Hide and Seek

Summer

The last two days have been interesting. Every day, Gabriel goes with me to take Gabe to school. If I have an errand to run, he goes with me. If not, I drop him back off at home while I go to class.

He then spends an hour or two with Gabe after school before leaving for the night to do his thing. Then, at about one or two in the morning he comes home, and we watch an episode or two of Game of Thrones.

If I'm not careful, I'll get used to this. I have to remind myself that this is temporary, no matter how nice it feels to have him here, it won't last forever.

I finish flipping the last pancake in the pan, before turning the stove off. Today is an easy day. Gabe is out of school, and I don't have any classes. My plans are to make a big breakfast and then maybe watch some movies and hang out together.

My phone pings alerting me of a text. I smile as I check it. Andrew and I have been texting and talking to each other for three days now.

We had lunch together yesterday and it was nice. He's sweet and charming, and with him I can ignore that feeling that I'm missing something. Admittedly the feeling is still there, but he makes it easy to ignore.

Andrew:Good morning, beautiful. How's your day so far?

Me:Great. How about yours?

Andrew:Busy. But that's normal.

Me:LOL! That sucks.

Andrew:Well, I'll let you go. I just wanted to hear from you this morning.

Even though I can't see my smile, I can feel the way my cheeks are lifted. I imagine my teeth are all on display.

"Why are you smiling?"

I nearly toss my phone across the room he scares me so bad. I spin around and he's so close to me his body heat makes me feel flushed.

"Jeez, Gabriel. You scared the shit out of me," I place my hand over my rapidly beating heart.

"How did he get your number?"

His question catches me off guard. My initial response to answer him shrivels up on my tongue. I look him over. His eyes are narrowed and the seafoam color is a dark green now.

"I gave it to him," I explain. "That's how dating works."

"Dating?"

"Yes, I'm a single woman and he's a single man and we decided to date."

Gabriel watches me intently; I can't determine what's going through his mind. He stares at me so long I start to worry if his mother is going to make an appearance. However, he blinks and takes a step back.

Once he puts space between us I remember what I was doing before Andrew texted me. I turn around and grab the large serving tray off the counter before turning back to face Gabriel.

"Surprise," I say. He looks down at the tray in my hands and frowns.

"They probably aren't as good as the place you went, but mine have chocolate chips in them and they're gluten free."

I wait for a reaction, but he continues to glare down at the tray.

"Pancakes," Gabe cheers as he walks into the kitchen grabbing our attention. He pulls a chair out at the table and takes a seat. I move around Gabriel and place the pancakes down on the center of the table.

Gabriel's eyes rake over the placement in front of him and then over to the glass sliding door leading out to the backyard. I have no idea what's going through his head. His hands are clenched at his side. He almost looks angry about the gesture. Maybe I read it wrong and this brings back sad memories.

"If you don't want them I can—"

"Thank you," he finally says, cutting me off.

He's silent again. He stares at me for a long moment as if he wants to say something else but doesn't.

"Well, let's eat," I say, cutting through the awkwardness.

Gabriel takes a seat. I grab the bacon out of the oven and plate it before joining the two at the breakfast table. I help Gabe place his food on his plate and cut it up for him.

Gabe's giggles have me looking over to Gabriel. He has the plate slid close to him, one hand covering the plate and with the other he's shoveling food in his mouth.

I forgot about his prison style of eating.

"Hulk, slow down," Gabe says with laughter in his voice.

Gabriel looks up as if for a moment he forgot where he was. He looks over to a smiling Gabe and then to me. His ears turn red as he grimaces.

"Sorry," he says.

"No need to apologize," I hold up my hand. "Eat the way you want. Right, Gabe?" I turn to my son.

"Right," Gabe grabs his fork, places one hand over his plate, haunches his back, and sticks a big bite of pancakes in his mouth.

I cover my laugh as my son imitates his father's eating habits. When Gabe gets a little too excited and starts to choke on a pancake. I pat his back until he stops coughing.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes."

"Drink something," I say with a chuckle as I hand him his cup. "You can't do everything Hulk does. He has a bigger mouth than you," I say jokingly.

Gabe's eyes fall to the table. "But I want to be like Hulk."

"Gabe you can't—"

"Show me how you eat," Gabriel says cutting me off. I look across the table to him and he's watching Gabe.

Gabe picks up a triangle shaped pancake on his fork and places it in his mouth, taking his time to chew it. Gabriel copies him, doing the exact same thing.

"Now, you're eating like Hulk."

Gabe smiles proudly as he continues to eat his pancake with his father copying him. My heart melts, my nipples harden, and my pussy does that little gripping thing like it's trying to hug something that isn't there.

Gabriel is already stunning, but nothing can get my panties wet faster than seeing him bond with his son. Even when I came up with the idea to have him spend time with Gabe, I didn't expect this outcome. But watching him change the way he eats to share a moment with Gabe has me ready to throw all caution and common sense to the wayside and ask him to stay. Thankfully, I know better than that.

We finished our breakfast. Gabe entertained us with all the history of his favorite Marvel Characters.

I grab the plates off the table but get stopped when Gabriel takes them from me. I look up into his eyes.

"I'll do it," he says piling the rest of the dirty dishes in his hand and carrying them over to the sink.

Gabe runs off toward his room, leaving me alone with Gabriel. I walk over to the sink beside him.

"I'll help." I announce before opening the dishwasher.

As Gabriel rinses the dishes I place them in the dishwasher. We work in silence for a moment before I break it.

"If you keep this up, I might not let you leave," I say jokingly.

Gabriel turns to me but continues washing the dishes. You never realize how huge he is until you're standing beside him, and he dwarfs you and takes up most of the space.

He lifts a brow. "Keep what up?"

"Helping me around the house, bonding with Gabe," I explain. "I may hide that little black duffle bag when it's time for you to go."

His lips lift in that minute way of his. He hands me the last plate. I place it in the dishwasher.

"I can always buy another black duffle."

I cut my eyes over to him and roll them. "You know what I mean, smartass."

He turns off the faucet, wipes his hands, and turns to face me. He runs a finger over the bridge of my nose to my cheek. I'm assuming following the grouping of my freckles.

"You don't want me to stay, Summer."

"Oh really. And why is that?" I ask folding my arms across my chest.

"Because if I stayed, Gabe would be the only male other than myself that would be allowed to put a smile on your face without facing the consequences."

My mouth falls open at his threat. Wait a minute, is Gabriel jealous? I mull that over in my head. The man that is adamant about leaving. The guy that never reached out the entire time he was locked up. There is no way he's jealous. Even the thought of it seems silly.

I close my mouth and roll my eyes. "Ha Ha. Whatever, Gabriel," I say taking his comment as the joke I'm sure it is.

Before he can say anything else, my phone goes off.

I turn away from him, drying my hands on the dishtowel, I answer the call.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Ms. Jones. This is Professor Aiken, I was wondering if you still planned to meet with me this morning about your final paper."

I smack my hand to my forehead. No way I forgot about this meeting. I pull the phone from my ear to look at the time before placing it back.

"Oh my goodness, Professor. I am so sorry. I completely forgot."

"It's alright. You're in luck. I don't have anyone coming in for the next hour or so. If you can still make it I'll be here."

"Yes, give me twenty minutes."

"See you then."

I hang up with the professor.

"What's wrong?" Gabriel asks, his brow pinching.

"I completely forgot about my meeting this morning. I can't miss this. It's my final paper before graduation." I rush out of the kitchen into the mudroom to grab my shoes and purse. "I'll be back in an hour."

"What about Gabe?"

"Shit," I groan, running a hand through my braids. "It will take too long to take him to Trina's. And he can't go with me. He will be bored out of his mind. Wait," I say as the idea hits me. "You can watch him."

"No." He turns around and heads back toward the kitchen. I follow behind him.

"Gabriel, please. I need your help. I won't be gone long."

He turns to face me pulling up short. He starts pacing in front of me. I know his thoughts are probably getting the best of him at the moment.

"I can't. What if something happens? What if I hurt him?" He pulls at his hair.

Gently, I place a hand on his arm. He stops pacing and gazes down at me with real fear in his eyes.

"You'll be fine. Your son is not a piece of China. Just ask him what he wants to do and hang out with him. I'll be back as soon as I can." I can still see the hesitation on his face. I play my last card.

"Please, Gabriel. I need you."

He stares down at me for a moment, making me think he may not agree to this. But eventually he nods his head.

"Thank you," I say exhaling in relief. "Gabe," I call for my son and he comes rushing down the stairs.

I kneel down in front of him. "I have to go handle some business. Hulk will stay with you. Be on your best behavior and remember to…"

"Use my words," he finishes my statement.

"Good. I'll be back."

Standing up straight, I give one more glance to Gabriel before grabbing my purse and rushing out. There is no way this can go bad.

***

It took less than forty-five minutes to sit down with my professor. Other than some minor notes on style and a little more detail, my paper is good to go. I rush back to my car. I wasn't worried that Gabriel would hurt Gabe, but I also respected him enough to know that this is new and out of his norm. I didn't want to push him too far.

As I approach my car, I notice two men standing near it. They aren't threatening or anything. They were only talking. One was sitting in the driver's side in car beside me, and the other guy was leaning against my passenger door. Behind my car was a large pickup truck blocking me in.

I continue to my car, assuming they will see me and move. The one leaning on my car with the baseball cap looks at me before standing up straight.

Climbing in the driver seat, I wait for him to move his truck. When neither of the men move toward the pickup, I realize maybe the vehicle doesn't belong to either of them.

I get back out my car. "Excuse me," I say nicely. They continue their conversation as if I haven't said anything.

"Ummm excuse me," I say once again a little louder.

The guy with the baseball cap that was leaning against my car turns to look at me.

"Hi." I smile politely. "Do either of you know whose truck that is."

They both look at the truck as if just seeing it.

"It's mine," baseball hat says.

"Great, can you move it?"

"Yeah, in a minute." He turns back to the other guy and picks their conversation back up as if I'm not standing here.

"Well, you see," I say, regaining their attention. "I have somewhere to be. So, I need you to move it now."

Baseball hat chuckles before turning back to his conversation. Oh hell no.

"Maybe you didn't understand me," I try one more time to be nice before I lose my cool.

"Look bitch," baseball hat sneers as he turns back to me. "Sit the fuck down and wait until I finish talking."

"Bitch?" I repeat. "I got your bitch," I say as I pull my braids up into a ponytail. I may not be able to take on both of them, but this mase in my purse was going to help me even the field.

Before I could go for my mase, a man steps in between us. I've never seen him before. He's tall. Not as tall as Gabriel, but taller than average. He's trim but built like an athlete. He is wearing a long sleeve white button up, but the sleeves are rolled up to his elbows.

On one arm from his fingers all the way up to where the shirt started, are tally mark tattoos. There has to be at least two hundred of the groups of five. He has dark brown hair, a jaw line that could cut diamonds, a slight beard, and a roman nose that looks as if it's been broken a few times. I wished I could have seen his eyes, but they were covered in dark shades.

"Are you alright?" he asks, in an accented voice.

"Yeah," I say, caught off guard by his sudden appearance and his voice.

"This has nothing to do with you," baseball hat says.

Tattoo guy turns to the side to look at the two guys.

"I think she asked you to move your car," he says in that deep accent.

The two assholes laugh. "And like I told her, I'll move it when I get good and damn—"

His words are cut off when tattoo guy shoves his elbow into his nose and then rams him, headfirst, into the side of his friend's window. The glass shatters raining down everywhere. When he lets the baseball hat guy go, he slides to the ground in a slump.

"A woman," he says, running his tattooed hand through his hair. "Should never have to ask you to do anything more than once. Now move the fucking truck."

The other guy quickly climbs out of his car, bends down and grabs the keys off his unconscious friend. He then quickly runs to the truck and moves it. I'm still stuck in the same spot.

There is only one other person that I've ever seen move that quickly and that's Gabriel.

"Thank you," I say to the stranger.

He dips his chin at me. "You are very welcome. Now, hurry home."

I don't argue with him. I quickly get in the car and back out of the parking space. Tattoo guy watches me the entire time, never taking his eyes off me. I didn't necessarily get a bad vibe from him or that he was dangerous. I mean, if he was going to hurt me he had ample opportunity. He was actually nice. I was still going to mention the situation to Gabriel just in case.

My car speaker rings when I'm nearly five minutes from home. I answer the call using my steering wheel.

"Hello?"

"What do you think about plays?" Andrew asks as soon as I answer the phone.

"Don't have much to say. I've never seen one. Well, with the exception of those Madea ones I use to watch on bootleg."

Andrew laughs. I notice that as nice as his laugh is, it holds nothing to the way Gabriel's makes me feel.

"What do you think about you and me catching a show this weekend?"

I smile as I turn the corner onto my street. "Yeah. I'd like that."

A male voice is heard in the background of the call. "Hey, Summer," Andrew says. "I have to go. But I'll send you the information for the date later."

"Sounds good. Bye Andrew."

"Goodbye, Summer."

He disconnects the call. I pull into the driveway of my home and let out a deep breath. At least it's still standing. So, it couldn't have gone too bad. Grabbing my purse and laptop bag off the passenger seat, I head into the house.

"Guys I'm home."

I spot Gabriel in the kitchen pacing. His hands are in his hair yanking at the strands so hard I fear he will pull them out. As I walk up on him his yanking turns into him hitting the side of his head.

"Gabriel," I call his name as I approach him. Yet, he seems miles away.

"I'm sorry, Mother. I didn't mean to." He says.

My heart sinks to my feet.

"Gabe," I use the nickname for him that I usually only use for my son. His seafoam green eyes turn to me and there is fear and sadness mixed in. "What's going on?"

"I lost him."

Panic has my heart racing so fast I feel lightheaded. I place my hand on the back of the nearest kitchen chair to keep myself upright.

"Tell me everything that happened."

He starts pacing again, his hands clutched in tight fists at his side. "Everything was going fine. We played outside for a while. Then he asked to play hide and seek and I…"

He stops talking when I start laughing. Relief floods me like fresh rainwater falling after a drought.

"What's funny?"

"He's not lost, Gabriel. He's hiding."

He shakes his head. "No. I've told him to come out. I told him that he won. I lost him."

Turning away from Gabriel, I walk toward the stairs. "Gabe, Hulk said you won. No take backs. You are officially the winner."

His laughter can be heard upstairs somewhere. Gabriel's eyes widen.

"Your son is one hell of a hide and seek player. He used to play with my nephew. Whenever he couldn't be found my nephew would tell him he gave up and as soon as Gabe would come out of hiding, my nephew would tag him and say he found him. It drove Gabe crazy. Now, he will only come out if you swear there are no take backs."

"I thought I lost him," he says in disbelief as if he still doesn't quite believe me.

I pat him on the shoulder. "Welcome to the parenting club. You can't officially call yourself a parent if you haven't had a mini heart attack thinking you lost your child. I had my first one in Walmart when he was two. It took me three minutes to find him. The longest three minutes of my life."

The sound of Gabe's feet running down the stairs has us turning toward him. He stops right in front of Gabriel with a huge grin on his face.

"I won, Hulk."

"You sure did, Kid. You out hid the incredible Hulk," I say, glancing up to Gabriel. He looks ten times better than what he did when I first walked in. Not totally relaxed, but not as stiff.

"Well done, Gabe." Gabriel dips his chin to his chest.

"Again?" Gabe asks hopefully.

"What do you say, Hulk? Want to get your ass handed to you in hide and seek?"

Gabriel stares down at the both of us. I'm pretty sure he's telling himself all the things he has to do today. There's probably some tips he needs to follow and a person he has to kill. But, instead of telling us no and that he had something to do, he turns his back and starts counting.

"One, one thousand…"

"Come on, Gabe." I grab my son's hand and rush out of the kitchen to hide.

For the rest of the day, I spent my time with Gabe and Gabriel. We played games, watched movies, and ate every meal together at my table. Everything else from the day skipped my mind.

I'm on a high. Although, I know it's a false high. I've experienced many of those during my drug use stage. It's that fake euphoric feeling as if you are floating above the clouds. Eventually, I will plummet back to earth. And even though I know this, I still allow myself to float.