“Where’s Molly? You should dance with her.”
“Off snooping. She’s probably making out with the pool boy,” he told me and sat close. His hand brushed the side of my dress. “Now who’s it gonna be, legs?” Then his hand crawled under the tablecloth and he grazed the top of my knee with his fingertips.
I shot up arrow straight and bumped my legs into the table. I knew what he was implying, and I wasn’t going to choose brothers.
My life was morphing into a soap opera.
He laughed. “Oh, so you wanna dance with me?”
I wanted to slap him across his smug face, but we were at a wedding. I shot my gaze to the bridal table, Lane was gone and Gabe was gone. Caleb forced his hand in mine and grabbed my waist. He was dancing. I was dragging.
It was so hot out.
“I don’t feel so good,” I mumbled. No one else seemed bothered by the heat.
“You feel mighty fine to me. Don’t you like this? I’m a very good dancer,” he told me arrogantly. “Better than my dad.”
He was a very good dancer. As good as he was a kisser. But I would never in my lifetime praise him. An allover unwell feeling had overcome me. I rested my head on his shoulder, and he held me closer, too close. I wanted to lie down. I wasn’t encouraging him.
“My turn. Beat it,” said Gabe out of nowhere, his voice interrupting, and then swiftly impatient. “My turn.”
I lifted my head off Caleb’s jacket. He released my hand and Gabe stepped right in.
“What’s this? You like dancing all of a sudden?” Gabe said.
My mouth went dry. His hand slipped to my lower back and his features puckered. He moved me around with urgency.
“What’s he doing? I mean with you? I saw,” he said and frowned. His fingers dug in my back.
“Huh?” I squinted into the sun. I wanted to ignore him like he ignored me. I knew what he saw. He was onto Caleb. But I wasn’t feeling so good.
Gabe’s breath tore out, his voice thick. “You know. He whispers to you, touches you. I see him looking all the time. He’s got no freakin’ shame.”
“So what? You ignore me!” I blurted. He held tighter and pressed himself against me as we spun around. I winced inwardly. I was getting lightheaded and clawed. “You’re crushing me.”
“I know,” said Gabe.
I pushed his arms off with all the vigor I had. He looked surprised. I had been thinking about going to my room, but I feared Caleb would follow me. I didn’t care at that point, so I took clumsy, running steps in my heels through the walkway and searched for my atrium door. My ankle was quite sore. I reluctantly slowed my pace when I got lost.
Gabe was on my tail. He caught up and his hand clasped my arm and halted me.
“Don’t,” I said, nearly crying. My head was pounding.
“C’mon, Av’ry. Stop. I’m sorry. I’m a jerk,” he said. He leaned into my hair. He was so close I could feel his heart thumping at my arm. “When I saw you with him...”
I swatted at his arm. His hand slid to hold mine.
“I need to lie down,” I said as I leaned on the side wall of a building. I didn’t have a clue where I was.
“I’ll take you to my room,” he told me.
I let my lids drop. I couldn’t look or I would fall under his spell.
Gabe’s other hand held my waist and he straightened me up against the wall.
“What do you want with me?” I was sick to my stomach with wanting. I opened my eyes for his answer.
He inclined his head and gave a thoughtful pause, all the while playing with my fingers. “I don’t know. I saw you this morning and I wanted to scream how good you looked. I don’t know how to say what I’m feeling.”
His nervous lashes fluttered. He was doing it again. I couldn’t resist.
“Just say it then.”
There was a long pause.
“Okay. Close your eyes,” he said in his drawl and blew his breath into mine.
My eyelids dropped. But they couldn’t stay closed. I needed to see. I was so hot.
He whispered into my face again. “Okay, seriously now.” He deepened his tone. “Listen really, really carefully.” His warm lips grazed mine until my eyes closed, wanting, waiting for his touch. I trembled at the electric charge that sparked between us. After another considerable pause he said, “Dammit all, I’m falling so hard for you, Av’ry Ross.”
My eyes spread wide. I loved how he warbled my name. His head dipped, his lips found mine, and we clenched like angry magnets. Our mouths compressed with a fevered rush. He let go of my hand and folded me into his chest. His hand ran up my silky dress. Our hearts raced together. I reached for his long neck, ran my fingers along his angled jaw and into his hair and pulled.
I gave him back what he was giving me.
The kiss intensified with each passing moment. It became deeper and more insistent. His lips were magic and fast and strong. My insides quivered with a tumbling, fluttering feeling. I had never felt so connected.
Neither of us stopped.
I was kissing Gabe.
I was getting the answer I had hoped and prayed for. It was Gabriel after all. He was the winner. He kissed the best. And then it struck me.
“I can’t breathe,” I wheezed and pulled back abruptly.
“Me neither,” he kidded. His tender lips were on my eyes, my jaw, and my neck. He pressed his mouth on my ear and whispered, “Dang, I wish I’d tried this sooner.”
“I don’t feel so good,” I announced for the umpteenth time.
My skin was burning up. I wasn’t fully processing what he said. Everything got hot and went black.
* * *
The room was cool and bright. I was on my side, shivering, with the sheet pulled up to my neck. Melodic guitar riffs filled my ears. When the music stopped, I rolled to my back.
“You’re up.” Gabe’s voice spoke softly. He slid onto the sheet and settled beside me. His candid face angled at mine, and I shivered in a more pleasant way.
“Where are we? It’s freezing,” I asked softly and squinted. My eyelids were heavy, yet I managed to throw my gaze around.
I thought I was in a library.
“My bedroom,” he said. Then he pressed his lips to my forehead. He smelled so good. His lips were soft.
“I wasn’t feeling good. Oh no. I didn’t...did I?” I drew my hand to my mouth.
The kiss. I got sick after the long awaited, mind-blowing, earth-shattering kiss.
Gabe’s upper lip tugged.
“Naw. You didn’t puke. You passed out. I carried you here. I’m not supposed to have girls in my bedroom,” he informed. “You’ve been sleeping for two weeks.”
“Shut up. I didn’t pass out,” I scolded playfully. “What time is it really? What happened at the wedding?”
“Done. Over. Halfway to Paris. Said to tell you they hope you feel better. You missed an explosive firework show. How the heck did you sleep through that?”
He pulled off the sheet like a magician revealing his tricky hand. I was wearing the green dress. It was a rumpled mess.
“Look at me. This is ruined,” I said, frustrated, and smoothed the fabric on my legs. I tried to sit up, but Gabe pressed my shoulder down with his pointy finger.
“I’m looking, believe me. But you shouldn’t get up so fast.” I watched his eyes concentrate on my dress.
“This is embarrassing,” I mumbled. “I can’t believe I passed out. You’ve been here watching me?”
I shifted my crooked top and lifted the straps.
“Yup, for hours.” He forced the side of his face into my pillow and nuzzled my ear. “Unlawfully gorgeous,” he whispered in a drawl.
The skin tightened around my face. Then I swatted his arm.
“You heard? You were awake in the motel? I can’t believe you.”
He made a goofy grin.
I tried to remember if I said anything else that day.
“You’re not very bright,” he teased. The sides of his eyes crinkled ad
orably.
“I am too. Ask me about the fundamental theorem of calculus.”
I let my comment sit and watched his eyes widen.
“You’re not very good with girls. You need some tweaking.”
Gabe gave an empty smile and ran a hand through his hair. “I know. I’m a little rough around the edges. Ain’t that what they say?” He let out a self-conscious laugh. “I’m good at one thing.”
The thought made me shudder all the way from my toes to my neck. He and his brothers were good at making me squirm.
“Like what? Playing guitar? Hoarding books?” I gestured to the multitude of books he had shelved from floor to ceiling. He must have skated through high school.
He placed his hands on either side of my head, and I stilled with anticipation. The pillow sank from his weight. My eyes shut. I slipped a hand around his bare waist where his dress shirt was untucked.
He flinched. I let go, sensing his pain.
“Ah yeah, my cut,” he snarled through his teeth. “Stings like a mother.”
“Sorry. That’s because of me. It’s my fault you have that.”
He considered me for some time. His hazel eyes darkened with question. “You didn’t stab me, Av’ry. I deserved it. When my brother came back with the gas, told me about Hunt’s guy and what he tried to pull on you, I kinda got feeling something crazy for you.”
I ran a finger across his eyebrow and around the perimeter of his bruise. “You have a funny way of showing it.”
He tossed his head back and slid onto his side beside me. His long body awakened my every nerve. Then he set his chin on my shoulder.
I wanted his kiss.
“I didn’t even mess a hair on his balding head. The buffoon swung at me when I charged him, then he flipped the knife. Caleb pulled me back and got his lip whopped. Then another guy chased me, but I was too fast, and he bashed my truck.”
I took a minute to think before I replied. “Speaking of Caleb. I need to tell you something.”
Gabe angled his face closer to me. I could hardly focus with him hovering, breathing, caressing. I couldn’t believe we were together in Texas, in his room—in his bed.
“What about him?” he asked while he twisted a strand of my hair around his finger.
I paused to collect my nerve and clear my throat. “He grabbed me in the kitchen the other night after you had your...uh, surgery.”
Gabe’s eyes closed. He pressed his heavy chin into my arm. His hair smelled divine, like roses and vanilla mixed together.
“Man, oh man. You slap him good?”
“I kicked him really hard. Not where it counts, but pretty hard,” I said with a hint of satisfaction. “He’s relentless.” My voice tightened. “He says things, does things. It’s kinda too much, you know?”
Gabe’s thick eyelashes fluttered against my skin. His body went rigid, though his voice stayed cool. “I’m sorry. He can’t control himself. I know how he feels,” he hissed under his breath.
The door flew open, letting in a swirl of air. Caleb and Molly stood at the end of the bed and giggled like children. Caleb slapped Gabe’s leg and Gabe slammed his foot back at him.
“What do we have here? Foolin’ under daddy’s roof?” He smirked.
Gabe bounced off the bed and almost crushed me with his knees. He stomped his feet into the floor in front of his older brother.
Caleb appeared to brace himself for what was coming.
“What did you say? I didn’t hear you?” said Gabe.
Molly stepped away. She and I shared a fretful exchange. I sat up tall and fixed my eyes on the back of Gabe’s head. I was still woozy.
He pushed his forehead into Caleb’s and forced him against the door. He had him trapped.
“What the flip do you think you’re doing with Av’ry?” he snarled. He tapped Caleb’s shoulder with his fingertips.
“Get your hand off me, bro. You don’t wanna mess with this,” Caleb told him crossly and egged him on. “You snooze, you lose bro. That’s how the world goes round.”
“Gabe!” I yelled and struggled to get out of the covers, though I didn’t think he was listening.
Molly ran out of the room.
Gabe shot a glance over his shoulder. “I got it. This is where it ends,” he said and slowly turned his gaze back to his brother.
Then his fist flashed through the air and knocked into Caleb’s cheekbone with a crack like a Louisville Slugger hitting a homerun ball out of the park.
Seven
Lane charged down the hall, miraculously in time, and broke up the fight before Caleb could lay into Gabe. I shrieked after Gabe threw the first punch, mostly because I feared what Caleb would do to him in retaliation.
“Don’t touch him, Caleb! Please, both of you. Stop it!” I yelled as they grabbed at each other’s shirts and tussled against the door.
Lane pulled them apart just as they were about to strangle one another.
I heard Mr. Halden’s deep voice speak hotly from behind. “Out! Get the hell out of my house. Now!”
I listened to the scurrying of heavy feet, upset about Gabe’s temper. Everyone left. I sat up after my heart rate slowed and observed a book at the foot of the bed. Gabe had salvaged my wilted yellow rose and stuck it inside the cover. A flimsy carbon copy slid out of the pages, and I read the words aloud. “Kansas State Police Warning of Violation.” I held the speeding ticket in disbelief. I had never seen one before. Gabriel J. Halden had scribbled his signature on the bottom. I had never seen that before either. For some absurd reason, it made my heart gallop. He wasn’t kidding me on the ride down. He told the truth about being pulled over and ticketed for doing eighty-two in a fifty-five.
I’d slept through the entire ordeal.
Outside the room, I narrowed my gaze down the far-reaching hallway and hoped I wouldn’t run into a housekeeper. My fingers ran along the velvet wallpaper as my eyes traveled over an immense collage of photographs. I nosed my way through them, looking for Gabe as a baby, a child. Mostly it was impossible to tell the brothers apart. In one photo, they stood in a line by height, all dressed in Boy Scout uniforms. I could just make out Gabe’s features in the shortest boy. Then a black and white print from a birthday party won my attention. I stood gawking for the longest time. The smallest Halden was blowing out candles on a guitar-shaped cake. To his side there was a smiling toddler whose profile looked exactly like Brianna’s. I had to squeeze my eyes together to make sure I was seeing clearly. The resemblance was uncanny.
I moved on, still unable to shake how the look-alike of my sister got in the Halden’s photo. It had to be a fluke. The first door I stumbled upon was a large bedroom. The walls were clothed in beige and blue plaid paper. The curtains and bedding matched. My eyes climbed up to the cathedral ceiling and followed along the crown molding. A white sheet covered a flat screen television and another draped contents of a desk. Photo frames were stacked in piles on the king-size bed. I was amazed at the enormity of the room. It was bigger than my bedroom and Brianna’s nursery combined.
“We don’t go in here,” said the accent at my back.
A grin spread across Lane’s face when I turned to see which brother had caught me. I was relieved that it wasn’t Caleb, disappointed it wasn’t Gabe.
“This is Eli’s room. Now it just sits.”
He spread his hand on a door panel and opened it further.
I stole a glance at his familiar hazel eyes. “I’m sorry. I was looking for the bathroom. I had no idea.”
“It’s fine. It’s really my dad’s stupid rule. I sneak in here when I’m home. Gabe sleeps in here when my dad’s away.”
My expression wilted as I studied the giant bed and imagined Gabe curled up, missing his brother.
“I don’t even know what Eli looks like. I’m sure there’s a resemblance. I got all of you mixed up for a while.”
Lane laughed and messed my hair. “Yeah, you tried to give those two dumbasses credit for saving you on the train whe
n I was the one stuck delivering a truck out to Minnesota.”
“I know,” I said ruefully. “You get that you all look like twins, don’t you?”
“Triplets,” he said with a straight face. “I’m just having fun with you. Sometimes I’d rather be unattached from those hotheads. Caleb can’t keep his pants on to save his life. Gabe’s just a moody mess. C’mon in. I’ll show you a picture of Eli.”
I felt comfortable around Lane. More than I did with Gabe or Caleb. He treated me like a human.
“Oh my god! That’s hilarious,” I said as I studied a photo of Gabe dressed as Willie Nelson with long braids and a red bandana. He was holding a guitar that practically swallowed his small body. “My Aunt Meggie loves him.”
“So does my dad. Like you wouldn’t believe. He’s been to our house. Sang in the back courtyard at one of my dad’s fundraisers. You know Willie, eh? Most kids don’t have a clue, except us Texans.” His eyes crinkled. “Gabe says dad made him wear that when he was like ten, but I remember him begging to be Willie.”
His hand floated to a lofty shelf that gave him no trouble to reach. He pulled off a frame and blew the dust into the air.
I lowered my eyes to a boy in a graduation cap and gown, Mr. Halden standing tall beside him.
“This is Eli,” he offered proudly. “Chew on that. Looks like Gabe back then, huh?”
I agreed entirely.
“I still can’t believe he’s gone. I can’t wrap my knuckles around it.”
“Can I ask you something? I was just wondering,” I started.
Lane set the gilded frame on the edge of the bed and nodded.
“Yep, I know what you’re gonna ask. You wanna know about our mom.”
“How did you guess?” I replied.
“All girls ask. I always get that question. Or they wanna know why we don’t live like this back in the Dakotas.”
“Wow. I’m predictable.”
“I don’t know anything. The boys were little. One day she was here and the next she was gone. For all I know, she’s got a new family somewhere. I don’t care. I don’t give a damn.”
He shrugged his indifference. Then his pocket began ringing and he pulled out his iPhone. He dropped his gaze to the screen and squinted as if he couldn’t read the number. “I’ll be right back.”
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