Gabe

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

  “What about clothes?”

  “We have that covered. They all have little military uniforms,” he said as he turned and walked out of the house.

  Military uniforms?

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  It was time for my kids to go stay at Reed Security’s super spy training center for the kids. They were going to be gone until Sunday afternoon and I just didn’t know how I was going to handle that. My kids were my life. I had been wrapped up in them for so long that they were all I thought about when I was at home. Well, that and Gabe.

  It had been a week since I kicked him out. Now, a rational person would have gotten over her shit and called him back, but something was holding me back. I was probably scared more than anything. From the start, he was just so adamant that we were going to stay together. He said he wouldn’t pressure me, and technically he hadn’t. But when he took potty training out of my hands and started telling me I was raising a pussy, I just lost it. I felt like he was taking over my life. I was scared that I was going to lose myself in him, just like I’d lost myself with Matteo. And now I had nothing to distract me from those thoughts all weekend.

  Vittoria and Enzo started jumping excitedly when Sam came in to get them. They thought this whole thing was pretty cool. I thought it was insanity.

  “You’re going to be with them the whole time, right?” I said worriedly.

  “No, I have to go out of town for work, but don’t worry. The women are fully trained just like me, but they’re also licensed as daycare providers.”

  “Wait, you never said you weren’t going to be there.”

  “Isa, it’s not a big deal. They’ll be fine. They’ve had sleepovers with me before.”

  “Yeah, but they know you. They don’t know these people. How do I know it’s even safe? I don’t feel comfortable letting them go there without me talking with these daycare workers first.”

  “Isa, do you trust me?”

  I wanted to say no. I wanted him to just let me be scared for my children without giving me the look that was currently on his face. The look that said I just needed to trust him on this.

  “Yes,” I grumbled.

  “They’ll be fine. I promise.”

  “You’d better, because if they come back with so much as a scratch on them, I’ll make sure that….that….”

  My brother smirked at me. I was never good with coming up with threats when I didn’t intend on going through with them.

  “Just bring them back in one piece.”

  I hugged the kids goodbye and tried my best not to burst into tears as they got into Sam’s truck and left. They were happy, which should be a good thing, but shouldn’t they want me there with them? I needed some wine.

  After pouring myself my second glass for the night, I sat down to watch a movie, but all that was on were Lifetime movies. I didn’t need to be sitting here crying in my wine. I muted the movie and pretended to watch, but really, I was thinking about Gabe. I decided to text my sister. She always knew how to cheer me up.

  Isabella: My legs are really hairy.

  Aurora: That’s weird.

  Isabella: No it’s not. That’s what happens when you don’t shave your legs for a week.

  Aurora: No, I meant that it’s weird that you told me that.

  Isabella: I remember when we were in high school and I showed you how long my poop was. We were both fascinated by it. So, that wasn’t weird, but you knowing that I have hairy legs is?

  Aurora: We were in high school.

  Isabella: And now we’re not. What’s your point?

  Aurora: *sigh* Okay, I give up. What’s wrong that your legs are as hairy as a forest?

  Isabella: I kind of kicked Gabe out last week and never called him back when he tried calling.

  Aurora: And you’re just telling me now?

  Isabella: I didn’t want to admit that it was over.

  Aurora: What did you fight over?

  Isabella: It’s a long story. I may have overreacted.

  Aurora: No! You? Overreact? I would never believe that.

  Isabella: Shut up. I’m really sad.

  Aurora: So, call him and fix it.

  Isabella: I don’t want to be the one that goes crawling back to him.

  Aurora: But you just said that he tried calling you.

  Isabella: Are you going to point out every flaw in what I’m saying?

  Aurora: Sorry for being logical.

  Isabella: You should be. As my sister, you should be agreeing with me and telling me that I don’t need him.

  Aurora: Isa, you’re too good for a man like Gabe. You don’t need his pushy, controlling, obsessive ass. Besides, he’s not even that good looking.

  Isabella: Gabe is not pushy, controlling, or obsessive. And I showed you a picture of him. There’s no way you could say he’s not that good looking.

  Aurora: You were really doing Gabe a favor by walking away before he had to deal with your crazy ass brain. No offense, but if I can’t win with you, I can’t imagine what it was like for him.

  Isabella: That makes me feel worse.

  Aurora: Call the man and apologize. It’s not that hard. Tell him you were PMSing. Men always blame our bad moods on that. It wouldn’t be difficult to accept. And then promise him that you’ll always talk things through with him and give him a blow job to make up for your illogical argument. He’ll take you back and I won’t have to waste a night texting with you about the current state of your forest. By the way, I would shave that before you apologize. No man wants make up sex with a woman as hairy as him.

  I flung the phone down on the couch next to me, grumbling about how I didn’t want to apologize, even though I knew she was right. I grabbed the bottle of wine and poured myself another glass. This night sucked. No, the whole week sucked. I drank down another glass and poured again until the bottle was empty. I was pretty tipsy, bordering on drunk by the time I finished the last glass. I wasn’t a regular drinker and wine always seemed to do me in. Then again, it could’ve been how fast I was drinking it.

  I passed out on the couch sometime after that and dreamed that I was being carried off somewhere. There was a man carrying me when I cracked my eyes open, but I couldn’t quite place who he was. His face was waving in front of me like a mirage, which was probably the reason I started laughing and feeling up his chest. And then he just disappeared. I woke hours later with the worst hangover of my life. Worse than that, I was pretty sure I wasn’t in my own house anymore.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Gabe

  “WHAT’D YOU DO?” I asked Sinner as I got out of the truck. “I thought we weren’t going to use force. Please tell me you didn’t knock her out.”

  “Didn’t have to,” he grinned. “She was passed out on the couch. There was an empty wine bottle on the table. I’m guessing you’re not going to have the fun night you hoped for.”

  “Shit, I wanted her to come somewhat willingly. She’s gonna be pissed.”

  “Yeah? Well, she’s gonna be even more pissed when she wakes up. She doesn’t have a bra on.”

  He set her down in the backseat and strapped her in. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from her. She was just so damn gorgeous, even in her ratty pajamas.

  “You know, she’d be pretty good looking if she wasn’t drooling all over the place,” Sinner said.

  “Shut the fuck up.”

  I shut the door and got in the front seat. We had a two hour drive ahead of us and I hoped she didn’t wake up in the SUV. She’d be pissed either way, but waking in a moving vehicle while drunk wasn’t a good idea.

  “I can’t believe I’m doing this for you. Cazzo’s gonna kick my ass.”

  “How did you get out of that job?”

  “Cap told him it was a two man job. He said he needed me to stay behind because of something that was going on with Freckles.”

  “You guys have a really fucked up relationship. I’ve seen you with Maggie. She treats you like a second husband.”

  �
�She does not,” he said indignantly. “She treats me like her brother.”

  “I don’t know many brothers who have seen their sister’s pussy,” I pointed out.

  “Fuck, don’t remind me about that. I had fucking nightmares for a month.”

  I stared out the window as we drove down the road. I couldn’t help but worry that this was all going to go sideways. When we got to the cabin, I pulled Isa out of the back and carried her inside. Her arms and legs were flopping all around and drool was practically pouring out of her mouth. How did one person produce so much saliva?

  “You sure you don’t want me to stick around?” Sinner asked.

  “No, this might be my only chance to get her back. I don’t want to take any chances that she’ll leave before I can talk to her.”

  “Then I’ll be back Sunday. Good luck, man.”

  I nodded and walked back to the bedroom. I thought about sleeping on the couch, but in the end, I decided to sleep in the bed. I slept next to her all night long, wishing I could pull her into my arms. But I couldn’t do that. When she woke up, she was going to be pissed enough without me holding her in my arms. I got myself cleaned up the next morning and then sat in the chair next to the bed, waiting for her to wake up. When she finally started wiggling around, I steeled myself for her wrath, which I didn’t have to wait long for.

  “Ugh. What the hell happened?” She scrubbed her hand over her face, rubbing at her eyes and yawning loudly. Then she looked around. I saw the confusion. Then she looked at me and she let it fly. “Where the hell am I?”

  “Now, calm down, Isa.”

  “Calm down? Calm down? Where the hell am I and why are you here? How did I get here? I don’t remember…hell, I don’t remember anything. I was at home and now I’m-” She got up quickly from the bed and pushed aside the drapes over the window. “I’m in the middle of nowhere!”

  I sat there, waiting for her to get it all out of her system. Yeah, she was pissed, but eventually she would run out of steam and finally sit down and listen. What I wasn’t prepared for was the wide eyed look and the raging scream that left her mouth as she charged toward me. I was so fucking unprepared that all I did was watch her coming for me. Her nails scratched at my face. I could feel her drawing blood and that’s what finally snapped me out of it.

  I grabbed her wrists and held them down at her sides. Standing, I pushed her back toward the bed.

  “Isa, just sit down and-” All the air left my lungs. I couldn’t fucking breathe. I never saw her knee coming. I never thought that my sweet little Isa would shove her knee into my balls. I fell to the ground as the world spun around me. Isa appeared in front of me, bent over and scowling at me.

  “Don’t you ever fuck with me again!”

  She ran out of the room and somewhere in the back of my mind, behind the pain that was roaring through my body, I wondered where this badass Isa had come from. This wasn’t like her. She always seemed so innocent. I mean, I knew that she was strong, but I never thought my Isa would react like this. I didn’t know how long I laid there, just trying to draw air into my lungs, but eventually, I struggled to my feet and shuffled toward the living room. Isa was sitting on the couch, arms crossed over her chest as she glared at me. I stopped at the end of the hallway, thinking it might be best not to get too close to her.

  “Where’s the truck?”

  “We don’t have one.”

  “Why? Why the hell wouldn’t you have a truck here?”

  “Sinner dropped us off last night. I didn’t want you to be able to leave.”

  “You kidnapped me?” she yelled, standing up and speeding toward me. I turned, curling into myself to protect my nuts from a secondary attack. I couldn’t take another blow.

  “Please,” I begged. “Just stay where you are.” I held up my hand and surprisingly, she stopped. I nodded and dropped back down to the ground, sitting back against the wall. She sat across from me, leaning against the opposite wall of the hallway.

  “I didn’t intend to take you when you were asleep.”

  “Gee, that makes me feel so much better. You were going to be nice enough to let me watch the whole thing play out. Do you know how psycho you are? You didn’t intend to take me? I don’t even know what to say to that.”

  “I did it for you.”

  She snorted, then broke out into a deep belly laugh. I waited for the hysteria to pass. She swiped at her eyes, wiping away the tears that were leaking from the corners.

  “Okay, I’m going to sit here calmly while you explain to me why taking me was for me.”

  Finally, she was going to shut her mouth. I remembered to keep that part to myself. “Well, it all started the day after you kicked me out of the house. I was pissed that you wouldn’t talk to me and I didn’t know how to get you to hear me out. Sinner said I should give you space, but then Burg pointed out that if I waited too long, you would think that I wasn’t serious about you. Cap didn’t have any bright ideas and I couldn’t go to anyone else for advice because nobody else was supposed to know about us.”

  I waited for her to say something, but true to her word, she just sat there glaring at me.

  “Well, none of us had any bright ideas so…so Cap called Knight up to the office.” Her eyes flared, but she remained silent. “Knight told me that to fix this with you, I had to kidnap you and take you to someplace where you were forced to listen to me. That’s why we don’t have the truck.”

  “So, Knight told you to kidnap me and you thought this was a good plan?”

  “No, I didn’t want to do it, but I didn’t have another plan. I was desperate. I was fine with sitting on your porch until you agreed to talk to me, but apparently, we don’t have enough pull with the police station if you were to call and have me arrested.”

  “You’re insane.”

  “Hey, I didn’t take it as far as Knight suggested. He wanted me to bring a rope and tie you up.”

  “How generous of you.” Her voice was sickly sweet and her smile was just a little too much like a sneer.

  “Look, I get you’re pissed, but you wouldn’t talk to me. I told you that this thing between us was inevitable, but you just didn’t want to accept it. I know that I fucked up that night, but you could have talked about it with me.”

  “I know,” she said quietly.

  Against my better judgement, I scooted across the floor to her side of the hallway and sat next to her. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”

  “I was scared. When I was with Matteo, I let him take control of our relationship and I lost a piece of myself. I was miserable and I know that doesn’t give him the right to cheat on me, but I let him push me into giving up my job. I let him walk all over me.”

  I grabbed her hand and laced my fingers with hers. She glanced over at me, trying to hide the tears that were filling those beautiful eyes. When she tried to turn away, I grabbed her chin and forced her to look at me.

  “This only works if you don’t hide from me.”

  “I didn’t want to lose myself in you.” She stared at me intently. As I stared into her eyes, I could see the fear now. What I had mistaken as confusion and wariness was actually a deep-seated need to be in control.

  “I walked in and took over.”

  “No, you didn’t. You were trying to help me out. After you left, I could see that, but I didn’t want to be wrong.”

  “I told you how to raise your son.”

  She shrugged. “Yeah, I gotta say, I don’t really like that, but there’s a difference between telling me your opinion and forcing me to raise my son a certain way. If I had just cooled down and had the nerve to call you back, things would have been different.”

  I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her against my side. “I won’t ever do that to you again.” She rested her head against my shoulder and sighed.

  “So, what do we do now?”

  “Well, my plan was to fuck all the hate out of you, but that’s not gonna happen anytime soon.
”

  Her laughter vibrated against my chest, blocking out the pain momentarily. “I’m not sorry about that. You guys are all nuts, no pun intended. Who thinks that the best way to get back a girl is by kidnapping her?”

  “It worked,” I said lightly.

  “Serial killers kidnap girls. Obsessed men kidnap girls. Let’s keep you out of those categories from now on.”

  “I am obsessed with you. I went from never wanting a woman in my life full time to needing you to survive in just a few days. If that’s not insane and obsessed, I don’t know what is.”

  Moving in to kiss her, I ran my hand over her pant leg, down to her ankle. Slowly, I slid my hand up her calf.

  “What the fuck is that?” I asked just as I was about to press my lips to hers. I looked down at her leg and then ripped up her pant leg, not believing my eyes. “Holy shit. I didn’t know a woman could have so much hair on her legs.”

  She shoved me lightly. “Stop. I was depressed. I hadn’t planned on seeing you, so there was no reason for personal grooming.”

  “But it’s like a forest.”

  “I know. I’m actually a little weird about staring at the hairs,” she blushed. “I know I should have shaved it off, but I was so fascinated by how long it was getting.”

  “Is this something you do regularly? Because I might have to reconsider our situation.”

  “Ha! You’re one to talk. Trimming is not good enough for me. If you want me to keep sucking your cock, you need to remove that mess down there.”

  “You want me to wax?”

  “Hey, if I have to shave my legs and keep my bikini area cleaned up, then so do you.”

  “But, it’s different for a woman. Women are supposed to be all smooth and silky. Men are gruff and hair keeps us manly.”

  “Hair keeps you manly?”

  I nodded. I was not about to wax that area just to please her.

  “What if I said that I would do it for you?”