Broken.

"Where have you been?" Dylan yelled at me as I walked into out apartment in Buffalo.

I walked into the bedroom and dropped my bag. "Jason called. His knee was bothering him."

"Jason? Who's Jason?"

"Jason Pominville. The captain of the Buffalo Sabres. Remember? I'm their therapist." I said.

"Since when are you on first name basis?" He snapped at me,

"Since last year. When I started working for the Sabres."

"I bet you were fucking him,"

"Dylan. He's engaged. And I basically work for him. Stop thinking like that." I threw at him, nastily. He just stared at me as I took a sip from my water bottle. He had this glare, like he wanted to kill me. And boy...if looks could kill. But from personal experiences... he didn't need looks. Although he didn't kill me, he did backhand me across the face, making me fall to the floor holding my cheek.

The sad part was, he didn't even soften his expression, like you see in the movies. He had his poker face on. And there was no breaking it. "I didn't cheat on you," I cried.

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me to my feet. "And you never will," He tried to kiss me, but I turned and he grabbed hold of my face. "Right?"

"Not if you keep acting like this," I said, pushing him away.

Now looks really could kill. I could honestly feel my throat closing as he tilted his head. He walked towards me and backed me against the wall. He held his hand tightly to my stomach, and I could feel a bruise forming at the pressure he was putting on my ribs. I tried not to make eye contact with him. "You little whore. How dare you push me away?"

"I'm sorry. I just th-"

"Shut up," he put his hand on my throat and squeezed hard enough to lead a hand print. "I hope you die. I hope you burn in hell." I cried more now. Dylan was different. He was not like this when we first met. But people change.

Now it's 5 hours later. 7AM on a Friday in July. And Dylan had passed out on my couch and I just watched him, seeing if he was really sleeping. I guess he was, because he's been out cold since 4. This was my one and probably only chance. I needed to take it.

"Come one, Brownie. We're going to LA." I said, letting my Chocolate Lab puppy out of his cage. He got so excited has I started packing a bag. He must realize we're going on a trip. A very long, long trip.

I quietly closed the front door and quickly ran to the elevator with Brownie right behind me.

*******

"Excuse me?" I looked up to see a really pretty blond looking at me. "Are those two seats taken?"

I shook my head. She sat down and smiled, "I'm Felicity Darden."

"Isabella Brown. But you can call me Bella." I said.

"What brings you to Los Angeles?"

"I needed to get away from my boy- ex boyfriend. He was, uh... hurting me." I said.

"I can see that. You have bruises all over you. My boyfriend was hurting me, too. So I left him. I'm going to start a modeling career in LA." She smiled.

"I'm going to stay with my brother, Dustin. It's off-season. So, he'll actually be around."

"Off-season?" She asked.

"My brother is Dustin Brown. Captain of the LA K-"

"YOUR BROTHER IS DUSTIN BROWN!!??" She yelled, making people stare.

"You like hockey?" I laughed.

"Like? I love it. Born and raised Sabres fan." She said.

"Me, too. I was working for the Sabres. As their therapist."

"Well... Now we have the Kings." She said, winking.

"I have a feeling their going to like you." I said.

"Well, I guess that means we're friends now, huh?"

"No. I think it means we're best friends. I'm going to need someone to go around California with me this summer. And it's sure as hell going to be you."

~At LAX~

I watched Felicity as she tried to get a cab. I laughed and she looked back at me. "WHAT? This works in New York City! WHY THE FUCK WON'T IT WORK HERE?" She screamed.

I came to the edge of the curb and saw an empty cab passing. I whistled for it, and the driver turned his head. He gestured for us to get in.

"Where to, ladies?"

Felicity looked at me. "Do you know where Pacific Coast Highway is? In Malibu?" I asked.

"Sure do. What's the address?"

I smiled. "20900."

~In Front Of Dustin's House~

"Thanks," I said, paying the driver. He waved before driving away.

"HEY, BROWNIE! THERE'S TWO CHICKS IN FRONT OF YOUR HOUSE!" I heard someone yell.

"What are you going on about now?" Dustin came out of the front door. "BELLA!!!!" And he came to tackle me.

I laughed. "Hi."

"Who's this?" Dustin asked, referring to Felicity.

"My, uh, my best friend Felicity." I said with a smile.

"Hi," Felicity said to Dustin.

"Well, any friend of Bella's is a friend of mine. Let's go inside." Dustin said, leading us inside.

"HOLY CRAP! THIS PLACE IS AMAZING!" Felicity yelled as we stepped into the beach house.

"Yeah, well. It better be. I payed almost $9 million dollars for it." Dustin said with a small shrug.

"Yeah, let's just shrug because we have all the fucking money in the fucking world." Felicity said, mocking him.

Dustin laughed. "How about you two go pick the rooms your staying in, get into a bathing suit, and come outside to meet the guys?"

"I can do that." Felicity said, going up the stairs. I went to follow her, but Dustin grabbed my wrist and turned me around.

"What did he do to you?" Dustin growled.

"Nothing," I mumbled.

"Really?" I looked up at him through my eyelashes. "Then, what's that bruise on your cheek, and on your neck, and on your arm," He looked down. "And... on your thighs."

"Can I just go change please?" I asked.

"Give me Brownie." He said.

I looked at the floor. Then and moved slightly to the left to look out at the beach. I pointed out side. Dustin looked and yelled, "HEY! He's my dog to play with! Not yours!" And he stalked off towards his teammates.

I rolled my eyes, and went upstairs. I chose one of the two rooms left, and opened my bag. Then I realized I didn't even bring a bathing suit with me. Felicity walked in, in her pink bikini. I looked at her. "I don't have a bathing suit."

"Here," She handed me a bikini. "It should fit you. Now hurry up. I need to go meet your brother's cute friends." I grinned.

I started to put on the bikini and said, "You can have whoever you want. But when we get out there, I choosing someone, and you can't have him."

"Fair enough. But I'd fuck your brother. He's cute..." I looked at her. "But he's your brother... and that would be wrong. So wrong."

I rolled my eyes. "Let's go Blondie."

"WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?" Dustin yelled from down by the water.

"SHE DIDN'T HAVE A BATHING SUIT!" Felicity yelled.

"Who comes to Malibu in July and doesn't bring a bathing suit?" On of his teammates asked.

"Shut up, Stoll." Someone else said.

"BELLS, HOW ABOUT WE SHOW THIS PANSIES HOW SURFING REALLY WORKS!" Dustin yelled out.

"I don't have a board." I said.

"Use Richards, it's the most like your old one."

"Are you saying that my board is like a girl's board?" I walked down towards them.

"She never got girly boards. Girly boards are crap. She used to win surfing competitions with a board like that. So no, Mike. We're not saying your board is like a girl's board." Dustin said.

"Here you go," 'Mike' said, handing me his board. "I'm Mike," He smiled.

"Your not fucking my sister, Richards." Dustin said.

"Did I ever say I was going to?" Mike said.

"You know what's weird... Felicity and I were just talking about that and she said she would fuck you." I said to Dustin.

"I'd fuck Brownie too." Jarret Stoll said with a grin.

"He said he'd turn gay for me." Dustin said.

"That's wonderful. And I'm Isabella." I said to Mike. I sat down on the sand and strapped the leash to my ankle. "Dustin can't surf. I had to save him from drowning when he was 17... And I was 13." I stood up and all the guy stifled a laugh.

I walked into the water, and was surprised when Dustin still came out to surf. "Be careful." He said to me.

"I'd say the same to you, but you're an accident waiting to happen." I said.

"BE CAREFUL, DUSTY!!" Jarret yelled out like a worried mother. I laughed and paddled out far. Dustin followed.

I let my fingers skim over the top of the water. Surfing took special technique. And this was what I did. I could just naturally tell when a 'good' was coming. But my body could tell when a 'great' wave was coming. And that's how I used to win competitions. When I was younger,our family would go on vacations to Hawaii, and I would enter surfing competitions and usually get 2nd place, once or twice I got 1st. Dustin was always there to support me. Our dad, too. But our biological mother left when I was 9 and then my father got re-married, and I hate my step-mother. She only cares about herself.

I turned around, sensing a wave, and started paddling back towards the shore. Then, once the wave lifted me, I stood up. I could tell that this wave was going spiral, so I turned and ducked as the wave started to cave in. I heard one of the guys yell, "HAHA. SHE'S SHOWING YOU UP, BROWNIE!"

I kept my balance going through the wave and when I came out, I saw Dustin smiling and he threw his arm up and did our surfer hand shake, which wasn't even a hand shake. When I went to turn around, I got crushed into by a huge wave and got pushed under water. I never took a deep breath before going under, so I swallowed water and then the leash on Mike's board got stuck on a reef, which was also attached to my foot, and it wouldn't come off. The leash was different. It was Velcro. It was a slip on and then make tighter. And I had made it as tight as possible and I now couldn't kick it off.

This was obviously bad because... last time I checked... people can't breath under water like fish can. The guys noticed because I lifted out of the water within the next 45 seconds. "Are you okay?" I looked up and it was Mike.

"Yea-" I started coughing up water. "Just, uh, swallowed water. And then the leash got caught on a reef."

"Stupid reef," he said with a laugh.

"Yeah. Stupid reef." I said looking into his eyes.