––––––––
I came back out of the bathroom, a plush robe wrapped tightly around my clean body. Gabriel sat in an armchair reading one of the tourist magazines. He hopped up once he saw me.
“Great. I’m going to have a shower too, if you don’t mind.”
I was taken aback. It was like he’d forgotten all about what happened earlier. Or, he’s just pretending he forgot. “Sure. Go ahead.”
He cleared his throat as he passed by me to get to the bathroom. I noticed he left an arm’s length of space between us. I finally let myself breathe once I heard him lock the door.
“Phew.” I plopped down on the edge of the bed. This just had to be one of the craziest experiences I’d ever had in my life, and it was absolutely exhausting. I gave myself a moment before getting fresh clothes out of my backpack. That was when I noticed my blinking phone and remembered the missed call.
My heart skipped a beat when I read who it had come from. Carmen? She was a woman who used to babysit me back in Canyon City. Now, she was hitched up with one of the guys from my brother’s chapter, Logan.
Logan, the former undercover FBI agent.
For some reason, I didn’t wonder why Carmen had called me. At that moment, I remembered Anna’s story. I felt for Adrian’s card in the pocket of my crumpled jeans.
I’d found Anna, but now what? She was in her own mess, but she was trying to take down that gang all by herself. I had to help her.
Didn’t I?
I jumped when I heard Gabriel yank open the door as if to announce his presence. His shower had been much shorter than mine.
“So, what’s the plan?” he asked.
I looked away. I’d caught a brief glimpse of his bare chest and the jeans slung low on his gleaming, still-wet hips before I blinked. My cheeks filled with warmth.
“We need to do something about Anna.”
Gabriel snorted. “No. We don’t.”
“Fine. We don’t. But I do.” I watched Gabriel tugging on a shirt in my peripheral vision.
“Look.” He sat down on the other bed. “Is this the girl who tricked you into joining the gang? What kind of friend does that? Why would you want to help her?”
I tipped my head at him. “She was forced to recruit people. Just like I was forced to. That’s just how the gang works. But it doesn’t matter, because that was before we became friends.”
Gabriel waved his hand at me. “Whatever, Lisbeth.”
“Whatever?”
He shrugged dismissively.
I felt like slapping him. “What’s wrong with you?” I blurted out.
“Excuse me?” Gabriel raised his eyebrows.
“You’ve been acting weird all day.” My mouth went dry. I gripped the collar of my bathrobe. “The way you kept grabbing me and...you know. It’s bizarre.” My heart knocked against my chest. And it scares me.
I directed my gaze to the floor. I could feel Gabriel staring at me for a long time, and I wondered what he was thinking.
“There are just things you don’t know about me, okay?”
I felt small and tiny in his eyes, like a little girl. “I have secrets too, you know,” I said pathetically.
“Yeah. Sure.” He shrugged into his cut. “I’ll be downstairs if you need me.”
I wanted to stop him, but I couldn’t find the courage to speak up. Before I knew it, he was out the door, and I’d lost my chance. All of the things I should’ve said filled my mind all at once, but all I could do was just sit there.
* * *
I used the funny little hair dryer in the bathroom to dry my hair. The only makeup I had was half a tube of mascara and some tinted lip balm. Finally in some fresh clothes, I took the elevator back down to the casino, hoping to find Gabriel somewhere.
Cocktail waitresses in velvet miniskirts and sheer pantyhose criss-crossed my path, ferrying trays of cigarettes and booze. I hovered near some slot machines until one of them came by. I ordered myself a gin and tonic.
Sipping my drink, I scanned the floor. Gabriel didn’t seem like a slot machine kind of guy. Video poker, maybe? I noticed a bank of video poker machines with no Gabriel in sight. Shit. Maybe he liked to play Blackjack.
I stared hopelessly into the depths of the casino. There had to be thousands upon thousands of people in here, gambling and stuffing their faces. I finished the gin and tonic and walked a few feet to a bar. After ordering a second drink, I debated whether or not I should just wait for him in my room when I saw it.
The backpatch.
I downed my drink and chased the leather-clad back as it retreated into a crowd of people. Gabriel was heading toward the exit. Why? Why was he leaving?
“Hey!” I called, quickening my pace. I was only a handful of people behind him. I entered the shuffle passing through the rotating door, and then I was outside. I spotted him trying to slide into the taxi line.
I was finally able to grab his shoulder. “Gabriel, where are you—”
But it wasn’t Gabriel. I didn’t even have to see his face. He had “Laughlin” emblazoned onto the back of his cut. I’d been too excited to even notice it.
“Gabriel? I haven’t seen Gabriel in months.” The man turned around and smirked. “But any friend of Gabriel’s is a friend of mine, sweetness.”
An icy shiver of fear scraped down my spine. I slowly backed away, but the stranger followed me anyway. He’d broken away from the line, and the people behind him closed in on his empty spot. They only cared about getting to the next casino, chasing the next jackpot. I might as well have been invisible.
Then, I felt something solid collide against my back. The stranger hesitated, and his predatory smirk faded away.
“Gabriel. Long time no see, brother.”
I turned around. Gabriel was the thing that I had brushed up against. He grabbed my arms and gently swung me to the side.
“Likewise.” His lips were set in a thin line. “It’s been a while, Dash. I’d love to hear how long you’ve been in Vegas.”
“It’s none of your business, is it?” The stranger named Dash grinned, but it looked more like a snarl.
“Then, did you do it?”
Dash’s eyes glinted mysteriously. Gabriel and I knew what he had meant by “it,” and it appeared that Dash did, too. He took a step toward Gabriel and leaned in close. Their noses were almost touching. At first glance, it looked like they were about to kiss.
His answer came out in a whisper, barely audible above the sounds of traffic. But I was just close enough to catch every word.
“Why don’t you ask your brother?”
Gabriel rolled back onto his heels, his face pale. My own mind whirred to chase down its own conclusions. Dash was in Vegas because of Jameson. Perhaps he’d ordered him here, for some reason. Perhaps he’d been Gloria’s killer.
And now, Gabriel was realizing the same thing I was. He could see for himself how deep Laughlin had gotten in with True North.
* * *
Gabriel stared numbly after Dash as he disappeared into the crowd. I steered him back toward the casino doors. We simply had nowhere else to go.
“Come on,” I said gently, tugging on his thick arms.
Gabriel seemed to float in my hands. We plunged back into the glittering casino, feeling enclosed as if in a fishbowl. When I asked if he’d like to just head back up to our room, he nodded.
“I can see why you left Laughlin,” I said in the elevator to make conversation. “Those guys don’t exactly come off as friendly.”
Gabriel shook his head. I waited for him to say something, but he didn’t. The elevator finally dinged on our floor, and we wandered through the hallways to our room without saying another word. This whole time, I’d been wanting to bring up Anna. Perhaps, we could help her somehow. But it just wasn’t the right time to say anything about that.
“There was a girl.”
“Huh?”
Gabriel sat down on a bed. “There was this girl,” he said again. “Jessie. I met her my senior year of high school. I liked her.”
I frowned, concerned. I sat down beside him. “Okay. And?”
Gabriel chuckled. “I guess we were in love? I don’t know. I was ready to get serious with her. But Jameson was pressuring me to patch in at the same time. Said it was my birthright. Riding was all I ever wanted to do from the moment I could stand, but then I met Jessie.”
“And everything changed,” I finished for him. I knew the feeling, definitely. For me, it had been the call of the open road, the burning curiosity to experience what was beyond the canyon walls of my hometown. Liam’s club was the only family I’d ever known, and that’s why I always came home eventually. But it wouldn’t be long before I heard the call again.
Gabriel opened his hands and stared at his palms. “I had this idea. I never told anyone, but I thought maybe I could skip town with her, settle somewhere else. Have an adventure. But before I could even hash it out, Jameson got a crew together and went to the girl’s house.”
I felt sick. I could feel what was coming next.
“Her parents weren’t home.” He paused to swallow. “They...they hurt her.”
A cold chill passed over my body. They hurt her. Maybe they’d been the same guys who held me in that van. I suppressed a shudder of disgust.
“Her family sent her away. I never saw her again. After that, I had no choice.”
No choice but to join Jameson at his side. He’d probably spent the next few years paying his dues before he became a nomad.
So, that was why he was like he was.
I touched his knee. “They have to be stopped. You know that, right?”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“Anna’s gone to the FBI already. If we help her, we could stop them.”
“I know,” Gabriel whispered.
“But you don’t sound like it’s something you want to do.”
Gabriel stood up suddenly and paced a short length of the floor for a few seconds, breathing heavily. I jumped back in my seat, alarmed.
“You know why I don’t want to help her?” Gabriel finally asked. “Because I don’t trust her. You know why I don’t trust her? She hurt you. Sure, she’s a friend. But. She. Hurt. You. Just like Jameson and his boys hurt Jessie.”
I felt as if a hammer had fallen on my head. “That’s completely diff—”
“Would you do that to somebody? Tell me the truth. Would you trick an innocent girl into joining a gang? Forcing her to sell her body to pay off some drug debt? Would you?”
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Of course, I wouldn’t have. But was that the truth? Trying to remember my time with True North was like staring into a black hole. I saw nothing but darkness. All I’d cared about was surviving, and that made people do some awful things.
“I don’t know,” I finally said.
“You wouldn’t. I know you wouldn’t.”
“You don’t know me, Gabriel.” I turned away from him.
Gabriel’s hand whipped out and caught my wrist, spinning me back to face him. “I do know you, Lisbeth.”
The last thing I saw was his eyes, dark brown infused with honey, before his mouth engulfed mine. This was the third time he’d kissed me today, but somehow it felt like the first. Like a hook plunging into my soul. I wasn’t afraid of it this time around. I let my hands wander wherever they pleased, feeling his muscled arms, the tightness of his shoulders, his soft, short hair.
I do know you, Lisbeth, his words echoed as we kissed.
He put me on my back across the bed. His body fit comfortingly between my thighs, warm, imposing, and somehow protective. Colors burst wildly against my closed eyelids as he probed my mouth with his tongue, connecting deeply with me. A hard knot in his pants brushed against the center of me down there, and I gasped into his mouth.
Gabriel pushed himself off of me, falling over to the side. I remained still and stared at the ceiling. My heart hammered painfully.
I knew Gabriel was about to apologize. I didn’t blame him. He’d seen his former brothers taking what they wanted from an innocent girl. He’d witnessed a woman being shot to death on camera. He was careful, with himself and with others.
But I didn’t want him to apologize, and I didn’t want him to stop. I reached over for his hand.