Chapter Eighteen

 

 

 

 

Gabriella sat still, not saying anything to Rock as he watched her carefully. She held the blanket he’d wrapped around her tightly, trying to figure out what she was going to do. Her knuckles were turning white she noted absently as she stared at her hands, questions bombarding her. Should she move out, or should she stay in the cabin until he came back and told her to leave? Which would be harder? She didn’t know, but she needed to get a grip.

“Sweetheart, where’s Pretty Boy?” Rock asked, “Should I call him?”

“He went with Log.” Gabriella said, her voice sounding husky and kind of hoarse. She glanced towards the window hearing Rock shift around as he came closer.

“Oh that’s right they were going on that run to Longville. Do you want me to call him so you can talk to him? I’m sure he’d like to fix whatever—um—issue you’re dealing with.” Gabriella looked up at Rock, a little shocked to see him standing above her. She almost broke out in hysterical laughter because they’d accidentally discovered one night that a man looming over her like Rock was currently, set off her demons. Only right now she wasn’t feeling threatened, or maybe she just couldn’t bring herself to care. She wasn’t sure which it was, but it struck her as funny.

“He doesn’t care.” Gabriella finally said, feeling those words settle inside her heart like a pound of lead.

“What? Of course, he cares. He would not be happy with you being outside freezing to death and hurt.” Rock said, frowning darkly. He grabbed some cotton balls from the first aid kit, still watching her like she was a wild animal who would bolt any second. She felt crushed, like her whole world was imploding. Closing her eyes, she tried to get a grip on her spiraling emotions.

“He doesn’t care. We fought and he left.” Gabriella repeated matter of factly, surprised by how easily she said it, because it felt like the words were razors slicing her up inside. She couldn’t survive without him. She would fall apart. She flinched as she felt Rock rub a cotton ball over the bloody mess the rocks had made of her knees. Normally she would have insisted on doing it herself, but at the moment she didn’t think she could release the tight grip she had on the blanket, so she let him tend to her wounds.

“Even if you did fight, I know he wouldn’t want you outside freezing to death and bleeding, Gabriella. You should know by now that he’s coming back, and if he finds out you’ve hurt yourself over this fight he won’t be happy.” Rock tossed the used cotton balls into a pile, took out the skin sealer, and began sealing the cuts she’d acquired.

“I think this fight was the last straw. I said some really mean things to him.” Gabi whispered, clutching the blanket to her chest trying not to break down and start sobbing again.

“You can’t really be thinking that Pretty Boy left for good can you? Cause that’s just stupid. I don’t care what he told you, but I’ve known him for years and I can safely say that he will be back.  He has never been more attached to anyone in his life, Gabi. That man is in love with you and has been from the moment he first saw you.” Rock had finished his task and was sitting back watching her as he shook his head, staring at her like she’d lost her mind.

Could he be right? Could Pretty Boy be in love with her? She didn’t know, but she sure as hell hoped he was. The numbness she’d been feeling since he left finally eased, and she looked around for her phone intending to text him. By the time Gabi realized it was upstairs, Rock had finished with her cuts and had stood up to start a fire in the fire place. She sat silently, watching him stack the logs and light some tinder to get it started.

“Just give him another hour to cool off and call him. I promise everything will be fine. Pretty Boy isn’t going anywhere. He patched you for fuck sakes. That’s like marriage to us you know, but more permanent.” Rock said after he made the fire and stood up.

“I know, but he could have changed his mind.” Gabi said, hoping like hell that wasn’t the case.

“Gabi, that’s not going to happen. Pretty Boy isn’t the type to get close to people, but when he does you might as well be resigned to it because shaking him off isn’t happening. He chomps down harder than a bulldog with his favorite toy. Trust me, he isn’t done with you, even if he said he was.” Rock’s look was serious as he moved away from the fireplace, standing near the couch watching her carefully as if he were waiting on her to start crying again.

Gabi wasn’t going to cry, not until she’d tried to apologize to Pretty Boy and he’d rejected her efforts. If he told her they were done then she could cry, but as she sat on the couch looking around the room she decided that she wasn’t going to let him walk away from them. They weren’t finished and this wouldn’t be where their story ended. If it was, then those assholes who’d kidnapped her all those months ago had won, and no way in hell was she allowing that.

It didn’t matter if he thought they were finished, she wasn’t allowing this fight to be the end of their relationship. Like Rock had said, he was still her old man and she was going to do everything in her power to keep him. She was done acting like a useless, damaged, human being. She had been acting like a spoiled child for the last year and a half, and Pretty Boy had let her. She didn’t know why, but he had. Hell, everyone had, but enough was enough. She was finally done feeling sorry for herself and she just prayed it wasn’t too late. She wasn’t broken, she was just a little bent, but then again, who wasn’t. Everyone had their crosses to bear and she was moving on. She was going to prove that what the Jackals had done to her didn’t matter.

She mattered, Pretty Boy mattered, but not them. Her thoughts filled her with a strength she hadn’t felt since before she’d been kidnapped. No more feeling sorry for herself. She was getting her man back. With that thought in mind she got up, thanking Rock, who looked a little leery as she walked up the stairs to get her phone. She was calling Pretty Boy and they were going to work this out, because she wasn’t accepting any other outcome.

 

 

 

Three days later she was still unable to get in touch with Kyle, and it was starting to piss her off that he wasn’t answering her calls. She’d tried to call him at least a dozen times and he never picked up or answered her numerous messages. Since the night when she’d cried in the front yard, she’d found her backbone and had realized that she’d been holding on to a lot of anger for the past few years. Anger about what had happened to her, and that anger had allowed her to start thinking of herself as a shattered person, a shadow of the woman she’d once been. It was all bullshit. She wasn’t shattered, and she’d already fought her way back from that edge she’d lived on the first few days after she’d been rescued. Allowing herself to act the way she’d allowed herself to act was over. She wasn’t a child, and she needed to own up to what had happened. Yeah it was horrible, and she’d never wish it on anyone, but it was over. It was over and she was stronger because of it.

She couldn’t imagine the innocent girl she’d been with a man like Pretty Boy. That girl wasn’t going to fit with him and she knew it. Who she’d been, wasn’t who she was anymore, but Kyle loved her just the way she was. Him not retuning her calls would have destroyed that girl, but she was made of sterner stuff now. She was Gabi, and she would get that shitty dickhead who called himself, her old man, to listen to her. Getting up from the couch, she went to go search for her phone to try calling him again. She went from the hallway to the kitchen where she last remembered having it and heard the doorbell ring. Gabi made a sharp left and opened the door to find Rock on her doorstep. Ever since he’d found her on the lawn he’d showed up randomly to check on her, which was kind of sweet, even if it was a little annoying.

“Hello, Rock. I’m not freaking out again so you can stop checking on me.” Gabi told him, rolling her eyes. He stood there watching her carefully for a long moment before he finally spoke.

“You hear from him yet?”

“No, Rock. He’s still ignoring my calls.” Gabi snapped as she turned from the doorway and headed towards the kitchen again, making him either leave or follow, she really didn’t care which. Finding her phone on the counter beside the fridge, she picked it up again and checked to see if Pretty Boy had decided to call her finally. She frowned at the blank screen, annoyed that he was still giving her the cold shoulder.

“I don’t like it. Ignoring you isn’t like Pretty Boy. Why don’t you try calling Log?” Rock asked.

“No, I told you yesterday I wasn’t involving Log in this. If Kyle wants to talk to me, he will call me. I am not going to beg over text.” Gabriella reached up shoving her hair back from her eyes while leaning back on the counter watching Rock. He frowned and narrowed his eyes at her assessingly. After a long moment, he finally spoke again.

“Don’t get mad, but I want to talk about that song—,” Rock began, making Gabi stand up straight watching him wearily.

“What are you talking about?” She demanded, but she had a sneaky suspicion that she already knew what he was talking about.

“The one you wrote about you and Pretty Boy—,” Rock started, his clear blue eyes watching her carefully. Interrupting him with her hands on her hips as she glared, Gabi felt her heart beating rapidly, feeling nervous about him knowing about her song.

“How do you know anything about that?”

“Me and a few of the guys listen to you sometimes. We were walking near the lake a while back and heard you singing. You have the voice of an angel, Gabi.” Rock said, making a blush stain her cheeks as she turned to stare at the wall, trying to get her emotions under control.

“I didn’t know anyone was listening.”

“We knew that, and we respected you by not letting on that we heard you, but Gabi, yesterday you finished that song. I know you don’t realize how amazing that is, but I do. When I first heard you signing it, part of the reason it was so good was because it was so hauntingly sad and filled with pain. It still has that, but what you added yesterday means something. You know that song is about Pretty Boy, don’t you?”

“Yes,” she whispered, closing her eyes as she took a deep breath. She knew exactly what that song meant, and she knew that she’d finally stepped out of the darkness and into the light. She wasn’t hiding any longer.

“You need to sing that song for him. If he is thinking that he’s hurting you more than you can handle, he will try to stay away. With the way he feels about you, I know that has to be why he’s ignoring you. He thinks he’s doing what’s best for you, but that song will tell him everything he needs to know about how you feel. So when he gets back in a few days you need to sing it for him.” Rock was so passionate he was tossing his hands around his eyes intensely focused as he explained to her what he thought. Gabi couldn’t help the tiny, unsure smile that curved her lips.

“I can’t.”

“Yes, you can. You’ve been singing it for us for months. You just didn’t know it, and it’s good. Really good, Gabi. Like I think you should record it and we can sell it to the people in the city behind the wall for large sums of money kinda good.” Gabi realized when she looked at him that he was serious. He thought her song was that good and to her that was shocking.

“Just promise me that if I set something up when I’m sure he’s coming back into town, that you will sing it. I know performing it in front of people scares you, but I can promise that you have nothing to be afraid of. It would show him you mean it too if you preformed it.” Gabi’s immediate reaction was to tell him hell no, but the more she thought about it the more she realized he was right. She needed to do this in order to show him that she wasn’t just saying that she wanted to try again, but that she really was all in. With a nervous sigh, she finally nodded.

“Okay, but only once Kyle’s there. He has to be there.” She muttered, feeling her stomach twist into knots at the thought of sharing such a personal part of her heart with everyone in the club. It was more than a little scary, it was terrifying.

“Excellent, I will handle all the details and talk to Bone about when Pretty Boy’s coming back and I will let you know what to do.” Rock said, grinning at her.

Why did she suddenly feel like she’d made a deal with the devil? Oh right, it was because she had made a deal with a devil, hadn’t she?