Gabriel sealed the top of the container and started on filling the next. He’d prepared a stew earlier that morning that had simmered all day, and there was plenty of it left over. Slices of potatoes tumbled over tenderized meat, and Gabriel had to put the ladle down. The first night, in Sir’s kitchen, where Sir had played with him like Gabriel deservedpleasure,too…
How different those times had been. Over the course of a few weeks, under Sir’s tutelage, Gabriel hadbloomed.
It wasn’t like at Stonecrest, where the counselors were nice, but whose therapy sessions never spoke to Gabriel where he needed to be reached. For nine months he’d resisted what all of them had to say because he hadn’t wanted to listen. There was no connection between them—no reason for him to want to change. Back then, no matter how they tried to convince him otherwise, he’d stubbornly clung to the notion that he was in love with Garrison, and that they were the ones in the wrong because Garrison hadsaidso.
It took actually falling in love to realize that he was the one who’d beenmistaken.
Gabriel brushed tears away from his eyes and picked up the ladle again. For so long he’d been passive, thinking it was what would make him worthwhile. Whenever a problem got to be too big, or he became too scared of its outcome, he ran. He allowed the worst to happen because he was afraid that playing an active role in the solution would make Garrison turn up his nose indisgust.
Omegas aren’t made to do anything but be bred, Gabriel. Don’t make me remind youagain.
Who the hell was he worried would hatehimnow?
Sir?
Gabriel finished with the leftovers and sealed the last container. He stacked them one atop another, then picked them all up and brought them to the fridge. With the toe of his foot, he pried open thefridgedoor.
Sir would want him to take action. All along, that’s what Sir had wanted from him. There was a reason why Sir hadn’t done what Gabriel had asked him to do in his note—he wanted Gabriel to be the one to take responsibility. He wanted to know that Gabriel wasn’tafraid.
The popcorn. The collar. Themirror.
Gabriel placed the leftovers on the shelf and closed the door. He needed to take action. If he didn’t, he’d always regret the choices hedidn’tmake.
The penthouse was quiet. Sterling was downstairs in the club, doing whatever it was that he did night after night, and Adrian was asleep in bed. Lilian’s crib had been moved into his room since Gabriel had come to stay, and he knew that the sooner he got out, the sooner life for his brother would return to normal. Lilian would move back to her own room and there would be no hardfeelings.
All he needed now wasaplan.
Gabriel left the kitchen and returned to his small, screened-off section of the living room. Next to his duffel bag, now stuffed with laundered clothes free of heat, was the box he’d put his collar in—the same one that had shipped to Sir’s home. On the top flap was a sticker with Sir’s address. Trembling, Gabriel tore the section of the flap with Sir’s address off and held it loosely inhishand.
No one was chaining him to a bed. No one was locking him in a room to force him to stay put. The shackles were gone. All he had to do now was find the courage to open the cage door andflyaway.
Adrian’s belongings were by the back door of the penthouse, assembled so he could grab them quickly before heading to work. Keys, wallet, briefcase. Gabriel stood in front of them, heart heavy, but knowing what he hadtodo.
There was a time in his life when he was willing to be bad so he could be good for Garrison. It was time to extend the same courtesytoSir.
Gabriel opened his brother’s wallet and took the money from inside. One day soon, he promised the universe, he would pay Adrian back—but if he didn’t do this now, he would never forgive himself. He neededtotry.
The back door opened. When it closed, the penthouse was shortasoul.
There would be no more inaction. Gabrielwantedthis.
Garrison’s lies wouldn’t keep him from happinessanymore.
37
Cedric
Apaper tumbledfrom the medicine cabinet a week after Gabriel’s departure. It slid across the floor until it bumped against the bathtub and came to a stop. Cedric abandoned his quest for a Q-tip and picked it up—it matched the paper he kept in the living room. There was a message written on it shaky, chicken-scratch handwriting. In parts, the ink had run, and the paper showed signs of water damage in scattered, circularspots.
Tears.
Cedric’s breath caught in his throat and his heart lurched forward like he’d just hit a drop on a roller coaster. Without reading what the note said, he already knew who it was from. Reading it confirmed hissuspicions.
I’m sorry I did that to you, Sir. It was wrong of me to do, and I’m not just saying that. I wish I got to treat you better. I know that you’re disappointed in me. In the future, I’ll do my best to remember not to mess up. Adrian says we’re not going to see each other anymore. I don’t want that. I don’t want to be taken away, but Adrian says I have to go. I want to see you again. Can you come see me at Sterling’s penthouse? I don’t want to have to miss youanymore.
Cedric stopped reading before the note was finished. He blinked away tears and tried to talk himself down from his sudden emotional high. Getting riled up over a note Gabriel had left him a week ago wouldn’t do him any good. He’d already talked himself down from acting out of desperation. Right now, Gabriel’s recovery mattered more than his feelings—but knowing that didn’t make the note hurtanyless.
In the future, I’m going to do my best to be good. I know thatI’mnot—
