Chapter 16

Warmth pressed against my back, making me wiggle back into it.  I was comfortable, almost too comfortable.  With my eyes closed, I rubbed my face against my clothed arm.  The smell made me relax, but made me want to open my eyes at the same time.  Giving into my urges, I opened my eyes only to be met by the darkness in the room.  Dorothy must have had blackout curtains, because I knew it had to be light outside by now.

My nose was buried in the material on my arm, and upon closer inspection, I recognized the black jacket.  A smile crossed my face, but when a leg draped over mine, the smile dropped.  A yelp escaped my mouth, but the grip on me just tightened.

“What’s wrong?” someone whispered in my ear.

“The gardener,” I hissed under my breath.  How could I forget the gardener, and how could Gabe leave me here without a weapon.

He rubbed his face against the back of my hair.  “It’s me,” he whispered.  “We haven’t seen each other in a while.  What’s wrong, Dorothy?”

“I just haven’t been in the mood lately.”

A grunt escaped his mouth, making me roll my eyes.  The man sounded as if he couldn’t believe the possibility.  “What’s really wrong?”  Something clicked in the room, making the gardener behind me freeze.  “Is someone else in here?”

“I don’t know,” I snapped.  “When I fell asleep, you weren’t here.  I’d prefer to wake up next to the person that I fell asleep by.”

The leg moved, freeing me from his grip.  Before he could grab me again, I rolled.  As I hit the ground with a thump, I could hear him sit up on the bed.  “So that’s it,” he mumbled.  “You found someone else.”

“I didn’t find anyone else,” I groaned while blowing the hair out of my face. 

“She’s lying.”

Another yelp escaped my mouth as hands grabbed me and pulled me to my feet.  This time, when a pair of arms wrapped around me, I felt comfortable, as if I was meant to be there.  Shaking my head, I threw the thoughts to the back of my mind.  I couldn’t think like this; I couldn’t be attached.  “Gabe,” I whispered.

His arms tightened on me, but as soon as one dropped, the bedside table snapped on.  The gardener sat on my bed with a shocked expression on his face.  As scantily clad as he was, I should have been the one who was shocked.  It’s a good thing that Gabe wrapped me in his jacket.  I shivered, imagining how it would have felt with his slimy body against mine.

“You’re leaving me for the doorman?” he asked.  The expression on his face told me that he was confused as hell, but it also made me smile a little.

“He really is cute when he’s confused,” I whispered to Gabe, making his grip tighten even more.  With my voice louder, I leaned back into Gabe.  “I’m not leaving you for the doorman.  I was never with you to begin with.”

“Dee,” Gabe warned, “I think you’ve said enough.”

The gardener jumped off the bed, almost knocking into me in the process.  “I think you should let her talk for herself.”

Gabe chuckled, and his breath hit the side of my neck.  It may have been odd, but that small action made me close my eyes in reaction.  So much for not being attached.  First, it was Kyle and now Gabe.  “I agree.  Dee, why don’t you tell him exactly who you fell asleep with last night?”

“Gabe,” I snapped, which only made him chuckle more.

“Exactly,” he drawled.  “She fell asleep with me.  Now, why don’t you leave before something you’ll regret happens?”

The gardener stared at me for a moment, as if waiting for me to defend him.  My face stayed blank.  If it were a choice between the man with his arms around me or the one standing in front of me, Gabe would always win.  Gabe could be my ticket to finding out exactly what Mitch had planned.  Gabe could be my ticket to all my answers.  What could this gardener give me?  My eyes automatically trailed down his body.  What was the answer to my question?  Nothing too impressive.

I motioned to the door while dragging my eyes back up his body.  “Sorry, but I really need to speak with my doorman alone.  It seems as if he does not know his place.”

The gardener smirked at Gabe before taking a step towards me.  Leaning forward, he quickly pressed a kiss to the side of my mouth before darting away.  If men could growl, I would say that Gabe let out that exact noise. 

“He’s an ass,” Gabe mumbled as the bedroom door shut.

I wiggled from his grip and was relieved when he actually released me.  “You’re an ass,” I answered while flopping down on my bed.  “You waited until he snuggled up behind me until you did anything.  Why wait so long?”

His feet padded against the floor.  As the bed sunk beside me, he sighed.  “I wanted to see your reaction to him.”

Leaning up, I propped my chin up with my hand.  “So you were testing me?  Tell me, did I pass?”

His mouth opened, but he must have heard the anger in my voice, because it quickly snapped closed.  Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out an object.  “I was prepared.”

“For what?” I asked with a snort.  “Were you going to shot him?”

Gabe studied the gun for a moment before flashing me a smile.  I kept the angry expression on my face no matter how hard it was to ignore that look.  I would put money on the fact that that smile got him out of a lot of trouble.  “Maybe.”

Dropping back onto the bed, I let out a small, silent scream.  “You can be annoying when you want to be.”

“And you are very hot when you’re angry, especially in that gold dress.”

I glanced down at my outfit, noticing that it was the same dress he had ripped earlier.  While rolling my eyes, I scooted to the top of the bed.  I threw the blanket over my legs as questions flew through my mind.  Gabe was keeping things from me, things that were important.  Why else would he have told Hodge to keep Mitch out of things? 

“What did you tell Hodge?”

I kept my eyes on his as he answered.  “I told him to keep silent, not to tell Mitch about anything that happened tonight.”

“Why keep him out of it?”

Closing his eyes, he shook his head at me.  I waited, the silence of the room making my nerves stand on edge.  Finally, he opened his eyes, but still he did not say a word.  Instead, he crawled towards me.  Sitting in front of me, he brushed some of my hair away from my face.  “Remember what the man said last night?  Why he saved you?”

“He said something about my parents, but that doesn’t matter.  My parents are dead.”

“Are they, though?  How do you know that they are dead?  How do you know anything?”

I leaned away from his touch, making him lean back a little.  “Why else would I be in foster care?  Why would I go through all that shit if my parents were alive?  You don’t know how it is, Gabe.”

“I don’t,” he admitted, “but I do know that those experiences only made you stronger.  Without them, you would not be the person that you are today.  You would not be as tough as you are, as caring as you are.”

“What are you trying to say?”

Something flashed in his eyes, before his mask fell back into place.  “Don’t worry about it,” he said while moving to leave the bed.

My hand snapped out, stopping his movements.  “Tell me, Gabe.”

His eyes looked at my hand.  “No,” he mumbled.  “If you want answers, you’ll need to find them yourself.”  My hand dropped from his arm, allowing him to jump off the bed.  “I told you my real name.”

“What?” I asked, confused at the abrupt change in topics.

He glanced at me with a warm smile.  “My name, it really is Gabe.  That’s why the gardener looked so confused when you used it.  Here, my name is Julian.”

“I-I can’t,” I whispered, glancing away from the disappointment in his eyes.

Once again, I heard his feet pad against the floor, but this time they got further away, not closer.  “I know,” he whispered.  “One day, I hope that we’ll gain each other’s trust enough for you to tell me.  Until then, I’ll watch your back.”

The door clicked shut as he exited the room.  I closed my eyes while letting my head drop back.  “I’ll watch your back too,” I whispered into the empty room.  “Maybe more than I should.”