Page 24 of Every Broken Piece

Chapter twenty-four

Gabe

I shut the door behind me, my heart jack hammering.

“Tell me.” Never before have words reached into my throat to cut off my air supply like this.

Jack draws in an agonizingly long breath, his cheeks puffing out before he releases it just as slowly.

“Tell me,” I say again.

Memories flash so fast it’s like they’re on supersonic speed.

The cops at the door. Jack at my side. Pax in the living room playing with his toy cars, oblivious that his life is about to change.

But I knew. I knew nothing would be the same again.

Just like I know now that my life is derailing, heading in a different direction. All for a woman I barely know.

“Jack.” The one word is ragged, forced, barely a broken whisper.

His eyes drift shut and when he opens them, he won’t look at me. I want to hold my hand up and tell him to not tell me. I don’t want to know. But I have to. I have to know how I ruined this girl’s life.

“I found her.” His head is bent as he stares at his beat-up sneakers.

Seconds tick by, each of us breathing deep. I want to tear the rest of it out of him, shake him until the words fall out. And I want to open the door and walk away before he says anything else.

He raises tormented eyes to mine. He knows I’m thinking of Cara and the police because he is too. I see the same memories swirling inside him.

“She lives in Cincinnati. She’s...” He swallows. Swallows again. His gaze flickers away like he can’t stand seeing what’s on my face. “There was an incident at the bar she and her friends were at. She was attacked.”

I make a sound, the air leaving me in a rush, pain swirling in to fill the void.

Jack rubs the back of his neck and stares at the ceiling. “Fuck. I know what this is doing to you.”

“Never mind that. Tell me the rest.”

He lowers his head to look me in the eye. “She was attacked and she’s in the hospital. I don’t know her condition because I wasn’t comfortable hacking her medical records.”

“But she’s alive?” My throat is so tight that the words barely escape.

“I don’t know, brother. I don’t know.”

“Then find out!” I shout the words and Jack flinches.

She was attacked on Saturday night. Her company found our texts on Sunday, which means they fired her while she’s in the hospital. Or...

No. I won’t let myself go there. I won’t think the worse—that she didn’t survive—until I know more.

Fear and anger force me forward until I’m fisting Jack’s shirt and am in his face. “I need to know if she’s...”

“As of Sunday morning, she was in serious condition at University Hospital.” He doesn’t try to pull away, just stands there while I twist his shirt and hold him still.

“Find out.”

He nods once and I let go, stepping back. “I need to go to her.”

“I’ll go with you.”

I shake my head. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, and we both can’t be away from the company.” I pray to God that I’m not flying out there to attend a funeral. “I need you to stay here. For the company and for Pax.”

“Pax will be fine.”

“I need to do this on my own.”

His eyes tell me he doesn’t want me to go alone, but he nods anyway. “I chartered a plane.”

For years Jack and Pax have been bugging me to buy a corporate jet, but I always said no. I’m not one of those executives that turns their noses up at flying commercial. Personal jets are expensive and pretentious. Now I wish I had my own jet.

“Thank you and I’m sorry,” I whisper.

Jack squeezes my shoulder. “It’s not the same, brother. This isn’t Cara all over again.”

No, it’s not. Cara was my wife, the mother of my child, my one love. Tess is... Tess is different.