Pieces of Us (Missing Pieces #3) - N.R. Walker Page 0,42

years ago.”

“Would you like me to talk to her? I can ask her to stop calling you. Or I can just block her number for you.”

He chewed a mouthful of salad, frowning as he swallowed. “I don’t want it to trigger another episode.”

“Oh, baby,” I said, rubbing his arm. “Let’s just block her number and then you don’t have to deal with her at all.”

He pushed his dinner around with his fork. “I just want her out of my life. She doesn’t love me. She doesn’t even like me. If I did give her money, it wouldn’t be enough. If I gave her everything and she knew it was all gone, she’d take it and wouldn’t speak to me again.”

God, I hated that she hurt him so much.

“So, we’ll take screenshots of her messages and of how many times she’s tried to call, then we’ll block her. If she becomes a problem, we let the police handle it, okay? You don’t have to worry about her, if that’s what you want.”

He sighed and nodded. “Sounds good.”

“Baby, don’t stress over anything. Anything you need me to handle, I will take care of for you. If you need to talk about something to get it off your mind, talk away. Or write it down for Doctor Chang if you don’t want to talk to me about it.”

His gaze shot to mine. “I don’t want secrets from you.”

“I know. But sometimes you might want to talk to someone else. And that’s okay. Or talk to Sparra. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. Or Becca. It doesn’t have to be me, just talk to someone. Don’t bottle anything up.”

He sipped his mineral water and gave me a smile. “Okay.” He ate a slice of meat. “So can we talk about the snack comment today? And jealous Dallas. Because I’ve never met jealous Dallas before, and I have to admit, I liked him.”

I laughed. “I told you before I wasn’t perfect. Jealousy is something I need to work on.”

He smiled, very pleased with himself. “I’ve never had anyone be jealous over me before. It’s kinda hot. Not sure I’m overly fond of the caveman, chest-beating thing, but hearing you say I’m yours was . . . good.”

“Okay, well, first up, that guy was out of line. He came for a job interview and made inappropriate comments about another employee. Another employee who just happened to be my boyfriend, no less. He didn’t know that, but that’s not the point.”

“True.”

“And Davo just happened to be there and reckoned the look on my face was funny. But the guy totally checked you out and called you a snack. He was lucky I didn’t throw him out, and it was probably just as well Davo was laughing so much or I might have.”

Juss seemed to find something very amusing. “I do like jealous Dallas. Have you ever thrown someone out over me before? At a bar or a club?”

“No. Thankfully. I guess I never had to. There might have been a time or two where I had to put my arm around you to prove a point.” Or stick my tongue down your throat. “But no one ever dared call you a snack to my face.”

He chuckled at that. “Probably because you’re huge and your ‘he’s my snack’ face is pretty scary.” Then he sighed happily. “Well, I don’t find it scary. I rather like it.”

“Just not the chest-thumping caveman kind.”

“Right. Although, if you wanted to throw me over your shoulder and take me back to your cave, I wouldn’t put up a fight. Like, at all.”

That made me laugh. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Juss got up from his seat and sat on my lap. I had to pull my chair out a bit so he could fit, but he just sat right down and put his arm around my shoulder, his forehead pressed to mine. “No one’s ever stood up for me or got all protective of me. I like it.”

I kissed him. “I will always look out for you. Even if sometimes I go overboard and yell, like I yelled at your mother. I’m sorry I did that. It stressed you out, but she wanted to hurt you and I just saw red. I should have reacted better.”

Justin scratched my beard with his thumb. “I’m glad you did. And it wasn’t just you yelling that stressed me out. Her coming here and demanding money, telling me I owe her . . .” He shook his head. “She