Sweetheart?Hearing Gabe call his pretend girlfriend sweetheart did the same thing to my stomach as when Rich called me princess. I wanted to fucking hurl.
I couldn’t wait for the night to end. I wanted to be at Club 24 in our racquetball court and be able to talk freely. To be able to laugh as he tried to cheer me up like he always did.
Gabe left me and Trista standing on the patio as I waited for Rich to speak with people. A few seconds later, Rich walked over with his receptionist, Trina. Her gaze adverted mine, but I knew something was up. She couldn’t be here only for the party. I had to give her credit; took a lot of balls to come into my house. If it were a month ago, I’d be pissed. But now that I had Gabe, I didn’t care.
“Trista, come with me. I want to introduce you to some people who we need to get on our side.”
She smiled brightly as if she wanted to please Rich any way she could. “That’s what I’m here for.”
All three walked off, Rich not acknowledging me, and I was left standing by the fire pit alone. I looked around for my parents, Lea or Gabe, but I didn’t see any of them.
As I stared at the orange flames, my heart felt as if it was finally starting to calm down after everything was sinking in. While Rich gave his speech, Gabe grabbed my hand and held it. It was as if he knew I needed the contact. Instead of only his hand, I wanted him to wrap me in his arms and tell me everything was going to work out. He told me as much, but I wanted the warmth of his body pressed against mine. I felt safe with Gabe, and if I were in his arms, I would feel safer because he wouldn’t let Rich touch me again.
Instead, I was standing alone while my husband tried to win over people to get their votes. I watched as he spoke and everyone laughed. I couldn’t hear what was being said, and honestly, I didn’t care. Come Monday morning, I was finding an attorney and filing divorce papers. Gabe was right; I should have done this a long time ago, but now I had support. I had support from Brandi and Gabe and Paul. I wouldn’t need immediate money. Gabe and Paul were offering me their house, and I knew they’d feed me.
As I stared at Rich, I thought about how people would react when they found out he was getting a divorce. More than likely, they would never know the reasons, and I was confident he’d still run for mayor and feed off of beinglonely. He didn’t care about me. All he cared about was himself and wanting to keep up appearances.
Thank the stars above I wasn’t pregnant with his baby!
“Want to slip away?” I stilled at the words being whispered into my ear until I realized it was Gabe.
Turning slightly I said, “You know I can’t. He’ll be pissed if I’m not in eyesight. Plus, there are cameras everywhere.”
“I know, angel. Wishful thinking I guess.” He shrugged.
I gave a weak smile. I should leave with Gabe—leave Rich wondering where I’d gone—make him worry about me and thenbam—divorce papers.
“I’m going to go give this glass of champagne to Trista. If she doesn’t want me to be with her, I’m going to come back. If she does—”
“I understand,” I sighed with a weak smile and watched him walk away again.
After everything that had happened during the night, I hadn’t been able to enjoy how handsome Gabe looked in his suit. It hugged all the right places, and when I say all the right places, I meanall the right places. Damn, his ass was perfect as the black slacks formed around what I assumed was a hard muscular backside. With the slight contact we’d had, I could tell everywhere was stone hard. And at the gym, I got my fair share of his sculpted arms and legs. I’d yet to see his stomach, but if it were anything like the rest of him, I knew it was rippled to perfection.
“Why the long face, sunshine?” I turned to see my parents standing next to me with concern in their eyes, bringing me out of my lust-filled daze.
“What? Nothing’s wrong,” I said, trying to pretend everything was okay.
“Don’t you think we know when something’s wrong with our daughter?” Mom asked with a slight tilt to her head.
I turned to them fully, ready to make up more lies, when a big, burly man ran past me.Remo?The man ran toward Rich.
“What’s that all about?” I heard Dad asked.
I shrugged, not saying anything as I watched Gabe pull Trista to the side. I briefly thought Gabe and Rich were about to start throwing fists when I saw Rich wasn’t looking at Gabe. He was looking at another man. A man I’d never seen before. And shielding Trina with his arm to move away from the angry man.
Rich and the man were toe to toe, and the man who I thought was Remo was within a few steps. My eyes darted to Gabe’s and he was staring back at me. I gave him a questioning look and he shrugged, then grabbed Trista’s hand and started to pull her toward me.
My sight fell back on Rich. Just as the man he was arguing with was about to throw a punch, the burly man stepped between them, blocking the blow. The man’s fist collided with the burly man’s chest, then he was hunched over, holding his hand as if he were in pain.
“We’re gonna go,” Gabe bellowed next to me.
I looked up at him, wanting for answers.
“Something’s going on and I don’t want Trista here. Do you want to come with us?” he asked.
“I …” I looked between him and my parents. “It’s that serious?”
“That guy who’s yelling at Rich,” he pointed in the direction of the swarm of men, “is making threats. You shouldn’t be here, Ang … Mrs. Jones.”
