Happenstance(23)

“Take you first,” Gabe grits out, obviously still working on getting himself under control, his nostrils flaring, sweat dotting his upper lip. “Make you happy first.”

“It’s tough being the only enlightened one,” Tobias sighs, but his casual tone is forced. Does he think I can’t see the strain around his jaw? The white knuckles of his fists.

“This isn’t going to work,” I murmur. It’s a statement of the obvious, right? “I don’t think any of us are cut out for this. A four-person…”

“Relationship. You can say it, And you were loving every second,” Tobias argues. “We are the ones who fucked it up.” He shoves five long fingers through his hair. “I’m not acquainted with jealousy. I didn’t know how to handle it, I guess.”

“He took the words out of my mouth,” Banks says, brown eyes steady on me. Regretful.

Gabe takes longer to speak. So long that we all look at him expectantly until he finally speaks in that deep rumble. “I guess I’ve gotten tired of letting other people take what I want.”

That sentiment catches me in the dead center of my chest. It doesn’t align with my personal issues, but I understand what it’s like…when it seems like everyone around us has life figured out and we’re still in beginner mode. There’s a thread of that frustration in what Gabe is saying and it pulls at me like a gravitational force.

I start to respond when Gabe’s head lifts and he tacks on, “And I don’t understand it, but I’ve never wanted anything or anyone like I want you.” His eyelids fall and he visibly struggles with the next part. “It’s the same for them.”

Banks nods, grips the edge of the counter beside me, his scent teasing my nose. “Give us another chance to do it right, Elise.”

Everyone looks at Tobias. He snorts. “I’m not apologizing. I called dibs.”

“Why are you the way that you are?” I ask, tilting my head.

Something guarded travels through his eyes. “Now, love. Don’t open Pandora’s box.”

That ominous statement settles over the room and I can’t help it. I’m beyond curious about what makes these men tick. I want to know what turned Tobias into a giant tool. Want to know more about Banks and the situation with his mother. Gabe? I just want to defend with a sword, even though he’s not the simple golden retriever I initially pegged him to be. Apparently he’s also a hot, tattooed thief.

“I suppose…” Gabe goes on. “Remember that fancy party I told you about tomorrow night? It’s being held to support the mayor’s reelection. After all the feuding between my boss and the mayor in the press, the gala is basically the mayor offering an olive branch to Crouch and the rest of 401. My brother and Candace are going to be there. It’s sort of an introduction of them as a couple. I guess having it hanging over my head set me off. I’m sorry, Elise.”

Why can’t I just accept his apology and walk out of here? These three are going to be a ton of work and I’ve established that work usually leads to me bailing halfway.

I…don’t want to do that to them.

Except maybe Tobias.

“Gabe…” I take a long breath. “You stole my ID badge and tried to physically fight Tobias for…dibs.” I can’t believe I just said that with a straight face. “You’re able to admit when you’re wrong and talk about uncomfortable things at the cost of your own pride. You’re obviously capable of a lot more than you think.”

His chest lifts and falls, eyes guarded but hopeful. “You think so?”

“Yes. I do.”

Gabe is silent for a moment. “Then I want to invite you to the gala. As my date.” He chews the inside of his cheek, visibly working through something. “But since you think I’m capable of more, then, uh…yeah. I want to make up for today. So I guess I’m inviting all three of you to the gala.”

Everyone performs a double take.

A clap from Tobias breaks the silence. “I am a devil at parties.”

“You’re the devil, period,” I fire back.

His grin is infuriatingly sexy. “If you want to experience my forked tongue, love, just ask.”

“Enough,” Banks grinds out. “You want to ruin this for all of us, British? Keep talking.”

Tobias doesn’t quite lose his smirk, but he drops sideways against the wall with his arms crossed and goes silent, the feigned boredom not reaching any higher than his curved mouth.

Gabe’s proposed invitation to the gala is still hanging very noticeably in the air. Prior to my meeting with Karina this morning, I would have jumped at the chance to get this kind of access to Alexander and Crouch. Now? I’m hesitant. If Karina tells me I’ll be fired for chasing down this story, she means it. No, if I attend this party, it needs to be about Gabe and the personal obstacles he needs help overcoming. And it would be.

If I decide later to keep hunting down the truth, it needs to be on my own time.

For now, my biggest hesitation in accepting the invitation is, well, the obvious.

“I appreciate you making an effort, Gabe, but I’m not sure about going on a public date with three men. I don’t even know what that would look like. That seems like a lot, really fast.”

Banks’s energy is sizzling. “It doesn’t have to be a date with all three of us. You go to the party with Gabe as his date. Me and this prick are just…there, too.”