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“No.” I didn’t thinktheywere upset with me. It was clear they weren’t. That didn’t change how I felt about it. I felt sick to my stomach and filled with shame that I’d ever let someone like that so close to me.
I turned over, needing more of him against me than my back.
In a moment we were both beneath the blankets, enclosed in the dark, warm, close space, nothing but the sound of our breath and the crackle of the fire. Gabriel’s scent was all vanilla right now, soft and comforting.
“I hate that look on your face, little one.”
Tears welled, and I tucked my face into his neck, seeking, allowing the combination of fear and shame to overcome me where it was safe to let it happen. I felt so foolish, and so guilty, even if those things didn’t and shouldn’t belong to me.
Gabriel didn’t tell me to be quiet, and he didn’t push me to speak further. He simply held me, purring and touching me wherever he could without releasing me.
Suddenly it was about more than Craig. I hadn’treallycried about any of it. Even when Asher confronted me in the shoe room, the tears had been brief and brushed aside. This was ugly and raw, releasing all the things I’d shoved down through the rehearsals and my hormones still balancing after the heat.
And I could let it all go. Because I was safe.
By the time all the tears were done and my breath was hiccuping softly, I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. And still, Gabriel held me close, purr steady, the sound never stopping, even as I slept.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
________
JACE
Iknocked my knuckles softly on Gabriel’s door frame. His head moved, the only indication he’d heard me. Sloane was asleep now, but not before I’d heard her crying. Agonizing sounds that made my chest hurt.
Slowly, I moved to where he could see me. “Is she okay?”
Gabriel lifted one shoulder, but the same pain I felt was in his eyes. Sloane clung to him like he was an anchor, and I understood why he didn’t want to speak. Not to disturb her.
“Let us know if you need something, okay?”
He nodded once.
I went back downstairs, taking the actual stairs instead of the elevator because I needed to burn off some of the energy inside me. Ash hit the button on the dishwasher as I entered, and Roman was finishing wiping down the countertops.
“What do you know about this fucker?” I asked, bracing myself on the island.
Ash looked at me in surprise. “Sloane’s ex?”
“I don’t think we should call him that, but yes. Tell me more about him, because Sloane just passed out after fuckingcryingin Gabriel’s arms, and I’m about to track him down and rip his head off.”
The energy in the room suddenly matched mine.
“I don’t know much, but,” Ash told us about Craig showing up the morning after he spent the night with Sloane. “He was an ass,” he finished. “But honestly, I didn’t get the vibes I saw in all the texts. I saw the edges of it, but he didn’t seem unhinged in person. The fact that Ididn’tget those immediate vibes is what scares me more. Because he’s a good actor.”
“Do you think he’s violent?”
I saw the look on Asher’s face before he checked it, and it told me more than he could tell me in words. “I don’t know. I desperately want to say he’s all talk, but I can’t say for sure. His entitlement makes me think he could be pushed into something. And the texts don’t make me feel better. I imagine he’s banking on Sloane feeling guilty enough to bend to his wishes.”
We all knew that wouldn’t happen. Barely any time with our Omega, and I knew enough about her to know she didn’t bow unless she wanted to.
Roman stood with his arms crossed over his chest and a glare that would likely kill the Alpha we were talking about.
“Should we have a talk with him?”
“Honestly?” Ash mirrored my pose on the island. “While I’m sure that would be satisfying for all of us, I don’t think so. We need to smother the fire, not add fuel.”
It made sense, even if it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. We were going to move Sloane in here and make sure Craig couldn’t find her and had no access. I hoped that would be definitive enough for him to move on.
