"FuckSalene I was not really going to throw the damn spider on you," Gabrielgrowled in annoyance when he did not receive a response, stepping past her hemoved towards the closet.
Nottrusting herself to speak she quickly left the room. Stopping in the kitchen,Salene looked up at the ceiling to blink away the moisture in her eyes.Brushing his soft fur against her leg Bishop stared at her with deep curiosity.Bending down she gave him a few pets. Spotting the large bag of dog food by thedoor to the garage she grabbed the dog bowl she found earlier. Setting down thefilled bowl she turned to leave.
"Ibrought home pizza." Gabriel walked into the kitchen, opening the largepizza box on the counter.
Ignoringhim, she walked towards her room.
"Salenestop being a brat and eat the damn pizza."
Thatwas it, that was the last straw. Whipping around to face him he looked stunnedfor a brief second.
"No,I will not calm down." Her voice was tight and shaky sounding more like agrowl. "No one in my life has ever treated me as badly as you have treatedme. I just do not understand," she shook her head as she felt the panic inher rise. Ignoring her increasing heart rate she continued. "I have donenothing to deserve your constant belittlement and torture. I just do notunderstand," she repeated. "I do not understand why Amber will notcall me back, why I cannot find a job, and why you…" Without warning all ofthe stress, she had been fighting so hard to keep at bay came flooding forwardin one massive blow. Unable to stop the tears she covered her face as she letout a strangled cry.
Ina flood of emotion, she cried hard into her hands.
Awarm pressure against her shoulder blades pulled her forward until she felt thewarm heat of Gabriel's hard chest against the back of her hands. Leaningagainst him, her body immediately reacted to the stoic comfort. Crying hardershe leaned into his tall, sturdy frame. Silently she felt his other arm wraparound her shoulders creating a warm solid cage. Eventually, her tears subsidedleaving her feeling very tired drained. With a firm hand on her back, Gabrielguided her towards the den while grabbing and balancing the pizza with theother hand.
Theden was another sparsely furnished room. The only things in there was a hugeopen square shaped sectional and the equally large flat screen TV. Gruffly heushered her to the couch and ordered her to sit. Too tired to argue she complied,sinking into the deep plush sofa. Handing her a plate of pizza Gabriel sat downheavily on the other end of the sectional, with Bishop as their partition.
Themuted sounds of the TV and the occasional jingle of Bishop's collar were theonly sounds between them as they ate. The pizza was really good despite being alittle cold, but she couldn't bring herself to thank him, not after everythinghe had done.
Theslight shift on the deep comfy green sofa drew her attention from the rerun onthe TV. Setting his plate on the cushions next to him Gabriel sat back into thecushion getting comfortable. Running a hand through the nearly blonde hair,Salene noticed for the first time that night that he had cut it. No longer thehanging mop around his face his golden kissed hair was cut short in a classiccut giving his already severe bone structure even more of an edge. The clean,neat cut showed off his pronounced cheekbones while the muscles in his jawpulled his cheeks inwards slightly, defining his profile. Sleepily Salenepetted Bishop softly, she always wanted cheeks like that instead of the roundpuffy cheeks she did have. When she smiled head-on her cheeks were fine, cuteeven, but since they were so large the round face did not give her much of a profile.All selfies and pictures had to be taken from just the right angle, never fromthe side.
"Ican feel you staring at me."
Ignoringthe man, she focused back on Bishop. With her feet partly tucked underneath herand to the side she leaned heavily on the cushions next to her. Laying somewhaton top of her folded legs Bishop laid his head on her side staring at her withtired eyes as she scratched behind his ears. Marveling at his soft fur Salenefelt her eyes close as her head rested further against the pillows.
Nuzzlinginto the soft cushion Salene slowly opened her eyes. Confused she tried to lookaround the dark room to get her bearings. Dim light spilled into the room frombehind her giving her eyes a slight break from the strain of darkness. Now sheremembered, she was in the den. Sitting up Salene smiled when she noticedBishop curled up on her outstretched feet. The dark blanket tumbled down in herlap as she sat all the way up. Did Gabriel put this on her? Well he had tohave, she thought, but her mind could not process it. It would actually be morebelievable to her if Bishop dragged the cover over her while she slept. Lookingdown at the sleeping dog she smiled. Yeah, she was just going to stick to thatscenario.
Carefullyextracting herself from the sleeping canine, she folded the blanket beforewalking into the kitchen. The silent figure at the barstool nearly sent herscreaming.
"Ohmy God Gabriel," she hissed while clutching her beating heart. "Whyin the world are you just sitting here?"
Thekitchen was lit only by the dim ambient light above the bar. With a snifter ofbrandy in one hand Gabriel gave her an unreadable look.
"Okaythen," weirded out by his silence she walked around the kitchen countertowards the guest bedroom. "Oh before I forget, the lock on the bathroom doordoes not work."
Withoutturning around to look at her, he replied coldly. "As if I or anyone wouldwant to look at you Salene." Sipping the brown liquid, he kept his back toher. "Despite the moment of weakness, I let you have earlier you are notmy guest you are simply a freeloader. The faster you are out of my house thebetter."
Nomatter who it was, hearing someone pretty much equate you to nothing and beingtold to get out of their lives hurt. With no energy to fight back, shecontinued down the hall to her room.
"Goodnight Breslin."
Chapter 7
Withhis windows down Gabriel leaned back in the seat of his truck. It was gorgeousoutside, the sun was shining bright, and there was a nice occasional breeze inthe air. Fall in Dallas was a local best-kept secret, because everyone knewonce the rest of the country figured out that Dallas wasn't a year-roundinferno the game was over. Dallasites did not want anyone else moving in ontheir territory, keep the overcrowding to the other cities.
Todaywas especially good since he got off early. With the new haircut and theregular attendance again Gabriel was slowly getting back into his boss's goodgraces. With his work life back on track now all he needed to focus on was hispersonal life. The mere thought of his home life immediately brought her up inhis mind. Letting out a frustrated sigh Gabriel leaned one elbow on thewindowsill while holding the wheel with the other hand.
Livingwith Salene was torture. Every day the woman was pulling his mind in alldifferent directions. Accepting the fact, he could not just throw her out onthe streets Gabriel was more than content to torment her during her stay.Arguing with Salene was like being jolted with white-hot electricity, sometimespainful but always heart racing. After everything with Amber, it was catharticreally. The memory of chasing the frightened woman was just too good. The fearon her pretty round face only made him want to chase her more.
Runninga hand through his short hair Gabriel frowned at the rest of the memories fromthat night. He realized that Salene was not as straitlaced as he initiallythought, there was a secret ribbon of vulnerability to the woman. Avulnerability she hid well under layers of confidence and polished etiquette.That night the carefully built wall of control cracked. Built-up frustrationsfinally broke free in front of the one person she did not want them to. At thatmoment Gabriel could see how hard she had been trying to keep it together.Instinctively he ignored all his emotions on the annoying woman and pulled herclose into his arms. Gripping the wheel tighter he refused to think about theway her shapely little body felt against his. No dammit he would not allowhimself down that dangerous path.
Drivingdown the street Gabriel had to do a double-take at the flash of white in thecorner of his eye. Leaning forward he looked out his rear-view mirror and got abetter look. It was Bishop trotting happily along with the familiar figure. Unfortunately,and for reasons he refused to explore he recognized the yoga pants clad assimmediately. With the skill of a man driving trucks his entire life Gabrielswung the large truck around in a perfect U-turn on the residential street.
Rollingdown his passenger window, he pulled up next to them. "Salene where areyou taking my dog?"
Stoppingshe gave him a startled look before narrowing those honey brown eyes at him."I saw signs for an estate sale when I was getting the mail."
