Our Broken Pieces - M.E. Clayton Page 0,69

can go inside and eat, or go to your place or mine,” she offered. “Or wherever you want to go. It doesn’t matter.”

“I don’t want to go to my place,” I told her. “I can’t guarantee Gage won’t show up there, and…I just can’t with him right now.”

My phone rang again, and Rowan looked down at my purse. “Is that him?”

“I’m pretty sure. I haven’t looked at my phone after his first two phone calls,” I admitted.

Rowan grabbed my hand and pulled me back onto the sidewalk. I didn’t say anything as she flagged down another cab. As the car pulled up, she looked at me and said, “I know the perfect place where we can hide. We can stay there the rest of the day, and if you don’t want to go home tonight, you can stay at my place.”

I gave her a grateful smile and followed her into the cab. I didn’t care where we were going, I just know I needed room to breathe. Once in the cab, I sent Alaric a text, telling him my phone was going to be off because Rowan and I were doing quality time. He was the only other person in the world who would worry if I didn’t answer my phone, so I didn’t want him to panic. After he returned my text with a thumbs-up emoji, I turned off my phone.

“How bad?” Rowan asked.

I let out a sigh. “You tell me,” I replied. “Once we get to where we’re going, and I tell you everything, you tell me, Row, how bad it is.”

“Well, hell,” she muttered.

Well, hell, indeed.

Chapter 38

Gage~

I was standing in my office looking out at the city of Chicago wondering how I could have fucked up so badly.

It never occurred to me that Mystic would end up seeing me in the same light as she viewed her parents, and that was frightening, if I were being completely honest with myself. Forgiving me for being stupid was a no-brainer. But forgiving me for treating her the same way her parents had, not so much.

It didn’t help when Lorcan came searching for me because David had gone straight to him to tell him I had Mystic trapped in that room. While I had wanted to kill him, I could also appreciate his concern for her. It was the only reason I wasn’t firing his ass. Lorcan had stormed into the room as I blew up Mystic’s phone, demanding that I tell him what the fuck was going on.

After I told him everything, he called me a stupid motherfucker, and told me I was too stupid to be as wealthy as I was.

I didn’t deny it.

Then, being the best friend that he was, he called Reagan Contreras into the room, ripped her a new one, and fired her on the spot. He still had leverage from that thing with her and Mystic, so she really didn’t have a leg to stand on. She had cried and begged Lorcan to give her another chance, but, again, Lorcan was dead inside; her tears and pleas had been pointless. After that disaster, Lorcan had kicked me out of CI and told me not to go back until I got my shit together.

He also told me to call him if I haven’t heard from Mystic by tonight.

Now I was standing in my office, my calendar completely clean for the day, wondering where the fuck Mystic was, and wondering what the fuck was I going to do if she decided to end things. Of course, I wasn’t going to let her, but I didn’t want her unhappy.

I turned at the sound of the door opening, and my head dropped as I saw my mother walk in. I had completely forgotten she was in town and I promised her we’d do lunch.

Sonofabitch.

“Gage, honey,” she said as she walked towards me. “I’ve missed you.” She wrapped her arms around me, and the force of her hug supported her statement.

I hugged her back, and when we broke apart, I glanced down at the tiny woman and realized how much I missed her, too. “I missed you, too, Mom.” To the world she was Dr. Evans or Maureen Evans, wife to Dr. Quintin Evans, but to me, she was just Mom.

She stepped back and straightened her blouse. “Well, where to?”

I let out a sigh. “Now’s not a good time, Mom,” I told her. “I’m sorry-”

Her brows drew down. “What’s wrong?”

I jammed my fists in my pockets and told her