Gabriel's Rule (10 page)

“Honey,
your bag’s safe, okay? Go take a shower and I swear it will be right here on
the couch when you get done.” She finally released the bag and he dropped it on
the couch. He led her into the bathroom and turned the shower on. “Do you need
help getting undressed?” The question seemed to shake her out of her funk
because she quickly shook her head. He smiled and said, “Okay, go ahead and get
in the shower. I’m going to leave you something to wear on the counter here.”
He tapped the bathroom counter and she nodded in understanding.

He
searched his bedroom for something for her to wear and finally settled on a
pair of boxers and a sweatshirt. They would be too big for her but he figured
it was better than the catering uniform she had on. He checked his watch –
she’d been in there for fifteen minutes. He kept himself busy by getting his
bed ready for her to sleep in and snagged an extra pillow and blanket from the
bedroom closet so he could sleep on the couch in the living room. He’d much
rather be in his bed with her wrapped in his arms, but he doubted she’d go for
that. Checking his watch again, he grabbed the clothes and went to the
bathroom. The water was still running so he let himself into the steam filled
room.

“Riley?”
When she didn’t answer he put the clothes down and pushed the shower curtain
back. She was sitting with her back against the wall, her legs drawn up tight,
her arms wrapped protectively around herself. She hadn’t bothered to remove any
of her clothes and he felt his heart break into a million pieces when he heard
her softly crying. Turning the water off, he grabbed a towel and scooped her
out of the tub. He carried her to the couch and sat down with her on his lap.
She wrapped herself around him and he covered her with the towel.

“It’s
all gone,” she said unevenly as he felt the tears slide down onto his neck from
where her cheek was pressed against him. He was soaking wet and could feel the
chill of her body against his.

“I’m
going to fix it,” he promised although he knew he couldn’t fix everything. He
held her for a few more minutes as he awkwardly tried to dry her off with the
towel. When she finally relaxed against him, he sighed in relief. He looked down
and saw that she wasn’t asleep, but the day’s events were definitely starting
to catch up to her.

He
stood with her in his arms and went to the bedroom. On the way, he snagged
another dry towel from the bathroom and dumped the wet one on the floor. Once
he got her to the bedroom, he set her on her feet next to his bed and started
unbuttoning the white blouse she was wearing. Her eyes were glazed over so he
knew she wasn’t going to fight him on this. He stripped her quickly and
efficiently and covered her with the sweatshirt and shorts. He wasn’t sure what
to do about her hair which was still braided so he left it alone and tucked her
into bed.

Her
eyes had drifted shut while he was arranging the covers, but when he reached
for the light next to the bed to turn it off, he heard her voice.

“Was
it all a lie Gabe?”

Pain
lanced at him when he realized what she was asking.

“The
things you said about me when we were together that first night?”

“No,
it wasn’t. None of it was a lie. The part of me you saw tonight at the party,
that’s the lie.” He wasn’t sure if she believed him or even if she had heard
everything he said because her eyes drifted shut a second later. He wished he
could see that peaceful look on her face every night. He dropped his lips to
her forehead and kissed her softly and then turned off the light and left the
room.

She
smelled bacon. She loved bacon! Riley took another whiff of the heavenly scent
and then froze as everything came rushing back from the night before. She snapped
upright into a sitting position and then regretted it when a dizzy spell
threatened. She waited it out for a few seconds, then turned to look around the
room, Gabe’s room. The other side of the bed was empty, not even slept in from
the look of the undisturbed bedding, and she wasn’t sure if she should he happy
or upset. A clock next to the bed said it was nine and the light filtering in
through the window meant it was morning, as did the bacon that was still
calling out to her. She dropped her legs over the side of the bed and then
noticed the clothes she was wearing. His clothes too. She peeked under the
shirt and closed her eyes in embarrassment when she realized Gabe had removed
all of her clothes.

Standing
on shaky legs, she made her way out of the bedroom and listened. She didn’t
hear anything besides the sizzling of a frying pan. She hurried to the bathroom
and took care of business. When she saw herself in the mirror, she moaned. Her
hair was still braided but it was loose and long strands stuck out all over the
place. She’d put a little bit of mascara on for the event last night and now it
was streaked down her cheeks. Using the hand soap on the sink, Riley did her
best to scrub her face clean. She pulled her hair free of the braid and combed
her fingers through it as best she could. She looped the hair tie around her
wrist and then used some of Gabe’s toothpaste on her finger to try and scrub
the fuzz from her teeth. Feeling marginally better, she left the bathroom.

It
wasn’t Gabe at the stove cooking bacon, but she recognized the shaggy blonde
hair and killer body. Shane. He turned to face her, a fork in his hand.

“Morning,”
he said brightly. Apparently he didn’t recognize her ‘I’m pissed at you for not
telling me the whole truth’ look.

“Where’s
Gabe?”

Shane
turned back to the frying pan in front of him and pulled out the bacon. He
dropped it onto a plate covered with a piece of paper towel and then he started
cracking eggs into the pan. She didn’t know whether to be horrified or excited
at the sight of the eggs swimming around in bacon grease.

“OJ?”
Shane asked her. “Or coffee?” When she didn’t answer he said, “Both it is.”

“You
should have told me.”

“So
we’re not even gonna wait until we eat before we do this?” he asked. When she
just stood there defiantly, he sighed and turned off the stove. “Okay, what
should I have told you?”

“All
of it – that he was like you.”

Shane
laughed harshly and poured her a cup of coffee. “Gabe’s not anything like me.”
He pushed the mug towards her on the counter and plopped a container of sugar
next to the mug. Milk from the fridge was next and then he leaned back against
the counter and crossed his arms.

“If
Gabe were like me he would have told you from the beginning that he liked
getting paid to fuck strange women.” She flinched at the ugly words but Shane
continued. “But that would have been a lie because he hates it – has hated it
from the first time he did it. If Gabe were like me he would have just fucked
you and gotten you out his system and walked away. But that would have been a
lie too, because he wants to be ‘normal’ for you.” Shane did the air quotes
when he slowly emphasized the word normal.

“And
if Gabe were like me, he would have finished the job last night and collected
the big wad of cash waiting for him on that old hag’s dresser. But surprise,
surprise, Gabe’s not like me – he actually thought it was more important to
make sure you got home safe and sound then it was to have one last payday that
would have given him enough money to keep his mom in rehab for an extra month.”
Shane spun around to turn the stove back on. “So what part of that was I
supposed to tell you?”

“Shane!”
Gabe yelled from where he stood in the doorway leading into the apartment. She wasn’t
sure if he had heard everything Shane had said, but even if he hadn’t, she
expected that the way Shane had practically yelled at her would have set Gabe
off, especially if he didn’t understand the context. There was a dark-haired
man standing behind Gabe that Riley didn’t recognize.

“You
know what, fuck it!” Shane snapped as he turned the stove back off and flung
the fork into the sink. He started to walk passed her but she stepped in his
path. She heard Gabe come up behind her and when he was about to physically
move her so he could go after his friend, she put out her hand to stop him.
Both men were staring each other down and the third man looked ready to jump
into the fray.

Riley
glanced back at Gabe and hoped he got her message to back off. He seemed to
relax slightly so she guessed that he had, and she turned her attention back to
Shane who was standing less than a foot from her, his hands fisted. Closing the
distance between them, she reached up and slid her arms around his neck and
hugged him hard. He stiffened but his hands automatically closed around her
waist – probably to push her away. He was tall so she had to stretch to get as
close to his ear as she could.

“He’s
so lucky to have a friend like you.” When she kissed him softly on the cheek,
she felt his body relax as the tension drained from him. She felt his arms
close around her tight and he tucked his head against her neck. It wasn’t
romantic or sexual, it was one wounded soul clinging to another. When she
finally let him go, he stepped back from her and studied her in confusion for a
moment. For the first time since she’d met him he seemed at a loss for a
smart-ass comment, so he just brushed her cheek lightly with his thumb and then
left the kitchen. He moved passed Gabe and the other man without a word,
grabbed his jacket form the back of the couch and left the apartment.

***

When
he’d heard Shane’s raised voice as he opened the door to his apartment, Gabe
had thought he was on his cell phone at first. The second he’d realized Shane
was talking to Riley that way, Gabe had lost it and his only focus was to pound
on his friend until he apologized to her. He hadn’t really heard everything
that had been said, but when Riley stopped him and then hugged Shane, he
realized that he’d missed something important. And when Shane clung to her the
way he had, Gabe’s initial reaction had been jealously. But when he saw the
desperate and confused look in Shane’s eyes as she held him, he’d understood
that Riley had seen that something in Shane was terribly broken, despite his “I
don’t give a shit’ attitude.

Gabe
was torn between following after Shane and staying with Riley. Logan made the
decision for him when he said, “I’ll go check on him.”

“You
okay?” Gabe asked as Logan left, pulling the apartment door closed behind him.

“Yeah,”
Riley said as she finally focused on preparing the coffee Shane had readied for
her. “Who was that with you?”

“That’s
Logan, another friend from college.”

“Is
he…is he like you and Shane?”

Gabe
nodded. “He’s trying to start up a bar and he’s been raising his younger sister
since they were kids. She’s finishing her degree in education. He was helping
me with your apartment.”

Riley
stilled. “What do you mean?”

“Why
don’t you come see?”

He
led her across the hall to her apartment and through her already fixed door.
The lock that was now on it was the same heavy duty one Gabe had put on his own
door. She stopped in shock when she entered the apartment.

Most
of the debris was gone and the wall with the slur had been painted over in a
pretty yellow color. The ugly little couch was gone and in its place was a more
modern looking sofa, still used but clean and inviting. There was an older
style TV on the small entertainment stand. Her kitchen was clean too and she
saw what looked like a box of new dishware sitting on the counter.

“I
found the paint sample that you had taped to the wall so I’m hoping this was
the color you actually wanted,” Gabe said as he motioned to the bright,
beautiful yellow wall. “I can do the other walls but wanted to make sure the
color was right first.” When she just stared at him, he rambled on. “Logan had
the couch in storage and says you can keep it and Shane brought the dishes
over. We found the TV at the thrift shop. You’ll need a new mattress at some
point but I think we can make it work for now.”

She
still hadn’t said anything, she was just walking around the room and kitchen in
a daze. “I talked to Elise – she has your purse by the way – and I explained
that you had to leave because of an emergency last night and she understood.
She offered to lend you some clothes if none of yours can be saved. Shane was
able to fix your car – that asshole ex of yours just removed some spark plugs.”

“When
did you guys do all this?” she said as she came to a stop in front of him.

“This
morning mostly. It’s not perfect but it’s a start. If you want…” his words
dropped off when he saw tears welling in her eyes. “Hey, what’s the matter? If
you don’t like something-” She cut him off by putting her hand over his mouth
and then carefully putting her coffee cup down on a side table. Then she hugged
him and he finally took his first deep breath since the night before when she
discovered him at the party.

“You
said you’d fix everything and you did.”

“Well,
yeah,” he said, completely confused. Was she happy or mad or sad?

“Sorry,”
she mumbled as she dabbed at her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt, his shirt
actually, and then stroked at the spots of water she’d left on him. “It’s just
that no one’s ever actually kept their promise before.” He pulled her back
against him and just held her for a while. She finally pulled herself free. He
felt some of the tension between them return and he knew they weren’t back on
solid ground yet.

“Thank
you for everything last night Gabe,” she began but then hesitated as if looking
for the right words.

“It’s
okay Riley, you don’t need to say it. I don’t expect you to forgive me for not
being up front about everything.”

“Gabe,”
she started but he cut her off with a shake of his head.

“It’s
probably for the best anyway. We never really did make sense, did we?” He was
trying to insulate himself from the physical pain in his chest but it wasn’t
working. The words were coming out of his mouth but his heart didn’t agree with
them. He ignored the burning sensation in his abdomen too and said, “Maybe we
should just do our own thing for a little while.”

When
he saw something die in her eyes at the words he wanted to call them back but
he didn’t. He needed to do this for her – he had to let her go. He suspected he
could have wheedled his way back into her good graces; she was just too sweet
and kind-hearted to brush him off. But where would that get her? He could never
settle for just being friends with her, but he couldn’t give her the physical
or emotional connection she deserved either. It was better to just walk away.

“Yeah,”
she whispered. “It’s probably for the best.” He watched her get up and
disappear into her bathroom.

***

Gabe
hadn’t seen Riley in more than a week. He missed her soft voice, the way she
laughed. He was still concerned about Paul so he’d switched his hours at work
so that he could follow her in the morning when she went to work. Logan and
Shane had agreed to switch off covering her when she left Nell’s. He’d also
made Nell and Pete aware of what was going on so they could watch her at work.

His
system wasn’t perfect since he couldn’t anticipate any errands she might do
when he or his friends weren’t around. The easy solution would have been to
pull her in on the plan, but besides being pissed off at his intrusion into her
business, he would have to make contact with her and since he was already at
his breaking point, that wasn’t an option either. It had been so hard to walk
out of her apartment that day, walk away from her. He’d thought the torture
would subside if he didn’t have to see or interact with her as much, but his
need for her had just grown and he found himself taking his anger and
frustrations out on friends and co-workers.

Gabe
checked his watch – it was late, almost midnight. Parking at the apartment at
this time of night was a pain and it took him several minutes to find a spot
almost two blocks from his apartment. As he began the walk towards his
building, he looked around. People usually steered clear of him but he wasn’t
foolish enough to not be aware of his surroundings. He stopped when he heard a
muffled sound from the alley he’d just passed. Silence. He took a step forward
and then stopped again – whining. He turned back to the alley and looked
around. Nothing stood out as being out of the ordinary but just as he turned to
go, he saw movement about halfway down. A garbage bag next to the dumpster
shifted. Gabe approached slowly until he realized what he was seeing. There was
a dog laying among the garbage bags, its body bloody and torn. As he approached
the animal, it looked up at him with soulful brown eyes but didn’t try to get
up. The dog was laying on its side so he could tell it was a female.