Page 41 of Every Broken Piece

Chapter thirty-nine

Gabe

I don’t know how to get her to see the strong, too independent, beautiful soul standing before me. She stubbornly refuses to understand that I’m not abandoning her. I get that everyone in her life deserted her, but I won’t be one of them.

The distrust in her eyes tells me that this uphill battle is more a marathon than a sprint. I’m all in. Marathon. Sprint. Whatever it takes, I’m here for it. Consistency and patience wear the jagged rock into a softly rounded stone. I will consistent and patient the hell out of her.

I desperately want to kiss her again but sense that even in that I need to go slow despite my insane need to imprint myself on her; to let the world know she’s mine and I’ll protect her until my dying breath.

Yeah, that’s way too intense for her right now. It’s almost too intense for me, too.

My phone vibrates in my pocket, breaking the thick emotions swirling between us.

“You should answer that,” she says.

I should, but I don’t want to. I lean just a little closer, my vow not to kiss her crushed by a consuming need to claim her.

My phone buzzes again. With a curse I pull back and dig the phone out of my pocket, answering without breaking eye contact with her.

She turns her head away, hiding the confusion and wariness I see inside her.

“Yeah?” I answer.

“Damn it, Gabe, I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for hours.”

Jack.

“You talked to me not thirty minutes ago.” Right before I got the text from Roger that about stopped my heart. Your woman’s outside on the steps. You might want to come get her.

I really thought that was it, that she was running, and I was going to lose her.

I raced out of the apartment so damn fast. It’s a good thing I’d put my shoes on earlier or I would’ve been barefoot too.

This woman, she unravels me. She makes me do things and think things that aren’t normal for me.

“What do you need?” I ask my brother.

“Look,” he says in a serious voice that I never take lightly. “I know you want to be with Tess, but we need you here, Gabe. You’re meeting with Montrose on Monday. You can not fuck this deal up.”

He’s right. I can’t miss this meeting. But I can’t leave Tess either.

Her head is still turned away and I realize I have one hand on the wall, trapping her in place.

I take a step back and open her apartment door.

With a guarded look at me she slides into the apartment and heads for the kitchen to fill a mug with water and put it in the microwave.

Today’s t-shirt says London—Mind the Gap .

Last night’s said something about Berlin.

I want the story behind the t-shirts. I want all of her stories, the good and the bad.

“Are you listening to me, Gabriel?”

I turn my back on the distraction of Tess. “Montrose. Don’t fuck it up. Got it.”

Charles Montrose, CEO of the biggest department store chain in the US, came to me in strict confidence. His company is failing and failing fast. He wants my help and is willing to pay through the nose to save the company that’s been in his family for four generations.

Our meeting is Monday, and I need to be there.

“When’re you coming home?” Jack asks. “Pax came home this weekend. I told him you were traveling so he’s staying with me.”

Shit. Shit shit shit . Pax is used to me traveling for business, but I try to be there for him always. We’ve been texting, just the usual stuff—trading memes, talking shit, complaining about his classes, discussing his spring break that’s this coming week.

“Is he okay?” I ask quietly so Tess doesn’t hear.

“Between girlfriends. Again. He’s always like this until he finds the next girl.”

My son, the player. So not like me, or his mother. Cara and I were exclusive from the moment we met and there hasn’t been anyone since for me, excluding a few one-night stands I’m not proud of. And now Tess…

I search for her in the small apartment, but she’s nowhere I can see. However, through the thin walls I hear her moving around in her bedroom.

No, there hasn’t been anyone I’ve been exclusive with since Cara. But if I have my way, there will be.

I walk into the kitchen, pull out the mug of water she microwaved and forgot about and dump it out.

I snag one of the bottled waters out of the fridge.

Tess calls them my “bougie water”. It’s the same brand she had every hotel I stayed in stock for me.

Last night she asked if she could taste this magical bougie water. I let her taste mine and she loved it.

I shake out two ibuprofen.

“How’s Tess?” Jack asks.

“Hurting. Scared even though she won’t admit it.” I need her to tell me what she’s scared of. Her mother? Something else? Some one else? Her barriers are so high and so solid that I’m worried I’ll never be able to break them down, but I’m trying.

“You got it bad, brother,” Jack says.

“Yeah...” I do.

“Bring your girl home. We’ll take care of her.” Like we did when Cara died. Like we did when we had a baby to raise and were clueless how to do it.

Jack’s circling the wagons as he always does and again, I’m grateful for him.

Bring your girl home.

After I reassure Jack that I’ll be there on Monday for the Montrose meeting, I hang up and take the water and pills to Tess, knocking softly on her bedroom door before pushing it open.

She’s curled up on her bed against a mound of pillows, her Kindle propped against a fuzzy, hot pink, daisy shaped, pillow.

Her eyes are heavy, like she’s fighting sleep, and she’s pale with pain.

I hold up the green bottle. “Bougie water with pain pills.”

Her attempt at a smile is so weak and sad that it breaks my heart. If she’d trust me, lean on me, I’ll make everything right. But that’s the problem. She doesn’t know how to trust or lean.

I uncap the bottle before handing it to her and watch while she downs the pills.

“I have some things I have to do. Do you need anything first?”

She shakes her head.

I take the bottle and place it on the nightstand before pulling a bright yellow blanket printed with white daisies from the foot of the bed to cover her. “Sleep, Tess. You look exhausted.”

I fight the urge to crawl into bed next to her and instead tuck her in and leave her to her book and hopefully a nap.

I’ve commandeered her office space as my own and close the door behind me so she can’t heart me, even though the walls are thin.

I dial Pax.

“Hey, Dad.”

“Hey, bud. Jack says you’re staying with him this weekend. Everything okay?”

“Yeah. I had my last exam on Friday and wanted to get out of there.”

I carefully listen to his tone, but nothing seems off.

He’s twenty but I still worry about him.

After Cara’s death I was concerned about the impact not having a mother would have on him.

A boy needs the soft, guiding influence of a mother, but I wasn’t about to bring just any woman into his life.

No mother figure was better than the wrong mother figure.

He had Cara’s parents growing up. Even though they lived in Indiana, they were a constant in his life. It was the best I could do for him.

“Girl trouble?” I ask, as I lay back on the twin bed.

“Nah. I mean, Casey and I broke up, but it’s all good.”

“I thought you were with Courtney.” I don’t know why I even try to keep Pax’s girlfriends straight considering none of them last more than two weeks.

“Courtney was before Casey. Keep up, old man.”

I chuckle. “I can’t. It’s like a revolving door.

You’re treating them right, aren’t you, Pax?

” I won’t tolerate any woman being treated badly.

He knows this. Jack and I raised him to respect women.

Open doors for them. Walk between them and the road.

Always, always, back off when they say no.

And never, ever , lay your hands on a woman in anger.

“Of course I am.” He sounds offended and I breathe a sigh of relief.

“I’m upfront with them,” he says. “I’m not ready for a serious relationship and I make sure they all know that.

But they keep forgetting and they keep pressing me for more.

” Now he sounds disgusted. I smile up at the stained ceiling.

I’m proud of this kid for knowing what he wants and just as importantly, what he doesn’t want.

I also worry that some of these women don’t see beyond the dollar signs to the warm, sweet man beneath.

But that’s something Pax will have to figure out on his own.

He’s well aware of gold diggers because Jack and I talk about them all the time.

“You’re going to get a reputation,” I say.

“Nah. It’s all good. Where are you this weekend?” he asks.

“Ohio. Cincinnati.” I pause. “I have something I need to talk to you about.”

Pax is my world. I’ve never once brought a woman home. Not to visit. Not to spend the night. Most definitely not to live with us. Bringing Tess home with me is a big deal and he needs to know about it. Even if the circumstances aren’t what they seem to be.

“Yeah?” he asks.

“I’m coming home tomorrow.” Something I still need to arrange. “And I’m bringing someone with me. She’s going to be staying at our apartment for a while.”I hold my breath, not knowing what reaction I’m going to get. He could care less. Or care very much and get upset.

“She? Like a girl?” He’s almost twenty-one but sounds like he’s nine when his voice rises like that.

“Like a girl. She has nowhere to go, and she needs some help right now. That’s all it is, just a friend helping a friend.” For now, but he doesn’t need to know that. And while Pax is pretty open about his relationships with me, I’m not willing to reciprocate.

“That’s cool.”

“You’re okay with this?” I find myself holding my breath again because his acceptance matters.

“Why wouldn’t I be? She’s not your girlfriend, right?”

I blow out a breath. “No, not my girlfriend.” Yet.

“Who is she?”

“My personal assistant. Something happened to her last weekend and she’s... Well, she’s injured and needs help.”

“Tess?”

I’m surprised he knows her name, until I remember that Jack and I discussed Tess at one of our Thursday night dinners. “Yes, Tess. She was attacked in a bar, and she’s pretty badly hurt.”

“Jesus,” he hisses.

I monitored his language for years, but eventually I learned to pick my battles. Once he reached a certain age, language wasn’t a battle I was willing to fight. Especially considering my own language could be cleaned up, so I let this go.

“You’re good with this?” I ask.

“Of course, I am. You find who did this to her?” His voice hardens in anger. This kid. He’s the world to me.

“The police are working on it.”

“You need me to do anything to help, I will.”

“No.” I know what he’s not saying. He’ll use his Spidey-hacking skills that Jack taught him to find out what he can. I don’t need him breaking any laws for me. It’s bad enough that Jack does it.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” I ask.

“It’s spring break so, yeah, I’ll be here. Besides, I want to meet this woman you’re bringing home.”

I groan because he makes it sound like I’m introducing him to someone special.

You are, you idiot.