Page 66 of Every Broken Piece
She swallows. “Y-yes.”
“Good. Now take that warning back to whoever you sent after Tess because that goes for anyone who tries to hurt her. Got it?”
She nods.
“I need the words, Sandra.”
She backs away, but there’s more grit to Sandra than I gave her credit for. As she retreats, never turning her back to me, she sneers. “You’ve got no idea what you’re up against. They know who she is. And now they know who you are and they ain’t stopping, Mr. Hotshot Billionaire.” She points a finger gun at me and grins a jack-o-lantern grin with those missing teeth before pulling the trigger. “Watch your back, asshole.”
Chapter thirty-five
Gabe
Fucking Conor.
After my encounter with Tess’s mom, I stayed outside with Roger to calm the rage racing through my veins and to make sure Sandra didn’t linger when what I really wanted to do was run after her.
“If you go after her,” Roger said as he swept the street with his sharp gaze. “I’ll have to go after you and your girl won’t be protected. That’s probably what they want.”
That made sense, but the predator in me, the protector, wanted to run her down. I need information. I need to know who ‘they’ are that she was referring to. It doesn’t help that my gut was right, that Tess’s attack had something to do with her mother and the shit she got herself into.
I stood out in the dropping temperatures of a March evening until my heartrate calmed and I felt like I could walk into Tess’s apartment and not scare the shit out of her.
Except when I walk in, fucking Conor’s sitting on the couch way too close to my girl and that fury returns, now aimed at the jerk that keeps trying to claim Tess.
Immediately, I lock in on her, assessing her pain level by the brightness of her eyes. She’s laughing at something Conor said, and I have to suppress a growl. Her head whips around to me and those gorgeous caramel eyes light up.
“Gabe! You were gone forever. I hope you didn’t get lost.”
Her hair’s dry from her shower, hanging in sheets of midnight. She’s pale and she’s holding her arm tightly to her stomach. I’m pissed at Conor, at Sandra, at Tess being injured, at TaskGenius for firing her. It’s best that I remove myself before I say something to Tess or Conor that I’ll regret so I head to the kitchen to put the groceries away.
“Did you find the store?” she asks from the living room. The apartment is so small that it’s not hard to hold a conversation two rooms away.
“It was easy to find,” I say as I open the refrigerator and toss the Styrofoam takeout box to make room for the cold food. I grab an apple before shutting the door.
Amelia’s curled in this weird, but oddly comfortable looking round chair that has a thick, fluffy cushion. She’s looking between me and Conor with a worried frown. Conor’s chin is up, eyes blazing behind his glasses, an arm casually thrown over the back of the couch, allowing his fingers to brush the hair draped over Tess’s shoulder.
I bend down to place a soft kiss to her lips. She jerks back in surprise, her eyes wide.
“How’s the pain?” I ask, tilting my head down to catch her gaze.
“Good.”
She’s lying. “You take your meds?”
“I took over the counter stuff.”
I nod and straighten, feeling the anger coming off Conor. I don’t give a shit. I’m still dealing with the adrenaline of Sandra and the very real concern that there are others after Tess to care what this boy thinks of me.
I hand her the apple. “Eat. I’ll fix dinner in a little bit.”
She takes it, huge, confused eyes watching me. The kiss in front of her friends shook her, but I need to stake my claim loud and clear and once and for all. Tess is mine if she wants me.
If she doesn’t...
I’ll deal with that later.
“You’re making me dinner?” She clutches the apple to her chest.
