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Gage gave a visible jerk of his head. “What the fuck?” He snapped.
Dom pulled the gloves from his hands, throwing them to the ground then moving around Gage, muttering, “Just go fuck your little friend.” Gage stepped back, the blow of his friend’s words cutting deep. “Some of us have work to do.”
It was the last words that Dom spoke that had Gage jogging up to him, placing a hand on Dom’s shoulder and turning him. Dom shrugged him off. “Don’t fucking touch me,” he rumbled.
“What the fuck is your problem?” Gage roared.
“Me?” Dom jerked back. “I’m not the one with the fucking problem here, buddy, but your problem...” Dom threw a hand in the direction of where Tilly’s car had been parked. “Is becoming all of ours.”
Gage quickly closed the distance between him and Dom, getting in his face he grated out, “She isn’t a fucking problem.”
Dom stepped into Gage. “She is if she’s showing up at our client’s house like a fucking raging bitch.”
Gage swiftly raised his arms, his hands landing on Dom’s chest, shoving him back. Dom stumbled, catching himself, and went to take a step into Gage when Kyle blocked him. “Come on guys, let’s shake this off,” Kyle expressed evenly.
Gage looked Dom up and down with loathing eyes. “Some fucking friend,” he hissed through clenched teeth.
Kyle stood between two men who had been friends for years. Their ride or die, been through thick and thin together as their friendship shifted due to Gage’s selfishness.
Dom threw a hand to the street. “Just fucking go.” Then he started toward the house. Gage watched him walk away, bringing his eyes to Kyle, they connected, before Kyle looked to the ground, rotated and followed Dom. The young kid who had once looked at Gage like he invented air, hung on his every word, doing his best to follow in Gage’s footsteps, no longer viewed him the same. Gage stood motionless for a few beats, watching his friend and employee bring his landscape design to life. He would miss out on the construction of it all… but that was his own doing.
Gage turned and went to his truck. Climbing behind the wheel, he reached for his cell. Instead of calling Tilly, he texted her that he was on his way. So he didn’t get inside his head and ruin an afternoon with Tilly, he turned the music up, the bass pumping through the cab as he drove to the woman he craved.
_______________
Tilly sat at a table at Mugs, lost in her thoughts, her coffee untouched. For the past two days, she’d felt like a zombie, going through the motions of her life, but feeling very little. When she thought she’d lost Gage, she found it not just hard to breathe, but walking the edge of a panic attack. She felt a fresh wave of remorse thinking about the scene earlier, the look on Dom’s face when he confronted them. She shouldn’t have shown up like she did, shouldn’t have caused a scene like she had, but she couldn’t say if she had to do again, she wouldn’t do the same thing.
He loved her. The thought brought a smile. It was madness. What they had, what they shared, it was crazy, but it was real...addicting. He was in her thoughts all the time. When she wasn’t with him, her thoughts were on when they’d be together again, to the point that she could show up unannounced and confront him. As if she had a right to do that. In her heart, she believed she did. Because he loved her and she loved him. She glanced up, people milling around the cafe. She never thought she’d be here, the other woman. Some would say she should back off, leave it alone, but that was easier said than done. She didn’t want to back off, knew she couldn’t even if she tried. Not now, not when she knew what she felt, he felt it, too. The best they could do was hold on and hope to hell they didn’t destroy their lives for the moments of happiness they brought each other.
Gage parked next to Tilly’s car, his eyes lingering on the vehicle, unblinking. The music was still blaring through the speakers, but in the fifteen-minute drive to Mugs, his thoughts were too loud for the tunes to drain them out anymore. There was a time when he’d drop everything and run to spend an afternoon with his wife. Now, he was doing that for a woman who he had no claim on, or her of him. A woman he met only months ago that shifted his life into a different hemisphere. To a place that only her and him existed, that place bringing him happiness he hadn’t felt in a long time. He loved her. He knew he had the day he messaged her to meet him in Philly. He was just too scared to say the words out loud, bringing them to life. Bringing to life what they had, that it wasn’t just a fling but… real. In the days that passed after him leaving Hershey, he thought about cutting all ties with her. The pain he felt seeing her with her husband cut him to the bone. But as the days grew farther from that day, that slice began to heal, and as it did, it brought his feelings for her to the surface. Even if it left another scar on him, it would have only been another day before he contacted her.
Gage shook all thoughts from his head, switched the ignition off and exited his truck. He looked around. It may be the next town over, but his clientele crossed the borders. They weren’t playing on even ground this time; they were on his turf. Opening the door to Mugs, he automatically sought her out then he viewed the area, looking for any familiar faces. When he felt secure enough, he moved to the table she occupied and sat down.
“Hey,” he greeted softly because he saw the look in her eyes, knew what it meant, only because he’d seen it in his too.
“How bad was it?” She asked gently, pushing the black coffee she ordered for him across the table.
Gage grabbed the to go cup. “Thanks, baby.” He took a gulp and shrugged. “Could have gone better.”
She studied him, saw the pain behind his eyes. She’d only known him for a few months, but she knew him. Every little detail. Had she ever looked at her husband that way? Had she ever looked deeper than the surface? She couldn’t answer that. “My head tells me we need to stop this. We almost got caught this past weekend. I showed up and made a scene in front of your employees.” She inhaled, the pain in her chest growing stronger.
“Fuck, Till,” he whispered. “How many times have we said that, that this has to stop?” He asked her but didn’t need her to answer. He reached for her hand across the table. “The thing is, we can’t. What we need to talk about is what the fuck are we going to do?”
She met his stare. “What aren’t we willing to do? For you, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do.” She looked away a second, because that was the truth, and it scared her. Looking back at him, she confessed, “That scares me.”
Gage held her eyes for a beat when he told her, “After the holidays, I’m leaving Heather.”
She couldn’t stop the sob that moved up her throat, not from sadness, but him confirming he was leaving his wife. Tears hit her eyes. “You are?”
He squeezed her hand and whispered, “I’m in love with another woman.”
Sitting there, she was overwhelmed hearing his declaration. It was what she’d fantasized about, hearing him say those words. She understood them, because she was in love with another man. “I want to leave Luke, but I can’t afford to take care of myself, let alone my kids.”
“Do you trust me?” Gage asked her out of the blue.
“Of course I do.”
He kept her eyes and told her, “Then let me handle that and we will figure it all out after Christmas.”
