Broken (Broken #1) (14 page)

“
Uh-huh,” I
say and stretch my arms. Damn, I’m hungry. “Is there anything to
eat?”

“
We’ll eat
when we get there.”

I don’t say anything, mostly
because I want him gone. He leaves after a minute of making sure
I’m awake and returns ten minutes later with a bag from my car.

“
I’ve moved
your things into my vehicle.” This is all he says before leaving
again.

I quickly get dressed in a
loose fitting T-shirt and jeans that barely fit me anymore. My long
black hair is sitting okay considering I slept in it and haven’t
brushed it so I leave it how it is. After brushing my teeth I step
outside with my things ready to go.

Nathan doesn’t talk he just
leads me out the same way he led me in, a hand on my arm tugging me
along. Sigh.

“
What about
my car?” I ask, seeing it sitting in the parking lot looking all
lonely.

“
I’ll provide
you with a car.”

“
But
I…”

“
It’s too
early to argue, I’m exhausted.”

“
Nath…”

“
Enough
Guinevere!” He snaps and my mouth instantly clamps shut.

I look out of the window,
silent tears falling down my cheeks. “It’s Caleb’s car.”

I see him wince out of the
corner of my eye but he says nothing. We continue driving and more
than anything I just want to go home. The problem is, I don’t have
a home.

After twenty minutes my stomach
starts growling reminding me how hungry I am. The baby does nothing
to help, although I can barely feel him move and I’m not too far
along, it’s still uncomfortable trying to bend in any way. I roll
my seat back so my stomach isn’t so crushed and pat my bump
affectionately.

We drive past a service stop on
the motorway, I almost salivate at the thought of food.

“
So, the plan
is,” I’m startled by the sudden sound of his voice. “You’re to stay
with me for the foreseeable future. I’ll handle any expenses you
may have.”

“
I don’t want
to be a burden.”

“
Yes well…”
his voice trails off and his top teeth sink into his lower lip.
“I’m rarely home for more than sleep and I can afford it so it’s
not the cost that’s the burden.” Just me and the baby then, ouch.
“I have plenty of room for you and your child, all I ask is you
don’t invade my privacy and you don’t bring narcotics into my
house.”

“
Well
obviously,” I point at my stomach with a roll of my eyes. “I’ve
never done narcotics in my life, I don’t plan to start
now.”

“
Good. And
lastly, don’t make noise when I am home and stay out of my
way.”

With pleasure. I don’t say
this, instead I say this, “I appreciate your help, Nathan.” When I
go to place my hand on his to get this thank you across, he pulls
away abruptly almost like I’ve burned him before I even have a
chance to touch him.

“
And don’t
touch my hands. Ever. Is that understood?”

I blink in astonishment, “Loud
and clear.”

“
Good.”

What an arsehole. It’s hard to
think he and Caleb were related, they’re both extremely
different.

“
Anything
else?” I enquire, wanting to know all of the rules now so I don’t
get chastised again in the future.

“
No, eat
what’s available want when you want, I have a cleaner come in every
morning; not including the weekends, so try to be out of your room
by eleven. As for luxuries, anything you need just speak to the
cleaner or ask me if I’m home. If I’m not available call
me.”

I nod slowly, “Okay.
Thanks.”

“
How long
have you got left?”

“
I’m eighteen
weeks pregnant,” I rub my belly once more whilst staring at the
bump.

“
You look
further along than that.”

“
So I’ve been
told,” which sucks.

He keeps his eyes forward but
his body seems relaxed, “I’ll book you in with an appropriate
doctor when we arrive.”

Well that’s one thing I can
cross off my list of things to worry about.

“
Now please,
I’d appreciate quiet,” he says firmly, so I plug my headphones in
and listen to music on my phone instead.

After an hour my stomach churns
even more so than before, I’m so hungry I could eat a raw carrot
and I hate raw carrot. We pass another service stop but we don’t
pull in.

I’m also desperate for a wee,
my bladder is fit to burst.

I hold it and hold it but now
I’m just putting myself at risk of infection. That and I may pee
myself.

Carefully pulling my headphones
off I glance at Nathan and contemplate whether or not I should
speak. Fuck it. “I have to go to the bathroom.”

“
Hold it.” He
orders, not even glancing my way.

“
I’m
pregnant, I can’t hold it anymore, I’ve been holding it,” I try to
say this calmly, not wanting to piss him off. “Please? I wouldn’t
ask if I wasn’t desperate.”

He sighs and checks the signs
for another service, “There’s another in fifty miles, give or take.
We can be there in about forty minutes, how’s that?”

“
Brilliant,”
I sigh with relief and sink into my seat. “Can we get food while
we’re there?” My stomach agrees loudly.

“
We don’t
have time.” His jaw is set and his demeanour says, ‘don’t mess with
me.’

“
Please?” I
beg. “I’ll grab something to go.”

“
No food in
the car.” Yet another ridiculous rule.

I scowl at him, “I get that we
have to be quick but look at it this way. I have low blood
pressure, if I don’t eat I’ll faint and that’ll be a long trip to
the hospital that you really do not want.”

“
Fine,” he
bites out finally seeing reason. “We’ll stop for food.”

******

Ah, sweet bladder releasing
bliss. That feels good. It also has to be the longest one I’ve ever
had in my life.

After washing my hands I head
back out to the food court and look around for my brother in law. I
don’t see him immediately, mostly because I don’t think to check
the salad bar where nobody usually frequents, my first thought is
to check the fast food joints.

Sigh. Another salad. I need red
meat and junk and burgers. This is the only time in my life where I
can eat what I want (within reason) and not feel guilty about
it.

“
Hey,” I
announce my presence and watch him fill two salad tubs. The
selection isn’t so bad, they have boiled eggs and slices of nice
looking ham and a decent selection of dressings. “So, how long
until we arrive?”

“
Just under
two hours after we leave here and that’s if the traffic’s good,” he
says, being careful to watch what he’s doing.

“
Which one’s
mine?”

He nods at the top one.
Brilliant. I add a whole lot of ham to it and three boiled
eggs.

“
Eggs aren’t
something you’ll be eating in my company, neither are processed
meats, this ham has about as much real meat in it as this lettuce
does,” why does he have to argue with everything?

“
I want the
eggs and I want the ham,” I’m putting my foot down. “It’s my
body.”

“
And it’s my
brother’s baby…”

“
It’s my baby
too,” I hiss, being mindful of the people nearby. “And your brother
let me eat whatever and whenever I wanted. If I craved something we
didn’t have he’d go out in the middle of the night just to get it
for me and he didn’t care if I had fallen asleep by the time he got
back. Which happened more often than not.”

“
You’re not
having the ham.”

Should I cry? I feel like I
should cry to make him feel bad.

I don’t, if I start crying
again I won’t stop.

“
Fine, but
just a bowl full of lettuce isn’t going to fill me up.”

“
It’ll be
fine until we get home,” he bites out and slams the lids shut on
the salads. “Now, hurry up. I don’t have all day.”

I shake my head, my stomach
disappointed that it’s being treated like a rabbit. Making my way
to the newsagents I pick out a couple of magazines, shocked when
Nathan doesn’t protest and even buys them for me. I guess he’s not
all bad.

“
Thank you,”
I say softly, keeping my head down and walking along beside
him.

“
You’re
welcome,” he responds, his voice also soft. It doesn’t match his
handsome yet stern face. “Quickly.”

And the soft voice has left the
building.

“
When we get
back I’m afraid I’ll have to leave you for an uncertain amount of
time,” he explains and with a hand to my elbow and another to my
back he helps me into his car. He barely pays attention to his
gentlemanly ways, I’m wondering if he even notices he’s doing
it.

“
Do you mean
like an uncertain amount of hours, days or weeks?”

He doesn’t answer until he’s in
the driver’s seat. “Days.”

“
Can I ask
why?”

“
No.” He
states. “I like my privacy.”

“
Oki doki,” I
clear my throat and take the salad pot eagerly. Even though this is
closer to rabbit food than it is to human food I eat as much as I
can manage, which is the whole pot. “What’s going to happen to my
car?”

“
I’ll have
someone collect it and store it. It’s too low for you to be driving
in your condition and I’m shocked my brother would allow you to do
so.” His hands tighten on the wheel, I see now he’s wearing black
leather gloves. I don’t remember him wearing these earlier but if
memory recalls, he was wearing them whilst dishing out the
salad.

“
He didn’t
have a choice.”

“
May I ask
what happened to his trust fund?”

I shrug, “Your parents took it
all from him when he moved.”

His mood seems to darken
further. “He’s an idiot.”

“
Hey,” I cry.
“Don’t call him that.”

“
Well he was
and always has been.” His hands squeeze the wheel making his gloves
squeak against the rubber. “His life choices were selfish and
preposterous at best.”

I shake my head, wanting to
ignore him for insulting my Caleb.

After a long sigh he glances at
me, “Don’t get worked up, Caleb would have just laughed at my
seemingly harsh words. I mean them in jest more than I mean them in
distaste.”

“
But you do
mean them in distaste. You shouldn’t speak ill of the…
the…”

“
Dead,” he
finishes for me when he sees that I can’t finish it myself. “Calm
yourself, if I know Caleb he’d hate to know how much stress you’re
feeling.” Why does he seem to say this like the words taste sour?
“It’s not good for the child.”

I don’t respond. He’s right
obviously but it’s not like I have a stress switch I can just flick
on and off. Not as much as I’d like. Stress is a part of this life
unfortunately and considering the circumstances it’s no surprise I
have a rather unhealthy dose of it.

Staring at his profile hurts
and I wonder if that feeling will ever stop. He’s not a clone of
Caleb, not at all, their differences are significant in looks and
personality, but there’s enough of Caleb in his face to make me
ache.

It’s all still fresh, it’s only
been a month since he died. That’s not enough time to truly get
over someone and this is Caleb. My Caleb. My first love, the first
man I gave myself too.

I’ll never get over that.

“
Why are you
staring at me?” I see his lips thin to a white line, I’m irritating
him.

“
Sorry,” I
mumble and stare out of the window. I just can’t decide whether
it’s painful or strangely soothing to look at you, knowing that in
my stomach isn’t the only piece of Caleb that has a beating heart
right now.

There’s a gentle tapping
sensation under the surface of my skin. I gasp and sit up, placing
my hand over the bump.

“
What is it?
Is it the baby?”

“
He just
kicked me a little harder than usual,” I explain, still rubbing my
abdomen. “It’s not a big deal. It just shocked me. I’ve never felt
him move so obviously before, it’s usually just little taps and
fluttering, but this was more prominent.”

He nods, seemingly
appeased.

Time for silence.

He was right when he said I’d
find his house to be of good taste. It’s really not what I
expected, not in the slightest. This is a family home, it’s large
and spacey with a lot of land surrounding it. We’re atop of a cliff
but about three miles from the edge.

I noticed other homes as we
ascended the steep incline but not one of them were as pretty as
this one. Caleb grew up in the city nearby with his parents, it was
the place he escaped. Not liking the hustle and bustle of a busy
place, from a young age he searched for a smaller town and found
mine.

I’m wondering why Nathan lives
so far out of the way. Sure it’s only a forty five minute drive but
it seems like an unnecessary one. This man is complex, I see that
now.

“
The fridge
is full of food suitable for your condition,” he explains as he
guides me into the entrance hall.

Condition? I’m pregnant, this
isn’t a condition.

Sigh.

I take off my coat and watch
him hang it inside a closet to my right. There are wide stairs to
the left against the wall, before this is an archway leading to
what looks to be the living area. Which is huge, very old fashioned
and quite cosy if I’m being completely honest.