He places his coffee cup on the table next to him, wipes his tears, and sniffs. “I hate that you got involved in all this.”
“Me, too,” I agree, “because it makes all of this so complicated now.” I shut my eyes, wishing for an easy fix that I could reach out and grab onto, somehow making all this better. “I don’t know what to do anymore.”
And that’s the crux of all this, I realize.
“What do you mean?” Evan asks.
I release Evan’s hand and move away from him, feeling oddly numb. “I don’t know what to tell you anymore,” I admit to the both of us. “I don’t even know what I should do.” I’d gone to the meetings for families of gambling addicts. I’d learned not to support his addiction by giving him money. Sure, I broke the rules by paying for his apartment, but no brother of mine would sleep on the streets, and I’d never given him a cent from my own pocket that he could use to gamble. “On top of all that,” I add, “I don’t know what to do about Gabe.”
“Seems pretty simple to me,” Evan says. “Stay with him. That guy is in love with you.”
“You don’t know that.”
Evan pauses, watching me closely. Suddenly, his eyes widen. “You don’t know, do you?” he whispers.
“Know what?” I frown.
Evan draws in a long deep breath before addressing me. “Gabe paid more than just my debt to Marcus. I heard that guy who carried me out of the factory say something to someone on the phone when he found me.”
“What did he say?” I gasp.
“That Gabe also paid one hundred and fifty thousand dollars of interest.”
My blood chilled. “Are you telling me that Gabe paid Marcus two hundred thousand dollars?”
Evan nods.
It’s like I’m staring at my past and then suddenly my future breaks free and it’s all I can see now. Everything I know, and everything I am suddenly shifts, and I’m seeing the world in a way I simply hadn’t before.
With Gabe’s selfless act, the McKenna Archer who walked into this room moments ago fades away, and I become someone new . . . someone better . . . someone who’s completely decided.
Chapter 15
Gabe
The following morning, I trot down the back stairs of my apartment, my cellphone in hand, the metal stairs creaking beneath my weight. When I reach the door of the black stretch limo waiting in the parking lot near my Audi, the door opens, and Micah’s already scooting over into the next seat so I can slide in. As I do, I note Darius and Ryder sitting across from one another on the side bench seats.
“Morning,” Darius says.
“Mornin’.” I reply, shutting the door behind me, feeling empty.
Last night I slept little and spent some time in the pub, helping out the staff. This morning, the exhaustion is weighing on me. All that I want is gone. The woman I want to be with is nowhere near me, and the world that I once thought I controlled has only spiraled out of control faster.
I’m a fixer, it’s what I do.
I don’t know how to fix what’s going on with McKenna and me, because I don’t know how to move past disliking her brother, or fuck, even tolerating him.
“You look like shit,” Micah quips.
“I feel like shit,” I agree.
Micah frowns, then faces the front windshield. “Onward, Levi.”
His driver, who looks better suited to be working alongside Ryder than driving Micah around, acknowledges the order with a nod, then pulls out of the parking lot.
“I admit,” Ryder says, crossing an ankle over his knee. “It’s pleasant not to have anything serious to discuss.”
I nod. “I’m glad to have this all behind us.”