My blood coursed through my veins with a fire only comparable to that of hell. My skin scorched with heat and my fists clenched tightly at my sides. I lunged toward her, stopping my face within inches of hers. “You will leave her alone, do you understand me? Don’t you fuck with her! You’ve not the slightest idea of who you’re dealing with.”
She calmly reached behind me and opened the door, walking past me to the exit. I glared at her with a rage flaming behind my eyes I hadn’t felt in many years. Marked or not, the urge to take her life at that very moment overwhelmed me. Each deep breath I inhaled shot adrenaline through my body. The strength I’d been forced to suppress boiled to the surface and my fingers pressed into the metal door frame, molding it into my palm.
I bowed my head; the glint from my necklace caught my eyes. I stared at it, forcing myself to fight the desire I had to take that wretched woman’s life.
My eyes flinched, my jaws tightened, and I walked back into my office, slamming the door with such brute strength the pictures flew from the wall, shattering onto the floor.
“I’ll have you again, Gavin Hunter, but this time on my terms,” I heard her yell down the hallway before the hall door shut behind her.
My fate had been sealed, and I was completely unaware.
Chapter Thirty-eight
Brooke
Constance and I went running at the track after I got off of work. On the way back to my apartment she looked over at me.
“So, you two are in love, huh? That’s so cute. Promise me you’ll name your first born after me, okay? If it’s a girl just name her Constance. If it’s a boy you can name him Constantine. Constantine Hunter — yep, that sounds pretty damn good!”
Glancing over at her, I wiped sweat from my forehead. I raised one eyebrow and smirked. “Not gonna promise that, sorry.”
We jogged into my complex and Constance went to her car and climbed in.
“You not gonna come inside for a little bit?” I asked.
“No, I got to get home. I’m supposed to go out with some girls from work tonight. Carly broke up with her boyfriend so we’re going out to celebrate her newly found freedom.”
“Oh — well, okay then.”
“Hey, I’m sure your future husband will be over in a little while anyway.” She waved and the car’s engine sputtered to life, rattling underneath her hood as she drove off.
I went to check my mailbox and noticed something on the windshield of my car. As I got closer I realized it was a rose. I smiled as I picked it up and held it under my nose, inhaling the feminine scent. I figured Gavin had left it for me on his way home from the office. Glancing down at my watch I realized it was only six-forty; maybe he’d finished his reports earlier than he thought he would.
Sprinting up the stairs, I twisted the rose between my fingers. I unlocked my door and flipped the light switch on. Grabbing a Poptart, I went over to my couch and dropped myself onto the cushion with a sigh.
Simon jumped up onto the arm of the couch and kneaded his claws into the fabric.
“No, Simon!” I picked him up and sat him in my lap. “You don’t claw the furniture.” I petted his soft fur and reached for the remote. Flipping through the channels, I stopped on the show Snapped. That show amazed me. I couldn’t believe that so many people could go completely psychotic at the drop of a hat.
Halfway through the episode my phone rang. It was Gavin.
I looked at the photo that popped up anytime he called. It was one I’d taken one night while he was playing the piano for me. He had his shirt off and a pair of faded designer blue jeans on. He looked so damn sexy sitting at the piano, his muscles bulging everywhere and that tattoo covering the upper part of his right arm made him look downright lethal. You’d never imagine the man in that picture was a well-respected neurosurgeon, not dangerous in the least.
“Hello, lover,” I answered the phone in my best sultry voice.
“You at home?” Gavin sounded distracted and slightly agitated. He didn’t pay a bit of attention to my flirtatious greeting.
“Yeah, you okay? You sound upset.”
“I’m fine. I’m coming over.” He was telling me, not asking.
I looked around my apartment at the mess I’d procrastinated picking up. “Okay…”
Gavin hung up the phone. No goodbye. I knew something was bothering him.
Standing up, I took a quick glance around my apartment again. Gavin had never been over before, and it was a complete disaster. He couldn’t see it like this, he’d think I was an absolute slob. His floors stayed so immaculate you could eat from them – and mine had crumbs of things you wouldn’t want to eat all over it.
“Shit,” I yelled, scaring Simon.
I frantically picked things up, shoving them into drawers, spraying the counters. I raked all of my cosmetics into the top drawer in my bathroom, wiped toothpaste from the mirror, quickly changed my bed sheets, and sprayed perfume throughout my apartment. I even made a feeble attempt to vacuum.
I lit a candle in my room, one in the living room, and then heard a knock on my door. I ran back to the mirror in my bedroom to make sure my makeup still looked okay before hurrying back out to the door, exhaling as I reached for the lock.
Glancing down, I saw the book I’d received in the mail and had an inherent urge to hide it. I picked it up, immediately dropping it onto the floor with a thud, and shoved it underneath the couch with my foot.
I slid the chain from the lock and twisted the deadbolt, opening the door.
Gavin walked inside. His brows were furrowed, his mouth lay straight across his face, and his eyes were focused on the floor. He came up to me, gave me a short kiss, and sat on the edge of my couch shaking his leg. I stared at him and he put his head down in his hands.
I had never seen him worried — and I’m not even sure worried describes the state he was in. Distraught — he looked absolutely distraught.
“What’s wrong?” I sat next to him on the couch and rubbed his back.
“Someone came into my office – ”
I didn’t even let him finish. I immediately jumped up and blurted out, “About us?”
I panicked. Nicole! She’d told on us and now we were in deep shit.
He glanced up at me and shook his head. “No,” he paused, closing his eyes. I could tell that he wanted to tell me something, but was hesitant.
“Gavin, what in the hell?”
“Look, there are just some things…” he ran his hands through his hair and lowered his head back down. He let out a frustrated groan. “My past —” He stopped again.” A woman showed up in my office this evening as I was preparing to leave, shut the door behind her…” His voice trailed off once again.
He’s rambling. He’s always collected…
Closing my eyes, I tried to give myself a second to understand what in the hell was going on. My head shook involuntarily from side to side. “Who?”
Gavin rubbed his hands down his legs and rested them on his shaking knees. He stared at me. His eyes seemed darker than usual, they were so focused on me. “That’s not important,” he said.
“Like hell it’s not!”
“I’m not telling you, Brooke. I can’t have you trying to murder her tomorrow.” He shot his eyes over at the television as the title of another Snapped rolled across the screen.
I rolled my eyes. “You can’t come in here acting all weird and start rambling about your past, about some woman shutting herself in your office, and not tell me what you’re talking about. Why even tell me anything?” My body became heated as I tried to figure out who he was talking about. “Amy, wasn’t it. It was Amy?”
My mind flashed back to the memory of Trisha waltzing into my father’s office and shutting the door.
“No.” Gavin looked at me sharply. “It wasn’t Amy.” He held his stare, his eyes piercing through me as though he were searching for something.
“Well, then who?” I screamed a
t him.
I was fuming. All I could think about was how my father would always tell my mother not to worry about so and so cutting eyes at him at social functions, about his telling her the perfume was from a patient who’d given him a hug of gratitude for saving their life. I started to wonder if Gavin was just trying to cover his ass in some way. I was vulnerable, weak, and helpless for this man. I was livid with myself for falling too quickly for him. Then I remembered the night he supposedly got called in to assess a patient. My stomach turned as I recalled the faint floral whisper that wafted up to my nose when he climbed in the bed that night.
My finger twisted the ring he’d given me. “Gavin, don’t do this to me,” I pleaded.
Gavin stood up and grabbed onto my shoulders. “Calm down, love.”
“You want me to calm down when some girl is evidently coming in your office after hours. Doing what? Gavin, what was she trying to do? Uh-uh.” I paced in front of my couch, embarrassed at the lack of control I had over myself.
Jealousy raged inside me. As far as most people knew, Gavin was completely available. To anyone else I was nothing more to him than a coordinator who stared at him with longing eyes. Just another dumb girl.
“I mean, how can I really get angry anyway? It’s not like a damn person beside my friends know we’re together. I haven’t even met any of your friends, Gavin! It’s not like anybody thinks you’re taken.” I sat down on my couch and threw my head back onto the cushion. I let out an aggravated scream of frustration.
He stared at me. I could tell he was shocked by my behavior.
“Never thought you to be so possessive and jealous,” he said. He smiled at me and sat next to me on the couch, leaning over to give me a short kiss. “I like it, love. Turns me on.” His hands crept up my thigh, his breath blowing on my neck.
I swatted his hand off of me. “Not now, Gavin,” I said, glaring at him through narrowed eyes.
Pulling his hand away from me, he said, “Fair enough,” and raised one eyebrow as he glanced at me with a half-smile.
I sat there, seething in my anger for a moment and then blurted out, “I know that you better have told whoever it was to get the hell out!”
Gavin threw his head back and laughed. “Such hostility — tsk, tsk, Brooke.” His eyes cut over at me, gleaming with pleasure.
Evidently, he liked my anger.
My tone became harsh. “Nothing about this is funny, Gavin. Not even a little.”
“No, I agree.” He glanced sympathetically at me and tossed his head back against the cushion. “I’m sorry. I promise I’ll take care of it. I just want to protect you.”
My pulse was slowing, trying to return to normal. I watched Gavin loosen his tie and slide it over his head.
Why had he just said “protect me”? What was he not telling me? “Protect me?” I asked.
Gavin redirected his gaze across the room and cleared his throat. “Yes, I would never want to hurt you. Never let another person come between us.”
“What the hell is wrong with people?” I asked. “I mean, I get that you’re sexy and all, but how many women do you have after you anyway?”
He laughed. “Oh, you don’t need to worry yourself with any of that.” His eyes met mine. “I’ve no use for any other woman than you, love.”
Relief washed over me and I grabbed his chin with my hand and pulled him up to my lips. Those soft lips of his crippled me, the tenderness of his kiss vanquished the anger that was still stirring inside me.
I stood up and took his hand, leading him from the couch. “You’re staying here with me tonight, right?”
Gavin looked down lovingly at me and swept the hair from my face. “Where else would I go?”
I laid in my bed, unable to fall asleep because I’d decided that whoever came in his office was trying to seduce him, and I wanted to know who.
I watched him as he slept. He was on his back, his head turned to the side, one arm laid across his chest, and the other behind his head. I traced my fingers over his arm, thinking about how lucky I was to be with him, about how wonderful he was to me, and how I really did want to strangle whoever that girl was for even thinking she could have him.
Leaning over to my nightstand, I grabbed my phone. It was eleven-fifteen, but I didn’t care. I texted Ashley.
Some girl went into Gavin’s office and tried to come onto him!
Stupid bitch!
A cathartic release flowed through me after I sent the texts. I gently placed my phone back down, not expecting to get a response until the morning. Just as I removed my hand from my phone it beeped, then beeped again, and again.
Ashley: WTF?
Ashley: Who?
Ashley: Tell me ur joking.
I texted her back.
Not joking. He wouldn’t tell me.
Moments later Ashley responded.
Ashley: U better not be fucking with me
I swear.
Ashley: Nicole!!!!
U think?
Ashley: Who else could it be? Amy?
No, He said it wasn’t Amy.
Ashley: Nicole, she’s crazy and has always wanted him.
We need to find out somehow.
Ashley: Oh, I will. Don’t worry.
I fell back into the bed. I knew that Ashley would figure out some way to find out, and I knew she’d also find a passive aggressive way to get back at whoever the girl was.
My personal motto was that karma’s not the bitch, but the people you mess with can be. I could handle anything gracefully, except for someone trying to ruin the most perfect thing I had in my life. You mess with that, be prepared to face destruction.
Chapter Thirty-nine
Brooke
I woke up the next morning and made an attempt to cook breakfast for Gavin. He walked out, in only boxers, as I was sprinkling powdered sugar over the French toast I’d made.
He rubbed his eyes and stretched. “Look at you, making me breakfast. So thoughtful!” He walked over, gliding his hands over my hips and giving me a kiss.
I brought the plates over to the coffee table and then walked back into the kitchen.
“Coffee?” I asked.
“Yes, please.”
I poured a cup of black coffee and carried it to Gavin.
He cut into the toast and raised his fork to his mouth, “Mmmm…” He looked up at me. “It’s wonderful, love, simply wonderful. And you said you couldn’t cook.” He took a sip of his coffee.
“Is it really good?” I asked nervously. I figured he was just humoring me.
“Yes. It really is. I guess I really am going to have to keep you now.”
I sat down and cut a piece of toast. I was pleasantly surprised, it actually was good.
Gavin noticed the smile on my face. “See, I told you it was good. I wouldn’t lie to you.”
As I chewed my food I spotted the rose I’d put in a vase the night before. “Oh, I forgot to tell you thank you for the rose last night. I was so upset with your little visitor. It was really sweet of you. I’m such a lucky girl.” I leaned over to kiss him, but Gavin pulled back.
“I didn’t leave you a rose,” he said, a concerned look creeping across his face.
Pointing to the vase across the room, I said, “I found it on my windshield yesterday when Constance dropped me off.”
Gavin shook his head. “No, Brooke, that’s not from me.”
“Well, then who the hell left it?”
I stared at the rose with a bewildered look on my face.
Gavin took a sip of his coffee as he stared across the room at the single, red rose. “Hmmm… maybe someone left it on your car by mistake?” He sat his coffee cup down. “Or maybe you have a secret admirer.” A soft smile formed on his lips and he pinched my side. “So, now I have some competition, I see.”
“I don’t like it. It’s creepy!”
Gavin stood up and carried his plate to the kitchen sink. �
�I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Just an isolated incident.”
The plate clinked against the side of the sink.
I sighed. “I guess. It’s just with all the weird stuff that’s happened lately, I’m a little paranoid that everyone’s crazy.”
The fact that I didn’t know who’d sent that book to me only added to my paranoia.
Gavin laughed and shrugged. “Full moon phenomena, maybe?”
I pulled into the parking deck and turned my car off, stepping out into the crisp morning air that was traveling through the deck. As I walked to the elevator, I heard my phone beep. I dug through the assortment of cosmetics and crinkled-up receipts, pulling my phone out to read a text message from Ashley.
Ashley: Come to my office ASAP. I’m so good
I knew that Ashley had found out something, and I couldn’t wait to hear what it was.
As I came through the back entrance of the office I could see that Nicole’s door was cracked open. I was certain it had been her that came into Gavin’s office the night before, and I tried to subdue the strong urge I had to march in there and start calling her horrible names. I walked past Gavin’s closed door to Ashley’s. I pushed the door open and pulled it shut behind me.
“Was it her? I’m so damn mad!” I leaned against the door, trying to keep my voice down as I ranted. “I mean, what did she expect him to do? Really? Just throw her down in the floor of his office? Did she really think he’d be like that?”
Ashley handed me a manila envelope. She had a smug grin on her face and her brown eyes sparkled with revenge. “Open it.” Her eyes grew larger and her grin became more sinister.
Lifting the flap, I stuck my hand inside. I felt a thin, glossy piece of paper. My jaw dropped as I pulled it out. My eyes widened, my mouth continued to lag open, and my eyebrows arched as I looked up from the treasure I held in my hands. A slight grin pulled at my lips when I glanced back down.
“How did you get these?” I shuffled the three pictures in my hands.
Ashley pulled a piece of her hair across her chin and looked at me slyly. “Oh, I have my ways…”
I studied the pictures I’d pulled from the envelope. Ashley came over and stood behind me, peering over my shoulder as she snickered. “So freakin’ stupid.”
Bound to the Fallen (Prophecy #2) Page 33