Better Off Dead

by Alice Bello

  Not that it had gone badly. No, not a bit. Their kiss had been more than just convincing… it had been heart-stoppingly real. At least on Gabriel’s part.

  He’d felt drawn to her the moment his eyes had taken her in. The blood red dress, the way she moved through the room and how she’d effortlessly charmed everyone… including him.

  Sitting back in his chair at Enoch Industries, Gabriel felt guilt and shame mix with the lust he felt for Lucy.

  How could he want two women at the same time? What kind of man was he? He wasn’t that kind of guy. No, he certainly hadn’t been. Ever since the night he’d met Delia he’d wanted and loved only her.

  But then she had that crazy idea, though it sounded plausible at first. Even though sooner or later someone unsympathetic in the family would have found out and the whole thing would’ve exploded in their faces. Looking back now, maybe it was all just the very worst idea ever.

  And now, even though he’d said all those comforting things to Delia, he knew he’d lied. Even though he felt the same about her, his newfound adoration for Lucy was something too powerful to deny.

  And he hadn’t been able to give Delia what she’d most wanted. After they’d left the alley, Gabriel had taken her back to her apartment. She’d tried to get him into bed with her, yet he had convinced her that he needed to get back to the party, to smooth the family’s ruffled feathers over him ducking out on the party.

  And truthfully, he had wanted to see Lucy again. He wanted it so much that he couldn’t disguise it. He only hoped that Delia wouldn’t pick up on it.

  He needed time to think, to weigh what he felt and what he knew, and to figure out what the hell he was doing and going to do. He needed to figure out what he really felt for both Delia and Lucy, and he needed to do it before he saw either one of them again. He couldn’t keep doing this, hurting them and keeping them in the dark. Not that Lucy was in the dark. She’d been a little cold when he returned to the party, but that had only lasted so long. By the time she’d left they were starting to look at each other in that infuriatingly infatuated way again.

  He’d wanted to follow her home, to grab her and hold her and kiss her beautiful, pouty lips. But he hadn’t. He’d gone home and tried his best to get some sleep. But what he’d dreamed of fitfully was all Lucy, and he’d woken more than once hungering for her to be beside him, to be in his arms.

  Laurel’s voice sang over the intercom. “Your fiancée, line one.”

  Gabriel snatched the receiver up so fast he almost dropped it. All his thoughts of trying to distance himself from Lucy until he’d figured things out flew out the window as he said, breathlessly, “Lucy? What can I do for you?”

  ~*~

  To Lucy’s utter amazement Gabriel not only sounded happy to hear from her, he jumped at the chance to come to her grandmother’s for dinner. Lucy had a confusing moment where she envisioned Gabe as a cute little puppy, wagging its little puppy tail, and then said puppy morphed into a huge, fur and fang and claws and bulging muscles werewolf. The image was as unsettling as it was exciting.

  And then Lucy broke the news that her grandmother knew about him being a werewolf. “And I kind of told her about Delia… and our little arrangement.”

  She heard Gabe’s breath hiss through the connection. “You told her!”

  “She kind of could smell you and Delia on my clothes.”

  “She could smell us?”

  “Yeah, and she knew right off what you were, so since the… since the wolf was out of the bag, I sort of just spilled my guts.”

  “How was she able to smell us? And how did she know?”

  “Long story.” She still wondered about that herself. Would she be able to do that little trick someday? “It’s a thing. So can you still come? I don’t think she’ll take a no on this.”

  Lucy couldn’t believe it, but Gabriel laughed. “I wouldn’t miss it. Your grandmother sounds intriguing… and I…” His sudden silence wasn’t very long, but it did have Lucy straining to hear what he said next. “And I’ve been thinking about you.”

  Okay… sound the alarms! This wasn’t good. Even though Lucy had been thinking about him all day too, the fact that he was returning the favor made Lucy feel like the earth was shaking beneath her feet. Her heart was thumping fast, and she had a delightful tingling running its way up and down her spine. Yet the feeling that she was stealing something, another woman’s love, it filled her with a clash of guilt.

  “Well…” Lucy found herself speechless, even with all the things swirling in her head, things that she wanted to say, things she should say, things that if she had a conscience at all she would say—that he still had a girlfriend.

  Still…

  Just having that word in that thought made Lucy feel even worse.

  “Well Gram will be anxious to meet you. I told you six o’clock, right?”

  Gabriel paused before he answered. “You did.”

  “Okay then, I’ll see you then.” And Lucy hit the end button on her phone. That wasn’t a bit awkward. Not a bit.

  ~*~

  Lucy knew she shouldn’t be so happy that Gabriel was driving all the way to Four Corners just to see her, but she couldn’t deny the thrill that thought evoked in her. Also she couldn’t deny that there was a big goofy smile plastered on her face the entire time she spent getting ready. The effort she put into choosing the right outfit, shoes, makeup and what earrings she’d where—the same pair she had on last night… the same perfume too—said she was way too eager to see him again.

  Guilt splashed cold water on her face every time thoughts of Gabe made her a little too happy. She kept trying to remind herself that only a day ago she hadn’t liked Gabriel at all. The thought that she would actually be feeling something warm and gushy for him twenty-four hours later would’ve made her laugh.

  But that was yesterday. Unfortunately, Lucy hadn’t felt this sinking, overwhelming guilt yesterday either. Two new, nearly equally matched intense emotions thundered in her head, her chest, and belly, and roiled just under her flesh. It wasn’t funny.

  Lucy found herself sitting out on the front porch, trying to inhale enough fresh air to drown out her conflicting emotions. It wasn’t working. She checked her watch: it was twenty minutes after six—He’s late, she thought with more than a little annoyance.

  Rich or werewolf or amazingly hot... where does he get off making me wait?

  The annoyed feeling was so nostalgically welcome that Lucy embraced it with open arms, and reveled in how it made her feel. A bit of the old Lucy…the entitled Lucy.

  And then a really expensive looking car rolled down the block toward Lucy’s house: a midnight blue Jaguar XP. It swung into the vacant space at the front of the house. Lucy wasn’t surprised to see Gabriel climb out of the driver’s seat. What did surprise her was how her annoyance with him vanished in the blink of an eye, replaced instead with an intense, rather enjoyable tingling that played up her spine, settled in the back of her neck, and then started to give off heat.

  She stood and watched Gabriel throw on his sport jacket, and walk up the sidewalk to the porch steps. The look in his eyes as he looked up at Lucy didn’t help at all. There was definite heat, and hunger in those dark, melted chocolate eyes. And he was very happy to see her. She knew the look well, and would never have thought Gabriel would ever be beaming it at her. But she also wouldn’t have imagined that that look would make her skin turn hot enough to make her yearn for a bucket of ice.

  Wonder if he’d rub some ice over my skin? Lucy found Gabriel smiling up at her, and she suddenly wanted to be the one rubbing ice over his flesh. Or maybe my tongue…

  “Am I late?” he finally asked.

  Lucy shook her head, feeling a little dizzy as she stared into his eyes. “Gram just put the rolls in the oven, so you’re… good.”

  He licked his lips, unconsciously, but it made Lucy’s knees shake. She wanted to taste those lips again, and the look on his face said he was thinking the same thing
. She was in trouble and sinking fast.

  And then an annoying thought crossed her mind. Sure, they had that one really hot kiss, and it was just last night… and he’d risked his rather pretty hide to save her from his homicidal girlfriend—but how could he be looking at her the way he was, after what he’d said to Delia? They weren’t just words, but a declaration of love.

  At least they should have been. They had sounded so sincere. They had felt so true when he’d said them to Delia. So true and so real that Lucy had felt the sting of jealousy. And yet there he was, looking at Lucy with just as much affection—maybe more?—and she found herself wondering what kind of guy could… could… the mere act of trying to identify the lecherous way he was behaving towards both of them was pissing her off.

  What kind of ass is this guy? What kind of man could profess his love to one girl and the next day be giving another girl the eye? What kind of man is he?

  She turned in a huff and walked back into the house, leaving him standing there at the bottom of the porch stairs. She hoped that he couldn’t enter the house without an invitation, even if he wasn’t a vampire, and she really didn’t know if that bit of Buffy folklore was true, but she hoped it was.

  “He’s here, Gram!” she hollered toward the kitchen, heading up the stairs. She was no longer in the mood to look pretty for Gabriel Enoch. She yanked and pulled her dress off and then slid into the pair of jeans she’d been wearing earlier and slipped on a pair of flip-flops. Maybe the slapping sound they made when she walked would piss Gabriel off!

  Then Lucy rummaged through her closet until she found what she was looking for: her Team Edward T-shirt. Pulling it on over her head she smiled naughtily at the implication, checking out the effect appraisingly in her full length mirror. She pulled her hair back into a casual ponytail.

  There, she looked at herself in the mirror. Let him get all excited about this.

  ~*~

  Lucy padded down the stairs, her flip-flops making their most spectacularly irritating sounds. She was certain if Gabriel was in the house, he’d probably be in the living room. That’s where guys like him lounged. And that’s where her sainted grandmother would insist on him relaxing while she finished preparing dinner. So, Lucy headed straight for the kitchen. Maybe she could still talk her grandmother into fixing sloppy-joes.

  But when she walked into her grandmother’s warm, well-worn kitchen she found Gabriel at the kitchen sink, his sport coat hanging on the back of a kitchen chair, the sleeves of his hundred dollar silk dress-shirt rolled-up, doing dishes. He was chatting with her grandmother about some bizarre historical fact about the town of Four Corners, while Lilly was mixing up her homemade gravy.

  Lucy noticed how really happy they seemed, just standing there talking. She then noticed the stunning arrangement of daisies, columbine, and tiger lilies sitting in the center of her grandmother’s table, in her best crystal vase. Lucy hadn’t noticed he was holding flowers. They couldn’t have been for her—he would’ve given them to her as soon as he saw her standing there.

  Now, looking at the arrangement, she had a good feeling that he’d bought them precisely for her grandmother. Wild flowers were her favorite, especially those three kinds. So he’d come with gifts to placate her grandmother. And, to Lucy’s horror, it seemed to be working.

  Lucy gave herself a mental head slap and tried to shake off her animosity. She really shouldn’t be trying to make her grandmother dislike Gabriel. No matter how she felt about him—and truthfully, those feelings were changing every time she turned around. She’d practically fallen over into his arms when he walked up to the porch, and then not twenty seconds later she’d wanted to slug him… or maybe key his car. But now, looking at how great he was being with her grandmother, she was starting to feel all warm and tingly about him again.

  She even thought about turning around and going back upstairs to change back into her previous ensemble. Yet just then her grandmother turned around and saw her standing there and said, “Well, there you are! I had to…” She took a good look at Lucy’s clothes, and her words came out in slow erratic bursts as she looked Lucy over. “Well, I… had to let… Mr. Enoch here in… but I could have sworn you were waiting for him on the porch.”

  “I was,” Lucy said in a flat tone. Gabriel turned his head enough to flash Lucy a quizzical smile, and there was some heat in his gaze.

  “Oh,” Gram said as she shook her head. Obviously trying to figure out why Lucy had changed her clothes was more than she was up for. She turned and beamed a wide, brilliant smile at Gabriel.

  “Now stop washing those dishes. Dinner’s ready to be served.” She strained the gravy she’d been mixing into a gravy boat and held it out to Gabriel. “If you want to help, take this out for me and place it on the dining room table. There are hot pads already down. Just put it on top of one.”

  Gabriel dried his hands on a dishtowel then took the gravy boat out of Lillian’s hands, walking off to the dining room.

  “What a nice young man.” Lucy stood there in stunned silence as she watched her grandmother fan herself with a small cutting board. She was flushed and looked about ten years younger.

  “Oh my god… Gram!”

  “What?” Lillian said, giving Lucy a surprised glance at her outburst, then turning her attentions back in the direction Gabriel had taken.

  “You’re not seriously drooling over my… my…”—well, what exactly was he?—“my fake fiancé?”

  Gram scoffed, but she was still fanning herself. “I’m old, not dead.”

  “This evening could not be more disturbing.” Lucy took a glass from the cupboard then poured herself some pink lemonade from the fridge.

  “So you’re disturbed by him.” It wasn’t a question. “Is it him, or what he is?”

  “You’re not helping.” Lucy put the cold glass to her forehead and breathed. She just needed a minute to think.

  “I could send him to the store two blocks over for some milk. That would take him at least five, ten minutes.” She was just a little too pleased with herself.

  Lucy shot her a scathing look. “I’m fine. He can stay. And you can quit with the interrogation.”

  Gram just grinned. That grin said way too many things, in Lucy’s opinion.

  Dinner was great. Gram had outdone herself: braised beef roast, glazed carrots, string beans, garlic mashed potatoes made from scratch, and fresh baked rolls. Lucy noticed that Gabriel had two helpings of everything. She could tell from her grandmother’s expression that that pleased her plenty.

  Conversation was surprisingly light. Just about the weather, some more about Four Corner’s suddenly fascinating history, and a couple questions about where his family came from originally: Both his parents’ families came from Romania, having immigrated to the west two generations before Gabriel was born.

  Lucy thought about the little story Jonas Enoch had told her about how he and Gabriel’s mother had fallen in love. She couldn’t imagine what their parents were like. She just couldn’t picture it. Vivian Enoch had seemed like she was born the way she was—fully formed and cold as ice.

  Gram had Lucy help her clear the dinner plates, insisting Gabriel remain seated while they brought out coffee and dessert—a magnificent chocolate-chocolate cake. It wasn’t until they’d finished eating the last bites of their desserts that Gram dropped all pretenses and dropped the other shoe, so to speak.

  “So wolf.” Gabriel looked up from his coffee and met Gram’s gaze. They both looked very serious. Lucy was just about to interrupt when her grandmother continued. “How far, exactly, are you prepared to go with this?”

  Gabriel almost smiled, tilting his head as he studied Lucy’s grandmother.

  “I see you’re committed to this ruse—pulling the wool over your family’s eyes—just so you can be with your vampire lover.” She sat forward in her chair just enough that Lucy thought she was going to throw something. “What I’m wondering is, are you just as committed to keeping my granddaughter sa
fe?”

  Gabriel’s brown eyes softened. “I will let nothing and no one hurt Lucy.”

  No small thrill swam up into Lucy, like a bird taking flight in her chest, hearing him pledge himself to her safety.

  “Does that mean protecting her from your creature-of-the-night girlfriend too?” Gram said pointedly.

  Gabriel didn’t move a muscle. He didn’t even seem to be breathing. But his entire body seemed to sag almost imperceptibly. But Lucy noticed, and her heart sank with the sting his silence evoked in her.

  She closed her eyes and these thoughts rushed through her mind. What was I thinking? Why did I think he’d choose me over her? Why the hell is Gram dragging all this up in the first place? And finally: Why am I falling in love with a man like this?

  Lucy opened her eyes when she heard Gabriel’s halting answer.

  “I don’t want to hurt Delia… I never planned on… on having these feelings for Lucy…” He closed his eyes this time, just for a moment, but Lucy could tell he was being torn up inside. Conflict made his youthful features appear much older than he was. “I’m just not ready to… to choose. I never thought I would be having these feelings for two people, not at the same time… and I never expected to feel like this for a human.”

  What a prince…

  But another part of Lucy was hanging onto every word like they were the lyrics to her favorite freaking song.

  “But will you protect my daughter from harm—even if that danger comes from your beloved? I think she deserves to know that you will keep her safe, since she is technically your employee, and obviously more than that from the look on you handsome face... and the kiss she told me you two shared last night.” Gabriel suddenly blushed. “You know, at the engagement party I wasn’t invited to.”

  Lucy rolled her eyes. Gram is never going to let me live that down, is she?

  Gabriel’s gaze stayed on Lucy’s grandmother for what seemed like forever, and then it moved to Lucy. “I pledge my life to her safety.” Lucy felt a knot of nervous tension build in her stomach. “I will not let anyone or anything harm her. This I swear.”