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“Now do it once more and bend over.”
My head shot up, my mouth parting as I looked into his intense blue eyes. “Gabriel...” I felt myself tremble again, surprised by his request.
He jerked his head back, looking as shocked at me as I felt. He tripped forward, closing the gap between us. His palms found my cheeks and he held my face up until I was looking into his eyes. “Sang,” he said. “Will you please trust me?”
I parted my lips to say something but the words escaped me.
His eyes darkened. “I would never hurt you,” he said with an intensity that matched his eyes. “I handle the clothes. Okay? I know every inch of the guys’ bodies because I’ve dressed them all since I was little. If you stick with us, if you let me, I’ll know yours, too. Not in a perverted way. It’s just what happens.”
I still couldn’t answer him. I felt my cheeks were on fire. It wasn’t me being embarrassed anymore; it was his words and those crystal eyes.
He leaned his forehead against mine. “Please, god,” he breathed. “Don’t look so scared. I swear it on my dead momma’s grave that I’ll never lay a hand on you. Never.”
“Gabriel,” I whispered, surprised. “You... your mother...”
His ears turned red. He lifted his forehead away from mine and nodded. “Yeah. When I was little.” He pushed a palm again at my cheek. “But I’m talking about you, now. If I’m asking you to do something, there’s a reason, okay? I just wanted to make sure it doesn’t slip around when you move. That’s all.”
I sucked in a deep breath, trying to swallow back the emotion in my throat.
He backed away from me. I turned around. I bent over at the hips until my fingers were touching the floor. I couldn’t see behind me but I sensed his eyes.
“Remain bent over and lift one foot at the knee.”
I did.
“Other one.”
I put my leg down and lifted the other one.
“Now put your leg down but just kind of... shake or something.”
I blushed again but I put my leg down and I wriggled my hips at him.
“Oh god, okay. Yes. It’s fine,” he said quickly. I stood up. He turned partially away from me and his ears were still red. “Okay, we’re good.”
“This is the one?” I asked, curious as to why he had turned around.
“Yeah, yeah,” he mumbled. “You’re perfect.” He shoved the curtain out of the way without looking at me again, walking out.
The moment he did, a loud voice sounded right outside the curtain. “Sir,” said a burly male voice, “you can’t do that. There can’t be two people in the dressing room.”
“Who says?” Gabriel asked. “There’s no sign.”
“I’m the manager,” the man said.
My heart jumped and I lunged for my clothes to pull them back on.
“Don’t you know who that girl is?” Gabriel said in a low tone.
“I don’t care who she is,” the voice said, though softer.
“This girl has a shoot tomorrow and we’re here to get her a bathing suit because that’s what they want her in and I need to make sure it doesn’t look like shit.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m her photographer.”
I smothered a giggle as I put Kota’s shirt back on.
The manager huffed. “You still can’t just...”
“Get over it,” Gabriel said. “This isn’t the pervert show, okay? I was just giving her my opinion. Besides, you need to let boyfriends have opinions about their girls’ in their suits. Girls get it all wrong.”
I wanted to toss my shoe at him. Instead I finished up, opening the curtain with the pink bathing suit hanging over my arm.
The manager was a husky man in a blue dress shirt and khakis. He took one look at me and started to mumble. “I, just... um...”
Gabriel smirked haughtily and grabbed the bathing suit from me, tossing it at the guy. “Will you ring this up for us?” Gabriel turned to me. “Can you go fetch your agent, please? Let him pay for it if he wants it so bad.”
I dashed off to fetch Victor. By the time he followed me back into the store to the registers, the manager had already bagged the bathing suit and was waiting for the payment.
“Don’t I get to see it?” Victor asked.
Gabriel leaned against the counter with his arms folded against his chest. He looked distracted, distant. “Later.”
When we got back to Victor’s car, Gabriel opened the front passenger side door for me.
“You can sit up front if you’d like,” I said to him. “I really don’t mind.” I was trying to be nicer since I spent a good part of that morning complaining about him. I felt badly about it now. He’d worked hard today to do all this stuff for me and I wanted to let him know I appreciated it.
He seemed confused by my response and tilted his head at me. He glanced at the others but they had already gotten into the car. He tucked his head closer to me. “Okay, but only because I hate Victor’s music and I can’t switch the stereo on him from the back.”
I shared a conspiratorial smile with him and he opened the back passenger door for me. I slid in next to Nathan, who beamed. Victor flicked a confused glance at us.
“Where do we want to go?” Victor asked. He readjusted his rearview mirr
or until he could catch my eye. “What are you hungry for?”
My eyes flashed to Nathan. He mouthed: Italian.
“Italian,” I said out loud for him, pleased that someone else made this choice.
Victor rolled his eyes. “What’s your favorite food, Sang?”
“Pancakes.”
He laughed, shaking his head. “Alright, we’ll get Italian. Only because Erica makes the best pancakes and we’re not asking her right now.”
Victor drove to a nearby Italian place. Victor said something to the hostess, and she guided us to a table.
Victor held a hand toward the booth and gazed back at me. I slid in on one side and he slid in next to me. Gabriel sat across from me and Nathan sat next to him.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen,” a tall waiter with slicked back, dark hair and a nametag that read “Cody” stood near our table and handed us menus. His eyes caught mine and he grinned. “And lady. Can I interest you in our specials or in the wine menu?” The last part sounded more like a joke. He had to know we were underage to drink.
“No, thank you,” Victor said.
“May I get you something to drink?”
“Coke,” said Gabriel.
“I want one of those strawberry smoothies,” Nathan said.
“Sprite,” Victor said.
Cody looked at me, an eyebrow raising. “And for you, sweetie?”
Victor flinched but he said nothing.
“Water, please,” I said.
“You can get more than water,” Victor said to me.
I blushed. I wasn’t sure what else to get. “Um, a strawberry smoothie, too, please?” I checked with Victor who nodded.
Cody’s shot glances between Victor and I. He gave us a small smile that was oddly curious. When he left, we opened our menus. The prices were more than I expected for spaghetti and other pasta dishes. I tried to calm my heart. After all, Victor just spent several thousand dollars on clothes. Thinking of it made my stomach twist and I started to rattle again.
“What are you getting?” Gabriel asked. His foot nudged mine under the table and it pulled me from my thoughts.
