Level Up

by Hadley Quinn

“It’s what Gabe does. You may not know this but the guy is a fucking genius. You have no idea what that adds to a team like ours. We’re all top of the line,” he said, tapping his head, “but Gabe takes the cake on the brain department. You should see that guy strategize a tactical plan, or engineer an entire system of explosives to take out a whole—”

  He stopped with a chuckle.

  “Go on, I’m listening,” she encouraged. “He doesn’t ever tell me stuff like that.”

  “He’s not one to brag. But just describing it doesn’t even do him justice; you have to see him in action.”

  “Well I haven’t had the privilege of witnessing his military prowess, but I’ve watched him do stuff around here. There is nothing that guy can’t do.”

  “Exactly. And when it involves thought, Gabe puts himself in his own world sometimes. And I reckon that he totally over thinks this relationship shit because it’s totally foreign to him,” he smiled.

  Ava could understand that because Gabe had even mentioned something similar. “Yeah, well, I think we’re learning together on this one. Gabe is the first guy that I’ve ever trusted completely, and sometimes I kind of treat it like I treat my issues with Chad. I want to believe that he knows best and then I go along with it.”

  “I see what you mean, but to be honest—and I’ve only known of this relationship between you and Gabe for a day, so I’m no expert—but I think you do a good job balancing how assertive or passive you are. From what I’ve learned, you’re a good match for Gabe. And all the guys were in agreement on that, so it’s more than just my opinion.”

  “Great,” she laughed. “Nice to know I’ve been talked about.”

  “Oh you don’t even know the half of it,” he winked.

  “Yeah, I guess I don’t want to know,” she teased back.

  Kael was saying something at the moment and Bobby had to translate. “He’s asking about paint?”

  “Oh, you want to paint?” she asked him. She made a motion of a brush stroke. “Paint?”

  “Obojiti,” Bobby said.

  Kael nodded and stood up.

  “Let’s put the blocks away first,” Ava instructed. Bobby translated as Ava picked up the blocks and placed them in the box. Kael followed suit and then Bobby put the box in the corner of the room. Ava found the watercolors and paper in the hall closet and set Kael up at the table with them. When he seemed content she said, “Well, I think I’ve given Gabe enough of a timeout.”

  “He’s probably pacing the room like a caged lion, waiting for you to come back.”

  “Maybe,” she shrugged. “Or he’s cleaning all of his weapons.”

  Bobby laughed again. “Or there’s that,” he nodded. “He got ‘em under the couch or between the mattresses?”

  She felt horrified for a second. “Between the mattresses? Oh my God, you mean I’ve had sex on top of an arsenal?”

  He laughed really hard that time. “You’ll have to ask him.”

  “I’ll bring it up the next time we’re there; see how he responds while he’s under, uh, duress.”

  He shook his head with more laughter. “You’re a funny one, you know it? I can see why the guys get a kick out of you. You’d make a good therapist for us fucked up military guys, you know? I’ve never seen Gabe smile so much before. Even when he was telling me about you out in the woods he was electric, you know? Lit up, happy. You’re his level up, for sure.”

  She eyed him curiously. It was the second time he’d used that choice of words. “And what exactly does ‘level up’ mean? Like in a video game? I’m another level in the game?”

  Bobby smiled but shook his head. “Well there’s that, I suppose. In our careers we consider a promotion to be ‘leveling up.’ But we also talk about it in our personal lives, and the ultimate level up is…” He paused for effect.

  “Finding the right girl to settle down with?” Ava finished.

  “Exactly,” he grinned. “You’re his ultimate level up, honey. Even in the middle of shit like what we were in, you were making him happy. It was so fucking weird.”

  She considered that silently. She loved Gabe, and despite how he’d made her feel earlier, she just needed to find a way to accept it and work through it. He was obviously her level up as well and she didn’t want it any other way.

  “Well I’m going to go tame the lion,” she said. “I’ll see you guys later. Bye Kael,” she added with a wave.

  Bobby spoke to Kael, instructing him to say goodbye. “Bye bye, Ava,” he added in English, waving Kael’s hand for him.

  “Bye bye, Ava,” Kael repeated with a smile.

  “Goodnight, guys,” Ava said. “Bobby, don’t hesitate to holler if you need anything.”

  “Oh, we’ll be fine. And thank you for giving us a place to stay. It’s nice to feel wanted.”

  She paused to consider his words but decided not to respond. With a nod she offered another wave, grabbed her things from the counter, and headed out the back door. She took a deep breath of fresh air as she made her way to the cabin. There was no sign of music blasting, so maybe Gabe was out of his funk. She could only hope, but rain or shine, she was ready to deal with it.

  Cautiously, she opened the front door and held her breath. It was quiet, and when she slipped inside, she didn’t see Gabe anywhere. Her first thought was that he was in the bedroom or bathroom and he was going to mistake her for an intruder.

  But the real scenario caught her attention before she could dwell on those thoughts. There was a large bouquet of fresh cut flowers on the table to her left. She put a hand to her mouth when she noticed red rose petals on the floor, leading to the bedroom.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  She set down the bag of items she’d brought from the house and followed the trail. It made her wish she’d primped a little bit to give him something special in return, but she was too eager to see him anyway.

  The bedroom door was open and she stopped in the entry. Gabe was stretched out on the bed, lying on his stomach. He had a magazine in front of him, but he pushed it aside when she appeared.

  Ava was surprised to see another bouquet of flowers on the nightstand. Both arrangements were beautiful, but this one was somehow more magical. The mix was gorgeous—pink lilies with red and white roses amongst purple hydrangea. The scent was amazing and filled the room.

  She leaned her head against the doorframe, affected by his efforts. Gabe got up from the bed and made his way over. His arm rested against the doorframe above her head and he leaned down to touch foreheads. Just that action, and the apologetic look in his eye, was enough to melt Ava’s heart.

  “I’m sorry for being such a dick,” he said quietly. “I love you, Ava. You don’t deserve to be treated like that. Will you forgive me?”

  She felt a surge of humility travel through her. Here was her man—tough as nails, rough and strong, hardened because of the world around him—and he was giving her his heart.

  She laid her face against his chest and slid her arms around him. When she closed her eyes they pushed the moisture down her cheeks. “Of course I forgive you. And I love you, too. So much that it hurts to see you struggle. But I want you to know that nothing is more important than being with you, Gabe. It would hurt me even more if you kept pushing me away.”

  He squeezed her to him even tighter. “It would hurt me too,” he whispered softly. “But how am I supposed to deal with these damn things I can’t control?”

  She pulled back to look at him. “You help me get through my struggles and I stick with you through yours. Okay? That’s the way it works. We do it together, got it?”

  He tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and softly rubbed a thumb over her cheek. “If you weren’t so damn perfect I might have to argue with you. I just want to be the solid one, Ava. I’ve never depended on anyone before. I don’t know how to figure this out.”

  “There’s nothing to figure out, okay? We give and take and just do our best. I need you so much it’s pathetic. You’d better ne
ed me too because I need to be needed.”

  He smiled at the threatening finger she poked into his chest, but took her hand and pressed it against his lips. “I do need you. So much it hurts.” He took a deep breath and pulled her close again. Stroking her hair he added, “And right now I’m going to do a little bit of giving, okay? Take off your clothes.”

  She snorted with surprise and pulled away from him. “Take off my clothes? Giving, huh? So I’ll be doing the taking?”

  “Absolutely,” he smiled. But he turned serious, giving her those sexy bedroom eyes. “So do it now. Strip.”

  He left her standing there and moved to stand by the bed. He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked, signifying that he was waiting for her to remove clothing.

  She shrugged and played along. First she slipped off her flip-flops and slowly slid out of her shorts. She bit her lower lip and began unbuttoning her shirt, looking him in eye as he stared at her. Finally the last button came undone and she shrugged out of it, letting it fall to the floor.

  Her bra happened to be a front clasp, and when she released it, she noticed his cock was at full attention. She looked at the tent in his shorts and raised an eyebrow. “You really don’t have to salute me,” she smiled.

  It looked as if it took effort for him to swallow. “Hell yeah, I do,” he croaked out. He cleared his throat and nodded for her to continue with her lower half.

  She slid her thumbs into the waistband of her underwear and slowly shimmied them down, kicking them off daintily with a smile. She stood there for a moment and held out her hands. “Well? See anything worth your time?” She ran her fingers through her hair and turned around for effect. “Going once, going twice—”

  “Get on the bed,” he motioned with his head. She almost laughed at the hitch in his voice, but she obeyed and climbed onto the bed. “On your stomach,” he commanded, “and close your eyes.”

  She only paused for a moment, just to look at his expression. He had a pretty cute smirk on his lips, but she stretched out on the bed and closed her eyes.

  “Don’t open them,” he told her. She obeyed, trying to hear his movements. The man was a damn ninja though. She couldn’t hear a thing.

  Suddenly some music came on, soft and serene. She smiled. This was fun. The anticipation was killing her but she enjoyed it.

  She felt the bed move a few seconds later and in a deep, sexy voice Gabe said, “Just hold still.”

  She wanted to squeal with excitement. Just the unexpected with Gabe close by was an aphrodisiac. When he gently gathered her hair she sucked in a breath of air, and then she felt his lips against her shoulder. He set her hair on the bed and whispered, “You ready?”

  “For anything,” she replied.

  He ran a finger down her spine. It gave her goose bumps. She felt the bed move again and he straddled the back of her thighs, careful not to put too much weight on her. “Take a deep breath and let it out,” he told her. While she did, he poured just a little bit of something warm on her back and began rubbing it in.

  When the act registered in her brain, her body relaxed even more. “Oh my gosh,” she exhaled. “That feels so good.”

  He continued to work the oil over her back, pushing it up to her shoulders and pulling it down toward her waist. His thumbs massaged outward from her spine, all the way up, and then he repeated the circular motions all the way down.

  For the next thirty minutes he massaged her entire body; from her shoulders, neck and arms, all the way down her thighs and feet. She was a heap of jelly by the time he was done.

  Lying beside her he said, “You look gorgeous naked across my bed.”

  She smiled and opened her eyes. “I’m sorry, did you say something? I’m a little catatonic right now.”

  He chuckled and reached to pull the comforter over her. Kissing her cheek he said, “Good. Then I’ll let you get some sleep.”

  “But I—”

  “Nuh,” he said, putting a knuckle over her lips. “Go to sleep like a good girl and I’ll finish dinner. Unless you’re hungry now?”

  She sort of shook her head. “Not really,” she mumbled. “But I am kinda sleepy…”

  He said nothing while he laid there in silence next to her. She was dead tired so the last thing she remembered as she drifted off was Gabe’s sexy eyes and smile.

  ***

  Gabe got up and closed the curtains. It was almost five o’clock in the evening, and even though he was tired also, he wasn’t ready to lie down with her. He’d give her some time alone first, finish up whatever dinner she’d started in the slow cooker, and just go from there. Maybe if she got enough sleep, she could watch TV while he took another nap by himself.

  This wasn’t what a relationship was supposed to be like, was it? Who ever heard of taking sleep shifts with your girlfriend? That’s what you did on a fucking mission, with your comrades. He had a woman that he wanted to be around 24/7, but he couldn’t even lie down with her like a normal human being? If that day ever changed, he’d never take such a simple act for granted again.

  He found a bag that Ava brought from the other house and removed its contents. There was a can of corn, a ladle, some Bisquick, and a jar of honey. It didn’t take a genius to figure out the purpose for each item, so he added the can of corn to the soup, stirred it, and read the box of mix for directions to make biscuits. When those were in the oven, he popped over to the big house to check on Bobby.

  When Gabe found him, he was asleep on the couch while Kael was watching the end of The Lion King. He would have exited just as fast so he didn’t wake up Bobby, but the kid was talking and pointing to the TV, excited for the next generation of Simbas.

  Bobby woke and said, “Hey, man. What’s up?”

  “I was just seeing how you were doing. Didn’t mean to wake you.”

  “Ah, no, it’s okay,” he yawned, stretching as he sat. “Gotta figure out this dad thing, you know? He might have burned the house down if I stayed asleep,” he joked. He pointed to the chair next to him. “Have a seat.”

  Gabe sat and watched Bobby have a short conversation with his kid. It was a no brainer that they were father and son with matching black hair and eyes. Bobby had features that had always passed as Middle Eastern. It’s what made him fit in with Azura’s family and what ultimately gave them the ‘in’ that they needed. It was a fucking shame that the operation failed. Bobby’s wife had sounded the alarm sooner than they’d expected.

  “Hey,” Bobby said. “Where you at, Gabe?”

  Gabe looked his way as he restarted the movie for Kael. “Just thinking about Serbia.”

  Bobby’s face darkened. “Fuck Serbia.”

  “I know, but you asked.”

  Bobby shook his head. “Two more fucking days, Gabe. Why couldn’t we have had two more days?”

  With a shrug Gabe answered, “I don’t know, Bob. Shit happens.”

  “Shit happens when we’re trying to help the world,” he scoffed. “We could have shut that whole fucking family down, an entire village would have been saved the torment of their existence, and those goddamn filthy animals wouldn’t have been all over those innocent young girls.”

  Gabe nodded his agreement. Out of all of them, Bobby had suffered the most. The guy had to be married to a woman he didn’t love. They’d had a child together because it was proof that they were sharing a normal, intimate marriage. Then one day his wife followed him into town, suspicious that he wasn’t being faithful to her; she was afraid that he was partaking of her father’s wealth of young sex slaves. But what did she catch him doing?

  Calling in an update on his cell phone. Seeing him privately make a fucking call raised her hackles.

  “I just can’t fathom how stupidly it ended, you know?” Bobby continued. “Just like that, after a year and a half, and she finally questions me about a goddamn phone call. I should have just killed her,” he added quietly.

  “You weren’t given the authorization—”

  “Fuck authorizatio
n. It would have given me a day to get the hell out of there with Kael before anyone knew she was missing. I will never in my life team with another agency again.”

  Gabe considered that carefully. “I’m not sure Ronan would have given the order, either.”

  Bobby looked him in the eye. “Ronan would have at least listened to me. That cocksucker Owens had his sights on one thing. He really believed Azura would secretly join our side and want to bring down her father’s world with a fucking smile. It didn’t matter how many times I told him… No, Ronan would have at least considered it. For the mission, it was already lost. But for other things, there were other options.”

  Gabe agreed. Bobby had been recruited by another agency three years ago, just for that particular assignment. Ronan’s team joined the operation two years later when Bobby was in so deep they thought they’d have to extract him at some point. It didn’t happen because they were told “just a little longer” more times than Gabe could remember. The day Azura finally betrayed Bobby was an extraction Gabe would never forget.

  They’d had to leave Kael behind.

  “Kael is here with you now,” Gabe said, and the little boy turned at the mention of his name. Gabe smiled at him. Kael smiled back and returned his eyes to the television.

  “You’re right,” Bobby said. “I shouldn’t be thinking about all that miserable shit. Jesus, where’s Ava? She’s a ray of sunshine, you know?” he chuckled.

  Gabe couldn’t help but smile, but now his friends needed to be around her too? How was he supposed to feel about that?

  “She’s sleeping,” he answered.

  Bobby gave him a suspicious glare. “You be nice to that girl. She’s special. And damn, she’s so in love with you.”

  “You’re on my case too? Ronan already chewed me out when Ava was over here. I know I’m a fuckup, okay? I don’t need reminded.”

  “Sure you do,” Bobby smirked. “We’re all a bunch of sad cases. But you got a good thing there,” he added, nodding toward the cabin.

  “You too best buddies now?” Gabe asked sarcastically.