BEAUTIFUL BROKEN MESS (Broken, Series #2)(109)

Quinn lets out a deep yawn and asks, “What do you mean he heard everything?”

“Well, turns out Em wasn’t crazy after all. He thanked her for always talking and reading to him,” I explain.

Mom reaches out and rubs Em’s back and smiles. “She pulled him through. He worked hard to wake up because of her,” she says, and Em casually shrugs her shoulders. The room quiets down and another yawn rips through Quinn, which causes a tidal wave effect of yawns around the room.

“Shit, babe, stop,” Cole says through a yawn. “There is no way you can possibly be tired! You slept almost fourteen hours last night, and that was after you had a three-hour nap yesterday afternoon.”

Quinn hugs her legs tighter and softly says, “I guess all this stress just wears me out.”

“Well, he’s awake now, so maybe you will be too,” he grumbles.

“Damn, someone’s grumpy he hasn’t gotten laid,” I jest.

“More than you buddy,” he stabs back.

“Touché,” I whisper.

“I had a dream you and Audrey were together,” Jaxon’s raspy voice interrupts.

We all freeze and immediately turn toward him. There is a round of ‘Jaxon’s’ called out and everyone seems to move closer to his bed all at once.

Cole is the first to speak. “How are you feeling, man? Shit, I missed you.”

“Um, I’m not sure,” he croaks. “What day is it?”

“Monday,” I reply.

“How did this happen?” he gestures at himself.

“You don’t remember me telling you earlier?” Mom questions. When Jaxon shakes his head, she explains that he was hurt during practice.

“Well, at least it was practice and not a live game. I don’t want to wind up on the highlight reel like superstar over here did last year.” He tries to laugh while pointing at Cole.

Last year, Cole got the wind knocked out of him in one of the first games of the season. It freaked us all out to see him lying motionless on the ground but we can laugh about it now, and often do every time they replay the hit on ESPN.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” Cole groans.

“So my dream...you and Audrey. It was pretty cool,” Jax says, looking directly at me.

“Nah, he f*cked that one up,” Cole’s annoying voice states.

“It’s real? I knew it! I totally knew you had a thing for her,” Jax says with a smile.

“You would be okay with it?” I ask, shocked. “What about that promise we made to never date the other’s girls? Past or present.”

“That shit goes away when you’ve met ‘the one.’ I have Em now. I could really care less about my ex-girlfriends. But that doesn’t mean I’d ever want anything to happen to Audrey, she’s been through enough. Why? What did you do?”

At the mention of her past, I want to dig a hole and throw myself inside. I was supposed to be the one person to treat her right, the one she could count on. “Shit man...I pussied out and should have told you all of this over a month ago.”

“I think I need to go get some coffee,” Mom mutters. She gives Jax a kiss on the forehead and scurries out, obviously uncomfortable with the idea of hearing about her sons’ sex lives.

“Over a month?” Jax raises his voice.

“Yeah.”

“Don’t beat around the bush, Jace,” Em says and then turns to Jax. “Audrey was the girl Jace was kissing up against his truck back in high school, the same day you met Audrey at Cole’s party. She was the girl Jace was gushing about meeting. She thought you were Jace, and then Jace didn’t want her after she had been with you.”