Gabriel's Secret: A Vampire's Obsession: Book 1

by Rylai, Stephanie

  After a while of holding back, Olivia began to cry as her face hit the pillow. She brought the blankets to her face to muffle the sobs. She mentally cursed herself for letting a man she didn’t even know get to her so much.

  How was it possible for Gabriel to get under her skin so quickly? Even though Olivia tried to tell herself that it was just because he had made a fool of her, she knew it was more than that. Despite the aloofness, there was something to Gabriel that Olivia couldn’t put her finger on. And perhaps for a moment, just a moment, she convinced herself that there could potentially be something real between the two of them, something special. Undoubtedly it had been naïve for her to think that. Perhaps Kent had been right all along; maybe no one else would ever want her.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Olivia hadn’t been in the mood to talk to anyone since being stood up by Gabriel, she hadn’t even found the strength to admit to Emily what happened. So the following day was rough, especially with having to force herself to talk to customers at work.

  While Olivia would have never labeled herself as a people-person, she certainly didn’t usually hold the contempt she felt for them that day. Every little thing a customer or coworker did just worsened her mood. It was like the one glimpse of hope she had about moving on with her life had been crushed, and her lowest point in life thus far had been reaffirmed.

  Never had Olivia felt so relieved to be off work once she clocked out. Emily was working the evening shift, so she wouldn’t be home to pester her about the previous evening. Honestly, Olivia didn’t want to talk about it; she just wanted to get over it in her own time and in her own way.

  She returned home and showered, then slipped on a pair of sweatpants and a camisole. Olivia had been out of ‘breakup mode’ for a couple of weeks, rededicating herself to starting anew—but feeling the sting of rejection yet again left her uncaring about much of anything. She just wanted to wallow in sadness for a while longer until Emily forced her to shape back up.

  After a few hours of watching sad movies on Netflix, Olivia found herself severely deficient of wine and ice cream. It took her a while to even convince herself to stand up, but eventually she did. She walked into her room to grab her handbag when she caught a glimpse of her appearance in her vanity mirror. She looked like a complete slob, but Olivia couldn’t find herself caring enough to change completely. After a few moments of just staring at her own reflection, she convinced herself to at least put on a pair of jeans.

  Pulling on a pair of dark denim skinny jeans and a pair of solid black Vans, Olivia mumbled to herself good enough, and took to the door. At least the doorman wouldn’t judge her too much. Olivia found herself fussing with her hair on the elevator ride down to the lobby. So perhaps she did still care about her appearance, at least a bit.

  As she stepped outside her phone began ringing. She didn’t even have to look at it to know who it was. Emily was at work, and it was ten o’clock at night so her mother would be in bed. The only person it could be, and typically the only person who ever called her, was Kent. Quickly digging through her bag as she walked towards the sidewalk, Olivia silenced her phone. He was the last person on the planet she wanted to speak to, and with how late it was she knew she would have a valid excuse for not answering him. How pathetic was she? She still let an ex have control over her… She shook her head as she glanced up to point herself in the direction of the market.

  “Hey,” someone said from the side of her, making her jump.

  Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes went wide from the surprise, looking to see who it was.

  At the sight, her heart plummeted into her stomach. Gabriel.

  “I knew I should have stopped at the corner when you walked me home,” she grumbled, “Leave me alone.”

  Olivia then took a few quick strides in hopes of putting some distance between him.

  But with a few long, effortless strides, Gabriel caught up to her.

  “I’m sorry for leaving last night. I wanted to come in and tell you—”

  “Save it. I don’t care,” Olivia interrupted him, taking another few strides ahead of him.

  Once again, though, he closed the distance.

  “Please, I just wanted to tell you that—”

  Olivia glared at him, “I don’t want your excuses. You made me look like a fool while I waited around for nearly an hour for you to return. I fell for whatever you were trying to pull once, and it’s not going to happen again. Whatever you are wanting to tell me, save it. I thought I wasn’t going to see you ever again so whatever you say won’t change a thing.”

  “Well if it won’t change anything, why not let me say it?” he questioned her, keeping up with her easily as she continued to try and get away from him.

  Why in the world was he being so persistent?

  “Because I don’t want to hear it!” Olivia snapped at him.

  “Please for the love of God, Olivia, just hear me out,” Gabriel begged her, reaching for her arm but she snatched it away and turned to face him.

  Her face was carved into a guise of vexation.

  “Why do you care so much?” she questioned. “Even if I entertained your apology for a mere second, it wouldn’t explain who you are and why you’re so interested in me. Why are you interested, Gabriel? Will you tell me that?”

  She was met with only silence, Gabriel staring at her with pained eyes before staring away from her.

  Olivia scoffed and shook her head, “That’s what I thought. While you’re wrapped in a handsome exterior, you give nothing to a conversation. I know nothing about you but your name. I’m not going to befriend or pursue a person I know nothing about.”

  Olivia turned to walk away, but when she did, she was faced with his collarbone.

  He loomed over her just like the buildings around them, his intense, almost silver eyes staring deep into hers. Tension was birthed into the air between them, Olivia feeling that static yet again between them. His pale hands were hesitant to reach to her, grabbing her shoulders gently.

  “You couldn’t understand even if I tried to explain myself and my past to you, Olivia. It’s muddled in concepts and a certain type of darkness not many have seen… I wouldn’t be capable of finding the words to even begin to explain any of it,” he breathed to her, his face just a few inches from hers, his neck craned down to maintain eye contact with her.

  She could see the sincerity in his eyes and hear it in his voice. He really didn’t feel like he could tell her about himself or his past. It was insane how her feelings of hurt and distress that centered on him evaporated just because of a slight glimpse of sincerity. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Olivia daringly raised a hand and rested it against his cheek. His eyes were burning into hers, as though he was waiting with baited breath for her to speak.

  “You have to at least try, Gabriel… Or else there won’t be anything between us, not even friendship. While I’m not asking for your deepest, darkest secrets, I need you to let me in to some extent.”

  Her small hand left his face then, dropping to her side but he quickly caught it in his and pulled her into him until their abdomens were touching. Gabriel completely towered over her then, Olivia having to lean her head back a bit just to look him in the face.

  “I’ll try… I can’t promise it… But I will try,” he breathed to her, “Just let me make it up to you for leaving without a goodbye yesterday. Let me take you to dinner…”

  “Dinner?” she repeated with question. “It’s ten, Gabriel. Most restaurants are closing for the evening.”

  “I may not know this city very well, but I know a place,” Gabriel told her with a wink.

  Still holding her hand, he began to guide her down the street, heading to whatever place he knew of.

  “I’m not exactly dressed for dinner…” she mumbled, noticing he was in another button down and fitted slacks.

  “I don’t care what you’re wearing. Who else would be there that you need to care about their opinion?” he a
sked her, looking back to her and giving her a glance over, “You look cute, anyways.”

  “No, I look like a high school student,” she grumbled. “I can’t even go back and change? We aren’t far from my apartment…”

  “Nope,” he told her, a grin coming to his bearded face.

  He led her excitedly down the sidewalks and alleys of the cities, seeming to know exactly where he was headed even though he was still new to the city.

  After about thirty minutes of walking, he slowed his pace as they approached a door in an alleyway.

  Olivia pulled on his hand before he could grab for the door handle, “Uhm, Gabriel… This place doesn’t even have a sign and it’s in an alleyway…”

  Gabriel looked to her, finding the panic and worry in her face to be amusing somehow.

  “Have a little faith and a little imagination,” he told her, reaching for the door again.

  He pulled the door open and gestured for her to walk in. Olivia was hesitant, looking at him like he was crazy. But, he didn’t seem to be dropping it. With a sigh, she stepped into him, Gabriel wrapping an arm around her shoulders and walking into the building with her.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  At first, they were in a dim hallway, making Olivia feel nervous. She looked to Gabriel, but he just walked along looking like nothing was suspicious. Going to another door at the end of the hallway, he opened it up and her eyes enlarged at the sight.

  The strange entrance eventually led to a fine dining restaurant. It had a bit of a whimsical vibe with the only illumination in the restaurant coming from the strings of lights hanging above everyone’s heads.

  Gabriel pulled her inside, going to the hostess stand. “Name?” she asked him.

  “Gabriel,” he told her.

  “Last name?” she asked.

  When she was met with silence, she looked up to him and gasped a bit.

  “Oh I’m sorry about that… Just two this evening?”

  He gave her a nod.

  “Follow me this way,” she said.

  The woman walked them through the small, yet open restaurant, stopping at a small table for two which was away from the other people in the restaurant. Gabriel sidestepped to pull Olivia’s chair out for her and pushed it in when she sat. He rounded the table and sat in his chair.

  Gabriel caught the waitresses arm before she walked away, “Just the regular menu tonight, please. We won’t be drinking.”

  The woman nodded at him and walked away. Olivia gave him a bit of a strange look. Why was he making the decision for both of them to not drink? Then again, she supposed she didn’t really need to.

  Her eyes scanned around the room, noticing most of the people there were in suits and dresses. Olivia’s cheeks burned at the realization, turning back to Gabriel, “I’m really under-dressed for this place,” she mumbled, shielding her face a bit with her hand as she propped her elbow against the table.

  Gabriel was watching her with fond eyes, his focus never wavering from her.

  “Why does it matter? You could wear anything you wanted and you would still be the most beautiful girl in here.”

  Her cheeks couldn’t have gotten any redder, resulting from a strange mix of being flattered yet also completely embarrassed.

  “You’re just saying that to make me feel better…” she mumbled.

  Gabriel raised a brow to her, “And why would I fill your head with lies? I may not be many things, but I’m honest… as honest as I can be.”

  “What do you mean by that?” she asked him, curiosity yet again sparking when he said that.

  As honest as he could be? Did that mean he was hiding something? Well that was a dumb thought, he was hiding almost everything about him.

  A waiter approached them, wearing the traditional white dress shirt, black vest and tie.

  “What can I get you to drink?” he asked them as he handed them each a menu.

  “A beer for me,” Gabriel said.

  Olivia couldn’t help but give him a look. What happened to no drinking?

  She looked to the waiter again, “A water for me, please.”

  The waiter nodded and walked away.

  Glancing back to Gabriel, she spoke, “What happened to not drinking?”

  “I didn’t want their menu of drinks,” he explained to her.

  “But… you said we wouldn’t be drinking,” Olivia challenged, not quite sure if she was reading too far into it or had something to be suspicious of.

  Gabriel gave a soft chuckle, “I suppose I changed my mind. Don’t worry, though. I won’t be getting drunk.”

  She shrugged, “You can do whatever you want. I don’t care.”

  “You don’t, do you?” he asked, both of his elbows propping against the table and his hands clasping together.

  “You’re your own person. You can do what you like,” she told him, a bit hesitantly.

  A slow smile came over his face, “I suppose that’s true, for now.”

  The waiter returned with their beverages and then asked for their order. Gabriel ordered a rare steak, and Olivia ordered herself a chicken parmigiana. When the waiter stepped away again, there was a few moments of silence between them.

  Gabriel looked to her, taking a long drink of his beer before giving her another small smile, “I suppose you’re waiting for me to open up about myself?” he questioned.

  Olivia gave a shrug, “I don’t want you to feel forced to. If you don’t want to tell me—”

  “No, it’s fine. If I were to tell anyone, I would want it to be you,” he told her.

  His fingertips ran across the cool glass of his beer, his eyes fixated on it as he let himself travel into deep thought.

  “I’m not from here. I was actually born in Germany. I lived in a very rural town with a very simple way of life. I was with my mother, father, two brothers, and my sister. I don’t remember a terrible amount of it, it was so long ago. We lived on a small farm, though. I can recall helping my father and brothers working with the cattle. I was the youngest boy, with our sister being younger than me. Believe it or not, I was rather scrawny as a young boy… My brothers bullied me quite a bit about my stature.”

  Gabriel’s eyes stayed on his beer as he spoke, watching the bubbles rise to the top of the glass as he reminisced.

  “And when I got older, I ran away. I always wanted to see the world, just like you said you wanted to. So I started hitchhiking and backpacking my way across Europe, then Asia, and now here. I’ve seen parts of Africa and Latin America, but it’s too sunny for my taste.”

  Olivia blinked, shocked by the information he had indulged her with.

  He truly was quite a character, wasn’t he?

  She had never met anyone in her life who grew up on a farm in another country only to run away to see the world.

  “That’s crazy, you don’t have an accent or anything… How old were you when you ran away?” she asked him.

  Gabriel seemed to tense for a moment before finally lifting his glass to his lips and taking a gulp of the bitter liquid.

  “Sixteen. I worked hard to train myself out of the accent. I didn’t want to stand out everywhere I went.”

  “I suppose I understand that,” she said, reaching her hand to his hand which was back to fidgeting with his glass.

  Her fingers laid over his, Gabriel’s eyes raising to hers. He laced his fingers between hers, holding her hand and letting his thumb rub against the back of her hand.

  “Thank you for sharing with me, it means a lot,” she spoke softly.

  Gabriel nodded, his gaze staying on her, “What about you? How did you grow up?” he asked.

  “Oh, nothing really interesting…”

  “It has to be if it is your story,” Gabriel encouraged.

  Olivia gave a small shrug, “Well like I told you the other night, my dad is from Wales and my mom is from my hometown. They met when my dad finished his dissertation in college and was traveling around the country to give a speech. He happened to go to
the one I went to the town over from my hometown, and my mom was a freshman there. She loved his speech and was determined to speak with him after. And twenty-three years later, they have a twenty-one-year-old and an eighteen-year-old. The story following my conception is far more entertaining than the rest.”

  “Enlighten me,” Gabriel grinned to her, his hand giving hers a squeeze.

  Olivia proceeded to tell him some of the details of growing up in her hometown, how nothing ever happened there so she normally stayed inside. She told him about how she fell really ill in the second grade, and Emily and her mom had volunteered to bring her school work to her hospital. Emily had made fun of the tubes going to Olivia’s nose which made her cry, so Emily then spent two hours making Olivia laugh to feel better—and they had been friends ever since.

  He shared some of his travels, like how he had the worst food poisoning in his entire life when he traveled to Thailand and ended up laid up in a shack with an elderly man who claimed to be a shaman. Olivia was completely blown away by his stories, amazed by the full life he had lived at such a young age.

  They shared a lovely dinner, Gabriel’s hand only leaving hers long enough to cut up his steak before he laid his hand back on the table for Olivia to places hers in. The food was divine, the waiter managing to talk her into pairing her chicken with a Sauvignon Blanc wine which was the best recommendation for wine she had ever received.

  They revealed little snippets of their past private lives, Gabriel being a little hesitant to share anymore, focusing the attention back on her. But Olivia didn’t mind, she knew he was trying and that was all that mattered to her. After a while, their plates were cleared and their glasses empty.

  Gabriel stood and pulled her chair out for her, taking her hand in his as he guided her towards the exit. “Uhm, Gabriel? What about the bill?” she asked.

  “They’ll charge it to my tab. Don’t worry,” he told her.