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.”

“No prob, hon.” Megan’s gaze drifted toward the hostess stand, a smile forming on her lips. “Take ten, if you need it.”

“Thanks. I owe you one.” A moment later, she hurriedly crossed the busy room toward Gage. “What are you doing here?” she asked when she reached him.

His gray eyes held a serious gleam. “I needed to talk to you.”

She managed a nod. “All right. Let’s go somewhere private.”

“No. I don’t care who hears this.”

Skyler raised a brow. Okay, that was weird. A word-stingy, private man like Gage wanting to talk in earshot of everyone? And there were a lot of ears in their vicinity. Like the ones belonging to Rita, the restaurant’s nosy hostess. Or the six frat boys in the booth directly to their left, who were making no effort to hide their curious stares.

“I…” Gage cleared his throat. “I wanted to thank you. I know what you did, asking your stepfather to deal with O’Donnell, and…well, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” When he fell silent, she lifted her eyebrows again. “Is that all you wanted?”

He shook his head. “I also wanted to say…uh…” Something flashed in his eyes. Determination. Maybe fortitude. Whatever it was, it seemed to push him to keep going. “Sky…I have issues.”

An unwitting grin sprang to her lips. “No kidding.”

He sighed. “Don’t be a brat. I’m being serious.”

“Sorry. Go on.” But her lips continued to twitch.

“Look, my childhood sucked, okay? I’m not whining about it—it is what it is. But I can’t deny that it screwed with my head.” His voice contained that gruff note she loved so much. “I’ve taken care of myself for so long I don’t know how to ask for help. I’ve never counted on anyone before. I’ve never needed anyone before.” His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “It’s hard for me to lean on anyone, because nobody has ever been there for me to lean on. And the people who were there? I couldn’t trust them.”