"Broken"

Written by VeGirl 2013 © All Rights Reserved

Linda stayed living in her sisters flat in Brighton for weeks, while Melinda did her best to pep her. She thanked her lucky star for the long summer break. "You can't walk around here as some kind of poster-girl for Prozac," Melinda taunted her the days when she wasn't able to pull through.

"Mel, would you give me a break!" the little sister snapped.

"Look!" Melinda smiled, pleased with the change in her sisters mood. "Mad is better than hurt. We should just walk into his place when you have that assassin-look on your face."

Linda just glared at her.

"Come, we're going out!"

"Forget it!"

"I'm not talking about going clubbing, we're going out for dinner." Melinda laughed.

Despite the younger sister's mood, they ended up in a cosy Italian restaurant that night. They had ordered dinner and while the waitress was fixing their wine, Melinda walked to the restroom.

"Linda?"

She turned around to find Sarah walking up to their table. For a moment, Linda's heart stopped, afraid that Jayden would be there as well, but Sarah seemed to be alone.

"I would recognise that gorgeous red hair anywhere." Sarah beamed and the girls gave each other a kiss on the cheek, however hesitant it was. "Jayden says you're on the market again," Sarah said in her usual coarse way, adding a wayward smile.

A rage filled Linda and she was almost trembling. "Is that what he says?" she pressed out, letting Sarah see what was brewing underneath the surface.

She just smiled. "All I told him was; Ace, now I can get her," she revealed with a smirk that made Linda's face totally drop.

That was the moment Melinda returned from the powder room. "Are you hitting on random girls now?" the big sister asked while taking a place by Linda's shoulder.

Sarah looked startled.

"Mel, this is Jayden's friend Sarah."

"Oh..."

Sarah snapped out of her surprise. "I like to see myself as your friend as well, Linda," the girl said suggestively. "I like red-heads," she added while giving Melinda with her short pixie red hair a good look-over. "Always so feisty..."

Linda frowned as her sister's grip on her shoulder hardened. She harrumphed. "What are you doing in Brighton?"

Sarah blinked; she was startled by this girl acting intimate with Linda. "Hotel... I didn't know you played for both teams, Linn. I would have snatched you from Jayden a long time ago." Her expression was teasingly appreciative.

"Sit down." Melinda smiled wide and gestured to an empty chair. "I'm Mel, her sister." She reached a hand to the girl with the big smirk on her face as she reclaimed her own chair.

"A pleasure!"

"So you have a hotel?" Mel said impressed.

"Several, you wanna check them out?"

"Please! Could you be a little subtle?" Linda exclaimed, irritated at both girls who laughed.

"Don't you know me at all?" Her sister asked with a teasing smile. "When have I ever been subtle?"

"Linda, why haven't you introduced me to your sister before?" Sarah asked, pleasantly surprised.

"You and I are not that close; especially since that time you tried to warn me off Jayden," Linda bit out.

"See, you should have listened! And by the way, I think that was when we grew closer." She just smiled, unaffected by Linda's bad temper.

"That was the first time we met!"

"Exactly, closer from the start," she smiled. "Besides I've seen him having sex and I don't think he looked that good."

Linda's heart almost stopped, but Melinda choked on her wine and then laughed out loud. "Well, he's a man! What's good about that?"

"Some of us prefer that, oppose to snotty girls." Linda glared at her sister. "But I am apparently a minority at this table."

Both Sarah and Mel laughed about that.

"Of course you two would hit it off!" The younger sister clenched her teeth.

"Anything to annoy you, sis."

Despite what they had thought, they ended up having a great time together. Linda had to admit that her mood was lifted when the dinner ended. Melinda and Sarah exchanged phone-numbers and it was clear that they would keep in touch. Sparks were actually flying between them, that was plain and obvious to Linda.

~ * ~

As soon as Sarah parted ways with Linda and her sister, she picked up her phone and called Jayden. "You'll never guess who I just had coffee with?"

Jayden sighed heavy, not interested in her mindgames. "The queen?" he threw out there in a random attempt to be funny.

"Miss Payne."

Jayden's focus was instantly on high alert. "What? Where?"

"I'm not gonna tell you until you say what you did to that poor girl!" Sarah chuckled teasingly.

"Nothing!"

The answer came a little too fast for Sarah's liking. "Did you cheat on her, you prick?"

"No, I didn't!"

"You're an arse!" She hung up on him.

Jayden was just about to throw the next phone into the wall and see it scatter, but remembered how annoyed he got last time when he had to go to the store and buy a new one instantly, since all his numbers and his calendar was in the wrecked iPhone.

He bellied up a growl and then shoved his training clothes in a trunk and walked off to the nearby gym. Frustration is a powerful throttle when it comes to pushing oneself. 'I should buy this gym', he decided when he turned on the treadmill and ran much faster than usually. On that track he could focus on not thinking of Linda and where she was, he could focus on listening to the sounds of footsteps, listening to his playlist on Spotify or watching something on the TV-screen before him.

A week later he was the owner of that particular gym, and all the others in that chain.

~ • ~

Linda and her sister were lounging on the beach when Melinda got a text from Sarah. "I asked her to join us here," Melinda informed.

"Oh goodie!" Linda said sarcastic.

"Come on! She's cute!" Melinda pouted.

Linda sighed. "Yeah, but you're annoying together."

Melinda snickered. "Get used to it!"

It didn't take long until the tall darkhaired beauty came strolling towards them on the beach. A long billowing dress was fluttering around her in the wind. She looked like a supermodel on her way to a photo shoot.

"Both of you in bikini is a treat I didn't think I deserved." She used her same flirty tone, kissed both of them on the cheek before she unbuttoned the thin dress, revealing a matching bikini underneath.

Melinda whistled.

"Like what you see?" Sarah beamed.

"Definitely!"

"Please! What did I say about subtle?" Linda clenched her teeth, put her sunglasses on again and leaned her head back. The other girls snickered.

"Oh, how I love this town!" Melinda sighed. "Okay nightlife, fab beach and easy to get out of here."

"Yeah, all it lacks is a good sexclub, right Linda?" Sarah teased her, making the older sister's mouth fall open in surprise and Linda to tense up.

"What would I know about something like that?" she deflected, trying to hide the panic in her eyes, but the truth was out.

"You naughty little minx," her sister exclaimed and a throaty chuckle erupted.

"I don't know what she's talking about!"

"Oh sorry sexy, wasn't that public knowledge?" Sarah said mockingly.

Linda did her best to ignore her sister and Sarah, who now hissed among themselves. Phrases like 'Get out of here' and 'He had it coming' slipped through her filter and Linda strained her hearing to perceive something about Jayden.

"I couldn't help but to tease him and reveal that I met the two of you the other night. He wanted of course to know where she was but I just clipped him off."

"I like you more and more."

"He claims that he hasn't been unfaithful, but I didn't give him a chance to explain," Linda heard Sarah whisper to Mel. "I just don't get it, during the three years I've known him, I haven't seen him this serious with anybody, in fact I haven't seen him do anything but fuck and move on."

"Until Laurinda..."

"Mhmm, so I don't get what happened."

When Melinda started to whisper the cause of action Linda had explained, she just tuned them out. To relive the horrid experience wasn't something she ever wanted to do. It's better to be alone then, she thought. Perhaps I should buy a cat?

Zoe came down to visit Linda and her sister a couple of times, and they had a great time as well. Zoe's cocky attitude didn't really blend well with Melinda's overconfident one, perhaps they were too alike? Zoe found some new shopping streaks though to spend money in.

"Have you met Maya, is she okay?"

Zoe froze for a fraction, but relaxed when Linda was just interested in the girl's welfare. "Yes, I've been at her place," she said tentive. "She's fine... but she's like a different person..."

Linda laughed. "Yeah, not the little slave-girl anymore."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Did you know she's like CEO for a huge company in London and Paris?"

"What?"

"I know! What did she do with that while she was playing house with you guys?" Zoe exclaimed.

Linda just blinked. "I'll call her tomorrow."

"She'd like that."

The days rolled by faster than any of them thought it could. Lazy days in the sun were exchanged for days at the office for Melinda and soon it was time for Linda to decide what to do.

Should she quit her job and get a new one here in Brighton, or should she move back?

Did she dare move back?

.