His friend’s don’t-even-think-of-arguing tone surprised him. AJ had been a professional fighter, just like Gage and Reed, but the man lacked the violent streak that ran freely through his two friends. With his dark blond hair and twinkling green eyes, AJ was the easygoing, boy-next-door type. Too damn nice for his own good, which was why Gage had been surprised to run into him on the fighting circuit—until he’d seen him in the cage and realized just how deadly AJ Walsh could be. Still, although AJ craved the adrenaline high he got in the cage, once he left it he reverted back to Mr. Nice Guy.
“Damn right we are,” Reed agreed. “We’re not letting you anywhere near that psycho without backup.”
“I’m not arguing with you.” Gage gave his friends a wry grin. “I was already planning on recruiting you to come along.” He found his phone under a stack of time sheets, the grin fading as he pulled up Mitch’s number.
A few seconds later, O’Donnell answered with an angry, “What the fuck do you want, Holt?”
Gage was taken aback by the curt tone. “Mitch. I figured it was time the two of us had a little chat.”
A derisive snort echoed in his ear. “Don’t worry, I got the message loud and clear.”
His confusion intensified. “Message?”
“Yeah, you know, when you sicced your own private Fed on me? Special Agent Rivers made it clear what would happen if I didn’t back off. And you know me, I’m all about self-preservation. I can’t have the organized crime unit putting a spotlight on me, so slap yourself on the back, asshole. Looks like we’re out of each other’s lives for good.”
Although he had no clue what O’Donnell was blabbing about, Gage couldn’t help but voice a stern caveat. “That includes Denny. You leave him alone, too.”
“The two of you could rot in hell for all I care. Have a good life, Holt.”
Click.
He stared at the phone, his brain working overtime to make sense of the conversation, until finally it dawned on him. Special Agent Rivers. As in Clay Rivers. The same name Gage had glimpsed on Skyler’s phone numerous times before, when she was ignoring another one of her stepfather’s texts.
“Son of a bitch,” he breathed.
“What is it?” Reed appeared in front of him, wariness etched on his chiseled face.
“Skyler.” He drew in a breath. “She…”
She’d gone to bat for him. He remembered her trying to tell him where her stepfather worked, but he’d cut her off, and now it was painfully apparent. Clay Rivers was a federal agent.
And Skyler had gotten him to help Gage.
The startling truth achieved an impossible feat inside him—his heart was unbelievably full and desolately empty at the same damn time.
“Her stepfather’s in the FBI,” Gage told his friends, hearing the note of awe in his voice. “Somehow he convinced O’Donnell to back off. Probably threatened him with something.”
Because of Skyler.
Skyler.
His brain refused to let go of that tidbit. The sheer gravity of what she’d done for him wasn’t lost, either. She’d reached out to a man she was estranged from just to help Gage.
You can’t ever accept help, can you? Would it kill you to let someone help you?
Her words came back to him now, slamming into his head with the force of a freight train. Even after Gage had broken up with her, she’d put her own pain and issues aside to ask her stepfather for help.
“I need to see her,” he mumbled. “I need to get her back.”
A soft chuckle left Reed’s lips. “No kidding.”
Christ. He was such an idiot. Skyler was the best thing that had ever happened to him. She’d been open with him from the start, unafraid to show him every part of herself, even the parts she thought were bad. She’d shared everything with him. She never hid anything.
And now it was time for him to stop hiding, too.
…
Skyler’s pen flew over her notepad as she scribbled down drink orders for a table of recently graduated high schoolers celebrating the start of college. School would be starting up again in a couple weeks, but not for her. She’d be working in the field now, treating actual patients at the North End women’s center where the university had placed her. Sure, she’d be working under the supervision of another therapist, but the thought of talking to real people and helping them with their problems still thrilled her.
But not as much as the sight of Gage walking into the restaurant. As always, she’d sensed his presence, swiveling her head in time for their gazes to collide from across the room.
It was unbelievably unfair that he could still evoke such a visceral response in her. Make her heart pound and her palms tingle from his mere proximity.
They hadn’t seen or spoken to each other in two weeks, and she hadn’t realized just how badly she’d missed him until this very moment. She wanted to drop her order pad and sprint over to him, throw her arms around his neck, and kiss the living daylights out of him.
But she couldn’t. Nope, because he’d broken up with her.
Jerk.
Skyler forced herself to concentrate on her customers, but the second she’d finished taking their order, she hurried over to the drink station and latched her hand on Megan’s arm.
“Do you mind bringing these drinks over to table five?” she asked the other waitress, thrusting out the order pad. “I need to take a five-minute break.”