Free The Broken by Ker Dukey

mouth. My body vibrates with
renewed energy. Fuck I want her again. I look round her room to
stop myself from throwing her back down on the bed.
    “Where are you
in this room, Twink?”
    Her bottom lip
springs free from her teeth, red and puffy, begging me to suck on
it. My eyes trace the beauty of her features up until I meet her
eyes. There’s an intensity that makes me feel so vulnerable.
    “What do you
mean?”
    “I mean there’s
nothing in this room, no personality. Nothing that’s you. Where’s
River?”
    Her head drops
then lifts, pain written all over her perfect face. “The me you’re
referring to, the River you remember, left here four years ago,”
she manages to say with no emotion in her voice. Her pain wipes
from her features, her face stoic, void of everything.
    Sorrow tears at
my insides. “Fuck, River. I know your dad used to beat on Blaydon
and that was hard on him but he loved you so much. I know it must
be hard for you that he left.”
    Her eyes search
mine, then a weird giggle escapes from her. “Yeah, he loved me.”
She shook her head. “That was the problem.”
    Her voice is
cold, lost. She sounds so broken, my stomach churns.
    “What does that
mean, Twink?” I ask, scared of her answer.
    Her eyes lift
to find mine and my body tenses. I feel heavy, like lead has
replaced my blood, and I’m frozen to the spot. “What does that
mean, River?” I choke out, my voice shaking with fear.
    My phone
chirps, and the atmosphere that felt like a thick, invisible
thunder cloud disperses as her face relaxes and she smiles.
    “I meant
nothing. Answer your phone.”
    She walks to
her dresser, pulling out a pair of dance leggings. My phone
silences, then chirps again straight away. I bend over to my jeans
and search the pockets, pulling my phone out and answering. “What?”
I bark.
    “Fucking hell,
sorry, I just wondered where you are. You’ve been gone two hours.
Jase went to bed and your mother just came home.”
    I hear a
muffled sound down the line, then a whispered, “She’s not alone,
man.”
    I let out an
exasperated sigh. “I’m coming now,” I tell him, ending the call.
River is now standing with her hair pulled back from her face,
she’s clutching a workout top and leggings tight against her
impressive chest.
    “I have to
go.”
    She’s nodding
before I even finish the sentence. “Yeah, of course. I’m going to
shower, then dance for a bit.”
    She spins on
her heel, entering the bathroom and closing the door behind her.
Dismissing me like we hadn’t just devoured every inch of the other,
after years of wanting each other. She gives me the best sex of my
life and then acts as if I’m a one night stand she met in a bar. I
swallow the unsettling feeling taking route in the pit of my
stomach and throw my clothes on. I race over to my house. The front
door is open and Jasper is yelling. He has some guy by the collar,
pinned against the wall.
    “What’s going
on?” I ask.
    My mother is
standing with her hands clasped, wringing them together like she’s
nervous.
    “Jasp?”
    “This douche
gave her money and told her to suck his dick.”
    My eyes fly to
my mother, then to the man Jasper has pinned.
    “It’s the right
amount! I didn’t know she already had someone here, I can
wait!”
    Jasper loosens
his hold and turns to stare at me, confused. My hands are shaking.
“What does he mean, Mom?” I ask, sounding more like a boy then the
man I am. She shakes her head.
    “Mom?” the guy
asks. “Fucking hell, let me go, man!”
    Jasper’s hands
fall away, and the guy rushes past me and out of the house.
    “Don’t look at
me like that, Sammy. It’s easy money and I enjoy it, so no harm, no
foul.”
    She saunters
past me and up the stairs. Stopping a few steps up, she leans
forward towards Jasper, holding up the money. “Hey, he’s already
paid if you want to collect?”
    He grimaces and
backs away.
    “Suit
yourself.”
    I watch in
horror as the woman who gave me life