by Daya Daniels
“Well, Lily, you should. “
“Has it been a long time? Since…you know?”
The question made him uncomfortable but he answered me.
“A few years, four years I think. I’m used to it.”
Gabriel was handsome. He could have any woman he wanted.
“My world is just less complicated when I only have myself in it to worry about, Lily,” he said, giving me a small smile, right before focusing on the snow-covered road ahead again.
We were both exhausted once we finally arrived back to the cabin.
I took a quick shower and returned to the bedroom. Gabriel took his shower when I was done. I wanted him to stay with me. I didn’t know how he would react if I asked. Last night he’d only stayed because of my bad dream but now I just wanted him next to me. He came in and lit the fireplace across from the bed and walked towards the door to leave. I peeled out of my clothes down to just a camisole and my underwear. I undid my hair, which was now a few inches longer, and let it fall down my back.
“Gabriel, can you stay please?”
He turned toward me and stilled at my words. “Lily, I’m really used to sleeping alone.”
I felt rejected but it didn’t stop me from bargaining. “It’s just that I slept so well last night after you came in and…I. Weren’t you comfortable? Plus, you said you missed your bed.”
He chuckled. “Yes, I was very comfortable and yes, I do miss my bed.”
“Well, could you stay with me tonight then?” I begged.
He stood next to the bed on the opposite side and stripped down to his black boxer briefs. This was the first time I’d seen his body on display like it was now. I tried hard not to stare but...good God he was beautiful.
He stood confidently in front of me as he watched me take him in. He was chiseled. He had a light smattering of black hair that trailed from his chest, past his abs, down to the Apollo’s belt at his hips where his boxer briefs hung just below. His muscular legs were covered by sparse black hair. Intricate tattoos covered most of his upper body and a deep scar ran from his left side to the top of his left shoulder. I shifted my gaze suddenly realizing I’d been staring and quickly pulled the covers back, exposing the sheets. He smiled proudly and looked away from me.
He clicked the lamp off and we slipped under the blankets in the bed. I put my back to Gabriel’s front. Then he inched closer putting his arm around me. I never had this with anyone before. The way his big body surrounded me made me feel so safe. I listened to his light breathing for a while until I drifted off to sleep.
Gabriel had already left the bed when I awoke. I wandered into the kitchen with Rocco and Sable following behind me. I found Gabriel standing in the kitchen, in front of the center island flipping through piles of building plans.
“I have to go down to Helena for a few months. It’s not my favorite place but I can’t avoid it.
“I have to finalize my part ownership with the sawmill operation and the only way that will be done is if I go to Helena.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond. It was time for me to leave.
“Okay, I’ll pack my things tomorrow.”
He ran his hands over his face and made a loud frustrated sigh. “Lily, what do you mean? You are my responsibility. You’re coming with me.
“We have a few days to pack up. I have a lot to do before we can go.
“I’ll be cutting the power here for the time that we are gone and I need to clear the greenhouse.”
I stared into my cup a long moment.
“We won’t be staying with them.”
I looked up. I was concerned about where we would stay but I wasn’t going to ask. It wasn’t like I had any place else to go.”
“Okay,” I said quietly.
“I don’t share house with other people ever. I need my privacy.
“Jacob and Abigail have another house on the edge of their ranch. It’s enough space for the two of us and the dogs for a few months.”
It was final. I could tell that Gabriel was thinking exactly what I was feeling.
“I know you’re probably not ready for this. This has been your home for the last three months but I promise you I’ll take care of you and make sure you’re comfortable while we are there. This move is temporary. We should be back here in three months, if that.”
I snuggled closer to Sable and kissed her.
“Okay.”
Gabriel was right. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to leave the cabin and adjust to new people and a city. I was scared to death.
Gabriel’s soft beard was nestled into my hair and his warm breath was on my neck. I could see the stars twinkling outside. I moved a hand behind me. I caressed the back of my cotton boy shorts and was surprised when I brushed against Gabriel’s hardness.
I don’t know how long he’d been like this but his erection was straining against his boxer briefs. I gently touched him again. He stirred in his sleep and adjusted himself moving away slightly. I settled in again shimmying closer into his groin, feeling the hardness against my ass. I was curious.
“Lily, stop,” he drawled out sleepily.
I quickly tucked my hands back in between my thighs. Gabriel shifted again and sat up, leaving the room muttering expletives under his breath. I heard the bathroom door close across the hallway.
What was I doing? I chastised myself. I wasn’t trying to chase him away. I lay awake waiting. He returned a while later and slipped back into bed.
“I’m sorry, Gabriel.” I inhaled deeply. “I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t mean to upset you. Did you—”
Gabriel cut me off before I could finish. “Yes. I did.”
There was no shame in his response.
“It’s okay,” he whispered and then fell back to sleep against me.
I leaned against the wall of the shower and shut my eyes. The warm water cascaded over my skin. I gave myself one last scrub and placed the loofah back on the hook.
I wanted to touch myself—to have an orgasm again. I hadn’t touched myself in a sexual way in months but the urge was there. I still had sexual urges. I wasn’t sure what that meant. Slipping my hand down between my legs, I rubbed my clit gently and moaned softly. The touch felt good but each time I closed my eyes all I could see was their faces—each one of them. I tried closing my eyes and sinking into my imagination which still didn’t work.
Each time I thought about sex now, all I could think about was them. I let out a frustrated breath and slumped against the tile wall. The soapy water swirled down the drain at my feet. I started again, closing my eyes, trying to push the images away. I pressed against my clit even harder, applying more pressure. I wanted to come. Still nothing. I kept rubbing, moving my fingers against my clit until it began to hurt and then I stopped, collapsing on the floor of the shower in tears.
Could I not orgasm anymore? I wasn’t sure. Had they taken even that away from me? I stood and grabbed the loofah again, still sobbing. I poured more body wash on it and viciously scrubbed my dirty skin, until it was raw.
Gabriel was in the gym upstairs. I observed him through the glass, from the sofa in the den. He was wearing only a pair of paper-thin black running shorts and sneakers. His back was to me as he looked out of the floor-to-ceiling glass window ahead of him that had a panoramic view of the trees outside and the mountains. Gabriel ran flat-out on the treadmill at a medium pace for an hour and a half. He hit a button halfway through and the treadmill adjusted to a steep incline. I wondered if he would stop to take a break in between miles but he never did.
His chest was bare and covered in sweat. I stared as each muscle in his muscular thighs and powerful calves flexed while he kept pace. The sweat dripped down the tattooed skin on his back and chest and into the waistband of his shorts. I couldn’t concentrate on my book. Eventually, I gave up and put it down.
When Gabriel was done, he went to take a shower and then joined me on the sofa in his pajamas. His face was still flushed and his dark hair was damp f
rom just being washed.
“I want to show you something,” Gabriel said after a few minutes, pulling me up from where I sat.
I rested my mug on the table. “What?” I asked, following him.
He held my hand as we descended the wide wooden stairs beneath the kitchen into the garage below. It was large enough to fit two vehicles but there was only the truck which was kept there. I followed him through another steel door which opened after he pressed a code into the panel. The panel beeped and flashed neon green. It opened slowly, revealing a long tunnel that was dimly lit by lights along the grey concrete wall.
“I built these,” he said.
I was confused. I saw nothing but the length of dimly lit walls and steel doors.
“They’re tunnels, Lily. They descend under the entire property by twenty feet in depth. The longest one runs past the perimeter, almost to the edge of the land.”
We took one door to the left and it pitched downwards. As we walked further, I felt my ears pop from the pressure.
“If you take the first left, it takes you to the stables, the greenhouse, and the tool shed. The second right takes you to the generator room underneath the house.”
I felt like I was in a maze. A dark creepy maze.
“Take this right,” Gabriel directed.
We walked almost ten minutes until we stood in front of another steel door with a security panel on the outside of it.
“This is a panic room,” he said as he tapped on the metal. “If anything ever happens and you can’t get out of the cabin. You come down here. Understand?”
I nodded.
“There is a second way to access this tunnel from near the bedroom upstairs, instead of going through the kitchen that I’ll show you.”
“Give me your thumb,” Gabriel said. He pressed my thumb into the panel and some lights went off.
“This room operates like a bomb shelter. You get to this door, you press your thumb to the center of the panel and the door will open.
“You go in and you don’t open the door for anyone or anything. There’s everything in there you need for at least two weeks—food, water, a phone, medicine, bandages, blankets, a radio, batteries, etcetera—until someone can get here.”
I nodded again.
“Let’s keep walking.”
After a few minutes of walking, the tunnel lights went out and only the green neon lighting on the floor guided our way. We walked further which took almost thirty minutes.
“When the power shuts down here, this place goes on lockdown. Which means that before the power shuts off, even if it is a trip, everything locks securely and then goes offline. You can get out but no one can come in.”
“Okay,” I said, starting to shiver.
“We’re are almost there,” Gabriel said as he guided me along.
We took another left and reached the end of that tunnel where there was a metal ladder at the end. Above the ladder was a red hatch. Gabriel pressed his thumb to the panel and the hatch opened, revealing the dark in the space above us. He ascended the ladder first and stood up, gesturing for me to follow. I climbed the ladder. When I reached the top, Gabriel grabbed my arm hoisting me up through the hatch which opened to a large room with a ceiling that was nearly thirty-feet high. Gabriel walked around flicking a few lights on so that the room lit dimly.
“It’s concrete. It only opens from the roof, automatically,” he said pointing above him. “This building is far enough off the property. It can’t be seen from the ground. It blends in too well.”
“This is amazing,” I said to Gabriel in awe of the sight of the two sleek helicopters in front of me.
The large room was a hangar. I walked towards the first and ran my fingers along the cold, shiny, black surface of it. I peered through the glass near the pilot’s seat looking at all the various buttons and switches. It only had two seats which explained why it was much smaller than the other helicopter that rested next to it. He watched me as I walked slowly around the vehicles curiously. The second helicopter was a four-seater and was powerful enough to transport cargo, Gabriel said.
“I’ll take you out one day, to fly.”
I gave him a small smile. “I’m not so sure.”
Gabriel moved to stand behind me and grabbed my arm, pulling me towards him.
“Lily, I know you will keep our little secrets but you cannot tell anyone about any of this, okay?”
I nodded. “No one knows about any of this?”
“No, not really. The things I show you here are between us.” Gabriel smiled.
“Gabriel, why all this?” I raised both of my arms in the air, gesturing towards the ceiling.
He stepped closer to me. “It’s just precaution, Lily, that’s all,” he said softly, giving me a handsome smile.
I opened the drawers, cleared out my clothing and dumped it in a brown leather duffel bag. It wasn’t much. A few sets of underwear, sweaters and jeans. It was all I had to my name. I looked around the room and grabbed a few books and shoved them into the side pocket of the duffel bag.
There was a gold-framed mirror now hanging vertically on the wall next to the dresser I was unpacking that I hadn’t noticed before. I did a quick double take to ensure that my memory wasn’t deceiving me.
“I put it back up.” Gabriel suddenly appeared, watching me from the doorway.
“Why did you take it down?”
“I didn’t think it would be helpful if you were always looking at your reflection when you first came here. You’re much better now.”
I smiled.
Gabriel came closer to stand behind me, facing the mirror. “You are beautiful, Lily.”
“I don’t know. I don’t feel that pretty these days.”
“We will fix that.”
I hung my head low. He tilted my chin forcing me to look straight ahead into the mirror, positioning my head level.
“Should I worry?”
“About what?” he asked, running his fingers through my hair while he sectioned it in three parts with his fingers.
“I guess I’m just nervous about possibly being seen in Helena. It’s isolated here but Helena is a city. It’s different.”
He braided my hair starting from the top of my head. The man had many talents.
“I want to tell you a funny story. It’s about a man who used to kill people—for fun. The man was a sadist. He’d killed a whole bunch of people, mainly women. He’d already gotten away with every single murder so far.
“One day the man picked a guy from another neighborhood close by to be his next victim.
“Eventually, he was going to kill him but it was the thrill of the hunt that he loved. He loved to make all his victims squirm.
“He wanted his victims to be terrified before he killed them. He wanted them all to feel that they were going crazy and that their wits were off kilter, each time they thought they were being watched or followed. It was his game.
“Soon he started to follow his soon-to-be victim everywhere, learning his daily schedule. He found out where he lived, took pictures of the man’s wife at work, and his two children at school.
“He even broke into the man’s house one day when no one was there, shifted a few things around for fun. He learned the layout of the house, how many bedrooms, how many bathrooms, how many pets the family had and what they ate. He was obsessed with his new victim’s life.”
Gabriel tied an elastic on the end of my braid as he continued to tell the story.
“So, one day the killer goes home to find the soon-to-be victim sitting at the kitchen table in his house—the killer’s house. The killer is stunned for a moment. The other man points a gun at him wickedly smiling and gestures for the man to come in.”
“What happens next?”
“The killer sits down at the table. They both have a long friendly conversation. The other man tells the killer that he himself is a serial killer, all under the guise of his perfect suburban life.
“He proceeds t
o give the man advice about where he went wrong and how he found him. He gave him pointers, I guess you could say, that would be useful in their line of work.”
“Then what?”
“Then he shot him point blank in the face.” He laughed hysterically.
“That’s not a funny story, Gabriel.” I giggled.
“Then why are you laughing?”
“I don’t know.”
I couldn’t contain myself at his own laughter. It was contagious.
He grabbed my duffel bag off the floor and signaled that it was time to go with the flick of two fingers towards the door.
***
I sat in the truck patiently waiting for Gabriel to jump in. The garage door was now closed behind us. Winnie and Jack were both securely attached to the truck in a large trailer. Rocco and Sable sat in the back seat.
Gabriel had killed most of the electricity throughout the cabin. The generator room had been shut down completely. All the glass windows and main doors were no longer visible from the outside. They now sat behind corrugated steel siding that with the push of a button came down to protect them. The place was a fortress.
As we pulled out of the gravel driveway I looked behind me, taking the last glance I’d have of the cabin for the next few months. He gave me a small smile and placed his palm in my lap, held my hand and squeezed.
CHAPTER FOUR
After a five-hour drive, we arrived at Jacob and Abigail’s ranch in the sprawling suburbs of Helena, Montana. The drive was supposed to be shorter but we made some stops along the way to eat. It was nightfall and the ranch was lit up like a stadium. There was snowfall on the ground a few inches high. As soon as I arrived, my ears had unplugged from the high elevation. Gabriel suggested I go straight to the cottage and get the dogs in so that he could begin unpacking the truck with Jacob. The horses needed to be settled in their new paddock.
Abigail came to visit for a few minutes after we’d arrived. She looked a little heavier from the last time I’d seen her a few months ago, wearing a green baggy University of Montana sweatshirt and blue jeans.