Safe from Harm (Protect & Serve #2)(6)
He turned his aqua gaze up at her, studying her through lashes that were far too long and thick to be wasted on a man. “Shouldn’t you be on a date with douche-suit?”
She frowned, confused. “With who?”
He shook his head. “Mr. Multimillion-Dollar Deal. The asshole.”
She sighed. “He’s not an asshole.”
He gave her a pointed look, clearly conveying his opinion on the matter.
“Okay, fine. He’s an asshole,” she admitted. She’d already determined that without Gabe’s input. It’d been abundantly clear Chet was not the guy for her when he’d acted completely put out by the fact that she needed to go deal with a suspect in the murder of a cop. “But that’s not why I bailed on my date with him.”
He lifted his head, squinting as if trying to focus. “Yeah? Then why did you?”
“Because your brother Tom called me and said you’d told him to go to hell when he tried to take you home,” she confessed. “And then your brother Joe called to tell me you’d told him to fuck off and leave you alone. And then the bartender called and told me he didn’t feel comfortable telling a cop to leave. And, seeing as how my aunt Charlotte is out of town and can’t come in here to kick your ass out of our bar, they thought maybe I could manage it.”
Gabe blinked at her for a long moment, then finally said, “I’m sure I’d be able to come up with an appropriately sarcastic remark if I wasn’t so shitfaced right now. I’ll have to owe you one.”
She extended her hand. “Then you should probably take me up on that offer to drive you home. Maybe you’ll think of something on the way.”
*
Gabe was out cold in the front seat of Elle’s Accord, his forehead pressed against the passenger window as he snored softly. She glanced over at him, sympathy at what he must be going through softening the heart she kept trying to harden where he was concerned. He’d looked so forlorn, so lost and alone at the bar when she’d walked in, it was all she could do not to wrap her arms around him and hold him close, offering what solace she could.
She sighed and ran her hand through her thick, red curls. She hated to see him this way. It was far easier to pretend she couldn’t stand him when he was the usual cocky, swaggering jerk he’d been when she’d met him back in high school. She’d come to town to live with her aunt Charlotte after the death of her parents and sisters, and had been hard-pressed to keep from drooling like an idiot when the handsome teenage boy had shown up on her aunt’s doorstep, having been sent by his father to help move Elle in.
But he’d barely noticed her that day. Or ever, really.
Hardly surprising. With a sexy, dimpled smile that turned girls into giggling puddles of goo, Gabe had dated a different cheerleader every week, leaving a trail of broken hearts a mile long.
And her? Well, she’d been the awkward, too-skinny, freckle-faced, flat-chested brainiac with untamable, frizzy, red hair who’d adored him.
So, yeah…suffice it to say, he hadn’t asked her to prom.
And yet it was his name more often than not that had appeared in her journal, circled with little hearts. And when she received a bouquet of wildflowers once from a secret admirer after one particularly disappointing day, she liked to imagine a certain boy with dimples was behind it. She’d been at every one of his football games, cheering him on in the one year of school they’d shared. She’d sat beside her aunt at his graduation ceremony, trying to suppress the heat that rose to her cheeks when they called his name or when she’d given him a congratulatory hug at his open house.
She’d replayed that hug in her mind every night that summer before going to sleep, hating the fact that she was stuck in high school for three more years. And although she’d never admit it to anyone, it was the same dimpled smile on her mind more often than not when she drifted off to sleep now. And wildflowers were still her favorite.
But it was common knowledge that Gabe Dawson was a player. He’d never given her a second thought when they were younger, but he certainly noticed her now that she had curves and could fill out a sweater quite nicely, thank you very much.
He’d been coming onto her mercilessly for the last couple of years, trying to use that same old tired act on her that had worked on everyone else all his life. And normally she could keep her guard up and ignore the way her stomach fluttered every time she saw him, could ignore how her pulse hammered when she heard his voice. She knew better than to give in to her longings, knew that it could only lead to trouble.
But in moments like this one, when he allowed a rare glimpse of vulnerability, she was undone. And all the defenses she’d built up over the years came crumbling down in an instant.
She sent another glance his way, her heart aching for the pain he had to be feeling at the loss of his best friend, pain she knew she’d be feeling as well once she allowed it in. She’d been so caught up in dealing with all the legal aspects of the case, she hadn’t taken a moment to truly grieve for her friend, hadn’t let the horrible truth really sink in yet.
But now her heart constricted painfully and tears choked her, making it impossible for her to ignore the pain any longer. She tried to hold back the tears, but they fell anyway, blurring her vision and making it difficult to see the road. Thankfully, Gabe’s house wasn’t far.
She pulled into the driveway of his modest brick ranch and sat for a moment with her forehead pressed against the steering wheel, letting the sobs overtake her. But after a moment of indulging her sorrow, she abruptly pushed away from the wheel and shook her head.