Sunday afternoon, Nikki stood in the center of the small room Gabe had put together for her. In her arms, she cradled the woodcarving kit and the block of wood she had taken home with her on Wednesday.

It had been ages since she’d done anything of the sort, so she’d used the block of wood as a practice run, like she’d done when Gabe had first taught her how to use the carving tools.

She’d carved a crescent moon into the block of raw wood, surprised by how much easier it had been once she got going. It didn’t matter how much time had passed. Her fingers knew what to do the moment she sat down with the chisel.

Nikki placed the moon on the desk. Maybe she’d cut it out later, but what she really wanted to do was make her mom a bracelet. She saw it in her head already, six long beads to represent each cycle of treatment she’d receive . . . and survive.

And when her mom finished her last cycle, Nikki planned on giving her the bracelet.

Walking around to the neatly stacked pile of wood, she picked up a section of wood and then grabbed the Dremel tool. Tapping on the music app on her phone, she sat down behind the desk and got to work.

Nikki had no idea how much time passed. The special thing about working with her hands, concentrating on evening out the centers, was that she didn’t think—she didn’t stress. She didn’t obsess over Gabe, worry about her mom, or stress over Parker’s not-so-veiled threat. Her mind went blissfully blank while she worked, and God, she had no idea how much she’d missed that until she was sitting behind the desk Gabe had obviously made with his own hands.

So caught up in what she was doing, she didn’t realize she had company until there was a soft knock on the open door.

Looking up, she wasn’t all that surprised to see Gabe standing there. “Hey,” he said, grinning. “Good afternoon.”

“Hi.” She lowered the Dremel. “I hope you don’t mind that I’m here.”

“Of course not. I told you that you could use this place whenever you wanted.” He leaned against the doorjamb. “I’m happy to see you in here.”

Her stomach dipped, and she thought about what Rosie said yesterday. I think you need to read into it. Her breath caught. “Thank you again for this.”

He shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”

Gabe had said that before, but it was a big deal to her. Even if he hadn’t been keeping the spare wood for her over the past years, this still meant a lot.

“What are you working on?” he asked.

“A bracelet for my mom.” She bit down on her lip and she glanced at the two beads she’d finished. “Not sure what color I’m going to paint them, but I think I’m going to try to carve roses in them. It’s her favorite flower.”

“That’s going to be tricky.”

“It will be, but thanks to you, I have the perfect tools.” She brushed the fine layer of dust off her hands. “What are you up to?”

“Thought I’d swing by and do some work.” He pushed away from the door. “Have you eaten yet?”

Nikki shook her head. “No.”

“Want to grab something to eat?” he offered. “There’s this diner right down the street. They have amazing wings.”

Now her heart was joining in with her stomach. It’s just lunch, she told herself as she nodded. “Yeah, um, let me grab my stuff.”

Gabe waited for her as she snatched her phone off the desk and grabbed her purse. She headed out of the office, brushing past Gabe in the process. The slight touch of her arm against his was a shock to the system, sending sharp tingles all through her body.

Arousal, swift and sharp, swept over her, leaving her a little breathless and, oh Lord, turned on. Her stomach felt weird. Her breasts were heavy, and acute throbbing picked up between her thighs.

Okay, she needed to get out more, and like, meet people, because seriously, her body was ridiculous if brushing against his arm could turn her on.

“You okay?” Gabe stopped in front of the front door.

Not really. She felt flushed . . . and stupid. “Yeah, I just need to eat.”

“Then let’s do that before you pass out.”

As he turned around, she closed her eyes and pictured herself punching herself in the face. Repeatedly.

The diner was just down the block, like he said, and after getting seated near a window, Nikki felt an ungodly amount of nervous energy as Gabe ordered a water and she went for a sweet tea.

Her gaze kept darting from his face to the street outside. Part of her couldn’t believe she was sitting here with Gabe. If anyone had asked her if that was possible a year ago she would’ve laughed straight in their face.

“By the way, there is something I want to talk to you about,” he said, drawing her attention. “I think it would be really smart of you to stay as far away from Sabrina and her brother as humanly possible.”

“What?” She frowned. “That’s a really random statement, and you know I would rather be on the moon during a solar eclipse than be in the same room with them.”

“On the moon during a solar eclipse?” he repeated quietly and then shook his head. “Sabrina complained to Dev about you.”

Her stomach dropped. “About what?”

“About you making some kind of comment to her brother about their lack of a wedding date.”

Fucking Parker. Her hands balled into fists. “I hate him.”

Gabe watched closely. “Hate’s a pretty strong feeling.”

“Yeah, well, I hate him. He’s arrogant and when I said that to him, I wasn’t saying it to be an ass.” She stopped herself. “Okay. I was being an ass, but whatever.”

His lips twitched at the last part. “When did you see Parker?”

“On Wednesday, when he was there for dinner. He came into the kitchen for a drink.”

Understanding crept in his face. “What happened on Wednesday?”

The urge to tell him what Parker had said to her was strong, but she knew if she did, Gabe would say something to him and then Parker would complain to Sabrina. Based on what Gabe was now telling her about Devlin, Sabrina would go to Devlin, and she couldn’t jeopardize her parents’ employment.

“Nothing happened.”

“Doesn’t sound like nothing.”

“He was just being his normal jerk self.” She drew in a shallow breath. “I’ll be on my best behavior.”

“Not sure you have a best behavior.” He grinned.

It took her a moment to realize he was teasing her. “I do. Sometimes. But promise me you won’t say anything to Parker. You know if you do, it will just make the situation worse.”

“Is there a situation that can be made worse?” His voice turned so cold that she shivered.

“No. There’s not, but if you say something to him, then there will be a situation. Promise me you won’t say anything.”

“I promise I won’t, but I also want you to promise me that if there is a situation, you’ll be honest with me.”

“I promise—wait.” Disappointment sparked to life in her. She remembered the conversation in the car the day he tried to go to the shelter with her. “Is that why you asked me to lunch? To talk about me being nicer or whatever to Sabrina?”

“No.” He frowned. “I asked you to lunch because I wanted to have lunch with you. I could’ve waited to talk to you about Sabrina tomorrow.”

“Oh.” He had a point.

“So, did you do anything exciting with your weekend?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Not really.” She toyed with the edge of the menu. “I met with Rosie yesterday at du Monde and ate my weight in beignets. How about you?”

He grinned. “Just spent time at home.” He paused. “I’m surprised you didn’t go out or something.”

“Why?” She smiled when the waitress appeared with their drinks. They placed an order for wings, her earning a look of disapproval when she asked for hers to be naked while Gabe went with some flavor guaranteed to burn the roof of his mouth off.

“I just remember what it was like when I was in my twenties,” he said after the waitress left. “This city was like one giant playground.”

She laughed. “You make it sound like that was ages ago.”

“It was.”

“Did you also walk to school in one foot of snow, barefoot?” she teased, and he chuckled. “I haven’t really been going out since I’ve been home.”

Interest sparked in his eyes. “Did you go out a lot when you were up at UA?”

Nikki shook her head, unsure of how to explain that she didn’t have the stereotypical college experience. “You know, I actually didn’t go out a lot there either.”

“You were a dedicated student?” he teased.

She laughed. “Not quite. I just . . .”

“What?”

Looking out the window, she watched a woman walk by pushing a stroller. Instead of answering, she shrugged.

A moment passed, and she could feel his intense gaze on her. “Can I ask you a question and you be real with me?”

Her heart turned over heavily as she looked at him. “Sure.”

Gabe had leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “You weren’t holding back on doing things because of what happened between us, were you?”

Damn. He’d connected those dots way too quickly for her comfort. Granted, they talked about her life at college before and she’d always skated around the whole dating and partying scene.

“Fuck,” he muttered, sitting back. He looked out the fingerprint-smudged window. A muscle ticked along his jaw. “I hate knowing that’s the case. I always figured you’d go buck wild at college, probably burn a building down or two.”

She didn’t know what to say at first. “It wasn’t just that. I’m serious. You know I was a weird, awkward kid. I was still weird and awkward in college. So what? I didn’t date a lot—”

“But you had a boyfriend?”

“Yeah. And he was a good guy.”

“Then what happened?” His gaze had swung back to her, and his eyes were more blue than green today. “If he was a good guy, why aren’t you still with him?”

This wasn’t exactly the conversation she planned on having with him, like, ever. “I wasn’t . . . the easiest girlfriend to have.”

“Do tell?”

She rolled her eyes. “I just wasn’t really . . . open. Like he really tried and he was patient, but I wasn’t there for it.”

“I’m not following.”

Of course he wasn’t. “Okay, so like we’d make plans, and I’d always forget about them. It wasn’t on purpose. I was just not thinking about it. He’d want to go out—like to the movies and do dinner, and I wasn’t really interested. I used to think it was because I was a homebody, but I just didn’t want to go out with him—with anyone really. Because when he would come chill with me at my dorm, I was just annoyed with him being there. No matter what he did.”

“Damn.” He tapped a finger on the table. “That’s kind of harsh.”

She shifted in the booth, uncomfortable. “Yeah. Pretty much. He ended up calling me out on it, after I kind of forgot our anniversary. One year. And I forgot.”

“Shit, that’s got to be awkward.”

“It was. Especially when he asked me if I loved him, and I couldn’t answer him. I mean, I could, but it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. That’s when he broke up with me.”

He seemed to mull that over. “Sounds like you didn’t really want to be with him.”

“I don’t think I did.”

“Then why were you?”

“Honest? God. This is embarrassing to admit, but I didn’t want to be alone and I wanted to be . . . normal. Like everyone else was hooking up or in a relationship and there I was, sitting around like a dork.”

“And you didn’t go out with other people?” he asked and when she shook her head, disbelief crept into his face. “Hooked up?”

This conversation just kept getting worse and worse. How could she explain that she had been scared to go out and experiment? To let loose and have fun? Or that it was more than that and even hard for her to understand? Nikki couldn’t just hook up. God, she wished she could. It sounded fun and freeing and normal by societal standards, but she had to be into someone on a deeper level to want to have sex with them. Hookups usually didn’t allow for that. “This is such an awkward conversation. Seriously.”

“If you can’t talk about it, you shouldn’t be doing it.”

“Shut up.”

He was leaning forward again. “You guys—”

“Are you seriously asking if Calvin and I had sex?” she asked, voice low.

He tilted his head. “Yes. I was going to say fuck, but having sex sounds more . . . tame.”

Nikki flushed to the roots of her hair. “Not like that’s any of your business, but yeah, we did.”

His eyes latched onto hers. “Was he the only person besides me?”

“Oh my God.” She pressed back against the booth. “I can’t believe you’re asking me this question. I honestly cannot believe it.”

“Well, believe it, because I am. Have you slept with anyone else?”

Nikki gaped at him. “I am not answering that question.”

One side of his lips kicked up. “And why not?”

“You seriously don’t know why?” Popping forward in her seat, she gripped the edge of the table. “Okay. I’m done talking about me. Let’s talk about you.”

His eyes narrowed.

“Whatever happened between you and that chick you dated when you were in college? The one you were in love with?” She watched him pull back, satisfied and annoyed. “What was her name? Emma?”

His expression hardened. “We’re not talking about that.”

The annoyance was now outweighing the satisfaction of putting him in his place. “Well, now you know how it feels to be on the receiving end of those kinds of questions.”

“It’s different.”

“Really?” She cocked her head to the side. “How so?”

“Because I loved her and you didn’t love this guy.”

Nikki sucked in a sharp breath. There. He said what she always suspected about the girl he dated in college. He had loved her. And because she was a grade-A idiot, she asked, “Do you still love her?”

Gabe looked away, his shoulders tense. A heartbeat passed, and something . . . something inside of Nikki, near the vicinity of her useless heart, cracked a little, and that was insane, because it proved that he still held a place there.

“I will always love her.”

The lunch had fallen apart after that.

Neither of them really said much of anything and the walk back was about as fucking awkward as a damn monkey trying to fuck a football.

Gabe couldn’t believe she brought up Emma.

Hell, his brothers knew better than to go there. Well, except Lucian, but he knew when to shut the hell up about her.

But Nic?

She’d flat out asked him the one question that not even Lucian had the balls to ask. She may not know his whole history with Emma, but Nic was observant. She saw enough to know that was a no-go with him.

And fuck him if he hadn’t answered it honestly.

What he said was true. A part of him would always love Emma and that fact ate at him—had been eating at him for years.

Unable to sit and work like he planned, he left Nic at the workshop, got in his car, and drove. Without realizing it, he found himself pulling into Metairie Cemetery. Parking alongside the manicured green lawns, he climbed out and started walking, making his way past the famous pyramid as a light breeze stirred the trees above, sending leaves floating to the ground.

He wasn’t alone.

People strolled past him. Some were tourists. Others were there visiting tombs of their loved ones. Cemeteries were a big deal in New Orleans. They were old, but even the newer ones were busy. There were always people dying, always people grieving. A lot of money was spent on the dead.

Gabe cut between a row of tombs. Up ahead, he saw the tall mausoleum, guarded by not one but two weeping angels.

Back in the day, the de Vincents used the crypt that was on the back of the property, nearer the swamp. He wasn’t sure why the family started burying people at Metairie. Probably because the family crypt on their property couldn’t keep up with all the deaths.

This was where his grandmother was buried, along with several aunts and uncles. The man that raised him, the man he always believed was his father, was here, along with his mother.

And after Madeline, his sister, had died, for real this time, she had been interred privately. An endeavor that had cost Dev a lot of money to keep quiet.

Madeline would’ve killed him—killed all of them—but she was still family. Fucked-up family, but family nonetheless. She hadn’t been placed next to their mother.

Hell no.

Gabe stepped to the side and sat down on the bench. Squinting in the sunlight, he reached inside his pocket and pulled out his phone. Scrolling through his contacts, he hit Call and lifted the phone to his ear.

Samuel Rothchild answered on the third ring, and like always, the man was as blunt as a fingernail. “You said you’d give us three months. You’re just now coming up on a month.”

Felt longer than that. “I’m not going back on the promise I made you.”

There was a beat of silence. “Then why are you calling, Gabriel?”

His jaw hardened as he closed his eyes. “I wanted to check and see how everyone is doing.”

“Everyone is fine,” was the clipped response.

Gabe sighed. “I know you don’t like me and I know you’re worried about what I’m going to do. I get that. But I have a right to make this phone call. I have the right to a lot more, Samuel.”

“Five years, Gabriel.”

“Yeah, five years of me not having a single clue.” Irritation filled his tone as he opened his eyes. “You can’t forget that. You can’t put that on me. If I’d known, I’d have been there five years ago.”

There was another pause of silence. “I know. That’s what scares us.”

Jaw working, he shook his head as he lifted his gaze to the clouds slowly drifting across the sky. “How is he?”

There was a heavy sigh. “He’s doing good. Has a bit of a cold, but nothing serious.”

Gabe’s hand tightened on his phone. “Shit. You’re sure it’s just a cold?”

“Just a cold.” Samuel’s voice softened a bit. “He was asking about you. Wanted to know when you were coming back.”

That was a damn sucker punch to his chest. “And what did you tell him?”

“I told him you had business to attend to, but you would be back,” he replied. “Didn’t lie to him.”

“Thank you.” There was so much he wanted to say, but pressure clamped down on his chest, shutting off those words, leaving the only thing he could say. “Take care of my son, Samuel.”