A Shattered Heart (Live & Love Series Book 1) (3 page)

Chapter 4

2 years, 6 months, 21 days

It had been over a week since I had seen Josh. I showed up at work the next day after the kiss, concerned how the atmosphere was going to be. However, as someone who had faced worse, I went in with my head held high.

I walked into the shop and was greeted the same way as normal. Laurel and I had a small chat about what could be done with the shop to promote the business. My poster campaign was sent to the printers, and we were waiting to hear back as to when they would be ready. Harry stopped by my desk to ask how I was adjusting and if I wanted anything from the coffee shop down the road. I thanked him for his offer yet passed.

I spoke with the guys during the day and throughout the week and even went out with them after work for beers and pizza, but still no Josh anywhere. It was like he had disappeared. What was more, no one said a word about it. Everyone acted like it was a normal, everyday occurrence. I wasn’t going to say anything, though. I didn’t want any more intruders in my life, only to find they had gone missing the next day. One was enough, thanks.

The entire time, I couldn’t get that kiss out of my head. It was absolutely the best kiss I had ever experienced. The way his lips moved with mine, the way he tasted—
melt! Wait, I have to shut those thoughts down.
I wasn’t ready for this, not after … I just couldn’t.

After a fairly easy week, we went to the bar again, and my mind wandered as the conversation flowed around me. Everyone was there except the ever-elusive Josh. While I was trying to follow how everyone’s day was, I kept watching the door to see if he would walk in, but to no avail.

After a while, I excused myself to head to the bathroom. As I made my way back, I stopped at the bar and heard footsteps behind me as I waited for my drink.

“He’ll come back. If it’s any consolation, he asked me to keep an eye on you.”

I merely looked at Mark.

“He needed to clear his head for a while, but he’ll be back. Whatever happened between the two of you certainly made this situation more interesting. Don’t take it as a bad thing, though. It’s about time he met his match.” Mark winked then stalked back to the table. He peered over at me once he sat down and then never brought it up again the rest of the night.

Chapter 5

2 Years, 6 months and 27 days

I was hard at work on a new campaign—internet advertising—when I looked up from my computer to see the three brothers staring at me again like they had the second day on the job.

My eyes widened because I hadn’t known Josh was back or even when he had gotten back.

“Seriously, did I miss something?” I asked suspiciously

Mark and Daniel looked at each other, and then Daniel asked, “Have you ever seen someone concentrate as hard as she does?”

“Nope, but I wonder how long we can stand here and watch. I say, next time, we time it.” Mark waggled his eyebrows at me.

I slowly started to close the lid of my computer then decided to pop up my middle finger just as the lid was closing.

They all burst into a hearty laugh.

“You coming or what?” asked Mark as he and Daniel started walking out.

“Yeppers. See you there. I gotta make a stop first,” I yelled to their backs.

Josh was still standing by my desk, and I stood up then crossed my arms, looking at him in the same way he was staring at me.

“Look … I … uh…”

“Don’t hurt yourself, dude. I get it. I think. I complicate things for the both of us. Point taken. I’ll keep to myself, and you can keep to you. No hard feelings,” I offered peacefully.

He scowled in my direction. “You don’t get it. But you know what? That’s okay. I realized something while I was gone, but you aren’t there yet. Again, that’s okay. I’ll be here when you do.” He walked off to follow his brothers.

That was the strangest exchange I had ever had with him, and they had all been pretty strange. What was going on?

I could admit that I had an attraction for him, especially after that mind bending kiss. However, he had sounded like he was talking nonsense. I wondered what I had done to make him talk that way.

I shook my head, turning off my workstation lights, and then headed to my car. This was going to be a very interesting night.

I was happy to be out tonight with what had easily become my new group of friends as well as the Bradley brothers. We had exchanged numbers early on—after my panic attack—and had spent most evenings together at The Tap Shop Bar and Grill. Even though I had only been in this town for a short while, I felt like I had started to get my life back on track—well, my social life, anyway.

We were all sitting at the table in the bar, telling stories, when I heard my phone chime, which was strange because just about everyone I knew and cared about was sitting at the table with me.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked at the screen. It wasn’t a number I recognized, but I still opened the text.

Do they know you killed your family?

I gasped and went immediately pale. Who? What?

I looked up and saw everyone having a conversation around me, seeming not to notice my reaction to the phone. Everyone except Josh. He was looking right at me and probing my eyes with his.

When he slightly nodded his head to the door, I shook my head. Then he lightly kicked me under the table, but I kicked him back. I did not want him in my business.

I looked around the bar, but didn’t see anyone I recognized.

I texted back.

Who is this?

I looked up again and saw Josh staring at me, but now he was followed by the rest of the table.

“We’ve never seen you text anyone before,” Nilka remarked.

“Ooo, maybe she has a secret boyfriend,” exclaimed Lila, clapping her hands. Nilka joined in, and they started bantering back and forth with speculations.

I sent her the death glare. “Or not,” she said sheepishly.

Daniel pretended to stretch his arms and grabbed my phone from me. “Gotcha.”

Things started to happen too quickly, and my breathing became erratic. The girls were clapping loudly for Daniel grabbing my phone. Josh was trying to talk to me, but I was panting really badly now. Mark started trying to wrestle the phone out of Daniel’s hands when it popped onto the table and illuminated on the text that made me pass out right there in the bar.

Do they know you killed your family?

Chapter 6

JOSH

What in the ever loving fuck!

We managed to get everyone from our group out of the bar with a promise to explain later. Then I picked up Natalie’s body and slung her over my shoulder. The bartender looked at us funny, but Mark made the signal for passed out drunk, and he went about his business.

We sent the girls home and took Natalie back to our place. We were all living together for now because it was cheaper for us, and none of us were attached at the moment. It made it easier. We had a huge house, anyway, so we weren’t trapped in a tiny apartment or anything.

Our house was an upper-class home for the area we lived in. The main floor was open concept with a kitchen off the back entrance, galley style, that was open to the sunken living room. The house wasn’t decorated to the gills like a chick would have it, just some masculine touches throughout, but it was still nice.

We had a large sectional off to the left side of the room with a huge, big screen TV across from it. We had a few other pieces of furniture throughout: footstools, chairs, pictures on the wall, etc. We had a huge picture window beside the couch which looked out over an empty piece of land. Very natural looking. We weren’t in the country, but it was close.

On either side of the living room were staircases going up to the bedrooms. There were two on each side of the house, each with their own bathrooms. My room was on the opposite side from Mark and Daniel. The basement was finished, too, but it was more of a giant gym and laundry room.

I took Natalie to my room and put her down in my bed. She was still passed out from earlier, but her breathing was fine, so I thought I would leave her there and let her rest.

I went out to the living room where my brothers were sitting and waiting patiently for me.

“How is she?” asked Mark. He was always the nurturer of the three of us, always cleaning us up after we had our little accidents. I was surprised he wasn’t a doctor or a nurse, though he had always said he’d had his fill of fixing all our bumps and bruises when we were growing up.

“Still passed out.,” I answered.

“Are we going to talk about the text we all saw?” asked Daniel. He was a live wire yet loyal to his friends and family. Right now, he was pacing the room in an agitated sort of way.

“Calm down, bro. Yes, let’s talk about it, but we can’t jump to any conclusions here. It’s possible we are taking the text out of context,” I reasoned.

“Really? Are you that naïve?” Daniel stated incredulously. “That’s one hell of a wrong number text. And did you see her reaction? Something isn’t right.”

“I saw it, too, Josh. Daniel is right. Are we unknowingly harboring a fugitive or something? Because that’s what it looks like from where I’m sitting,” Mark chimed in.

“What about Mom and Dad? We’ve had her in our business for three weeks now. What if it’s been some sort of aiding and abetting that we are unaware of?” Daniel asked as he rubbed his hands down his face.

“Will you two just calm down for a minute, and let me think? This is what we know so far: She came to us a few weeks ago, looking for a job. She is fairly reserved on a personal level, but she appears to be good at what she does. So what does that tell us? That at least she has been employed in some capacity in a similar setting. That’s a truth right there. We did ask her about her personal life, and she did share information about her parents and a sibling. If someone were deliberately hiding something, why would they share those details of their life?”

“Okay, I see your point,” stated Mark. Daniel didn’t look convinced, though.

“Has anyone tried Googling her?” offered Mark.

“I’ll do it.” Daniel pulled out his phone and did a search on Google. “Natalie Rush, right?”

We nodded. He looked for a few minutes while we waited for him to say something.

“I can’t find anything that’s related to her. Either she is a really low key kind of person, her name isn’t right, or maybe we are spelling it wrong or something.” Daniel looked concerned. “Look, I’m no detective or anything, but common sense says something isn’t right here.”

Just as he finished speaking, a blood curdling scream came from my bedroom. We all jumped up, ran up the stairs, and rushed in at the same time.

Natalie was thrashing on the bed wildly, her eyes open but vacant, and there was a look of terror on her face.

I quickly jumped into the bed with her to hold her down.

“Natalie, you’re okay. Can you hear me? Wake up, darlin’. I got you.” I kept saying the same thing over and over until she calmed down.

Then she jerked in my arms and looked right at me.

“Oh, no, no, no, no,” she sobbed raggedly against my chest.

I looked over at my brothers who were obviously concerned as we shared a look of confusion at her outburst.

“Oh, my God. I can’t believe that happened,” she continued, trying frantically to get out of my arms.

“Natalie, stop fighting me,” I said.

“I have to go,” was her desperate reply.

“Oh, no,” said Daniel. “You’re not going anywhere until we have a chat.” He moved to stand in front of the door and crossed his arms over his chest, as if he dared her to make a move.

“Please,” she begged, turning to me. “I can’t do this,” she pleaded with total fear in her eyes.

“Darlin’, you are going to have to tell someone eventually. I told you I would wait until you were ready, but now you’ve forced my hand, and my family is involved. You can’t just leave us hanging like that, especially after that text. Look at it from our point of view. What would you do if the roles were reversed?” I asked.

My brothers stood by, waiting for an answer, both suspicious.

She completely sagged in my arms. Then, looking up at me dejectedly, she agreed, “Fine.”

“Okay, here’s what we will do. You can have a shower and change into some more comfortable clothes.” I pulled out some sweats and a T-shirt for her. “When you are ready, come down stairs, and we’ll have a calm conversation about whatever it is that is going on. Is that okay with you?’ I asked gently.

She nodded her head.

I looked over at my brothers. “And with you two, as well?”

They nodded their heads in agreement.

We left the room then to let Natalie compose herself and take a shower.

“This is so bad, bro,” stated Daniel “I can feel it.”

“Oh, please.” I rolled my eyes. “You have no idea what is going on any more than Mark or I do.” I gave him a pointed look that said keep calm or else.

“Fine, but if this goes sideways, we’re involving the cops,” he demanded.

“Fine.”

Mark walked over to the liquor cabinet, saying, “Does anyone else need a drink after that?” He pulled out the bourbon.

Both Daniel and I walked over and grabbed a glass. We were all silent as we drank.

Twenty minutes later, she came out of the bedroom with her hair still wet, wearing my clothes.

I knew I was starting to have feelings for her. I had figured that out while I was away.

After our kiss, I couldn’t get her out of my mind; as a result, I left for a while to get my head on straight. I had thought some space and time away would erase the pull I suddenly felt toward her. I mean, I’d had plenty of serious relationships in the past, and this was someone I barely knew. It made no sense to get wrapped up in her after a single kiss.

I thought I could fight it, but it had become stronger and stronger each day I was away. That was when I realized there was something more going on with me—I was starting to have genuine feelings about her. I knew she felt something, too—the kiss between us had spoken volumes—but she chose to push me away, and I had a feeling this was going to be the reason why.

Please don’t let me have fallen for a criminal. That’s the last thing I need.

She walked slowly over to the counter where the three of us were standing on one side. She looked completely drained and exhausted, with dark circles beneath her eyes.

Mark looked at me with concern before turning back to her. “How are you feeling?”

“Tired,” was her brief reply.

I simply looked at her to gauge her reaction. Something told me this wasn’t going to be easy.

“Where do you want to talk?” she asked quietly, not making any eye contact with us.

“Why don’t we sit at the table?” offered Daniel.

We all agreed, and then I had Natalie sit at the head, while we sat around her. I scooted closer to her and offered her my hand. She took it willingly, and I squeezed, showing her I supported her.

“Okay, I guess I will start from the beginning. My real name is Natalie Sirano. Rush is my mother’s maiden name. I am from San Diego, as I told you before, and yes, my parents still live there, and my older brother did pass away when I was young. He was sick with cancer and eventually succumbed to it.” She looked around the table to see us all watching her cautiously.

“My life changed two years ago. I was happily married to Jake, my high school sweetheart. We went to college together, both of us getting business degrees. We started a small company together, and it grew to a very large corporation.”

“Wait, what? You are
that
Natalie Sirano?” a shocked Daniel stated.

She nodded her head.

“Holy shit! Do you know how much money you’re worth?” He looked at us like we should know what he was talking about. “She’s the CEO of a fortune 500 snowboarding company,” he simply stated.

All eyes moved to hers, and she merely nodded then smashed her lips together.

“Jake and I started the company because of our shared love of snowboarding. We both found that quality snowboards were very expensive and hard to find, so we aimed to make the market more affordable and available. With both of our business degrees, we were able to reach those goals and many more, making our company synonymous with the higher-end companies and a household name,” she stated reverently.

“During that time, we had two kids, Anthony and Julia.” She started to choke up as tears poured down her face.

We waited for her to compose herself.

“They were the apple of my eye,” she continued, looking far off in the distance, obviously remembering them. “Anthony looked like my family, and Julia was the spitting image of her dad, right down to the bright green eyes.” She looked up at Daniel then. “Her eyes were similar to yours,” she said quietly.

“We had a full life, lots of promise. We had just booked our first family vacation in years. We finally had the company in a place where we could leave it in the capable hands of our staff and decided we needed to regroup as a family.”

As she stopped and gripped my hand really hard, I wasn’t sure what was happening at first. Then I looked at her face and eyes, and what I saw was stark fear.

“It’s okay,” I reassured her. “No judgment here.” I pointedly looked at my brothers.

They nodded at her in return.

“I have nightmares every night because of what happened. I have been to counseling, and he says I am supposed to let the nightmares play out, that it might help give me closure, but I can’t get there. I always wake up. I only remember bits and pieces, but mostly the screaming.

“We were driving, and everything seemed pretty normal. I had traded off with Jake because we had a long journey ahead of us. I remember looking over at Julia when she asked me something, but everything after that is a blank, except for the screaming. All I know is that, when I woke up in the hospital, I was told they were all … dead.” She gasped on the last word, her head down as tears streamed down her face.

I looked over at my brothers, whose heads were bowed with their heads in their hands. Then Mark looked up at me with pure anguish in his face, while Daniel got up and walked away, the emotion obviously getting to him.

I squeezed Natalie’s hand. “You did great. I’m sorry you had to relive that. Natalie, I know this is hard, but is there anyone who would text you a message like that? It was obviously an accident, but is there someone who would want to hurt you after all this time?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t talked to anyone from that life since after the funerals. I just up and walked away. I signed the company over to my parents and never looked back.

“I needed to get away from all the pity and sad faces, all the reminders of my life before. That’s why I came here—to start fresh. If I don’t move on, I’ll drown in depression.” She was pleading for me to understand, which I did.

“I used my mother’s maiden name to stay hidden. I didn’t want press or anything following me,” she added.

“It’s been two years, six months and twenty-seven days since the accident. I live my life by days counted and nothing more. I wanted a new start,” She finished, looking lost

When Daniel came back into the room and stalked over to Natalie with a strange look on his face, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

He walked right up to her and grabbed her arm, lifting her up off the chair. She looked terrified as Daniel wrapped her up in a giant bear hug and whispered something in her ear. Then she nodded and started sobbing in his chest. He rubbed her back until she calmed down. All the while, he was looking at me with a clarity I hadn’t seen in a while. I knew that look. It was determination.