Broken Pieces (Riverdale #2) (8 page)

“You left Riverdale, to save me.” It wasn’t a question, Jake meant it a statement.

“I’d do it again in a heartbeat.” Nick said sternly, watching Jake begin to lose whatever control he was holding on to.

Jake didn’t say anything. He didn’t even look at Nick. He turned around and stared absent-mindedly at the trees that isolated Luke’s house from the road. Nick felt like an ass, he didn’t want Jake to feel guilty. That’s why he never told him. Telling him now, while he was battling cancer, made him feel like a dick.

“You know what’s funny? You would’ve let me die never knowing what you had done for me.” Jake turned and faced him.

“Fuck that.” Nick said, and he clenched his fists at his sides. “You’re not dying. You’re getting a bone marrow transplant tomorrow.” He shook his head and looked up at the sky, reining in his anger. “What I did? It’s nothing.” He looked at Jake. “I was glad to help you out, and as long as I live I will never regret it. You know why? Because it gave me the opportunity to do something good for someone who is an incredible inspiration.” He pointed towards Luke’s house. “Your brother would’ve done the same thing, and he would still be giving you his bone marrow tomorrow. It’s what brother’s do and we may not share blood, but you’re my brother in every way possible. You know that.”

Jake bit the inside of his cheek and waited a beat before he nodded. When he spoke, his voice was heavy with emotion. “You left your plans that you had for your future, with Luke. Hell, with Sam, because I was hot-tempered and stupid. You put your life on hold for seven years for me.” He sighed. “I don’t know how to repay you for that.”

“I don’t want you to. Jake I need for you to understand, even if my mother had never visited me in that holding cell. Even if she had never given me the ultimatum that she did, I still would’ve had your back. I most likely would have done time for it and those plans would’ve been on hold anyway.”

“She wouldn’t have hated you for leaving.” Jake said as he glanced over at Sam’s car.

“Don’t be so sure of that. I’m sure she would hate me for something else.” He sighed and shoved his hands into his back pockets. “I don’t think your sister and I are meant to be, they’ll always be something that pulls us apart. It’s just not in the cards.”

“You’re only saying that now, because she’s driving you away and you’re letting her.”

Nick shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe…” He sighed and turned to face Jake. “Time will tell.”

“Nick?” Jake removed his fedora and ran his hand over his fuzzy head, before placing the hat back on top of his head. “I’m sorry it’s taken so long, but that’s your own damn fault.” He paused and watched as the corner of Nick’s lips threatened to curl upwards. “Thank you for always having my back.”

Nick smiled at him. “I’ll always have your back. It’ll be my honor.”

Jake wiggled his eyebrows. “I wish I was into the guy’s man, you’re a catch!”

Nick burst out laughing and rubbed his hands over his face, masking his laughter. Jake swung his arm around Nick’s shoulders.

“Let’s get back to Luke, before he gets jealous that I stole his best friend from him.” Jake grinned, jokingly and started towards the backyard with Nick.

* * * * * *

Sam scraped the bottom of the mixing bowl, that, Leah had used to whip up fresh whipped cream, with her finger. She sucked the sweetness from her fingers, and sighed heavenly. When she opened her eyes, both Leah and Cara were watching her amused.

“What? It’s good.” She said innocently, scraping the bowl for more. Cara grabbed the empty bowl from Sam and handed it to Leah. “Hey!”

“What’s going on?”

“Why would anything be going on?” Sam pouted as she licked the bottom lip, hoping to find some leftover whipped cream.

Cara raised an eyebrow at her, as if to ask her if she was serious. “Well, for starters, Miss I’m Always watching What I Eat, is licking a bowl of whipped cream.”

Sam grimaced. “My god, you’re turning into Jake, with the nickname thing.” She rolled her eyes and looked across the kitchen out through the sliders and watched Jake try to arm wrestle Nick as Luke sweated by the grill. Cara’s eyes followed Sam and she smiled knowingly.

“Does someone want to fill me in?” Leah asked as she looked back and forth between the girls and the guys.

“Nick drama.” Cara said as she looked at Sam.

“It’s only made out to be dramatic because he thinks he can get away with everything.” She said as she stared daggers at Nick as he flexed his muscles, apparently he won the match against Jake. He had amazing arms, she’d give him that, and even allowed herself to swoon a little over them.

“So what did Mr. Invincible, do this time?” Cara asked and then bit her lip catching herself as the nickname culprit.

“After dinner at my parent’s house, you know the night he became my chaperone for tomorrow’s little excursion? Anyway, he showed up at my apartment that night.” Cara’s eyes narrowed as Sam stood up and glanced back out the window. Nick’s eyes found hers and the words slipped out before she could worry if he was able to read her lips.

“He kissed me like nobody’s ever kissed me.” She murmured and broke eye contact with him, turning her back to him and facing the girls, who were gaping at her.

“And what happened?” Leah asked anxiously.

“Tell me you slept with him, I’ll die!” Cara exclaimed.

Sam shrugged her shoulders. “He turned around and left.” She blew out a breath. “It’s going to take every ounce of self-control I can muster up, not to kill him this weekend.”

“You can’t even ignore him.” Leah said as she stole a quick glance at him. ‘He’s so big and broody.”  Then she flexed her shoulders and tried to imitate how Nick walked. Sam raised her hand to her mouth to cover her giggle as Cara
was flat out laughed at Leah’s Nick impersonation.

“That’s pretty good.” Cara said, giving Leah a pat on the back for her efforts. She turned and looked at Sam. “I wish I had words of encouragement, but I’ve got nothing. Nada. Zilch. Completely, tapped out.” She cocked her head to the side and gave Sam a sympathetic look. “If worse comes to worse, I will help you bury the body.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t just walk in on that.” Luke said as he stood in the doorway, staring around his kitchen, taking in the women that were planning someone’s demise.

Leah wrapped her arms around his waist. “That’s probably a good idea, baby.” She looked over at Sam and Cara who were chuckling as they each grabbed a bowl to bring outside.

Luke eyed them suspiciously. “Dinner is ready.” He said reluctantly, still wondering what in fact he walked in on.

Chapter Seven

It was amazing, to think of the lengths, a family would go, to keep one of their own from leaving this earth. The unconditional support and love behind each action of the Lanza family, was truly an inspiration to any outsider, but to Jake, it just emphasized the promise of what family was all about. He sat beside his brother, in the waiting room of the hospital. When he stole a glance over at Luke, he appeared to be calm and unaffected, just determined. Jake mused, give the man an opportunity to fix something and he was all over it like white on rice. He smiled slightly before nudging his older brother with his elbow.

Luke turned to him and raised an eyebrow. “Before you ask, no, I don’t have any snacks for you.” Luke smiled at him and Jake just shook his head. He wasn’t one to make a big to do about his feelings, but at that moment he felt as if he needed to say something to his brother.

“Don’t ruin my moment. I don’t get sentimental all that often so listen up big bro.” Jake leaned closer to Luke. “No matter what happens today, I just want you to know that I love you and I’m so grateful for what you are about to do for me.” He cocked his head to the side and stared at his brother for a moment, watching as his eyes softened, and ignored the fact that they started to water. He wouldn’t be able to handle his brother shedding a tear over him, not in this life. “It’s important for me to let you know, that if the roles were reversed. I’d do exactly the same thing.”

Luke inhaled a breath sharply and patted his brother on the back, as he nodded. “There was never a doubt in my mind that you wouldn’t do the same for me.” He gripped his shoulder tightly and leveled his gaze with Jake’s. “It’ll all be over soon.”

Staring into his brother’s eyes as he reassured him that all the pain and suffering would soon be a distant memory, Jake almost believed the words. He smiled at Luke and for lack of words, in fear of his emotions, getting the best of him, he simply wiggled his eyebrows at him in lieu of a reply.

“Luke Lanza? We are ready for you.” The nurse called towards them. Both brothers lifted their eyes towards the woman, holding Luke’s chart. “Another nurse will be out shortly to take you in Jake.” She smiled at both of them.

Luke took a deep breath before he slapped his hands against his thighs, preparing himself to save Jake’s life. He stood up and so did Jake, as well as their parents and Cara. Luke nodded towards his parents, as if to say ‘no worries’. His eyes drifted towards Cara, who was standing beside Jake, she smiled at him, her
eyes reflecting gratitude.  Jake grabbed Luke and pulled him into a hug. Luke closed his eyes as he felt his brother’s arms wrap around him. There was something to be said about the love of a sibling. No one quite ever could understand you like a brother or a sister. There was no love similar, as the love of the brother whom you shared your childhood with. Luke pulled back and patted Jake’s back, affectionately.

Luke turned and faced the nurse. “Let’s get this ball rolling.”

* * * * * *

It was a beautiful day, as they drove down the Garden State Parkway. They had been on the road for two hours and to Nick’s surprise, everything was going better than he had expected. Ava was a pleasure. She had been sitting in the back seat buckled up playing games on her iPad. Sam, hadn’t even been much of a bitch. Of course, there were a few times she made a face at him, but for the most part they traveled in an easy silence.

What Nick, hadn’t factored into this little road trip was the traffic jam that they would reach once they merged onto the Garden State. Apparently everyone and their mother were en route to the Jersey shore, lucky for him. He glanced over at Sam, and watched as she reached over and raised the volume of a song that was on the radio. She looked out her window and began to dance in her seat, as if he wasn’t even in the car.

He assumed the shorts she had on, she wore purposely to drive him crazy. They left absolutely nothing to the imagination. When they had stopped at a rest stop a few exits back, he had walked closely behind her the entire time. If he would’ve been allowed in the women’s room with her, he would’ve followed her there too, all just so no one else would ogle the way her ass peeked out from the fringe of her denim shorts.

His hands gripped the steering wheel as he remembered the way each cheek jiggled with each step she took. It was such a hardship to watch, he thought sarcastically. He eyed her from the corner of her eye as she blew a kiss to the young guys in the convertible next to them, who cheered her on. He grimaced and looked down at his door and slammed his finger down on the button that brought her window up. Once her window was completely closed, he put the childproof lock on.

He could feel her eyes on him as he looked ahead at the highway that looked more like a parking lot. He risked a glance and saw the smile that played on her lips. He quickly turned his attention back to the road. They hadn’t moved an inch.

“I love this song!” Ava hollered, straining for her voice to be heard over the loud music. Nick glanced into the rearview mirror and his eyes widened. She was a mini version of her aunt, and she too was flinging her arms around over her head dancing to the song. Sam turned around as much as she could, due to the confinements of her seatbelt, and grinned at her niece. She leaned over the console and grabbed Nick’s right arm. His arm tensed at her touch. Why was she touching him? Especially now, after she had avoided him like the plague. Now that they were stuck in this car for god knows how long, she decided to get acquainted with his arms?

Her hand trailed down the length of his arm and she wrapped her hand around his wrist, loosening his hold on the steering wheel. She brought his hand in the air with her hand and swayed to the beat. Ava laughed from the back seat and Sam looked at Nick and started to sing off key to him. He looked back at the traffic that remained still, and shifted his truck into park. He leaned further back against his seat and watched Sam, amused. He didn’t remember the last time he saw her smile and have fun with him. He let her wave his arm around as she moved her upper body to the rhythm of the music.

“Enjoying yourself?” he asked as he raised one eyebrow. She ignored him and began to sing in Spanish, along with Don Omar to the song of his that played on the radio. He could speak basic Spanish, and he was certain that the words coming from her mouth were not Spanish, hell he didn’t know what language she was singing but it sounded similar to the man on the radio. As the song faded out, Sam leaned back in her seat, still waving Nick's arm around.

As her motions grew weaker, he took the opportunity to lace his fingers with hers and drop their joined hands on top of the center console. He watched her face, waiting for her to snarl, but she simply closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the head rest. Nick reached over and lowered the radio as a commercial sounded through the speakers.