“Yeah.”
She took a bite of noodles, which had a greasy taste since they had gotten cold. She made a face and pushed the plate away.
“Go get something else. Or if you wish we can leave. We can stop for something on the way or order a pizza like you suggested earlier.”
She wondered why he was so adamant about making her come in here if he was willing to let her leave now, but put it off, like she was beginning to believe she’d have to put so much about Gabe off. She didn’t want to believe that he’d dragged her into the restaurant so that she could be humiliated, but it was suddenly hard to believe that he hadn’t.
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
“Okay. One other stop and then we’ll go to the motel my beautiful Brandy.”
“Okay.”
She followed him to the register and waited while he paid the check. He held the door for her on the way out, and she couldn’t help but think that Chad had never bothered.
Once they were back in the truck, he said “Stop anywhere you’d like for food if you wish. Then stop at the convenience store on Third Street. I’ll give you directions to the motel once we’re done at the store.”
“Okay.”
She pulled out of the lot and headed towards the convenience store, realizing that she felt pretty comfortable behind the wheel.
When she pulled up at the store he said “Do you want to go in with me? Or do you want anything?”
She shook her head. “I’ll stay here and smoke a cigarette. Will you buy me cigarettes please? And a big orange juice and a pint of mint brownie ice cream if they have it?”
Gabe smiled. “Of course. What kind of cigarettes do you smoke?”
“I don’t care really. I usually smoke the cheap kind. But get lights please.”
“Yes darling.” He leaned over and kissed her. “We’re going to have such a wonderful time together Brandy.”
“Yeah.”
She watched him walk to the store, thinking that she very much liked the view when Gabe walked away. But she sighed as she lit a cigarette, wondering how she was going to keep her cravings for coke at bay until he got her into rehab.
Gabe was in the store for several minutes, and she was beginning to get bored. When she finally saw him reach the counter, he spent several minutes talking and laughing with the guy behind the counter.
Gabe came back to the truck, got in and sat the bag on the console. “Are you sure you don’t want to get something to eat?”
“Um, do you think I could have a calzone from that Italian place? They have really good cheesecake, too.”
“Of course. I’ll help you burn the calories.” He winked at her. “So the motel we’re headed to is the Brentwood. Take a left out of the lot. Then go down the main drag until it turns into the highway. Then it’s about a mile up on the right. I’ll let you know when we’re getting close.”
“Okay.”
Before they reached the motel, she expected it to be a low rent place like the places she and Chad had stayed at when they couldn’t find an apartment. But no, she thought as she pulled into the lot, this place looked nicer than any room she’d ever stayed in.
Gabe left her in the car when he rented the room. He returned a few minutes later with a key. He opened the driver’s door of the truck, taking her hand and helping her out. She grabbed the bag from the store and followed to him a room on the corner of the first floor.
When he unlocked the door, Brandy saw that the room was even nicer than she had thought it would be. The bed was huge. There was a flat screen TV mounted on the wall and a coffee pot and mini fridge set up by the desk in the corner. She walked into the bathroom and saw a huge bathtub. There were several sample size hygienic products on the counter. Two white robes hung on the other side of the door on hooks.
“This place is so nice Gabe.”
He chuckled. “You should see the places that my wife likes to stay in. This is nothing compared to them. I ordered your food. It should be here in a half hour or so. I called the rehab center. They can get you in two days from now. I’ll have you all to myself until then. Tomorrow we’ll go shopping for whatever you need. We can also look for a new place for you. Make sure you’ll have furniture and everything you need when you get out of rehab. Brandy, is there anything you want, that you need right now? Would you like to bathe?”
“Yeah. The tub looks so nice.”
“I’d offer to help you, but I don’t think it would do much good for me to be in there with you when they deliver your food.”
“Probably not. Thank you Gabe.”
“You are so welcome darling. Go, I’ll put your snacks in the fridge.”
She took her time in the bathtub. She heard a knock at the door and heard Gabe open it. She could smell her food. It smelled so good that she decided it was time to get out of the tub.
She drained the bath and then dried herself off with a fluffy towel that she was tempted to steal. Then she wrapped herself in the smaller robe and went out to the main room.
“Feel better love?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Sit. Eat.”
He picked up the remote and flipped through the channels while she ate her food. It was so good that she ate the whole calzone and finished the full slice of cheesecake, though she normally only ate half because whenever she and Chad ordered them they had to split one.
She lay back on the bed and lit a cigarette with a contented sigh.
Gabe chuckled. “I told you I’d take good care of you didn’t I?” He opened her robe and kissed her neck, her cleavage, and then her inner thigh. “I plan on taking very good care of you tonight. And tomorrow night. And many nights after.”
“Yeah. Gabe, is it true? Do you like to do it in the bathroom at the bar?”
He laughed. “In the bathroom, in my office, in the booths, on top of the bar, even in the walk in cooler. I’ll take you places you’ve never been Brandy. And you’ll love it.”
“But don’t you think it’s kind of gross to do it in places like that?”
He leaned over and took the cigarette from her hand, taking a drag before he put it out in the ashtray. “Sex is only gross if you let it be. You like sex don’t you?”
“Well, I liked it with you. I liked it with Chad sometimes too, but not all the time. I hardly ever liked it when I did it when I was a teenager. I just did it to get these guys to like me, and all I did was end up pregnant.”
“Where is your son now Brandy?”
She looked at him, trying to remember if she had told him her child was a boy. She racked her brain but couldn’t remember whether she had or not. She must have right, she thought?
“He lives with the Perrys. I don’t know where. I think they moved again. They adopted him right after he was born. My parents didn’t want him.”
“That’s so sad. Did you want your child Brandy?”
“I don’t know. My parents said I was too immature. They were probably right.”
“They should have at least given you a chance my love. Do you see your son?”
“Not very often. I used to talk to him sometimes on his birthday and stuff. Gabe, not to be rude, but can we just do it? I really don’t want to talk about my kid. It hurts to even think about, sometimes.”
“Oh Brandy, my poor wounded darling. Come here.”
He took her into his arms. She wanted to cry suddenly, but she bit it back, like she always did when she thought of Joey.
Gabe pulled away several minutes later and kissed her, reaching to undo the knot she’d made in the sash of the robe. “What would you like me to do to you Brandy?”
“I don’t know. Whatever you want, I guess.”
Gabe chuckled. “We’ll save that for later, after you get to know me a little better.” He leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Would you like that Brandy?”
She made a face. “No. It sounds nasty.”
“How about this?” He whispered in her ear again.
“I g
uess. It sounds interesting. Better than the last one.”
“And this?” He whispered in her ear and then feathered a trail of kisses down her neck.
“Yeah. That sounds nice.”
“Good. If you don’t like something I’m doing to you, tell me. And don’t be afraid to tell me if you do like what I’m doing.” Gabe looked at her with eyes that were turning dark with lust. “Don’t be afraid to do or say anything when you’re with me Brandy. Promise me.”
“I promise.”
Gabe made love to her for what seemed like half the night. By the time he had tired enough to fall asleep, she was exhausted. She was also more satisfied sexually than she’d ever been in her life.
She sat up in bed, smoking a cigarette and watching Gabe sleep. He was snoring. She found it to be adorable for some reason, though it had driven her crazy on the nights when Chad snored. Brandy wondered briefly if she could fool herself into believing that every night with Gabe would be like this one. He’d been all about her pleasure and had given her more orgasms than she’d thought was possible.
With the way he seemed to switch back and forth between tenderness and being dirty and sometimes downright nasty though, she couldn’t help but think that it wouldn’t last. He’d screwed her in his truck and called her a slut, then made love to her like no man ever had hours later. Hell, Brandy thought, even when he was screwing her it had been like no man she’d ever been with. But she had a feeling that there was much more of the nasty side to Gabe than there really was the tender.
She leaned over and put out her cigarette, brushing a kiss against the side of his neck. He rolled over and pulled her head onto his chest. “Get some sleep love. We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow.”
“Okay. Goodnight Gabe.”
“Goodnight my beautiful Brandy.”
She fell asleep shortly after.
Chapter 2
When Brady awoke the next morning, she found that Gabe was lying on the bed staring at her. She found it to be rather creepy and turned to the nightstand to reach for a cigarette. He stopped her and leaned over and gave her a kiss. It disgusted her a little that he stuck his tongue in her mouth when she had morning breath, but it didn’t seem to bother him.
“Good morning beautiful. Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah.”
She reached over a grabbed a cigarette and lit it, taking it with her to the bathroom. She used the toilet, washed her hands and rinsed her mouth with mouthwash.
When she returned to the bedroom, Gabe was dressed. “Where would you like to eat breakfast Brandy?”
She yawned and stretched. “I don’t usually eat breakfast. Chad and I usually only ate one meal a day. Of course, we didn’t usually have a lot of money. I wanted to go to work a long time ago but he said no. I think he wanted me to sit there and look cute when guys came to buy drugs. He’s not a very good drug dealer.”
Gabe frowned. “That’s not really a bad thing is it?”
“I guess not. He didn’t sell to kids or anything like that. When you’re a drug dealer at least you’re honest. Well, I mean not all the time obviously. But I always kinda thought it was better than some jobs. Jobs where you tell someone one thing to their face and then stab them in the back. There was this social worker that came to talk to me when I was pregnant with Joey. Man was she a two faced bitch. I told her some stuff in confidence. Then she went and told my parents all this stuff and she blew it out of proportion too. She even lied about some stuff. She was trying to tell her supervisor that I had sex for the first time when I was fourteen because my dad had molested me and I was confused. I never told her anything like that. He believed her too. Of course I think he would have believed anything she said. You could tell that he wanted to screw her. I was afraid they were gonna shove me in a foster home until my mom called up this lawyer that runs these ads that say he eats Child Protective Services workers for breakfast. They never came back after that.”
“I wouldn’t call drug dealing a noble profession, but I believe you’re right. There are many careers where you’re not always loved by the general public. Are you sure you’re not hungry? We can go anywhere you’d like. There’s a wonderful diner that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner all day back in town. Then we can go shopping.”
“Um, sure.”
Gabe reached for his shoes. “Get dressed.”
Brandy dressed and then she followed him out the door. He handed her the keys when they got to the truck. She unlocked the doors and got behind the wheel. Gabe gave her directions to the diner that he was talking about. She had eaten there with Chad on the morning that they’d pulled into town. She was really getting tired of the memories of him that seemed to bite her in the ass wherever she looked in Brunton, but she figured it was better not to mention it to Gabe.
Gabe greeted the waitress that had a nametag that read “Shellene”. They were seated at a booth in the back. Gabe insisted on sitting next to her, and wouldn’t stop trying to move his hand into her lap. Brandy slapped him after he did it the third time and gave him a dirty look.
“Stop it. How can you be so horny after what we did last night?”
Gabe chuckled. “You are so beautiful. So mouthwatering. I should have made love to you before we left.”
Brandy rolled her eyes. “I’m really horny sometimes, but I’m not that horny. Keep your hands to yourself. We’re not fourteen and exploring our sexuality in the back seat of your big brother’s car while he’s up front going at it with his nasty girlfriend.”
“I assume that’s how you lost your virginity?”
“Yeah. It was disgusting. This chick smelled like rotten fish and he. . . Oh, it makes me want to throw up just thinking about it.”
“Not a pleasant situation.”
“Not at all.” The waitress returned with their drinks and took their food orders. Once the waitress had walked away again, she said “How did you lose your virginity?”
“It was not a nice situation either I’m afraid.”
“Tell me. I already told you my nasty no longer a virgin story.”
Gabe sighed. “I had a terrible crush on this girl. She wasn’t popular, but she was smart and very beautiful. Of course I wasn’t even in her league. My family was dirt poor, and I never had new clothes. Everything was patched or homemade. My mother wasn’t much of a seamstress. I took so much crap from other guys in my class until I beat the shit out of a couple of them for saying things that were ridiculous about my stepfather and my sister. I found out they were true later on, and beat the shit out of him too, but that’s another story. So as I was saying, I had such a thing for this girl. Her name was Kara. I’d asked her out many times, but she’d always turned me down. Finally, towards the end of our junior year, she said she’d go out with me but that we had to keep it quiet. She had an older brother who was a senior at our school. But he was popular and she knew that he would spread terrible rumors if he knew we were going out. We spent much of our time together at my house. No one seemed to know about our relationship. My mother had taken my sister out shopping with her. It was the first time that we had really been alone together other than in the backseat of my car. And when we were alone then it was only in my driveway because I rarely had money for gas. Kara offered to pay for it so that we could at least go to the local make out spot, but I didn’t want to take her money. So, we were alone in my bedroom and we had gotten to the heavy petting stage. She had let me make her come with my hand once, but I’d never let her bring me to orgasm. It seemed so cheap to me at the time. Silly I know, but it’s the way I felt as a seventeen year old boy. I had a condom other than the one that’s in my wallet right now. She found it and told me that she wanted to make love. I was thrilled, but I was so nervous that I didn’t think that there was any way I’d be able to perform, especially since I had no idea how long my mother and sister were going to be gone. Kara finally convinced me, but it was only a few minutes after I had entered her when there was a flash of light outside my win
dow. We lived in a beat up trailer at the time. My window was open and the curtains were too, since it was a warm night. Kara told me to ignore it and keep on going because she liked the way it felt. Of course I did too, so I didn’t stop. I was almost at orgasm when the flash of light got brighter and right in my face. I came because I was so startled, but Kara screamed. It was her brother who had made the flash of light. He’d been taking pictures of us. The last time he’d stuck the camera right through the open window and into my house. He’d found out we were dating by chance, and had been waiting for a chance to humiliate us both. Their parents favored Kara because she was smart and sweet and kind. Seth was a jerk who had already gotten two women pregnant. One of them was a married woman that lived in their neighborhood. He was barely able to graduate with his grades. Kara had already been offered the chance to graduate early.”
Gabe shook his head. “Sibling rivalry.” He paused again when the waitress returned with their food. He thanked her and gave her a bright smile and a wink. Brandy was almost positive that the woman put a little extra shake in her walk when she went back to the kitchen. She fought an eye roll as she waited for Gabe to continue. “Kara was humiliated. She never talked to me again, and went to live with her aunt and finish school there. I beat the shit out of Seth and took all the pictures that he’d taken, but it was already too late. He’d shown them to everyone that would look. I was even more of a laughingstock. I didn’t bother to ask another girl out until after I had finished high school and was the hell away from that town. Then I met Leslie. And the rest as they say is history.”
Brandy took a bite of her pancakes, swallowed and then said “You seemed to have some anger issues in high school. You told me that you beat up three guys and your stepdad. How many more were there Gabe?”
Gabe chuckled. “A few. And some in elementary school and middle school as well.”
“Huh. Do you have your anger managed now?”
“Mostly.”
“Well, you’d better not try to take your anger out on me. ‘Cause I will fight back. I may not look like much, but the one time that Chad thought he was going to hit me, I beat him to it and hit him first. My dad used to smack my mom around until one day she got tired of it and beat the crap out of him. I don’t think he’s thought twice about hitting her since.”
Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set Page 42
