"Youmoron, you can't work at The Green Room." Now he was right in front of hertowering at his full six foot plus height. Shaking her head in confusion withthe question on the tip of her tongue he continued. "The Green Room is astrip club you idiot and the "hostess" position is just what theypost for new eager and in your case desperate dancers."
Well damn,she thought. Though stripping did make great money, Salene wasn't thatdesperate—yet.
Not wantingto give him the satisfaction of being right she shrugged. "Well, we don'tknow that for sure, there really could be a hostess position open."
"Christ,"he hissed running a hand through his long hair. "Just go home Salene. Faceit you tried and you lost, just go back to Florida."
"No,"she yelled. Not able to mask her anger any longer Salene stepped away from himfurther into the sun and away from the porch. "I honestly rather diebefore going back. Just leave me alone Breslin, thank you again andgoodbye."
Withoutwaiting for a response, she turned on her heel and walked down the stairs. Acrossthe street, she saw a man reaching down for his paper as he looked their way.
The irongrip reappeared this time on her wrist, ignoring her protests Gabriel yankedher forcibly back up the steps and through the door. Pulling her past him intothe foyer he kicked the front door shut with his barefoot.
"Fine,you can stay here for a little longer," he ground out.
"What?No," shaking her head, Salene did not want anything from this asshole."I did not ask you…"
"Whatthe fuck! Are you trying to get raped and killed?" He shouted by now hiseyes were ablaze with fury. "Because I can pretty much guarantee one ifnot both will happen to you if you sleep in your car while working as astripper."
The rollingthunder of fury was unlike anything she had ever experienced before, Saleneunknowingly clutched her bag strap tighter as a frisson of fear went throughher. Sensing her alarm, he mumbled something before stepping back to pace intothe open living room. Maybe in his own weird way he was just trying to help andmake her see sense. Regardless he was right, with no real choice she slowlylowered her bags to the floor.
Taking hersilent acquiescence Gabriel gave her withering look. "But it will not befor free. You're going to pay me back with your body.”
Chapter 5
Pullinghis truck into the driveway Gabriel grimaced at the beat up blue Corolla andthe atrocious trailer parked in front of the house. Having Salene live with himtemporarily was never his intention, but letting her naïvely walk into herdeath didn't seem like an option either. For the eighth time, that day he toldhimself he should not give a shit what happens to his bitch of an ex-wife'sbest friend, but nothing worked. All throughout work today Gabriel consideredcalling his house and telling her to get lost, and each time he thought of herbeing forced to take the "hostess" position at The Green Room. Ohyeah, it would probably start off as one, but once the manager saw the hugerack she had, they would pressure her into revealing those huge tits in notime.
Frustratedby the entire situation he walked into the house after closing the garage door.
"Salene,"he yelled as he tossed his keys onto the sparkling clutter-free kitchencounter. "Move your piece of shit car to the back. You're bringing downthe neighborhood with that pile of junk."
Yankingoff the tie and suit jacket, he stood in the living room surveying the cleansurroundings. When he said, she would pay with her body he meant it. Since hefired the expensive maid Amber hired when she left a few weeks ago, the placewent to shit despite not even being furnished. Salene needed to earn her keep,Gabriel was done with freeloading conniving women.
"Okay,where should I put it?" Walking from the side of the house with all theguest bedrooms, she stopped in the hallway and stared at him expectantly.
Todayshe was wearing what looked to be a random grab of clothes. Pink medium lengthshorts that were neither tight nor appealing with a green T-shirt with randomwords on it. This was an outfit no woman he has ever dated would wear, itlooked terrible. Her seemingly permanent sun-kissed brown skin had a sheen ofsweat, while her frizzy curls were pulled back into a long ponytail.
Lookingaway from her honey colored eyes he jacked his thumb to point to the garagebehind him. "Park it in front of the third garage and unhitch that damntrailer into the empty spot."
"Oh…Okay." Her honey colored eyes went wide with uncertainty before grabbingher keys and heading towards the garage.
Gabrielwould bet his whole paycheck that she did not know how to unlatch the trailer.Knowing Salene, she would stay out there all night out of sheer stubbornnessuntil she figured it out. Changing out of his suit he looked at himself in themirror, he did not look like the man he was months ago. Before all of this, thereflection would have shown an eager and driven man. Now soulless eyes of a manbetrayed stared back at him through the mirror. The short hiatus from workalong with his ungroomed appearance did not go unnoticed at the office. Rumorsswirled, and whispers spread when he stepped back into the office, news of hisnew wife's betrayal was somehow relayed.
Tyingup his tennis shoes he pushed off his bed with an agitated sigh. It had beennearly fifteen minutes, and he had not heard the door to the garage open. Shewas struggling. At least on the bright side to all this was that he could takeout all of his aggression on Amber's so called friend.
Openingthe door to the garage, Gabriel frowned when he heard a male voice talking.Stepping in he walked over to the third car spot that now housed the stupidtrailer, with her back towards him Salene stood laughing at something the mansaid. It was a foreign sound, her laugh, it was deep and genuine and oddly verypleasant sounding. Leaning against his second car Gabriel gave an acknowledgingnod to the man as he stood up.
"Heythere Gabe, I was coming by to check on you and I found her back herestruggling with this trailer hitch." Tobias gave him a knowing smirk.
TobiasMarshall was a mountain of a man, that lived directly across the street. Theyquickly became friends when Gabriel moved in. Both him and Tobias shared a lotof interest, but one amongst all was fitness. Tobias was like a walking musclemagazine, the man worked at his body with the dedication of an artist. Artapparently Salene could not stop ogling at as she stood there wide-eyed staringblatantly at the man's biceps.
"Yeahwell I bet she is, what idiot hooks a trailer to a Corolla?" Gabriel wasbeyond annoyed as he pushed her out the way to see the hitch.
"Shetold me the guy she bought it off of on craigslist hooked it together forher," Tobias laughed good-naturedly.
Turninghis head slowly Gabriel gave her a disbelieving stare. Dear God, how can onefemale be so dumb? Everything from sleeping in a deserted parking lot, takinginterviews at strip clubs and meeting random guys on craigslist. If Tobias knewhalf the shit she has done, he would not be laughing. A blatant disregard forpersonal security didn't fly too well with the man who was the currentlieutenant of the Dallas Police Department's SWAT team. Avoiding his stareSalene turned away from him and focused back on Tobias.
"Herelet me get my tools," Gabriel said when he eyed the obviously riggedhitch. "Go make yourself useful woman and grab us some waters."
