Love's Cruel Redemption (The Ghost Bird #12)(114)

“Gabriel,” Nathan growled at him. “I’m giving you two seconds to get out of the way...”

“You’d have to kill me first,” he said, but he opened the door, standing in the way still. The room behind him was empty.

Nathan tried to peek around him. “Where is she?”

“Just leave her alone!” Gabriel said. He put a hand on his chest and shoved at him, but Nathan held his ground. “God damn. You’ve done enough. How could you do all that to her?”

“I did it for her!” Nathan said. “Just let me talk to her.”

Gabriel shoved at him again. “I said back off.” When Nathan still didn’t back away, he shoved lower.

Nathan had another bout of pain radiating as Gabriel hit a spot that had been injured before. Nathan leaned forward, reacting to it and lost his balance as his legs collided with Gabriel.

Gabriel fell back, with Nathan on top of him, with Gabriel’s nose connecting with Nathan’s forehead.

When Nathan got up over him, Gabriel’s nose and mouth were bleeding. A slew of loud curses flung out from Gabriel’s face as he tried to shove him away.

“Sorry!” Nathan cried out, and he reached up, touching at Gabriel’s face, shocked at the blood pouring out, like his hand could somehow stop it.

But Gabriel was swinging, the anger erupting from him. He swung fists wildly out, striking at Nathan. “You keep the hell away from her! How could you ruin this for us?”

Sang burst out of the bathroom, standing out in the tiny hall. She looked over Gabriel and then Nathan, the horror on her face taking over. “Get off of him!” she cried out.

Nathan pulled himself up. This was his fault. Gabriel and Sang may never understand he didn’t mean to fall on him, and it looked like he’d attacked him.

He was only making it worse.

He needed to get away.

He ran out of the trailer and flew off the steps.

“Nathan!” Sang cried out in his wake.

But he didn’t stop. Blindly, he ran off. He ran until he was down the road, but he didn’t go home, couldn’t go home. Victor was likely there. He couldn’t go to Kota’s.

He needed to get someplace where he could think. His wild mind just wanted him to disappear. His heart wrenched into a tiny ball.

Kota’s car was parked in his usual spot. Nathan went to it, opened it, popping the trunk.

He found book bags inside, and he searched them for keys. He found a set.

He drove off, the tires screeching as he peeled out of Sunnyvale.





Wounded




Sang

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I ran from Nathan’s house because I didn’t want the others to see.

They couldn’t see me upset on what I’d walked in on.

My reaction.

My face, I was sure, was unexplainable.

Why would a girl supposedly going out with Kota—or Silas or whoever they thought—be upset about Nathan?

I knew it was a trick. I knew there was something going on. Danielle was tricky as it was, and I was sure, dead sure, Nathan hadn’t meant it.

It still hurt. Which shocked me in a way I wasn’t expecting.

Jealousy took over, so strong, so overwhelming. Even as Victor and Gabriel told me it wasn’t what it looked like in front of all of them, and while I still believed it, I couldn’t stay.

I was crying before I even got to the front door. I couldn’t stop the tears. It was why I had to run off. Despite knowing it was a trick, I couldn’t allow Danielle and the others to see me in such a state.

And I couldn’t go back to Kota’s. I didn’t know where else to go. At first, I was just running as fast as I could, just to get away.

I realized I was heading to the diner. I was in the lot before I thought where to go next. Not into public, not into the diner.

So I went to the trailer, hoping no one was there.

I found it unlocked. When I went in, the front room was empty.

I heard shouting behind me, my name being called. I didn’t even know by who. I just knew someone came after me.

I didn’t want any of them to see me like this. With tears covering my face, my sight blurred. My breathing was almost as rapid as my heart was racing.

I dove into the bathroom, closing the door just as the trailer’s door opened up.

Gabriel shouted at me through the locked bathroom door just as I pressed my body to it.

“Sang!” he cried out. “Let me in!”

“No!” My scream cracked and coming out as a screech, in a voice not my own. I couldn’t explain myself. Not like this. “Go away!”

He tried the handle, finding it locked, but I knew he’d find a way to open it.

“Don’t you open that door!” I called to him. “Just...give me a minute!”

He backed off for a second. “Sang!” he cried, and I sensed his voice wavering, for me, for the pain I was in. It made it more difficult to ignore.

So I covered my ears with my palms, ignoring him, keeping my back to the door in case he tried to get in.

I needed to be alone.

I needed to stop the image in my head. The crazy moment walking in with Danielle pressing herself to him. With Nathan and her kissing.

That wasn’t what it was. He’d practically fallen over, ripped away from her angrily. He was very upset with her. I’d seen him with his eyes shut, unhappy and with her leaning into him for the kiss. Not him, her. All Danielle.