My Missing Puzzle Piece (Creekside Falls #1) (24 page)

“Trevor found out it was Rob who sabotaged the schedules, I stuck up for Rob, Trevor got mad and hurt and said some awful things to me, I said some unkind things back and then he ended it.” Elle said sniffling but wiping her eyes and nose with the tissues.

“You stuck up for Rob?” Taylor asked sounding surprised.

“Yeah. I was convinced he wouldn’t do something like that or that if he did he had a good reason. We have a history and we were friends once.” Elle said sounding disappointed.

“Well obviously he did and sweetie your history with him was a lifetime ago, a lot has happened since then and people have changed.”

“You sound like Trevor now.”

“You are my best friend and I’d do anything for you but….ever think he was right?” Taylor asked as she handed Elle a cookie.

“Yes. That’s what makes this worse; he was right about Rob but not about him and me. I can’t believe he gave up on us that easily.” Elle said as her eyes began to fill with tears again.

“He only gave up on you two because you gave up on him first.” Taylor said being brutally honest.

“I didn’t or at least I didn’t mean to. I was just trying to help Rob.”

“Well in trying to help Rob you gave up on the guy you love.” Taylor countered.

“Damn it! Why does love have to hurt so much?” Elle said as she bit into her cookie.

“It only hurts this much when it’s the real deal. I should know remember. Can you guys get past this?” Taylor asked Elle seriously.

“I don’t know. He was really hurt and angry with me. I don’t know if I blame him to be honest. He would’ve been there for me and wouldn’t have told me to do something different for a friend unless it was Jake. Even then I
still think he would have been in my corner and I did the opposite of all that, for Rob, a guy I have no actual loyalty to. At least if it was you it would have been worth it.” Elle leaned on Taylor while she hugged her tightly for a few minutes as they sat in silence.

After a little while, Elle said, “I know this sounds so cheesy but if my life were a puzzle he’d be my missing piece and without him now there’s a big hole.”

“It’s not
too
cheesy,” Taylor said playfully.

“You just said how much he means to you…so you have to find a way to make it right with him.”

“I don’t know if I can make it right.” Elle said somberly.

“Well, we want this to work between the two of you. You do want this to work out between you guys, right?”

“Of course I do but I don’t know what to do to make it right, or if it’ll matter.”

“Wait, we?” Elle said suddenly curious.

“Umm. Yeah, me and Jake.”

“You two talked about this?” Elle asked incredulously.

“Yeah, you’re both our best friends and this is ridiculous. You guys didn’t even get your relationship off the ground before it crashed and burned.”

“Wow that was so poetic, thanks for that.” Elle said sarcastically.

Taylor gave a small wince, “I’m sorry I didn’t mean for it to come out like that but you know what I mean.”

“Yeah I do but it doesn’t make the pain go away.”

Elle just sat there with her best friend knowing she didn’t want her to go, because she felt like she’d brake into a million pieces and needed Taylor to help hold her
together. She had never imagined anything could ever hurt this much. How could loving someone cause so much pain? All she wanted was to be wrapped in Trevor’s arms with him telling her it would all be okay but that wasn’t going to happen since she was the one who broke them. She could not get the sound of the hurt in his voice that day on the phone, out of her head. It broke her heart to know she was the one who had caused him that pain. She wouldn’t be able to come back from this heartbreak in one piece.

ake walked into Trevor’s condo and saw his friend sitting at his table with his head down on a pile of books. Bruiser was scratching at the back doors to come in. Jake went over and let Bruiser in, than fed him and gave him water. He dropped the beer and pizza he brought on the counter and walked over to Trevor.

“Dude wake up.” Jake said as he lightly kicked Trevor’s chair.

“What?” Trevor said, startled from sleep, as he lifted his head and rubbed the back of his neck.

“What are you doing here?” Trevor asked, he looked like he’d been to hell and back.

“I came to see if you were alive, you won’t return any calls or texts and haven’t been to work since Tuesday. I’ve had to handle everything without you man.” Jake said as he shoved Trevor a plate with a piece of pizza on it. “Eat!”

“Yes I’m alive, see?” Trevor said as he bit into the pizza. “I’ll deal with everything when I come back.”

“Any idea when that’ll be?” Jake sat down in the seat opposite Trevor and looked at the spread of books and papers on the table. “What were you sleeping on; they sure as hell don’t look like pillows.” Jake asked as he took a slice of pizza.

“This week, I’ll be back. This is nothing.” Trevor nodded to the books but kept eating.

Jake looked over again at the pile of textbooks and notebooks. “It doesn’t look like nothing. What is it?”

Trevor groaned rubbing the stubble on his chin, “Its school stuff okay.”

“School?” Jake said with a confused look on his face.

“Yeah, I’ve been taking classes the past couple years for an associate’s in Business.” Trevor said matter-of-fact.

“Past couple years? You never said anything.” Jake said sounding a bit hurt.

“I didn’t tell anyone. I’ve wanted to knock this out for a while and figured it wasn’t a big deal, so I left it alone.” Trevor just shrugged.

“It is a big deal and you should have mentioned it. I’m happy for you man. When do you get done?”

“This December.”

“Does Elle know?” Jake asked.

“Nope never got around to telling her and now it doesn’t matter.”

“She would’ve wanted to know. What happened with you two anyway? Your text, “it’s over, me and Elle are done,” didn’t really explain anything.”

“She defended Rob. She even told me to give him another chance. I didn’t understand how she could do
that?” Trevor said the wound still raw. “You should’ve heard the whole conversation with him; he’s a sick and twisted bastard that’s for sure.”

“That’s cold man. I don’t know how she could do that but she was wrong. I don’t really know her but I do know she was wrong to suggest giving him another chance especially because of what happened to the business, but from what I saw she seemed crazy about you dude. Did you try to talk about it after you both cooled down?” Jake asked Trevor.

“Nope. Didn’t you hear when I said we’re done, so that also means we’re not talking either.”

“Don’t get your damn panties in a twist. Jeez!” Jake sat back and stared at his friend for a few seconds then he leaned in with his elbows on his knees and said with genuine concern, “you look miserable.”

“Thanks man. Just what I needed to hear.” Trevor said with a scowl. He got up to get a beer from the fridge.

“We think you’re both idiots and there has to be a way to move on and get past this.”

“Who’s we?” Trevor said as he eyed Jake suspiciously.

“Me and Taylor.”

“You two have talked about this?” Trevor said almost outraged

“Yeah we have, our two best friends got together for a whole two minutes, fell in love and threw it away. So yeah we talked about it.”

“You’re right we were together only two minutes and dumb enough to fall in love too quick but I didn’t throw anything away.”

The two of them just sat there in silence the rest of the time. Jake knew Trevor didn’t want him to leave yet and even though he never said, he knew his friend needed him there. He’d stay as long as Trevor needed him.

Trevor didn’t know if this would ever get easier he was in such pain. He felt like someone ripped out his heart and ran a dump truck over it. He was miserable and as Jake so helpfully pointed out he knew he looked miserable. He wanted this to at least get bearable because everything was going to hell around him, he wasn’t able to handle things at work, thank God Jake was there to help. Finals were coming up soon for this semester and he had papers due and studying to do. He couldn’t concentrate on anything more than five minutes. His mind kept wandering to Elle and how she was doing. He told himself to stop and focus on what he needed to accomplish, on
him
, because right now there was no
we
. He had never felt like this before about any other woman and knew he didn’t want to go through this kind of heartbreak again.

For the next week Elle and Trevor went about their lives the best that they could. It was all a blur. Having to fake your way through a week was tough and took a toll on them. Jake and Taylor helped them stay busy, let them talk and even suggested they should call each other but neither one gave in. They were still to proud, neither wanted to be the first one to give in.

Trevor was busy mending things at work; he had to say at least that part of his life was starting to go pretty well. Jake had done a great job keeping things afloat while he was out. His guys really stepped up to help with the extra
workload and had his back when they found out what Rob had done. They were all pissed and couldn’t believe Rob had done that and that they had all been clueless. Only a few of his regular clients had found out about the situation but they were so loyal to the company they weren’t going to say anything, especially after his guys explained the situation to them. Man he was so thankful for the men he had working for him.

Friday morning Elle got up early and saw it was gorgeous out, she thought about going to the park and run, when she remembered that’s where Trevor and Bruiser went. She didn’t want to chance running into him. They hadn’t seen or spoken to each other since that last horrible conversation over a week ago. Her heart plummeted at the thought of him and the idea of possibly running into him with Bruiser at the park. She knew she couldn’t handle seeing him and what on earth would she even say to him? She knew she should call him and apologize but didn’t know if she could take the anger and rejection he would throw her way. She knew she deserved it but she still knew she couldn’t handle it and she also didn’t think he should have ended things the way he did. Elle shut her front door and went to go run on the treadmill where she knew there was no chance she would run into the one person she couldn’t stop thinking about.

When they broke up Elle thought about back to the short but amazing time they spent together. Trevor helped her to gain confidence but also open up emotionally and physically. Physically she became willing to try various things and become spontaneous. Like the time
she surprised him after work. He called to tell her he had to work late to get caught up on some paperwork and scheduling so he probably wouldn’t see her. On her way home she stopped by to surprise him. She walked into his office, shut and locked the door. He had his back to her and was on the phone, she unzipped her dress. When he finished and turned around she wiggled letting her dress slide to the ground; she was standing there in only her black lace bra, panties and black heels.

“What are you doing?” Trevor asked dumbfounded as he stared at a half-naked Elle standing before him.

“Surprising you, I thought you could use a break from all your hard work.”

Trevor closed the thick wooden slated blinds and rounded his desk. When he met Elle he wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her in close. He slammed his mouth down on hers; in a mating of desire and need.

He wanted to do this slowly but Elle was leading the kiss and taking it to the level of fast and furious. He loved this woman; she knew how to pull one hell of a surprise!

Elle pulled back from the kiss with heavy eyes and dilated pupils, “I think you’re wearing too many clothes.” She unwrapped herself from his arms and went over to his desk and sat on the edge.

Trevor pulled off his shirt and shoes walking over to Elle with only his pants on. “God you’re beautiful.”

Elle shivered at Trevor’s touch as he slowly ran his rough fingers delicately along her rib cage and underneath her breasts. She reached out to unbuckle his belt,
slowly she ran her fingertips across his muscled chest and stomach; his muscles quivered beneath her touch.