Free Beautifully Shattered (The Beautifully Series Book 1) by Courtney Kristel Page A

head
over to the living room. I set the present on the table before going
to the kitchen for a glass of wine. Phone! I hurry over to my bedroom
where I left it. I’m stalling. Once I’m seated, I finally grab
the present.
    The first thing I notice is a note
in Jax’s handwriting.
    Seven years ago you were consumed with swimming, you began to lose
yourself. This helped . . . maybe it can help you find yourself
again. It’s time to live again, it’s time to move on. I’ll be
here every step of the way.
    -Jax.
    Without seeing the
gift, I know what it is. A camera. As much as I try to be angry with
him for deciding it’s time for me to move on, I can’t. I wouldn’t
be able to without him pushing me. I want to ask him what he means by
being here. I want him to mean it as more than a friend, but I know
he doesn’t. We’re not those teenage lovers who sneak behind
everyone’s back to be together every chance we got anymore. Too
much has transpired.
    Taking a deep breath, I
pull the camera out of the box. My eyes go wide when I realize
exactly what camera he bought me. It’s a SLR Leica. It’s so
expensive, I’m almost too afraid to touch it . . . almost.
    My phone goes off, startling me. I
plan to ignore it, but when I see it’s a text from Jax, I carefully
set down the camera.
    Jax: You actually get a choice . . . Thai or subs.
    Me: Yeah real big choice there. Subs.
    Jax: Great choice, I already have them. Be there soon.
    Me: Why do you even ask then?
    Jax: So you think you actually have a choice.
    Me: Thanks for the camera . . . You shouldn’t have . . . but
thanks.
    Jax: Don’t mention it. You’re going to use it, maybe not
tomorrow, but soon. And I can’t wait to see you come to life again
when you’re behind the lens.
    I smile as I set my
phone down and I decide that I need music to fill the silence until
Jax gets here. Picking the playlist feelgood on my iPhone, I hit shuffle and plug it into the Surround Sound. The
first song has my head bumping, but it isn’t until Sammy Adams Only
One comes on that I actually begin to move. I jump around,
shaking my butt, and whipping my hair back and forth. When the chorus
comes on, I’m screaming about the one that is way out of my league
with Sammy. Fitting.
    Forgetting about all of
my stresses, I dance it out. Cheap Trick’s She’s
Tight comes on next and I’m lost in the music. I use a
water bottle as a makeshift microphone. Closing my eyes, I go all
out.
    It isn’t until I hear
Jax sing, “I had a smoke and went upstairs,” that I realize I’m
no longer alone. Kill me now please.
    Mortified, I turn
around to see Jax mimicking my ass shaking. “Oh no, please don’t
stop on my account. I was enjoying myself.”
    I don’t think that I
can blush a darker shade of red even if I tried. I realize that I
have two choices here: I can be embarrassed and stop, or I can let go
for once and have fun. I go for option two and hand Jax the other
“microphone.” Shania decides to come on next. Man!
I Feel Like a Woman is the perfect song to let go! Putting
my arms up in the air, I twirl around and start singing along with
Shania.
    When the first verse of
the chorus blares through the speakers, I strut up to Jax, turn
around and grind my ass up to his pelvis. Walking a few steps, I
shake my ass, bend over and touch my toes. I tilt my head to the side
and wink at him. When his jaw hits the floor, I laugh. Men are so
easy. Closing my eyes again, I let the music wash over me and give
Jax the best floor show in the world. Of course I may be biased.
    PJ Simas comes on next
and to my surprise Jax lifts the water bottle I handed him and starts
rapping to the song Ocean Drop. I double over in laughter because I have a Greek God in a suit
rapping in my living room. Jax “drops it like it’s hot” and I
can’t even breathe, I’m laughing so hard. He holds out his water
bottle for me when the girl starts singing. Smiling, I scream along.
Singing is so overrated.
    By the