Beautifully Destroyed (2 page)

Chapter Two
Jeb

              “Can you believe that hobo was trying to jack your car? And what the fuck, Jeb, you were offering her money?

I rolled my eyes and continued driving toward my condo. Sometimes I just wanted to smack Barb. The only reason why I was with the crazy bitch was because of our families. Her father and my father were golfing buddies and worked together.

“She was harmless, Barb. Why are you still complaining about her?”

“God, Jeb, you act like you can save the world. That girl did it to herself, so stop defending her.”

She was getting on my nerves. I took in a deep breath and held my tongue. Yes, I wanted to save that beautiful girl. She was like a goddess, with her beautiful brown hair, brown eyes, and a body to die for. Yeah, I will agree that she needed to eat a little more, but damn. Thinking about her made my cock jerk. I had to stop thinking about her or Barb would attack me. The sex with her was so bad. She was always faking her orgasms, but my father said I was to marry her if I wanted my trust fund, and my father to sign on to be a co-signer of my hotel business. I owned
Turner Hotels
, a five star rating hotel. They were all over the United States. I came up with the idea my third year of college. Yes, I know I was too young for that stress, but I loved being in the hotel business. Too bad my father owned ten percent of my company. I looked over at Barb and she was texting someone, probably another guy. I knew she wasn’t happy with me, but she stayed because of the money, and she knew I would get a huge chunk of money when my father died.

Our wedding date was slowly approaching, and I was not looking forward to marrying her. We had been together for over five years, thanks to my father, and it was five years too long.

“Hey baby, Alli and Jasmine want to go out tonight. Can I go?”

I sighed and pulled into the parking spot at my condo. “Why do you have to ask? I don’t care what you do.”

“Jeb, we are getting married soon; you should care what I do.”

I turned off the car and turned to face her. “I really don’t care.”

I opened the door to the car and got out. Once inside, I went to pour myself a glass of whiskey. Dealing with her drove me to drink every night. I was just glad she was going out tonight so I could think about that beautiful girl. God, I wish I got her name. I walked into my big bedroom to change into some sweats and get out of the damn monkey suit. After I changed, I went to get on the laptop to get some work done.

“How do I look?” Barb came out twirling. She was dressed in a slutty red mini dress and her face was caked with makeup. Her hair was teased, as if she was going to sell her body instead of go out with her friends.

“You look good. Now go and have fun, and I will see you later.”

Deep down, I hoped she would cheat on me so I could leave her ass.

After she left, I went into the bathroom to get in the shower. My mind went directly to that mystery woman. I really wished she was in the shower with me. I would wash every inch of her body. Wash her long brown hair. My cock started to get hard, so I reached down to give it a stroke. I started to go a little faster, thinking about that tight little body of my mystery girl. Faster and harder, I let out a loud moan and I shoot my load down the drain. That was the best orgasm I had had in a while.

I finished with my shower, got out, and dried off and got dressed. As I was walking into the living room, my cell chirped.

“Hey, Sean, my man. How are you doing?”

“Jeb, dude, how the fuck are you? I am doing good. I have some news for ya.” Sean and I had been best buds for so long. He recently moved to Maryland, to run my hotel there. I promoted him to be general manager of one of them. He was a hard worker. He was a couple of years younger than me, but he worked hard. “I will be in New York this weekend.”

I walked over to the couch and sat down. “What for?”

“Well, I know this is quick and you have no time to prepare, but will you be my best man on Sunday?”

“WHAT?! You’re getting married?”

“Yes, sir, I am, and Maddie is amazing and smoking hot.”

“Can’t believe you are getting married before me.” I chuckled. I thought about how Sean used to be when he was younger, always telling me how he would never get married. He was a player back then. He would have a new girl in his bed every week. He was also a star quarterback, so, of course, he would sleep with different women every week. He was the walking cliché of high school jocks. So hearing him saying he was getting married made me think I needed to get my life together. But while Barb was in my life, that would never happen. Damn, that woman screwed up everything. Still, I couldn’t be any happier for him.

“And to answer your question, hell yeah I will be your best man. So when are you going to be in?”

“Maddie and I will be arriving to her parents’ house around noon Friday. She has plans with her sisters and friends. Maybe Barb would like to go so we can catch up.”

“Yes, that sounds like a plan.”

We continued to talk about how happy he was and how miserable I was. I would have to wait to tell him about my mystery girl Friday night. After we hung up, I went online to get the hours for the tuxedo shop. When I was done, I walked over to my guitar. I hadn’t played in a while, but for some reason, I had the urge to strum a few bars. I picked it up and started to play. The music made me think of my mystery girl again, wondering where she was that night, if she had shelter, water, companionship. Then I thought about those eyes, and I hoped I would see her again sometime soon.

Chapter Three

Toria

              The sun shone in my face as I woke, yet I felt extremely cold. At first, this confused me. But then I remembered that I had slept underneath a bridge just like I had for several years. I shivered. I really needed a cup of coffee, but that wasn’t going to happen. I really missed laying in a soft bed at night, getting a shower every day, and brushing my hair. I moaned to myself and sat up. Mitch was nowhere around. He usually cuddled up to me so I was not cold in the morning. I hated mornings when he wasn’t around.

“Rise and shine, baby girl.” I smiled to myself and turned to see that Mitch was walking my way, and he had things in his hands. I looked a little harder and it looked as if he had coffee.

“Tell me that’s for me.”

“You bet your sweet ass it is.” I felt bad as he handed me the cup. I knew what he did to get this and it broke my heart.

“Mitch, you’ve got to stop doing that to yourself. I can live without coffee or
Adderall
. Speaking of that, did you score any from Jason?” He smiled and handed me the cup and a pill. I swallowed it like it was candy. I had so much stuff I wanted to do today, and I needed the pick me up.

“Also, I have some good news for you. Last night I was talking to ole boy—yes, I forgot his name. But he said that you and I could shower and eat breakfast at his house this morning.”

My eyes bugged out of my head. “No way. Really? Are you sure it will be safe?”

“Yep, he and I have been meeting up like three times a week, and last night all we did was talk. I told him about you and how you wanted to get a job.”

“Wow, but what use will a shower do? I have no clean clothes, and the Goodwill is sick of me always trying to get clothes from them.”

He grabbed my hand as a stray tear rode down my sunken cheek. “Baby girl, he has a sister your age and he said he will talk to her about getting you some clothes.”

I leapt into his arms and started to sob.

“Mitch, what would I do without you? But wait a second, what about you?”

“Please, I am so old, and I love not having a job. I’ve been homeless for so long, I am used to it. But you, missy, are young and you need this.”

I looked up to Mitch, and he looked so tired. “Mitch, you have really been like a father to me. Thank you.”

He helped me stand, and we finished our coffees. “He said he will pick us up around nine, and last I checked, it was a little before eight, so let’s start walking to the park.”

As we walked to the park, the streets were getting busy with people, which meant the people would stare. It was a Thursday, so people were getting ready for the weekend. That meant the stares weren’t as bad as on a Monday. We make it to the park and sit on the bench.             

“Tony!” Mitch yelled out the name and it made me jump.

“Huh?”

“That’s his name. Now, don’t judge him when you see him. He has got some gray hair going on.”

“Why would I judge him? I mean, come on, I leave on the streets. And I can’t function with my daily dose of
Adderall
.”

“I know I know. He is younger than me by five years, but he looks older than me.”

I smiled at Mitch. In the two and half years I’d known him, I’d never seen him that happy. I put my head on his shoulder and sighed. I wanted to be that happy again. I really missed my little sister, Brianna. She really looked up to me and I let her down. She was five years younger than I was. When I left, she just turned thirteen. The age she was going to need her big sister. I remembered the look on her face when she found out I had to leave. Her beautiful blue eyes were bright red from crying. And I remembered the harsh words she said to me.

I stood at the front door, high as a kite. I just got done hanging out with Sean, and we both took two pills each. I had just got home and my parents and sister were sitting on the couch. Brianna was crying. “Bri, why are you crying?”

“Stay away from me; you are nothing but a druggie.” It felt as if she had punched me in the face. “I wanted to be just like you; popular, pretty, smart. But now I wish you were never my sister.”

“What are you talking about?” I tried to play dumb, but my heart rate was sky high. How did they know about the drugs? I hid the bottle so well.

My mother stood up, and she was sobbing. She threw the prescription bottle at me and it bounced off my arm. I leaned down to pick it up. “Out of my house right now, Toria. And never come back.”

“But, Mom, where will I go?”

My sister chuckled and looked at me with a sour face. “Go live on the street and be a whore, we don’t care. We just want you gone. You have ruined this family. You had it all, Toria, and what do you do? You go and break up with your boyfriend, stop hanging out with your best friend… all for what, a stupid pill to get you high? You know what? I hate you, and I never want to see you again.”

Those were the last words I heard my sister say. “Toria, he’s here. Are you ready to shower?”

I blinked to clear my mind from the horrible things she had said to me. “Oh my god, yes.”

We got up and walked to a silver
Volvo
. It was a rundown looking car, but hey I am not complaining. I got in the backseat and I looked at Tony. He was definitely a handsome guy. He did look older than Mitch, but his salt and pepper hair was spiked. He was wearing a black t-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts and flip flops.

“Tony, this is my baby girl, Toria. Toria, this is Tony.”

“Oh hey, girlfriend. Aren’t you just adorable?” Yep, he was definitely gay. “My sister, Vanessa, will be over shortly. She is about your size and age. She’s only my half-sister, but you will absolutely love her. So, how old are you?”

“I am twenty. How old is Vanessa?”

“She just turned twenty-three. I talked to her last night and, girl, we are going to get you a job. She works housekeeping at the
Turner Hotel
. Would you mind cleaning after people’s sex-capades?” 

I laughed out loud. Tony was a funny man. I could see why Mitch liked him. “I just want to work. I can clean up after people’s sex.”

We all laughed, and then I sat back and listened to Mitch and Tony chat with each other. Tony was so good with him, and that made me smile to myself. I would have to talk to Mitch later about sleeping around to get me pills. I didn’t want to mess anything up between them.

“So, Mitch never told me how you two met.”

“Well, he was walking down Broadway and he stopped to get a newspaper. I parked my car and approached him.”

“Yes, he did, and I about shit myself. He scared me to death.”

Tony squeezed Mitch’s hand. “I asked him out for coffee.”

“And how could I say no to this face?”

Aww, that was the sweetest thing ever. The story was making my heart swell. “I keep telling Mitch to move in with me, but he keeps telling me no.”

I slapped his shoulder. “Mitch, what the hell, dude?”

“He tells me he can’t leave you, Toria.”

I started to feel guilty. Mitch could have a place to live, and here I was holding him back. “Mitch.”

“Don’t. I will not leave you out there by yourself.”

“Hmm,” Tony interrupted us. “Vanessa can take you in.”

“I will not burden anyone, Tony. But thank you, though.”

“Trust me. When you meet her, you will instantly fall in love with her. She has the biggest heart. I didn’t tell her you were homeless, because she would cry and make me go find you.”

“Really, Tony, I am okay living on the streets.”

He chuckled. “Good luck telling her that. She will not take no for an answer.”

We pulled up to a rusty trailer. It was an awful yellow color, but he had a roof over his head and I didn’t, so I would not judge.