Broken: The MISTAKEN Series Complete Second Season (4 page)

Over here. The wrong side of Los Angeles. It was a good question, just one I didn’t have a good answer for. “I need someone to sew me up.”

She shook her head, the fear in her eyes almost palpable. “I’m taking you to the emergency room. Think about whatever story you want to tell them.” She started the car and tore out of the parking lot. “You want to tell me what the hell you’re doing here?”

I leaned back, resting my head against the back of the passenger seat, struggling to get a breath in at all. “Not particularly.” I pressed harder against the gaping hole in my belly, causing me to let out a loud moan. “Sorry.” It was getting increasingly difficult to remain conscious, and making it hurt more seemed to help.

“Jesus Christ, Brandon. Maybe I should call an ambulance.”

I shook my head. “I’m fine. Just drive to wherever someone can patch me up.”

She looked away and tried to pay attention to the road. She kept stealing glances at the bloody white shirt that was probably all that was holding my intestines inside my body. “Who was on the phone?”

“No one. Just drive.” As if I’d share with her what I had just done. Christ, what had I just done? Used the love of my life to keep from passing out from the blood loss? I used her as a distraction. I was such an asshole.

“I’ve missed you. You haven’t called.” She stole another glance at me and looked down again at the blood-soaked shirt again before turning her gaze back to the road. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you…”

“Because we aren’t together anymore, Robin. Remember? It’s been over a year.”

“You still love me. You keep coming back.” She pressed her lips together and glanced over at me. “I never stopped loving you. We’ll get you patched up and I’ll take you home. You can stay with me. I’ll take care of you.”

I groaned and leaned further into the seat, finally closing my eyes. There was only one woman I wanted to take care of me, and it wasn’t Robin Axelrod.

“I need to call my publicist. Someone will take a picture when we go in…”

“Then just drop me off. You don’t need to come in with me.” I shifted in my seat, trying to find a more comfortable position. Turns out, there are no comfortable positions when someone has stuck a knife in your belly.

“I’m coming with you. Damn it, Brandon. You called me. I’ll take care of you.”

Another groan escaped my lips. That was what I was afraid of.

I
pulled
out my favorite sweatshirt from the drawer and pulled it over my head before sinking to my knees. A wave of nausea swept over me as I crawled into the closet. I sat there, huddled against the back wall, hiding behind the clothes. I pulled my knees to my chest and buried my head in my lap. I wanted to cry, but my sobs were stuck in the back of my throat. I was so exposed, felt so naked.

I wasn’t sure how long I was in there, trying to hide from my humiliation when Mel came in the room.

Her heels clicked on the wood floor and she stopped in front of the full length mirror on the wall, in front of the dress that lay in a rumpled heap on the floor. “Jenna?”

I tried to speak, but the only sound that came out of my mouth was a muffled sob.

She walked over to the closet and knelt down, pulling my hand into hers. “Oh, sweetie. I was afraid this was going to happen. Come out of there.”

I shook my head into my knees, ashamed to even show my face. The tears started then, burning my eyes. I sobbed quietly into my lap.

“He’ll come back, Jenna. You know he will.” She squeezed my hand. “Come out of there, okay?”

My head shook again. How could I ever show my face again? I knew I was going to be the laughingstock of California, probably the world. I had let him play me. Again. And this time he had won, hands down. There was no coming back from this for me. No way could I ever face the outside world again.

“Sweetie, I’ll call the governor’s office myself. Maybe Amanda knows someone…”

I cut her off, lifting my head from my knees for a moment. “I didn’t want the job. I don’t give a fuck about working in Sacramento. I never wanted it. I don’t care if I ever work in politics again.”

“He’ll come back. He loves you, Jenna. He’s stupid in love with you. It was just a fight. You’ll get past it…”

I gave my head another shake. “No.” The sobs came again, harder this time, and I cried into my knees again for what seemed like forever.

Mel plopped herself down on the floor and sat there with me, stroking my hand with her thumb.

I cried until I was numb. That was the only way I would be able to handle this. I had to bury it, pretend it never happened. I swiped at my swollen eyes with the back of my hand and crawled out of the closet. I let go of Mel’s hand and stood up, crossing over to the dresser to pull on a pair of shorts. “Let’s go do something. Not a club.”

“Whatever you want.” She stood up and smoothed down her dress. “Are you going to tell me what happened?”

I shrugged and I shook my head. I sniffled back the rest of my humiliated tears. “Feel like a movie?”

“Yeah, sure. Whatever you want to do.” She lifted an eyebrow. “I see the dress on the floor, Jenna. You don’t ever leave your clothes on the floor. That’s
my
job.”

I looked back at her with a stare that I hoped told her not to push it any further. I knelt down and picked up the dress, tossing it into the closet.

She watched the dress fly across the room. “Also not like you…” She looked at the crumpled dress that was now covering several pairs of shoes in the closet. “Jenna, what’s going on?”

“Nothing.” I walked over to my bed and grabbed the phone from where it had fallen on the pillow.

“Phone on the bed. Dress on the floor. Christ, he called you, didn’t he? You didn’t…”

“I did. In front of his girlfriend.” A new batch of hot tears filled my eyes and I swatted them away with the sleeve of my sweatshirt. “Can we go now?”

Her eyes widened when what I had told her sank in. “In front of Robin Axelrod. The movie star. You had phone sex with your boyfriend… in front of the movie star, Robin Axelrod.” She nodded her head up and down, as if she were trying to digest her own words.

“That’s the gist, yep.” I pressed my lips into a line. “First and last time.” I dropped my voice, barely speaking over a whisper. “Motherfucker.”

Her lips turned up into the slightest of grins. “If it wasn’t so tragic, it would be funny. You’ll laugh about this someday, Jenna.”

“Unlikely.” I flicked my gaze over her. “You want to change?”

She looked down and frowned at the sexy red dress we had purchased for her that morning. It was a shame that it would be out of place for her at a movie theater. “I guess I should.” She looked back at me. “You should put on something else, too. You’ll fry in that sweatshirt. It’s almost a hundred degrees outside.”

“I’m fine.” This was the same sweatshirt I had worn when Daniel died. When I thought he died. It was warm. Familiar. Comfortable. “I’ll be fine.”

She nodded and pulled a t-shirt and pair of shorts from my dresser. “I’m sorry, sweetie. Are you sure this wasn’t just a big misunderstanding? I mean, maybe…”

I shook my head and held up my hand for her to stop. “It wasn’t a misunderstanding. Not this time. She was there. I didn’t hear her until the end, but she was there.” I felt my face grow hot, just admitting it to her. She was there. I knew she was.

“It doesn’t make sense, Jenna. Why would he do that? Why would he humiliate you like that?” She shook her head again. “I’ve seen him with you. He loves you. I mean, he’s crazy in love with you. There has to be another explanation.”

I plopped down on the edge of the bed. “Are you trying to make me doubt myself? I know what I heard.” My cheeks reddened and my voice dropped to a whisper. “I know what I did.”

She let out a long sigh. “I just think you should ask him. At least ask him what he was hoping to accomplish by doing that to you. He owes you at least that much.”

“He turned his phone off. He’s done with me. He was pissed off at me and he ran back to her. Then he decided he’d humiliate me, just to show me he could.” I looked down at my hands. “I don’t want to talk to him again.”

“I just don’t think…”

I cut her off. “You didn’t hear him this morning, the way he talked to me. There was no explanation, no reasoning. Just him telling me no, like I was a toddler that touched the electrical outlet or something. Just “no.” He’s a twisted bastard. He’s trying to break me for good.”

“You’re not broken, Jenna. You’re strong; you’ve dealt with worse. You got through the thing with Daniel, you’ll get through this. You’ll persevere.” She looked at me with something close to pity in her eyes. “I know you, and I know you will.”

I stared at the wall behind her. “He looked for the cracks. He played me for so long that he found them, and he used them against me.” I looked over to meet her gaze. “He just wanted to break me this whole time.”

She sat down on the bed next to me and pulled my hand into hers again. “I don’t know what happened, Jenna. I just know I love you, and I’ll do whatever you need me to do. Okay? You want me to go find the guy and beat him up? Gut him?” She looked up at me through her blonde, curly bangs.

I couldn’t help but smile just a little. “Maybe just the beating.”

“Done.” She stood up, pulling on my arm to get me to stand. “Movie night, huh? We haven’t done that in a while.”

“I just don’t want to have to think.” I stood up and followed her out of the bedroom.

She turned back to face me, her lips turning up into a wide grin. “Think there are any Robin Axelrod movies playing? We can throw tomatoes at the screen.”

“
M
r. Richardson
, you need to tell us what happened. You’ve lost a lot of blood, and we need to know what happened so that we can help you.”

My thoughts swam in my head. It seemed like it would just be easier to go back to sleep, but I needed to see her first. “Where’s Jen?”

The man in front of me looked at me like I had two heads. He cocked his head to the side, giving it a small shake. “Mr. Richardson, how did you get the wound on your abdomen?”

“I need to see her.”

The man, who must have been a doctor, shook his head at me again. “Mr. Richardson, you could die. Do you understand that? We need to know what caused these wounds in your abdomen.”

“If I die, you need to tell her I love her. Will you do that?”

The man cocked his head to the side again, apparently thinking I was out of my mind. “Your fiancée just went to give blood. She knows you love her, and she clearly loves you, too. Can you please tell me what happened so that we can help you?”

I shook my head at him. I didn’t have a fiancée, not yet. Maybe if I made it through this. Yes, if I made it through this, I would marry her. The thought of tearing a white dress from her body on our honeymoon…

“Mr. Richardson, don’t fall asleep. You need to tell us what caused the wound in your belly. You’re bleeding profusely. We need to know if it was a knife, a machine…”

“Where is she? I need to see her.”

“Fine, I’ll get her for you.” He turned and spoke to another woman standing behind him. Another doctor, maybe a nurse…

I glanced around the unfamiliar room. I was in a hospital. I could tell by the sterile white walls and the smell of chemicals. There wasn’t any pain, though. I couldn’t really even feel anything below my neck. My thoughts swam in my head again, back to Jen. She’d gone to give blood for me. She did love me.

“She’s on her way. Mr. Richardson. Brandon. Tell me what made the wound on your belly.”

“I don’t want her to know. You can’t tell her. She wouldn’t forgive me.”

“I won’t tell her anything. I just need to know so we know what we’re looking for when we take you in for surgery. You signed the consent. We need to get in there quickly before you lose any more blood. Please, just tell me what happened.” He grabbed my hand. “I know this is scary for you. Nothing you tell me will leave this room.”

I looked up at him. He was older than me, probably close to fifty. Maybe even older. His eyes were a weird shade of some color that I couldn’t remember the name of. But he looked like he cared. I closed my eyes, trying to remember the name of the color.

“Damn it, we should have asked him before we gave him the sedation.”

“She’s on her way now.” It was a woman’s voice that time.

I forced my eyes to flutter open. “She’s on her way?”

The nurse nodded and the doctor cocked his head, peering down at me again. “You need to tell me.”

I lifted my head a few inches off my pillow. “He stabbed me. He told me he knew. He knew the answers.” My head dropped back into my pillow with a thud. “But he didn’t have anything. The lying bastard knew exactly what to say to get me to come down here, then he didn’t have anything. He just wanted to kill me. I knew he did when he called this morning, and I came here anyway. He wanted to get me away from her, but he didn’t win that one, did he? She’s giving her own blood for me. She loves me. She chose me.”

“You’ve got a lot of morphine and sedatives in your system right now, Mr. Richardson. We need to get the bleeding stopped in surgery. You’ll see your fiancée when you get out.” He kicked something under my bed.

I could feel the bed starting to move. “No. I need to see her one more time. In case I die, I need to see her. I need to tell her I love her.”

I heard the nurse’s voice from behind my bed when we started moving again. “She knows. She loves you, too.”

She knows. The need to sleep was heavy in my eyes and I let them close again. She knows. The click of heels against the tile floor almost made my eyes open one last time. Her heels. Jen never wore heels, not unless she was trying to break an ankle. Why was she wearing heels?

“Wait, wait!”

The bed stopped and I struggled to recognize the voice. I knew it, but I couldn’t remember it. I felt her lips on my forehead. It was familiar, but it wasn’t Jen.

“I love you. And the answer is yes.”

The bed started to move again and my lids were so heavy, there was no way I could open them to ask the woman what the question had been.