Chapter 41
I storm downstairs and into the kitchen. “Gabriel, can I speak with you for a moment?” I
announce.
“Gabriel looks up from his cereal as if I am a major inconvenience. “Yes.” “Alone.” I gesture to
the stairs with my chin.
He rolls his eyes as I imagine myself throwing a full–blown punch to his stupid square jaw.
“Back in a moment.” He fakes a smile to the kids.
I turn and march upstairs and then into my bedroom and he walks in behind me. “What?”
“Close the door,” I growl, and by the sound of my own voice, it’s clear the psychotic part of
my brain has been well and truly activated.
He closes the door and puts his hands on his hips, arrogance personified.
*What do you
want?”
“You need to say goodbye to the children and get the hell out of my house.”
He narrows his eyes and steps forward. “I’ll leave when I am good and ready.”
“Listen here, you.” I poke him in the chest. “Your little midnight hard–on tells me that you
are good and ready now, so…”
“I already apologized for that.”
“Not well enough.”
“Calm down.”
“Calm down!” I shriek. “I will not calm down.”
Atrace of a smile crosses his face. “You’re annoyed about the massager.”
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‘m not annoyed, I’m fucking infuriated. How dare you invade my privacy.”
Your son found it, what the hell did you want me to tell him, Mom’s been flogging her pussy with a fake dick?”
“You’re an animal.”
“We’ve already established this,” he fires back.
“You need to get out,” I spit.
I’m trying,” he growls. “Stop the carry–on, do you think I want to stay here and…”
“And the wanking with the oil and the tissues…just what the fuck,
Gabriel?”
“Why are you cursing so much, and come on.” He does smile this time. “You have to admit
me being caught is pretty funny.”
*If you were a thirteen–year–old boy it’s funny, a grown man who is engaged to be married, it’s horrifying.”
“That wasn’t my fault,” he fires back. “It was yours.” “How the hell is this my fault?” I shriek.
“Well…” He’s flustered and searching for words. He drags his hands through his dark hair. “Those sheets smell like you and…” He widens his eyes as if searching for divine guidance. “I am only human, you know?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Come off it, Vee, stop acting na?ve.” He rolls his eyes.
Vee…
Hearing him call me Vee brings back a sea of memories and I stare at him as my brain
malfunctions.
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Don’t flatter yourself, Gabriel, I have zero attraction to you.” That I’ll ever admit to.
We are very alike,” he whispers angrily.
“We are nothing alike,” I fire back. “You think you’re God and I know you’re the devil.”
He finds that amusing and gives me a slow sexy smile. “A little difference in religion never hurt anyone.”
I feel the heat from his gaze all the way to my toes.
No…
Get him out of here, right now.
“Listen, just…” I throw my hands up in the air in defeat, I have no idea how to deal with this situation. “You really need to stop being so Gabriel Ferrara and start being more goodbye children. Go and say goodbye and leave.”
He exhales heavily before marching out of the room, and I hear him stomp down the stairs.
I stare after him to the sound of my heart pumping so hard that it’s nearly beating out of
my chest.
This is my worst frigging nightmare.
Twenty minutes and ten panic attacks later, I make my way downstairs.
Calm, keep calm…everything is perfectly fine and I am totally calm. “Are you coming to Dominic’s game?” I hear Lucy ask Gabriel.
No.
“Ahhh…” I hear Gabriel pause. “Would you like me to?” “Yes,” Lucy says excitedly. “We can sit together.
Just fuck off back to New York already.
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Are we ready to go?” I call as I collect my car keys and handbag.
Ready, Mom.”
“Go get in the car, guys.” I pass the car keys to Dom. They bounce out the front door and Gabriel appears out of the kitchen. He’s dressed in different clothes now, where did he get those? Is Mark in Greenville too, did he bring them? He’s wearing a gray T–shirt and jeans; his black hair has a messed–up wave to it and as his dark eyes hold mine, I feel my stomach
flutter for the first time in a long time.
Russel and I broke up over a year ago and since then I’ve been on two dates with two losers. My flutters have been few and far between.
“What are you doing?” he says in his deep voice. “Go and get ready.” “I am ready.”
His eyes drop down my body and back up to my face. “You’re not going out dressed like
that.”
I look down at myself, have I got something spilled on me or something?
Like what?”
“You’re wearing gym clothes out in public?” He frowns.
“Yes, Gabriel. I am not a catwalk model like your fiancée, nor would I want to be. Go home
to her.”
He narrows his eyes.
The sky has turned red, this man is the most infuriating sexist pig of all time. I stomp out and dive into the car and start the engine and he knocks on the window.
Adrenaline is pumping through my body and I glare at him through the window.
He knocks again.
“Mom…” Lucy says from the back seat. “What are you doing?” Be the adult.
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Nothing.” I fake a smile and wind down the window as I act calm. “Yes,
Gabriel.”
