I didn’t know why my knees were shaking as I got into the elevator to take me to the third floor of the Anderson building, but it was probably because the elevator dipped between floors, taking my stomach with it, and not in any way because I was nervous about seeing Gabe again. No way could it be that.

We’d been inseparable as kids. Middle school and through high school. My mom had been Mr. Anderson’s personal assistant for a long time, and Gabe and I were raised almost like brother and sister. Even though he was a year older, we did everything together, until we got to high school and our interests changed, but we were still best friends. Gabe was the popular rich boy who played sports and every girl wanted him to be her boyfriend. I was his chubby sidekick and every girl hated me for that coveted spot under his arm. They didn’t have to hate me for it though; he would never have seen me the way I wanted him to.

I’d had a mega crush on Gabe Anderson, but he would have never known it. And he was never going to know because I was never going to tell. At one point I’d thought I might work up the courage to say something, but that moment had passed by quickly and made me glad I never went out on that limb. It wasn’t important anymore anyway. The dynamic duo days of Gabe—the high school superstar and Angel-the Chubster-Jax were long gone. I didn’t have those insecurities of developing too early, becoming too round in all the wrong places, and getting made fun of for it any longer, and Gabe Anderson didn’t have the kind of power to make me care about him that way anymore. No. I needed him for something else now.

The third floor was completely different than I remembered it, but I guess that was to be expected. The carpet was a tan and green scalloped pattern, and not the deep blue and gray that I remembered, and the walls were a warm beige instead of the white of years ago. People change and things change, I thought to myself as I walked down the hall, my shoes making scooting noises on the carpet. I drag my feet when I walk. A bad habit, I know, but at thirty-two years of age I’m probably past the point of correcting that behavior.

The door to the big office at the end of the hall still looked the same. It was heavy and made of solid wood. I could tell because when I pulled it open, there was resistance like the door was so heavy it took some serious muscle to get it open. Not like a flimsy hollow door that would swing open and slam against the opposite wall if swung too hard. This was definitely a rich man’s door.

I walked through the doorway and into the outer office. The big office wasn’t just one room. It was a receptionist area and another doorway before you could get to the actual big office. That was another obstacle I had to clear before getting to talk to Gabe, and honestly, it hadn’t occurred to me until I walked into that room that I might not be able to see him. That he might not even want to see me. It had been almost fifteen years since we had seen or said words to each other. I hadn’t even seen him at his father’s funeral, although his mother had said it wasn’t his fault. That he had been on assignment.

Being special ops meant everything was “on assignment,” and he didn’t get to pick when and where he had to go. It must have been horrible to not have been home for his dad’s funeral, I thought at the time. I took for granted that I could be there, and my mom and I held Mrs. Anderson and let her cry on our shoulders in her son’s stead. She was like an extension of my family, Mrs. Anderson was. But Gabe, I didn’t know him anymore. Not since high school, and that had been a long damn time ago. Then again I was in trouble with some sketchy people now, and I needed Gabe and his particular set of skills, so I had to swallow my pride and walk into that office. If his secretary would let me through, that was.

“Good afternoon,” she said brightly as the door opened and I walked inside. Her smile dimmed a bit when she took in the scuffed chucks I had bedazzled on the toes, my extra comfortable jeans and slightly off the shoulder sweatshirt I had gotten off the Classic Kinda Ratchet website. I hadn’t thought about what I was wearing when I left the house. I’d been in one of those tunnel vision frames of mind and freaked out over the night before. I’d just dressed in my normal clothes and left the apartment, but now, looking at my posh surroundings, I thought that maybe it would have been better if I would have dressed up a little.

“Can I…help you?” The pause was a little longer than was necessary, and her disdain for my appearance was not lost on me. Her reddish brown hair was perfectly pulled back into a business chignon, and her dress looked tailored and expensive. Her nose wrinkled a little under her fashionable tortoiseshell glasses, and I wondered if it was possible she was actually as big of a bitch as I thought she was at that moment. I have a tendency to judge early but it isn’t my fault. First impressions are a real thing. On second thought, I probably wasn’t making too good of one myself, considering I’d walked into the office of a fancy investment firm wearing what could be considered “weekend college kid” apparel.

Starting over, I walked to the desk and gave her my friendliest smile. “Hi, my name is Angel Jax and I was wondering if Gabe is in the office today?”

Not impressed by my use of his first name, her facial expression didn’t change, but she did look down at her desk and sigh. “Do you have an appointment with Mr. Anderson, Miss Jax, was it?” The emphasis she put on my name pissed me off for one, and for two, I hadn’t called him Mr. Anderson, I’d called him Gabe. Mr. Anderson was his dad and just because she was bound by some sort of professional necessity, didn’t mean I was.

“I don’t have an appointment to see Gabe,” I told her, reining in my temper so I didn’t rage out and embarrass myself before I even got to ask for my favor. “But if you push that little button on your phone box over there to the left, I am sure he will see me if you tell him I am here.”

I was swallowing enough pride even coming to him in the first place, but damn if I was going to kowtow to his snotty secretary to make it happen.

“Mr. Anderson doesn’t see anyone without an appointment,” the secretary said, dropping some of her professional attitude and letting a touch of steel edge her tone. “Now he may have gone out with you once, but you don’t get special privileges just because you spent the night together, honey. Get in line along with the other yesterday’s girls knocking on the door and looking for cash.”

Excuse me, what did she just say?

“Look bitch,” I said, my voice rising in anger, no longer caring that I had come to ask Gabe for a favor. All my nerve endings were on fire at the woman who had just accused me of trying to get money out of Gabe. I wasn’t even going to touch how it made me feel to hear that he had a lineup of one-night stands handing around—that kind of stuff was none of my business. “You did not just essentially call me a prostitute, someone you have never met before in your life. Correct? I’m going to give you thirty seconds to change your tone and issue an apology, or I’m going to come over that desk and rattle your chain for you. You need some sense knocked into you lady, going around talking shit like that to strangers.”

“What in the hell is going on in here?” The other heavy wooden door had opened behind me, and I jumped at the intrusion. I had been prepared to be announced, I hadn’t been prepared for Gabe Anderson to walk out of his office and scare the hell out of me. Secretary Sour face looked triumphant, but I wouldn’t let her get to me. Uppity bitch. I turned around and pasted on my brightest smile. “Hey Gabe, it’s been a while.” Then I promptly forgot what I was going to say.

Gabe, the boy I remembered from my school days was gone. In his place stood Gabe the man, and I did not recognize the body that stood in front of me. The Gabe I remembered wore jeans and sneakers, hoodies and basketball shorts. Later in life, when I was letting his mom regale me with tales of his heroics, I looked at pictures of him in his army uniform. This man in front of me was none of those things. The man in front of me had a presence.

I had never seen Gabe in a suit before, and I probably would have been just as tongue-tied as I was now even if I had. His medium brown hair was cut shorter than I remembered it being, but still longer on top than it was in his military photos. His eyes were the same deep brown, but maybe a little harder than they used to be, there were no squinty laugh lines there anymore. He was bigger than I remembered, too. Not taller really but...wider. Like he had thickened up in the arms, chest, legs, and neck. A big man in a suit was a trigger point for me. Some women like athletes and some women like rock stars. I’m a sucker for a nattily dressed guy. A handsome man in a three-piece suit did things to my insides that made me go soft and weak at the knees. Gabe Anderson in a suit made my insides burn like molten lava.

He didn’t look happy to see me. He did, however, look surprised. “Angel?” he asked, his raised eyebrows the only indication that he was shocked at all to see me. Unfair. I see him and fireworks go off behind my eyeballs, but he sees me for the first time in years and just looks mildly put out. This was not going like I thought it would. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea, but I had already come in and been insulted by his secretary so I would get my digs in while I could and then say piss off to the whole mess.

“You know what, Gabe, never mind. I can see this was a bad idea. I came here today because I needed some help and I thought you could be the person to do that for me, but I can see that I was wrong. You might want to let your secretary know, though, that not every women in casual wear that walks in the door is last night’s conquest looking for a handout.” I looked over at the snotty woman who had quieted down and was looking at her desk like she was trying to keep busy. “Some of us are just old friends who remember a time when someone else sat in the big office at the end of the hall.”

Pain ghosted over his face briefly, and I felt immediate regret that I had even brought up his father. I hadn’t meant to make a shitty comment. I was actually remembering the time when his dad had been in charge, and Gabe and I were just kids getting underfoot. I have a good heart most days, but damn if this mouth doesn’t get me in trouble a lot.

The look was gone as soon as it showed up, and Gabe finally just sighed and said to his secretary, “Jeannette, this is Angel—she’s an old friend of the family.” I blanched a bit at the family part. I was an old friend of his, too. It would have been nice if I could have been introduced that way. But I had to remember my purpose. I was there to ask for help, not to rekindle our friendship. That wouldn’t happen anyway, not after what happened when we were teenagers. But that was in the past. It wasn’t even worth bringing up.

“Hold my calls for a bit, Jeannette. Come on into the office, Angel.”

“Yes sir, Mr. Anderson,” Jeannette replied politely.

“Thank you, Jeannette.”

“No need, Jeannette,” I interjected. “This was a stupid idea, I don’t even know why I came up here. I’m sorry I interrupted your work. It’s not important. I’ll figure it out on my own.” Turning on my heel to walk back out the way I came, I did a quick about-face and looked back to Jeannette. “I’m sorry I called you a bitch.” I wasn’t really, she deserved it, but I had interrupted their day enough. “You do a really good job of filtering out Mr. Anderson’s gold diggers. But, FYI, I’m not one of them. I’ve never been one of those women to him.”

I walked out of the big office and shut the door behind me. I didn’t know why I was so irritated. By Jeannette and her crappy attitude? By Gabe, who had looked put out to see me? I don’t know what I expected, but I had decided not to ask him for help. My pride had been pricked and dammit, I was aggravated. The slow as hell elevator wasn’t doing anything to take the edge off my irritation either. I don’t know how people get anything done all day if they have to cruise between floors on the slowest elevator in the history of slow. This was an empire, a company that had more money than they knew what to do with. An investment firm with a rickety elevator, how embarrassing.

The late spring breeze that blew across my skin when I walked out of the large glass doors of the first floor had a touch of wet to it, like rain that hadn’t started but was on its way. Perfect for my gloomy mood. What had possessed me to think I could just walk into that office after not seeing him for fifteen years and he would just say, “Oh hey Angel, it’s been a long time but, yes, whatever you need.” Fifteen years ago, it wouldn’t have even been a question. Now, too much time had passed for that kind of devotion.

The Anderson building wasn’t tall, only three floors high, but it was really long. It sprawled out over a huge area, which never seemed to bother me when I was younger. Now, though, as I angry stomped around the side of the building to get to the lot where my vehicle was parked, it seemed like an endless sea of concrete between my Jeep and me. If it rains tonight it will be muddy tomorrow, I thought to myself excitedly. I loved driving through mud holes in my Jeep. I would definitely do that if I could just figure out how to solve my current problem of the missing money, and the shit I’d seen that I shouldn’t have. I really couldn’t be making plans for having fun until I had that taken care of.

“You’re talking to yourself.”

I couldn’t even control the shriek that flew out of my mouth as I whirled on the person who had snuck up behind me and scared the life half out of me.

“Gabe, what the hell!” He had walked right up next to me and I hadn’t even heard him coming. His raised eyebrows registered surprise that I was surprised.

“I’ve been walking behind you for like, ten seconds. You are completely oblivious to your surroundings. I’m surprised you haven’t been taken out be an accident by now.”

“I’m on the sidewalk, Gabe. Unless a car comes flying up onto the sidewalk, I doubt I am in any kind of danger. Also, how did you even get down here so fast? That elevator is slow as hell.” There was no way he could have caught up to me if he even took the elevator right after I did, it was that slow.

“Angel, no one takes the service elevator anymore. It’s only three floors. I took the stairs. Also, I have a private elevator, but I don’t really use that either. Never mind that. Why did you come to my office today? It couldn’t have been just to get in a fight with my assistant and then leave.” He stopped walking and I was forced to do the same, or I would walk away from him while he was talking and that was just rude.

“What did you need help with? You don’t strike me as the type who would be into investments, but even so, I don’t really do that. I came home to keep an eye on things, but Anderson Investment really runs itself. I’m just a figurehead.” Head cocked sideways, he looked at me with curiosity. His comment about me not being the type to make investments kind of rubbed me the wrong way on account of us not having spoken in fifteen years and him not knowing what my type was anyway. But the other things he said, about not really doing investments—I knew that part. That wasn’t why I had come to him in the first place.

“Gabe, I know all that. I don’t need someone to move money around for me, and anyway, my issue is sort of an emergency. I needed your help for something different, but I’ve changed my mind.” I was having a hard enough time trying not to stare at grown up Gabe in a suit standing next to me. I didn’t want to forget I was mad at his secretary and by association, him. It didn’t have to make sense, it was just how I felt, and feelings aren’t right or wrong, they just are.

“I’ll figure it out,” I continued, looking him in the eyes and smiling more brightly than I felt. “Everything will work out.” A hint of a smile flirted at the corner of his mouth, and for a second I got a glimpse of my old friend Gabe, the one I thought hung the moon. The Nutella to my cookie.

“Everything comes up Jax, huh?” he asked softly, the breeze picking up strands of his sandy brown hair and lifting it from his face.

“I’m surprised you remember that,” I said, almost under my breath. The ghost of a smile disappeared immediately and Gabe’s eyes turned hard and squinty again.

“You would be surprised what I remember.” There was ice in his tone now. I was already irritated, and if he was looking for an argument, I was almost in a frame of mind to give him one. “I remember that my best friend in the whole world completely stopped talking to me and wouldn’t tell me why. Then comes waltzing into my office fifteen years later asking for a favor like she didn’t rip my guts out when we were younger. I remember that shit clear as day.”

I saw red.

“I didn’t stop talking to you, Gabriel Anderson. You ghosted me. You joined the army and left town before the summer was even out. You never even said you were enlisting. You didn’t even tell your best friend in the whole world that you were going to become career military. I had to hear that shit from your mom. So don’t you even come at me with that bullshit. Did you even tell Lila that you were joining the army? Did you even tell your girlfriend that you were leaving for, like, forever?”

“Lila Dickerson?” The face that had been void of expression previously, now showed his confusion completely. Gabe was looking at me like I had grown a second head. “Why would I tell Lila Dickerson anything? She wasn’t my girlfriend. I went out with her maybe three times and certainly didn’t have the kind of relationship with her that would require me to run any of my personal plans by her. Also, I would have told you about my decision, but you had stopped speaking to me right before the year was up. You didn’t even go to my graduation.”

I most certainly had gone to his graduation, I just didn’t sit with his parents, so they didn’t know I was there. I may have been angry with him over what I had seen and overheard, but I was still proud of my friend. I went to his damn graduation, and I clapped louder than anyone else when they called his name. Asshole.

“I swear to God, Angel,” Gabe continued his tirade, his voice growing louder, reminding me that we were standing in the parking lot behind his building where anyone and their cousin Dave could hear us arguing. “I swear to God, if you ruined our friendship just because you thought I got a girlfriend I will never forgive you.”

“Never forgive? Are you fucking kidding me?” I was whisper screaming now. Man, did he just accuse me of some petty shit right there. “That isn’t the case at all, you dumbass, considering I was still your best friend through your previous six girlfriends, remember?” I ticked them off on my hands as I listed them. “Katie Payton your freshman year, Hailey Peterman, Kelly Abraham and Alice Michelson your sophomore year. Must have had a slump because there were only two your junior year, and senior year you were mostly single until Lila. I could never be pissed because you had a damn girlfriend, Gabe.” I was positively panting now I was so irate. “And fuck you for thinking so.” I was thirty-two years old now, and even to my ears it sounded like some petty high school shit, but those were my feelings. Feelings are what they are, right or wrong.

“Then tell me so I understand. What exactly are you talking about right now?” There was zero recollection in his eyes, and I was not in a place where I even felt like explaining it to him. Gabe had that angry look again.

I didn’t have time for this. I had some shit to figure out real fast and in a hurry or something bad could happen to my friend Mel. There was a statute of limitations on the amount of playtime I had before shit started getting real. Real dangerous.

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore, Gabe,” I said tiredly, and started walking across the parking lot to my Jeep. I was stopped by a large hand on my arm that turned me around to face an angry Gabe once again.

“I would like very much to talk about this right now,” Gabe said, his mouth a stern line marring the handsomeness of his face. “It’s been fifteen years and I’m finally finding out what was eating your ass. I think you owe me an explanation.”

“I am not fighting with you outside in a parking lot.”

“You were just fighting with my assistant in front of my office. I fail to see the difference.” Gabe folded his arms across his chest, and I couldn’t help but notice the pull of his shirtsleeves as they tightened at the shoulders. He must have ditched the jacket before he came down to catch me. I was an idiot for noticing.

“Gabe, I don’t have time for this.” And I really didn’t. “I’m in a bit of trouble and I need to find someone who can help. I should have just gone to the police.” The police comment got his attention and his posture changed, but I didn’t have time for any further explanation.

I heard the screeching of brakes as a car that had been careening into the parking lot came to a halt behind me. I barely had time to turn and look before rough hands grabbed me and flung me into the back seat. I was laid across several laps, and heard Gabe’s shout of surprise before the door was slammed shut and the car took off again. Less than ten seconds. That was all it took for me to be snatched right out of the parking lot right in front of Gabe.

Goddammit. I had run out of time.