AS MUCH AS I DIDN’T want to leave Gabi for a second, I had a shift at work which I couldn’t afford to miss. My hangover was long gone, cured in Gabi’s arms. A smile felt like it was permanently fixed to my face, and I held her tight, never wanting to let go.
We’d dozed together, talked, and kissed, and then made love again, slow and sensual. When I finally told her I needed to go to work, she groaned and buried her face against my neck.
“No, don’t go.”
I laughed and kissed her. “Believe me, I’d much rather be here with you than scrubbing out pots at Frankie’s grill. But I could do without getting fired right now.”
“Well, since you put it like that, I’d better let you go. Will you come back after your shift?”
“It’ll be late—early hours of the morning.”
She shrugged. “I’ll leave a key out for you. I’ll hide it under the mat, and you can let yourself in.”
“Are you sure? Won’t your dad mind?”
“We’re not seventeen anymore, Cole,” she said, smiling at me. Her crazy hair was tousled around her face, and her lips were slightly swollen from all the kissing we’d been doing. I felt myself growing hard for her, but I couldn’t fuck her again. I literally didn’t have time.
“Okay, I’ll come back when I’ve finished my shift.” It wasn’t exactly a difficult choice. Come home to Gabi in bed, or go back to my rundown rental to spend the night on my own. “But I should probably warn you that I’ll stink of grease and trash by the time I get back.”
She laughed. “I love grease and trash.”
“You’re weird, you know that, right?”
She hit me with a pillow. “Yeah, and you wouldn’t have me any other way.”
I loved how we’d fallen into the comfortable banter we always used to share. It was so easy, being with her again. I felt as though the last ten years had never existed. I could finally put all that time I’d spent in jail behind me and think about the future.
I leaned in and kissed her again. “I love you, Gabi,” I told her.
She smiled “I love you, too, Cole.”
My heart sang with happiness.
Not wanting to leave, I forced myself to dress, and drove home quickly to shower and change. I made my shift by a matter of minutes, receiving a glare from the manager as I slipped in and got to work. Nothing was going to spoil my mood that evening. I caught myself singing while I washed dishes.
Deano overheard and nudged Ben. “I’m going to bet Cole got laid last night.”
I just grinned. Though I would have loved to let them know it had actually been a couple of times this afternoon, I wasn’t going to screw and tell. As Gabi had pointed out, we weren’t teenagers anymore.
The hours dragged by, and I did my best to keep my mind off Gabi and focus on my job. It wasn’t easy, though, when all I wanted to do was remember every time my mouth touched her skin, and the feel of her fingers wrapped around me. On several occasions I found myself needing to spend longer standing at the sink while I forced myself to think of something else. I didn’t want to embarrass both myself and my colleagues.
Finally, the last of the customers finished their meals, and I was able to slip away, back to Gabi’s. Sure enough, she’d left her key under the mat, and I let myself in, listening out for her father, and wondering what he’d say if he saw me. I didn’t hear or see any sign of him, something I was thankful for. I’d never felt more like an eighteen-year-old again as I did sneaking up the stairs and tiptoeing into Gabi’s room. She lay in a bundle beneath her covers, her breathing soft and regular.
I shrugged off my clothes and climbed into bed beside her. She smiled in her sleep and rolled toward me. I slid my hands down the long line of her back to discover she was completely naked, and immediately my cock sprang to attention. I’d nipped into the men’s bathroom during my break and bought some new condoms to replace the old ones Gabi had made me dig out. I didn’t want to think about her reason for having condoms. I’d had enforced celibacy when I’d been behind bars, but I couldn’t have expected her to stay away from men. I couldn’t help the little surge of jealousy that rose within me at the idea of another man’s hands being on her, but I pushed it away. I would fuck the memory of any other man away from her.
Her skin smelled clean and of coconut body-wash, as though she’d spent the evening relaxing in a hot bubble-bath. She was warm beneath the covers, and I wanted to drown in her body heat. Ducking beneath the duvet, I kissed down her stomach, and then spread her legs, the covers over my head. I heard her murmur, “Oh, Cole,” as she realized what I was doing. I buried my nose in the small patch of curls at the apex of her thighs and then placed my mouth over her pussy. With my tongue, I drew a line down the crease of her slit, licking her open. Gabi moaned and wriggled in the bed, parting her thighs further and opening the sweet petals of her pussy to me. She tasted sweeter than any sort of candy that could be bought, and I drove my tongue deep inside her, feeling her inner muscles try to clamp around me and pull me deeper. Her breathing became ragged, her moans louder as she squirmed beneath my administrations. Sensing she wanted more, I replaced my tongue with my fingers, and concentrated my mouth on her clit, first licking her with long, strong strokes, and then flicking the little bundle of nerves faster.
“Oh, God, Cole,” she gasped.
I loved hearing my name from her lips once more.
She tugged on my shoulders. “I want you. Now!”
I wasn’t going to disobey her demand. I kissed my way up her stomach, lingered for a moment on her breasts, licking and sucking each nipple in turn, and then kissed her mouth. She’d be able to taste herself on my tongue, and the thought made me harder than I’d ever thought possible.
Quickly, I sheathed myself in one of the new condoms I’d brought, and then pressed open her thighs and sank my cock into her tight, wet heat. I didn’t think anything else in the world would ever feel better than being inside Gabi. She was my everything—the girl I had loved since I was seventeen years old, and the girl I planned on loving until the day I left this world. Being with her like this wasn’t just about seeking pleasure, it was about joining myself to her, about giving her a part of my soul and praying she would cherish that part of me as much as I worshipped her.
We moved as one, slowly at first, but gradually building until we clung to one another, sweating and panting, both climbing toward that final release. When we found it, I kissed her hard, swallowing her cries, inhaling a part of her as I gave her a part of me.
We fell asleep with whispered declarations of love on both our lips, holding each other so tightly it was as though we both feared someone would steal the other person away.
OVER THE NEXT WEEK, we fell into an easy routine, with me only using my rented house to shower and change when I needed. Whenever I finished work late, I used the key Gabi had hidden to let myself into the house. Her father had gotten used to seeing me at the breakfast table, and when Gabi had asked him if he minded, he simply said that if having me around made her happy, then he was happy, too. Like Gabi, I turned a blind eye to his drinking. He was a grown man, and unless Gabi said she wanted something to change, it wasn’t my place to force things. We all had our demons. Some just had a tighter hold on us than others.
I LEFT WORK AFTER MY evening shift, planning to head back to Gabi’s as usual, to find someone waiting for me outside.
He stood, leaning against the outside wall of the diner, his arms folded across his chest. “Hey, Cole. Good to see you again.”
I scowled. “What are you doing here, Ryan?”
He pushed himself away from the wall to stand up straight. “Catching up with an old friend.”
“Bullshit.”
I hadn’t seen him since that evening at the diner, and so I’d assumed he’d just been passing through and I’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now, however, it was clear he had come here to see me.
Ryan shrugged. “Okay, maybe you’ve got me on that one. I act
ually need your help with something.”
“I’m not going to help you with a single thing.”
He ignored me. “I need another man on a job. I’ve been let down at the last minute, and it’ll all fall apart if we don’t have someone else.”
“I’m not your guy, Ryan. Now get lost.” I turned away from him, intending on crossing the parking lot to head to my car, but Ryan continued to speak, calling over to me.
“I noticed you and sweet Gabi have been spending a lot of time together again.”
I froze, and slowly turned to him, fury rising up inside me. “You stay the hell away from her.”
He gave a nonchalant shrug. “Sure, if you come and help on this job. There will be a decent paycheck in it for you.”
“I don’t want any money from you—in case you’ve forgotten, that didn’t turn out so well for me in the end—and if you go anywhere near Gabi, I’ll fucking kill you.”
Ryan’s stance changed, his shoulders rounding, his upper lip lifting in a sneer. “You owe me, Cole. Don’t screw with me.”
My eyebrows shot up my forehead in disbelief. “I owe you?
“You messed up that run ten years ago, and now it’s payback time. If you don’t do what I ask, I’ll make sure your pretty girlfriend suffers the repercussions.”
Red descended on my vision, my blood pounding in my temples.
Without thinking of the consequences, I stormed up to him and swung my fist. My knuckles connected with his jaw and sent him stumbling. I didn’t stop there. I strode over to him, and dealt a kick to his side, so he rolled to the ground.
“I’m not some teenage kid you can push around anymore, Ryan. I dealt with a hell of a lot meaner sons-of-bitches than you when I was inside. You don’t scare me, you don’t intimidate me, and if you so much as breathe in Gabi’s direction, I will cut your fucking balls off and make you swallow them. Do you understand?”
His face was white, nostrils flaring. “You’re making a big fucking mistake, Cole. I was doing you a favor, offering you a way to make some decent money instead of working in that dump, and this is how you repay me.”
“Mistake? You’re the one who made a mistake coming anywhere near me. Because of you I spent ten years behind bars. I should have tracked you down and fucking killed you by now.”
“Don’t act like such a fucking victim. You knew exactly what you were doing.”
“I had no idea! I’d just turned eighteen, remember? I wasn’t exactly a drug lord.”
He crawled back on his hands and choked laughter. “No, you were a stupid kid who thought too much of himself.”
I couldn’t help myself. I pulled back my boot and kicked him again. He gave an ouff of breath exploding from his lungs, and he coughed and curled in on himself.
“Oh, you’ve made a big fucking mistake, Cole” he gasped. “You have no idea who I am.”
“I know exactly who you are. You’re the guy who should have been behind bars for the last ten years.”
Resisting the urge to spit on him, I turned and walked away.
Chapter Thirty
Cole - Eleven Years Earlier
“HEY, COLE,” RYAN SHOUTED to me from across the street. “Got a sec?”
I’d been avoiding both the guys and band practice. It wasn’t just about the run I’d done for them down to Norburn a couple of week ago. The things Ryan had said about Gabi had been running around in my head, fueling my anger. Gabi had been asking why I hadn’t been going to practice recently, and I’d made the excuse that I wanted to spend more time with her. Truth was, I didn’t want to spend time with Ryan. I worried I’d lose my temper if he so much as mentioned her name again, and after the fights I’d gotten into with my foster brother, I couldn’t afford to get into any more trouble with my foster parents. I had another few weeks, and then we would graduate and life would start anew. I had a decent sum of money hidden in my room, and I was looking forward to being independent. I didn’t need problems just because Ryan didn’t know how to keep his mouth shut.
I shoved my hands in my jeans pockets and kept my head down, my hair falling over my face.
“Hey, Cole,” he shouted again. “Don’t pretend like you can’t hear me.”
I huffed out a sigh and stopped walking. “What is it, Ryan?”
“I’m not going to shout across the street. Just come over here for a minute.”
I was tempted to make him come to me, but I didn’t want to get into a yelling match in the middle of town. The sooner I found out what he wanted and then told him to get lost, the sooner I would be away from him.
Checking the street both ways, I ran across the road.
“What do you want?” I asked.
He moved closer and lowered his voice. “Me and the guys have got another run for you to do.”
My stomach sank. “Nah, I don’t think so.”
“It’s the same money. Same setup. What have you got to lose?”
I cocked my eyebrow. “My freedom.”
He laughed. “You’re such a girl. Don’t be so dramatic. It’s just a bit of weed. Nothing to get your panties in a twist about.”
“So you take it, then.”
“I can’t. My car couldn’t be fixed, and I don’t have any money to get a new one yet. Another run or two, and I should be sorted, though.”
I shook my head. “Sorry, Ryan. You’re going to have to find someone else for this one.”
His eyes narrowed, his head tilting to one side as though listening hard for something. “I don’t think you’ve quite understood what I’m saying. We need someone to do another run, and that person is going to be you.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “And I don’t think you understood what I said. I’m not doing it.”
“You don’t want to go saying things like that, Cole. I’d take it kind of personally, and when I take things personally, I like to hurt things that are personal to you.”
I stiffened. “What exactly are you saying?”
He sucked and licked his lower lip. “That girlfriend of yours is mighty sweet. Get a couple of drinks in her, and she’s practically humping the leg of the nearest guy.”
“Gabi’s not like that!”
“No? I’ve seen her all flirty when she’s around us older guys. Don’t pretend you haven’t, too.”
I suddenly regretted guilting Gabi into coming to my band practices. It had gotten her in trouble with her dad, and now Ryan had set his sights on her. She hadn’t wanted to come in the first place, but I’d wanted to show off my gorgeous girlfriend. What an idiot I was.
“I get the impression your girl has a bit of a reputation to uphold as well. I don’t know what she was thinking hanging out with the likes of you, but I can tell she definitely cares what people think of her.” He nodded slowly, as though considering his words. “I imagine if word started getting around that she let me and the other guys gangbang her, how we’d all taken our turn and loved every second, it wouldn’t exactly be good news for her reputation.”
I balled my fists, a muscle in my jaw twitching. “You wouldn’t fucking dare!”
“Just watch me, kid. And I’ll tell you something else, if you don’t play ball, or you cause some kind of trouble for me and the guys, I’ll make sure that little scene happens for real.”
The idea of all my band members raping Gabi was like a punch in the gut.
“You fucking bastard!” I swung my fist, but he side-stepped it, sending me reeling out into the street.
“Don’t cause a scene, Cole. You need to learn to keep your head down.”
It took every ounce of self-control I had not to throw myself, roaring, at him. Only the idea that he could tear Gabi down with just a few words stopped me from doing so. If rumors like that started going around about her, she would be utterly heartbroken. Devastated. Rumors had the power to destroy a person—especially someone as sweet and innocent as Gabi. I couldn’t let it happen and I would do everything within my power to make sure Ryan kept his mouth
shut.
I’d always known I would be bad for her, that I should have kept my distance, but yet I hadn’t been able to help myself. I’d been drawn to her, and fallen head over heels so hard in love with her I hadn’t been able to control it. She deserved better. She had an amazing future ahead of her, and being with me only put that in jeopardy.
“I guess I don’t have any choice, do I?” I managed to growl.
Ryan smiled. “Now we’re starting to see eye-to-eye.”
“When is the run?”
“A couple of nights from now.”
“Fine, I’ll do it.”
I knew this wouldn’t stop. Even if I did this run, Ryan would still be here, threatening Gabi and making me do another and another to keep her safe. If I wasn’t around, Ryan wouldn’t have any reason to threaten her.
My staying in Willowbrook Falls wasn’t good for Gabi’s safety.
Chapter Thirty-one
Gabi – Eleven Years Earlier
I STARTED THE WALK home from school alone.
Cole had chores he needed to do for his foster-dad right after school, but he said it wouldn’t take long and he’d meet me at my place. I worried about him. He seemed distant lately, but I didn’t know why. The idea that he might be starting to go off me had been working its way into my soul, and I couldn’t seem to stop thinking about it.
Lost in thought, I didn’t look up in time to avoid someone stepping out in front of me. I gave a strange squeak of shock, and the next thing I knew, strong hands grabbed my shoulders, yanking me to one side. The hands shoved me down a side alley, away from the main road. My head spun, adrenaline spurting through my veins. A man was standing directly in front of me, and though I tried to dart away, he pushed me back again.
“Now, now, little girl. You stay right where you are.”
I know that voice, I thought with alarm. I suddenly realized who had attacked me.
“Ryan, what the hell?”
Dangerous Encounters: A Romantic Suspense Boxed Set Page 17
