Breaking Braydon by MK Harkins

charming. Charming trumps stubborn.” His grin was huge as he held up his arms in triumph.
    “Ugh! If I say you win, will you make the coffee? My head feels like it’s going to pound right out of my head.” I rubbed my temples again with no relief.
    “Sure. Sit down, and I’ll serve you as soon as I can get this baby to spit it out.” He fumbled with my new Keurig brewer.
    “Do you even know how it works?” I asked.
    He sorted through the coffee choices. “Yeah. You just put one of these coffee cup things in this contraption…” He tried pulling off the top of the machine.
    “Okay, Mr. Scientist. Move over. I won’t have you breaking my new coffeemaker. This thing cost a fortune.” I put my hands on his shoulders and moved him over to the side. “Would you like French or Italian roast?”
    He yawned. “I’ll take whatever is strongest.”
    I noticed for the first time he had bags under his eyes. “Hey. You look about as tired as I feel.” Here I was, only thinking about myself. A wave of guilt spread through my fuzzy mind.
    “It’s this whole funding process. As you know I’m in charge of fine tuning the business plan, but I’m worried I’ve missed something. If I don’t get it right, we’ll be in danger of losing our funding.” He rested his head on the island countertop.
    “Here.” I pushed a hot cup of coffee in front of him.
    “Bless you. You’re an angel.” He winked at me.
    I realized I’d been duped. “You know how to work a Keurig, don’t you?”
    “It worked didn’t it?”
    “I would have done it. You didn’t have to resort to trickery.”
    “It distracted you, didn’t it?” His mischievous grin confirmed his intentions.
    “Yes, it did. Do I look that awful?” I already knew the answer.
    “Yes, you still do. Quit thinking so much.” He sipped his coffee. “I know, I need to take my own advice, but it’s different. All the work we’ve done, all our research, depends on this business plan. All you have to worry about is one large, gorgeous man who has it bad for you. I wish I had that problem.”
    “Ha ha.” I grabbed my coffee and sat next to him. “He scares me, Colin.”
    “Ah, Jain. I’m sorry I’ve been teasing you about this. I know you must be scared. I’ll back off, but please, don’t let your experience at seventeen dictate your entire life.” His hand ran up and down my back, soothing me.
    “It wasn’t only Jackson. You know other things drive me, make me determined not to lose my focus.”
    I thought back to the last day my mother was alive. I wanted her to be able to die at home, but it wasn’t to be. She needed the doctors and nurses around twenty-four-seven in order to make her comfortable.
    Her disease was horrible, heartbreaking in the way she died. Sometimes, the flashbacks were so real, it was though I was living through her last moments myself.
    The white sterile walls of the hospital, the tubes, the respirator - it all made the experience difficult, more real. I hadn’t wanted to face it, her dying. I wanted to take her home and fix it. Fix her . I was only in my second year of college, but I was still frustrated that I couldn’t do anything for her.
    I wanted to hold her hand at home again, the home in which we’d pieced together a life of happiness, in spite of her disease. She often laughed, and rarely cried. She was the bravest person I knew.
    “I wish I could have met her. She must have been amazing.” As usual, Colin knew what I was referring to.
    “She would have loved you. Oh, the shopping spree you two would have enjoyed.” Happy tears filled my eyes as I remembered her love of all things beautiful… and purple. “She loved purple.” Why that popped out of my mouth, I had no idea.
    Instead of laughing at me, Colin reached over and held my hand.
     

THIRTEEN
    Braydon
    Ahh, coffee – I gulped it down, enjoying the bold flavor as it hit my taste buds and slid down my throat. After three nights of restless sleep, I felt