Page 59 of Every Broken Piece

Chapter fifty-five

Tess

W e walk home together, bringing our conversation and our laughter with us until we split off from Jack who exits the elevator on his floor.

Pax is yawning when Gabe unlocks the door to their apartment. I can’t tell if it’s a fake yawn or not.

“Night, everyone,” he says as he heads up the steps with a floppy wave over his shoulder.

“Night, son.”

“Night, Pax.”

Before I can follow, Gabe stops me with a hand on my arm. “If you’re not too tired, I’d like to talk to you.”

“Oh. Um. Okay.” Immediately my mind tells me he’s kicking me out of the apartment, and I start spiraling.

My interview isn’t until Monday, but since Gabe’s been paying for almost everything, I think I might have enough to rent a new apartment if I can find one in my price range.

Except I don’t know what my price range is because I haven’t interviewed for the job yet.

All of this runs through my mind in the few seconds it takes Gabe to lead me to the couch.

I’m formulating plans, escapes, discarding ideas so fast that my mind is unraveling.

Do I have enough money to get back to Cincinnati?

Despite the danger there I know I can’t live in the same city as Gabe if I can’t have him.

I perch on the edge of the couch while he sits next to me, my hands clenched between my knees, my knees bouncing in time with my galloping heart.

Gabe presses a palm to my leg to still my nervous energy. “Relax. This isn’t bad.”

I swallow, preparing for the worst, more devastated than I thought I’d be. I’m the one who usually runs before things get bad. I became complacent. Comfortable. I should have known better.

“Damn it, Spitfire. Someday you’ll look at me without that haunted expression. Not every news is bad news.”

It takes me a minute to realize what he’s saying, and yet I still can’t trust what I hear. “I’m sorry.”

He squeezes my leg. “Don’t ever be sorry. You can’t help the way you were raised, but I’m going to work real hard at making good memories to replace the bad.”

For the first time since I sat down, I relax as best I can.

All the whirling thoughts settle as rational thoughts take over.

Gabe wouldn’t have recommended Denver doctors if he was kicking me out.

He wouldn’t have offered his car and driver if he didn’t want me around.

This isn’t bad. Not everything has to be bad.

“I have to leave for New York tomorrow,” he says.

It wasn’t what I was expecting to hear. Then again, I was expecting an eviction notice so I’m not really comprehending what he’s saying.

“I don’t want to leave you, especially since you’re still settling in—”

“I never want to interfere in your life or your business.”

“It’s not interfering.” His tone turns frustrated. “You mean something to me, Tess. You’re an important part of my life. Of course I have to take your needs into consideration.”

“You don’t. I’ll be fine—”

He growls. “This is what it means to be in a relationship. It’s about being there when the other needs you. I feel like leaving you now isn’t the best thing for either of us.”

I lift my chin, aggravated at the insinuation that I don’t know how to be in a relationship. “Maybe I’ve never been in a serious relationship, and maybe I don’t know how all this works, but I do know that I won’t be a burden to you or anyone else.”

“You’re not a burden. You’ve never been a burden. I just...” He raises his hands then lets them fall. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“I promise I’ll be fine. Pax and Jack are here to keep my company.”

His laugh his harsh. “That’s not reassuring. The last time I left you and Pax you got drunk off a kids’ card game.”

I bite back my grin. “We won’t do that again.”

His gaze flicks across my face, telegraphing all his worries. “You’ll be fine, right?”

“I’ll be fine.” Something tells me that this is more about his insecurities than about mine.

Is he afraid I’ll disappear on him? I guess I can’t blame him considering my go-to response to just about anything is running away.

This man. I love him. I want to tell him, but the words keep getting stuck in my throat.

“I’m hoping to be back by Wednesday. I don’t like missing Thursday dinners. They’re important to Pax.”

“And you.”

“And me.” He slides his hand up my outer thigh, to my hip. “I have something for you.” With his other hand he pulls a folded piece of paper out of his back pocket and hands it to me.

I stare at the paper dangling between us, unwilling to reach for it. I don’t know what this is but going by his expression it’s serious and I’m not sure I want to open it.

He nudges it closer to me. “It won’t bite.”

Reluctantly I take it and hold it for a few heartbeats before I slowly unfold it. The first thing I see is my signature at the bottom and I frown.

“It’s your non-compete from TaskGenius. It’s null and void.”

“Null and void?”

“It’s no longer valid.”

“I know what null and void means.” I just can’t process what this is and how Gabe came to be in possession of my non-compete with TaskGenius.

His fingers flex on my hip. “You don’t have to decide now. You can wait to see how your interview goes on Monday if you want, but this means you can have your clients back.”

“Why? And...how?”

“I purchased the company.”

My mouth falls open. “You purchased TaskGenius so you could make my non-compete null and void?” Can he do that? Well, obviously, he can because he did. I shove the paper back to him. “No. This is too much.”

He purchased a company . For me .

He folds my fingers around the paper. “I’m not saying you have to take your clients back. I’m saying the opportunity is there if you want it. If you decide to do something totally different, that’s up to you. I own the company either way and that’s not going to change.”

“Gabe.” I don’t know what to say. There’s nothing to say.

“I owe you.”

“Owe me? If anything, I owe you.”

He shakes his head. “I lost you the job you loved. It’s only fair that I give that job back to you.”

“I was complicit in our texting. It wasn’t just you.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

I stare at the paper. “Do you regret it?”

“Texting you?”

I nod.

“Never. I will never regret sending that first text. I looked forward to more texts. I thought about you all damn day until you became this obsession.” He pulls in a deep breath and lifts his chin to the paper still scrunched in my hand.

“You do what you want with that. The world is yours, Spitfire.”

“Thank you,” I whisper. It’s my freedom. Gabe bought me my freedom.

“Don’t thank me. I didn’t do anything but right a wrong.”

I love you. But I don’t want to say it now. I don’t want him to think it’s because he purchased a whole freaking company just so he could give me my job back.

He stands and holds his hand down to me. “Ready for bed?”

I let him help me up and wait while he turns lights off and checks the front door, then we climb the steps together.

I hesitate at his door then move past it but am stopped by an arm around my waist until my back is flush against his front.

The paper flutters to the floor, forgotten. “Where’re you going, Spitfire?”

“I... I don’t know the rules,” I whisper.

His lips find that soft spot between my neck and shoulder. The spot that makes me shiver and want to tear down every wall I built.

“What rules?” He murmurs into my neck.

“When Pax is home. I don’t want to overstep.”

He spins me around and now we’re fused together, chest to chest, thighs to thighs. He backs me up until I’m caged between his hard body and the wall. We haven’t discussed sex. He’s been extremely patient, but he’s testing my boundaries and I’m about to tear down every obstacle I’ve put in our way.

“Pax knows the score. I had a long talk with him earlier this week, explained my feelings for you and he’s good with it. With us. He’s a big boy now. He can handle this.”

I squeeze my eyes shut. As much as I want him physically, things are moving so fast. Gabe told Tina I was his girl. Gabe explained to his son that I’m important to him.

Gabe bought a company so I could get my clients back.

His hands run up my side, skimming my breasts, making me gasp and crumbling more walls to dust.

“I have to leave early in the morning,” he says into the quiet. “I want to spend the night with you in my arms, but I want you to do what feels right for you.”

I’m not an idiot. I know he’s talking about more than sleeping.

My breath is coming faster. My stomach clenches.

I wrap a hand around each of his biceps and lick my lips with a dry tongue.

I can practically feel the foundations of those walls trembling, shaking, cracking.

Why do I have them? Why are they there? To protect myself.

But I don't need protection from Gabe. He is my protection.

Gabe has become my walls.

He watches me patiently, with the aching heat of his hunger burning like the bluest flame.

“I want...”

He tips his head to the side, waiting.

“I want you. All of you.”

A grin starts slow, crinkling his eyes. “You’ve got me, Spitfire. You’ve got me.”