“Probably sometime between when I got tackled in the alley by the walking corpse and when I got tased into unconsciousness by your boy, D.” I emphasized the D, letting him know that I might not understand his and Gabe’s relationship, but I certainly remember where I met him the first time.
“Tasers don’t render people unconscious, they paralyze you.” Thanks for the fun fact, Gabe.
“No. But a taser can make your legs go out, and the street connecting with the back of your head can make you go unconscious.” I swear it was like Dino had no self-preservation. Like he was baiting Gabriel with his every word. What the hell was wrong with this guy?
“Dino, may I have a word with you outside, please?” I didn’t know it was possible to look so dangerous while saying the word please but Gabe somehow pulled it off. If it were me, I would have run away from that even tone and scowling face. Dino didn’t say anything, just followed Gabe outside. I sank back against the couch cushions as the door closed behind them and shut my eyes.
“I bet you have some questions, huh, Angel?” I cracked one eyelid open again to find Jeannette looking at me with a worried expression, a complete contrast from the first time I met her, when she thoroughly insulted me.
“A couple. One would be why are you so nice to me right now?” I mean, I had a shitton of questions, but that one was bugging me.
“I’m a bitch.”
“Yes ma’am,” I agreed. But I smiled as I said it because if a woman can admit out loud that she is a bitch, that is sort of the same thing as an apology. I closed my eyes again, resting my head on the back of the couch. Then another noise permeated the uncomfortable silence in the room. My stomach growled. Loudly. Of all the aches and pains and the horror of the evening, my empty stomach was what my body decided to focus on. Instead of ignoring the elephant in the room like she hadn’t heard anything, Jeannette jumped on the chance to make amends.
“Can I get you anything? I can raid the fridge if you’d like? Gabe eats a bunch of healthy stuff though, so it might be all protein drinks and eggs in there.” I didn’t want protein drinks. I wanted chocolate, or ice cream, or something comforting and bad for me because I had been through a damn ordeal and I deserved the blessings of sugar.
“I want candy,” I said, and opened my eyes wide, thinking of how things were when we were younger. Gabe always had a monster sweet tooth. His mom used to hide a huge stash of snacks in the cupboard above the refrigerator when we were kids. If she didn’t hide it, Gabe would destroy an entire box of Twinkies in one after school binge. He had the metabolism of a marathon runner, but would have probably been morbidly obese if his mom didn’t try to hide the snacks. We all knew where they were so I would pilfer them every time I went over to his house.
Old habits die hard, and I had an idea.
“Wanna be my new best friend?” I dangled the carrot in front of Jeannette, but she arched an eyebrow and eyed me suspiciously from behind her fashionable oval lenses.
“I thought Gabe was your best friend?”
“Correction,” I told her like I had a secret to share. “Gabe and I were best friends when we were kids. But then he was an asshole, and then he ran away, and I am still deciding whether or not to forgive him. Now I have a lot of friends, but the position of best is currently vacant, and if you would like to achieve God-like status, this is your opening.” Jeannette smiled faintly. I was over the top on purpose. It was fine to be a little funny and dramatic. It was okay to focus on this now instead of just how jarring and terrifying my evening had been.
“Look and see if there are any cupboards above the refrigerator. Just see if there is like a secret box of Twinkies or ho hos or something up there. He may be a fitness junkie but you can’t change the core of who you are. I bet we’ll find something.”
“Okay,” Jeannette said with a sigh as she strode into the kitchen. There was a loud thud outside like something slammed against the outer walls of the house.
“Ignore that,” Jeannette said as she pulled one of the stools from the breakfast bar over to the fridge.
“What the hell are they doing out there?” It sounded kind of rowdy now that I was actually paying attention.
“Probably fighting. That’s how those Neanderthals settle things, and Gabe was really upset. Dino really was supposed to watch you—holy shit score! Look at what we have.” Jeannette hadn’t just found a snack, she found a bucket of snacks. It looked like one of those clear plastic containers that bulk pretzel nuggets come in at the big warehouse stores, but it was filled three-quarters of the way with candy.
“Shit yeah,” I crowed as she brought the bucket over to me, and I pulled it to my lap with childish glee. “I knew he would have something. Gabe’s always been a little piggy.”
“You know a lot about him, right?” Jeannette asked, sitting next to me on the couch and picking through the bucket with me. She pulled out a pack of licorice that looked really good. I snagged it out of her hand and opened it before she could say anything. She wasn’t all the way forgiven yet, she owed me. I popped a string of licorice into my mouth and mumbled around the candy.
“I know a lot about who he was, not so sure about now.” I didn’t know a damn thing about him now, apparently. Except that he was maybe involved in some covert shit that I didn’t understand. I sighed and swallowed, savoring the sugar as it slid down my throat, letting my head rest on the back of the couch.
“Well, I’ve worked for him for about six years or so, even before he came to take over the Anderson Building. It’s hard for him.”
“What is?” I really had no idea what she was talking about.
“The money bunnies,” Jeannette said matter-of-factly. “They are a damn nuisance, I swear. I have completely lost track of the women that come and go, looking for Gabe, thinking that he is going to be the one to bankroll their future.” Jeannette wrinkled her nose in disgust, then reached up with one hand to adjust her glasses. “He doesn’t even date. He can’t go on a damn date. If he so much as spends any time with a woman they become instantly clingy. I’ve had strangers come into the office saying he was the father of their babies and try to extort money that way. It’s ridiculous.”
“And you thought I was one of those women?” I snorted at the idea. “As if.”
“Yeah, I did. I’m really sorry. I am.” She really sounded sorry, too.
“I can probably be persuaded to forgive you, Jeannette. It sounds like a full-time job keeping Gabe from getting shackled by a gold digger. Being rich must be a real burden.” I said the last part in a snobby voice and Jeannette giggled appropriately. I was so tired, I closed my eyes a little, just to give them a rest.
“Money wasn’t really that big of a deal when we were kids, though. I’ve known Gabe and his family since before his voice started changing.” I laughed a little, remembering what a frustrating time that had been for him. Puberty was a bitch for any gender. “The girls chased him even back then, but nobody really cared about money. Gabe was good at everything. He was a handsome jock, all right, but he was also funny and nice and always stood up for me, even when I could stand up for myself just fine. I remember when Jimmy Ducane told everyone in the freshman class he had sex with me, even though he never even made it past first base because he open mouth kissed like a fish and it was gross. Gabe got pissed off and broke his nose, except he didn’t get in trouble because he elbowed him in the face during basketball practice. He fibbed and said it was an accident when I asked him about it, but everyone knew. I knew, too.”
I was tired, and the exhaustion of the day was catching up with me, that was why my mouth was running about old times, I was sure. I was over sharing with a stranger, but I couldn’t make myself stop, because it felt good to talk about Gabe after making myself forget about him for so long.
“But you know what, Jeannette?” I asked with a jaw-cracking yawn. “I can think of a hundred other awesome things about Gabe besides money. It’s a shame some women choose to focus on that and miss out
on everything else.” I slipped into the sleep of the completely exhausted and never did hear Jeanette’s response.
12
Gabe
Do you have pants on?”
I am a heavy sleeper on my best day, I could snore through a natural disaster, but for some reason, hearing those words whispered from the side of my bed had my eyes snapping open and my heart rate rising. I don’t want to say I was scared exactly, but waking up from a dead sleep to find Angel standing next to my bed holding her pillow against her chest was not a thing that was on my mind when I had turned in for the night.
I was feeling marginally calmer after Dino and I had gone a few rounds. It wasn’t his fault Angel got hurt, I knew that, but I was furious, and I think Dino knew I needed to get that out. Fist fighting in the front yard was archaic, yet somehow still effective. Dino could have taken me down too, but he let me get in a few swings before knocking me on my ass and asking, “Do you feel better yet?”
Better, no. But able to look at the swelling on Angel’s cheek and the dirt smeared on her face without taking my rage out on someone, yes. Dino and I had gone back in the house to find Angel asleep sitting up, cradling my secret candy stash in her lap like a baby with her hand still inside. Her long blonde hair all in disarray, obscuring her face and the injury that I knew lurked underneath. Jeannette sat on the sofa beside her, looking not really at Angel, but more through her. She was miles away, lost in thought. I knew this had to have triggered something in her as well, knowing Jeannette’s history like I did.
Jeannette and Dino hung out as I picked Angel up and carried her to the spare room. I could have woken her up and gave her a change of clothes, but if she was tired enough to pass out on my couch while eating candy mid-conversation, then I shouldn’t wake her. Scooping her straight off the couch, I carried her princess-style down the hall to the room directly opposite mine. The actual guest room she could have slept in the first time she spent the night in my house, but at the time, she’d taken a left instead of a right and ended up in my bed. I had woken up mostly still asleep on the couch and hadn’t even paid attention when I crawled in bed with her that first time. I was wide-awake now, and I wouldn’t do that to her again.
Poor Angel, she’d been through so damn much in just a few short days. She’d asked me for help, and I thought I’d taken care of it. Having Dino keep an eye on her had been more for my peace of mind than anything. Chaz Malone had gotten his money, and even though he was a stone-cold dick head, he was also a sound businessman. You don’t get to have the kind of power he has without having your head in the game. We had made a transaction, a profitable one for Chaz, since I actually paid him more than what he was asking, so it didn’t make sense he would send one of his goons, his most volatile one, in fact, after Angel. It was bad for business.
I would have to look into it further, maybe I would have Dino do some checking for me and I could keep a closer eye on Angel. Running Anderson Investments didn’t keep me as busy as people would like to think. I wasn’t kidding when I told Angel I was a figurehead. The company was my inheritance, but I didn’t actually do any of the work. We had a board of trustees for that. I think it just made everyone feel better after Dad was gone, to have an Anderson in the building, and not just a name on the outside.
My real skills were not in investments anyway. I was a mercenary, that’s what I was good at. You could put me in a suit, but that was just another disguise for me, just another part I played. I could do so many things. One of the things I was good at was protection, and I was going to protect Angel whether she wanted it or not.
It was a quarter after two when I finally crawled into my own bed. I’d tasked Dino and Jeannette with picking up Angel’s car and bringing it back to my house. I also told them to stop into the bar and smooth things over with the manager. I didn’t want there to be any lingering issues for Angel after tonight. I wanted her to be able to wake up and leave if she wanted, and not have to worry about backtracking her steps, or having to go back to the scene of her attack if she didn’t want to. Fuck that—let her sleep it off. That’s what I would want to do.
That’s why I was shocked as shit to wake up to her standing next to my bed, looking down on me wide-eyed and awake.
“Are you wearing pants?” I had to check to make sure, but yes, I was wearing pants.
“You are not wearing pants.” I don’t know why I felt the need to point it out, but she was standing in her shirt and panties and that was not what I had put her to bed in. She had also taken a shower, I could tell by the way her hair was hanging damp and curly down around her shoulders, leaving little dark spots on her shirt where the water drops had soaked through.
“Can I sleep with you?”
That was a fully loaded question that I didn’t know how to answer, although my dick became very interested and I had to twist a little under the blanket so my erection didn’t cause a dome in the comforter.
“I gave you the guest room this time so you wouldn’t yell at me,” I told her with a sleepy grin. “You lonely without me? Need a snuggle?” The joke died on my lips as I looked into her eyes. They were void of any emotion, empty.
“I can’t wash them off.” She rubbed her wrists together and held them out as a visual explanation, they were red and agitated. The skin all the way up her arms was red and angry looking. “I took a shower and I scrubbed and scrubbed but I can’t wash his hands off. All of the places he touched. They won’t come clean.”
Oh shit. Okay.
Completely at a loss I slid over in the bed and pulled the blankets back, gesturing for her to join me. What was the right thing to do? I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to tell her to go back to the guest room. Not with her standing there, vulnerable and needing something to make her feel better. I realized my mistake shortly thereafter when instead of laying down with her back to me and falling asleep, she crawled as close to me as she could get and snuggled her face into my neck. I froze in place, not sure what she was up to but not sure if I should stop her either. It wasn’t until I felt her hand trail down my bare chest and start flirting with the waistband of my sweatpants that I found my voice.
“Angel, what are you doing?” I’m surprised I was able to get the words out, my lungs had been locked up since I felt her fingers dip into the waistband of my boxer shorts and she was about two seconds away from shaking hands with my dick.
“I’m sorry,” she breathed the words against my neck, not sounding sorry in the least bit. “I just need…something.” She pressed her breasts against my bare chest and I felt her nipples through the cotton of her shirt, scraping against my skin. Fffuuuck that felt good. My self-control was slipping by the second, but I had to stay in my right mind with her. She was too fragile, too affected right now to know what she was doing.
“Angel, I’m not a magic eraser. I can’t fix that for you.” I thought that would do it, and she did pause, her palm cupping my balls through the thin layers of clothing, but she didn’t move away.
I felt her breath, soft against my neck as she said, “Gabe, I’ve loved you since I was fourteen, and never once have I ever labored under the delusion that I could keep you for myself. But I need you right now—please.” Then the hand that had been on the outside of my pants made its way to the inside, and I was a goner. I would pick apart her words tomorrow. There was something about them that sounded so sad, so lonely. But I couldn’t spend the time thinking about them right now because she was kissing on my jawline and her hand was stroking my already painfully hard cock in just the right places.
Okay. Okay, I’ll play. If that’s what you need, I’ll give it to you.
“Do you want to touch me, or do you want me to touch you?” Ground rules, I thought while I still had my brain intact. It’s important to establish ground rules.
“Yes,” was all she said before her mouth left my jaw and softly met mine. I only hesitated for an instant, giving her that last chance to change her mind, but she only increased the pressur
e, opening her mouth further, inviting me in. Well, if she was going to open the door, I wasn’t going to refuse the invitation. She wanted me to touch her? Well, I would. I would touch all of her, and may she not fucking kill me in the morning.
Gently rolling her onto her back I grabbed the hem of her shirt, pausing briefly to admire the soft swell of stomach that showed between the bottom of her shirt and the pink lace top of her panties. It looked too sweet so I stopped short of taking her shirt off and I bit there. Gently, just enough to leave a little red mark.
“Not there,” she said, embarrassed. I remembered back to the last time I grabbed her in this exact spot. She’d said something about not touching her chub. She had nothing to be embarrassed about. She was beautiful. I know she knew it too, and stupid teenage hang-ups had no place in this room, in this bed.
“Sorry not sorry, Angel,” I murmured against her skin, nipping her in the exact same spot again. “You wanted me to touch you, and I will. I’ll touch you wherever I want. No takebacks.” Her breath caught in her throat as I pulled the shirt up and over her head, freeing her bare breasts from their cotton restraint.
Holy shit, her tits were magnificent.
They looked even bigger naked than clothed, and completely out of the blue I remembered a phrase I had heard jokingly in the locker room back when I was a teenager.
More than a mouthful’s a waste.
What a load of bullshit. Anyone who could say that had clearly never had more than a mouthful. Even one was much more than my mouth could handle, but I tried anyway, sucking her nipples deep into my mouth and tonguing them until she arced off the bed, moaning and grabbing fistfuls of my hair. Her cries were an aphrodisiac, spurring me on, and she pulled my head closer until I was so full of her I could barely breathe. I didn’t care. She tasted like sugar and I had a craving for sweets. And if just me touching her breasts made her cry out like this, what would she do if I buried my dick inside of her?
Gabe Page 8
