Always Been Mine

by Victoria Paige

  “I know,” Gabe muttered.

  When they reached apartment 405, Gabe rapped on the door. They heard shuffling in the room.

  “What do you want?” A voice asked from inside.

  “Luisa owes me money—” Beatrice started to say.

  “She’s not here. Go away.”

  “I’m not leaving until I get my money,” Beatrice fired back. She threw Gabe a dirty look, warning him to wipe the smirk off his face. Didn’t he know how to do undercover work? Jeez.

  The door cracked open. A woman peered through the small opening. “You will get us killed. We have nowhere else to go. Go away.”

  A rush of footsteps pounded up the stairs. The door was slammed shut. Gabe tensed beside her.

  “Now that was productive,” Beatrice grumbled, trying to make light of the situation, but her heart thudded against her chest with anxiety.

  “Babe, I think things are about to get interesting,” Gabe said grimly.

  Sure enough, three Latino guys armed with metal pipes and guns appeared in the hallway.

  Shit.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “Let me do the talking.”

  Beatrice whispered to Gabe as she stepped in front of him. He cursed softly beside her. She was certain he was ready to throw her over his shoulder and run away with her.

  “Lost?” the Latino man with the nose ring sneered.

  “Not at all,” Beatrice said with false bravado. “I’m looking for Luisa. You know where she is? Bitch told me this was her address.” She mentally begged forgiveness for speaking ill of the dead.

  “Haven’t you read the news? She’s dead.”

  Beatrice feigned shock. “No! Damn it. Well, hell, how can I get back my three hundred dollars?”

  The Latino guys laughed. “We can give you three hundred dollars, but you’ll have to spread those long legs and let us fuck you.” More laughter.

  This wasn’t going well at all. She could feel Gabe ready to come out of his skin. Growly noises were coming from her man. Her man? When did he become her man?

  Focus, Bee!

  Beatrice shifted her attention back to the problem at hand.

  Walking forward with all the sass she could muster and pretending she didn’t hear Gabe call out her name in frustration, she stopped in front of Nose Ring guy.

  “Hmm . . . she also promised me quality cabello.” Beatrice hoped she pronounced the Spanish street name for cocaine correctly.

  “You better not be a cop, chica.” Nose Ring scowled at her.

  “Do I look like a cop to you?” Beatrice swore she could hear her pulse in her ears. Her voice wavered.

  Shit.

  Nose Ring’s eyes narrowed with suspicion, his mouth curled in a snarl as he reached for the gun tucked in the waistband of his jeans. “Yes.”

  Beatrice heard, “Fuck this,” right before Nose Ring’s head jerked back in a spatter of blood.

  Gabe yanked her behind him where she landed on her ass. Ignoring the pain on her bottom, she kept her eyes on the scene while reaching for her gun. She quickly extended her arm to shoot the guy about to clobber Gabe with a metal pipe.

  Gabe was finishing off the last thug, avoiding knife jabs, and blocking strikes while countering with his own punches. It seemed he had the situation under control so she crawled to Nose Ring’s body and searched for identification. She barely had time to grab his wallet when Gabe pulled her to her feet and growled, “Let’s go.”

  She was thrown over his shoulder and saw the stairs streak past her vision so fast, it made her dizzy. When they reached the street level, she was dumped on her feet. He grabbed her hand firmly, dragging her back to where they had parked. “Walk fast, but act normal. There may be more of them.”

  “Gabe—”

  “We do not want to draw any more attention.”

  The demand in his voice was absolute, so she shut up until they got to their car.

  She winced when she saw his face. He was blazing with fury, and it was directed at her. “We need to check for—”

  “Got it,” Gabe bit off, disappearing from view to check for trackers or explosives that may have been planted under their vehicle in their absence.

  “Are you hurt?” she asked worriedly when he got back to his feet. His face looked okay, but bruising was usually delayed. He didn’t appear to be bleeding, but he was wearing a leather jacket that could be masking an injury.

  “Get in the car.”

  “I’m sorry that—”

  “Get in the fucking car, Beatrice!”

  He started for her but stopped when two men approached them. They didn’t look Latino. Both of them were tall, one of them even taller and bigger than Gabe. The younger guy had blond braids. They were wearing leather cuts over their hoodies.

  Bikers.

  “Both of you all right?” one of them asked.

  “Where the hell were you guys?” Gabe snapped.

  “We were in the room across from Luisa’s,” the blond one said.

  “Our orders were not to interfere unless things got dire,” the bigger biker added. His eyes crinkled as they landed on her. “Looks like you had things under control. I’m Ashe by the way.”

  He extended his hand to Beatrice and nodded to his companion. “This is Duke.”

  “Those guys Fuego?” Gabe asked.

  Ashe nodded. “Things are too hot right now. We can’t stay and chat, but here’s our current number. That’ll be valid for at least two days.” He handed Gabe a piece of paper. “The Skulls don’t usually stay long around these parts. We do our drop and leave. We have the protection of the Russian gang, but things can turn on a dime.”

  Beatrice was feeling a sense of outrage growing inside her. She turned to Gabe. “Am I to understand I’ve wasted a trip here and you already know for sure it was the Fuego gang?”

  Gabe’s non-answer was answer enough.

  “Are they the same ones who hired the victims to mess with me?”

  “Not sure,” Gabe answered curtly.

  Beatrice turned back to the bikers. “We need names of whoever is related to the victims. Who hired them, who killed them. You have all the info to get started?”

  Ashe nodded. “We have an intelligence guy. I can put him on it. Give us 24 hours and then call us on that burner.”

  Beatrice nodded.

  When the bikers were out of earshot, she pivoted on Gabe, glaring at him. “You could have saved us the trouble of almost getting our heads blown off.”

  “Don’t start, Beatrice,” Gabe snapped. “I’m so pissed at you right now; you don’t want to test me.”

  “You? Pissed at me? You’re the one who withheld information.”

  “I didn’t have all the information. Now. Get. In.”

  Something told her this wasn’t a conversation to be had on the streets, so she did as she was told, but slammed the door hard in protest. Gabe got in beside her and cut her another angry look.

  They didn’t say anything for a while. Beatrice was busy checking out the contents of Nose Ring’s wallet when she realized he missed her exit.

  “You missed the DC exit.”

  Gabe glanced at her. “You’re coming home with me.”

  *****

  She froze beside him, but the blowup didn’t come. Baffled, he glanced over to her and saw her brows were furrowed as she was inspecting the seam of the wallet.

  “No comeback?”

  “I’m spattered with blood,” Beatrice said matter-of-factly. “Makes sense to clean up over at your place before I walk into my condo.” Her head finally turned his way. “You do intend to return me to the condo, right?”

  “We’ll discuss this later.”

  She simply shrugged. This annoyed him. It was probably still the adrenalin pumping through his veins that fed the desire to strangle her, squeeze her, hug her, and feel her. There were many things he wanted to do to her, with her, and for her, but they needed to talk first. Gabe didn’t know where he stood with Beatrice. Well, he ki
nd of knew, but he couldn’t accept that they were over. They still had a story of them, and he wanted their story to begin now. Not later, not tomorrow, and definitely not never.He didn’t know how to convince her to give him a second chance. Beatrice understood the meaning of duty and country. She understood why he had to leave her. The thing was, she was prepared not to be with a man like him. That scared him, because how could you reason with something logical?

  Twenty minutes later, he was pulling up beside his house. He noticed Beatrice looking around the neighborhood, an emotion on her face that pinched his heart. She was remembering them.

  “You live here?” she whispered, her eyes glazed.

  “I do.”

  “Why here?”

  “I missed us, poppy,” he replied simply.

  An anguished sound escaped her as she exited the car. She started stalking up the sidewalk away from his house.

  “Beatrice!”

  “Fuck you, Gabe!” she yelled, not slowing down.

  He caught up with her, gripping her arm. She spun around and her fists went flying, hitting him on the chest. She started crying and it broke his heart. He didn’t know what to do, except hold her, clenching her tight against him as she sobbed into his chest.

  “I’m sorry, Beatrice,” Gabe whispered. “God, I’m so sorry.”

  “How dare you do this to me!”

  “I’m sorry—”

  “Why couldn’t you just stay away?” she cried into his chest, trying to push at him, but he wouldn’t, couldn’t let her go. This was the closest he had gotten through to her, and he was not backing the fuck down from anything she wanted to throw at him. “Why, Gabe?”

  “Because . . . I just can’t.” His mouth was by her ear. “Please, babe, give me another chance.”

  Her crying faded into hiccups. She tried again to push away, but he only tightened his arms. Finally, she relaxed, much to Gabe’s relief. No way was he letting her go to build up that wall again. No fucking way.

  Her body seemed to have lost all the fight as she leaned heavily against him.

  “Let’s get you inside and cleaned up.”

  *****

  She crumbled. She just fell apart and there was nothing she could do to stop the avalanche of hurt and rejection she had felt when he left her without looking back. The pain in her heart was excruciating, threatening to rip her chest wide open. When Gabe turned onto the street that looked so familiar, the street where they’d walked hand in hand so many times, it was simply too much. Now, with Gabe’s arms around her, gripping her like he would never let her go, they walked side by side toward his house.

  It felt like coming home, and yet, it didn’t feel real. Because it really wasn’t. She had made up her mind never to be with a man like him, but her treacherous heart was screaming at her to take the leap again.

  She was suddenly yanked out of her internal musings by the most handsome creature she had ever seen, and for a moment her spirits lifted.

  “Oh, my God,” Beatrice gushed as she sank to her knees in front of Gabe’s dog. “Can I pet him?”

  “He would love that,” Gabe replied. “His name is Rhino.”

  “Aren’t you a handsome one?” She scratched the dog behind his ears and his tail thumped enthusiastically in response.

  “Looks like someone else is in love with you,” Gabe said gruffly as he walked past them. What did he mean by that? Beatrice looked past Rhino’s massive head to see Gabe walk into a room. She rose from the floor when he came back and handed her a shirt—a freshly laundered one judging from the smell. She resisted the urge to inhale deeply to absorb the essence of him.

  “There’s a full bath in the room down the hallway. Everything you need should be in there, shampoo, towel, stuff.” He headed up the stairs. “I’ll clean up as well and then take Rhino for a walk. Make yourself at home.”

  Beatrice heard the door slam and the scuffle of feet approach. Rhino’s head poked through the door of the guest room. She had finished drying her hair and was now wearing Gabe’s shirt, which came about mid-thigh for her. No panties.

  “Hey, boy,” Beatrice held out her hand. The dog came into the room and immediately nosed her palm, trying to snort it. She laughed.

  “He really likes you.” Gabe was standing by the doorway.

  “Shame on you, Sullivan, using your dog to get to me.”

  “That obvious, huh?”

  Silence.

  This went on for a while. Beatrice playing with Rhino’s muzzle, feeling Gabe’s intense stare on her. She felt herself squeezing her thighs together. Maybe no undies wasn’t a good idea after all. What was she thinking?

  “Got a minute?” Gabe finally said, exhaling deeply. “I need to tell you something.”

  *****

  Gabe wasn’t sure it was a good idea now to bring Beatrice home with him. Seeing her in his shirt, hiked up, exposing her bare legs, sent all the blood in his head to his dick. Was she even wearing panties?

  He cleared his throat and jerked his head toward the living room. Seeing her sitting so close to the bed was wreaking havoc with his resolve to talk and not screw. “Uh, I’ll wait for you in the dining room.”

  He sat on the chair and scooted it under the table to hide the growing bulge in his crotch. Going commando in sweatpants was not helping the situation at all. He linked his fingers together and bent his head. Shit. Down boy.

  Beatrice took the chair right across from him. She was right to put the table between them.

  “Okay, Gabe. Talk.”

  “Remember when we met?”

  Beatrice smiled, her face wistful. “How can I forget? I bumped into you on your way out of Dad’s study. It was during a cocktail party. You weren’t supposed to be there.”

  “There was an op that was brewing. There were months of prep work to be done. I was the top choice to go on that mission. It was going to be deep cover, dicey, and a long one.” Unable to help himself, Gabe reached across the table and linked their fingers. “You took my breath away.”

  “Gabe—”

  “You really did, babe. That night, I couldn’t get you out of my head, so I stalked you, bumped into you on purpose, and asked you out. I couldn’t afford the distraction, really. When your dad found out, he was furious. I couldn’t blame him. It was the worst possible timing.”

  “So you were going on a mission, and then you asked me to be exclusive anyway?”

  “No. I said I was the top choice, but I wasn’t the only one. Ryker, a good friend of mine, had the same skill set as I had. Had the same background as I do—no immediate family to wonder if we were gone for a long time or if we never came back. I chose to be with you, Beatrice. I bowed out of the mission.”

  “But you still left . . .” her voice trailed off.

  Gabe closed his eyes as he remembered the memories of that night, and the harsh decisions he had to make. He was breathing hoarsely when he spoke, “Something went horribly wrong. There were so many vendettas within the organization we were going to infiltrate—Ryker got killed when the plane he was in exploded.”

  “Oh, my God,” Beatrice whispered.

  “It should’ve been me.”

  “Gabe—”

  “There was only a small window of opportunity to insert myself into the op, otherwise, we would have lost the chance.”

  “You blamed yourself that night—”

  He shook his head.

  Beatrice’s face contorted in anguish. “You blamed me?”

  She tried to pull her hands away, but Gabe held on. “It was a fucked up night, babe. As soon as I drove off, I blamed myself and did for a while. What I regretted these past three years was every single hurtful word I said to you that night, because they were a lie. I cared for you more than the mission. I could walk away from it—all things being equal. But a friend died because I chose to be with you, and I knew if I didn’t see this mission through, I could never live with myself.”

  “If you only told me, Gabe—” Beatrice cho
ked.

  “What?” Gabe snapped, letting go of her hands and pushing out of the chair. He paced the room. “Ask you to wait for me? I wasn’t even sure I was coming out of this alive. As much as I regretted saying those words to you, in the end, I felt it was best for you to forget me. I just wish I handled it differently.”

  “You have no idea how damaging those words were.” The expression in her eyes chilled him.

  He walked back to the table, bracing his hands across, he leaned in. “They were a lie.”

  “The words festered inside me, you know,” Beatrice said softly.

  Gabe’s heart rate quickened with the direction the conversation was taking.

  “Babe—”

  “That I will never be worth more than a job. That I was so pathetic I almost begged you to stay.”

  His chest was hurting with the pain his words had inflicted on her all those years ago.

  He couldn’t take it anymore. He walked to her side and hauled her to her feet. He needed to kiss the pain away, so he pressed his mouth against hers. He tasted the salt of her tears, so he pushed his tongue between her lips and she opened beneath him. He devoured her, wanting to absorb her hurt into him.

  “I’m so sorry, Beatrice,” Gabe whispered hoarsely against her lips. “So fucking sorry.”

  Her arms came up around his neck as he lifted her and spread her on the table. His hands sought her heat. Finding her bare almost short-circuited his brain. He bent over her and continued kissing her, rubbing his hardness against her core. She moaned into his mouth, so he quickened his thrusting until she convulsed against him as he swallowed her cries. He swept her up from the table and headed straight for his bedroom. Kicking the door shut so Rhino wouldn’t follow, he carefully lowered Beatrice on the bed.

  “I don’t think—” she protested.

  “Shh . . . let me show you just how much you mean to me.” Gabe pushed her legs apart and buried his face between her thighs. He hungrily licked, stroking her from the base of her sex and hovering just around her clit. Her hands dug into his hair. “Please, Gabe.”

  He stimulated the bundle of nerves with his tongue, fastening his lips, and gently sucking the tender flesh. When she undulated her hips to shove her pussy closer, he knew she was close. Her taste was heaven and he wanted more. He wanted every last drop of her arousal. He released her clit and licked down to her entrance, plunging his tongue inside, seeking the source of his addiction. She shrieked, screamed, and moaned. He welcomed the warm gush of sweetness into his mouth. The starvation of the past three years for her taste came to a fore in this moment where he had her.