Gable Read online

  “Priss. Long time no talk.”

  I placed my tray on the bar. It was Friday night and I’d managed to stay out of his path all week. “Yeah, I’ve been busy.” I wasn’t going to be hateful to him; why would I when I really did care about him? So I tightened my resolve when he grinned at me and gave him a small smile back.

  “Hi, handsome,” Alyssa crooned as she stepped up beside me, setting her tray down as she made googly eyes at Gable which made me want to punch her.

  He turned and jerked his chin up at her, pretty much blowing her off as he filled her order.

  Awkward.

  “So, baby, we on for tonight?” she asked him.

  He stood at the beer tap and I saw his spine go straight. When he turned and set two beer mugs and a pitcher on the counter, he leaned in and said to her, “I’m not your baby. Look, Alyssa, we had fun a few times. It’s run its course. Nothing personal.”

  She stared at him with her mouth hanging open.

  I take it back. This was awkward.

  I watched her face twist into some demonic entity which made me step away from her then hands on her hips, she leaned right back and spit at him, “You think you’re so big and bad, Gable Powers. But let me tell you this, my boyfriend is so much better than you! So you can go fuck yourself for all I care!” She picked up her tray and spun around so fast that a new waitress would’ve spilled everything, but not Alyssa. She was a veteran at this and handled it pretty damned gracefully, I had to say.

  I turned and regarded Gable with raised brows only to see his eyes dancing with humor.

  “Wow,” I mumbled.

  He leaned down placing his forearms on the counter getting right up in my face. “That? Huge mistake, Priss. To be honest, I only hit it once and it was done before it was over, and that was two months ago. I also didn’t know she had a boyfriend.”

  I pulled back, looking skeptically at him. I also threw a little indifference in there.

  He shrugged. “What can I say? Not lookin’ to be tied down. She’s hot. Made sense at the time.”

  I shrugged offhandedly. Why did I care? I was sticking to the “just friends” rule I’d set anyway, so he owed me no explanations whatsoever as far as I was concerned.

  He filled my order and helped me put it all on the tray. “So, what’re you doing after work?” he asked, his honey eyes locking onto mine and holding me hostage.

  I blinked myself out of the Gable-induced stupor I was in and frowned at him wondering what he was up to. “Probably just going home.”

  “Come out with me,” he said.

  I huffed out a small laugh of disbelief then shook my head, still frowning. “Gable… I can’t…”

  “Please? I want to show you something that I think you’d like.” And believe it or not, he didn’t even turn that statement into anything sexual.

  He looked so sincerely at me, so hopeful, that I couldn’t help myself. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. When I opened them, I nodded at him which got me a stellar smile. God. He was something else. “I’ll see,” I answered. We were friends. Friends did things together, right?

  “Good enough,” he replied, still smiling.

  “And where would we be going?” I asked.

  “It’s a surprise.” He smiled. “You get off at eleven, right?” he inquired.

  All I could do was nod again.

  “’Kay. I’m supposed to be here until midnight, but we’re slow and I’m sure Uncle Jack won’t mind if Aaron covers for me. Think you could stick around until eleven-fifteen?”

  “I guess.” I hoped I wasn’t being a huge pushover, but, again, it wasn’t like we couldn’t be friends.

  I reached to pick up my tray and he grabbed my hand. The cliché spark between us was still there and my eyes slid up to his to see him looking at me as if he was trying to convey several messages to me at once, maybe, I’m sorry. Or, You’re different than the other girls. Give me a chance to prove it to you. Or maybe I was hoping that was what he was trying to say.

  Not lookin’ to be tied down.

  That. That right there told me I was delusional and he wanted nothing more than to hang out, so I gave him another small smile then picked up my tray, heading to my tables to fill orders, all the while knowing what I’d read in his eyes had only been what I wanted to see.

  So I pulled up my big-girl panties and put to rest any thoughts that Gable and I would ever be anything more than friends.

  ~*~*~*~

  I was sitting in a daze wrapping silverware mooning over what had occurred earlier when I’d come back here to perform the mundane chore. I’d gone to grab more napkins when I’d seen the most spectacular thing ever. Gable had been in the bathroom with the door open changing his shirt, and holy God I almost hyperventilated. Good lord, the man was hot. I saw that his pecs were sculpted and defined and magnificent. Then there were his abs that were absolutely amazing, so cut and defined and I swear I drooled a little as I watched him. And all of that hadn’t even been the coup de grâce. His entire chest was covered in tattoos, a colorful conglomeration of patterns and designs that I knew right then and there that I wanted to spend hours studying, gazing upon and licking every last bit of each. I’d continued staring as his biceps bunched beautifully as he pulled on another shirt, my mouth hanging open in awe. When he’d turned to see me looking at him, he gave me a lazy smirk then slowly closed the door. Its click brought me out of my trance and realizing I’d been gawking at him, my face instantly heated. Shit. I immediately grabbed the napkins and got the heck out of there, mentally reprimanding myself for being such a sucker for a hot body and forgetting my vow not to think of him carnally. Ugh.

  “Ready?”

  I jumped when Gable whispered in my ear from behind bringing me out my musings of seeing him half-naked. I turned to tell him I’d be ready in a minute but his face was still right there so that our cheeks brushed and I felt his light scruff against my skin. If I turned just a bit more, our lips would be touching. At that alarming thought, I moved away from him quickly, standing up from the stool I’d been sitting on to wrap silverware, almost knocking it over. God. I had to stop letting him get me off balance all the time.

  “Yeah, give me a minute,” I replied between gritted teeth, angry at myself for being such a fool for him, as I placed my last roll of utensils in the bin. I then glanced down at the half jersey I wore. “I’d really like to change first.”

  “Okay,” he answered with a nod, helping me on with my coat that I’d grabbed from the hook on the back wall. “You want me to follow you to your place so you can change then you can ride with me?”

  Hm. Did I want him to know where I lived? I stood there thinking about that and biting my lip for so long he finally took my hand and led me out the back. He walked me to my car and after I dug my keys out of my purse I looked up at him.

  “I’ll be right behind you,” he said then waited for me to get in my car and start it before he jogged to his.

  I glanced in my rearview mirror several times as he followed me, wondering what the hell the evening held for me and if I was being a dumbass. “Just friends,” I reminded myself as I pulled up to my apartment, parking and opening my door to see that he was already there holding his hand out to me. I took it guardedly and got out then he shut my door behind me. As we walked toward my apartment, I tried taking my hand from his but he held strong, not letting mine go; therefore, I was internally freaking out because I knew Amy would die if she saw it and would probably say something inappropriate, embarrassing the hell out of me. And God forbid if Bodhi was over. He’d probably ask Gable out himself.

  Since I hadn’t seen either of their cars in the lot, I was hoping I was in the clear, yet I knew stranger things had happened. And since it was a Friday night, I knew Amy wouldn’t be in bed. I was praying that she was out with friends and not inside drinking beer and debating with Bodhi as I warily put the key into the lock. But when I opened the door, to my relief, the apartment was empty and I let out
a huge breath.

  “You okay?” Gable asked with a chuckle as we walked inside. “Got a jealous husband you were hoping wasn’t here or something?” He raised an eyebrow as he looked at me.

  I chuckled. “No. I was just hoping my roommate wasn’t here.” He kept the eyebrow up and I explained. “Well, you’re you and everyone knows who you and your brothers are.” As he still kept his eyes on me, I continued. “She’d give me shit about it then wanna hold a three-hour Q and A session. I just didn’t feel up to it tonight.”

  He frowned but nodded as if he understood, studying me like he was trying to figure me out which wasn’t a little unsettling.

  “I’ll just, uh, go change. Make yourself comfortable. Not sure what’s in the fridge, but if you’re thirsty, I’m sure you can find something.” He nodded and I left him in the living room, heading to my room and closing the door once inside. I then grabbed my phone out of my pocket. “Hey,” I said quietly when Amy picked up. “Gable’s here and he’s taking me somewhere but won’t tell me where,” I whispered.

  I listened first of all to her scream over loud music then I heard her inform Bodhi of what was going on, who grabbed her phone and asked excitedly, “Gable Powers is at your apartment?”

  “Yeah. Don’t get your panties in a twist. We’re just friends,” I reminded him.

  “Yeah, but he likes you, Scout. I know he wants more with you.”

  “How can you know that, Bodhi?” I mean, I really wanted to know. Bodhi was a guy. He’d know this stuff.

  “Because he’s trying. If you were just someone he wanted to fuck, do you think he’d even be giving you the time of day?”

  I thought about that for a moment but felt it wasn’t enough. Hm. Bodhi was really falling down on his dude intuition. “Well, he just said earlier that he wasn’t looking to be tied down. So, again, we’re just friends.”

  “Friends schmeinds! And I’m sure he’d love to be tied down by you.” He giggled maniacally at this making me roll my eyes. “Have fun! Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” I heard his voice fade then Amy came on the line.

  “Don’t listen to him, Scout. Do everything. That boy’s hot!” She giggled a little drunkenly.

  “How’s the party?” I asked.

  “God, Scout! Chad’s so hot!” she squealed. She’d met Chad in the library and they’d been flirting for the past couple weeks, and I’d really wanted to meet him but work had made me miss the party.

  “Good! You think it could get serious with you two?”

  “Maybe! I think he’s gonna be my next ex-boyfriend!”

  I snorted out a laugh. “You’re crazy. Okay, have fun and call me if you need a ride.”

  “Bodhi’s friend Max is with us and he’s the DD, so we’re good. But you have fun too! Full details later!”

  “Same!” I said before the line went dead.

  I scrambled around finding a shirt to put on then changed my jeans finally hustling out of my room to the bathroom where I fixed my hair a bit, put on more lip gloss and spritzed myself with some body spray. When I came out and walked into the living room, I saw Gable looking at pictures Amy and I had just put up on the wall. I walked to him then just about died. The collage of pictures was of us from when we were little girls to now. I’d had Dad text me a few pictures, one of which was of me driving our tractor when I was younger and Gable was now staring at it.

  “That you?” he asked, pointing at the photo.

  I stared at it and cleared my throat. “Yeah.” God, he had to know now.

  I could feel him watching me out of the corner of his eye as I waited for him to yell at me, but then he asked, “Ready?”

  Well, he was either an extremely good actor or just plain naïve. How many more clues did the guy need?

  “Yeah…” He took my hand and led me outside where I locked the apartment door then we walked to his car and he did the whole seatbelt thing again which at once thrilled me and annoyed me.

  “Might wanna get this fixed,” I mumbled as he leaned over me buckling me in. I mean, not that I minded, but it was going to be hard to just be friends when he was right there within lip locking distance.

  He chuckled. “Yeah.” He moved away and shut my door, and as I watched him walking around to get in his side, I realized that he was doing an incredible job of keeping his distance, probably trying to show me he was interested in me as a person and not just for sex, which I had to admit I suddenly found rather irritating and I huffed out a small laugh thinking I just couldn’t be satisfied.

  When Gable got in, I asked, “Now will you tell me where we’re going?”

  He grinned. “You’ll see.”

  He started the car and “Cry of Achilles” by Alter Bridge blared from his speakers until he reached quickly to turn it down. What the hell? He’d said in his first email that he didn’t really like them!

  “Alter Bridge?” I asked, shocked.

  He glanced over at me with a sexy half grin. “Yeah.”

  “My favorite band.”

  He glanced at me again. “Yeah?”

  I nodded a couple times again still wondering if he knew. Ugh. All this tiptoeing around shit was driving me nutso. If I didn’t end up in the loony bin by the end of the semester, I’d be surprised. But I let it go and we made small talk as he drove, ignoring the obvious, or at least I was. Ten minutes later we pulled into a parking lot near an old building.

  When I looked at him a little confused, he explained, “Midnight movies.”

  Awesome! I couldn’t help the smile that came to my face. “Really? I love movies!”

  He smiled back then got out, coming around to my side and opening the door. As he worked on getting my seatbelt off, he said, “Saw your column in the paper and thought you might like this.”

  He saw my column and thought I’d like this place. That was seriously the sweetest thing ever. And despite the “Just friends” mantra I had running through my head, I now wondered how the hell I was supposed to rein in my feelings for him when what I wanted to do was jump his bones for being so thoughtful. He held his hand out for me to take, helping me out of his car and I caved, tiptoeing up to kiss his cheek. His arms immediately went around my waist and he pulled me into a tight hug, burying his face into my hair at the side of my neck as he let out a deep sigh like he was relieved that I’d forgiven him.

  God. How was I supposed to deal with this? I took a deep breath of my own and letting it out, made myself pull away from him as my conscience screamed, JUST FRIENDS! inside my head. I gave him a smile then turned to face the theater. “What’s showing?” I asked as we started walking toward the old building.

  “Casablanca.” He took my hand again, smoothing his thumb over the back of mine as we walked.

  One of my favorites. Huh. Did he know he was killing me slowly with everything right now?

  Once inside, we found our seats but then he told me he’d be right back. While he was gone, I inspected the theater, admiring the antique-looking sconces on the walls and the arched ceiling that was separated in panels and painted with various scenes from famous movies. Very cool.

  Gable came back holding a bucket of popcorn and two soft drinks. Oh, he was really pushing it with all the niceness now.

  “I hope you like Milk Duds,” he said when he sat down, handing me a soda and putting the popcorn bucket on his thigh so I could reach it.

  “Unfortunately for my ass, I happen to love Milk Duds, especially with popcorn,” I replied with a chuckle.

  “Ah, Priss, you know what I think about your ass,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows and making me blush which made my resistance flag for a minute.

  Just friends!

  Before I could reply, the theater lights blinked off and on then the movie started. And everything was fine until halfway through when he reached over and took my hand, bringing it to his lips for a small kiss before he rested our clasped hands on his thigh and my heart melted.

  ~*~*~*~

  Two hours later, we sat
in an all-night coffee house discussing the movie.

  “I would’ve stayed with Rick,” I said. “I just don’t know how Ilsa could leave him.” I took a bite of the amazing Danish pastry I’d ordered.

  “She was married to Victor,” Gable replied, eyebrow raised and pointing his own pastry at me when he said that.

  “Well, yeah. But I think everyone has that someone… well, that someone who makes the stitches worth it, and Rick was hers.” I shrugged a shoulder.

  “Stitches?” he asked, his eyes narrowing on mine.

  Well, crap. I’d revealed something to him that I didn’t share with too many people.

  When we were in high school, Ivy and I had sat up one night talking about love, and I’d told her it was like having someone rip your chest open, take your heart out and hold it in their hand as they tore off pieces of it. Then they returned it and stitched you back up. I’d finished by saying that only a few people were worthy of your stitches. She’d frowned at me like I was crazy, but that’s exactly how I thought love felt. I’d told her that it made your heart hurt even if it was good. She hadn’t understood and I hadn’t tried expounding any further. If someone didn’t get it, they never would.

  “It’s kind of silly,” I responded sheepishly.

  “Tell me, Priss.” His eyes looked curiously at me.

  So with a sigh, I explained my theory to him while he listened intently.

  When I finished, I said shyly, “Stupid, huh?” I glanced down at my coffee waiting for him to laugh at me.

  “Not at all. I get it.”

  I looked up at him to see if he was playing with me but when I saw that he was serious, I asked carefully, “You’ve had stitches?”

  “Yeah…” he answered, shifting in his chair and seeming a little uncomfortable.

  “Don’t wanna talk about it,” I said.

  He ran a hand over his mouth, his fingers then going to his chin to scratch the scruff that was there. “It’s not something I typically discuss.” I looked thoughtfully at him wondering what or who could’ve hurt him. I nodded in acceptance of his answer but was surprised when he continued. “Let’s just say I got hurt. By her and…” He looked at me so conflicted, the hurt showing clearly in his eyes as his hand went to the back of his neck to rub it, that I just wanted to give him a hug. “By her and, a, uh, friend.”