Gabriel's Rule Read online

  Gabriel’s Rule

  Sloane Kennedy

  Copyrights

  Gabriel's Rule is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2015 by Sloane Kennedy

  Published in the United States by Sloane Kennedy

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Image: © Alexsutula | Dreamstime.com

  Cover By: Cover to Cover Designs

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  Ford

  http://www.ford.com/

  Pike Place Market

  www.pikeplacemarket.org

  University of Washington

  http://www.washington.edu/

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Epilogue

  Chapter 1

  Not again. Gabe Maddox stared at the door in front of him for a long moment and then pushed the door open with his foot. He took in a quick view of his apartment before looking at the doorjamb again. Abby hadn’t bothered to find a loser able to pick the lock this time; the door had been pried open with a crowbar. It wouldn’t have taken much effort Gabe knew, because everything in his apartment building was so old and run down that the building probably wasn’t too far from being condemned by the city. He may as well have left the door unlocked but Abby would have been too high and too desperate to even have the sense to check it first.

  Steeling himself against the automatic disappointment that went through him at her latest betrayal, Gabe took a few steps into the apartment and looked around at the chaos. The few books he had, had been dumped on the floor and the bookshelf turned over, probably to check for money hidden behind it. The small TV he had bought at the thrift store after the last time was gone which surprised him because he’d only paid fifteen bucks for the thing and couldn’t imagine it would bring in any kind of cash – it seemed like it would have been more effort to haul the heavy little thing around, but he again figured Abby was well beyond common sense at this point. He was glad to see his couch was still intact. The cushions had been pulled off but at least this time there weren’t big slashes in the fabric.

  Kicking what was left of his tableside lamp out of his way, Gabe made his way to the kitchen. They’d left his weight bar and bench alone, as well as the heavy boxing bag that had hung from the ceiling in the dining room, so at least there was that. The high quality workout equipment was among the few things he had splurged on in recent years, figuring it was more of an investment than an indulgence.

  His kitchen hadn’t fared as well as the living room. The few dishes he had were mostly in shards and there was food debris everywhere. Damn, he’d just shopped yesterday too. The morons hadn’t even been considerate enough to close the freezer after they rifled through it so there was water dripping all over the floor. His heavy work boots crushed glass and ceramic as he left the kitchen and checked the bathroom, then bedroom.

  She hadn’t found much else; he certainly wasn’t stupid enough to keep any kind of medication in the place and the only thing of value was his cell phone charger sitting next to his bed. She’d taken that too. He stepped over mountains of clothes thrown on the floor and dropped to his knees to look under the bed. He sighed in relief when he saw the floorboard he had carefully pried up earlier this year to hide the few valuables he did have was untouched. It was the only reason he had invested in the heavy, wood bed frame – it was too cumbersome to move and Abby was always in a hurry when she made her little visits. The mattress had big slashes in it where someone had taken a knife to it and some of the filling stuck out, but if he flipped it the mattress would be useable, at least until the next time.

  Gabe studied the damage for a few more minutes and then turned and left the room. He’d been looking forward to spending the rest of the night sitting on his ass and watching the game on his crappy little TV while nursing a couple of beers. She hadn’t even left him the damn beer. As he left the apartment and pulled the broken door closed behind him, he willed himself to drown out the feeling of betrayal that ripped at his insides. Yep, for the third time in a less than a year, his own mother had robbed him.

  ***

  Riley Sinclair loved the rain but moving in it not so much. At least she only had a few boxes and her rolling suitcase to slog through the huge puddles of water that had collected on the short walkway to the apartment building. It was an ugly building, she mused, as she sat in the compact ten year old sedan and studied the structure. It was three stories tall with two apartments per floor. The red brick was faded and a lot of the windows were cracked or covered by newspaper from the inside. Stairs for the fire escape snaked down from the roof to the ground, but they looked like they were about to fall off the building. At least what little grass there was, was lush and rich in color. That was better than the endless dust that seemed to cover all of Texas.

  She’d left Dallas four days ago and headed north. Once she’d gone as far as she could before hitting the Canadian border, she turned her car west and kept going until she’d reached the northern suburbs of Seattle. The drive had been long and her little car had threatened to die on multiple occasions, but she’d made it and she’d never felt so free. Sure, the apartment building looked nothing like the “cozy, family friendly” home that had been promised in the ad she’d found last night on the library computer, but it was in her price range and it was available now, so she’d have to make do. At least it would be hers, all hers, and that would make it good enough.

  Braving the rain, Riley grabbed her purse from the passenger seat and climbed out of the car. She reached into the backseat to grab her suitcase and then darted up the walkway, water quickly soaking through her thin sneakers. It only took her a few minutes to find the Super, give him the little cash she had left in return for a single key along with a terse warning about following the rules and not making trouble, and then she was on her way up the stairs, her heavy bag in tow.

  Finding her door, she crossed her fingers that the view from the back of the apartment was a little bit better than the view of the busy street out front, stuck her key in the lock and turned and…nothing. Twisting and turning did nothing and she glanced up at the number on the door to make sure she had the right apartment.

  “It sticks,” came a deep voice from directly behind her. Sucking in a startled gasp, she swung around and slammed her back into the door, the key jabbing her in her spine. He wasn’t directly behind her like she’d thought but the huge man was only a few feet away.

  “What?” she said, trying to catch her breath. He’d been so quiet that she hadn’t even heard a single footstep. She looked out of the corner of her eye to see if anyone was around to hear her scream for help.

  “The key, it sticks. You have to push it in a bit as you’re turning it.”

  She watched as he searched through the plastic bag he was carrying and pulled out what looked to be a deadbolt. She noticed that in his other hand was a small to
olbox.

  “Um, thanks” she mumbled and then swung back around to do as he suggested. Sure enough, the door opened. She glanced over her shoulder and noticed the man was fixing the doorjamb which had splinters of wood missing. Had someone broken into the apartment across from hers? That couldn’t be a good sign. As she fumbled for the knob, she glanced at the guy’s build and clothes. He had to be in his mid to late twenties, at least 6’, and wore faded jeans, a tight black T-shirt and heavy duty, dark brown work boots. She could see the muscles bulging against the fabric over his upper arms and what appeared to be a tattoo seemed to curl around his left bicep because she could see bits of it as he moved and flexed his arm and the sleeve of his T-shirt rode up.

  He had a darker skin tone, part Hispanic maybe, and his dark brown hair was thick and curled a tiny bit just above the nape of his neck. She couldn’t see his face but her body didn’t seem to care because little firecrackers were going off inside her. She’d never thought men to be beautiful, but oh was she wrong, because this man was stunning. He must have noticed that she hadn’t yet moved because he glanced up from his work and pinned her with his dark eyes.

  She had guessed he’d have a face to match the body and she wasn’t disappointed. Sharp features with a slightly crooked nose that may have been broken at one point, but somehow just made the perfection of the rest of his face more obvious. His eyes looked almost black from where she stood but she couldn’t be sure. What she could be sure of was that there was a hint of amusement in them as he watched her stare at him. Caught red handed, she swore she heard him chuckle as she spun around and rushed into her apartment. Her suitcase caught on the door twice before she managed to drag it into the room and slam the door.

  Chapter 2

  Gabe watched the suitcase finally disappear into the apartment with its owner. He’d felt bad about scaring her but it hadn’t been his intention to sneak up on her. People always assumed a man of his size would be noisy and lumbering and would stand out in a crowd, but childhood had taught him the value of sticking to the shadows, moving in silence and observing rather than participating.

  He guessed her to be in her mid-twenties and though she wasn’t skinny, she hadn’t been heavy either. Loose fitting clothes had him guessing she was average sized with curves in just the right places so that someone his size wouldn’t have to worry about breaking her every time he settled his weight on her. Jesus, where had that thought come from?

  He frowned and looked back at his lock. He couldn’t help but think the girl was out of her element – her long blonde hair had been in a loose ponytail that almost reached the middle of her back. Her gray eyes had seemed almost hungry as she studied him and her full pink lips had parted slightly when he had turned to look at her. Her reaction hadn’t been unusual. Women usually tended to take their time when they looked at him. He wasn’t being arrogant; it had just always been that way and he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t taken advantage of the good looks he’d been graced with. This was the first time in a while that he had enjoyed it though. It was also the first time he had looked back and that confused him. He shook his head as if to clear it and then got back to work on the door.

  ***

  Riley looked at the apartment in dismay. It was a dump, plain and simple. Dirty walls, stained carpet, and tiny. One of the appeals had been that it came furnished but when she saw the loveseat in the tiny nook that she guessed was supposed to be the living room, she cringed. It was ripped in several places but she could live with that. It was all the brown and yellow stains on it that grossed her out – and those were just the stains that were visible to the naked eye. She choked back her disgust and turned towards the kitchen.

  It wasn’t much better, but at least she could scrub the surfaces with bleach or something and all the appliances she would need were there. And there was a small kitchen table against the window so maybe it would be a nice place to sit and enjoy the view each morning while drinking her coffee. Unfortunately, the view turned out to be another building on the other side of a dark alley lined with bags of garbage.

  So it wasn’t what she was used to, but she could make it work. Maybe slap some paint on the walls and kitchen cabinets, add some plants and a few pictures. Feeling a little more optimistic, she moved to the bedroom. It wasn’t any better than any of the other rooms and she made a mental note to find a really good mattress cover for the full sized bed…maybe two just to be on the safe side.

  The bathroom was smaller than a closet and there was no tub, but at least the toilet flushed. Small victories, she reminded herself. But when she went to wash her hands, she found that the water didn’t drain. Okay, not a major roadblock, just a tiny pebble on the road to her new life. Maybe if she repeated that over and over to herself a few hundred times she’d actually start to believe it.

  ***

  “If I have a problem do I just come to you?” he heard a small voice ask him. Gabe was about to start installing the very expensive, supposedly nearly indestructible new deadbolt that the Super wasn’t going to reimburse him for when he heard the question behind him. He looked around and saw that the young woman was back outside her door and she was actually talking to him.

  “What?”

  “The drain in the bathroom sink isn’t draining. Do I just let you know or do I need to go through the Super?”

  “Miss, I don’t work here.” He pointed to the door behind him. “This is my place.”

  She looked embarrassed. “Sorry, I just thought with the tools and stuff…”

  “Yeah, well, the Super is more interested in scratching his own ass than fixing anything around here. You’re better off fixing it yourself. Or call a plumber.” He saw a stunned expression come over her.

  “Okay, thanks. And sorry about that,” she stammered as she pulled the door closed behind her and disappeared downstairs. He shook his head – how had someone like her ended up in a dump like this? He heard a knock on the floor below and then the Super’s raised voice, something about causing trouble already. A door slammed and a couple minutes later the young woman was trudging up the stairs, a bulky box in her arms.

  He needed to just finish the lock, go inside and start cleaning up his apartment. He was absolutely not getting involved. That’s what his brain told him but his body obviously wasn’t listening because he stood, closed the distance between them and took the box from her.

  “I’ll take a look at it.”

  She’d been startled by his action but quickly shook her head. “No, it’s okay. But thanks…for the offer I mean.”

  “You got a snake?”

  “A what?” she asked, horrified.

  “A plumber’s snake,” he clarified.

  “Oh. No-”

  “You got a couple hundred bucks to waste on a plumber?” When she didn’t answer he looked pointedly at her apartment door. He knew she was reluctant to have a strange man in her apartment and he was glad to see that but it wasn’t like he could speak some special words to gain her trust. She was either desperate enough to accept his help or she had the money to call a professional. After a moment of indecision she opened the door.

  “I’m Gabe by the way.”

  “Riley,” she said softly before leading him inside.

  Riley leaned back against the door, her hand on the knob so she could still make a quick escape if she needed to. When Gabe had walked passed her into the apartment, it was then that she realized what a big guy he really was. She was no pixie stick herself but even with the extra pounds she just couldn’t seem to shed from her middle, this man still dwarfed her. He didn’t necessarily tower over her since she was 5’6, but his bulk unnerved her. He wasn’t as thick as some of the muscle builders she’d seen on TV once who did all those weird poses in tiny bikini underwear – those creeped her out actually. No, he just looked like he should be on some billboard on the side of a building, at a busy city intersection where women could properly drool over him as he showed off the overpriced underwear he was weari
ng.

  “Where do you want this?” he asked, lifting the box in his arms slightly.

  “Kitchen table please.” If he noticed that she was treating the door like her lifeline, he didn’t say anything. He dropped the box on the table and made his way back towards her instead of going to the bathroom. She sucked in a breath when he stopped in front of her.

  “I need to get my tools,” he finally said when she didn’t move. It took a full ten seconds for what he’d said to register. She was in his way. She nodded and then pulled the door open. Once he was gone she shook her head and laughed. This man both intimated the hell out of her and made her act like a complete moron all at the same time. Twice now, she’d been caught staring at him like a teenage girl.

  Giving herself a mental shake, she left the door slightly ajar and then went to start unpacking the box he’d carried in for her. He returned within moments, knocked briefly on the door and let himself in. He ignored her and disappeared into the bathroom. As he worked, she emptied the few contents of the first box and then went to her car to get the rest of her stuff.

  ***

  Riley had managed to get the few kitchen supplies she had unpacked by the time Gabe came out of the bathroom. It hadn’t taken him long to do his thing but she had heard a few muffled curses here and there.

  “You’re all set,” he said as he started for the door.

  “Thank you so much, you don’t know how much I appreciate…oh wow, you’re bleeding.” There was a red stain on his pants where he had clearly once already wiped blood off his hand. A gash on his palm continued to bubble up with blood.

  “It’s nothing.” Before he could even finish his sentence she had closed the distance between them and pulled him by the arm to the table.

  “Let me take a look.”

  He could have easily pulled free of her, but she seemed so focused on the minor wound that he did as she asked and dropped into one of the two small chairs by the wobbly table. He watched as she pulled a black backpack from by the door and dropped it next to the table. She sat down and then began rummaging through it. She pulled out a few medical items including hydrogen peroxide, scissors, gauze, ointment and a hot pink bandage that looked like the kind of material that stuck to itself. He glanced down at the contents of the bag and noticed what looked like a bag of saline, some syringes, and a couple of vials of some type of drug.