by T. M. Cromer
Goddammit!
He scooped them up and headed toward his porch. He’d give her one hour to calm down, but then they were going to have it out. Just as he’d made his decision, a figure sped around the side of Margaret’s house and across the divide of lawn. The size told him it was James.
“How stealthy of you,” Gabriel said dryly.
“Look, man, you’ve never seen my sister in a full rage. I don’t want none of that. Not sure what you did, but you screwed the pooch, dude. Big time.”
“I didn’t do a fucking thing, all right,” he snapped.
James’s dark brows shot skyward.
“Your sister thinks I did the no-pants dance with a client’s wife in my office tonight.”
Margaret’s brother fell back against the railing in shocked wonder. “Jesus!”
“Yeah.” Gabriel tugged at his collar. “Slater’s wife jumped me when I went to get a file. Violated my tonsils and my limp, cowering penis with her hand, then proceeded to tell me all the detestable things she wanted to do to me.” He shuddered at the memory of her sloppy groping.
“I can tell by the sickly look on your face, you’re telling the truth.”
“It’s always been a well-known fact she and her husband were swingers, but I swear to God, it isn’t my thing.” He lifted his phone, scrolled to the message he intended to show Margaret later, and handed the device to James.
“You fired your client? Wow!”
“Yes, right after they set me up.”
“Let me guess. Margie didn’t wait around long enough for you to show her this?”
“Right in one.”
“You do know Scott snuck around on her, right? And not just once.” James handed the smartphone back with a hard look. “Bastard did a number on her, and she’s had control issues ever since.”
“The OCD.”
“Yes. She’s never been officially diagnosed, but we’ve all seen it.” James shrugged. “Partly, I think it’s genetic because both Sammy and Annie have manifested similar tendencies, but Margie’s tends to be over the top with locks, schedules, hand washing… the whole bit.”
“I’ve noticed.” Gabriel frowned in the direction of Margaret’s home. “Why has she never sought therapy?”
“She did early on. She drew the short straw and ended up with a quack.”
“Once was enough for her, and she never went back?”
“Exactly.”
Gabriel watched the shadow pace on the other side of the curtain. “I should go talk to her.”
“Nope. Let’s have that beer first.”
“She’s going to make herself sick over this.”
“If you want to kiss your relationship goodbye, head over now. Otherwise, I’d let her cool down so she doesn’t cut off your head and spit down your windpipe.”
Gabriel gave a half-hearted chuckle but decided to take James’s well-intended advice. “Let’s get that beer.”
Margie opened her laptop, intent on distracting herself from the clear recall of Sylvia’s smug smile from earlier tonight. Never had she wanted to hurt a person more. Gabriel’s reaction to the woman was what nagged at Margie’s consciousness though. When the redhead had staggered up to them, he’d seemed repulsed. Not the action of a lover.
A box popped up on her screen, and she didn’t have time to freak out about being hacked, because the video started playing. The location was unfamiliar, but the tall man with his shirt off and his back to the camera looked exactly like Gabriel from behind.
Her hand flew to her mouth to hold back a shocked cry.
Dry-eyed and disillusioned, Margie watched him receive oral pleasure from some, as yet, unknown woman. All she was able to make out from the grainy video was the large breasts and long red hair. The same shade as Sylvia Slater.
Margie rushed to the bathroom and splashed water on her hot face. The sounds of the video increased in volume until she was forced to run back and close the laptop. Dropping to her knees, she let the sobs come.
Chapter 23
“You’re getting ready to draw a line in the sand here, Margaret. Think hard before you do it. You’re throwing away something exceptionally beautiful,” Gabriel warned.
“I can’t trust you.” Her tone was beyond icy, to the point of being void of emotion.
Disbelief clashed with his outrage.
For the better part of three days, he’d tried to defend himself. But whatever her issues and her distrust, they went deeper than the party. She was hell-bent on blowing up their relationship, uncaring of the collateral damage.
When he could trust himself to speak, it was in a low tone so as not to embarrass himself by showing the crushing weight of his disappointment and pain. “That’s it then?”
She nodded her agreement.
“You need to say it, Margaret. You need to say we’re done.” His voice was louder, rougher due to hurt and anger.
She remained silent and refused to utter the words that would finish them for good.
Gabriel grabbed her, careful not to manhandle her even though he was royally pissed off. A huge part of him wanted to hurt her as she was hurting him. But he wouldn’t. Couldn’t. However, he did cradle her head between both his palms and forced her to address him directly.
“Look at me,” he commanded. “Look me in the eye and say it. Tell me to go and never come back. If you do, I’ll leave you alone.”
He knew what she thought and why she believed it to be true. But her mistrust was suffocating him. It made it impossible to explain whoever was on that video wasn’t him. Although Gabriel swore he hadn’t cheated, the doctored video the hacker had sent, proved differently.
Margaret firmed up her resolve, and Gabriel saw the exact moment she made the decision to end them. He wanted to throw back his head and wail like a wild wolf in a steel trap. Instead, he shut down. The old fallback of cold indifference from years of dealing with his father settled within him.
“Say the damned words, Margaret. Let’s get this farce over with,” he demanded harshly.
She opened her previously frozen lips and uttered the one thing guaranteed to make him go forever. “You need to leave and not come back, Gabriel. Whatever this…” She broke. Her last words arrived on a sob. “…W-whatever this was, it’s over. I d-don’t want y-you.”
“This…” He copied her gesture and pointed back and forth between them. “…This was love. Whether you want to admit it or not. But it doesn’t matter now because I’m done trying to prove myself to you. Even if we got past this, you would find another reason to destroy what we could have. It’s your nature, isn’t it?” He couldn’t resist a final dig. “Inside, you’re a scared little girl. Too frightened to take a risk. But I’ll grant your final wish, and leave you alone to wallow.”
The tears free-falling down her cheeks gutted him, and Gabriel didn’t want to react. He mustered everything he had inside not to haul her close and soothe her hurt. To declare his undying devotion—again. But he needed to remember she didn’t want him. Her pain was no longer his concern. Nursing his own wounds would be his number one priority from here on out.
“I want to be able to tell you that I hope you have a happy life, but I’m not that big a person. I want you to be miserable without me. I want you to suffer my loss as I’m going to suffer yours,” he rasped out. “Goodbye, Margaret.”
Walking away, putting one foot in front of the other and moving toward the back door, was the singular hardest thing Gabriel had ever done in his life. It would have been easier for him had she ripped his heart from his chest and hacked it to smithereens with an ax right in front of him. But, no. She had to leave that useless organ in place. Battered, bruised, and aching.
The pounding of dread and residual adrenaline reverberated in his ears until it was all he could hear. The mad drumming filled his mind and drove him insane from the pulsing rhythm. Was that a crack he heard? Perhaps. His heart certainly felt broken into a million pieces.
“Gabriel!”
For the briefest of seconds, he thought Margaret had called him back. But standing in her place was Kaley. The devastated look on her face caused a second crack.
“Don’t go, Gabriel. Please. She doesn’t know what she’s saying. She’s just being hateful.”
Kaley’s tearful entreaty nearly obliterated what was left of his heart, and he rushed to her. He bent his knees enough to be eye level. A grimace twisted up his mouth. What could he say in that moment? How could he make sure she didn’t blame Margaret for what he suspected Don had done? He couldn’t. But Gabriel could assure her he would always be there for her.
“Kaley, listen to me. Whatever’s between your mom and me isn’t for you to judge. She’s doing what she thinks is best for her. But please know, if you ever need anything, I will be there for you and your brothers. You have my number. Whatever you need. Okay? Promise.”
Gabriel waited an eternity for her to speak. He expected a “whatever” or a “fuck you, asshole,” but what he got in return was a nod, and the tearful fifteen-year-old threw herself into his arms to cry her heart out.
As he looked over Kaley’s purple-colored hair to Margaret, he noted her stony resolve.
Jesus, she was cold.
At that moment, he hated her.
There she stood, destroying what could’ve been a perfect family unit, because of some ass-wipe of a man and the games the little snake had played. How could she be so damned blind?
“Kaley, enough!” Margaret snapped. “He needs to leave. Now!”
* * *
Her daughter’s head whipped around to stare at her in shock. Margie could almost predict the thoughts running through Kaley’s mind. How could her mother be so cruel? Next, it would be her shouting how much she hated her.
None of it mattered.
Kaley’s verbal jabs would be a fight for another day.
Right now Margie needed Gabriel gone. If he didn’t leave soon, she would throw away her pride and beg him to stay. Eventually, she’d curse herself for being a weak fool. For loving him despite the cheating and lying. How many times would she have to turn her back on the indiscretions? How many times had she done it with Scott to keep her family intact?
As for Gabriel, how could she, a frumpy artist with a handful of kids and a boring existence, expect to keep him when he was so virile and every woman’s fantasy?
Better to cut ties now.
Forever wasn’t in their cards. It never had been. Fate had always destroyed their love one way or another in the centuries past. Why fight it anymore? Sudden exhaustion struck her, and Margie wanted off this merry-go-round.
Squeezing her eyes tight, she dug deep to drum up an apology. Her daughter’s hurt wasn’t something to be dismissed lightly. “I’m sorry, Kaley. Take whatever time you need for your goodbyes.”
Margie pushed past the two of them, ran for the front door, and grabbed her purse from a peg in the hall before fleeing.
Where she intended to go, she had no clue. Oddly, the person she most wanted to talk to was Sammy. She wished her sister wasn’t tucked in some mental facility, suffering from her own devastation and loss, because Margie desperately needed a friend to talk this over.
Her mother would be on Gabriel’s side. And why wouldn’t she? Violet adored him. Annie wasn’t an option, because she would still be inundated with the rash of feelings and emotions Margie was experiencing, and it would be too painful for an empath. The only remaining person was Jamie, and he’d want to beat the shit out of Gabriel for cheating if he knew the full truth.
It upset her more than she could say because she had no real friends to turn to. Why had she never cultivated close female relationships? To borrow Kaley’s term, why did she have to be such a bitch to everyone around her?
Flagler Beach beckoned. The ocean would be a safe haven for the immediate future. A place for her to come to grips with the situation and hopefully center herself to face Kaley when she returned home.
The mild March sun beat down on her as she walked along the shoreline, occasionally bending to toss a shell into the dark waters that rushed toward her and washed across her toes. By the time she’d wandered past where the die-hard, early-morning sun worshipers lounged on their towels or chairs and where the fishermen stood with their multiple poles stuck in the sand, Margie had reached a decision.
The time to leave Palm Coast had arrived.
Scott didn’t have much to do with the children. The boys were young enough to start over in another town and would make friends easily in another school. Kaley would be a problem because she still had another three years left of high school and she wouldn’t want to go. If it were only her senior year left, Margie would be willing to let her move in with her grandmother for the year, but Kaley was still too young to leave behind. As it was, Margie would face resistance because it would be traumatic for her daughter not to graduate with her friends.
More positive than she’d felt in a long while, Margie whipped out her phone and dialed her mother. She needed to talk to someone about her decision, and her mother was it.
“Mom? Hi. It’s Margie.”
“Hi, honey. What’s going on?” Violet had clear concern in her voice.
Margie focused on the horizon where the water met the sky. Her ability to speak vanished once she heard Violet’s voice. Had she called because she needed her mother to fix things like when she was a small child? When had her life become such a mess she couldn’t manage it on her own?
“Margaret? You’re scaring me. What’s wrong? Is it one of the kids?”
Violet’s anxiety forced words from Margie’s lips. “No, Mom. The kids are fine. I… it’s me. I…”
“You and Gabriel broke up.”
The quiet understanding from her mother almost broke her. Sobs wracked her body. There was no strength left to keep her standing, and Margie dropped to the sand. Fisting her right hand, the ground received the continued impact of her rage and hurt.
“Why? Why did he have to cheat on me? What is wrong with me that men can’t seem to be faithful?” she wailed.
“I don’t know, honey. Scott was an all-out ass. But Gabriel? Are you positive he did what you are accusing him of doing?”
“Someone gave me a video. Gabriel was getting a blow job.” She closed her eyes against the embarrassment of discussing sex with her mother, especially something so personal.
“I’m sorry.”
“Mom, I want to leave Palm Coast. Go somewhere and start over.”
Silence greeted her declaration.
“Mom?”
“I’m still here.” Another long pause filled the airwaves between them. “Are you sure this is what you want to do?”
“I’m sure. I can’t be here anymore. Living next to Gabriel, seeing him on a daily basis, and then eventually watching him bring women back to his house…it will kill me. I love him so damned much.”
“What about the kids? Do you think it is fair to them to remove them from school to start over? They’ve lived here all their lives.”
“No. I know it isn’t fair. But the boys will adjust. Kaley, I’m not so sure about.” Margie dusted her palm down the length of her shirt. “I don’t want to uproot her one year into high school, but what choice do I have? Maybe she should live with you and Dad for the next few years.”
“Oh, Margaret. Have you even talked to Kaley about this?”
“Not yet. I just decided.”
“You think she’ll rebel.” It wasn’t a question.
“I do. Mom, Kaley is devastated by my breakup with Gabriel. She blames me. Again.” Margie closed her eyes against the pain. “We’d finally gotten on solid footing, and now this.”
“She’s a teenager. When she grows up and has relationship issues of her own, she’ll understand,” Violet consoled her. “For now, know that every parent embarrasses their child from about the age of thirteen to twenty-three. You only have about eight more years of her contempt.”
Margie snorted, caught between amuse
ment and despair. “I love you, Mom. I’m so sorry if I put you through anything like that.”
“Oh, you did. You were my know-it-all child. But look how well you turned out?” Violet laughed. “And, because I love you, I’d do it all again in an instant.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. And, honey? The fault isn’t with you. It’s with the men you pick. There is absolutely nothing wrong with you. Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” Margie whispered.
“What? I didn’t hear you.”
Margie rolled her eyes. Of course, her mother had heard her. Violet was simply trying to infuse Margie’s spine with steel. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Yes!”
“Good. That’s my girl. I’m glad to see you have your backbone in place.” Violet sighed on her end of the line. “I’m not convinced you leaving is the right thing to do, but I will support you in any decision you make.”
“Have I told you I think you are the best mother on the planet?”
“Yes, but I don’t mind hearing it again.”
After she hung up, Margie sat, arms hugging her knees, and stared out to sea. She knew uprooting her daughter might cause a breach in their relationship they might never get beyond. Yet finding a resolution right then was beyond her capability.
A text from Gabriel flashed across the screen of her phone.
“Where are you? Kaley is packing and talking about leaving. I think you should get home. I’m trying to stall her.”
After typing out she was on her way, Margie stood and dusted the sand from the seat of her shorts. An echo of some long-buried instinct triggered a warning, and the hair on the back of her neck lifted.
“Margie.”
Startled by the voice, she pivoted to see who’d addressed her.
The satisfied smirk on Don’s face confused her. Before she could reason how he knew she had come to this stretch of beach, he lifted his arm toward her. The current from the taser knocked her flat. As she lay there, helpless, Margie felt a pinprick on her bicep.
