Just as Stubborn

by Jeanne Arnold

  He released my neck, tipped his hat, and walked off, leaving me shivering.

  I watched him round the corner and just as soon as he was out of my sight, Gabe made a beeline at me. A wave of uneasiness coursed through my body. They must have passed without a word. It was a blessed miracle.

  “What are you doing out here?” He stopped under the overhang and watched my drenched figure get even more drenched. “Get out of the damn rain.”

  I ran for cover as if I became unfrozen from a spell. Gabe took my hand and raised his brows in question.

  “What was he doing with you? Why are you standing in the rain?”

  I shook my head and let my hair spit raindrops all over his new shirt. “It feels good,” I told him breathlessly. “You should try it.”

  “He shouldn’t have left Deliah alone in there,” Gabe said.

  “She’s fine. She’s calling all her friends.”

  “To tell them what? That she’s an oil barrenness and her kingdom’s called her back?”

  I hit him in the chest.

  “Suddenly you’re funny, but I know what’s coming when we go home. You guys better work something out. Deliah can’t just walk in and make herself at home. She doesn’t even know what to expect. Your father doesn’t like me. Think how he’ll be when he learns you found her.”

  Gabe set his elbow against the wall and scowled. “I’m not talking to Caleb about nothing.”

  “That’s mature,” I pointed out. “You’d be a lot better off if you talked to him about everything. The same stuff happened to both of you.”

  Gabe grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to the wall. I gasped when he pressed my wet shoulder against the cement.

  “I’d be a lot better off if you came back to the room, Av’ry.”

  “Only if you’re in a better mood.”

  “I’m in a fine mood,” he stressed.

  I closed my eyes when his hand rolled over my hip and locked me against the wall. I was dripping from head to toe. He didn’t appear to mind as his fingers inched under my sticky shirt.

  “This reminds me of you knocking at the coop all dripping wet in that storm back in Williston. I wanted you then.”

  My eyes flew open, and I glared at his coy expression. He had to be kidding.

  “You did not. You were so not interested.”

  “I was interested,” he said as though he was amazed I wasn’t aware of that piece of information. “I was picturing you without the wet clothes.”

  “Well, you deserve an award for great acting,” I told him. “Sure wish I’d known.”

  “I deserve a lot of things,” he said with a curled lip.

  I let my eyes wander to his broad chest, his arms. His biceps filled his short sleeves nicely. He lifted a hand to his face and rubbed his perfect jaw.

  It took everything in me not to touch the soft curve of his mouth with my fingertips. I knew he was trying to be funny in spite of his epic day. Still, I didn’t plan to put up with another mood swing.

  “What is it you think you deserve?” I asked.

  I heard him snicker under his breath. He reached out and brazenly tapped the center of my chest with his pointy finger.

  “You want a list?”

  His finger curled up boldly and he tugged on the fabric, his eyes never leaving my face.

  I turned away before I could blush. I lifted the hem of my top shirt and pulled it over my head really fast. Before I was out of his sight, I made an underhand toss his way and limped quickly to the entrance.

  Caleb was waiting behind the glass doors inside the lobby. He tipped his cowboy hat in my direction. My insides summersaulted until I tasted bitterness in my mouth. His eyes were all over me. I would have bet my piggy bank he was waiting for trouble to round the corner.

  Gabe snuck up behind me to thread his arms through mine. He slid the key card into the slot and pulled open the interior door. When he looked up, I sensed him tense.

  “What’s he doing? Don’t talk to him.” He took my wet shirt and covered the front of my tank top.

  I wanted to argue, but I knew it would be a waste of breath.

  Gabe walked me right past his brother, treating him like an inanimate object. My lips pursed as Caleb lifted his hat off his head.

  “Think about me,” he whispered huskily and placed his hat on his chest.

  * * *

  “Lock it,” Gabe said as he sat down on the bed and heaved one boot off. “Don’t think I didn’t hear him back there.”

  I folded the curvy, gold thingamajig over the lock on the door and tried to pretend I didn’t hear either of them.

  “I’m soaked. I’m going to change.”

  “Not that top,” he said, catching my eye.

  The second boot hit its target on the wall and fell to the ground.

  I rolled my eyes and swept by him. He stretched his arm across the bed and snagged my shirt.

  “Sit. You’re always rollin’ your eyes.”

  “I’m not your little sister, Gabe. You can’t make me sit in the corner.”

  He pried the bag out of my hand and set it on the bed. I took a seat in spite of myself.

  “Don’t be so sure.”

  Gabe slid in beside me and set his chin on my bare shoulder. I stared at his hand on my arm. My lips bit together, and I attempted to exhale my breath without being terribly obvious about my enthusiasm when his other hand pushed the strap of my top to my elbow.

  “Do you know what you’re doing?” I meant to be funny, but my voice cracked.

  “This ain’t my first rodeo,” he told me, tugging the shirt down. The sticky fabric stuck to my skin. “You’re the one who just fell off the turnip truck.”

  “You say the craziest things,” I laughed.

  “I love turnips,” he said into my neck. His lips tickled my skin enough to make my shoulders twitch.

  “God, I hate them. They taste like dirt. Must be a Texas thing,” I muttered.

  “Nah, I never had a turnip in my whole life. I meant I love this.” His hand wrapped around my middle and I tensed.

  “Stop looking at me,” I whispered and tried not to laugh.

  “Sweet mercy, Av’ry Ross. I can’t. You’re incredible,” he said. “I wanna see the goods.”

  A draft hit my back, and Gabe tossed his wet T-shirt onto the side table. My nerves buzzed with anticipation, so much that I could feel painful shivers multiply over my skin. The tiny hairs that covered my body tickled with electricity.

  I covered up self-consciously as the pounding in my chest hastened.

  “Aw don’t do that. I live for the days when you don’t wear a bra,” he whispered and turned to face me as I tried to subtly study his flawless profile, the cambers of his chest. I was elated that he even noticed.

  My zealous heartbeat stopped cold at the first thud. It knocked again. Interruption had become part of our ritual.

  “I’m gonna kill him,” Gabe yelled. He got off the bed and pressed his eye into the hole in the door before I heard another knock.

  “Where’s Caleb?” Gabe asked Deliah as she strolled into the room and looked around before letting her eyes land on me.

  “Oh brother,” she said and chuckled into her fist. I was fixing the straps on my shirt.

  “Where is he now?” he repeated. “Why does he keep leaving you alone?”

  “He ran into a friend. He said he needed the room. You guys are bad influences on me already.”

  Gabe retreated to the lounge chair and threw a leg over the side. “I bet he found a friend. But what’d I do that’s so wrong?”

  “You drive like an idiot!” she shrieked.

  I was relieved she wasn’t Caleb, yet to look at Gabe shirtless and calm made me wish she would leave.

  “You can stay in here,” he offered, glancing at me with an apologetic eye. Then he set his hat on his lap. “You’re what…thirteen? When’s your birthday?”

  “June. Are you trying to figure out when I was conceived? They were obvious
ly still doing it.”

  Gabe’s eyebrows came together. He looked amused and annoyed. “What do you know about that?”

  “Enough to make you blush,” she said confidently. “I know you two were playing doctor and nurse before I walked in.”

  Gabe sat up tall and scratched his head. “You better not have a boyfriend.”

  “Why can’t she have a boyfriend?” I cut in. I knew I could play with him a little.

  He stuck his chin out at me. “She’s a kid. She’s a girl. You think she should have a boyfriend at her age?”

  I pulled his T-shirt over my head and patted the bed for Deliah to join me. “Yep. She’s beautiful and smart. Why not?”

  “Hey, thanks,” she said. “I have a boyfriend. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

  “Keep it that way,” Gabe snapped.

  He pulled a wrapper out of his pocket and popped something orange into his mouth.

  “Where are we all gonna sleep?” Deliah asked. “Are you still mad about the truck?”

  He scowled. She didn’t ask again.

  I decided to change, and Gabe followed me to the bathroom. I blocked his entrance with the bag slung over my shoulder.

  “I’m not sleeping in a chair,” he whispered. “I’m the one who paid for this room and that bed.”

  “Call the main desk and ask them to bring a cot. You’ll get your money’s worth that way. My mother does it so I don’t have to sleep with my sister in hotels.”

  I brushed my shoulder against his bare chest and pushed into the bathroom. The door clicked shut and then Gabe opened it into me.

  “Gabe? What are you doing?”

  “Uh…getting my money’s worth like you said.”

  I pushed the door into him so he was stuck. “Now? Your sister’s out there.”

  He slipped free and locked the door behind him.

  “So? I didn’t ask for her to be born,” he drawled as he pulled my bag off my shoulder and dared to lift me onto the counter before I tried to kick him in the thigh with my good leg. He was stronger than me and held down my legs.

  “She knows where you went.”

  “Do I look like I care?” His eyes darkened pointedly. The greenish flecks looked almost black in the glow from the nightlight.

  “You should get to know her.” I squirmed in his clutch as he leaned in with a serious look. The tip of his nose almost touched mine.

  “I know enough.”

  We were the same height. He pressed down on my knees to make me slide closer.

  “I hate your jeans,” he told me.

  “Thanks. I hate yours too.”

  He blinked and stepped back. Seconds later, his pants fell down to his knees.

  “Gabe,” I said in a laughing snort when I got a look at his green boxer briefs. Maybe they were blue. In the dark, I couldn’t be sure. “Put your pants back on.”

  The bulb above the mirror flickered when I turned it on. He shook his head and sighed dramatically. His jeans puddled at his ankles. He pulled them back up and stepped to the counter.

  “No.” I pushed on his chest and tried to hold steady against his strength. His heart beat into my palm, and my own heart galloped in response. “Deliah’s probably got her ear pressed to the door.”

  “Then when?” he wheezed his sweet candy breath. I stopped pushing him. His hands ironed the T-shirt against my back. I closed my eyes and inhaled at his hair as his mouth connected with the area just below my ear. “I’ll wait ’til we’re home, but I get everything else I want until we lose the girl.”

  Gabe’s insistent lips assaulted mine as I thought up my clever response too late. Lucky for him it was a mere second before I let go of my plot to thrust him away. His voracious lips stole my good reason along with silencing my will and my stubbornness. His kiss was more than a kiss. It was a promise that he wasn’t going to settle for just a kiss. His promise tasted like orange Starburst.

  I held his shoulders firmly to express my consent. His skin reminded me of velvet marble under my fingertips. I ran my hand around his neck and into his hair as his hands dared to jam into the back of my jeans and into the elastic band. I tensed, afraid if I didn’t let him touch me, he’d stop kissing and the euphoria would vanish.

  But he didn’t stop. He deepened the kiss all the way to the most extreme level, putting more pressure and ache into my lips than ever before.

  “See?” he breathed when he pulled back to study my face. “You want more too. More of me.”

  A knock on the bathroom door ended his thought. It was more of a fingernail tap, but it interrupted our marathon nonetheless.

  “I opened the window a little. I can’t sleep without a window open. But I won’t jump out and run away. Just thought I’d let you know,” she said. “It’s still raining out.”

  Gabe dropped his chin to his chest in defeat but looked up through his lashes. I shook my head and grinned.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked, still holding onto my backside.

  I angled into his ear and released my breath. “What you said before she interrupted—I want more.”

  * * *

  “Your father was asking for you at the desk,” the woman told Gabe in a strong southern accent as she wheeled the roller cot into the room. “I’m not supposed to give out information about guests, but I wasn’t sure if it was urgent. He said he was looking for his sons.”

  “Your father’s here?” I asked.

  “No, he wouldn’t step foot in a dump like this before he knocked it down and rebuilt it to his taste. What did he look like? Like me only meaner?”

  The lady stared at Gabe’s face.

  “Does he? Do you have a picture?” Deliah butted in. She snatched Gabe’s wallet off the dresser and headed to the bed.

  “Nah. I don’t got a picture of him. He gives me nightmares,” he told Deliah. Then he answered the attendant, “My dad? Can’t be him.”

  “Yes, sir. He knew your name,” she replied.

  Gabe’s brows knitted together. “What exactly did he look like?”

  “He does look just like him only older,” I raised my hand to Gabe’s height to show her.

  “And full of himself,” Gabe said laughing. He leaned into the window to check out the parking lot.

  “Oh no,” said the woman as she appraised the tall build in front of her. I could tell even though she was my mother’s age that she thought Gabriel Halden was a god. “He was shorter. My apologies.” When she left her cheeks were pink.

  “Gimme my wallet back.” Gabe swiped the item from Deliah’s hand. “You really are a wallet thief.”

  “What if it was Leon?” Deliah asked. “He could be here. We should hide.”

  “Didn’t you say he had no brains?” Gabe replied, flicking the curtain closed. “He couldn’t have kept up. I’m sure I lost him at the border. I was flooring it. It was probably somebody who recognized us. My dad’s on the news a lot. Probably some media jerk was sniffing out a story.”

  I shrugged when Deliah glanced at me questioningly. I hoped he was right.

  “This is crap. Tell me you don’t watch this stuff,” Gabe said to Deliah after I showered and returned. I braided her hair on the bed while she flipped through the channels and landed on a reality show. Gabe lounged on the cot with a paperback and a bag of candy on his chest, even though he threatened to send her back to Caleb’s brothel if she didn’t let us share the bed.

  “Is our dad really mean?” Deliah asked.

  Gabe grunted. “Having second thoughts? I’d be a little afraid if I was you.”

  “I’m not having second thoughts. Why do you think he didn’t want me? Does he not like girls?” she asked.

  “Oh, he likes girls alright,” he replied.

  “He loves Aunt Meggie,” I said. My chest tightened. I worried Gabe couldn’t handle her questions.

  “Why’d my mom not want me?” Gabe asked. “Man, they’re a sorry, messed-up pair of screwed up people. You’re better off not knowing him. I’m b
etter off not knowing her.”

  I slept soundly until I heard the clunk. I lifted my head in the dark and glanced at the clock to see it was after midnight. Right away, I wondered if Gabe was trying to get my attention or lure me into the bathroom. Then I thought Deliah was escaping, but it was Gabe’s boot that slipped on the air-conditioning unit under the hotel drapes. I wasn’t completely sure what he was doing or if I was fully awake and witnessing him climb out of our window.

  “Gabe?” My voice croaked. He didn’t answer as his foot disappeared. I was momentarily stunned until my legs moved and lifted me off the bed. Deliah didn’t stir when I called again. I shuffled to the window and tried not to stub my toes in the dark.

  “Where are you going?” I separated the curtains to see rain pouring out of the sky. I scanned the lot before I drew my eyes to Gabe crouching at the headlight of the Mustang. He was drenched, his hair plastered to his face. He looked up and gave me a pained expression. I called his name again and watched as he placed a finger on his lips.

  I let the open curtains fall until I was peering out a sliver of space between them.

  Was he playing with Caleb?

  In the corner of my eye, I spotted a man walk around Caleb’s truck. He crouched in the rain at the truck bed. I tried to guess what Gabe would do.

  Before I could decide if I should find Caleb, Gabe straightened up and bellowed, “What the hell do you think you’re doing there?”

  The man froze and listened. Gabe stood tall at the far end of the car. I gasped when the man took off around the truck. Gabe tackled him onto the hood of the Mustang. It was instantaneous. I didn’t blink. I couldn’t trust my eyes. My throat swelled. Words didn’t leave my mouth, though I screamed in my head. My hands wouldn’t lift off the air conditioner, nor would my feet take a step.

  Gabe wrestled the guy and then slipped away to bolt to the other side of the car and get in. The man caught him in the shoulder and they grasped and swung at one another.

  My legs wobbled. My palms perspired at my side.

  “I wanted the kid…but you’ll do. I know who your father is. He’ll pay a pretty penny for one of you hotshots,” the guy shouted.