Pussy—wet and ready. I deserve this. I deserve to be fucked by a man who’s jealous of anyone who gets to look at me and isn’t him. Even if it’s all just physical. Even if there’s no future for meand Gabriel beyond tonight.
I walk out.
Out of the restaurant. Out of this date I should have never taken. And straight toward the arms of the man who started this. Who needs to finish this.
And who needs to finish me.
Chapter 22: Gabriel
I swirl the last bits of liquid in my drink, watching as the ice cubes clink against the glass, hollow and sharp.?
Empty. Again.
Three glasses of whiskey down, and I was supposed to be finishing Natasha and Aly’s damn table so that they don’t have to use the shitty one that came with their place, but I got sidetracked.
By brooding.
By drinking.
By sinking too deep into my own head.
And then I went to my bedroom, saw Eden’s text that said she was staying in the city with her boyfriend tonight, and then my eyes landed on the pants I wore the night I first took Aly in her bathroom, and I remembered.
The red thong was still there in my back pocket. Bright. Bold. Like a fucking fire alarm. It was warning me. Telling me to stop before I take this jealousy too far. Telling me she’s still finding her footing in Brookhaven. That she’s newly divorced.Untethered. That she needs this night out with a stranger to figure out what she really wants in a man. That she hasn’t had a chance to live without the oppression of her ex clouding all her decisions. She deserves a chance to put herself first.
It's not like I’ve taken my own advice. I’m a man who’s known for years that he needs to start making time for dating again. For his own wants. But I never have. Because there’s always been someone else who needed me more in the moment.
Eden finishing middle school.
Eden finishing high school.
Eden finishing college.
Paying off the mortgage on our family home.
Running the family thrift store.
Selling the thrift store.
Making sure Rhiannon is mentally okay and taking care of herself while we navigate parenthood to our sister.
Making sure there’s enough money in the account to keep our parents’ debts from swallowing us whole.
Making sure Eden is eating enough.
It’s been a long, merciless decade of taking care of everyone else but myself. And now Eden’s about to graduate. She has a guy that she’s dating. She’s always gone. The house is paid off, my parent’s debt destroyed, and Rhiannon’s married with her own family to worry about.
And where does that leave me? I’ve thrown myself into the next thing. The new business with my cousin. The new employees that I need to pay a livable wage so they can feed their kids. It’s the newest way to keep my hands busy so I don’t have to think about the fact that everyone else is moving forward and somehow, I’m in my thirties now, trying to catch up and lonely as hell.
And I want what others have. To find love again. Maybe, even to marry again someday. I do. But maybe I don’t think I have the energy for it. It’s been so fucking long. So long since I wanted a woman beneath me for more than just a night. Since I craved cracking through her exterior, digging past her walls, sinking into the soft, pliant parts of her that she keeps hidden from everyone else.
So long since I wanted to prove a woman wrong.
I want to prove Alessia so wrong.
And so, I texted her. Foolishly. Recklessly. Something completely dirty that I knew would piss her off.And I regret none of it.
Her panties are in the corner; ruined now since I couldn’t wait any longer for her to come back. My release is still soaking through the delicate fabric and dripping into the hardwood floor like a crime scene of passion.
