Breaking Through the Wall (Guarded Hearts Book 2) (19 page)

* * *

I was jolted from my sleep by an obnoxiously loud banging on the door. This better be fucking important. When I opened it up, I saw a seriously pissed off Maddy. Before I could ask her what was wrong, she smacked me right across the face. Shit! Carter grabbed her and yanked her back against him.

“What the hell
, Maddy?!”

“Don’t you what the hell me
, Jason Smith! How dare you do that to her! I really thought you were better than that!”

She started to storm away and Carter was following her. What
was going on? “Wait! Will one of you please tell me what the fuck I did to piss you off so bad?”

Maddy turned around
and then started running toward me again. Luckily Carter caught her. “Maybe we should take this inside. Maddy, can you calm down for a minute, woman? You are hot when you’re mad and when you are squirming around like this I can’t control the effect you have on me.”

She turned around
, looked at Carter and nodded her head. I moved over so she could get into the house, but as she was walking by, she punched me right in the chest. “Ow! Carter, what the hell is going on?”

He just shook his head and walked into my apartment. They were in the living room
, sitting on the couch and staring at me. “Can you please, with your words, tell me what I did that was so bad?”

“It isn’t what you did
, J, it’s who my best friend caught you doing!”

If she thought that was going to clear anything up
, she was crazy. “Still not following…”

She stood up now and I took a couple steps back. “How could you sleep with Stacey, J? Do you have any idea how much that hurt Nicole
, seeing her in your bed? You guys haven’t even been broken up for that long.”

“What? I haven’t touched that girl since last year! And I haven’t seen Nicole since I left that night.”

Maddy looked confused now and Carter seemed to understand maybe he should take over. “Listen, Jason, we know, you don’t need to cover it up. Nic came over here to talk to you last night and saw Stacey in your bed. It didn’t help matters that you were in the shower, washing off what happened, either.”

Nicole had been here? Oh my God. “No
, you have it all wrong, Carter. Yes, I went out drinking last night, but I came home alone. I jumped in the shower to sober myself up and when I came back out Slutty Stacey was in my bed, in her bra and underwear. You guys know that I always leave my door open when I’m home. I swear to God, I never touched her!” Fuck! I collapsed onto the couch and buried my face in my hands. Nicole thought I moved on, and to make matters worse, she thought I had replaced her with Stacey.

Carter and Maddy were both just staring at me, then Maddy walked over and hugged me. “I’m sorry I smacked you.”

“It’s okay, I understand why now. I would have smacked me too. I need to make this right.”

When I looked up at them
, they had these expressions on their face that told me winning Nicole back was not going to be easy. She was worth it, though, I needed to get my head out of my ass and show her how much she meant to me.

I went into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water and saw a box wrapped in candy cane wrapping paper sitting there. I looked at the
gift tag and my heart stopped when I saw that it was from Nic. I unwrapped it, opened the box, and saw a note placed on top.

Jason,

I thought of this during our trip together and knew that I wanted to get it for you. I hope you know how happy you have made me by finally letting me in. You are the most protective, sweet, and amazing guy I have ever met. I hope this is the first of many Christmases that we get to spend together.

Merry Christmas!

Nicole

I put the note on the counter and lift
ed up the tissue paper. Inside was an old model cherry red Dodge Camaro. I remembered telling her a while ago that it was my dream car that I would buy if I ever had enough money to get one. I lifted it out of the box and admired it, when I turned it around the license plate of the car said ‘Smith.’

This was the best present that anyone had ever given me. I looked up at Carter and Maddy
, who were just standing there looking at me.

“Please help me get her back.”

Maddy walked over and gave me a hug. I hoped she could help me, because I couldn’t lose the one person I finally decided to love.

Nicole

As we walked up to Shattered Glass
,
all I could think about was going up on that stage and letting every ounce of frustration and hurt I was feeling pour out. I was so glad when Mads suggested we come here tonight. I did not need to spend another night in my cheetah pajamas, drowning my misery in ice cream and Channing Tatum. I went right up to the MC and signed up. He said it was a slow night and if I wanted to go next I could.

I was singing one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite groups, The Band Perry’s
Done
. The song was about a girl who had enough of being taken advantage of. She was now ready to fight back and give the bastard what he deserved. As much as I loved Jason, I couldn’t sit around and wait for him to want me the way I wanted him.

When I was up there belting out the lyrics
, it felt amazing, I was so into it. I released every angry, pissed off, and sad feeling I had held onto since the night he left me. I have to say, I was imagining singing it to him, and I actually thought he was there at one point. When the song was over, I was out of breath, but I felt fucking fantastic.

I went and sat down with Mads at the table and we laughed and joked about all of the crazies that show
ed up to karaoke nights. The lights dimmed, which was something that was really rare here. When I looked up at the stage, I saw the silhouette of a guy sitting on a bar stool. I could see the shadow of a cowboy hat and even though my heart was calling me an idiot my libido was getting all excited. I heard a song start and recognized it as Rascals Flatts’s
God Blessed The Broken Road
. When the guy started to sing, the lights turned on and what was left of my heart stopped.

Oh my God.

It was Jason.

His voice was beautiful.
I never knew he could really sing with all that screaming shit he listened to. What was he doing here? He started to move off of the stage, and seemed to be looking around. His eyes focused on me and I felt like I was going to fall off my stool. By the time he hit the second chorus, he was in front of me. Singing his heart out to me, with a song that fit him so well. He picked me up and put me onto the table so I was face to face with him.

He
continued singing to me while placing feather light kisses on my cheek and anywhere else he could between words. I could hear the song start to wind down and I wished it would go on forever.

When it
was over, he turned to face the crowd. “So, I am here tonight for this beautiful girl right here. I have had the privilege these past few months to have her with me. Then, like most men, I acted like a complete asshole.”

Everyone
started to laugh and he looked back at me and smirked. He turned around to me and wrapped his free hand around my waist. “I didn’t know how amazing she was until I didn’t have her in my life anymore. I need you with me, Nicole, and I will do anything to have you back. I will rehearse any lines for plays you want, even if I don’t know what I am saying. I will sing at this club every weekend. I’ll do any stupid line dance you want me to. I’ll even watch all of those crappy love movies with you. I need you to understand how sorry I am and how much I have missed you. I got your present that you left at the house and I wanted to give you what I had gotten for you too. I bought this about a week before we broke up.”

He pulled a small square jewelry box out of his
pocket and opened it. Inside was a silver ring with one light blue triangular stone connected to another dark blue triangular stone. There was a tiny row of diamonds on each side going around the ring.

“This is a promise ring, and I want you to understand what it means. I promise that
, from now on, I am yours. I’m not running anymore and I want to be with you for as long as you will let me. Nic, I have been scared to say this to you, but I’m not anymore. I love you, Nicole Williams, and I want everyone to know it. My only hope is that I didn’t screw up bad enough, that you don’t want me anymore.”

At this point
, I was crying like a baby. “I love you too, Jason.” Those were about the only words I could manage, but it didn’t matter. He crashed his mouth to mine and I lost myself in the passion that I had been missing so much. The MC came up and grabbed the microphone from Jason, then walked back to the stage, while everyone in the club was clapping and cheering.

“Nic
, there is one other thing that I need you to know. I never touched Stacey. She snuck in while I was showering and thought if she threw herself at me I would jump at the chance. There hasn’t been anyone since we decided that we would be together. And…I don’t want there to be anyone else ever again.”

This time
, it was me grabbing him. I missed him so much and I couldn’t believe that he was really here. “I am so glad to see you.” He picked me up and started walking toward the door. “Where are we going?”

“Tarzan need
s Jane to love him for long time.” I threw my head back and laughed.

“I was hoping that was where we were going.”

The End

(or maybe not…turn the page)

Chris

If that little bitch thinks it’s over
, it isn’t. I don’t give a shit about this trial, or proving myself innocent. She and her asshole boyfriend will not get away with making me look like an idiot.

I tried to be nice and I tried to give her a good life, but she threw it in my face. If she wants to see a monster
, I will show her one. I don’t care what my father or any fucking judge says. All I need is a little time.

They can continue to live with the illusion that I am not a threat anymore. Them being unprepared
, will only make it that much easier when I make my move.

I will show her and everyone else
, that when you play with fire, sometimes it doesn’t just burn you.

Sometimes
, it’s strong enough to kill you.

The En
d

from my next book:

Lucas

I can’t believe my fucking luck right now. I am stuck in a parking lot of this god damn hot ass city in the middle of a heat wave. Everyone is already at the concert venue and I have to call someone just to give me a friggin’ jump. I know it’s my fault because I left the lights on while I was in the liquor store and the hot ass clerk was flirting with me.

Right now
, though, all I am wishing for is a jump from some Good Samaritan, who doesn’t ask me for free tickets to the show in exchange for their help. I’m about to give up and just call Mike my manager when a car pulls up next to me. I have a baseball cap on, but it isn’t the best disguise and most people recognize me anyway.

The car door opens and a young girl steps out. Well, I will take what I can get at this point. She is about to walk into the store when I call out to her. “Hey
, is there any way you can give me a jump?”

She turns around and looks over at me. She has this long blonde hair and these blue eyes that look like a tropical ocean. She is dressed in jean shorts that show off her legs and make her butt look fantastic. Then she has this tank top on with these things that I think are called ruffles. “Um…I’m sorry
, I don’t have any cables.” She turns to walk away again, am I making her nervous?

I guess a guy hanging out in liquor store parking lot with a baseball cap does look kind of shady. “I have the cables, if you could help me out
, I would appreciate it I’m kind of running late.”

She stops walking and seems to be debating helping me, when she turns around to look at me I take my hat off. I don’t care at this point if she recognizes me
. I just want to get the hell out of here. She starts to walk toward her car, opens the door, and pops the hood. “I don’t know how to do any of this…” She looks up at me with innocence and I flash her a smile. She starts to blush, I am not usually a sucker for shy girls, but this one has something.

I grab the cables and walk over to her car. “So am I allowed to know your name? Since you are saving me and all.”

“I’m Rebecca, what’s your name?”

My head snaps up, is she serious? She really has no idea who I am? “I’m Luke, nice to meet you
, Rebecca.” An awkward silence fills the air, and I really don’t know what to say. Whenever I meet someone they usually do most of the talking, asking about the tour, the newest CD, or just asking for things in general. The fact that she doesn’t know me only intrigues me more. “So, do you live around here?”