Free Broken #4 (The Broken Series - Book #4) by Claire Adams Page B

it and I had to accept the fact
that the evening was ruined and try to mend things with Natalie another day.
    We
spent the whole night apart, but my family was none the wiser. Natalie put on a
good show, even though she did avoid me like the plague. I wanted to kiss her
or hold her hand, but I worried that if I tried to do anything like that, she
would explode in front of everyone. Again, things would have to wait for
another time.
    We
spent the night in the sitting room, chatting amongst everyone and playing a
few family games. My mother offered for Natalie to stay the night, but she
declined. She walked up to me with her purse and coat in hand.
    “I
would like to go home now.”
    “Are
you sure? I thought we were going to stay for a few days. Go sightseeing.”
    “I
have no interest in that. I just want to go home and be alone. It was a mistake
coming here. Can you please just take me home?”
    I
smiled at her sadly. “Yes, sweetheart, I'll take you home.”
    We
said our goodbyes to everyone, and headed out the door. I walked with her to
the car, and she didn't say a thing to me. I drove her back to her apartment
and through the entire 45-minute drive, she didn't say a word. Neither did I . I just didn't have anything more to say, and I thought
that she needed a break from me.
    I
pulled up to the curb in front of her apartment and turned off the car. I was
hoping she was going to invite me up, but that wasn't going to happen.
    “Goodnight,
Natalie.” I smiled as I grabbed her hand before she went out the door. She
paused before getting out, and rolled her eyes. She pulled away from me then
and got out of the car without saying another word to me.

 
    Chapter
Nine
    Natalie

 
      I could barely concentrate on photography
class that day. We had another opportunity to go into the darkroom, and
normally I would have been stoked, but I barely even smiled that whole day.
Brenda had finally asked me what the hell was wrong with me, and I had just
shrugged. The last thing that I wanted to discuss with anyone was my
boyfriend’s infidelity. If you even wanted to call it that. I was aware that he hadn't full on cheated on me, but I definitely felt like he
encouraged Katie's affections and flirted with her, which caused her to
eventually kiss him, and that was bad enough.
    It
was easily the worst Thanksgiving I had ever had, and I wished that I had just
declined the invitation. It was obvious that Jet and I weren't meant to be
together, and I wished even more that I hadn't agreed to go out with him. He
had turned out to be a far greater disappointment as a boyfriend than I had
ever imagined.
    I
didn't want to even think about that day, but it was hard to get that image out
of my head. I hated seeing him even flirting with Katie. Training had almost
killed me, so seeing her actually put her lips on him was just too much to
bear. If I could forget it and forgive him, I still don't think I would ever be
able to get the image out of my head, so how was I supposed to move on with
him? He had turned out to be just like Tom, and it had broken my heart.
    I
wasn't stupid. I knew he wasn't making out with Katie, but it didn't matter.
She had touched him and he had allowed it. Not only that, but her affections
had always been encouraged by him during training and God knows where else, so
it was inevitable for her to have kissed him. He put himself in that position,
and I wasn't about to forgive him about it.
    It
had been three days since that dinner, and we had not spoken once. It hurt, but
I refused to talk to him about it. I knew I would have to eventually, but I
wasn't ready. He had been texting me nonstop, and calling at all hours. He had
even messaged Julie to try to get her to convince me to talk to him. She had
put in her best effort, too, because she really had wanted us to talk, to work
things out. She and I had even tussled about it, but I didn't think it was any
of her business, and I wasn't going to be forced to do it. I