Closer

by Kaia Bennett

  "Haven't heard from you in ages, girl. How ya been?"

  She smiled and quickly glanced back to where Gabriel was still in line before turning back to him. "I've been good. Just crazy busy. You know how it is, right?"

  He nodded and scratched lightly at the day's worth of stubble on his strong chin. "Yeah, I do. Got a new job myself, just after Christmas. So, I'm still broke, but maybe not forever."

  She laughed and gave him a warm smile, one he returned with a look that told her he hadn't forgotten the last time they were together.

  She hadn't seen or heard from Travis since that night months ago, when Gabriel had called to tell her Fool the World was probably going to sign with Phantom Records. She'd been so caught up in Gabriel, in having him back for an extended period of time that she hadn’t thought of Travis since then. Now it was March, just a few short months until Gabe was gone, and he was getting busier and busier by the day. What a funny twist of fate that just like before, when Gabriel was getting ready to leave her again, Travis would show up.

  It was strange to see him, like having a chance encounter with an ex, and yet she realized it might be weirder because they hadn't actually dated, they'd only been together a handful of times. For her it had been a fun and new kind of distraction to dull the ache of missing Gabriel. But for Travis, it had meant just a little bit more. Perhaps that was the worst part about all of this. She couldn't help but feel guilty knowing this decent guy had wanted something decent with her, and she'd basically used him to fill a void. Now, even worse, she felt herself almost trying to shoo him away so Gabriel didn't see him. He deserved better than that, so she quickly filled him on what was going on with work, and was about to tell him she was dating someone now so he didn't get the wrong impression, when he cut her off.

  "Sorry it's been so long since we talked," he said, brushing lightly at a strand of hair against her cheek before she could stop him. It was something he used to do all the time, even before they slept together. "Been so busy, I forgot to call and check in."

  Realizing he was looking at her and touching her the way he used to when he was interested in her, made her feel naked under those blue eyes. Here was a person she'd been intimate with – very intimate with – and her boyfriend was only a few feet away. Gabriel hadn’t been thrilled to learn about Travis even when they weren’t officially dating. He’d compared it to the way she felt around Meredith and that was not what she wanted on their chill night out. She needed to nip this in the bud.

  "It's cool," she said quickly. "I've been busy, too, and I'm sorry I didn't fill you in, but—"

  "Well, maybe when you're a little less busy, we could get together and…"

  Travis paused and looked up at just the moment Nicole realized Gabriel had joined her. He put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close, and she wondered if he'd heard the beginnings of what would have been Travis' offer to get together again. Nicole swallowed lightly, but looked up at Gabriel with a warm smile to put him at ease.

  "Who's your friend, sweetheart?” Gabriel asked. His voice and smile were polite, but there was something to be said for body language. He hadn't taken his eyes off of Travis, and Travis had stuffed his hands in his jeans pockets, looking between them and waiting for an introduction.

  "Um..." Fuck. "Gabriel," she said, noticing Travis lift his chin and widen his eyes with recognition of the name, "this is Travis." Gabriel stiffened beside her, his jaw noticeably clenching as recognition dawned on him, too. "Travis, this is Gabriel," she mumbled quickly.

  The guys eyed each other warily, then leaned in to shake hands. They said cordial greetings, but she could see the slight strain, the electricity between them as each tried to assert their dominance in that handshake. She suddenly felt even more uncomfortable, and very aware each guy was sizing the other up.

  When they released each other's hands, Travis asked what movie they were planning to see. His eyes shifted between Gabe and Nicole, never holding her gaze for too long. He didn't seem necessarily fazed by Gabriel, just aware that being too familiar with Nicole might put a strain on the situation. He was laid back and calm when they told him what film they were going to see, but Nicole almost cringed when she realized they were going to see the same movie, in the same theater.

  "Cool," Travis said again, turning those bright blue eyes back to Nicole, though with less fire than before. "Maybe I'll see ya around then?"

  "Um, yeah, I'm sure I'll see ya around," she said with a smile, which made Gabriel's arm suddenly heavier and tenser around her shoulder. She wasn't sure exactly what to say in that situation, but she hoped Travis understood she wasn't planning to hook up with him again anytime soon. And she hoped Gabriel understood that, too.

  Travis gave her a little wink, said, “Later, man,” to Gabe, and sauntered off to join a group of friends. There were a couple of girls mixed in with the guys, and from what she could see one of the girls was interested in him. That girl in particular kept looking back in Nicole's direction, checking her out in a way that couldn't have been more conspicuous if she'd stood in the middle of the lobby with a pair of binoculars.

  Whoa, chick, simmer down...

  That must have been what Travis was thinking when he literally turned her face around so he could talk to her before disappearing into the hallway.

  "You gonna stare at him all night, or just until the movie starts?" Gabriel asked calmly. Almost too calmly.

  Her face swiveled to his. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she asked, equally amused and shocked.

  "Nothing. You just seem to be really interested in what he's doing."

  "I am not, and you know it. It was just weird seeing him, that's all."

  Gabe smirked and dropped his arm from her shoulder. "Yeah, well, he seems pretty interested in you. Made a nice quick getaway when he realized you were here with me and not just a bunch of friends, didn't he?"

  "Oh, puh-leeze, don't start," she said with a chuckle, linking her arm through his and leaning her head against his shoulder.

  Gabriel tilted his head while he looked down at her. "Don't start what? I'm just asking about your friend, that's all. Thought maybe he'd want to catch up with you more, but he ran off in such a hurry."

  Nicole stared up at him, unblinking, for the longest five seconds. He finally laughed and turned away.

  "Jealousy is not a good look for you, babe. I'm not gonna run off with Travis if you turn your back in the snack line," she said with a laugh, "so there's nothing for you to worry about."

  She wondered when he went still and didn't join her in laughing, if maybe she just should have kept her mouth shut.

  He exhaled through his nose and his jaw clenched subtly, then he said, "I'm not worried about anything."

  Again she stared at him, this time in genuine shock at his change in mood. She paused for a moment and tried to choose her words carefully. "You do know I was joking, right? Like 'haha, I made a funny'... Joking?" she said, trying to lighten his mood and throwing in a little smile for good measure.

  His lips tightened in a smile that looked more like a grimace, and he gave her a snort. She unhooked her arm and stared up at him, trying to get his attention with her eyes, but he was still looking away.

  Awesome. Just flippin'... ugh...

  "Look, I know you're not intimidated by Travis. Of course, I know that," she said, doing some hardcore backpedaling. "I was just... I was just saying, just in case you were jealous, or something—"

  "There's nothing for me to be jealous of," he said deliberately, his dark eyes penetrating hers when he finally looked down at her. "He wants you, but you’re mine. It's impossible for me to be jealous when I have what he wants."

  The look he was giving her. She was instantly wet, her arousal at war with her desire to put him emotionally at ease. She was getting used to this game, the one where she riled him up and he responded with dominance.

  "He didn’t mean anything by it. He was just saying hi—"

  "Oh, I know wha
t he was doing, and it wasn't just a friendly 'hi' he was after. Lucky for him he at least knows how to keep his distance," Gabe said calmly, as if he were talking about the weather before turning away again. “Though from where I was standing you didn’t seem to care if he got too close.”

  “Um...” she murmured, trying and failing to come up with something to say. So he had seen most of her exchange with Travis.

  She didn't know what to say and by the time she thought of the most obvious thing – which was to say she wasn’t still interested in Travis – they were in the front of the line. Gabriel politely asked the girl at the counter for their usual snacks. Nicole stared up at him like he'd been replaced with a completely different man. She noticed he didn't even look at her as he gathered up the popcorn and Raisinettes and headed towards the ticket guy. She grabbed their drinks and trailed behind, nibbling her lip at his sudden unreadable mood.

  It wasn't hard to spot Travis and his group inside the theater, especially since she and Gabriel ended up in the back row. She did her damnedest not to look in Travis' general direction, but it was difficult since he and his friends were seated in the middle. It might be easier to get over the awkward atmosphere, if the cause of the awkwardness wasn't in the same theater, if he hadn't turned and glanced at her and then a stony faced Gabriel before turning away again.

  The lights dimmed; the previews started. Gabriel was having a hard time paying attention to them, though. He was watching Nicole try not to watch Travis and try not to be uncomfortable. He felt guilty about putting her on the spot and making her feel bad for calling a spade a spade. She may have been joking, but she'd hit a little close to home, and that it was obvious he was jealous made him feel even more... uneasy. He wouldn't say upset or out of control. Or violent. Not yet anyway.

  Fuck, what was wrong with him?

  It had been a long time since he'd gotten into a fight, or almost gotten into a fight, and even then very few of those occasions revolved around a woman he was seeing. Travis hadn't done anything yet to provoke that level of anger in him. Still, it didn't put him in a particularly good mood to know one of the few guys that had seen his girl naked was in the same theater as them, and had tried to set up a way to do so again until he realized Nicole was with someone else. And why had he seemed so shocked by that? Because Nicole hadn’t told him yet. Or because he hadn’t given her a chance to before he swooped.

  He'd seen the way Travis looked at her, had heard his halted invitation. That little fucker had shuffled off as soon as he realized she was taken, but if he hadn't been around, Gabriel was sure Travis would have still tried to see if he could get another taste of Nicole. The more he thought about it, the more it pissed him off. He shot a glance at her, saw her eyes flicker towards him as she immediately noticed the look, which made him realize how on edge she was. She gave him a quick smile and then turned her eyes back to the screen.

  Way to go, dickhead. Got her all nervous and shit...

  Still, part of him didn't feel too awful about that. He found himself looking at the back of Travis' head, his mind turning. He was closer to her age and for a guy he wasn't bad-looking. Not as big as Gabriel, but he was still cut. Blue eyes, dark hair, decent-looking face. This same guy had been in bed with Nicole just a few short months ago, back when he was still stupid enough to think dating other people had made any fucking sense. If he hadn't been so stupid then, so scared, she never would have hooked up with Travis. If he hadn't been sleeping with other girls – with Meredith – Travis might not even be an issue in his head now.

  He was getting antsy, shifting in his seat a bit. He was just... inundated with too much information. Travis had just been a name before today, the last person to stand in their way before he and Nicole became a real couple. He'd been this obscure entity, a voice on the end of the line that night. Now Gabriel had an actual person to go with the name. What was it about him that had made Nicole interested? Did he make her laugh more? Was he good in bed?

  Motherfucker...

  This was driving him crazy. He knew it wasn't Nicole's fault, but he wanted to blame her. His impending departure for the tour had a lot to do with it, too. Who else was going to come sniffing around when he was gone?

  He leaned against her, wrapping a possessive arm around her shoulder and pulling her towards him. She would have turned her face to his, but his lips halted the movement when they pressed themselves against her soft cheek. It was a slow, tender kiss that left no mystery as to what he was thinking or feeling. He heard a soft sigh as his lips traveled towards the lobe of her ear and caressed the sweet spot at the base of her jaw.

  "Gabriel...?" she whispered, trying to stop his hand from caressing her thigh.

  "Watch the movie," he commanded.

  He was nibbling lightly at the silver earrings lining her left ear, swirling his hand over her inner thigh higher and higher.

  "I think it's you that should be watching the movie," she whispered around a hushed giggle, trying and failing to move his wandering fingers.

  He looked up at her, her eyes and hair flickering with the reflection of the lights coming from screen. It reminded him of the first time he'd ever touched her. Almost two years ago, on her sister’s couch, the lights from the TV casting her beautiful face in shadow as he took what he wanted from her, what she was more than willing to give. He gave her a slight knowing smile and then brought his hand up so the backs of his fingers could lazily caress the nipple closest to him. She tried to push his hand away and give him a playful smile, but instead he groped her full breast, molding it to his palm before circling engorged nipple with his thumb.

  "Unbutton your jeans," he whispered.

  "No!" she hissed and pushed his hand away again. "Gabe—"

  Her eyes scanned the darkened theater, but only for a second before he turned her face to his and captured her undivided attention. His lips connected with hers, and he watched those bright eyes of hers flutter closed just before his own followed.

  He kept her pinned to his mouth, seduced her with his tongue and teasing nips over her bottom lip with his teeth. Her smile grew against his lips, letting him know she was less resistant now. Her fingers were on his lean stomach, tickling up and down tentatively. He was getting hard just thinking about her soft touch traveling lower and wrapping around his cock in this public place, the two of them struggling to be quiet and not draw attention to themselves in the dark.

  "Unbutton them," he growled softly when he'd halted the kiss, lowering his hand so it could cup her mound roughly through the denim. "Now."

  His hands seemed to lull her into an obedient, painfully aroused state. She opened her legs, reached a hand down to unbutton and quietly unzip her jeans, never taking her eyes off of his.

  "Eyes forward, little girl. Wouldn't want to draw attention, would we?" His smile was against her ear, his grip tightening on the back of her neck. He heard her swallow, saw her eyes blinking rapidly while his hand slipped under the hem of her sweater, into her jeans. He squeezed and cupped her so firmly in that first moment, her thighs pressed shut, and her eyes fluttered closed.

  "Open your legs, Nicole."

  Her breath was shaky and so were her thighs as she slowly opened them again. There wasn't much room for him to caress her inside the form-fitting fabric, but it didn't matter. He made do with dipping is middle finger into her juices and stroking her throbbing clit with it. She was wiggling in her seat, biting down on her lip to keep her moans at bay. Her eyes stared up at the screen, glassy and unable to focus on the moving images.

  "We have to sto—" She gasped loudly and covered her mouth. They both looked around at the faces scattered throughout the theater. No one noticed, and a moment later laughter filled the darkened room. The only two that seemed oblivious to the humor on screen were them.

  "This is just the beginning," he hissed, twirling his tongue in her ear when she'd finally ceased squirming against him. "I'm gonna make sure you spend the rest of the night coming for me like a good litt
le slut." He stroked her faster and faster, making her climb towards the peak, unraveling her, watching as she silently shattered beside him.

  He whispered in her ear, "You want me to make you come again, don't you? This greedy pussy can never get enough.” Her body twisted and rocked against his with aftershocks. She nodded and released a muffled whimper.

  He pulled his hand out of her jeans, staring her in the eye as he sucked her come off his finger. He pulled her in for a kiss, his tongue deeply penetrating her mouth sharing the sweet taste of her own honey. With his hand still caressing the back of her neck, his lips only inches away from hers, he shuffled slightly in his seat and slowly unfastened his zipper one tooth at a time. Her eyes widened. A sense of public decorum seemed to hit her suddenly, like a cold wind causing her to shudder. Her furtive glance darted all over the theater and Gabriel saw it fall on Travis.

  He tugged her hair. "What are you looking around for? You need to ask someone permission?"

  “No,” she whimpered. “I belong to you.”

  Fuck, that turned him on so badly, and broke his heart too. Every day he thought about telling her the words she hadn’t been awake to hear. She belonged to him. Her pain and her pleasure were his to command. He released his grip on her hair and then guided her hand to the opening of his jeans. She slipped her fingers inside and brought his arousal to pulsing life under her soft, steady caress. He released a light sigh and pumped his hips into her hand.

  "Bet your little friend's the one that's jealous now, huh?" he hissed, laughing softly when she shivered. "Why don't you give a him wink now, sweetheart. He's looking."

  Her eyes snapped forward. As soon as she looked, Gabriel let out another hushed laugh, a nonverbal "gotcha" that left an expression of tightly coiled annoyance on her face.

  She gave him an evil smile of her own. "You’re having a little too much fun teasing me. Or is the problem that you really are jealous after all?"

  She pulled his cock out, brought her hand up to lick her palm, and began to jerk the shaft with slow precision. His protests died in his throat.