Page 54 of Every Broken Piece
Gabe
When I return from walking Hardwick to her car, belligerent Tess is back and I’m so here for it. I’d much rather see her spitfire temper than scared and hurting.
“I would have helped you into bed.” I ignore her arms crossed tightly over her stomach and the dagger-like glare from those gorgeous honey-colored eyes.
“What’d you and the detective talk about when you walked her out?” Her lips twist on the word detective, like she sucked on a lemon. And there was definitely an emphasis onwalked her out.
I sit in the chair next to the bed, resisting the urge to unwind her arms and take her hands in mine. “I asked Detective Hardwick to keep me informed of any developments in your case. I assured her that I would help in any way possible.” Not a complete lie. Not the complete truth either. It’s not that I want to keep information from Tess, but more that I don’t want to cause unnecessary worry until I have all the facts. If my theory on the woman in the lobby pans out, I’ll tell Tess about it. Until then there’s no reason to.
She doesn’t seem happy with my answer. In fact, she seems downright suspicious, but I don’t elaborate, and we fall into an uneasy silence.“The doctor came by,” she says after a few minutes. “I can go home tomorrow.”
“That’s great news.” I start to reach for her then pull back, reading herI’m still really angrybody language.
I don’t like that I wasn’t here to talk to the doctor with her. At the same time, I understand that I don’t have the right that a boyfriend or real fiancé would in this situation. I’m not her real fiancé and honestly, I don’t need to play the part anymore. But I want to. I want people to think we’re engaged. I want the access it gives me so I can help her.
“You can go home now,” she says.
Years of negotiating boardroom deals has left me with an excellent poker face, so I don’t let on how much her words sting.
“What’d the doctor say?” I ask instead because I’m pretty confident the doctor wouldn’t release her without someone to stay with her for at least a little bit.
My suspicions are confirmed when she uncrosses her arms and nervously pulls at a loose string at the edge of the blanket, her head tilted down and turned away from me.
I sit back and cross an ankle over my knee, willing to wait her out. It doesn’t take long.
“You can stop the fake fiancé thing,” she finally says, yanking the thread loose and wrapping it around the ring finger of her injured arm. “I’m not your responsibility anymore.”
“You never were my responsibility.”
She tightens the string until the tip of her finger begins to turn purple. “Then why are you here?”
“Why do you want me to leave?”
She throws her good hand up. “Because you don’t need to be here.”
“What did the doctor say, Tess?” I reach over and unwind the string. She huffs.
“You can’t be here, Gabe. You have to go home.”
You can’t be here.
NotI don’t want you here. NotI don’t need you here. Youcan’tbe here.
“Who’ll take care of you after you’re released?”
“I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time. I don’t need anyone to do it for me.”
This girl. She has no idea that she doesn’t need to take care of herself anymore because I’m here now. “I get that you’re frustrated. I understand that you don’t like relying on other people. As much as you want to, you know you can’t do this on your own.”
“I can.”
“You think I don’t know what the doctor said? I bet he said you can go home if someone’s with you twenty-four seven for the next week at least. I bet he said you need to take it easy. Rest. Get plenty of sleep.”
Her jaw flexes and her eyes snap honey brown fire.
She’s so damn stubborn. She’ll fight me till the bitter end and damn if that’s not the biggest turn on. But she’s never butted heads with me. I don’t back down from a fight.
“You think you can take care of yourself?” I ask.
