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

37. Chapter Thirty Seven

Iclimb off Gabe’s bike, giving him one last kiss before I head inside. I hear the sound of his engine as he speeds away, and feel the sadness and longing in my chest already. How can I miss him already? It”s been like five seconds.

“Harper,” I call out as I run towards our bedroom.

“She’s out with the girls,” my mother shouts from the kitchen.

“Any idea where?” I ask as I walk into the kitchen and see my mother typing away on her computer at the dinner table.

“I”m guessing still at Izzy”s. Didn”t you spend the weekend there?” my mother quizzes.

“Oh yeah, of course,” I lie, mentally thanking my sister for covering for me. “but I met up with Lexi earlier. She offered to help me study for my biology exam. You know she had to study all that stuff and I”m useless,” I add.

My mother eyes me suspiciously for a moment before turning her attention back to her laptop.

“I thought she might be back by now, but obviously not,” I say, changing the subject. “I think I may head over if that”s okay.”

My mother goes to say something, but a beep from her laptop stops her in her tracks. Thank god for the charity auction. “Yes, sure. I gotta get back. We’ve been having a few issues with the venue,” my mother replies as she types away furiously.

I head to the fridge, grab myself a couple of snacks, and then head back out the door.

Izzy’s house isn”t far away, it”s within walking distance, so I make the most of the afternoon sun as I make my way over.

I knock on the door before pushing it open slightly, “It”s just me, Riley,” I shout. Izzy’s grandparents always leave their door unlocked and have told us to just walk in, but I still feel that I’m being a little rude when I do it.

“Hello, Mrs. Williams?” I call out as I push the door open slowly and step inside. “It”s just Riley.”

“Come on in, dear,” a voice shouts in response.

I head inside and see Mrs. Williams coming out of the kitchen, carrying a plate. “The girls are all upstairs, make your way up. Take these with you though, dear,” she says as she thrusts the plate of cookies into my hand.

“You”re determined to make us all fat,” I laugh. “If my butt gets any bigger it won”t fit through the door.”

“Boys like big butts, or so I hear,” she replies with a cheeky grin.

“What”s all this talk of butts?” Mr. Williams says as he appears, and attempts to steal a cookie.

“George,” Mrs. Williams scolds as she slaps his hand away. “You know what the doctor said.”

Mr. Williams rubs his hands while frowning. “But I don”t want a piece of fruit,” he grumbles.

“But it”s better for your heart,” she replies as she turns to grab an apple from the fruit bowl.

“Here,” I whisper as I hand a cookie to him. He hides it behind his back like a naughty toddler, and at the same time, he reaches for the apple Mrs. Williams hands him a second later.

“I swear that man has a sugar radar,” she laughs as Mr. Williams scurries away.

“And butts, someone said butts,” he shouts back.

“Honestly, that man,” she says, shaking her head. “He doesn’t hear me bellowing his name to help me unload the dishwasher and doesn”t hear the postman knocking at the door with the new cushions I ordered, yet he can hear the oven door opening or a rude comment from a mile away.”

These two squabble, quite literally, like an old married couple. But it”s clear to see they’re still so madly in love. I wonder if I”ll ever have that. I can”t help but smirk as my mind tries to imagine Gabe as a little old man; he’d still be trying to bend me over the dining room table, even with two false hips.

“He’s a boy. What do you expect?” I laugh.

“They never grow up dear; even in their eighties, they’re still just giant babies… a few more years and they’ll be back in diapers,” she laughs.

“You”re mean, but I so wanna be you when I grow up,” I say with a laugh as I turn to leave.

I rush upstairs to Izzy”s room and see her, Ava, and Harper all relaxing while watching a movie.

“There you fucking are,” Ava gasps. “We were about one hour away from reporting you as a missing person,” she teases.

“Seriously, where the heck have you been?” Harper asks.

“I’ve spent the whole weekend with Gabe. I’ve got so much to tell you all,” I say as I kick my shoes off and throw myself on the bed.

“Thanks for covering for me though, girls.”

“It”s fine,” Izzy replies with a smile.

“Don”t worry, the girls had a lovely weekend, helped me de-weed the garden,” Ava replies in a little old lady voice, the one I assume she used when she pretended to be Mrs. Williams.

“Go on, tell us all about it. Where did you go? What did you do? Was Gabe nice?” Izzy asks, seeming a little hesitant on the last question.

“He better have been, otherwise, his precious bike will have no tires left. I”m not afraid to go all Carrie Underwood on his ass!” Ava says.

“Honestly, it was the best weekend of my life,” I sigh as some of the memories flood through my brain.

“Better than the time we found twenty dollars on the floor and spent it all on sweets?” Harper jokes.

“Definitely!” I laugh. “At least this one didn”t end with me throwing up afterward.”

Izzy grabs a cushion and lays down beside me, resting her head in her hands. “Tell us then, what did you do?”

“He took me to Six Flags…”

“I love that place,” both Ava and Harper say at the same time.

“Never been,” Izzy says softly.

“It”s the best, you’d love it!” Ava replies.

“So what happened next?” Izzy asks as she looks at me with excited eyes.

“Well, we went to Six Flags; Gabe had planned it all. Oh yeah, and before we went, he went out and bought me my own leather jacket and helmet, just for me as he said he wants me to be safe and protected on his bike.”

“Aww, that”s so nice,” Izzy replies.

“A helmet? And a jacket?” Ava questions, while pulling a ‘that doesn”t sound so great’ face.

Who does she think she is snubbing my man”s gift like that?

“Yeah, they were actually really nice.” Harper interjects, and I can”t help but feel grateful. “They weren”t just boring, generic ones, they were actually super cute.”

“I bet he put so much thought into it as well,” Izzy interrupts.

Ava just shrugs in response. Seriously, I love you girl, but fix your face before I fix it for you.

“Okay so you went to Six Flags?” Harper says changing the subject.

“Yeah, we arrived and he’d pre-ordered us the Flash Pass tickets so we didn”t even have to wait in the lines. We rode the roller coasters and the pirate ship followed by…”

I go into detail about all the rides and about how excited we both were. I explained that it was Gabe”s first time there and that he was clearly nervous, but once we went on the first ride he was like an excited kid wanting to try each and every ride.

“And then we walked around the park holding hands for a while.”

“Gabe held your hand? Really? ” Izzy asks, sounding just as surprised, but excited as I was.

“I know, so unlike him but it just felt right,” I reply with a huge grin.

“Really holding hands? What”s so surprising about that?” Ava asks as she rolls her eyes. Seriously if she doesn”t fix her attitude, me and her are gonna be throwing hands in a minute.

“If you don”t wanna listen, then close your ears,” I snap back.

“Oh, I wasn”t trying to be a bitch, I was just asking.” Ava replies looking a bit shocked.

“This is the man who won”t even let his brother hug him, Ava. Gabe has hated physical touch for as long as I”ve known him. I tried to hug him once as a kid and he pushed me away so hard I ended up tearing my skirt as I fell. Another time my hand grazed his as we both reached for the ketchup and he reacted like my touch set his hand on fire, so believe me, this is huge.” Izzy explains. My heart breaks that she so clearly wants to be friends with him, but he’s too angry to let her in. Maybe, just maybe, he will try now that we were able to talk and I asked him to see things differently.

I feel a mixture of emotions as Izzy speaks. I feel grateful to Izzy for having my back, yet oddly sad that she clearly cares so much about Gabe, despite the fact Gabe acts like he hates her. I also feel pride that Gabe is letting me in and growing as a person, but at the same time, sadness that he finds something so simple, so difficult.

“Oh, yeah I guess,” Ava replies with a shrug.

“What else did you do? You’ve been gone the whole weekend,” Harper asks.

“We ended up staying at that hotel, you know the one Mom and Dad used to take us to,” I say, turning towards my sister. “And then today we went for coffee and ended up catching a baseball game. Neither of us really understood the game, not properly, but we had fun stuffing our faces with hot dogs, and making up random names for the players to cheer for,” I say with a giggle as I think back to it. “Oh and let me tell you something else that happened; it was so funny…”

I tell the group all about us going on the teacups; it gets a few confused faces from Ava and Izzy until I explain the significance of it being my and Harper”s childhood tradition. I then tell them about the joke I played on Gabe and how he felt the need to prove he was a better kisser.

“Damn girl, that sounds kinda hot. Funny as fuck, but also hot as hell” Ava chimes in.

“You don”t know the half of it,” I say as I bite my lip and fan my face dramatically.

“Fucking tell us then,” Ava wines as she playfully hits me with a cushion.

“Let’s just put it this way, that man is a beast in bed,”

“Eww, I don”t wanna know,” Harper says as she covers her ears.

“Then go get me a drink, because I sure as shit do,” Ava replies as she reaches for her empty glass and thrusts it towards my sister.

Harper pokes out her tongue but grabs hold of Ava’s glass and makes her way out the door anyway.

“So tell us, is he big? Bad? Is he as much of a freak in the sheets as he seems?” Ava says, virtually bouncing in excitement.

“He’s fucking wild!” I reply. “Take today for example, that man grabbed me by my throat, thrust me up..”

“By your throat?” Izzy gasps. “Are you okay?”

“This ‘lil slut is more than okay, I”m guessing. That’s hot!” Ava smirks.

“Damn right I am, so he had me pinned up the wall and he got out his belt.”

“A belt?” Izzy gasps again.

“Maybe you should go help Harper,” Ava says softly as she smiles at Izzy. They”ve barely been best friends for a few months, but already Ava has taken it upon herself to be the protective big sister.

“Erm, okay,” Izzy replies before scurrying off with a shocked and confused face.

“Okay, so now her innocent little ears have left, tell me what the fuck happened next.” Ava says, practically drooling in anticipation.

I give her a few snippets of some of the wild times we’ve had together, like the time he tied my arms up and fucked me. She didn’t believe me when I described how this man gives me multiple orgasms in one night, and how much I love the way he can be both sweet and domineering in the same breath.

“Fuck me girl! No wonder you keep going back,” Ava says, fanning herself. “Heck, if I wasn”t already with Tucker, I”d be considering stealing him for myself.”

“Keep your hands off my man, you couldn”t handle him anyway,” I joke back.

“Yeah, you”re probably right,” Ava laughs. “But I may have taken some mental notes to use next time I see Tucker. About time my man learned how to be a little more domineering anyway.”

“Is it safe to come in?” Harper jokes as she and Izzy walk in.

“Yep, just talking about Gabe giving Riley a hand necklace,” Ava replies with a cheeky grin.

“Aww, he got you a necklace, that’s so cute,” Izzy replies naively, which just causes both me and Ava to burst into hysterics.

“What”s so funny?” Izzy asks, perplexed.

“You don”t wanna know.” Harper barely gets out because she is laughing so hard.