Broken (Broken #1) (49 page)

His phone rings, he holds up
his finger to tell me to be quiet. I’ll give him this respect.

No words leave his mouth during
the duration of the call, he only listens quietly, his body
tensing. I can’t hear what’s being said but I can hear an angry
male voice. Nathan hangs up the phone and pushes me towards the
stairs. “Get dressed and pack. I’m serious.”

“
Nope.” I
return firmly, giving him a smile that I know is annoying the hell
out of him. “But thanks. Are you hungry? What would you like to
eat?”

He stalks towards me, his eyes
a fiery blaze of fury and something else. I’m not sure what the
something else is but I have a feeling I’m about to find out. “Pack
your bags,” his voice is menacing, almost vicious. His face only an
inch from mine, I almost cower. Almost but not quite. Although I do
gulp. “And leave.”

“
No.”

“
Fine,” he
says and moves his head side to side, causing his neck to crack.
“Have it your way.”

“
Okay,” I
give him another smile and race up the stairs. “Be a sport and
watch Dillan for me.”

“
I have
things…” I don’t hear the rest of what he’s saying because I’m in
my room and searching through my closet for something to wear that
he didn’t buy.

I can’t believe I just got
undressed in the driveway in front of Nathan. I’ve officially lost
the plot.

The next few days are the same.
Nathan either ignores me or insults me. If he insults me I ignore
him. It’s an endless cycle. It’s also making me miserable.

Nothing I say or do gets
through to him.

I need to find a way to bring
the old Nathan back. I have to do something.

With this thought in mind I
drop Dillan off with Jeanine for a while and head to the
supermarket as was her suggestion. She thinks I should try and
remind him of the good times we’ve shared, so that’s what I’m going
to do. Nathan got rid of all of my eggs and I’m going to need some
if I want to get on his good side with food. This is the only
weapon in my arsenal, baked goods. I’m keeping my fingers crossed
but I’m also not holding out hope.

If only he’d tell me. If he’d
just tell me then we could move past this. What’s so bad that he
has to make out like he hates me?

I don’t want him to know what
I’m doing so I spend the morning baking cake after cake and cookies
after cookies and treat after treat, using Jeanine’s kitchen. By
the time I’m done it’s almost two.

Jeanine insists I leave Dillan
with her whilst I do this. I thank her profusely and after loading
the baked goods into my car, I set off for home. The entire way I
beg the skies for strength and help.

Now I just need to figure out
what to say.

I gather as many cakes and
things as possible and step into the house, relieved that the door
isn’t locked.

“
Nathan?” I
shout as I place the last of the boxes on the kitchen
side.

My phone alerts me to a text, I
open it.

Nathan
:
I’m
in the nursery.

Well, that’s an improvement
already. Maybe he can smell my surprise treats and has decided to
suddenly be civil.

The only thing I take up with
me is the small bag of homemade donuts that taste way better than
anything you’ll find at a theme park. In my mind this was the night
that Nathan and I connected, this was the night we became friends
and now I just have to remind him of that.

“
Okay,” I
start shouting as I head up stairs. “So I went slightly overboard
on the baking but I thought we could…”

Nathan’s eyes meet mine, they
wince at whatever he sees in them.

It’s heartbreak he sees.

My phone beeps as I stare at
the empty room. No nursery furniture in sight.

He’s throwing me out.

Mum
:
Would
you care to explain why a van full of yours and Dillan’s things has
just arrived on my doorstep? Are you coming home?

It would appear so. “I told you
I wanted you to leave,” he says but there’s no emotion to his tone.
His hands tremble by his sides.

I don’t know what to say. I’m
dazed, totally and completely dazed. I think I just lost my mind.
“What about Dillan?” This is the only question I can manage to ask.
I don’t want an answer to any of the others.

He shrugs noncommittally, “I’ll
see him when I can. If you allow it.”

I nod quickly and a little
frantically, my body tense as it struggles to keep my emotions
bottled. I won’t give him the satisfaction. “Sure. You’re his
uncle.”

“
I appreciate
that,” he chews on his cheek. “I warned you…”

My hand shoots up, silencing
him immediately. “I know. I should have listened. I didn’t think
you were serious. That’s my mistake.”

His eyes watch me warily for a
moment, “Are you okay?”

A tingle erupts in my chest,
forcing a lump up my throat. I swallow it down, “Fine. Are you sure
they packed everything of ours?”

He looks at me in the eye, his
face now one of concern, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Am I? I feel okay. Shocked and
maybe a little sad but I’m otherwise okay. “Yeah.”

“
I’m
sor…”

My hand shoots up again, “You
don’t owe me an explanation Nathan.”

“
I…”

“
No,” I throw
the bag of donuts at him, he catches them with ease. Peeling the
bag open I watch for his reaction. His eyes sparkle with the memory
of that night.

“
One of the
best nights of my life,” he says quietly and looks at me, his gaze
unsure. “Thank you for these.”

I ignore him and his strange
look. “I have a bag of my things in your room, did you remember
those?”

He cringes, “No. Sorry, I
forgot about the time you stayed upstairs with me.” Yeah right.
More like he wanted an excuse for me to come back. What game is he
playing? Do I even care?

How do I even feel?

“
I’ll just
grab them now,” my voice sounds weird. Why does it sound so…
hollow?

He follows me up the stairs and
into his room. Unfortunately he doesn’t remain silent. “I expected
you to be angry.” Yeah, me too. “I don’t like this.”

“
You don’t
like what?” I mutter and turn on the light. My bag is under the
desk in the corner, I pull it out by the handle and sling it onto
my back.

“
This calm…”
he waves a hand at me, as if referring to all of me rather than
just my expression.

I give him a shrug, “Thanks for
everything. Honestly. You’ve done so much for me. I guess I just
can’t seem to blame you for wanting your life back.”

“
That’s not
what this is.” He takes a step towards me, almost as if wanting to
touch me but thinks better of it and leans against the wall
instead.

“
Then what is
it?”

He opens his mouth, closes it,
opens it, lets out a frustrated growl and runs his hand through his
hair.

A familiar cool disk taps the
curves of my breasts. I’m so used to wearing it I forgot it was
there. I wrap my hand around the circular pendent and pull it from
my neck. The chain breaks, if this happened yesterday, I would have
been devastated. Now I don’t care. “Here.” I hold it out for him to
take.

The pain in his eyes does
nothing to me. He shakes his head, looking like I’ve just killed
his puppy. “I don’t want it back. I made it for you.”

“
Exactly,” I
toss it at him, he makes no move to grab it. We both watch as it
flies past his arm and slides along the floor into the darkness of
his closet. I feel nothing. “There are twelve boxes downstairs in
the kitchen, all of them full of your favourites. You can freeze
them because I doubt even you will be able to eat them all in two
days.”

“
Gwen,” he
whispers softly.

“
Don’t,” I
say and rub my eyes. “I’m going to call for a taxi.”

“
Take the
car,” he implores, following me down the stairs to the first floor
where my room resides. “That’s more for Dillan than it is for you.
You said you’d keep stuff for Dillan, right?”

I blink at him like he’s
stupid. Hell, he is stupid. “Nathan, how the hell do you expect me
to afford it? The insurance is ridiculous, and it eats through fuel
like we breathe air.” He opens his mouth to speak, I don’t let him.
“I don’t have a job, I have no money and my mum won’t let me stay
for longer than a month.” He opens his mouth again but like before,
I cut him off. “And this isn’t a guilt trip. It’s the truth. I
don’t want anything from you.”

“
I’ll provide
for you both until you get back on your feet.” His voice is barely
there, I can see a flicker of emotion in his eyes. Is that remorse?
“I’ll rent an apartment for you. There’s a really nice one in
the…”

“
Can you just
call me a taxi? I need to go and pick up my son,” I show him my
phone which has just this second died due to me failing to charge
it last night. “No power.”

“
Only if you
promise to let me pay for it,” he demands, hiding his phone behind
his back. “Or better yet, let me drive you to your
mum’s.”

“
No,” I
refuse adamantly and check around my bedroom for anything that he
may have left behind. “Thanks but you’ve done enough for me
already.”

“
Then let me
do something more.”

A tiny zap of anger pierces
through my bubble of numbness. “No. I don’t want anything from you
anymore. You’ve made your feelings on us loud and clear.”

“
Us?” He
blinks in astonishment. “What do you mean us?”

“
I meant me,”
I correct myself, cursing for my idiotic slip up that he’ll no
doubt read into.

“
You said
us.”

“
Well excuse
me if I’m a little out of sorts Nathan,” I hiss and prod him in the
chest. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’ve just lost my entire
life… yet again.”

His skin turns an odd shade of
yellow, “That’s not what this is. You get to go back to your
friends. You get to…”

“
This is my
home. No… sorry. This was my home.” My heart plummets, its beat no
longer existent. “You were my home.”

He staggers back a step, his
hand gripping hold of the desk, “Caleb was your home.”

“
Yeah,” I
laugh coldly. “He was. But he’s dead and I lost that.” I realise
something and mentally kick myself for not realising it sooner.
“You gave me that back. Just in a different way.”

“
I didn’t
know you felt that way. I thought…”

“
Stop
thinking, it doesn’t suit you.”

“
Maybe we can
talk about this. Maybe I’ve rushed my decision.”

“
Maybe you
can call me a taxi so I can get my son and find a way to get to my
mum’s. A way that doesn’t involve you.”

He lets out a growl of
frustration, “At least let me give you a ride to Jeanine’s.” I go
to pass him but his hand wraps around my bicep. “Please.”

Sigh. “Fine. Give me a minute,
I need to call my mum.” He nods and ducks out of the room.

“
Explain,” my
mum says, sounding curious rather than irritated or put
upon.

“
I’m coming
home.”

“
Well, I
guess it’s a good thing I unpacked your things then,” I can hear
the smile in her voice. “I’m looking forward to seeing you. Text me
when you’re on your way.”

“
I will.
Thanks mum.” I hang up the phone and stare at my empty
room.

I failed.

Nathan doesn’t say anything as
he drives me to Jeanine’s. I don’t say anything either. I’m not
entirely certain there is actually anything we can say. He’s made
his feelings clear and I’m not sure what my feelings actually are
right now.

He pulls up outside of
Jeanine’s house which isn’t too far from Nathan’s, but is far
enough for me to want to drive there.

Before I can reach for the
handle the doors lock. I give it a tug, sigh and sit back in my
seat. “Problem Nathan?”

He nods, his tongue creeping
out to moisten his lower lip. “I promised you I’d never hurt you
purposely.”

“
That you
did.” Where’s he going with this?

“
I’m not
doing this to purposely hurt you either.” He mutters
conspiratorially. I really don’t have the brain power for this
right now.

“
Look…” I
place my hand on his that rests on his thigh and give him a soft
look. “I don’t blame you. You don’t need to feel guilty. Dillan and
I aren’t your problem, we never were. Thank you for the
ride.”

The look he gives me shows far
too much regret than any person should have to deal with.
“Everything I’ve done, I’ve done it for you.”

“
That’s why
I’m not blaming you now.”

With one last lingering look at
me, he finally flicks the locks on the doors. “I’ll miss you
Gwen.”

My heavy heart pounds. “Why are
you saying that like we’ll never see each other again?” Panic
follows, I don’t like this. “What about Dillan?”

He doesn’t respond, he only
twists his hands on the steering wheel and stares straight
ahead.

Shaking my head with
disappointment, mostly so I won’t cry, I lean over and press my
lips to his cheek before climbing out of the car. He inhales a
shuddering breath as I close the door and wave at him through the
windscreen.

I’m grateful that he doesn’t
leave until I’m inside, hearing the engine slowly quieten as it
leaves the driveway is hard enough. Watching it would probably
break me.