Picking Up The Pieces: Book 1 of the Broken Series

by Sienna Grant

  “Will I see you later, are you at work tonight?”

  “Maybe, and no, not until Thursday night,”

  “Okay, I call you later.” I watch Blake start walking towards the door but he stops and ruffles Grady’s hair and say bye to him too, I think my heart just melted a little more for him.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  BLAKE

  I get in my car, rest my head on the seat and close my eyes. Shit, I really like her so much. I didn’t mean to fall asleep, I only meant to comfort her for a while and then I was going to leave, but I’m so glad I didn’t. I have the craziest urge to go back in there and say fuck to work and spend the day with them, but I don’t want to smother her, plus it’s not fair on Jack to cope with everything at work on his own because I’m acting like a lovesick puppy.

  I start the engine and head towards home. I let myself in the house and go straight to the kitchen. When I realised how upset Lex was, I text my dad to come and pick up Max and take him to his house for the night, it’s a good job I did. I put the coffee on while I go upstairs to take a shower and get ready for work.

  Within ten minutes I’m ready to grab myself a cup of coffee, and then make the twenty-minute trip to work. I arrive at work by eight thirty, Jack’s at his desk working on something, so as I pass I just say morning and go to my office. I see Jack standing in front of me with his hands in his pockets with a smug grin on his face.

  “Morning, Casanova,” I scowl at him. “Wow has anyone ever told you that you’re not a morning person?”

  “Yeah, you. All the time,” I look down at the papers I left on my desk yesterday.

  “So, what’s up, did it go well last night, or is that why you’re grumpy?”

  “I’ll have you know I’m not grumpy this morning, and it went very well thanks,” I glance up and see him grinning, I nod my head at the chair, silently telling him to sit.

  “Jack, she’s gone through so much, and I don’t think I know the half of it yet, but I do know that if I ever meet him; I’ll make that cunt pay for what he’s done to her! She told me a little of what he put in her head, the way he made her feel about herself, I held her while she cried, we both fell asleep on the sofa and when I woke it was 6:50, so I stayed a while longer and we had breakfast…”

  “Yeah I bet you did,” laughs Jack winking his eye at me.

  “I cooked her breakfast you fucking twat! She has a thirteen-month-old kid; who I might add was awake. I’m not that bad!” I answer, frowning and I throw a pen at him.

  “Yeah, I know,” he looks at me seriously. “So did you meet him this morning?” Jack asks me as he picks up the pen from the floor. “I did,” I reply while nodding my head.

  “He’s so cute mate, he looks just like her, except for the colour of his hair and his eyes. His hair is a dark blonde kind of colour and he’s got blue eyes,”

  “Look at you getting all gooey eyed, wait until I tell Amelia” laughs Jack.

  “Prick, get out, so I can work,”

  “Yeah okay I’m going, I’m looking over the figures, so we can get that secretary you were thinking about hiring. I’ll let you know later how it’s looking,” he shouts as he’s walking from my office into his.

  “It’s gonna be a loooonnggg day!” I take my phone from my pocket give it a quick scan make sure I have no important messages and open the message icon and shoot Lex a text:

  Me - Hey princess, hope you’re okay, it’s gonna be long day today. Let me know if you want to do anything later. Xx

  I don’t get an answer straight back so I assume she’s busy or gone to lie down for a while. I get stuck into the work that’s piling up on my desk, I hate paperwork, it’s mundane and boring! This is why we need a PA, I think it’s time I showed my face at the site. I tidy my desk up, grab my phone from the desk, drop it in my pocket and leave, as I pass by Jack’s office, he looks up and raises his chin at me.

  “I’m popping out, going to look in on the lads at the site, I can’t be doing with paperwork this morning I can’t concentrate. Do you want anything bringing back?”

  “Yeah bring me a big mac back with a coke please mate,” he answers rubbing his tummy. “Greedy fucker, yeah okay no problem.”

  “Hey, you asked!”

  “Yeah I know,” I answer laughing at him as I walk from the office. I reach the car, unlock it and get in, my phone vibrates in my pocket as I sit down, I take it out and look at the message before I set off.

  ALEXIA

  I look at my phone and smile, seeing Blake’s name on the screen. I love it when he calls me Princess, it makes me feel warm inside. I answer his message.

  Me - Hey you, I’m fine thanks, a little tired now lol. Hope you weren’t too late this morning and Jack didn’t give you too much of a hard time. I think I’ll be having an early night, you know catch up on some sleep ;) how about you? Xx

  After Blake left this morning, I could finally breathe again, I don’t think I took a breath the whole time this morning while he was here. It felt so natural, him being here having breakfast; like he belonged here. I know it may seem a little early, but I feel safe when I’m with him. The way he was with Grady too, I sigh heavily and rake my teeth along my bottom lip – remembering.

  He was so sweet when I had my mini breakdown, he held me so tight, I told myself I wouldn’t fall for another man, but I don’t think I’ll be strong enough to stop it if I do, particularly when Blake’s involved, anyway. Grady shouts from the lounge where he’s playing, and I drink the rest of my coffee, wash up the few things in the sink from this morning and check on what the little monster is up to.

  When I know he’s happily playing, I set about doing some cleaning, by the time one o’clock rolls around, I’m tired and hungry. Grady has followed me from room to room with a duster imitating me, I put the hoover away, pick him up and go to the kitchen.

  “Shall we have some lunch baby boy?” I sit him in his chair while I prepare us a sandwich and hear my phone ring. I stop what I’m doing and find my phone; Becka.

  “Hey hun, how are you?” I say greeting Becka.

  “Ugh, I’m stressed, I dropped the girls at school then did grocery shopping, oh and then I had to go to Mason’s parents’ house, that woman stresses me even more. I’ve just sat down, I got to be at work soon too so I thought I’d ring and see how you’re doing!”

  Once Becka has come up for breath, I tell her how my morning has been. While I’m filling her in on some details about last night and this morning, she squeals so loud I have moved the phone away from my ear.

  “Oh my god, I’m so happy! I really like Blake, Lex. I think he could be so good for you and Grady, but you more so, you need someone that will take care of you, I want to see you happy again, I haven’t seen that in so long.”

  “Becka, I’m okay really. I am happy. He asked me some things about Paul and the about the bruises the first time we met. I broke down on him Becka.”

  “How did he take that? He doesn’t seem the type that would put up with that kind of abuse,”

  “He was angry, but he so sweet to me, he just held me while I cried and I felt safe, I haven’t felt like that in such a long time,” I sniff loudly as the emotion overtakes me again and go on to tell her about this morning.

  I wipe the moisture from my eyes and take Grady’s sandwich to him, I put mine on the table and grab a can of coke from the fridge.

  “Hey, don’t cry, because I can’t be there to hug you and you’ll make me cry, I really think you should open up to him. Look I have to go, babe, I need to get ready and go to work, we can get together tomorrow, yeah, what you think?”

  “Yeah okay, I’d like that hun. I’ll see you tomorrow, text me the time.” She tells me okay and puts the phone down.

  I put my phone on the table, open my can, take a drink and eat my sandwich. Grady is shouting something I can’t even understand and throwing bread around.

  I sigh heavily, “Grady, no. Stop throwing your food please.” He puts his arms up to
me, I get up from the chair, pick up the food from the floor and picked him up out of his highchair.

  I grab my can of coke and go into the lounge and sit on the sofa, while I have cuddles with my little man. Before I know it I can feel myself drifting off, Grady has already gone to sleep so I let myself join him. I wake an hour later with a crick in my neck and Grady still fast asleep. I carefully edge my way from under him and lie him down where I was I sitting.

  While Grady’s asleep, first I go to the bathroom, then I take the opportunity to get some reading in a while he’s still asleep. I sit back down and start reading and hear my phone ringing.

  “That’d be right!” I sigh deeply and get my phone from the coffee table.

  I look at the screen and my mood lifts, considerably, “Hey Blake,”

  “Hi Princess, are you okay?”

  “Yeah I’m fine, I actually only just woke up,”

  “Shit, did I wake ya?”

  “No, I woke up about ten minutes ago, how are you?”

  “I’m tired, but being there with you was worth it.” I smile thinking about him being here and waking up on the sofa together.

  Blake asks me about my day, so I tell him, as he’s talking away, the buzzer rings for the security door. “Umm, hang on Blake there’s someone at my door,” I say confused.

  “What door, your front door, or the security door?”

  “The security door, I just need to open it hang on,” I lower the phone, I hear him tell me to make sure to check who it is first before I open the door, so just to keep him happy I answer the buzzer.

  “Hello?”

  “Open the door, Princess.” I hear Blake’s voice on the other end, confused I look through the spy hole in my door, and there standing as cool as you like, is Blake.

  I press the eject button on my phone and unlock the door. He’s standing in front of me with a huge bunch of flowers and the sexiest smile I may have ever seen, I think I feel my knees weaken.

  “Hey Princess, surprise, can I come in?”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  BLAKE

  “Ermmm, yeah, of course, you can.” I smile at her, wink and lean in to give her a peck on the lips, “Thanks, gorgeous.”

  I decided at the last minute on the way back to the office to stop by and see her but needed to make sure she was in first, when she told me she had only just woke up I thought to myself… bonus! I could just imagine the look on her face when the buzzer went off, and she found out it was me. Seeing the shocked look on her face seeing me standing in front of her is quite amusing.

  Lex stands aside to let me in, so I walk into the flat. “Go on in,” she says.

  I walk into the lounge while I hear her locking the door and smile when I see the sleeping form on the sofa, I look at him for a few seconds until I feel Lex walk up behind me, I turn around and wrap my arms around her.

  “I can’t stay long, I went onsite to see the lads, and I’m on my way back to the office, I was there longer than I thought I would be, to be honest.” I cup her face in my hands and kiss her luscious lips softly, she raises her eyes up at me, I kiss her again with a little more pressure.

  Pulling away from her I rub her nose gently with mine, “Are you okay,” she nods her head at me, unable to speak, it seems.

  “Just a little shocked to see you here, that’s all. The flowers are beautiful, thank you.” She kisses me quickly on the lips, “Let me just put these in water, I’ll be right back,” I watch her walk to the kitchen.

  Damn, she hasn’t got a clue how sexy she really is!

  Those skinny jeans cling to every curve of her arse and show the shape of her legs, I want to push that baggy top up as far as I can and feel every inch of her skin. My dick twitches in my jeans. I re-adjust it, but the bastard has a mind of his own most of the time. I glance up and see her walking towards me.

  “Would you like a drink?” I nod my head while taking in her features, the flush in her cheeks and the red colour of her lips from when I kissed her, her hair up in a knot on top of her head. I see her blush from the intense perusal of her features, and she looks away from me.

  “I’ll get you that drink,” she walks away back into the kitchen. So I follow her, she turns as I enter the room, “Ohhh, sorry, what did you want again.” I see her breathing speed up.

  “You!” I throw a wink her way, “but for now, I’ll settle for some water,” I smile at her, she blushes again and turns to get a bottle of water from the fridge.

  She hands it to me, “Thanks, Princess,” I put the bottle on the work surface and go to her.

  I rub my hands up and down her arms, I grab both of her hands and bring them up to my lips, I kiss her knuckles on both hands. I loosen one hand and rub the backs of my fingers down her face, “You’re beautiful, you know that?”

  “No, I’m not,” she says shyly.

  “Yes you are, you may not see that, but it’s my aim to make you see how beautiful you are,” She looks down at our joined hand.

  I pull her chin back up and kiss her again, just as I start to take the kiss further and deeper, Grady wakes up.

  I pull away, peck her lips, “Go see to your son.”

  Once she starts walking away, I tap her arse, and I re-adjust myself again, I’m in a constant state of arousal whenever I’m around her, I put my hands on my hips and take a deep breath. Once I’ve calmed down, I go into the lounge to join them. Lex is sitting on the sofa with Grady, so I sit on the other one and give her some space. I sit forward and put my elbows on my knees and clasp my hands together.

  “Hey little dude,” Grady sees me smiles and wriggles on Lex’ lap to go down on the floor. He stands for a few seconds weighing me up and starts making his way to me on wobbly legs, he puts his hands on my knees for balance, then raises his arms and says ‘up’ to me.

  I look across at Lex, she must see the perplexed look on my face because she sniggers, “You don’t have to pick him up, it’s fine. I think he likes you! He doesn’t generally like men,” I gently put pick him up and sit him on my lap, his hand goes straight for my chin and rubs across the stubble there, since I didn’t have time to shave this morning, it’s a little rough. He giggles as my stubble tickles his hand, it’s a beautiful sound.

  God, I sound like a woman!

  Lex and I laugh along with him, he’s got such a cheeky laugh you can’t help but laugh with him, the more he does it, the more he chuckles until he gets the hiccups. Lex passes his juice over and he takes it off me, while he’s drinking I kiss the top of his head. I raise my eyes to look at Lex, and I can see the tears forming. I hold Grady on my one knee and hold my hand out to her.

  “Come here Princess,” She takes a deep breath and walks over to me. She takes my hand, and I pull her down to sit on the other side of me, I wipe her tears away, “don’t cry, what’s this for?”

  “I can’t help it, just seeing you with him just and the way he was with you, he never does that – to anyone, but me,” She says tearfully.

  “Princess, why don’t we go out; the three of us, we can go out for some dinner, how does that sound?” She nods her head while smiling sweetly at me, “I’ll ring jack and see if he needs back there and if not then we can go out once you’re ready.”

  She gets off my lap, and we stand as she turns I smack her bum lightly and send her to freshen up while I pull out my phone to ring Jack. He’s gonna kill me, I’ve barely been there today.

  ALEXIA

  I walk to the bedroom in a dazed state, sit on the end of the bed, I can hear Blake on the phone to Jack in the lounge. I wipe under my eyes to remove the moisture that has collected from seeing the way he was with Grady, it was such a lovely scene, watching Grady interact and bond with someone other than me. Mason is the only other constant male in his life, he doesn’t even see his grandparents much, but then, we drifted apart when I was with Paul. I need to try and repair the divide between us – but it may take a while to bridge that gap.

  I get up to find Grady some clean
clothes, as I’m rifling through his stuff to find what I need, I feel Blake’s hands slide around to my front. He hugs me from behind, I smile and turn my head to look at him as he kisses my cheek.

  “You okay, Princess?” I nod in answer to his question, and he hugs me tight from behind, I put my hands over his and rub up and down his arms, I can feel the muscle in his arms tensing as he tightens his hold on me. He kisses the top of my head and loosens me.

  “Jack’s fine, he said there’s nothing that won’t wait and to say ‘Hi’ to you and Grady.” He turns me in his arms and kisses my forehead, “I’ll let you get ready,” he turns and walks from the room, I watch as he walks away.

  I drag my teeth over my lip as I watch him. I shake myself from the images going through my head before I get myself hot and bothered, I think I better go and get changed. I’ve changed into a fresh pair of black jeans and a cold shoulder top. I’ve left my hair down and brushed it, it’s got a slight wave in after being in a bun I apply a little makeup, mascara and some gloss, I slip my feet into some wedges, spray a little perfume, and I’m ready.

  I enter the lounge to see Blake sitting on the floor playing with the building blocks with Grady, I stand in the doorway and take in the scene before me and my whole world shifts a little, I can see the door to my heart opening a bit more for this man. I walk in and sit on the sofa, Blake looks up, and I can see the desire in his eyes – for me! I can feel the flush rising again so I call Grady to me so I can change his nappy and get him washed and changed so we can go out and eat. Once changed, I grab his car seat and his bag and we leave.

  We ended up at a restaurant just down the road from Blake’s house, we had a lovely meal. I had the pasta and Blake something from the grill, I still have to watch Grady as he hasn’t got all his teeth yet but he had some of ours, and he had one of his made up jars too. Blake paid for our dinner after refusing to let me pay, and we’re now in the car heading towards his house.