“Why don’t you ask
her for yourself tomorrow?” Connor asks him, reading my mind again.

Jax says something, but
in his drunken state I can’t make out the words. I nearly groan out
loud, frustrated that I can’t understand what he’s saying and
that I care enough to want to know.

Connor snapping, “No
Jax leave it alone. She’s asleep, and even if she wasn’t, she
wouldn’t want to deal with you right now,” makes me leap back,
panicked.

There’s shuffling and
I know Connor has blocked the door. I fling myself on the bed, just
in case Jax does come into the room. Connor’s right, I do not want
to see Jax right now. He’s not in a rational state of mind. I lay
down and try to steady my fast beating heart. Connor says something
that I can’t hear, but I’m able to decipher my name.
Please,
Connor, don’t let him come in here.

I hear more shuffling
outside then Jax pleading. “Please! I just . . . I need to see her,
I won’t wake her up, I promise.”

“This is a mistake,
Jax. You need to leave her alone.”

“I can’t.”