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“See,” Nathan said. “This is why we can’t live with you. You push her around.”
“She likes it.” Gabriel winked at me, grinning. “Now let’s fix the house.”
???
It took a half hour before the knot in my stomach subsided. By then, they’d cleaned up the paint supplies. It was another hour before the paint dried enough that Gabriel said we could move the furniture back in.
Marie and Danielle never came downstairs.
When we were done, Nathan and Gabriel wanted to watch a movie to pass the time. They were going to keep their promise to have as lazy a weekend as possible.
No word from North or Kota. I wondered what they were up to. I missed Victor. I wondered where Luke was. I worried what they would think if Nathan, Gabriel and I moved in together. Would things change if that happened?
Thirty minutes into the movie and Gabriel was fussing about my hair again. After the movie was over, he made me go to the upstairs bathroom so he could wash it.
After, I was perched on my bed while he sat behind me brushing my hair. Nathan had snuck back to his house to get some of our clothes.
“You’ll like this place we’re going to,” Gabriel said. “And it should be busy tonight.”
I pulled my legs up, encircling my knees with my arms. “Do we want it to be busy?” I asked quietly.
Gabriel rubbed between my shoulder blades. “Don’t get all shy on me now. Where’s the Sang I know who does flying kicks into someone’s ass?”
“That’s when someone’s trying to punch me.”
“Well pretend everyone at the club is trying to punch you.”
“I’m not that kind of person, Meanie.” I turned so I could meet his crystal blue eyes. “Am I supposed to look angry?”
“I’m not talking about being angry,” Gabriel said. He captured my chin, squeezing my cheeks until I made a fish face. “I mean, I want the confident Sang I know you can be. The one that will flip North over her shoulder when he goes too far, or head dives into a sawdust pile just to pull a kid out of it.”
My cheeks tinted. “That’s not how I feel,” I said through my smushed lips. “Not all the time.”
Gabriel released my face and his fingers slipped around to the back of my head, intertwining with my hair and holding stiffly to keep me in place. He tilted his head so he was looking down at me. “You’re beautiful, Sang. You don’t have to hide it. You don’t even notice all those guys at school looking at you, but they all see it, too. The girls are jealous. Most of them would give up everything just to have half of what you have.”
My lips parted and heat spread from my cheeks to all over my face. “Gabriel,” I breathed. “I’m not... I don’t...”
“Don’t you start that shit,” he said. His fingers snarled tighter into my hair until they were lightly tugging, pulling my head back until I was forced to look at him. “You can’t bat those pretty eyelashes at me and have me believe you don’t know what you’re doing or pretend like I don’t know what I’m talking about.” His lips twisted into a playful smirk. “What do you want from me? More compliments?”
“Gabriel...”
“Sorry, Trouble,” he said, releasing my hair. “You’ve an angel face. I’ll give Silas some credit for calling it on that. I’m afraid you’re stuck with it.”
This time my lips parted but words didn’t come out. “But you do a shit-tastic job with makeup.”
My eyes popped open wide. “What?”
His fingers slid down until he was touching my neck, his crystal eyes darkening. “The color is all wrong. And what brand was it? Because it doesn’t look healthy. It’s all oily. Why is it only on your neck?”
I cupped my neck, trying to hide it. My cheeks radiated again. “You could tell?”
He looked confused for a moment, then his eyes widened and he stared at me. “What did he do to you, Sang?” he asked in a lower tone. “What was so bad that you had to try to hide it from everyone?”
“He told me not to tell,” I said quietly, “And I was trying to get back because you wanted me here. And it didn’t hurt...”
His eyes widened and he backed up a little. “Whoa, wait, what the hell? What didn’t hurt?”
I sucked in a breath. I couldn’t lie to him. With shaking fingers, I rubbed at my neck, trying to wipe away some of the makeup next to one of the hidden bruises.
Gabriel shook his head. He captured my hand and intertwined his fingers with mine, tugging me. “Let’s go see the damage.”
I followed him into the bathroom where he turned on the water. He found a washcloth, wetting the fabric and twisting it to drain the excess. He touched my chin, tilting it where he wanted me, and started to wipe away the makeup.
I watched through the mirror as the bite marks started to appear.
“Holy... fuck, Trouble.” Gabriel wiped harder, until most of the makeup was gone and the full result of a night with North was revealed. His eyes narrowed over my skin, and he tilted my head away to get a better look. “What is it? Those aren’t hickey marks.”
I bit my lip, staring off at the wall. I was embarrassed. It wasn’t normal to enjoy something like that, was it? North had discovered something in me that I didn’t know existed, and now I was worried. Maybe it was wrong to feel that way.
Gabriel moved my head back until I focused on his face. His crystal eyes bore into me. “Sang, I wouldn’t have believed it of North in a billion years, but if he hurt you, so help me mother fucking god...”
“It didn’t hurt,” I said quietly. “It doesn’t hurt now.”
“You’re bruised.” He squinted, leaning in closer toward my neck. “Are... did he bite you?”
I closed my eyes—as if that made it easier to answer—and nodded.
Gabriel sucked in a breath. His fingers moved up, until he was cupping the back of my head in both hands, massaging. “Aw, no... what? North bit you?”
“It didn’t hurt.”
Gabriel gazed at me curiously. “Are you saying you liked it?”
I nodded again, not knowing how to say how it felt, unsure how to explain it.
Gabriel hooked the collar of my shirt, peeking further along my shoulder and at the top of my chest. “Did he bite you anywhere else?”
“Just the neck.”
He pursed his lips. “What’s it like?”
His curiosity relieved a little of the awkwardness. He didn’t call me weird. That was good. “I don’t... it’s hard to describe. Amazing.”
Gabriel’s fingers touched an exposed part of my shoulder. “Can I try?”
My mouth popped open. “Try what?”
“Can I bite you?”
My heart had been pounding, but now went into overdrive. “North told me not to let anyone else.”
Gabriel pouted. “Aw, he gets to bite you and he won’t let anyone else?”
“He wanted it to be his thing.”
Gabriel groaned. “Shit, Trouble. We need a thing before all the good things are taken.” He tilted his head at me. “Can you bite me?”
“I’m not sure if North would want me to. I mean he didn’t say I couldn’t but...”
“I just want to know what ‘amazing’ feels like. I want to see why you like it.” He reached behind his neck, catching the collar of his blue tank shirt and yanked it up until he pulled it off. He crumpled it and tossed it over into the corner against the tiles. He spread his hands out, presenting his body in offering. “Anywhere you want. I don’t care.”
I bit my lip, unsure if I should, and was temporarily distracted by his half naked body. While his frame was slim, his muscles were flexed. His chest was sculpted and there were defined creases along his abs. With the way his pants hung low at his hips, there were lines along the front of his stomach leading down. Plus those shoulders... I’d seen the other boys’ shoulders, but I thought Gabriel had the best collarbones, which stood out, making him look strong, even if he was lean.
Gabriel smirked at me. “Come on, Trouble. Show me your bite.” His arms encircled my waist and he drew his head back, exposing his neck to me. “Just one.”
I sighed. North hadn’t said I couldn’t bite the others. And maybe this way if the others ever found out, Gabriel could confirm it was fine, that it didn’t hurt. I slipped my hands behind Gabriel’s neck to hold him still, and I stood on my toes to get a good angle. I found a soft spot on his neck just under his ear. I felt around with my lips, kissing it quickly, as if apologizing ahead of time just in case I was wrong and maybe it did hurt him. I breathed in the sweet orange scent he was wearing today.
