Gabriel's Salvation: small town, misunderstood MMC, overcoming trauma, first love romance

15. Chapter Fifteen

“Come on, I know just the place,”” he grins. He stretches out his hands and helps me stand. This guy is a walking enigma; one moment he”s sweet and caring, the next he”s standoffish and shut down. But my favorite of all is the times in between - when he’s dirty, dangerous, and demanding.

We make our way down and back through the hole in the fence leading to the street. This time though, I”m hyper aware of every bend and movement I make, and the uncomfortable feeling it gives me.

“This way,” he says as he walks ahead, causing me to have to speed up to keep up with him. As I do, I feel the material of my dress rubbing against the throbbing pain on my ass. That spanking was hot and unexpected but damn does it sting like hell now.

As I get closer I attempt to slide my hand into his, but he pulls it away as if I’d just burned him. I move back in surprise, but he moves his hand, grabs me by the waist, and pulls me back beside him. But he takes his hand away again once. What”s wrong with his guy? He wants me close enough to touch but doesn”t actually want to touch me. Is he ashamed of me or something? I know he”s hotter than me, but he definitely seemed interested just a few minutes ago.

We make our way to the pub, the same one we met in for that matter. Is this his hangout? As we get to the door, another guy is coming out and politely holds the door open. “Thank you,”” I say as I attempt to walk past but Gabe loops his arm around me and pulls me back, causing me to almost fall backward.

“I got it,” he snaps as he places his hand on the open door and throws daggers at the poor guy who was holding it first.

The guy takes one look at Gabe and then scurries away. “Really?” I say as I roll my eyes and walk in. Scanning the bar I look for a place to sit.

“Over here,” he says as he leads me to a secluded part of the bar.

He sits down first and I attempt to sit down beside him but as the wooden stool touches my ass it stings, causing me to suck in air at the pain. My ass is throbbing. “I”ll be back in a sec,” I say, excusing myself and heading towards the bathroom. As I do I run some paper towel under the water, soaking it, and taking it into the toilet with me. Lifting my dress and carefully dabbing it against my sore ass. The whole thing is on fire, I gently run my hand against it and can feel the heat resonating from what I can only assume is a handprint.

“Riley?”” I hear from outside the door. I stop and listen. Surely it”s another Riley they”re calling.

“Riley,” the unmistakable male voice says again. I lower my dress and slowly open the door. As soon as I do, Gabe pushes the door open and walks right in, as if this is the men’s bathroom, and for a second, I wonder if I made a mistake and went into the wrong one.

I step back to allow him into the tiny stall since it”s obvious I have no choice. He takes one look at the scrunched up wet paper towel in my hand and smirks.

“Thought you might want this,” he says, holding a towel with what I assume is ice. “Turn around and lift up your dress,” he whispers into my ear, causing a shiver to run through my body.

I do as I”m told, turning, lifting my dress, and bending over the back of the toilet. I feel the cold material hit my skin. At first it takes me by surprise, making me jump. “You”re fine, trust me,” Gabe whispers as he places his hand on my tummy and holds me in place as he pushes the coldness against me again. It feels like heaven.

“Does that feel good?”” he asks as he leans over and places a kiss just below my shoulder.

“So good,” I purr back. I feel his hand begin to slide from my tummy lower. “No, no more” I whine, knowing I can”t physically take another pounding tonight.

He removes both his hands entirely for a moment before one makes its way back to my hip. “Gaabe,” I warn, as he takes the towel and places it down beside me

“Shhh. Trust me,” he whispers. Before I feel a coldness touch my skin. Ice, he”s holding an ice cube. He runs the ice cube slowly down the inside of my panties and pushes it against my slit. “Gabe, stop,” I moan, while secretly praying he doesn”t. He begins gliding the ice all around my opening before slowly pushing it inside. He uses his finger to expertly massage and soothe the stinging inside. I feel the other hand snake around under me as he reaches for my throat again. Damn, I love when he does this. He grabs me and pulls me back against him so that I”m standing upright with my whole body pressed against him.

“Let me take care of you,” he whispers against my ear before he places a soft kiss on my cheek. I don”t know why but somehow that kiss on the cheek feels more intimate than any of the other things he’s done to me tonight.

“Let”s get a drink,” he finally says as he removes his fingers and pulls my dress back down as if nothing happened.

He turns and walks out of the stall, not even bothering to look if anyone was around first. I follow behind him and am glad to see that we appear to be alone.

We”re about to walk out the door when another girl walks in.

“Oh, hey Gabe,” the girl smirks, not seeming even slightly surprised to see him in the women’s toilets.

“Kelly,” he snaps in a low voice.

“Oh, looks like you”ve found yourself a new, little bathroom bunny. She”s pretty,” she says sweetly, while eying me up and down like shit on her shoe.

“Bathroom bunny?” Shit did I say that out loud? I know I did when a sadistic smile forms on her lips. “Yep, bathroom bunny. That”s what you call us isn”t it Gabe? The girls you fuck in the bathroom and then discard like garbage.

“Fuck off, Kelly, you’re just some dirty whore,” he says as he reaches out and grabs my arm, attempting to pull me out of the room behind him.

“That’s not what you were saying when you were fucking me right here last night,” she snaps back sounding oddly proud of herself.

Her words feel like a literal punch to the gut. Gabe clearly has a type. Like me, she’s blonde although her hair is clearly not naturally that color. She”s skinnier than me, way skinnier. Is this what he’s into, a walking Barbie doll? Does he think I”m too big? I feel like one of my thighs is probably bigger than both of hers combined.

“You fucked her here last night?” I gasp, pulling out of his grip.

“Sure did Sugar, and not just me, but my friend, too,” she grins. “He fucked me right there in that same bathroom, then we went back to my place where he fucked my friend, too.”

The tears pool in my eyes as I run straight out the door.

“Wait, Riley,” I hear from behind me but I keep running. I make it outside and realize I have nowhere to go. “Riley!” Gabe shouts again, so I duck down between two parked cars. I watch him run past and then around the corner and out of site. Taking my phone from my purse, I call the only person I can think to -Harper.

“Hey, Rilez,” Harper sing-songs.

“Harper, I”m outside Saint”s Bar. It”s near the old restaurant. Come and get me now,” I plead to her on a sob.

“I”m on my way now,” she says without hesitation.

She arrives a few minutes later with Izzy and Nate.

“You were quick,” I say as I climb into the back of the car. As my ass hits the seat a new wave of discomfort rushes through me. Seriously, how hard did he hit my ass? It feels like the whole thing is on fire. I naturally squirm to try and get away from the pressure I”m feeling, having to sit at a slight angle just so I’m not resting all my weight against the side that throbs.

“Yeah, we were just around the corner. Nate wanted to take us to one of the restaurants there,” Izzy says as she turns around to look at me.

“Woah, what happened Riley?” Izzy asks, taking in my tear drenched, make-up-smeared, and bruised face.

“Oh nothing, just a crap date,” I say, unconvincingly.

“What, with that Justin guy?” she asks. Thankfully, she doesn’t know Justin since she and Nate are pretty new to the group. Had she been with Ava like usual though, Ava would have dragged me back inside until I told her exactly which guy made me cry.

I see Nate”s eyes staring at me sympathetically in the rearview mirror.

“Err yeah, Justin,” I lie and avoid the eyes I feel on me.

Nate drives me and Harper home in silence. “Thanks for the ride, Nate,”” I say as I climb out.

“Anytime, and I mean that - anytime,” he says, emphasizing the last word.

“So, do you want to tell me what really happened?” Harper asks as she throws her arm around me.

“Let”s just get inside first,” I say quietly in return.

“I”ll grab the ice cream,” she says as she lets go of me as I unlock the door. “I”ll be down in a sec.”

I run downstairs to our basement conversion joint bedroom, strip my clothes off, and jump in the shower, letting the water wash away the now dirty feeling I have on my skin. I can”t help but wince as the water beats down on my already painful and bruised ass. The tears continue to stream down my face as I scrub and scrub at my skin, hoping to scrub away the feel of his hands. I can’t believe I let him have my virginity. I’m just another notch in his belt. I can’t believe he used me. I can’t believe I was starting to have feelings for him - I thought he was different, but he’s not.

A knock at the door jolts me from my thoughts and I peer around the shower curtain to see Harper”s head peeking through the doorway.

“I”m not looking, my eyes are closed. But I”m just letting you know the ice cream is melting,” she shouts, despite the fact there are less than ten steps between the doorway and the shower.

“I”m not deaf Harp, I”m coming out now,” I reply, laughing when she attempts to leave and ends up hitting her head on the door frame.

“Oh and Harper,” I call just as she”s leaving. “Can you grab me an aspirin? I”ve got a terrible migraine coming.”

Painkillers may not be able to ease the emotional pain, but even if they’re able to ease some of the physical pain, just enough that I can sleep and hopefully wake up and realize this whole night was just a terrible dream.

I climb out, dry off, wrap the thick purple robe around myself, and head out. I see Harper sitting on my bed with a huge tub of cookie dough ice cream and two spoons.

“So, what happened?” Harper asks, eying me sympathetically.

“Remember that guy I told you about?” I begin.

“Gabe?”

“Yeah.” I sigh heavily, “Well turns out Gabe is Nate”s older brother,” I continue hesitantly.

“Shit, you”re kidding me. Did you know? Before today I mean?”

“No, I only found out when I went to meet him tonight.”

“Talk about keeping it close to the family,” she laughs. But when I don”t laugh back, her face drops again. “So what happened next?”

I tell her everything that happened, about the name debacle, about taking him to the restaurant, and that I opened up about Mom”s cancer scare. Harper nods along but doesn”t say much.

“Okay, so that sounds mostly good,” she says cautiously.

“Yeah, it was until…” I continue, telling her about losing my virginity, although obviously, I summarize most of it and definitely don”t tell her about the nasty things he did or said to me. I can feel myself blushing just thinking about those things.

“And that”s where it all went downhill…” I go on to tell her about the girl in the bar, although obviously I don”t tell her we saw her coming out of the toilet together.

“What? That sleazy little shit!” she shouts. “He”s the worst. He doesn’t deserve you, Riley. Dump his ass and find yourself a new guy! You know Ashton from science has always had a thing for you.”

“It”s not that easy Harper,” I sob. “I think I like him, like really, truly like him.” I look at her, pleading with my eyes to get her to understand.

“What”s to like, Riley? That guy is a monster,” she snaps.

“He”s not a monster, he”s just… well… a little bit broken,” I huff, feeling this unnatural need to defend him.

“You”re beyond help, Rilez; first Damon, then Jax, now HIM. You”ve never found a broken villain you haven”t fallen in love with,” she says as she rolls her eyes. I could hear the disappointment and something akin to disgust lacing her voice. My stomach drops. I need to get her on another topic. I can’t sit here and listen to her poor opinion of him. It hurts too much.

“Yeah, but the villains are so much hotter.” I grin, ignoring her tone and trying to lighten the mood.

“How about I distract you from this villain with a fictional one, Jax or Damon?” Harper laughs as she walks over and grabs the remote.

“Hmmm, I think a bit of Damon is called for.”

“Good, means I get to drool over Stefan then,” Harper says as she throws herself onto her own bed.

The intro is just playing when there”s a knock at the door. “I”ll get it,” Harper shouts.