Tainted Legacy (YA Paranormal Romance) (19 page)

“Hey,” he said into the phone. He slid into the hallway, out of Rafe’s sight but not out of hearing range.

“Gabe?” an unfamiliar voice hesitantly replied.

“Who is this?” he asked because it sure wasn’t Ava.

“Molly,” she said and instantly her voice was familiar to him. “I’ve got a problem. A huge problem and I didn’t know who else to call.”

“So you’re calling me?” he asked in puzzlement. No one had ever called him to request help with a problem before. He already didn’t like it. “Why are you using Ava’s phone?” he snapped.

“Because Ava’s the one who needs help,” she snapped back. “And even though her judgment is obviously impaired, I have to agree with her because our options are severely limited.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He tried to keep his face from giving anything away to Rafe who had now followed him into the foyer. The loathsome smirk he wore caused a tightening in Gabe’s stomach. Whatever trouble Ava was in, he knew Rafe was responsible.

So had it started? Had their father instigated his next step? Or was this something else entirely?

“It means,” Molly huffed, “that someone dumped a bucket load of vodka into the punchbowl. I’m not sure how much Ava drank by the time I got there. But as far as I know the only alcohol she’s ever had has been in the form of communion wine. In all honesty, she probably only had a couple of glasses but it was more than enough.”

Gabe hurried out of the house. He was sure to close the door behind him in an effort to keep Rafe from listening in. “Is she okay?”

“No, she’s not okay,” Molly’s tone softened the instant Gabe’s did. “She’s sleeping.”

“You mean she’s passed out,” he corrected.

“Whatever. Anyhow, she was supposed to spend the night at my house tonight but there is no way I can sneak her in. I have to check in with my parents when I get home. I cannot tell you the drama this would cause with my mom. I can’t bring her back to her house like this.” She paused for such a long time Gabe wondered if he had lost the connection. He held his phone out to check the display but the call hadn’t been lost.

“And?” he prompted.

“She asked me to call you,” Molly told him. “Look, I think this is a bad idea but here’s the thing. Do you remember last weekend when she mentioned her dad’s mentor was coming for a visit? Well, he’s here and he’s staying at their house this weekend. I think Ava would rather die than risk humiliating her parents over this so I can’t take her home. Julia, as you can imagine, is no help at all. And I can’t bring her home with me…”

Gabe grinned at the obvious frustration the confession caused Molly. He liked Molly but he could tell by her voice that this request was troubling to her.

“So what do you want me to do? Are you saying you want me to come get her? You want me to keep her overnight?” He couldn’t keep the amusement out of his voice.

Molly bristled on the other end. “No,” she said brusquely. “Maybe. I don’t know.  I’d bring her to her cabin but she doesn’t have the key. But obviously calling you was a horrible idea.”

“Wait!” He could sense she was about to disconnect. “Don’t hang up,” he said, his voice taking on a convenient apologetic air. “I’ll come get her. I’ll be a perfect gentleman. I promise.”

Molly hesitated. “I’m actually driving right now. As soon as I caught up to her at the party I figured out what happened. I got her out to my car and she seemed at least semi-reasonable…until she just conked right out. Before that though, after she realized what happened, she was pretty freaked out. I think her parents would understand the mistake but she’s just so worried about the impression she’d make on their company. The timing of this couldn’t be worse. What horrible luck.”

Luck
, Gabe knew, had nothing to do with it.

“Okay,” he said as he ran his free hand through his hair. “So where are you? Do you want me to meet you somewhere?”

“Actually, I can be at your house in just a few minutes. Ava gave me directions. It sounds pretty easy to find. I have to say, I don’t like this. I’m warning you…if you do anything you shouldn’t be doing…I’ll hunt you down and...I don’t know exactly what but I’ll do something very, very bad to you.”

“Yeah, all right,” Gabe said agreeably. “Just don’t pull up to the main house. I stay in the guesthouse so follow the curve in the driveway. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” He shoved his phone back into his pocket and jumped at the sound of Rafe’s laughter.

“Spiking the punch is pretty much a cliché,” Rafe sneered. “But yet
again
, ‘you’re welcome’, all the same.”

Gabe didn’t bother responding. He was losing his touch. He hadn’t noticed Rafe creeping up behind him. Without looking back he headed to the guest house. Berating himself for allowing this.

What was he thinking? He already knew he shouldn’t have agreed to this. Especially if it was a situation that Rafe had engineered. If Rafe had put this plan into motion, it meant their father had requested it. Anything that their father requested typically resulted in harm being done to that person.

His heart thudded in his chest as he tossed the box of food into the freezer. His appetite was suddenly gone. Was his father coming to collect Ava tonight? Was that what this was about?

He was seized with panic, an emotion he was well acquainted with, but always in regard to himself. Never in regard to anyone else. This time, however, there was no denying his panic was for Ava’s safety. Which really, he reminded himself, was ridiculous. He knew the time was coming, he knew that this, whatever they had, wasn’t real. It never had been.

Despite how real it all suddenly felt to him.

Gabe watched through the window in the front door. When he saw Molly’s headlights appear he let himself out into the darkness. He was not sure if it was a simple case of unease causing him to feel wary or if it was something more sinister.

As Molly’s car crept slowly down the driveway, her headlights swept out into the night, across the expanse of the main house and then to the wooded area beyond. Nothing seemed amiss in the arcing beam of light. Yet Gabe would swear he felt the burning eyes of evil searing into his back, no matter which way he turned. The sting of trepidation clawed its way up his spine.

He glanced about but Rafe seemed to have disappeared back into the house. Yet Gabe felt sure someone was watching them. Was it one of their father’s wickedly willing cohorts? Was
Rafe watching from a darkened window? Or worse?

Gabe feared h cGabg from is father was here, in the flesh. The very thought tore his emotions into tattered shreds.

As the car came to a stop, Gabe continued to cast surreptitious glances all around. His eyes cutting through the night far better than if he’d been burdened with the paltry eyesight of a human.

He felt, all the way to the core of his being, that he ought to send Ava back with Molly. And still…a greedy, selfish part of him needed to see her. That part, wanting to keep her with him, won out.

It confirmed what he believed of himself all along. He was a monster. No better than his father or his brother.

“I’ve never, in all my life, been so happy to be Baptist,” Molly proclaimed as she got out of the car.

“What does that have to do with anything?” Gabe wondered as he pushed away all of the annoyingly bothersome feelings with a vicious mental shove.

“It means my mother won’t see her mother in church Sunday morning so the details of this whole disastrous night will not come up,” she explained.

“Is this a bad idea?” Ava asked as she slid from Molly’s car. “This is probably a bad idea, isn’t it?” she asked Gabe, though it was Molly who was emphatically nodding her agreement.

“It’s not a bad idea,” Gabe told her even though he felt certain it was a
horrible
idea. “You can sleep it off. We can get you up bright and early so you can go home and pretend nothing happened.”

Molly scowled as Ava stumbled when the tarred drive turned into the grass lawn. Gabe caught her and she slipped into the security of his arms.

“Don’t even think of trying anything,” Molly warned him.

“Molly, I’ll be fine,” Ava assured her. “Right?” she asked Gabe.

“Right,” he agreed, wanting it to be true.

“Okay, well, have her home by nine tomorrow. That’s early enough that her parents won’t be calling to look for her but late enough that it won’t be suspicious,” Molly instructed Gabe. “And I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon,” she told Ava.

Gabe was tugging Ava into the house before Molly was even out of the driveway. He locked the door behind him.

A pointless act since a locked door would never stop his father.

“This is really nice,” Ava said as she wandered around. When she nearly tripped over the coffee table Gabe pulled her into his arms again.

“So now what?” she asked. Her eyes had a slightly glassy look that he cloo pullewas not accustomed to seeing on her. He knew the flirty way she smirked at him might be problematic.

He eyed the locked doorway. As far as he knew, his father wasn’t around. Did that mean she was safe for tonight? When it came to his father, he was no match. He decided to try not to think about it.

“I’m going to tuck you in and you’re going to sleep this off, just like I told Molly,” Gabe informed her. 

He’d never been under an obligation to behave himself before. He wasn’t sure how to go about it.  He led her to his bedroom wondering if he should just shove her inside and shut the door behind her. That would be the safest option.

Instead, he found himself being led over to his bed. She pulled him down to her. He could
have easily resisted if he’d wanted to.

He didn’t want to.

He wanted to kiss her.

And more.

“We probably shouldn’t—,” he started to say but she cut him off when her lips met his. After several dazed moments his head cleared. He reminded himself he was not supposed to be doing this so he pulled away.

“You don’t have to go. I’m feeling fine now, really,” she assured him. “Sleeping for a little while was like a magical cure.”

“You tripped over the coffee table,” he reminded her.

“Sometimes I’m a klutz.”

“You’ve never been anything but graceful.”

“Consider klutziness one of my hidden talents,” she argued. When he hesitated she went on.  “Just stay with me. I trust you.”

“You shouldn’t,” he said and meant it. He placed a few light kisses along her neck and then, when his mouth was next to her ear, he whispered, “I want to do things to you. Things that you wouldn’t want me to do.”

“Are you sure about that?” she asked, her voice breathless.

“What I want to do to you? Yeah, I’m sure.” He dotted her neck with kisses as he pressed his body on top of hers.

“No. That I wouldn’t want you to?”

He wanted her and he could feel how much she wanted him and somehow, that was worse. It gave him a reason to think it was okay to do with her as he pleased. The fact that she didn’t seem nearly as intoxicated as he’d originally assumed made it worse. She was thinking clearly.

And she still wanted him.

/font><"24" align="justify">
When she started tugging on his shirt, he came to his senses. If she’d decided to start with his jeans, it would’ve been a different matter entirely…he nearly tumbled off his bed as he tugged at his shirt and tried to get away from her.

“This is not going to work Ava. I can’t be the rational one. So I’m going to go sleep in the living room. You…just…don’t come out of this bedroom.”

She started to protest but he cut her off before she could cut through his thin shield of resolve. “I mean it, Ava.”

He shut the door behind himself and immediately began cursing when he realized Rafe was sitting in front of the television.

“Well this is disappointing,” Rafe told him.

“What are you doing here?” Gabe demanded.

“Just trying to make sure things are going smoothly,” his brother replied. “Although I doubt it since you should be in there…not out here.”

“She’s sleeping,” Gabe lied.

“So?” Rafe asked. He rose from his seat and started off toward the bedroom. “If you can’t take care of things, I will.”