Page 91 of Broken

I cleared my throat and continued. "Noah intervened and pulled Adam off me. He took me to his dad for a checkup right away, and then took me home. When we got to my parents' house, Adam stood outside screaming at my dad, and we watched from the car as my dad started to beat Adam. Noah brought me here, so I was safe and then he called the police. The next day, Adam was dead, and my dad was in jail."

Getting the words out this time was only a tiny bit less painful than the first time I told my story to Kai. I waited for Millie to say something, anything. When she didn't, I added "I'm here if you ever need to vent or talk. I've been through it all."

She smiled and stood and hugged me. I didn't expect that, but I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and hugged her back. "Thank you." She whispered to me.

We let each other go, and I helped her with her make-up and hair. I could tell we were going to be great friends. Maybe my life was up here with my family. Maybe it was time to come home.

fifty-four

Sinclair

Tesspickedasushiplace in the city. Thankfully, I was able to use a dislike of seafood to excuse myself from eating raw fish, even though I did love sushi. This was going to be fucking torture until I told them about the pregnancy.

At dinner, Millie gave me a sympathetic look. I had to admit to myself, it was nice having one person who knew. I had a feeling Mia and Tess were going to be pissed off when they discovered Millie found out before I told them. I'd cross that bridge when I came to it. For now, I just wanted to enjoy my girl’s night with my friends.

The first bar Tess insisted we go to was a glitzy high-end place that served fancy hipster-style drinks. The music was too loud, but their mojito mocktail was amazing. We danced and laughed for a couple of hours. I hadn’t had so much fun in a long time. I wasn’t worried about Aine, she was spending time with her grandmother, and was as safe as possible. I didn’t have some handsy creeper trying to feel me up on the dancefloor. The night was practically perfect.

We were getting ready to head out to the next bar when Millie grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side.

“Hey, can we just go home? I’m really tired.” She asked.

“Uh, yeah. Of course. Do you want to stop by Cals on the way home, or just go straight to your place?” I asked her. We were supposed to meet up with the guys after bar hopping in the city, and it was still early.

“Let me just go find the girls, and we can go.” I left Millie at the table we had occupied so I could search out Mia and Tess. They left us to use the restroom before we left for the next location.

I thought that maybe I shouldn’t have left Millie alone, she didn’t look so good. She was suddenly pale and shaken. But the club seemed safe, and she was sitting in our booth, so I figured it was fine. I sent Kai a text telling him about our change of plans, and he offered to meet us at Millie's to make sure she was okay.

As I was texting and walking, I bumped into a random stranger.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, looking up from my phone.

“Watch where you’re going. Fuck.” The guy said as he stomped away.

“What a douchebag,” I mumbled.

I found Mia and Tess in the women’s restroom and filled them in on the change of plans and we went to get Millie and leave.

I really shouldn’t have her alone. When we returned to our booth, the douchebag from the hallway was harassing her. What the hell was this guy’s problem? He didn’t seem to understand the word No, and he was putting his hands all over Millie.

“Hey, asshole. Got a problem?” Tess hollered at him as we walked up to the scene. Immediately, Mia helped Millie out of the booth. Douchebag, however, tried to grab her arm and stop her from leaving with us.

“She isn’t going anywhere. We have unfinished business.” He growled at Mia. Well, this just went from bad to shitty.

“Uh, yeah, I don’t think so asshole. Leave her the fuck alone or I’m calling the cops.” I told him.

“Aren’t you the clumsy bitch from the hall?” He said to me. Where the fuck did this piece of shit come from? What rock did he climb out from under?

“You did not just call my sister a bitch?” Tess said. She reached for the table next to us and picked up a drink that was still half full and poured it over his head, straw and all.

“What the fuck?” He yelled, catching the attention of a few patrons and the bartender. He let go of Millie's arm to wipe alcohol from his face. It was long enough for us to head for the door. Tess giving him a double fuck you with both her hands on the way out.

It sounded like he was arguing with someone as we made our way out the door. He probably got stopped by security or another staff member. He was cussing and yelling at us as we left, causing a scene.

On the way home, Mia let Noah in on everything that happened as we were trying to leave. She said the guys were concerned and wanted us to bring Millie to Cals instead of taking her home. At this point she was so shaken up, she didn’t care where we went as long as we left that club.

By the time we got back to town and pulled into the parking lot in front of Cals, Millie had explained everything. She told us that the douchebag we met was her ex, Joey. He was pissed off that she ditched him in Barstow and claimed to be worried about her until she refused to leave the club with him.

I asked her how he knew she would be at the club, and she said she didn’t know. “He planned to come to get me and drag me home tomorrow. But he said finding me at that club was just luck.” She sobbed.

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