Free This Broken Beautiful Thing by Sophie Summers

catch my breath and get off the bed to look at my face in the mirror. It’s a little red and my eyes are still a bit swollen.
    “How long am I going to be sleeping next to you?”  I ask him. He looks up at me from the bed as if I’ve interrupted his thoughts.
    “Forever?” he says cheekily.
    “No seriously, how long? Sooner or later you’re going to get sick of me hovering around you and I’d rather give you your space before you get tired of me.” I say leaning against his door frame.
    “ Babe that’s not going to happen but either way, your bed or mine, you’ll be sleeping next to me.” He says matter of factly, I don’t bother to argue with him because it won’t get me anywhere. I shake my head and leave his room in search for Anna.

    CHAPTER 7
     
    I walk up to the fourth floor towards my father’s bedroom. I knock on the door softly and hear Anna call for me to come in.
    She’s sitting on the bed working on her sketches; she seems shocked to see me in her room as she puts her sketch board down next to her on the bed.
    “What’s wrong, have you been crying?”
    I ignore her questions and he ad over to where she’s sitting.
    “C an I ask you a question?” I sit down on the corner of the bed and cross my legs, playing with a loose cotton piece on the frill of my summer dress
    “You have been crying! What happened? Was it Raven? Do I need to get the bat out?” she pulls me closer to her and holds me tight.
    “When dad cheated on you with Momma, how did you get over it?” I ask her sadly.
    “Oh no Hun , he didn’t? That’s why you didn’t want to see him at the hospital?” she says in disbelief and I nod.
    “ I’m going to kill that boy, you two were so good together. I can’t believe he fucked it up. Are you okay babes?” she says as she holds my hand in hers.
    “N o I’m really not but that’s why I’m here, I need to know how to get over it. Jace has been great and most of the time he takes my mind off it but I just can’t stop the hurt that keeps creeping in. I don’t want dad to know about this and after this conversation I never want to speak about him again. I don’t want to mention his name, hear about him or even think about him. I want to forget! How do I just… forget?” I say as I tremble and the tears fall.
    She pulls me in for a tight hug , trying to comfort me and it works.
    “It’s very hard my love, you believe you won’t be able to trust men again but you will. I knew what I was getting in to when I married your father though. These biker boys are hard to handle but I love your father too much to not work on our relationship and make it work. When he had that drunken one night stand with your mother, your father and I were going through a rough patch especially when I just found out I couldn’t have children, I felt useless and I pushed him away. You see babes, these men don’t like being told what to do and they want a woman that’ll submit to them. That’s why so many of them have whores on the side but I wasn’t willing to do that, it’s not in my nature and your father knew that. He told me the next morning that he cheated and I didn’t speak to him for about two weeks, I knew he felt terrible because he wouldn’t stop apologizing to me and each and every apology was so incredibly sincere. It was hard trying to ignore your father and eventually we talked it out. I made it known that if he ever so much as looks at another woman the wrong way I’ll be gone without a second glance and I knew that scared him. About ten months later I knew something was up when he purchased that big pink Harley for the bar with your name and date of birth on it. I didn’t ask or question him and I would always catch him staring at the handwriting with a fulfilled smile on his face. We both had secrets Harley and his biggest one was you. He was always away at club meetings but one day he came back with you at his side. The first time I saw you I knew you were his, I