Page 58 of Every Broken Piece

Chapter fifty-four

Tess

“ C ome on, Tess. Have pizza with us,” Pax pleads.

“Don’t push her, son.” The fact that Gabe’s putting this in my hands, giving me the power over the decision makes a difference. However, it’s the love in his eyes and the disappointment I’d surely see if I didn’t go that finally convinces me.

“All right. If you’re sure, then I’ll go with you.”

Gabe’s bright smile convinces me I made the right decision. “Let me change then we can go.”

“It’s so close that we usually walk,” Pax says when Gabe hurries up the stairs. “It’s a hole in the wall, but they have the best pizza, and like Dad said, we’ve been going there forever.”

Pax’s easygoing chatter eases my worry that I’m intruding.

When Gabe returns looking not like a billionaire CEO in worn jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt, we head out.

Pax rambles on about some computer program.

Gabe seems to understand, and I tune it out, happy to be outside with these two, feeling like I really do belong.

Especially when Gabe grasps my hand and doesn’t let go.

I shoot side-glances at Pax. If he looks the least uncomfortable with our PDA I’m pulling away, but he doesn’t even seem to notice and when we enter the small restaurant, Jack is waiting for us.

“Tess!” he yells from across the room, making heads turn and me blush. “I was hoping you’d come.”

He slides over to allow Pax to sit next to him. With a wave of his hand Gabe directs me to take the opposite side of the booth. He follows, settling in next to me.

“We always get two pizzas,” Pax says. “Meat lover and veggie lover because Dad thinks we need to balance all the meat with veggies.”

Gabe hands me a menu. “You get what you want, Tess.”

“I’m okay with meat and veggie.”

He leans close enough that his hot breath against my neck sends shivers down my spine. “No, Spitfire. You get what you want. Unless you really do like meat and veggies.”

I don’t. I’ve never been a fan of either.

Pax taps the menu in front of me. “They have all kinds of different pizzas. Calzones too.”

I lock gazes with Jack, and he grins, tipping his head toward the menu.

The waitress arrives, an older woman with a nametag that says Tina. “Heya, Pax, Gabe, Jack...” She looks at me with a raised brow.

“This is Tess,” Gabe says. “My girl.”

My girl?

Tina grins. “Nice to meet’cha, Tess. Ya’ll want the usual?”

“We’ll take the usual and whatever Tess wants,” Gabe says.

I clear my throat and straighten my shoulders. “I’ll have a calzone with spinach and mushrooms.”

Tina doesn’t write anything down, just gathers the menus. “And to drink?”

The question is directed at me, and I look at the men surrounding me, unsure.

“Jack and I usually have a beer. Since Pax is too young to drink”—Gabe shoots Pax a glare—“he has a soda.”

“Soda is fine,” I say.

Once Tina departs with our order, Pax turns to Jack and launches into a discussion about DLP controls, third party risk, phishing attacks, and EDR. It all sounds like a foreign language.

Gabe angles his body toward me, one arm over the back of the booth, the other resting on the table so I’m caged in. The hand behind me glides down the length of my hair. It takes everything in me not to lean into his touch.

“How was your day?” he asks.

“I have an interview scheduled with the real estate agency on Monday.”

His hand stills for a moment. “Do you.”

It’s not a question and I try not to let his lack of enthusiasm damper mine. I know he wants me to work for him, but I don’t want to. I want to do this on my own and while a receptionist isn’t close to what I was doing before, I’m willing to give it a try.

“I’ll need to go clothes shopping tomorrow. I don’t have anything that’s interview appropriate.”

His jaw flexes. I can almost feel everything he wants to say to me but keeps his thoughts to himself. “I’ll have my driver pick you up.”

“No need. I studied the bus system, and I can get where I need to go.”

“You’re not riding the bus when I have a perfectly good car and driver.”

“No need—”

“Yes. There is a need, Tess. I don’t want you wandering around out there without some sort of protection.”

Tina arrives with our drinks. Pax and Jack barely pause their conversation while unease bubbles through me.

“You said Carson’s in Chicago. And Sandra doesn’t have the means to get to Denver so I’m safe, right?”

“I think so, but I’d still feel better if someone was with you.”

A driver would be helpful to get around, especially since I don’t know the city at all past Gabe’s apartment and the pizza place. I can navigate the bus system but why be stubborn when a car would be easier?

“Okay. If you don’t mind.”

He tilts his head down to meet my eyes. “I never mind keeping you safe.”

I drum my fingers on my leg and make sure Pax and Jack are still engrossed in their tech talk. Pax is making a point by motioning with his hands. Jack is sipping his beer, nodding.

Gabe takes a sip of his beer, those bright blue eyes studying me. “What are you thinking?”

“I need to go home.”

“You are home.”

I shake my head. “To Cincinnati.”

His beer thunks down on the table, causing Pax to pause, glance at him, then resume his conversation.

“I have a doctor’s appointment next week. Two, actually. With the neuro doctor and the wrist doctor.”

He breathes a deep breath out through his nose. It’s almost like he physically deflates, and I realize he thought I was leaving for good.

“Just for the appointments,” I clarify.

His gaze drops to his beer bottle as he twists it around on the table. “You sure?”

Under the table I touch his thigh. “Gabe.”

Troubled eyes meet mine. “I’m sure.”

After a long moment of him searching my face, he seems to find what he’s looking for and nods.

“Okay then.” He rolls onto his hip, causing his thigh to press into mine, and pulls his phone out of the front pocket of his jeans.

“If you really want to go back for those appointments, we can go back, but I’ve done some research and found two highly recommended doctors here in Denver.

Would you consider seeing them instead?”

I can’t imagine what they would cost if Gabe found them. Then again, I don’t even know what the doctors back home cost either. The expense of my hospital stay and the future appointments weighs heavily on me. I can only hope I can arrange some sort of payment plan.

My phone vibrates in my back pocket.

“I sent you their information,” Gabe says. “Take a look and let me know what you want. Your appointments are next Friday, right?”

I nod, perplexed at this different Gabe.

While we were in Cincinnati, he was calling the shots, leading me where he thought I should go, taking charge.

To be fair, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to make any decisions.

But now he’s giving me the choice over everything.

What pizza to eat, which doctor to use. And while the decisions are overwhelming, I like that my life is in my hands and not dictated by drug dealers or a strung-out mother.

“Yes, next Friday.”

He shoves his phone back in his pocket. “Let me know what you want to do. If you want to go back, I’ll have a plane ready.”

“Oh, you don’t need to—”

“I do. I do need to, Tess. For my own peace of mind. I need to know you’re safe.”

I nod, thinking of that picture of Gabe and Cara and Pax and how everything changed for all of them so quickly.

His need to protect me, to know I’m safe, is the baggage he carries.

I can give him this. I can make his life a little less heavy.

“I’ll call the Denver doctors tomorrow and make an appointment. ”

His relieved smile is all I need to know I made the right decision.

Tina arrives with their pizzas and my calzone.

Pax and Jack abandon their tech discussion and all four of us talk about our week and what we have planned for next week.

Jack and Pax are more like brothers than uncle and nephew and soon they’re poking each other and laughing and Gabe’s smiling softly, shaking his head.

I lean back in the booth, stuffed with calzone and finally, for the first time ever, feeling like I’ve found my family.

It’s everything I’d dreamed it would be.