"Ash, you won't believe what just happened at the club" Ashley comes out of her room.
"Izzy," she says with a sigh and runs to Isabella and wrapped her in a tight hug. The TV was on, and BREAKING NEWS was being displayed on it.
"Can't...can't breathe Ash" Isabella says as she pats on Ashley's back.
Ashley lets her go and gives her a long look over. Once she's satisfied that there are no scratches on her best friend, she asks her what happened since nothing is physically wrong with her.
"Okay, so I was in the club dancing, but I was a little thirsty, so I went to the bar. I got my drink and was watching everyone dance on the floor and this one guy caught my eye. You'll never believe who I thought it was," she paused.
"Who?" Ashley questioned her, leaning closer.
"It looked like Jay," Ashley's jaw dropped.
"Exactly but once we made eye contact, he turned around and walked away. I tried to follow him but then that's when the shots started. Everyone started running everywhere but someone grabbed me and helped me get out of the club. I didn't get to see their face, but I knew it was the guy I had made eye contact with."
"Well, did you get to talk to him or anything," Ashley interrupted.
Isabella looked at her, "Well if you let me finish. When we got outside, he told me to run and went back into the club with his gun drawn. I stayed there for a minute because I couldn't believe it, but it was Jay and then he turned back and told me to go. So, I ran to my car and drove home.
"Wow, who knew this is how you would see each other again."
Before Isabella could say anything there was a knock on the door. Both girls looked at each other and then at the door. There was another knock. Isabella walked to the door and looked out the peephole.
"Oh my gosh," she whispered.
She opened the door slowly and came face to face with her high school sweetheart. After 6 long, heartbreaking, soul-searching, peaceful years her heart stood still. She never thought she would see Jay standing outside her door.
'He still looks the same' she thought.'
Moments pass by as they gazed into each other's eyes.
Finally, she took a deep breath and built the courage to ask, "What are you here?"
He sighed and rubbed the back of his head "I had to make sure you were ok, and I wanted to say I'm sorry."
She took a breath "Ok well I'm ok. How did you find out where I live?"
He looked at her, "It was a lucky guess."
He was hoping she wouldn't ask about it more because he didn't want to seem like a stalker but then again, she knew part of the reason why he left her.
She nodded her head.
"Well, I see you're ok, so I'll be getting out of your hair;" he spun on his heel and started walking away.
As she watched him walk away, she felt like the 18-year-old version of herself. Unlike that version, she walked and called after him which made him stop and turn back towards her.
"You don't have the right to show up at my door and say you're sorry and leave," she said as she looked into his eyes.
"Iz" he sighed "I shouldn't be here, you have a better life without me," he said while looking into her eyes watching them tears well up.
"You deserve so much more than I can give you" he walked off from her.
She watched him walk out of her life for the second time. Her heart started to break all over again. She started to flashback to 6 years ago when he left her on her birthday. They went on a date or what should have been a date. He took her out to the fair on the beach, won her a giant teddy bear, went on the Ferris Wheel during the sunset, and took her on a long walk at the ocean's edge.
"Look Bell" he sighed, "we...we can't be together anymore."
She looked up into his frosted eyes and saw him look away from her. She stood in front of him and dropped her teddy bear and put her hand on his face, forcing him to look into her teddy bear brown eyes.
"Why not," she asked innocently.
"I... I'm dangerous for you. I can't bring you down with me. I know that this is not the best way to end your birthday and our date, but it needs to be done. I'm leaving tomorrow and this is the last time I'll be able to see you" he sighed and looked away from her.
She let her hand drop from his face and looked down. She walked away from him with her arms wrapped around her, hugging herself. Her naturally curly hair now straight was blowing around her, whipping her in the face and sticking to her tears. He watched her walk away and picked up the teddy bear and ran after her.
"Iz" he called out.
She walked faster.
"Bella" he called again.
She jogged a little.
"Issy" he sighed.
"No, you can't call me by my nicknames anymore," she said as she kept jogging away.
"Isabella stop," he grabbed her arm and turned her around to face him.
She looked him in the eye and punched him in the chest. She kept punching his chest while she let out her tears. When she was done, she took a deep breath and sighed. She looked away and smacked him leaving a handprint.
"You don't get to tell me what is too dangerous for me. We both know that I have had a good share of dangerous events in my life ever since I was a child. Now" she giggles "now you want to care about my birthday and our date. You have known this all day. Wait, how long have you known about this?" she asked as she poked his chest.
He sighed and cupped her face making her look him in the eyes. All he could see was the pure rage and sadness and it broke his heart more than he thought it would.
"Isabella, you're right. I don't have the right to tell you what's dangerous for you. One thing I can do is protect you from something that could harm you and I wouldn't be able to live if anything happened to you because of me" he sighed "I've known about this since yesterday, but you had a rough day, and I didn't want to make you more upset or hurt you."
She pulled away.
"I... I can't blame you for not telling me yesterday but you could've done it earlier today, not now. Not at the end. Just leave, I'll get a ride home. Please" her voice cracked after that.
He sighed and placed the teddy bear beside her and walked away feeling empty. He looked back at her and saw her sitting in the sand with her head down and body trembling, most likely from the tears he watched well up in her eyes again.
As he reached his car, he kicked the tires and got in. Looked at the passenger seat and cried. She meant everything to him and to know that she would probably hate him forever hurt him but at least she would be safe. That's all that mattered, she was going to be safe.
YOU ARE READING
Broken by the Mafia
Romance6 years ago Isabella was in love with Jame, but Jay left her brokenhearted on her 18th birthday. Jay had to take his place as head of the mafia and that meant leaving Isabella to keep her safe no matter what. After one of his teams runs into her, he...
