Beautifully Shattered (The Beautifully Series Book 1) (35 page)

Raising his mimosa for
a toast Connor says, “This one that you call Tinkerbell, Addie, hit
me with her car almost a year ago and I haven’t seen her since. Oh,
and she also went by Elizabeth back then.” He tilts his champagne
flute towards her then to me. “Thanks for making friends with the
enemy.”

I was so not expecting
that. I was thinking they slept together and he never called her
back. Not this! Everyone speaks at once. I sit speechless, gaping at
Harper. This is why I’m the only one who sees what she’s about to
do. My mouth drops open.

She pours the entire
pitcher of water on Connor’s head. Then, to shock us all, she slaps
him across the face. I don’t mean a little girl slap you would
expect from someone her size, either. Nope, a bitch slap so powerful
everyone in the restaurant winces. It’s eerily quiet. I think
everyone is too afraid to speak. I know I am. She leans over and
whispers something to Connor that nobody else can hear. His jaw pops
in anger.

Plastering the fakest
smile I’ve ever seen she says, “Your womanizing friend has
greatly exaggerated, as I’m sure he does to get women into his bed
every night, even though he can’t really perform as he would like
everyone to believe.”

Jax and Logan double
over in laughter. The kind that shakes their entire bodies. Kohen
seems as uncomfortable as I feel. I opt for a smile because I don’t
know what’s about to happen. This can go either way. Harper
surprises me yet again by standing and collecting her purse. She
embraces me.

“I should say I’m
sorry, but we both know I would be lying. I have to go though, I’ll
see you tomorrow at work.”

She says goodbye to
everyone. Connor cleans himself up with the hand towel our waiter
brought him.

“Memorable as always,
Evans.”

How does she know his
last name? Connor looks way too pleased with himself. Why is he
smiling? Something is seriously wrong with him. We watch Harper leave
the restaurant. Jax gives Connor the third degree before I can.

“That’s her?” he
asks.

“Have you seen her
since that night?” my brother asks Connor, who nods at Jax.

Okay, clearly I’m the
only one out of the loop. Awesome, my favorite place to be. I point
the end of my butter knife at Connor’s face and give him my best
you’re-going-to-be-dead-if-you-don’t-answer-me look.

“I swear, Connor, if
you don’t tell me what the hell just happened, I will not be held
responsible for my actions!”

Connor rolls his eyes.
“Oh please, Addie, you’ve never been threatening. Now put the
knife down before you hurt yourself.”

Gleaming with pride
that I got my way, I set down the butter knife and make a show of
folding my hands on the table, like an eager child ready to learn.

Glancing at my brother,
Connor answers his earlier question. “Yes, this is the first time
I’ve seen her since a year ago. I didn’t even know she lived in
New York and she has that southern accent so I assumed she was
visiting. She never gave me her last name so it’s not like I could
track her down.”

He laughs and looks at
me. “She didn’t even give me her real name.”

Okay, I’m as confused
as can be. Kohen wears a bored expression. How? I have no idea. I
can’t believe Harper left without explaining. I listen intently to
the rest of Connor’s story.

“I was leaving work
one night when the car in front of me smashed into me out of nowhere,
then took off without waiting for the light to turn green.”

I clench my teeth. It’s
hard not to be upset that Connor never shared this story. Guess we’re
not as close as I thought. I make a mental note to bring this up
later and focus on not lashing out. She smashed into someone and took
off? That hits too close to home. I shake my head. I have no idea how
I didn’t know this. How could I be friends with someone who would
flee the scene of an accident?

“I did what any
rational person would do when someone hits them and takes off. I
followed her. I almost got hit by an oncoming car for speeding
through the red light, too.”

Connor pauses to
collect himself, I’m sure. I squeeze Kohen’s thigh to avoid
launching myself at Connor to demand more information.

“I raced in and out
of cars until I found the one that hit me. I followed it for an hour
out of the city when it finally pulled up to a gas station. I waited
until she was already out of the car and pumping gas before I pulled
up. I don’t think she realized I was following her, until she saw
me pull up to the pump behind her. She screamed when I opened my
door, but stopped when she saw me.”

He pauses again and I
can tell he’s thinking of what to say next. I swear, if he’s
making this up I am going to gut him like a fish. Something’s
telling me he isn’t, though.

“She immediately
apologized saying that she thought I was someone else. I could tell
that she was still freaking out. She kept glancing around as if she
were searching for someone. Then she leaned into her car, grabbed her
purse and gave me a wad of cash. A wad of hundreds to be exact.”

I eye him closely,
looking for any signs of dishonesty. I can’t find any. She did
this, she really took off. I want to give her the benefit of the
doubt, but it’s hard after everything I went through, what my
family went through.

“Being the gentleman
that I am, I didn’t take her money. I offered to buy her coffee so
she could explain what was going on, but she refused. I told her I
wouldn’t let her go until she at least told me her name. She got in
her car, rolled down the window and said, ‘Elizabeth’ before she
sped away.”

He regards me. “I
know what you’re thinking, Addie, but it’s not the same. Don’t
make her out to be the bad guy. She needs you. I don’t know what
happened, but she was scared that night. Terrified actually.
Frightened enough to back into my car at a stop light. She thought I
was somebody else. That’s why I spent the majority of last year
looking for a ghost. I needed to make sure she was okay.”

I know without a doubt
that he’s telling the truth. Connor wouldn’t joke about something
like this. Harper and I will be having a serious conversation
tomorrow. If it weren’t for Connor explaining how scared she was,
then her and I would be having a different conversation. Now, I just
needed to make sure she’s okay, too.

It takes all my
remaining self-control to finish brunch and head with Kohen to the
carnival instead of seeking out Harper. I know that if she wanted to
talk, she would have said something to me. Hopefully she’ll be
ready tomorrow. Until then, I push all of this to the back of my
mind. It’s time to enjoy a day at the carnival with Kohen in
Manhattan.

Hand-in-hand, Kohen and
I walk up to the ticket booth. I tell myself to forget about wanting
to be here with Jax and to have fun with the man that wants to spend
time with me, the man who isn’t afraid to be seen with me.

“Someone is a little
excited,” he observes.

I twirl myself around,
using his hand to spin me. Laughing, we amble to the first ride, my
personal favorite . . . bumper cars. Showing our wrist bands to the
attendant, we head over to separate cars. I, of course, pick the pink
one. Kohen chooses the black one across from mine. I smile wickedly
at him.

“You’re going
down.” I even give him two thumbs down to stress my point.

The music fades away so
the attendant can review the rules. When I notice Kohen watching me,
I wink at him.

I ram into Kohen and
laugh as he maneuvers his bumper car in-between mine and the others,
taking the hits for me. Maybe I should have informed him that this is
a game and I can’t get hurt? The ride ends far too quickly for my
liking. Kohen slings his arms over my shoulder while he reminds me
about all of the other rides and cotton candy. Yum!

We go on rides for the
next few hours, hitting everything twice, some three times because
I’m a little kid at heart. I’m surprised how easy he makes it to
forget about Jax, and everything else. I’m enjoying myself because
of him. After we go on the Zipper, we’re both in desperate need of
refueling. As we stand in line for food, I contemplate opening up to
him, to an extent. Right now seems like the perfect time.

Kohen orders burgers,
fries, and one large coke to share. He leads me to an empty bench
away from the crowd. We eat in silence. I can’t help but wonder
what it would be like to date Jax in the open, for it not to be a
secret. Kohen takes my hand into his, raises it up to his lips and
kisses the inside of my palm. It’s hard not to notice the
nonexistent goosebumps. If he was Jax, my skin would be on fire with
a simple touch like that.

“So I’ve told you
all about growing up as an only child.”

Crap, I know where he’s
going with this. Even though I’ve been considering opening up to
him, I haven’t been able to get the words out. I didn’t know
where to start.

“How was it growing
up with Logan? Has he always been so protective over you? I swear,
sometimes I don’t know if I should be more worried of Logan’s
approval or
Jax’s
.”

I brush off his dislike
for Jax with a laugh. It comes out forced, like the way he’s
forcing a smile even though we’re talking about Jax. I need to
change the subject, it’s been clear that Jax is not something we
discuss.

Okay,
I can do this.
He’s given me the perfect opening. I
decide to only mention the good parts. I’m not ready to share the
accident, not yet.

“Logan was impossibly
protective of Hadley and me.” I can see the surprise on his face,
all of the questions, but he composes himself and lets me finish. “He
included me in everything he did when we were younger. He would even
make the guys watch
The Little
Mermaid
.

“When Hadley came
along, we would play dress up with her. She loved to remind us that
we were her real dolls. Jax and Connor were even roped into attending
her tea parties and dressing up. We were all forced into tutus and
tiaras.”

Kohen stiffens at the
mention of his name which I ignore. I chuckle, remembering walking
into the house after practice with all three sweaty soccer boys in
different shades of pink tutus and tiaras, drinking pretend tea with
stuffed animals. Hadley was around six or seven so the guys were
thirteen, I believe.

I don’t say anything
for awhile, as I remember what lengths we would all go to make Hads
happy. After a few minutes of memories floating through my mind,
Kohen breaks the silence.

“And your dad?” he
asks tentatively.

“My dad, Andy, was
extremely strict when it came to his little girls and boys. I think
that’s where Logan gets it from and why he’s fond of running
background checks.”

Kohen forces out a
laugh that doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Don’t worry I’m
sure yours came back with flying colors, or I wouldn’t be allowed
to see you,” I say to ease his noticeable tension.

He grins at me, but
again it seems forced. I shouldn’t have said anything, hopefully it
doesn’t ruin our day. Right as I open my mouth to apologize for my
brother, even though I’m not really sorry, Kohen shakes his head
and recovers from his sour mood.

“And Jax? Has he
always been this protective over you, too?”

There is no easy way to
talk about Jax. Just thinking about him makes my heart beat a little
faster. I choose to ignore why. This is not a conversation I want to
have with Kohen.

I shrug. “He’s been
Logan’s best friend since I was seven. I was always around. I guess
Jax forgets that I’m not his responsibility. Old habits and all
that.”

He takes ahold of my
hand again. “You’re a wonderful package to be a part of, Adalynn.
They’re lucky to have been in your lives for so long.”

His words should be
endearing, but I feel like he just stabbed me in the gut. All I can
think about is Hadley’s lifeless body while I was unable to help
her, watching as the paramedics fought to bring her back. She’s in
the ground while I’m not. Why? She deserves to be here, not me. I
force these disturbing thoughts away. Time for a change of subject.

“Do you know anyone
that would love to buy me cotton candy and win me a bear?”

He makes a show of
looking around. “I think I might know the right man for the job.”

I help him collect our
trash. I flee to the cotton candy vendor, hoping being in the crowd
again will help chase away the haunting memories. He buys me a huge
bag of pink cotton candy and I dive right into it. Tearing off a
piece, I feed it to him. He pulls my finger into his mouth and sucks
the cotton candy off it. Slowly he allows me to drag out my finger,
but not before he bites the tip. Now would be a perfect time to give
into him and forget about Jax.

“Mmm, best cotton
candy I’ve ever had.”

I force the images of
Jax’s naked body away. Picturing him is what makes my face heat up,
not Kohen’s sexual advances.

Kohen plays three games
of shooting cans off moving objects so he can win the biggest stuffed
animal here. It happens to be a brown bear with a pink tutu around
it’s waist and a tiara. Fitting. Kohen holds the stuffed animal out
to me.

“It’s perfect!” I
say. “What should we name her?”

Kohen rubs his chin as
if in deep thought. “What makes you think it’s a girl?”

I glare at him.

He gives me an innocent
expression, but I know better. “What? It looks like a manly bear to
me.”

As I balance the overly
large bear on my hip, Kohen draws me to him. When his lips touch
mine, the memories fade a little more, into the distance. I back away
before he can turn it into something much hotter.

“How many manly bears
do you see wearing a tutu?” I don’t wait for him to respond. “Of
course it’s a girl!”