Our Broken Pieces - M.E. Clayton Page 0,56

be happy for her, I wasn’t.

I didn’t need these people fucking shit up for us again.

“So, when will we be able to get together and talk?”

“Thursday night, maybe?” she said hesitantly. “I’m not sure, Gage. I worked until past ten most nights before Mr. Cavanaugh assigned me this project. I really don’t know when I’ll have free time.”

I laughed.

There was no fucking way we were leaving things up in the air until she found some free time to talk to me. “Thursday,” I demanded. “You can work around the fucking clock any time after that, but we are going to clear shit up this Thursday, and not a day longer, Mystic.”

“Gage-”

“Thursday,” I barked, then hung up on her like a child.

Goddamn it.

Chapter 31

Mystic~

I sat at the bar and watched my brother cook dinner. It was nice and it wasn’t until I had gotten home, to find him napping on my couch, that I realize how much I missed him. After all, he was the only family I considered to have left, Aunt Rosie aside.

I had awoken him, and we had fallen back into our natural routine, as if it hasn’t been months since I’ve seen him. He told me all about work and his new girlfriend, Stacy, and how she wasn’t the one, but she was a great girl to hang out with. We steered clear of anything Mom, Dad, or Destiny related, but I knew the subject was going to come up eventually.

Especially once I took my work clothes off.

Gage had stayed true to his word and had left me a goddamn mess this morning. I had battle wounds every damn place and I had to wear a long sleeve blouse, slacks, and a scarf to hide it all. I also ached like a sonofabitch, every movement uncomfortable and sore.

However, I knew Alaric would know something was up if I were to sleep in my work attire, so I had to bite the bullet. When I had walked out of the room in a simple t-shirt and sweats, his eyes had widened and, not going to lie, he looked slightly sick.

He had given me a onceover, and with evident struggle, he ignored my appearance and prattled on about what he was cooking me for dinner. I gave him space and let cooking distract him as I wondered if I was going to lose my brother over this.

“Grab the plates,” he instructed. “Chicken Alfredo a ’la Alaric Anderson is finished.”

I chuckled and got up from the barstool to set out the plates and utensils. “Is that a copyright?”

“I think you mean trademark,” he teased. “And I’m thinking about it.”

We silently set up dinner and it wasn’t until we were sitting comfortably next to each other eating that he finally broke. “Wanna tell me about it?”

“Gage Evans,” was all I said.

Alaric angled his body, so he could face me. “Wait? What?” he asked, incredulous. “Like…you’ve met someone like him or are we talk about the Gage Evans?”

I kept my face staring down at the plate of pasta. I wasn’t exactly embarrassed as I was wary. I could also admit I was scared. I didn’t want to lose my brother and asking him to accept something that was going on versus something that had ended once upon a time was tricky. He was my brother, and I knew he took the role seriously.

“The second one,” I mumbled, my mouth full of food and bad manners.

He turned back around and started eating in silence. I knew he was absorbing the news and trying to tamp down his initial reaction to what was best for me. I appreciated it, but it didn’t suck any less knowing that he was struggling with the news.

“How?” he finally asked.

“He’s best friends and business associates with my boss, Mr. Cavanaugh,” I told him. “Mr. Cavanaugh assigned me to a joint venture with Gage’s company and that’s how we…uh, reconnected.”

“Reconnected…” he mumbled, deep in thought.

“He came over last night, demanding answers, and…uh, one thing led to another,” I admitted, embarrassed as hell. It wasn’t even that the sex was twisted. Talking to my brother about me having sex with a guy, at all, was embarrassing as hell. He didn’t want to know that shit about me any more than I wanted to hear details about him.

He turned to face me again. “Demanding answers?”

I nodded, and finally faced him back. “He wanted to know why I left him ten years ago,” I explained.

Alaric got a strange look on his face