Our Broken Pieces (The Pieces Series Book 1)

by M. E. Clayton

  We didn’t let up.

  Even after he roared out his orgasm and came inside me, he hadn’t stopped. His dick had deflated, but his mouth and fingers worked just fine. The night ended up being too long, too painful, and too exhausting.

  By the time he called it quits, my body had been used and degraded in ways that more than made up for the ten-year absence. There wasn’t a spot on my body that hadn’t been marked by his cum, his hands, his teeth, or our mutual disregard for blood shed.

  I ended up a mess.

  But, then, so did he.

  Chapter 30

  Gage~

  I was pacing my office like a caged lion, salivating at the mouth to escape.

  Last night had been everything the past ten fucking years should have been. After Mystic had explained her concern for safety, I had made it clear to her that I’ve never fucked a woman without a condom-save her-ever. I had annual wellness checks, and short of not having a soul, I was healthy. And as much as I hated to address it, she had clarified that she had also practiced safe sex in the past. After that, she had no more objections, and nothing had been off limits. Granted, nothing ever was in the first place where we were concerned, but she had been more receptive after the talk.

  Mystic had also assured me that she was on birth control, but I hadn’t cared about that. I’d love to knock her the fuck up, so she’d be tied to me forever. At this point, I didn’t care if it was by choice or not. I knew there was no way I was ever going to let Mystic go again.

  We’d only slept for a handful of hours, but she had been adamant about kicking me out this morning, so she could go to work. I had begun to argue, but she killed my argument when she pointed out that Lorcan already had a horrible opinion of her, both personal and professional. She didn’t need to give him more of a reason to think she was a horrible person by having to explain that she was calling in sick to work because she had been fucked all night long by his best friend.

  She had a point.

  She had a point, so I relented, letting her know that we still had a lot more to talk about and I’d be at her house this evening after work. This thing between us was just beginning and a lot of shit was going to reevaluated.

  Speaking of…

  I walked over to my desk and called one of my project finance managers.

  “Hello?” Marlon Daphne was one of my top department managers and he’s been with Stymic a lot of years. I trusted him to do his job and do it well.

  “Marlon, I need you to appoint someone to work with Cavanaugh Industries on Lawrence Darwin’s battery project.”

  “I thought you had doubts about that picking up that project?”

  “I did,” I replied. “I still do. But Cavanaugh Industries was mentioned in the potential architectural phase of the project, so I’m looking into it. I want someone who knows their shit to team up with a representative at CI. Once their project presentation is completed, both SFH and CI will decide whether to move forward or reject the proposal.”

  “No problem. Who is the contact at CI?”

  The caveman in me wanted to tell him my girlfriend, Mystic Anderson, but I knew I couldn’t. I needed the best we had not to treat her with kid gloves, but as an equal. The Darwin Project could cost me and Lorcan millions if we invested in it and it wasn’t feasible. Both Mystic and whoever Marlon assigned to the project needed to bring their A-game.

  So, instead, I went with simply her name. “Mystic Anderson.” However, it felt…wrong to say her name in the same context as I would any random person.

  “Mystic Anderson,” he repeated. “Okay, I can see who’s available and let you know.”

  And because I couldn’t help myself…“I want a copy of the preliminaries, and updates on each phase as they come in.”

  Marlon had gone quiet and I knew why. I never bothered with preliminary phases of any project. That’s what I had department managers for. That’s why I employed thousands of people. And while Lawrence Darwin’s battery could be revolutionary, it still didn’t need my personal touch. Not at this point, anyway.

  “Uh, sure thing,” he finally replied. “I’ll…uh, instruct weekly reports and they’ll be on your desk every Friday.”

  “Thank you, Marlon,” I replied. “Also, let me know who you assign to the project.”

  More confused silence reigned on the other end of the phone, then a stuttering, “Uh…sure.”

  “Okay. I’ll talk to you later.” I hung up before he could say anything more.

  I knew I was acting irrational, but I couldn’t stop myself. After Mystic had fallen asleep, I had stayed up, thinking about everything she had told me about the day she had left me. A part of me wanted to hunt down Margot Cross and ruin her fucking life, but that wouldn’t give me back the ten years I lost.

  Her family was another problem. Since we hadn’t done much talking, I didn’t know if she was on good terms with them or not, but I suspected she was. They were her family after all. I couldn’t see her holding a grudge all these years later. Especially, since it was my actions that had actually ended us.

  That still stung like a bitch.

  Knowing that Mystic had been making plans to run away with me while I had stewed like a spoiled child felt like razor blades all over my skin. Turned out I was the one who couldn’t keep his word, and had I waited longer than I had, I would have been with Mystic all this time. Sure, we might have been poor with nothing to our names, but we would have been together.

  I also had to consider that, if her parents had gone to all those lengths to keep her from me all those years ago, what would they do now? With social media and everyone in everyone else’s business these days, they could easily run an article or go on social media, outing me as a sadistic bastard who abuses their daughter. And while I trusted Mystic to set the record straight if it ever came to that, what would another rift with her family do to her?

  Not to mention, I wasn’t even sure I could stomach the Andersons long enough to be cordial to them after what they had done to Mystic. Hurting her that way, making her choose, it was enough to make me go after them out of spite. However, this thing with Mystic was still new and fragile even if she didn’t have a choice in this. If I can rebuild with her, without everything else around us crumbling, I will.

  Looking at the clock, I waited as long as I could. I called her, not caring that things were probably tense for her at work. Given the pressure she was under now and the situation with Reagan, she didn’t need me hovering, but that was just too damn bad.

  I was going to hover like a motherfucker.

  At least, until I put a ring on her finger, which would be soon.

  She answered on the second ring. “Cavanaugh Industries, Mystic Anderson speaking.”

  Her voice made me antsy and soothed everything in me all at the same time. “Hey, baby.”

  “Gage,” she replied in acknowledgement; nothing more, nothing less.

  “I’ll be over tonight around-”

  “Oh, crap,” she grimaced. “I forgot to let you know.” My body tightened and I knew I wasn’t going to like whatever she was going to say next. “Alaric called me this morning to let me know he was stopping for a short visit.”

  I had to take a deep breath and collect myself. We still had a lot to talk about. But, even if we didn’t, after last night, I had no intention of letting a single night pass by without Mystic with me. We had a lot of time to make up for.

  “Meaning?”

  Mystic let out a soft sigh. “He’s staying with me until Thursday morning, when he’ll fly back out to California,” she replied. “He had to fly to Connecticut for a work thing. He wants to catch up before going back home.”

  Well, I suppose that told me where she was at with her relationship with her family. And as much as I should be happy for her, I wasn’t.

  I didn’t need these people fucking shit up for us again.

  “So, when will we be able to get together and talk?”

  “Thursday night, may
be?” she said hesitantly. “I’m not sure, Gage. I worked until past ten most nights before Mr. Cavanaugh assigned me this project. I really don’t know when I’ll have free time.”

  I laughed.

  There was no fucking way we were leaving things up in the air until she found some free time to talk to me. “Thursday,” I demanded. “You can work around the fucking clock any time after that, but we are going to clear shit up this Thursday, and not a day longer, Mystic.”

  “Gage-”

  “Thursday,” I barked, then hung up on her like a child.

  Goddamn it.

  Chapter 31

  Mystic~

  I sat at the bar and watched my brother cook dinner. It was nice and it wasn’t until I had gotten home, to find him napping on my couch, that I realize how much I missed him. After all, he was the only family I considered to have left, Aunt Rosie aside.

  I had awoken him, and we had fallen back into our natural routine, as if it hasn’t been months since I’ve seen him. He told me all about work and his new girlfriend, Stacy, and how she wasn’t the one, but she was a great girl to hang out with. We steered clear of anything Mom, Dad, or Destiny related, but I knew the subject was going to come up eventually.

  Especially once I took my work clothes off.

  Gage had stayed true to his word and had left me a goddamn mess this morning. I had battle wounds every damn place and I had to wear a long sleeve blouse, slacks, and a scarf to hide it all. I also ached like a sonofabitch, every movement uncomfortable and sore.

  However, I knew Alaric would know something was up if I were to sleep in my work attire, so I had to bite the bullet. When I had walked out of the room in a simple t-shirt and sweats, his eyes had widened and, not going to lie, he looked slightly sick.

  He had given me a onceover, and with evident struggle, he ignored my appearance and prattled on about what he was cooking me for dinner. I gave him space and let cooking distract him as I wondered if I was going to lose my brother over this.

  “Grab the plates,” he instructed. “Chicken Alfredo a ’la Alaric Anderson is finished.”

  I chuckled and got up from the barstool to set out the plates and utensils. “Is that a copyright?”

  “I think you mean trademark,” he teased. “And I’m thinking about it.”

  We silently set up dinner and it wasn’t until we were sitting comfortably next to each other eating that he finally broke. “Wanna tell me about it?”

  “Gage Evans,” was all I said.

  Alaric angled his body, so he could face me. “Wait? What?” he asked, incredulous. “Like…you’ve met someone like him or are we talk about the Gage Evans?”

  I kept my face staring down at the plate of pasta. I wasn’t exactly embarrassed as I was wary. I could also admit I was scared. I didn’t want to lose my brother and asking him to accept something that was going on versus something that had ended once upon a time was tricky. He was my brother, and I knew he took the role seriously.

  “The second one,” I mumbled, my mouth full of food and bad manners.

  He turned back around and started eating in silence. I knew he was absorbing the news and trying to tamp down his initial reaction to what was best for me. I appreciated it, but it didn’t suck any less knowing that he was struggling with the news.

  “How?” he finally asked.

  “He’s best friends and business associates with my boss, Mr. Cavanaugh,” I told him. “Mr. Cavanaugh assigned me to a joint venture with Gage’s company and that’s how we…uh, reconnected.”

  “Reconnected…” he mumbled, deep in thought.

  “He came over last night, demanding answers, and…uh, one thing led to another,” I admitted, embarrassed as hell. It wasn’t even that the sex was twisted. Talking to my brother about me having sex with a guy, at all, was embarrassing as hell. He didn’t want to know that shit about me any more than I wanted to hear details about him.

  He turned to face me again. “Demanding answers?”

  I nodded, and finally faced him back. “He wanted to know why I left him ten years ago,” I explained.

  Alaric got a strange look on his face and his eyes narrowed a bit. “Are you telling me that, after ten years, he came after you for answers? He still cared, ten years later?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. He was really pissed.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  “The truth,” I admitted. “I told him everything. I also pointed out how he had given up on me after only two weeks, and that is what kicked off…uh, everything else.”

  Alaric let out a dark laugh. “Yeah. Regret is a motherfucker. So is hindsight.”

  I could feel my eyes start to water because this was where this conversation counted with my brother. “I’m not going to lie to you, Alaric. I still love him,” I confessed. “I’m fairly certain I never stopped.”

  His eyes searched mine and I thanked God that all I saw was concern and not disgust. “Are you sure it’s not the sex talking, Mys? I mean…I…I know you…” Alaric let out a deep, uncomfortable breath. “I know you like…uh, different things.”

  I shook my head, dinner forgotten. “I can see how you would think I could be blinded by what Gage does for me, but it’s not that. I was lost the second he walked into the conference room at work, Alaric. Whatever bond that Gage and I had as teenagers was still there-is still there.”

  “I can’t lie to you, Mys, and tell you this doesn’t worry me,” he told me honestly. “You’re my sister, and I worry about you.” He took my hands in his. “Even without…the sex part, you’re love for this guy is…extremely intense. What if it doesn’t work out again? I saw what it did to you last time, Mystic. I just don’t want to see you go through something like that again.”

  “You don’t think I’ve thought about that, Al?”

  “Look, I support you, no matter what,” he said. “I might not like it, and I might not understand it, but I do and will support you.” He shrugged a shoulder. “Will I ever call him up and invite him to Thanksgiving? Probably not. Seeing bruises on you, whether consensual or not, is a hard limit for me, Mystic. But I will be happy for you if you’re happy.”

  The tears fell because I knew this was hard for him. His natural instinct was to defend me, and he was still struggling with understanding that I didn’t need defending on this. The bite marks and bruises usually represented unhappiness, not satisfaction.

  “Alaric, I don’t even know what this is yet,” I admitted. “He barely came over last night, but we’re scheduled to talk later his week.”

  “Because I’m here?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. He had wanted to come over tonight, but I told him you were visiting for a couple of days and we had to put it off.”

  “What did he say to that?”

  “He got mad.” I winced at the admission. “He didn’t like waiting so long to…clear things up.”

  “Sounds like he might be worried you’re going to vanish again.”

  “I didn’t vanish the last time, Alaric,” I pointed out. “I was bullied.”

  “If you and Gage work things out, then that means there will never be any hope, will there?” he asked, the subject obvious.

  “Alaric, there was never any hope of working things out with them,” I replied. “As long as I carried around this empty feeling, there was no way I’d have ever been able to forgive them.”

  “I’m not pleading their case, Mystic,” he said. “But they miss you.”

  “I don’t care, Alaric.” I told him, and realized I meant every word. “They listened to Margot’s accounts of my life without even attempting to believe me or take me at my word. They sat there and listened to whatever details Margot gave them and started judging me for it. They took someone’s word over mine and treated me like a leper. Screw that, Al.”

  He gave me a sad nod but didn’t comment. He knew it was the truth and there was nothing he could say to change it. And even if I had been on good terms with my family, Gage being back in my
life would have jeopardized that. The threats they had issued when I was younger were nothing compared to what they could do to his life now. However, he was no longer a teenage boy who couldn’t fight back. Gage was a grown man who didn’t take defeat easily.

  Alaric stood up and took me in his arms. He kissed the top of my head before saying, “I love you, kiddo.” His arms tightened around me. “Just…just do me a favor and please be careful, Mys.”

  My arms wrapped around his waist. “Always.”

  Chapter 32

  Gage~

  “Man, you sure are one foregone motherfucker.”

  Lorcan and I were sitting at the bar of one of his many hotels located a couple of blocks from CI Headquarters, and I wasn’t trying to disguise my surly attitude at all. “Fuck you,” came my witty reply.

  “I gotta admit,” he said, leaning further on the bar, “I never thought I’d meet the woman who fucked you up good. But now that I have, I can see how you lost your mind over her. She’s stunning.”

  Mystic had always been a little on the curvier side, but her body now was a fucking work of art. I loved the cushion and she needed it if she was going to be expected to survive the abuse I planned on inflicting on her nightly. Her face, though…her face was pure perfection.

  “That she is,” I agreed.

  “She’s also smart as fuck, Gage,” he went on. “The projects she completed for Reagan were top-notch. She knows her shit.”

  I glanced over at him and did nothing to hide my crazy. This man knew me better than anyone, and he still stuck around. I trusted him. “David Booker was assigned to work with her on the Darwin Project,” I told him. “And I don’t fucking like it.”

  Lorcan let out a genuine laugh. “Man, oh, man,” he chuckled. “You got it bad, friend.”

  “Of course, I do,” I snapped. “You’d know that better than anyone. You know what that woman means to me.”

  “Why didn’t you just assign someone?” he asked. “That way you could have made sure her contact was another woman and not some guy.”