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  “Was it all a lie Gabe?”

  Pain lanced at him when he realized what she was asking.

  “The things you said about me when we were together that first night?”

  “No, it wasn’t. None of it was a lie. The part of me you saw tonight at the party, that’s the lie.” He wasn’t sure if she believed him or even if she had heard everything he said because her eyes drifted shut a second later. He wished he could see that peaceful look on her face every night. He dropped his lips to her forehead and kissed her softly and then turned off the light and left the room.

  Chapter 11

  She smelled bacon. She loved bacon! Riley took another whiff of the heavenly scent and then froze as everything came rushing back from the night before. She snapped upright into a sitting position and then regretted it when a dizzy spell threatened. She waited it out for a few seconds, then turned to look around the room, Gabe’s room. The other side of the bed was empty, not even slept in from the look of the undisturbed bedding, and she wasn’t sure if she should he happy or upset. A clock next to the bed said it was nine and the light filtering in through the window meant it was morning, as did the bacon that was still calling out to her. She dropped her legs over the side of the bed and then noticed the clothes she was wearing. His clothes too. She peeked under the shirt and closed her eyes in embarrassment when she realized Gabe had removed all of her clothes.

  Standing on shaky legs, she made her way out of the bedroom and listened. She didn’t hear anything besides the sizzling of a frying pan. She hurried to the bathroom and took care of business. When she saw herself in the mirror, she moaned. Her hair was still braided but it was loose and long strands stuck out all over the place. She’d put a little bit of mascara on for the event last night and now it was streaked down her cheeks. Using the hand soap on the sink, Riley did her best to scrub her face clean. She pulled her hair free of the braid and combed her fingers through it as best she could. She looped the hair tie around her wrist and then used some of Gabe’s toothpaste on her finger to try and scrub the fuzz from her teeth. Feeling marginally better, she left the bathroom.

  It wasn’t Gabe at the stove cooking bacon, but she recognized the shaggy blonde hair and killer body. Shane. He turned to face her, a fork in his hand.

  “Morning,” he said brightly. Apparently he didn’t recognize her ‘I’m pissed at you for not telling me the whole truth’ look.

  “Where’s Gabe?”

  Shane turned back to the frying pan in front of him and pulled out the bacon. He dropped it onto a plate covered with a piece of paper towel and then he started cracking eggs into the pan. She didn’t know whether to be horrified or excited at the sight of the eggs swimming around in bacon grease.

  “OJ?” Shane asked her. “Or coffee?” When she didn’t answer he said, “Both it is.”

  “You should have told me.”

  “So we’re not even gonna wait until we eat before we do this?” he asked. When she just stood there defiantly, he sighed and turned off the stove. “Okay, what should I have told you?”

  “All of it – that he was like you.”

  Shane laughed harshly and poured her a cup of coffee. “Gabe’s not anything like me.” He pushed the mug towards her on the counter and plopped a container of sugar next to the mug. Milk from the fridge was next and then he leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms.

  “If Gabe were like me he would have told you from the beginning that he liked getting paid to fuck strange women.” She flinched at the ugly words but Shane continued. “But that would have been a lie because he hates it – has hated it from the first time he did it. If Gabe were like me he would have just fucked you and gotten you out his system and walked away. But that would have been a lie too, because he wants to be ‘normal’ for you.” Shane did the air quotes when he slowly emphasized the word normal.

  “And if Gabe were like me, he would have finished the job last night and collected the big wad of cash waiting for him on that old hag’s dresser. But surprise, surprise, Gabe’s not like me – he actually thought it was more important to make sure you got home safe and sound then it was to have one last payday that would have given him enough money to keep his mom in rehab for an extra month.” Shane spun around to turn the stove back on. “So what part of that was I supposed to tell you?”

  “Shane!” Gabe yelled from where he stood in the doorway leading into the apartment. She wasn’t sure if he had heard everything Shane had said, but even if he hadn’t, she expected that the way Shane had practically yelled at her would have set Gabe off, especially if he didn’t understand the context. There was a dark-haired man standing behind Gabe that Riley didn’t recognize.

  “You know what, fuck it!” Shane snapped as he turned the stove back off and flung the fork into the sink. He started to walk passed her but she stepped in his path. She heard Gabe come up behind her and when he was about to physically move her so he could go after his friend, she put out her hand to stop him. Both men were staring each other down and the third man looked ready to jump into the fray.

  Riley glanced back at Gabe and hoped he got her message to back off. He seemed to relax slightly so she guessed that he had, and she turned her attention back to Shane who was standing less than a foot from her, his hands fisted. Closing the distance between them, she reached up and slid her arms around his neck and hugged him hard. He stiffened but his hands automatically closed around her waist – probably to push her away. He was tall so she had to stretch to get as close to his ear as she could.

  “He’s so lucky to have a friend like you.” When she kissed him softly on the cheek, she felt his body relax as the tension drained from him. She felt his arms close around her tight and he tucked his head against her neck. It wasn’t romantic or sexual, it was one wounded soul clinging to another. When she finally let him go, he stepped back from her and studied her in confusion for a moment. For the first time since she’d met him he seemed at a loss for a smart-ass comment, so he just brushed her cheek lightly with his thumb and then left the kitchen. He moved passed Gabe and the other man without a word, grabbed his jacket form the back of the couch and left the apartment.

  ***

  When he’d heard Shane’s raised voice as he opened the door to his apartment, Gabe had thought he was on his cell phone at first. The second he’d realized Shane was talking to Riley that way, Gabe had lost it and his only focus was to pound on his friend until he apologized to her. He hadn’t really heard everything that had been said, but when Riley stopped him and then hugged Shane, he realized that he’d missed something important. And when Shane clung to her the way he had, Gabe’s initial reaction had been jealously. But when he saw the desperate and confused look in Shane’s eyes as she held him, he’d understood that Riley had seen that something in Shane was terribly broken, despite his “I don’t give a shit’ attitude.

  Gabe was torn between following after Shane and staying with Riley. Logan made the decision for him when he said, “I’ll go check on him.”

  “You okay?” Gabe asked as Logan left, pulling the apartment door closed behind him.

  “Yeah,” Riley said as she finally focused on preparing the coffee Shane had readied for her. “Who was that with you?”

  “That’s Logan, another friend from college.”

  “Is he…is he like you and Shane?”

  Gabe nodded. “He’s trying to start up a bar and he’s been raising his younger sister since they were kids. She’s finishing her degree in education. He was helping me with your apartment.”

  Riley stilled. “What do you mean?”

  “Why don’t you come see?”

  He led her across the hall to her apartment and through her already fixed door. The lock that was now on it was the same heavy duty one Gabe had put on his own door. She stopped in shock when she entered the apartment.

  Most of the debris was gone and the wall with the slur had been painted over in a pretty yellow color. The ugly little cou
ch was gone and in its place was a more modern looking sofa, still used but clean and inviting. There was an older style TV on the small entertainment stand. Her kitchen was clean too and she saw what looked like a box of new dishware sitting on the counter.

  “I found the paint sample that you had taped to the wall so I’m hoping this was the color you actually wanted,” Gabe said as he motioned to the bright, beautiful yellow wall. “I can do the other walls but wanted to make sure the color was right first.” When she just stared at him, he rambled on. “Logan had the couch in storage and says you can keep it and Shane brought the dishes over. We found the TV at the thrift shop. You’ll need a new mattress at some point but I think we can make it work for now.”

  She still hadn’t said anything, she was just walking around the room and kitchen in a daze. “I talked to Elise – she has your purse by the way – and I explained that you had to leave because of an emergency last night and she understood. She offered to lend you some clothes if none of yours can be saved. Shane was able to fix your car – that asshole ex of yours just removed some spark plugs.”

  “When did you guys do all this?” she said as she came to a stop in front of him.

  “This morning mostly. It’s not perfect but it’s a start. If you want…” his words dropped off when he saw tears welling in her eyes. “Hey, what’s the matter? If you don’t like something-” She cut him off by putting her hand over his mouth and then carefully putting her coffee cup down on a side table. Then she hugged him and he finally took his first deep breath since the night before when she discovered him at the party.

  “You said you’d fix everything and you did.”

  “Well, yeah,” he said, completely confused. Was she happy or mad or sad?

  “Sorry,” she mumbled as she dabbed at her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt, his shirt actually, and then stroked at the spots of water she’d left on him. “It’s just that no one’s ever actually kept their promise before.” He pulled her back against him and just held her for a while. She finally pulled herself free. He felt some of the tension between them return and he knew they weren’t back on solid ground yet.

  “Thank you for everything last night Gabe,” she began but then hesitated as if looking for the right words.

  “It’s okay Riley, you don’t need to say it. I don’t expect you to forgive me for not being up front about everything.”

  “Gabe,” she started but he cut her off with a shake of his head.

  “It’s probably for the best anyway. We never really did make sense, did we?” He was trying to insulate himself from the physical pain in his chest but it wasn’t working. The words were coming out of his mouth but his heart didn’t agree with them. He ignored the burning sensation in his abdomen too and said, “Maybe we should just do our own thing for a little while.”

  When he saw something die in her eyes at the words he wanted to call them back but he didn’t. He needed to do this for her – he had to let her go. He suspected he could have wheedled his way back into her good graces; she was just too sweet and kind-hearted to brush him off. But where would that get her? He could never settle for just being friends with her, but he couldn’t give her the physical or emotional connection she deserved either. It was better to just walk away.

  “Yeah,” she whispered. “It’s probably for the best.” He watched her get up and disappear into her bathroom.

  ***

  Gabe hadn’t seen Riley in more than a week. He missed her soft voice, the way she laughed. He was still concerned about Paul so he’d switched his hours at work so that he could follow her in the morning when she went to work. Logan and Shane had agreed to switch off covering her when she left Nell’s. He’d also made Nell and Pete aware of what was going on so they could watch her at work.

  His system wasn’t perfect since he couldn’t anticipate any errands she might do when he or his friends weren’t around. The easy solution would have been to pull her in on the plan, but besides being pissed off at his intrusion into her business, he would have to make contact with her and since he was already at his breaking point, that wasn’t an option either. It had been so hard to walk out of her apartment that day, walk away from her. He’d thought the torture would subside if he didn’t have to see or interact with her as much, but his need for her had just grown and he found himself taking his anger and frustrations out on friends and co-workers.

  Gabe checked his watch – it was late, almost midnight. Parking at the apartment at this time of night was a pain and it took him several minutes to find a spot almost two blocks from his apartment. As he began the walk towards his building, he looked around. People usually steered clear of him but he wasn’t foolish enough to not be aware of his surroundings. He stopped when he heard a muffled sound from the alley he’d just passed. Silence. He took a step forward and then stopped again – whining. He turned back to the alley and looked around. Nothing stood out as being out of the ordinary but just as he turned to go, he saw movement about halfway down. A garbage bag next to the dumpster shifted. Gabe approached slowly until he realized what he was seeing. There was a dog laying among the garbage bags, its body bloody and torn. As he approached the animal, it looked up at him with soulful brown eyes but didn’t try to get up. The dog was laying on its side so he could tell it was a female.

  He hadn’t been around dogs much and this one was injured so he wasn’t sure what the best way to approach it was. He wished Riley were here.

  “Hey baby girl,” he crooned softly. He was rewarded with the thumping of her tail. He dropped to his knees next to her and studied her. She appeared to be a pit bull but not a very big one, thirty pounds or so. Most of her body appeared to be a darker color, gray or black maybe, but her face was white; at least the spots that weren’t covered in blood. He stroked her gently on the top of her head and wiped the blood that he got on his hand down the front of his T-shirt. There was just a little bit of light from an overhead street lamp, but it was enough to show him that she was covered in dozens of cuts and puncture wounds, some oozing blood. They seemed to cover the majority of her body. He suspected the other side of her body looked the same.

  “I’m gonna get you out of here, okay sweetheart.” He put his arms carefully underneath her and lifted. The dog whined but didn’t try to bite him. He could feel his forearms and hands slick with blood. He pulled her against his chest and stood. That’s when he noticed she had a huge chain link collar around her neck with a short piece of chain hanging from it. He suspected it weighed at least ten pounds.

  “I know someone who can help you,” he whispered to the dog as he carried her out of the alley.

  ***

  Riley was so tired that she didn’t care who was knocking at her door so late on a Friday night. And if it was Paul she was going to kick his ass. That’s what a combined four hours of sleep in the last three nights could do to a girl, she mused. She had literally just drifted off to sleep when the banging had started. As the fog of exhaustion started to lift and she got closer to the door, she slowed her step. Why would someone be at her door this late?

  “Riley, it’s me.” She hurried to the door and fumbled with the lock. Her blood ran cold at the sight of Gabe covered in blood and then her eyes traveled down to the small, dark body nestled in his arms.

  “Can you help her?” he asked, his voice thick.

  She nodded and pulled the door all the way open. She locked it and then ran to get her go bag from her bedroom closet. “Put her on the table,” she called over her shoulder.

  When she returned to the kitchen she stopped at the sight of Gabe covered in blood. He heard her indrawn breath and then realized what she was looking at. “None of its mine,” he said gently. “I’m okay.” She relaxed and nodded, her eyes turning to the dog.

  ***

  Gabe watched her work quickly and efficiently on the dog. She listened to her heart and lungs and then ran her fingers along the animal’s body looking for breaks.

  “She’s got g
ood breath sounds, heart sounds good, pulse is strong.” Riley grabbed stuff out of her bag and began explaining as she went. “I’m going to start an IV and get some fluids into her. So far she doesn’t seem to be in shock yet so I think if we can get these wounds cleaned and dressed she should be okay.”

  Riley spent the next thirty minutes cleaning the wounds after she gave the dog something to sedate her. Several had to be stitched and she covered a few of the punctures up with bandages. A round of antibiotics followed. The dog had lain there quietly and barely made a sound when Gabe turned her over so Riley could treat her other side. As his adrenaline started to wear off, he began to notice how tired Riley looked. She also looked like she’d lost some weight.

  “Gabe?”

  “Yeah,” he said, pulling himself from his daze. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

  “Can you take the cushion off the couch and put it on the floor and cover it with the blanket. She needs to stay here so I can watch her tonight.”

  Gabe went to do as she asked. When she was done treating the injuries, he moved the dog and placed her carefully on the cushion. He gently stroked her head and received another lick.

  “Can I stay with her for a while?” he asked, refusing to look at Riley when he asked. He didn’t want to see if she had to struggle with the decision. After the things he’d said and done to her, he knew she didn’t want to be around him.

  But she said “yes” without any hesitation. “Why don’t you go to your place and get cleaned up and then come back?” She reached into one of the kitchen drawers and pulled out a key and handed it to him. “I’m going to lock the door behind you so just let yourself in.”

  This woman was too good for him. He’d messed with her head from day one and betrayed her trust and then pushed her out of his life. Yet here he was, taking from her again. Palming the key, he left the apartment. It only took him a few minutes to shower and put on clean clothes. He let himself back into her apartment and saw that she’d cleaned up the kitchen and herself and was now sitting on the floor next to the dog, leaning against the couch. Her hand was gently stroking the dog, avoiding any injured areas.