“Because I was trying to be professional, goddamn it.” I drained my whiskey and signaled the bartender for another one.
“Christ, Gage,” he muttered. “Just put a fucking ring on her finger already and call it a day.”
“You think I’m not going to?” I threw back.
His brows rose as he looked at me. “Before you lose your goddamn mind, preferably?”
The bartender set a fresh glass in front of me as Lorcan savored his bourbon. “Just make sure Booker doesn’t get cozy with her,” I said, ignoring his comment about my sanity.
“How the fuck am I supposed to do that?”
“Assign another associate to the project,” I answered, getting irritated at the idea of Mystic working long hours with another man.
“Jesus Christ, Gage,” Lorcan swore. “The world’s population is half male. She’s going to come across some of them from time to time. Get your crazy under control, man.”
I knew he was right. I knew I was being unreasonable. However, it was the uncertainty that had me on edge. I was positive once I did get that ring on her finger, I’d calm down.
Maybe.
“I refuse to lose her again, Lor,” I replied, dead fucking serious.
He let out a sympathetic sigh and that’s when I knew I was raging into full-blown pussy mode. Lorcan didn’t sympathize. “Look, dude,” he said. “She explained why she left.” When I had called him for drinks earlier, I had told him the Cliff Notes version of Mystic’s explanation on her departure all those years ago. “She did it because she loved you,” he pointed out. “I don’t think you need to worry about her running again. Plus, with everything you’ve told me over the years about your relationship with the woman, there’s no one else out there for either of you. I’m pretty sure you’re safe.”
He made sense, but the anxiousness was still there. To see Mystic again, after all these years, was like being slammed, headfirst, back to that day in the park. The need, the desire, the desperation felt exactly like it had when I had followed her into the restroom. The need to be with her was stronger than anything else I have ever known.
Over the years I had wondered what I would do if I ever saw her again, but none of the scenarios I had played in my head matched what I had felt when I finally did see her. Nothing else had mattered except my rage and want. Mystic was my strongest weakness. She always had been. And all the tough talk over the years hadn’t done shit to prepare me for when I saw her again.
Time hadn’t lessened shit.
“There’s still the issue of her family,” I pointed out. “I can’t imagine their reaction to me being back in their daughter’s life will be any more favorable than it was the last time.”
Lorcan signaled the bartender for another bourbon. “She’s not the same scared teenage girl she was back then, Gage,” he said. “Give her more credit than that.” He huffed. “After all, this is the same woman who challenged her new boss in front of her superiors. I’d say she’s tougher than you think.”
I didn’t comment and we both sat in silence, nursing our drinks, before I asked, “What would you do?”
Lorcan snorted. “What would I do?”
“Yeah.” I looked over at him. “What would you do in this situation?”
He looked over at me, lifting one black brow. “I wouldn’t be in this situation,” he replied. “Not judging, Gage, but had it been me, and I found someone who drove me to the brink of madness just by looking at her, nothing, and I do mean nothing, would have stopped me from hunting her the fuck down. I would have gone to the ends of the Earth in search of her.”
My male pride was taking a beating, but I couldn’t do much about it. He wasn’t calling me out, but he wasn’t lying either. “Even if you believed she had left you?”
Lorcan let out a dark laugh. “Especially, if I thought she left me,” he said. “I don’t connect with many people, Gage. I’m not built like that. So, if there was a woman who inspired that kind of insanity from me, there’s no way she’d have a choice in the matter.”
“She doesn’t anymore,” I stated.
Lorcan gave me a sharp nod and returned to his drink. “As it should be,” he agreed. “Don’t let that girl go again, Gage.”
“I’m not.”
After a few moments of silence, we got to talking about work again. “I’ll assign another-”
“Don’t,” I said, stopping him before he agreed to my ridiculous demand. “I’ll figure something out.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “I don’t need you storming into CI like a lunatic because you don’t have your shit together.”
“Nah,” I reassured him, even though I couldn’t give him total certainty. “I’ll just get the marriage license this week and force her hand next week, if not this Friday.”
Lorcan chuckled. “You really are out of your mind.”
I side-eyed him. “This from the guy who just admitted to hunting some poor girl down to the ends of the Earth and forcing her to be with him. Yeah, okay, Lor.”
“I didn’t say your actions weren’t valid. I just said you were out of your mind.”
“Okay. Quite sure I’m done here for the evening,” I announced. “But I need you here tomorrow, same time, so I don’t do something stupid like show up at Mystic’s house while her brother’s still there.”
“Sure,” he agreed. “We can drink as I tell you all about Molly’s party last weekend.”
I winced at the tone of Lorcan’s voice. “That good, huh?”
“Even better,” he deadpanned. “So much so, that I took two of her stupid friends to The Sphynx.” The Sphynx was one of the many hotels CI owned. “The dumb bitches thought I was too drunk to overhear their scheme of an unplanned pregnancy.”
My eyes widened. “What the fuck?”
He looked over at me. “Yeah,” he scoffed. “They had gone into the bathroom to pretty themselves up and forgot to shut the door all the way. I had walked over to ask them what was taking so long when I overheard them whispering.”
Instead of leaving, I signaled the bartender for another round and got comfortable. “Jesus,” I breathed.
“Yeah. I guess the plan was whoever got pregnant would get the monthly check while the other look for another sucker to trap,” he replied.
“What did you do?”
“Got sober, lost my hard-on, and kicked them the fuck out,” he said as the bartender set down a fresh glass in front of each of us. “Then I called Molly and told her to never invite me to one of her parties ever again.”
Ouch.
“And?”
Lorcan laughed. “Now those two are on Molly’s shit list, and it’s not looking pretty.”
I took a drink of my whiskey and felt a pang of unease for those two women. Molly’s shit list is not where anyone wanted to be.
She was worse than Lorcan.
Chapter 33
Mystic~
David Booker was turning out to be as sharp as a tack. I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised, considering that Gage hadn’t become wealthy by hiring idiots, but the guy was definitely turning out to be a godsend for this project. I had planned on working around the clock on this project, but with David’s knowledge and experience, it looked as if the hours weren’t going to be too painful.
I had just finished emailing him an update of battery comparisons when my phone chimed. I looked down and saw a text from Rowan.
Rowan: Im downstairs, chick.
I glanced at the time on my phone.
Crap.
We agreed on lunch today when she had called me yesterday, telling me she was swinging by. I had told her Alaric was in town, and she had immediately bowed out. She knew how much I loved my brother and she knew we didn’t get to spend a lot of time together. I promised her lunch today, though. Alaric had flown out of Chicago this morning, and so I had lunch with Rowan and dinner with Gage planned for today.
I texted back.
Me: Crap! Sorry. Be right down.
After the elevator ride down, I walked out into the lobby of CI and saw Rowan typing away on her phone. The girl had time off from work, but never had time off from work. She worked hard and nothing ever slowed her down. And from the way her fingers were flying across her phone, she was probably chewing someone out via text. Don’t get me wrong, though. Rowan wasn’t above causing a scene if she had to, but she tried to keep things professional if she could.
“Hey,” I said, saddling up to her. “Sorry. I forgot to set my phone alarm.”
She ignored me long enough to send off her text, then looked up at me and smiled. “No problem. I had some shit to take care of anyway.” She put her phone in her purse. “Ready?”
“Yeah. Now that I’m down here, I realize I’m starving.”
“Yeah, well, you better be good at multi-tasking because I will let you starve if I feel you eating lunch is cutting into the details about you and Gage fucking Evans,” she huffed.
When she had called to come over, I had mentioned Gage to her, without the details, and she’s been chomping at the bit ever since. “I promise to tell you everything,” I replied. “Well, not everything.”
Rowan laughed. “You’re not fooling anyone with that scarf, by the way,” she teased.
“Mystic?”
I whirled around at my name and that voice. “Gage?” My voice full of surprise. He’s been constantly calling me and texting me throughout the past two days, but he never said anything about being at CI today. Mr. Cavanaugh stood next to him, and I presumed they were either going to a meeting together or lunch. Or coming from. “What are you doing here?”
His blue gaze flicked towards Rowan before settling back on mine. “Lorcan and I had a morning meeting today to discuss some stuff.” He stuffed his hands in his pockets, like he was restraining himself from touching me. “What are you doing?”
“Oh, sorry,” I stammered. “Gage, this is my best friend, Rowan Lewis.” I turned to look at Rowan. “Rowan, this is my…uh, Gage.” Shit. What the hell was he? Was he my boyfriend?
I watched as Gage extended his hand. Rowan took it in hers as he said, “Gage Evans, Mystic’s boyfriend.” I could feel my face flush with that announcement. A part of me was thrilled, another part of me thought the term lukewarm for what we were to each other.
Rowan smiled. “I’d say it’s good to meet you, but that’s still to be determined, though, isn’t it?” she replied as she pulled her hand back.
Gage lifted a brow as Mr. Cavanaugh let out a poorly disguised laugh, which reminded me of my manners. “Oh, my apologies,” I jumped in. “Rowan, this is Mr. Cavanaugh, my boss.”
Mr. Cavanaugh went to shake Rowan’s hand, and no one could miss the appreciation in his eyes. However, anyone with a working set of eyes could hardly blame him. Rowan was a knockout. We were both the same height, but she rocked the whole siren look. Rowan was professional sexy, and she exuded the confidence of a brain surgeon. Rowan was smart and she knew it.
She was also the perfect blend of blonde hair and blue eyes. Rowan looked like the girl next door, and that’s why she was constantly being underestimated. She was the shark no one saw coming during her audits and she thrived on it.
“Call me Lorcan,” Mr. Cavanaugh allowed as he took her hand.
Rowan smirked as she shook his hand. “That all depends on what Mystic has to say about you, too” she replied, this time, causing Gage to let out a cough.
I looked over at Mr. Cavanaugh and the grin on his face was dangerous. “Really?”
Rowan let out a dramatic sigh. “Look, gentlemen, you may be the men in Mystic’s life, but you’re nothing to me if you’re not good to her. So, before I put in effort to consider either of you beyond Mystic’s boss and her boyfriend, I got to get the goods from my girl, here, first.”
“Row,” I hissed. No matter what, Mr. Cavanaugh was still my boss.
She shrugged a shoulder. “What? Am I lying?”
I reached for her elbow. “Okay. We’re heading to lunch now,” I announced. “I’ll…uh, see you guys later.”
Rowan laughed as Mr. Cavanaugh stopped me. “Mystic?”
“Yes, Sir?” Gage growled, but I ignored him.
“Just wanted to extend you the same courtesy,” he said. “Lorcan is fine.”
Not a chance.
“Mr. Cavanaugh, with all due respect, you are my boss.” That wasn’t true. “Correction. You are my boss’ boss’ boss. It would be unprofessional of me to call you by your first name.”
He cocked his head. “But you’re more than just an employee, now, aren’t you?”
I shook my head. “No. Actually, I’m not,” I corrected him. “Depending on how this thing with Gage and me pans out, we may never become friends, Mr. Cavanaugh. Like Rowan said, don’t want to put the cart before the horse, now, do we?” Mr. Cavanaugh smirked and shot Gage a look.
Gage let out a sigh. “Just start calling him Lorcan, Mystic,” he said. “The only way this thing is going to end is with my ring on your goddamn finger. So, just save everyone the fucking headache and give in gracefully.” He glanced over at Rowan. “You, too.” Rowan laughed as I shook my head.
“Look, we’re going to lunch, the rest of this…can wait,” I mumbled, not sure if I was pissed at his high-handed ways or turned on.
“It’s waited ten years,” Mr. Cavanaugh said. “What’s a few more hours?”
Gage turned on him. “For the love of God, can you just not?”
Rowan laughed again. “Oh, this is going to be fun,” she said gleefully.
Mr. Cavanaugh, or Lorcan as I suspect I was going to start calling him, stepped to Rowan. His grin was sexy and decadent. “I guess that means I’ll be seeing more of you once they sort their shit out.”
Rowan place a hand on his chest. “Doubtful,” she denied. “As pretty as you are, Lorcan, you’re not my type.”
That was a lie.
He was exactly her type.
“Is that a challenge?” he asked, towering over her.
“That’s a fact,” Rowan lied. “Besides,” she hummed as she adjusted her purse, “I don’t want to chew you up and spit you out, and then have to spend Thanksgiving across from each other. It might get awkward for you.”
“Are you-”
“Oooooooooookay.” I grabbed Rowan and drug her behind me. “See you guys later,” I called from over my shoulder and got Rowan the hell out of there.
“Oh, God,” she laughed once we hit the sidewalk. “That was fun.”
I looked at my best friend. “Rowan, listen to me. Lorcan Cavanaugh is no joke,” I warned her.
Her smile was positively mischievous. “Neither am I,” she chuckled.
I gave up. “Do you want the dirty details or not?”
She straightened up. “You’re right,” she agreed. “Priorities.” With that we headed to lunch and details.
Chapter 34
Gage~
About fucking time.
It was a little past seven in the evening when I finally found myself knocking on Mystic’s front door. It felt like the longest day of my life, waiting for the day to end, so we could talk. There was so much we needed to talk about, but I seriously doubted we’d get to all of it tonight. Firstly, there was a lot of shit to consider. Secondly, it was highly doubtful I’d get more than a handful of sentences out before I ripped her clothes off and fucked her.
Monday night had been nowhere near enough.
When Mystic finally opened the door, I walked past her without an invite. And, I swear, I wanted to talk, but when I turned around and found her standing by the door, much like she had been on Monday night, all thoughts of talking fled.
“Come here,” I commanded.
“Missed me?” she teased, and the answer to that would be yes. It had been all I could do not to acc
ost her in the lobby at CI today. I had to jam my hands in my goddamn pockets to keep from mauling her.
“Come. Here,” I repeated.
Mystic was barefoot and she made no sound as she stepped to me. She stopped when she was standing directly in front of me. “I’m here,” she whispered.
My hands landed on her hips and I yanked her forward until our bodies were touching. “Your bruises are fading,” I pointed out. “I don’t like that.”
Her delicate hands laid flat on my chest. I had changed from a suit to jeans and a t-shirt, so I knew she could feel me underneath the fabric. “I guess you’ll just have to create more,” she replied, her voice low and husky.
“How does that sweet pussy and tight ass feel, baby?” I asked, even though her answer didn’t matter. I was going to take both again and she couldn’t or wouldn’t stop me.
Mystic blushed, but she didn’t shy away. “Does it matter?”
I shook my head, looking into her beautiful brown eyes. “No. It doesn’t.”
Her eyes searched mine. “How do you want me?”
“Any way I can get you,” I replied. “As long as it’s forever.”
Mystic’s eyes widened slightly. “So, we’re really doing this?”
“Fucking? Or forever? Or both?”
“Both.”
“You’re goddamn right we are,” I growled as my hands reached around and took handfuls of her thick, luscious ass. “No way am I letting you go again, baby. No fucking way.”
“Prove it,” she whispered, and I inwardly cringed at how I had blocked her after only two weeks of being gone. Lorcan had been right when he said if you ever find a woman that makes you feel the way Mystic makes me feel, then never let her fucking go.
Ever.
Mystic was still wearing her work close, minus the shoes, and the image of her bouncing on my cock with her skirt up around her waist and her blouse torn open, so I could see her tits, flashed through my mind and I knew that’s the way this was going to go. I wanted my hands on her hips, with her tits in my mouth as she chased her pleasure.
I walked her back towards the couch, and she stood back as I sat down, letting her know exactly what I wanted from her.
Our Broken Pieces (The Pieces Series Book 1) Page 15