Broken Pieces (Riverdale #2) (25 page)

      “I didn’t drop the ball. I ended any sexual relationship is all I did.” She said as the barista placed her coffee in front of her. She reached across the table and made a grab for the sugar, but Mallory decided to hold it hostage.

      “You ended sex with the man we call Sex on a Stick? Are you out of your mind?” She looked at Phillip. “I think the peroxide has gone to her head.”

      “I agree.”

      Sam glared at him, outraged. “You were the one who told me I was playing with fire!”

      “I take it back.” He said innocently and as if there was nothing wrong with retracting his previous statement.

      “You can’t take it back!” She said outraged
.

      “Of course I can especially after seeing how bent out of shape he was that you ended it with him.”

      Sam raised her eyebrows as she took a sip of her coffee. “Explain.”

      “He grabbed my phone right out of my hand. He said if I had any questions about what was going on with the two of you to ask you because he had no idea.”

      “And then he left as if we ruined his good time.” Mallory added for good measure.

      Sam blushed as she remembered his words from earlier.

      “What’s with the look?” Mallory asked as she stared at Sam skeptically.

      Sam shook her head as if to shake Nick out of it. “I can’t go on playing between the sheets with Nick because I’m going to fall in love with him.” She left out the fact that she was teetering on the edge and had possibly already fallen in love with the son of a bitch.

      “Oh, she’s gone.” Mallory said as she studied her friend before turning to Phillip. “She’s so far gone she doesn’t even realize it. Pity.” She shook her head sadly.

      “What are you talking about?” Sam asked as she rolled her eyes.

      “You are in love with him already dimwit! Now grab your big girl panties and claim the man as your own. Enough of this pussy footing around already it’s getting tired!” Mallory exclaimed exasperatedly.
      Phillip pointed to Mallory. “She’s right, you know. You’re only spiting yourself at this point. It’s obvious you’re head over heels for the man. Might as well stake your claim, before you give him the wrong idea and some hussy sinks her nails into those delicious shoulders.” Phillip sighed dreamily as he envisioned Nick’s broad shoulders.

      “So what the two of you are saying is that I should tell him I love him and that I want to be with him?”

      “Yes!” Both friends said in unison.

      “You guys are still drunk.” Sam said as she looked at them disbelievingly.

* * * * * *

       Nick sat across from Ava. They were surrounded by stuffed animals that they had won in the course of an hour. They decided to take a pizza break, and just as they had finished getting all the prizes situated around the table with them the waitress brought over their pie and a pitcher of soda. He leaned over and placed a slice on her plate before he poured her some of the soda. He wondered if he should cut it up or something for her, but then she folded the triangular slice of pizza and took a hefty bite. Phew, he made a mental note that a seven year old can feed herself pizza and helped himself to a slice.

      Ava’s mouth was half full when she opened it to speak. “Aunt Sam is missing out on all the fun.” Then she asked as she kicked her legs freely while she chewed. “Are you and Aunt Sam boyfriend and girlfriend?”

      Nick choked on his pizza. What did Luke’s daughter possibly know about boyfriends and girlfriends? Nick was thirty-one and had no clue about them. “What do you know about boyfriends and girlfriends?” He said as he reached for his soda. Hoping the big gulp would help the pizza go down.

      Ava went to take another bite, but stopped to answer Nick. “Well, I don’t have one or anything.” Nick’s eyes widened as he gulped the soda. “But Cara was
, Uncle Jake’s girlfriend and Leah is kind of my dad’s girlfriend.”

      “And you think I’m your aunt’s boyfriend?” Nick asked as Ava nodded and took another bite of her pizza. Nick didn’t know how to answer her and he knew he couldn’t tell her it was complicated.

      “You look like boyfriend and girlfriend. I bet you even tell each other you love each other. Uncle Jake and Cara would say it all the time. Do you tell Aunt Sam you love her?” She took another bite and Nick swallowed hard. He didn’t remember feeling like this when he was shackled in a holding cell all those years ago, right now he felt like the walls were closing in on him as he was being interrogated by a child.

      “You know what your right Aunt Sam and I do sometimes act as if we’re boyfriend and girlfriend.” He grabbed the back of his neck, trying to figure what else to say.

      Ava looked up at him and smiled. “If Uncle Jake didn’t have to go to heaven to take care of the angels, he and Cara would’ve been married and she would’ve been my aunt. Are you going to be my uncle?” Her eyes grew wide it seemed she liked the idea of Nick as her uncle.

      Sam walked into the arcade, her head reeling from her two best friends and their input on her love life. When she spotted Nick and Ava her heart flipped in her chest. They looked adorable sitting at a table with half a dozen stuffed animals, sharing a pizza. She was in trouble, Phillip and Mallory were right, she wasn’t going to fall in love with Nick. She was in love with him. She was head over heels in love with the man who had already broken her heart once before. She was doomed.

      She quietly made her way towards them. They were in deep conversation she mused and didn’t even notice her.

      “Anyone ever tell you that you ask a lot of questions?” He asked as he swiped his hand down his face. Ava shrugged her shoulders and grinned at him before taking another bite of her pizza. Nick blew out a breath. “They say kids say things adults are too chicken to say.” He said more to himself than to Ava. He didn’t remember where he had heard that saying, but it rang true. “I’m not Aunt Sam’s boyfriend, Ava.”

      “Why not, she’s pretty!” She said defensively and put down her pizza. Nick’s eyes widened as Ava gave him a scrutinizing look.

      “She’s very pretty. She’s beautiful, just like you.” He said and leaned over to wipe the sauce at the corner of her mouth. He winked at her. “But Aunt Sam doesn’t want me to be her boyfriend.”

      “Yes, she does.” Ava said, her face softening. “She likes you a lot. I know she does.”

      “Oh yeah?” Nick asked, raising an eyebrow.

      “So stop being a chicken and be her boyfriend.” Ava said as she pointed her finger at him. “Otherwise, I won’t hang out with you anymore.”

      Nick chuckled, how could anyone, say no to this little girl?  “Okay, Okay. I’ll get right on it.” He leaned forward and held out his pinky to her. “But you need to promise that you’ll still hang out with me.”

      She grinned at him and wrapped her pinky finger around his. “Pinky promise, Uncle Nick.”

      Nick winked at her and hoped that one day when he became a father and God decided to play tricks on him and bless him with a daughter, that, she would be just like this little princess that wrapped her pinky around his.

      Ava looked up and noticed Sam standing not far behind Nick.  Her face lit up. “Aunt Sam! You made it!”

      Nick slowly turned around, his eyes finding hers. He looked her over for a moment, wondering how long she had been standing there. Not that it mattered, he realized, anything he said to Ava he’d say in front of a room full of people. She smiled at him, one that didn’t reach her eyes. Sam sat down between the two of them and smiled at Ava.

      “Are you having a good time, sweetie?” She said as she tucked a piece of hair behind the little girl’s ear.

      “Yeah, Uncle Nick, I mean Nick is a blast! Did you see all the stuffed animals he won for me?” She said enthusiastically.  “I’m full. Can I go play another game? I still have some tokens left.”

      Sam smiled. “Sure, just stay where we can see you okay?”

      Ava slid off the chair and threw her arms around her aunt. “I will!” She said before she pulled out of her embrace and ran towards one of the games. Sam looked after her, not ready to face Nick just yet.

      He took a slice of pizza and put it in a clean paper dish and placed it in front of her. She glanced down at the pizza before she lifted her gaze to his. “Thanks.”

      He nodded and took another slice for himself. He watched her look down at the dish as if the answers to life would jump off the dish.

      “Sam…” He said softly as he pushed his dish away. He leaned over the table and took one of her hands in his. She lifted her eyes and gazed up at him. .

      “You look like you survived the day.” She offered him a smile. Her eyes glanced down at their hands that were locked together.

      “Yeah, I guess I did… He cleared his throat and said, “I know I told you I’d be your friend and respect your wishes.” Her eyes met his nervously.

      “But…?” She whispered.

      “This thing between us, it’s wild and it can’t be tamed.” He squeezed her hand. “It’s not going anywhere.”

      “Nick…” She started, but had no idea what else to say. Her heart felt as if it was going to beat outside of her chest.

      “Just listen. It’s time you realize I’m not going anywhere.” He leaned closer to her and reached out to touch her cheek. “I’ll let you take your time to figure out where we go once you acknowledge I’m here to stay.”

      “Oh yeah, and why is that?” She couldn’t help but ask.

      He grinned. “It’ll be all the more rewarding when you beg me to take you.” He winked and she couldn’t help but laugh. He released her hand and nodded towards her pizza. “Now
eat, I bet you haven’t eaten all day.”

      She folded the slice of pizza and sighed before she leaned down and took a bite. Well, if that didn’t seal the deal, nothing would, she was screwed beyond her control, might as well take comfort in the cheesy pizza.

Chapter Sixteen

      Nick walked into Rudy’s and immediately found Cara behind the bar, drying some clean glasses. The bar wasn’t packed; in fact, it was pretty empty for a Sunday afternoon. He leaned over the bar, not taking a seat in one of the vacant stools. Cara lifted her head and peered at Nick.

      “What’re you doing here?” She asked, putting the dry glass in its rightful spot. She assumed he would have been at the Lanza’s, for Sunday dinner. She had half a dozen voice mails on her phone with invitations from each of the Lanza’s. She didn’t answer their calls and felt a little guilty about it, but the truth was, she couldn’t bring herself to be around them without Jake. She felt as if she didn’t belong at their table anymore. She couldn’t sit at a happy family dinner with them and pretend she was okay, or as if each of them didn’t remind her of what she lost and could never have back.

      “I’m dragging you out of here.” Nick said and winked at her.

      Cara studied Nick for a moment before she rolled her eyes. “What did Luke send you here?” She didn’t understand why that guy wouldn’t just take the hint. She didn’t need him, nor did she want him hanging around all the time. Talk about constant reminders, Luke hanging around her like his brother’s guard dog was all, the reminder she needed.

      “He didn’t send me anywhere. He mentioned and so did Deb, that, they had been trying to get in touch with you to come to dinner.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I thought I’d deliver the invitation personally.”

      “I’m not going.” She said and went back to drying the glasses.

      “Mind sharing
with me what they did to you?” Nick asked as he leaned his hip against the bar. She glanced up at him and furrowed her brows.

      “What’s that supposed to mean?”

      Nick blew out a breath and stared at Cara for a moment before he continued. “It means we’re both cut from the same cloth. It means those people have been nothing but family to us when our own families weren’t worth shit. I know for myself there is absolutely nothing I wouldn’t do for them, and when they ask me to come to dinner to try and make things normal again after they lost their son, I do it. No questions asked. So I’m just wondering what they did to you, that you can just forget that?”

      Cara waited a
bit, trying not to break down into a puddle of tears, because Nick was right. The Lanza’s had always been there for her. She had heard the desperation in Deb’s voice, in each and every voice message, and it broke her heart.

      “Let me ask you Nick, if Sam died and they asked you to sit next to her empty seat at dinner, would you want to go? Knowing she wouldn’t nudge you under the table when Joe said something funny, or that she wouldn’t pick off your plate when you weren’t looking? Would you be able to sit next to her empty chair?” She wiped at her tears that fell despite her will not to shed them. She sniffled and looked up at Nick, his face full of empathy as her words hit home. “Jake was the person who brought me into that home, he was the one who I belonged to and he’s not there anymore.” She shook her head.

      “He may be the person who brought you around, but Cara he would want you to feel as much a part of
his family as you did when he was here. He wouldn’t want you by yourself.” He sighed. “I’m not going to pretend that what you said doesn’t make my gut clench, but I do know Jake would want you there.” He waited a moment. “Why don’t we go together and if it’s too much for you I will take you home myself?” He shrugged and cocked his head to the side watching as she contemplated the idea. “At least you will have tried.”