Page 3 of Claiming Tessa

G avin followed Diego outside. They brought in Tessa’s duffle and backpack but stacked the boxes in a room they didn’t use.

“We need to talk to Jared.”

Gavin nodded, picked up the phone in their office, and dialed, then hit the speaker button.

“This is Jared,” a gruff voice answered on the first ring.

“Hey, man. It’s Gavin and Diego. You’re on speakerphone with us.”

Jared grunted. “You found her?”

Diego spoke up, “Yeah. Besides being exhausted, she looks fine.”

“Did you guys get her home?”

Gavin glanced at Diego and cleared his throat. “Well, we had a problem with that.”

“Fuck,” Jared cursed. “What did my mother do?”

“For one, she wasn’t even there.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.”

“Your sister didn’t even go into the house.”

“Why the hell not?” Jared asked.

“Arthur told her your mother had all her things packed and put in a shed on the property.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“No,” Diego said.

“We loaded all her things in our truck and brought her home with us. When we asked about going to you, she said no. She didn’t want to disrupt your life or some shit like that.”

“I’ll come get her now.”

“No, don’t. She really is wiped out,” Gavin told him. “Let her sleep.”

“You’re right. Call me when she wakes up.”

“We will, man. Can you explain what’s going on? We know it’s none of our business...”

“No, it’s fine, Gavin. My mother was married to my father, and after he died, she married again and had Tessa.”

“Oh,” Diego said. “So, she’s your half-sister?”

“Yes. I’ll let her tell you the rest of it, but after her father died, my mother started resenting Tessa, and she was only thirteen at the time.

Before he died, my mother, who’s a piece of work, nagged at her because she didn’t turn out looking like her side of the family, with her white-blonde hair and being very tall and thin. ”

“Why is that her fault?” Gavin asked in confusion.

“It’s not. My mother is very bitter for some reason. She has to get along with me at the moment because I take care of the estate money that keeps her in the lifestyle she wants.”

Gavin wanted to shake the woman. He knew there was more to the story, but he couldn’t believe Jared’s mother could resent her own children.

“I think Tessa will tell you the rest eventually. Have her call me.”

Diego scowled. “We will.”

“I’m glad I sent you two to pick her up. I knew you’d take care of her.”

“You’re welcome,” Gavin said and flinched. “Talk to you later.” He heard Jared hang up and then turned to Diego. “Fuck, I hope he never finds out about the airport.”

“I hope he doesn’t either.”

Gavin stood. “Let’s get some dinner going.

She probably won’t wake up, but we’ll have a plate for her if she does.

” He had different scenarios of what happened between mother and daughter to account for the discord between them.

The fact that Tessa had known what her reception was going to be told him it most likely happened before she traveled.

The men spent the next hour making dinner. They grilled some steak and baked some potatoes, which they considered a very American meal as a homecoming for her.

“I hope she’s not a vegetarian,” Diego said.

Gavin snorted. “What are we going to do with her?”

Diego set down his fork and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “You’re going to think this is crazy, but I want her.”

“Want her to what?”

“I want her to be in between us.”

Gavin’s eyes widened. “Yeah, I’m sure Jared would be thrilled with that.”

“Tell me you don’t find her attractive?”

Gavin leaned back in his chair. “I admit, even though she’s tired, she’s beautiful, but there are so many obstacles in our way.”

Diego nodded. “Name them?”

“Her brother, for one. Secondly, we don’t know if she’d even consider a menage relationship. What about her plans? What if she goes off again? She hasn’t been home in three years,” Gavin commented.

“Those are all things that can be figured out. Let’s spend some time with her and see if we think it can go anywhere. We’ll move on from there.”

Gavin nodded. “I’ll try. But I have to admit if I fall for her and she leaves, I won’t try again for a long time.”

“I get that, but have you considered the fact that we both find her attractive a big plus? We haven’t felt that since college.”

Gavin grinned. “You’re right. I wonder what little Tami, our ex, is up to now. She was a firecracker in bed.”

Diego snorted. “Yeah, she was, but out is where we had the problem, remember?”

“She was about as scatterbrained as a person can get. She forgot everything. Remember when she forgot to pick dinner up on her way home from class? We had twenty people waiting. When she finally walked in the door an hour late, it still didn’t dawn on her she’d forgotten something.”

“The fact that we both texted and called her all day to remind her made it even worse.”

“I think that’s when our relationship started going downhill fast,” Gavin remembered.

“Yeah, I’ve never missed her, which tells you something.”

Gavin shrugged. “She wasn’t the one.”

“We’ll see if Tessa is.”

Gavin stood and grabbed some of the plates. “I’m going to check on her.”

“All right. I’ll start the dishes.”

Gavin walked down the hallway to the master bedroom.

It was a room they had never shared with a woman before.

Currently, they both slept in bedrooms upstairs.

He’d always felt it was wrong to bring women home and use the room.

It was for their future wife, and they wanted to be able to tell her she’d been the only one in it.

He carefully opened the door and walked over to the bed. The light from the hallway shone over her enough so he could see her features.

As she slept in the bed, she looked even tinier. He was glad to see she had a healthy flush, and her breathing was deep. Her hair was down, but the blanket hid the majority of it, so all he could see was the top.

He smoothed back a bit from her face and used his thumb to feel the softness of her cheek. It was then he saw the tear tracks, and it broke his heart. The woman had been through so much already, but damn if she didn’t tough it out.

At that moment, he really hoped it worked out with him and Diego. He wanted to be able to take care of her and show her people cared about her, because he didn’t think she received a lot of that in her life.

Gavin walked out and shut the door quietly behind him.

Diego turned from the sink. “How is she?”

“She’s sleeping hard.” Gavin picked up a towel and started drying the dishes. “She cried. I saw tear tracks on her cheeks.”

“Fuck. If anyone needs double the love, she does.”

Gavin nodded. “I know. We’ll play it by ear, but we can’t rush her. I don’t want her running from us because she’s scared.”

“I called Dan. He’s going to take over the job tomorrow, and I told him to give the rest of the guys the weekend off. This way, we have three days with her.”

“Good idea. I think she’ll sleep through the night. How about we grab a beer and sit on the back patio? If it gets chilly, we’ll start a fire.”

Diego drained the water in the sink. “I like the idea. It’s been a busy couple of weeks.”

Gavin grabbed a few beers and followed Diego out of the kitchen door. “That’s good because it means we’re making money.”

“You’re right. It’s nice to relax, though.”

Gavin took a long drink of beer and then sighed. “I won’t argue with that.”