Page 75 of Broken

“I’m taking her up to Bethesda tomorrow.”

“Good. Does she know?”

“Telling her now would be pointless. I could do without the argument. Tonight at least. It’ll all come tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll need some time.”

“Don’t worry about it, get her situated.”

He lets out a sigh. I don’t particularly like the idea of leaving him alone to deal with her tonight, or what he is going to go through with her tomorrow, but he won’t want me getting involved.

“If you need anything,” I say.

“Yeah,” he cuts me off. “I know. I’ll be in touch.”

We end the call, and I grab myself a bottle of beer from the fridge. Tonight didn’t go how I intended. Seeing what went down with Phoenix’s mom is a wake-up call of how men can so easily take advantage of women. Sure, it’s a different scenario but I’m worried even more about Calli.

Why do I suddenly have the urge to see her? This isn’t me. What am I gonna do, show up at her door in the middle of the fucking night? All I can think about is what sinking into her right now would do to help.

Being selfish isn’t who I am. At least not in that way. When I eventually go to bed, I’m angry that I’m thinking about her. Everything is going to shit. Calli is the last thing I should be thinking about.

Over the next week, I only hear from Phoenix twice, one to say they arrived, and she’s checked in. Then to tell me he is staying in Bethesda for a few days. Everyone at the shop knows something is up, but no one is talking about it.

Mostly because I shut it down as soon as it starts. Sumner picked up quick to avoid the topic. Shane not so much. It comes from a good place, so I wasn’t too hard on the kid, while making sure he understood to shut the fuck up about it.

Phoenix is the most subdued I’ve seen in a long while when he returns a week later. Not even Lucky can cheer him up. Givenour conversation before everything went to shit, and how he intends to move on, I know why.

Seeing how upset Phoenix is about his mom makes me think about mine.

It’s been years since I visited her. After what happened to Gwen, she shut me out completely. It didn’t matter what I did, or how much I tried to make her see me. She blamed me for not being there. To her, it was like both her kids died when we lost Gwen.

Instead of continually fighting for her to remember I was alive, I enlisted. And everything changed for me.

The last time I saw her was when she had a mental break and I had to leave the service to deal with it. It could be time to reach out. I know where she is, I was the one who put her there.

She’ll take one look at me and remember Gwen.

Everyone used to say we could be twins. We had a lot of the same features and characteristics. Gwen was always the light to my darkness. The positive to my negative. We were different in the things we enjoyed, our friends, and interests. I would drop everything in a heartbeat if she needed me.

Until that one night when I wasn’t there. Pushing away those thoughts is something I got good at over the years. There is no point dwelling on the past.

The same as every night this week, after shutting up the shop, I go to the second apartment and try to figure out Caleb. Over an hour later, I’m still no closer to understanding him with my limited surveillance.

My phone rings and I stare at the screen.

Phoenix hasn’t spoken to Nero since that night. I only know this because the Prez keeps calling me asking how he is. Guess tonight is no different.

Fuck him if he thinks I’m giving him anything. If Phoenix hasn’t taken the time to update his brother, I won’t do it either. My loyalty lies with my friend, not Nero.

My instinct is to ignore the call, but that would be a dumb move that will only cause me more headaches.

“I have a job for you.”

Not even a little surprised there is no preamble or greeting. “Yeah?”

“We’re out of town for a few days. When I get back, be at the club. Ivan will tell you when.”

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