BEAUTIFUL BROKEN MESS (Broken, Series #2)(114)

“Well, don’t let her do that,” she barks into the phone.

She looks at me again and asks, “You wouldn’t happen to have Lane’s number, would you?” Her smile is too wide, too fake.

“Who are you talking to?” I question.

“Do you have his number or not?” she demands. I shake my head with a negative.

“Where are you?” she asks her mystery caller. “Okay, I’ll be there in like fifteen minutes.” She hits the end-call button before I can yank it out of her hand.

“Where is she?” I growl.

“I think I should take care of it, Jace. She wouldn’t want you to see her like this,” Em says. I look to Jax for help because there’s no way in hell he would let that fly.

“Sorry, babe, I have to side with Jace on this one. If someone had said that about you, I’d being going ape-shit. Just let him go get his girl.”

“Okay...fine...” she groans in irritation. “You better be nice to her!”

“I swear,” I immediately respond, while shoving my wallet and phone back into my pockets.

“So that was Max, and he said that he showed up at the Sig Alpha party...” I groan, already not liking where this is going.

“Apparently, Garrett and Mason found out Audrey has never had alcohol before, so they convinced her to try some...” she trails off uncomfortably. Doesn’t matter I’m already halfway down the hallway, heading toward the elevator. Oh, I’ll be nice to Audrey, but I never promised anything about Garrett and Mason. Or Max. That * should have called me!

~~~~~~~~~~

Frat row is lined with cars and all the driveways are filled. Last year, we were on this street three or four times a week. I’m glad we all kind of backed off this year. Most of the parties are at the beach now, which somewhat keeps them under control. I pull up in front of the packed Sig Alpha house and park right on the grass of the front lawn. The music is pumping so loud, I can feel my heart beating in sync with the tune already.

As I hop out, a little guy who looks a lot like a freshman comes barreling down the drive. “Hey, you can’t park here, this is Sig property,” he squeaks.

“I’ll be out in ten minutes. I’ve got fifty bucks with your name on it if no one touches this car,” I call out to him as I climb the porch steps.

“Deal,” he cries with his hands up in surrender.

Max is perched at the top with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. “I was hoping you would show up instead of Em.”

The second I reach him, my hands shove his chest, forcing him to shuffle backward. “Next time, *, you call me,” I demand.

He raises his hands and says, “She begged me not to.”

“If it concerns her, it concerns me.”

“Message received. Now go get her. Hopefully you’ll have more luck than I did.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

“Hey, if it means anything, I was hoping by calling Em I’d get you,” he confides to my retreating back. I nod my head because that’s all I can give him right now.

It takes some effort to push the front door open with the thick crowd on the opposite side. I shoulder my way in, searching for her. It’s not hard to spot Audrey in this mass of bodies, and it’s not because I practically have a homing device on this girl. It’s because she’s standing on the kitchen bar top with Mason, Garrett, and a few other girls I don’t recognize, the five of them dancing wildly to the blaring music.

I may be pissed at the circumstance but seeing her again is like a breath of fresh air. When Jaxon and I were kids, we used to go out to the lake near our house and swim all the way out to the very middle. Once we got out there, we would race down to the very bottom, touch it, and swim back to the top.