Chapter 33

I’m trying my damnedest to focus on a school project, moving the text in the layout I’m designing one click to the left and then back, one click to the right. I can’t decide which is better. Or maybe I just need a different font?

“Ugh,” I tell the empty room, leaning back in my chair and stretching.

If you’d told me a few weeks ago that I could get several days off work to relax, sleep, and do school work, I would’ve said it sounded like a dream. Add in a stocked refrigerator, endless hot water, a tub that qualifies as half jacuzzi, half swimming pool, and a mattress made by NASA, and I should be feeling like a damn queen.

But the reality of being in hiding is that I’m going stir-crazy. No phone, no internet, and most of all, no Gabe.

Coming to the Goldstone tower would be a sure sign that something’s up, so he’s stayed away. And even with his burner phone, I understand the security risks. Someone might listen in and catch that I’m alive and well, chilling on the twenty-sixth floor in the penthouse apartment like some spoiled brat.

I wish. I don’t feel spoiled. I‘m worried.

I get it, we discussed it all. Gabe laid out his concerns, and I put in my own two cents as well, and I agreed to go along with it. But that doesn’t mean I like it.

The elevator dings, and I stand, instantly on alert. It’s late in the day, but Mia and Thomas should still be downstairs in their offices, working.

Mia had stayed home with me at first, but when Thomas came back from his nighttime meeting with Gabe, the idea of putting her to work analyzing Blackwell was the right move. I feel safer with her jamming on her supercomputers downstairs and finding a solution to this than being with me, trying to figure out which anime she was going to distract me with next.

I don’t say anything, quietly peeking down the hall.

“Iz? Honey, where are you?” Mia calls out. There’s an odd tightness to her voice.

I come down the hall, hands wringing and not sure I want to hear this. “What’s wrong? Is it Gabe?”

She gathers me in her arms, not answering, but she’s pale. Tears burn my eyes because whatever she’s about to say, I already know it’s bad.

“Come sit down, Izzy.” She directs me to the couch and sits beside me, holding my hands.

“Just tell me, Mia. Is Gabe dead?” I force out.

She shakes her head. “No, he’s fine. Well, I haven’t talked to him, but as far as I know, he’s fine. But I got a call from the private investigator Thomas hired. He’s watching all sorts of alerts and . . .” she swallows, her eyes dropping before they lift back up to mine. “It’s your house, Izzy. It’s on fire.”

“What?” I screech in shock.

It’s like a punch in the chest, and I sag into the couch, all the wind taken out of me.

It’s nowhere near as bad as Gabe being hurt or worse, but that house is a symbol of my whole life. It’s me and Reggie singing carols around a paper cutout of a Christmas tree, it’s patching up the backdoor screen again because the squirrels keep coming in to eat breakfast with us, though we both secretly fed them, and talking through the walls at night.

And it’s my painting, in Reggie’s old bedroom, my memorial to a family I was never able to properly say goodbye to.

It’s all I have left. And I’ve worked so damn hard to keep it.

I stand up, clearing my throat before the tears start. “I have to go.”

Mia grabs my hand, yanking me back to the couch. “The hell, you are. The fire trucks are already there, and the firefighters are doing what they can. But this is a ploy, and you damn well know it. It’s too convenient. So you’re going to sit your ass on the couch and stay here.” She’s all business, and on some level, I’m glad she’s thinking clearly because I’m definitely not.

“Dammit, Mia, my... my...” I stammer, tears coming to my eyes as I think of what’s being destroyed. My painting. Mom, Dad... my memorial to a family I was never able to say goodbye to properly.

Vash chooses that moment to wander through the living room, meowing for food. I pick her up, hugging her as tight as her little kitty body will allow me. “Oh, my God, Vash. What are we going to do?”

“You’re going to take care of Vash, take care of yourself,” Mia says softly, her voice full of love. “That’s what matters. I know you don’t have much, and what’s in that house is so important to you, but they’re just things. The real memories, the important things, are right here.” She touches my head and then my heart.

“But—”

“Izzy, Izzy. I love you, babe,” Mia says, stroking my hair. “I’m sorry, I really am.”

I sniffle, and while Mia’s hug helps, it’s not the arms I want around me right now. “Where’s the phone?” I choke out as I set Vash down. “I need to call Gabe.”

“Sure, honey,” Mia says, grabbing the phone from the side table of the sofa. “Here you are.”

It doesn’t take long to call Gabe, and he picks up quickly, already knowing the reason for my call. “I just heard.”

“Gabe, that was my house!” I cry, but the shocked sadness is beginning to be tinged with anger. It settles me somehow, like a dash of cold water in my face helping me focus. “If this is that asshole—”

“It could be,” Gabe says. “But we don’t know yet. It might have been something in the house, or it could’ve even been Carraby,” he says, but I can hear that he doesn’t believe that for a second.

He sighs. “I think this is most likely a tactic to draw you out, which signals that he doesn’t believe the story I fed him. That means you need to stay where you are. The stakes just got a lot higher.”

I cringe inside but understand why he’s saying that. It’s the same thing Mia’s saying, and I need to listen to their advice right now while my emotions are pushing me to act irrationally.

“Is there any way you can come over? I know it’s dangerous, and it’s stupid of me to ask, but I need you. Gabe?”

He’s silent for a moment, thinking, and then finally agrees. “It’ll take me a little bit to make sure I can get there cleanly, but I’ll be there soon.”

We hang up, and I tell Mia, “He’s coming.”

She nods and just sits with me. We must talk, but I’m not really processing anything and couldn’t repeat what she says or what I reply.

I don’t know how long it’s been when the elevator dings again and Gabe comes in, taking Mia’s place next to me on the couch and wrapping his arms around me.

I bury my nose in his neck, inhaling his scent to ground myself. I hear Mia excuse herself, saying she’s going back downstairs and to call if we need anything. In seconds, we’re alone.

Gabe twines a lock of my hair around his finger, whispering in my ear, “I’m so sorry, Princess. Is there anything I can do?”

I shake my head, but feeling him here with me after days apart does soothe some frayed bits inside me. I look up through my lashes. “Can you make me forget all of this? Blackwell, the fake death, and my house. I need to . . . not think about any of it.”

His eyes search mine questioningly, his voice soft. “Are you sure?”

“Sorry, it’s stupid,” I reply, sagging. “I just feel like I’m losing everything.”

He tilts my chin back up, looking deep into my eyes. “Bella, you’re not losing everything. You have me, and I have you. We’ll figure out the rest, deal with Blackwell, and rebuild your house if we have to.”

I lick my lips, drawing strength from his steady gaze. “Why? Why are you doing all this for me?”

It’s something I’ve been wondering in the back of my mind all along. Gabe is beautiful, brilliant, and smooth. Why would he want a woman with nothing but dreams?

Gabe’s smile is the slow one I like best, starting on the left and moving across his lips until his dimples pop out. “Don’t you know? It’s because I love you, Bella. I love you with everything I am, everything I have.”

Somehow, in the middle of this mess, he knows just what to say to bring everything into focus. “I love you, too.”

His slight intake of breath is audible, like he’s surprised by my admission, but I suspect we’ve both known the truth for a while and were just too scared to speak the words, hoping the actions would be enough to communicate the depth of what we’re feeling.

But even with the words hanging in the air between us now, I need the action, both to revel in our shared truth and to distract myself from the building storm coming for us.

Our mouths meet, tasting our declarations, though I don’t know if he moved to me or I moved to him. I feel him pick me up, his rough hands on my ass as I wrap my arms and legs around him. “Which way?”

“Down the hall, second door on the right,” I tell him, licking and sucking on his neck.

In moments, I’m spread on the guest bed, soft cotton beneath me. “I promise you, Bella, I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe and by my side.”

I put my arms around his neck, just holding him and seeing the love I feel reflected in Gabe’s eyes.

Every time I’m with him is a new exploration, a way for us to discover not just our bodies but our souls and our hearts. Nothing is truer than this moment, and instead of tearing into each other with rabid passion, clothes flying like a clearance sale in a Marshall’s, we lie on the bed, looking into each other’s eyes as we run our hands up and down each other’s body, memorizing every inch.

“I’m nervous,” I admit, feeling goosebumps form on my arms. “It’s the first time I’ve ever said those words to someone who wasn’t family. Mia and Char being family, of course.”

“Me too,” he admits, taking my hand and placing it over his heart. “But I know every beat, every thought, everything I am... it’s for you.”

Gabe cups my face, and I lean in, kissing him softly at first before our kiss deepens, our tongues entwining and our lips caressing each other as we slip and squirm out of our clothes. Finally, I help him slide his jeans off, and our skin presses together, his heat coursing through my veins.

“Lie back... let me,” he whispers, urging me onto my back and kissing his way down my body. I arch my back, pushing my nipples toward him, but instead, he traces my stomach with the tip of his tongue, dipping into the shallow well of my belly button before kissing lower. He pulls away to kiss up the inside of my thighs before he soulfully kisses my wet pussy.

He doesn’t tease me, instead just kissing my lips tenderly, letting his tongue explore my soft flesh. He’s driving me crazy, physically and emotionally, with how sweet he’s being. But this is what I need right now, and he knows it.

My hips lift, pressing into his mouth as I grind my pussy against his lips and teeth. “Oh, God, Gabe... that’s amazing... oh, God, yes, yes, yes!” I say before my voice leaves me, devolving into a stream of breathy yesses that blend together as I buck against his tongue.

My thighs clamp around his head as I come, and I can feel my body gushing for him. Gabe drinks me down like I’m a fine wine, which only makes me come harder.

He kisses his way up my body to look in my eyes before taking my mouth in a deep kiss to let me taste myself on his tongue. It’s a heady combination of the two of us. As we kiss, he thrusts into me slowly, filling me with his thick cock. We move as one, our hips coming together in waves.

My nipples rub against his chest, pearling up, and he dips down to suck on one. But with a groan, he pops off and lays over me, pressing me into the bed with his weight. I feel cocooned in him, surrounded and impaled by everything he is. And I take it, grateful that he is letting me into his heart the way I’m letting him into mine.

The new angle hits a spot deep inside me, and I cry out, “Oh, God, Gabe. Right there.”

“Come for me, Princess,” he says, and I reach for it, so close to the edge and so desperate to fly. “Come with me.”

And that does it. I want to come with him always, both in bed and anywhere life takes us. The thought of our being together forever, however long that may be, considering the threat we’re under, is sharply glorious.

Gripping his shoulders as he thrusts deeper and deeper into me, we find our moment of eternity, Gabe crying out his own release as I spasm and clench around him, milking his cum from his balls.

I don’t realize I’m crying until Gabe wipes the tears away with his thumb. “Hey, you okay?” His brows knit together in concern.

I bite my lip, nodding. “Yeah, it’s just a lot. But with you by my side, I think I can handle anything.”

He smiles, dimples popping for me again. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be. I love you, Bella.”

I wish I could say his words make the world waiting to destroy me disappear, washing it away with the power of his love. But that doesn’t happen. Instead, his vow makes me feel like no matter what is coming down the pipe, I can handle it with him. Hopefully, he feels the same way about my promise.

“I love you, Gabe. Now and forever.”