Page 56 of Broken

“Gabby?”I call as I open the door to our place.

Our place.

Fuck, that sounds good. It fills me with a contentment I’m positive I’ve never experienced before. Of course, every day with Gabby seems to improve, which means tomorrow is already shaping up to be pretty damn spectacular.

I frown when she doesn’t answer. Normally when I get home in the evenings, Gabby is fixing dinner, or if she’s had a rough day, she’s lying on the couch with her feet up. Sure, we’ve only been back from the trip to Cherokee for three days, but we’re settled in and I’m happy. Gabby said she’s happy. I’d tried my best to keep my fingers on the pulse of her mood. I sure as hell didn’t want to give her time to slip back into the haze of the past. It has been going pretty damn great. We fell into being together in a way that is natural and very fucking satisfying. Our nights are filled with exploring her body and getting her used to my touch. She’s been getting braver and I’m very careful to let her know I’m good with anything she wants—which is the fucking truth.

“Gabby!” I yell again.

I’m not a man prone to panic, but it’s dark outside. Her car is in the drive and the fact that she’s not here … I push away the fear that’s trying to claw at me. I’m just starting to settle in at the club. I don’t know everything, but there are no big enemies out there. There are no life-or-death club matters going on that would put my woman at risk. Hell, even if they were, at this point, I’m not on the radar as part of the Savage crew. So, they shouldn’t come after my old lady.

My old lady.

I smile. I doubt Gabby realizes I’ve claimed her as mine, but I have. When she’s ready, she’ll have everything in me. I’m not going to hold back. That’s the last thing I want to do. When I make it to the utility room—which is really just a back porch that has been enclosed with a deck off of it—and finally take a breath as my gaze locks on Gabby, sitting on the back deck, looking up at the moon, sadness so thick on her face it’s painful to see. She’s cradling her cell to her ear.Fuck.

I carefully open the door, not wanting to spook her.

“Okay, Mom. Yeah, that’d be good. Uh … yeah, tell Daddy I love him. No, it’s fine. I’m tired. You can tell him, though. Okay, bye.”

She takes her phone away from her ear, clicking it off.

“You okay, Sunshine?”

“My once-a-month, less-than-joyful phone call from Mom,” she explains, her voice matter of fact and far from joy.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask, walking over to her. I bend down, picking her up, then settle back in her chair, holding her in my lap as I kick my legs out over the banister. Gabby doesn’t even blink. She just leans against me, burying her face in the side of my neck.

“Mom’s broken. No, she’sshattered.It is done in such an intricately tortuous way that I don’t think she will ever find her way out of it. So, I don’t guess there’s much to talk about, King.”

“Your dad can’t help with some of that?”

She lets out a bitter sounding snort—that can’t be described as laugher at all. “My father can only deal with his anger, King. He’s doing what he usually does, giving Mom his love, but he’s filled with his own anger and thoughts of vengeance that haven’t ended just because they ended the men who killed my brother. He wants to find a way to bring the guy back and kill him all over again.”

“That’s an emotion that I kind of understand, darlin’.”

“Yeah, except while doing it,you’dsee to your family as well.”

“Gabby—”

“You definitely wouldn’t ignore your child for months because you blamed her. Would you, King?” she asks, looking up at me with tears in her eyes—tears that rip open my heart. I kiss them away, tasting the salty remnants of her anguish, wishing I could absorb it all into my body.

“None of what happened was your fault, Gabby.None of it.”

“It’s not even about that,” she whispers, her voice trembling so much she has to stop mid-sentence to take a breath.

“What’s it about?” I probe.

“Mom wants me to come home.”

“I can take you there to visit, sweetheart. We can go after our jellybean is born.”

She closes her eyes. “They don’t know I’m pregnant.”

My body almost turns into stone. I don’t move. Everything feels so intense and heavy, I’m not sure I could. “You haven’t told them? You could have the baby at any time. How do they not know?”

“That’s easy. Dad doesn’t want to look at me?—”

“Gabby …”

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