Gabriel's Inferno (Gabriel's Inferno #1)(98)

“Agreed.”

“And I promise that what you say to me will be kept strictly confidential.

I hope that you will extend the same courtesy to me.”

“Of course.”

“Are there any ground rules you’d like to establish?”

“Um, just that we tell one another the truth.”

“Absolutely. Now, how old were you when we first met?”

“I’m the same age as Rachel,” she began, evasively, and when he looked at her sharply she added, “seventeen.”

“Seventeen?”

Gabriel cursed several times and took a lengthy drink of his Bellini.

He was clearly rattled by her revelation, which more than surprised her.

“Why did you come to see me that night?”

“I didn’t. I was invited to dinner, but when I arrived Rachel and Aaron were flying out the door. I heard a noise and found you on the porch.”

Gabriel seemed to think about this for a moment. “You knew who I was?”

“They talked about you all the time.”

“Did you know how f**ked up I was?”

“No. No one ever said anything bad about you, at least not in front of me. Even afterward. They only said nice things.”

“What happened the morning after?”

This was the part that Julia didn’t want to talk about. She ignored his question and began eating her pastry, knowing he wouldn’t expect her to answer when her mouth was full.

“This is important, Julianne. I want to know what happened. My memory of the next morning is a little fuzzy.”

Her eyes flashed to his, and she swallowed hard.

“Really? Well, let me enlighten you. I woke up before sunrise, alone, in the middle of the woods. You left me there. I was terrified, so I grabbed the blanket and took off. But I couldn’t remember the path we took, and it was still dark. I wandered around in hysterics for almost two hours until I finally found my way back to your parents’ house.” Julia started to shake.

“I didn’t think I’d ever find my way back.”

“That’s where you went,” he breathed.

“What are you talking about?”

“I didn’t leave you.”

“What do you call it then?”

“I must have woken up shortly before you did. You were asleep in my arms, and I didn’t want to wake you, but I had to — relieve myself. So I wandered off. Then I stopped for a smoke and picked a few apples for our breakfast. When I returned, you were gone. I went back to the house but you weren’t there. I assumed you’d left, and I went upstairs to crash in my old bedroom.”

“You assumed I’d left?”

“Yes.” He gazed at her steadily.

“I called your name, Gabriel! I shouted for you.”

“I didn’t hear you. I was hungover, and maybe I wandered a little too far away.”

“You didn’t smoke when you were with me,” she sounded skeptical.

“No, I didn’t. And I quit soon afterward.”

“Why didn’t you try to find me?”

Guilt clouded his eyes, and he looked away.

“My family woke me up, demanding that I deal with the aftermath of the night before. When I asked where Beatrice was, Richard told me I was delusional.”

“What about Rachel?”

“I left before she returned. She refused to speak to me for months.”

“Don’t lie to me, Gabriel. I brought your jacket back. I folded it and put it on top of the blanket and set it on the porch. That was a clue. And didn’t someone see my bike?”

“I don’t know what they saw. Grace gave me my jacket, and no one mentioned you or your name, not that I would have recognized it. It was as if you were a ghost.”

“How could you have thought it was a dream? You weren’t that drunk.”

He closed his eyes and clenched his fists. Julia watched the tendons stand out on his arms, rippling up and down.

Gabriel opened his eyes, but kept them fixed on the table. “Because I was hungover and confused, and I was strung out on coke.”

Slam.

That was the sound of Julia’s fairy tale crashing into the unyielding wall of reality. Her eyes widened, and she inhaled sharply.

“Didn’t Rachel ever tell you what precipitated the fight? Richard knew when he picked me up at the airport in Harrisburg that I was on something. He searched my room before dinner and found my stash. When he confronted me, I snapped.”

Julia closed her eyes and put her head in her hands.

He sat very still, waiting for her to speak.

“Cocaine,” she whispered.

Gabriel squirmed in his chair. “Yes.”

“I spent the night in the woods, alone, with a twenty-seven-year-old coke head who was strung out and drunk. What a stupid, stupid girl.”

He clenched his teeth. “Julianne, you are not  stupid. I’m the f**k up.

I should have known better than to lead you out there in my condition.”

She exhaled slowly and her shoulders began to shudder.

“Look at me, Julianne.”

She shook her head.

“I saw your father that morning.”

Julia peered over at him. “You did?”