Nick called her a few hours later, telling her that his friend was on the way to fix her window and he’d take her to replace her tires the next day before he went to work.
His friend showed up half an hour later with a mobile windshield repair kit. It didn’t take as long as she’d thought it would to finish her window. She paid the man, and added a big tip.
At a little after four she got a text from Ali said 'Something's up at the bowling alley.'
'What did he do? Is everybody okay?'
'Just a sec hon, Carson's on the phone with Nick right now trying to find out what the hell is going on.'
'Okay. Let me know as soon as you find out.'
'You know I will.'
She paced while she waited for Ali to answer. It was almost ten minutes later when her phone chimed.
'Sorry. False alarm. Well sort of. Some dumbass called in a bomb threat.'
'Okay. So everything's okay then?'
‘Besides the fact that someone stole some money from the bowling alley and broke the window in Nick’s apartment.’
'Great. Do you think he's done with his juvenile bullshit now?'
'I hope so. Nick is pissed because his apartment complex wants him to pay for the window.'
'I'll pay for it with the extra money Gabe gave me.'
'Nick will not let you do that.'
'Then I'll talk Gabe out of some more money. This is crap. Just because he's got money to burn it doesn't mean everyone else does.'
'They fixed your window huh?'
'Yeah. Just have to get the tires now. Nick said everything else looks okay.'
'Good. Did I tell you that we found a house?'
'No. That's great.'
'It's a little bit of a fixer upper but there's not anything major wrong with it and it's really cheap. It's got three bedrooms and a basement that can be turned into another bedroom or two if need be.'
'I'm so happy for you guys. When are you moving in?'
'Well, that's kind of good news and bad news. We're leaving right after Christmas.'
'I thought you weren't leaving until January or February.'
'We didn't think we were either but if we want this place we have to move in the day after Christmas. There's another couple looking at it but they won't have the money until after the first of the year.'
'Aren't you due right around then?'
'Yeah I'm due on the 17th.'
'Wow. That's going to be a lot of fun, moving with a newborn.'
'We'll live. Maybe we can talk the bitch er Eli's mom into letting him stay with us sooner.'
'Maybe.'
'Sorry. I cannot get in the habit of saying that. No bad talk about the natural Mommy around the kiddo.'
'Good idea. How much money was taken from the bowling alley and how did they get in?'
'Bobby is way lax in security. The assistant manager before Nick copied keys for half the town before he got fired and smart Bobby never changed the locks.'
'Wow.'
'It was bound to happen sooner or later. They took all the money out of Bobby's office. His emergency cash. It was only five hundred bucks or so but of course he's pissed.'
'That sucks. I'll pay it back. Gabe gave me ten times my paycheck so I'll fix Nick's window and reimburse Bobby.'
'Nick won't let you girl. You know that.'
'Too bad. I'm tired of male egos. This crap wouldn't have happened if I hadn't slept with Gabe.'
'Honey, he's fucking crazy. For all we know he might have acted worse if you hadn't.'
'I doubt it.'
'I'm gonna let you tell Nick you'll pay for that stuff. You'd be better at sweet talking him than I would.'
'I don't know about that. He seems kind of mad at me.'
'He's not mad at you. He told Carson he's getting a kick out of messing with Gabe.'
'Wonderful. All men are crazy. I better let you go sweetie.'
'Talk to ya later babe. I'll keep you updated.'
'Bye Ali.'
She lit a cigarette and wondered if she should text Nick now or later. She figured he was probably still at work but she wanted to get it over with. She was not going to take no for an answer from him. If Gabe wanted to throw a bunch of cash at her and then go around and break stuff like a little kid throwing a temper tantrum, then she was going to use the money to clean up his mess.
'I'm paying for your window and the money that he probably paid somebody to steal.' She sent to Nick.
'The hell you are.'
'Look, Nick. He gave me like ten times what he owed me in wages and then he went around and caused a bunch of damage. I am paying for the bullshit that he caused.'
'No.'
'Yes. I am not taking no for an answer. How much is it going to cost to replace your window?'
'I don't know but you are not paying for it. I'll send the damn bill to Gabe.'
'Like that would do a bit of good. I don't want to know what he's going to do next.'
‘Yeah. I need to get back to work. You are not paying for the mess that Gabe made.'
'I am too. I'll go to your apartment complex and tell them that I broke your window because I saw you with another girl.'
'Don't you dare do that Ami.'
'If that's the only way I'll get you to let me pay for it, then I most certainly will.'
'You drive me crazy, you know that?'
'You're welcome. Do you think a grand will cover it?'
'That would more than cover it even though the asshole fucked up the window frame, but you are not paying me one dime.'
'The hell I'm not.'
'I have to go Ami. I will talk to you later.'
'You're not sitting outside my apartment tonight.'
'I am too. No use arguing. No more contact with Gabe.'
'If I piss him off enough, he might leave me alone.'
'Yeah, right. I think it turns him on when you get mad at him. He thinks you're playing hard to get. Now, as much as I love arguing with your stubborn ass, I really do need to get back to work.'
'You know you love me.'
'Uh huh. Goodbye Ami.'
'Bye Nick.'
Almost immediately her phone chimed again. She moved to the living room window and pulled back the curtains. There was no sign of Gabe.
She pulled out her phone. It was Gabe. It said 'Hello lover. I saw that you got your window fixed.'
‘Yeah. Where are you?'
'Why my love? Do you want to see me?'
'Never again. I'm just curious.'
'I'll see you later darling. My wife is having some issues with her pregnancy so I had to leave for home. Did you miss me?'
'Never. Why don't you stay home with your wife and kids? Then maybe she wouldn't have problems. Do you not care about your own baby?'
'My wife creates her own stress.'
'Ha. Like you don't contribute at all. I'd shoot myself if I was married to you.'
'Ami darling is Nick reading this over your shoulder? You're impressing no one.'
'I wish you would drop dead Gabe.'
'Are you crabby because Nick won't let you pay for the window?'
'You have a hell of an ego Gabe.'
'Not that it's unfounded, but what's your point?'
'You basically admitted to not only trashing my car but to breaking Nick's window, too. Do you really think that nothing can touch you?'
'You're lucky that I find your naiveté incredibly attractive Ami. Money talks.’
‘I think it’s about time to change my phone number.’
‘How would you explain that to your mother, and your Aunt Lisa and little Charlie?’
‘I told you what I’d do to you if you mentioned my son’s name again. I lived in fear of Corin for way too long, I’m not playing these stupid, pathetic games with you.’
'Don't worry love; I'll leave them alone until you take me to meet them. ‘
‘Why won't you just leave me alone? You’re driving me crazy. If you don’t stop, I am not going to be responsible for m
y own actions or Nick’s. They’ll call it temporary insanity when we kill you.’
‘And you truly believe that Corin was the only one that was unstable? I can help you get your son back. I’ll call your aunt Lisa right now and have him here for you tomorrow. I have a house I haven’t been able to sell and he’ll have all his things and more. He’ll be happy and I’ll make a wonderful stepfather, much better than Nick ever would.’
‘Don’t mess with my kid. You’ve heard that saying, “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”? They were wrong. It should be hell hath no fury like a parent whose child has been threatened. I love my son. I haven’t been the best mother, but I’m going to make it up to him. And I don’t need any help from you.’
'I would never threaten your child Ami. But I can't leave you alone. I’m nothing without you.'
'You're nothing period.'
Tired of Gabe’s games, she threw her phone on the couch and went to take a shower. When she returned to the living room an hour later after her shower and a brief nap, she crossed to the window. Gabe was parked across the street. Nick was in the parking lot, leaning against his car.
He looked tired and she wanted to smack Gabe for causing so much trouble.
Her phone was beeping. All of the messages on her phone were from Gabe. She deleted them without bothering to read them. She picked up her house keys and slipped out the door.
Nick looked up when she started down the stairs and made a face at her. Gabe rolled down his window and waved at her, a huge grin on his face. She smiled back and flipped him off.
Nick shook his head and expressed his unhappiness with a huge sigh as she approached him.
"What are you doing down here?"
She shoved a wad of cash at him. "Giving you this."
He looked at it. "This is too much. I don’t want it."
“Take it.”
Nick groaned. "No."
"Yes.”
"Ami, give me a break. I’m tired. I just got off of work and I have to work in the morning, yet I'm still sitting out here."
"For no reason.”
"If you were my girlfriend, I would have already moved you into my place. Hell, I would have changed apartments, changed your phone number and changed the locks.”
"Screw you Nick."
Nick snorted. "I told you what we could do about that."
"Yeah right."
“I don't want your money.”
"I'll go tell your complex that I broke it then. If you want to be stubborn about it, I'll make you take the damned money. I'll walk right up to Bobby and give him the money if I have to. I'll tell your complex I did it and then I'll call and have someone replace it myself."
Nick sighed. "Those would be real good decisions for you Ami. Make you look real good not only to your new boss but to the place you'll be living in a couple months."
“I am not moving in with you. No way in hell."
Nick smirked. "Are you going to sleep with Gabe again then?”
She reached out and hit him as hard as she could in the arm. "You're an asshole."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."
"You did, too. Just lay it all on the line right now Nick. Tell me what you really think of me."
She scowled at him and lit a cigarette.
"You want to know the truth Ami?" She nodded. "Fine. I want to shake you and hold you at the same time. I want to marry you and strangle you. I want to kick Gabe's ass. I want to kick my own ass for hurting you, too. If I wouldn't have pulled that stupid shit in front of you then you never would have slept with Gabe."
"What makes you so sure of that?"
She was pissed off at him yet every time she was around him she was all too aware of him. She wanted him to hold her. She wanted him to give up all of his pretenses and let her in. But there was no way she was going to live with him without being with him. The very thought of it made her feel pathetic.
He rolled his eyes at her and lit a cigarette. "I'm not stupid. You're not the kind of girl who would sleep with a married man unless there were extenuating circumstances."
"He wasn't the first one.”
"Huh?"
"Okay, so he was." She shoved the money back at him and turned away.
"Take it. I'm going back inside."
"Ami stop."
"Why?"
"You make me say things without thinking okay? I really am sorry. I'm tired and I want to go across the street and knock the shit out of Gabe. I'll take the money okay? But I’m giving you back the difference."
She sighed. “Fine. When do you think he’ll leave?”
“I don’t know. Soon I hope.”
She yawned. "I hope you're right."
"Go back upstairs."
"I don't like you sitting out here all night."
He shrugged. "He'll get tired of it sooner or later. I hope."
"No he won't."
"Maybe he won't. I don't know. I'm going to give it a few more nights and if he doesn't quit, I'll sleep on your couch. We'll talk to Jenkins and change your locks and put locks on all your windows."
"You are not sleeping on my couch."
He grinned. "Would you rather I slept in your bed?" His grin quickly faded. "I was only kidding."
"Why do I need to move in with you if we're going to change my locks and put locks on my windows?"
He sighed. "Right now Carson is right downstairs and he's got me on speed dial. If something happens, I'm only a few minutes away and Carson's right there. They're moving way out on the other side of town, almost to the city limits. Sometimes five minutes is life and death Ami, and there's no way in hell I'm going to take that chance with you."
"If you weren't such a jerk that might actually sound sweet.”
"Believe it or not Ami, before I met you, people would have said I was one of the nicest guys in town."
"So I do bring about the best in everyone.”
"Ha ha. I didn't mean it like that."
"It's true. I drove you to sleep with a couple of nasty chicks you met at the bar." She pointed across the street at Gabe. "And I drove him to be even crazier than usual. Maybe I should just go away and save all of you a lot of trouble."
"Don't even think about it.”
"Why not? You would be free to find some girl who fits into your picture of the perfect relationship better than I do. And Gabe would have to move on and find some other chick to harass."
"First of all, Ali would kick all of our asses if we let you leave before the baby comes and who wants to mess with a pregnant woman?" He smiled tiredly.
"She would not. She would understand."
"You're not leaving. Now go upstairs and go to bed. We'll discuss all of this when I get off of work tomorrow night."
"You think so, huh? You're just going to go blab to your girlfriend Carson and he's going to blab to Ali and then you'll all gang up on me."
He smiled. "Carson's my girlfriend huh? He'd love that one."
"You two tell each other everything like you're sixteen year old girls.”
He laughed. "Are we supposed to grunt and point? Or just talk about nothing but tits and asses when we hang out?"
"Sounds good to me. Sounds better than having you blab everything we do to him. Did you describe to him in detail how I seduced you?"
"Well, that sounds more along the lines of what men are supposed to talk about doesn't it?" He grinned.
"Ass. I’m never having sex with you again."
"Yep. Goodnight Ami."
"You are just as cocky as Gabe. I don't want you anymore.”
“Uh huh.” She could see that he was hiding a grin.
"I don’t.”
"Then go upstairs."
"I don't want you down here. And I don't want his stupid ass over there. I'm going to go tell him so that you can go home and get some sleep."
"No you're not."
"I am too.” She started to move away from him but he reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Let go of me.
"
"As soon as you tell me that you're going to go upstairs."
"I want to talk to Gabe. I am a grown woman and I can do what I please."
"I'll throw you over my shoulder and carry you upstairs. Would you like that?"
"No. Let me go or I'll scream."
"Try it and I'll make sure you can't talk, let alone scream." He gave her a wicked grin.
"You're enjoying this almost as Gabe is, aren't you?" Though she was enjoying it more than she wanted to admit. Her pulse was racing.
His smile faded. "Hardly." He let go of her arm. "Go. Talk to him. I don't give a shit."
"Okay.” She could feel his eyes on her as she crossed the street, but he let her go.
Gabe rolled his window down when she approached. "Hello darling."
"Hello asshole."
He chuckled. "What did you have to say to your boyfriend to get him to let you come over here?"
"Nick is not my boyfriend. Neither are you. We discussed this already. Now why don't you get a life and go away? Better yet, why don't you get some parenting skills and go home to your children?"
Gabe laughed. "My children are fine. My wife is fine. She had false labor pains. The doctor told her to take it easy and sent her home."
"Screw you Gabe. Is it Gabriel? Can I call you Gabriel?" She wanted to do anything to piss him off.
He shrugged. "If you prefer. You can call me anything you like, Ami."
“Jerk, pervert, stalker, sex addict, freak, crazy, psycho, pathetic loser. Would you like me to go on? I think I could go on all night.”
He smiled. "You amuse me darling."
"Well, you don’t amuse me. Please leave me alone. I’m begging you."
“No need to beg. I only like to women to beg when they’re beneath me with their legs wrapped around my waist, or their beautiful womanhood is in my face.”
“Ugh. I told you were a pervert.”
“Do you not enjoy it when a man performs oral sex on you? Or has a man never pleasured you in that way with his tongue? I would be more than willing to do it for you right now. I could take you places you’ve never been before. All of the dogs in the neighborhood would howl when you cried out my name if you’ve never been to that particular height of ecstasy before.”
Ami rolled her eyes. “Give me a break Gabe. Corin did that to me all the time. I think he liked going down on me even more than he liked having me go down on him. And Nick already did that to me the other night and I’m sure he’s much more talented at it than you are.”
Misty Reigenborn Romance Boxed Set Page 92