The First Time I Saw You

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  Ah, so there was a sister too. Her mother was intrusive, all right. No, he was still feeling as if he’d been nipped in the ass by a passing tornado. “Anyway, you have the keys, and the rent…” he started.

  She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a wad of bills. “As promised, four hundred dollars.” She handed him the cash. “It’s all there, but feel free to count it,” she added.

  For a second, he wondered whether she was insinuating something, from the way she said it, but then he couldn’t tell for sure. “No, no, of course not.” He tucked the cash in his pocket. “Hey, I thought maybe we could sit down after and talk. Maybe you have questions…” He let it hang, taking in the way she stared back at him as if she wasn’t impressed. Okay, so no chitchat right now. “Or maybe I can help you bring in furniture, the bed, dresser, anything else you have.”

  Why was he babbling? She opened her mouth as if to say something and instead just pulled in a breath before closing her mouth and squinting, then glancing out and down the street.

  “No furniture,” she said. “Just an air mattress and some blankets to bring in, and then I’d say we’re set.” She started down the steps and out the open gate, not waiting for him to say anything. She stopped at an older-model Lincoln that had a huge open trunk. This was it, an air mattress for her and her little girl?

  Then he heard a really loud motorcycle and turned with Elizabeth to see a bike coming toward them, one of those long Harleys. It pulled up in front of his truck and stopped. Ah, shit, biker dude. On the back was a kid wearing a helmet.

  “Marty, what the hell are you doing putting Shaunty on your bike? I told you before I don’t want her riding on it. Come on, hop down, honey.”

  He watched as Elizabeth lifted Shaunty off the bike just as the kid unfastened the too-big helmet. Marty then turned off the engine, which rumbled with an awful racket. He had to fight the urge to look over his shoulder to see if any of the neighbors had stepped out of their houses, maybe to see who it was who would be pulling into a neighborhood that was all families, middle class, an ultraconservative lot who he figured were all in bed by nine.

  “Ruby got called into work,” Marty said, “and you know how she can never say no to a shift for extra cash, so she called me and I swooped on down and picked up my niece.” He lifted off his black helmet and stepped off the bike the way guys do, lifting his leg over the seat and resting the helmet on it as he winked at the little girl, who actually winked back.

  “No, the problem is that Ruby spends money faster than she can make it on the slots. She’s never learned to prioritize anything or follow through on a promise.”

  Gabriel picked up the edge in Elizabeth’s voice and figured it would be wise to keep his mouth shut, considering he was still stuck on the fact that biker dude was there. At the same time, he was at a loss as to how something like this could happen. How could Elizabeth in any way be related to this unnerving man, who could be affiliated with some really bad people? It was the kind of thing he didn’t want around him.

  Marty turned his piercing hard gaze on Gabriel before sticking out his hand as he walked over to him. “See you met my sister, and thanks for renting her a room. She said it’s real sweet looking.”

  Gabriel was used to strong grips, but the way this guy squeezed his hand and then pulled him into him, he bounced off his chest.

  Marty slapped his back. “Don’t mess with my sister,” he said in a low voice in Gabriel’s ear before he could step back.

  What the hell was he supposed to say to that? He took in Elizabeth squatting down before the little girl, ignoring both of them, and he couldn’t figure out how she fit with Marty and the odd couple inside his house. His house!

  Marty slapped his hands together. The fat in his bare arms wobbled over the muscle he had felt from that grip. “Well, come on, show me around,” he said. “I want to see these new digs of yours.”

  Gabriel just stood there and watched as Marty strode up to his house, and he was left standing with Elizabeth and her little girl.

  Elizabeth made a face and shrugged. “That’s my brother, Marty. I’m wondering by your face if you’re now regretting renting a room to us.”

  He didn’t know what to say as he looked down at Shaunty, who was holding her mother’s hand, quiet, polite, her hair sticking up everywhere. Elizabeth was standing there, looking gorgeous, and she still didn’t fit the mold of this crazy family that seemed to have taken over his house.

  “Of course not. I’ll get this.” He lifted out the blankets before Elizabeth stepped over to the trunk and rested her hand on his arm.

  “Just in case I didn’t say it, Gabriel, thank you.” She said it so humbly before pulling her hand away, looking down to Shaunty, and walking away with her, carrying a bag stuffed with clothes and talking to her daughter as if he didn’t even exist.

  Chapter 5

  “Take my bed.”

  That had been what he’d said to her after her family had left and she’d been sitting on the floor of her room, blowing up the double mattress that had been leaking from a tiny hole in the side. By the time he had called the glass company to order a new window, they had been closed, and they would be until Monday. With a sheet of plywood over where the window should be, she considered the offer only once before she glanced to her daughter and said yes.

  Now here she was in the grocery store two blocks away, and Gabriel was where? Outside in the parking lot, because he was determined to be a gentleman and drive her to the store even though she had two feet and could walk. “So what are we buying?” her daughter asked as they walked along the back of the store.

  Elizabeth was pushing a cart through the bakery and dairy aisle. “Food until next week, and we’re going to need to be really frugal.”

  Shaunty walked along beside the cart and nodded as if that made sense, then looked up to her, her expression priceless. “What does frugal mean?”

  She fought the urge to laugh. “It means we can’t spend much, so think cheap. We buy what’s marked down.” Next Friday she would get another check for her part-time hours, and then she could put aside enough for rent and buy more food. Great way to live, paycheck to paycheck.

  “So like macaroni and cheese,” her daughter added, sounding more responsible than most adults. She had to pinch herself for being so lucky to have such a great kid. She nodded as she took in her gorgeous, beautiful, smart-as-a-whip daughter, thankful the only thing she’d gotten from her useless, idiot father was his hair.

  “Exactly, so we’ll stick to everything that’s cheap and on sale, like macaroni, bread, peanut butter, and milk.” They would need to skip the eggs, buy the cheapest cuts of meat on sale, and prioritize. Her daughter had scored on the macaroni: The no-name brand was marked down. They found a bag of carrots, too, and she loaded up the cart with as much as she could, adding up in her head as she went.

  Elizabeth unloaded the cart at the cash register and watched as the cashier rang it up, hoping she’d done the math correctly.

  “Hey there, you’re almost done.” She jumped and turned when Gabriel appeared beside her. He pulled off his sunglasses and rested them atop his head in his short, messy dark hair. It too was sexy as all hell.

  “Yeah, I’m, uh…”

  “That will be $68.25,” the cashier said, and her heart sank. She’d miscounted, having only fifty-two dollars and twelve cents. She touched her head, lifting her purse on the counter, feeling her daughter beside her. The customers behind them were already unloading their groceries.

  She leaned in. “Sorry, I’m short. I’ll have to put some things back…” She was flustered as she scanned the groceries, trying to quickly figure out what to take out. “Can you take off the bag of apples, and…” She took in the carrots, the milk, bread, peanut butter, tuna, mayonnaise. “The mayonnaise, too.”

  The cashier gave her an annoyed glance, and she could feel her face burn in embarrassment as she heard the woman waiting behind her let out a huff of annoyance.<
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  “Don’t put it back. Hey, how much do you need?” Gabriel stepped closer to her, and she wished he hadn’t. In fact, it would be better if he’d just turn and leave and let her deal with this as quickly and with as much dignity as she could.

  “No, that’s fine, really. I just need to take out a few things I don’t really need…”

  He was pulling out his wallet, and the cashier was leveling a hard glance her way that said, Stop wasting my time. She shoved her hand in her purse and pulled out her wallet. “Fine, about fourteen dollars and…” She fumbled, feeling sweat running down her back, and her hand was shaking as she pulled out the bills.

  Gabriel handed his debit card to the cashier. “Just put it on here,” he said, and she lifted her hand to gesture something, but she could feel the other shoppers listening in on everything.

  “You don’t have to do this,” she whispered to Gabriel and pulled out all her bills, then dumped her coins out into her hand as he punched his number into the debit machine. The cashier bagged up the groceries, and he shoved his card back in his wallet. She went to hand him the cash and her handful of coins, but he just stared at her hand, then looked up to her.

  He shook his head before lifting her two bags of groceries and said, “It’s fine. We’ll square it up later.”

  She was forced to shove the money back in her wallet, grab Shaunty’s hand, and hurry to follow Gabriel and his long strides out of the store. She was humiliated and furious at Gabriel at the same time.

  “Seriously, you didn’t need to do that. I’ll pay you back for all of it, but you shouldn’t have done it,” she said as she followed him out to his pickup, and she didn’t miss the cut of his biceps, his strong forearms in his simple T-shirt, and the way he seemed to easily carry the bags as if they were nothing. “I’ve got fifty-two dollars and would have preferred to just put something back. I don’t like owing anyone.”

  He stopped at his pickup and rested the bags in the back of the flatbed, then rested his forearms on the edge. He glanced over to her as he settled his sunglasses back on, and she didn’t miss the odd look in his face as if he couldn’t figure out what to say.

  “How about a ‘Thank you, Gabriel’? Just a simple thank-you. Seriously, I have never met a woman who has so many walls up and makes things so much harder than they need to be. It’s not a big deal. It’s food, and you have a daughter to feed. You can pay me back.” Then he pulled open the driver’s door, and she looked down to her daughter, who was standing there so quietly, staring up at her as if she agreed with everything Gabriel had said.

  “It’s okay, Mom. He’s nice, you can pay him back.” She sounded so reasonable, but she had no idea of the cost of becoming beholden to anyone. She just hoped her daughter never had to figure that out.

  “Okay, climb in,” she said as she pulled open the passenger side, and her daughter scooted into the middle of the pickup. Gabriel was already behind the wheel and was reaching around to fasten Shaunty’s seat belt.

  “Lizzie!”

  She heard the deep voice shout out, and she jerked her head back just as she was about to slip into the truck.

  “Oh, shit,” she said as she stared at MM, a.k.a. Mac Murrin, digging into each step and coming right for her from across the parking lot. He had thick kinky dark hair, and he was a big dude with killer abs, a broad chest, and strong arms that pumped double his body weight. It was his amazing physique that she’d totally fallen for, but it had been his dimpled grin and icy blue eyes that had sunk her. He was wearing a wrinkled tank and worn blue jeans, with a chain hanging from his pocket attached to a pocket watch, and his face had a five o’clock shadow.

  “Hey, everything okay?” Gabriel asked, and she glanced into the truck and saw her daughter unfasten her belt, look up, and then slide over to the edge before bolting out of the truck.

  “Daddy!” she said as she raced over to MM, who lifted her with a toss before catching her and then swinging her around like an airplane in the busy mall lot.

  “Are you following me?” Elizabeth said. That would be just like him. She watched as he slung Shaunty over his shoulder as if she were a sack of potatoes.

  “Hell, no,” he said. “Just drove into the parking lot and couldn’t believe I saw you with some slick-looking dude and my daughter. What the hell, Lizzie? You moving on on me? I went to the Grove, and they said you moved out. I drove around all night looking for you. You get your ass back in my car and out of this truck. You ain’t going anywhere until I decide I’m done with you, you cold-hearted bitch.”

  She could feel eyes on her from the supermarket. People were staring. She heard the slam of the truck door and knew that Gabriel had stepped out, and that was a problem, because MM was unpredictable.

  “Well, that’s the thing, MM. I told you before, every time you show up at a place of mine, that we’re done. We’re over. No more sleeping outside the door to my place, no more following me around, no more showing up at my work, so kindly put Shaunty down, and we’re going to be on our way.” She was afraid to look over to Gabriel, because she feared what she’d see there.

  “You sleeping with my girlfriend?” MM said. “Well, I ought to teach you a lesson, you fucking little pissant…” He put down Shaunty, who ran over to Elizabeth. Oh, shit, this wasn’t good.

  “Get in the truck, honey,” she said. MM was digging into each step, heading right for Gabriel, his fists ready and his expression that of the idiot she’d left, whose entire reasoning centered around his fists. “MM, don’t you dare!” she called out.

  He was around the truck, in Gabriel’s face, and Gabriel wore the same What the fuck? look everyone did when they first encountered MM.

  “Are you crazy?” Gabriel just stood there, and Elizabeth grabbed MM’s arm before he could swing and bust Gabriel’s face.

  Next thing she knew, she was flying into the blue car parked next to them. “Ugh!” she grunted out as she slid down the car to the ground, wondering for a second whether anything was broken. She was dizzy and thought she saw stars.

  “Oh my God, Lizzie, are you okay? I’m so sorry, baby,” MM said. He was on the ground now, kneeling down.

  She was on all fours, trying to catch her breath from the ache in her side and her shoulder where she’d slammed into the car. MM’s hands were on her, and she slid around on her ass and sat there, leaning against some stranger’s car. She couldn’t seem to get rid of the crazy idiot in front of her. Then there was Gabriel, who was leaning into the truck and saying something to her daughter. When he stood up, she saw he had his cell phone to his ear.

  She wanted to weep as she sat there, feeling she was hitting rock bottom, all because MM wouldn’t take the hint or hear that they were done. She knew this was it, and she’d once again have to move to get away from this idiot.

  Chapter 6

  “Like, what the fuck?” Gabriel muttered. This was at least the tenth time he’d said it under his breath as he took in the flashing lights of the cops, whom he’d called because there was no way he was taking on a crazed idiot who was hell bent on killing him. Elizabeth’s crazy ex—who, as he now had figured out, was also Shaunty’s father—was still carrying on, yelling and screaming obscenities toward him in between pleas for Elizabeth to take him back, even though he was cuffed and being wrestled by two deputies into the back of a cop car. Gabriel couldn’t make any sense of it. Even after the cops shut the door, the man was still yelling, and Gabriel was pretty sure all manner of threats were being directed at him.

  This was absolutely insane.

  “I’m fine, really, it’s okay,” he heard Elizabeth say to her daughter, who was sitting on the edge of the driver’s seat now, leaning out the open door of the truck. Elizabeth was standing in front of her. Gabriel had expected the kid to be crying, freaking out, but she wasn’t. Instead, he heard her ask again if her mom was okay. She was only four!

  The driver of the blue car Elizabeth had slammed into had returned, and thankfully there was no dent in the sid
e from how hard she’d been thrown against it. The driver had backed out and left after asking only a question or two, leaving the spot empty. Gabriel now had room to walk back and forth as he took in the scene, gave his statement, and finally rested his arm over the back of the truck.

  He ran his other hand over his head, watching Elizabeth and seeing the moment she made a face and touched her side. Yeah, she was hurt. He should go to her, say something, but what?

  One of the deputies walked around Gabriel and over to Elizabeth, wearing a tan shirt and mirrored shades. “Okay, so again, about what happened, did he hit you or didn’t he? To hold him on assault charges…”

  “He didn’t hit me,” she said, and the deputy stepped back from the truck and appeared to take in Shaunty’s wide eyes as she looked between him and her mom, not saying a word. “He was going to hit Gabriel. I just got in the way and tried to stop him, grabbed his arm. Big mistake. Got tossed into the car. But that was an accident, as much as I’d like to say otherwise.”

  Gabriel shook his head and had to press his lips together, because he wanted to say a few things to Elizabeth. When he glanced over, he didn’t miss the way she was watching him and holding her arm.

  “If he’d hit me or intentionally thrown me into the car, I’d say it,” she said. “But he didn’t, and I’m not about to lie. He won’t leave me alone, though. Could you do something about that? Because that’s what I’d really like.”

  The crazy guy was still staring daggers Gabriel’s way, tucked in the back of the cop car, and he was so big that he seemed to take up much of the back seat.

  “You got a restraining order?”