Chapter 41
"I DON'T WANNA CLOSE MY EYES! I DON'T WANNA FALL ASLEEP! 'CAUSE I'D MISS YOU BABY! AND I DON'T WANNA MISS A THIIIIIIING!"
The inside of the Aston Martin was basically a concert arena, and I was the main event!
Steven Tyler was screaming through the speakers, and I was screaming right along with him, using my imaginary microphone (which was just my fist) to belt out the lyrics with maximum passion.
My eyes were squeezed shut, my head was thrown back, and I was feeling every single vibration of the song in my soul!
"I could stay lost in this moment foreveeeeeer! Every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure!"
I opened one eye to look at my audience.
Gabriel was driving. Both hands were on the wheel at ten and two, perfectly positioned. His face was... well, it was a rock. A handsome, chiseled, very expensive rock. He was staring at the road with laser focus, as if the asphalt was going to jump up and attack us with a math problem.
He was driving so boringly! No head bobbing! No finger tapping! Not even a little lip sync! Huhu! How can anyone resist Aerosmith?! It's scientifically impossible!
"Gabby! Feel the emotion!" I yelled over the guitar solo. Weeer-neeer-neeer!
I leaned over the center console. I couldn't help it! He was just sitting there looking so stoic and grumpy and hot!
I grabbed his arm—his bicep felt like a steel beam under his black dress shirt—and gave it a little shake.
"Don't wanna close my eyes!" I sang directly into his ear, poking his shoulder to the beat. Poke. Poke. Poke.
Gabriel didn't even flinch. He just flexed his muscle slightly, probably to stop me from bruising him with my aggressive poking.
I moved my hand to his chest. Mwehehehe. Right over the spot where my crooked smiley face tattoo lives! I could feel his heart beating steadily underneath. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
"I will never leave you, my love...oh my love~" I announced, transitioning from singing to a dramatic monologue. I patted his chest firmly. "Even in the darkest days. Even if the sun explodes. Even if we run out of pink yarn. Because that is what wives and husbands are for~~"
I reached up and cupped his cheek, squishing his face a little so his lips puckered. He looked like a grumpy fish. Huhu so cute!
"I love you dearly, Gabby," I promised, staring at his profile. "And I will do everything to make you happy! I will be your greatest moral support. When you are sad about logistics, I will be there...When you are stressed about boxes, I will be there...I am your personal cheerleader! Go Gabby, Go!"
Gabriel sighed. It was a long, heavy sigh that seemed to come from the depths of his soul.
He kept his eyes on the road, but his grip on the steering wheel tightened until his knuckles turned white.
"Aleesha," he said. His voice was low and serious. It wasn't his 'I am annoyed' voice. It was his 'I am warning you about dangerous things' voice.
"Yeah?" I blinked, tracing the line of his jaw with my thumb.
"You should never promise those kinds of things," he said quietly.
"Why not?"
"Because," he glanced at me for a split second, his dark eyes shadowed. "You never know what will happen in the future. Circumstances change. People... are revealed. The world is volatile. Promises made in ignorance are often broken by reality."
I frowned. My lips formed a giant pout.
Smack!
I hit his shoulder.
"Ouch," he muttered, though he barely moved.
"You are such a killjoy!" I complained, crossing my arms over my chest. "Here I am, pouring my heart out, being the best wife ever, offering you eternal loyalty and cheerleading services, and you are talking about... variables! And volatility! And breakage!"
Gabriel didn't answer. He just shifted gears, the car engine purring smoothly.
I looked at him. He thinks I'm just saying words. He thinks I'm just a little girl who doesn't understand "circumstances."
Well, maybe I don't know everything! Maybe I don't know how to run a logistics company or how to erase tattoos with lasers. But I know about love! And I know that when you pinky promise, it's forever!
"I don't care!" I declared stubbornly. "I am not changing my statement! We are meant to be together, Gabriel Muratori! No matter how hard the circumstances are! Even if ghosts come back! Even if the world ends! We are glued! Superglued!"
I leaned over the console again.
I grabbed his face with both hands.
Mwah!
I kissed his cheek—hard. And then... CHOMP.
I bit him!
Not hard enough to draw blood (because ew, vampires), but hard enough to leave a mark! Just a little nip on his cheekbone!
"Aleesha!" Gabriel flinched, pulling his head back. He frowned at me, raising a hand to rub his cheek. "Did you just... bite me?"
"Yes!" I giggled. "It's a love bite!"
He shook his head, muttering something that sounded like "Rabid" or "Impossible woman," but he didn't push me away. In fact, the corner of his mouth twitched up just a tiny, tiny bit.
Victory!
★
"Stop! Stop the beast!" I pointed out the window.
The car glided to a stop in front of the city plaza. It was bustling with people, but I only had eyes for one tragedy.
There, sitting at the foot of the giant gloden statue of General Whatever-His-Name-Is, was Stephie.
She looked... awful. Huhu.
She was wearing oversized sunglasses, but I could see the tears streaming down her face. She was slumped over, clutching her purse, looking like the saddest person in the entire universe.
"Stephie!" I unbuckled my seatbelt.
Before Gabriel could even fully stop the car, I hopped out.
"Wait here, Gabby!"
I rushed towards the statue, my sneakers squeaking on the pavement.
"Stephie!"
She looked up. She took off her sunglasses. Her eyes were puffy and red. Her mascara was running down her cheeks like black rivers of sadness.
"Aleesha!" she wailed.
She didn't call me Ali. She called me Aleesha. That means it's serious. That means it's Code Red Emergency.
She threw herself into my arms.
"Oh, Aleesha! My life is over!"
"Shhh, shhh," I hugged her tight, patting her back. "It's not over! You are young! You are beautiful! And I am here! Let's go to the car. My grumpy husband is waiting."
I escorted her to the Aston Martin. Gabriel had unlocked the back door. I shoved a crying Stephie inside.
"Hi, Mr. Gabriel," Stephie sniffled, wiping her nose with a tissue.
Gabriel looked in the rearview mirror. He nodded once, his face impassive. "Stephanie."
"To the spa!" I commanded, hopping into the passenger seat.
Gabriel drove us to "Serenity Now," our favorite spa. He parked the car smoothly in a reserved spot (because of course he has reserved spots everywhere).
I turned to him. Stephie was already climbing out of the back seat, blowing her nose loudly.
I looked at Gabriel. He looked... stressed. The singing. The biting. The crying teenager in the backseat. His hand was hovering near the glove compartment, and I knew exactly what he was reaching for.
His cigarettes.
No way! Not on my watch!
I reached into my pocket. Rustle rustle.
"Nope!" I chirped.
I pulled out a lollipop. A bright pink, strawberry-flavored Hello Kitty lollipop. I slapped it into his hand before he could even open the glove box.
"Here!" I said firmly. "Take this! It is better to suck a lollipop than to puff a cigarette! Cigarettes make your lungs black! Lollipops make you sweet! And look, Hello Kitty is winking at you!"
Gabriel looked down at the candy in his large, lethal hand. He looked at the pink wrapper. He looked at me.
He sighed. "Go," he said, peeling the wrapper off with surprising dexterity. He popped the lollipop into his mouth.
"Good boy!" I patted his head (he hates that, mwehehe). "Wait here! Don't beat up anyone while I'm gone!"
I hopped out of the car and grabbed Stephie's arm.
★
The spa smelled like lemongrass and silence. We got our private room, changed into fluffy robes, and lay down on the massage tables.
"Okay," I said, turning to look at Stephie. "Spill the tea. The whole pot. Don't leave out the boba pearls."
Stephie took a deep, shuddering breath.
"Chad..." she began, her voice trembling with rage and sorrow. "That... that cockroach! That expired milk of a human being!"
"Yes! Drag him!" I encouraged.
"I went to surprise him," she cried. "At the dorms. I brought him cupcakes, Aleesha! Red Velvet! And when I got there... I saw his car. And inside... I saw him and Brittany! Brittany from Chem Lab! The one with the fake eyelashes!"
"Oh no!" I gasped.
"They were... kissing! And... touching!" Stephie sobbed. "And then I saw his phone! He has a second phone, Aleesha! A burner phone! And I unlocked it because his password is just 1234 because he's stupid... and I saw messages! Pictures! Of them! Sexy times!"
"Ewww!" I covered my mouth. "That is disgusting! He is a cheater and a liar!"
Stephie cried harder. "But that's not even the worst part."
She sat up, pulling her robe tighter. She looked around the room, paranoid.
"Aleesha," she whispered. Her voice dropped so low I could barely hear her. "I made a mistake. A very, very, very terrible mistake."
"What?" I leaned in. "Did you kill him?"
"No," she shook her head. "Months ago... Chad... he kept asking me. He kept pressuring me. He gaslighted me, Aleesha! He said if I loved him, I would do it. He said it was for 'us'. He said it was romantic."
My stomach dropped. I knew where this was going.
"He made me... take a video," Stephie whispered, tears leaking from her eyes again. "Of us. Doing... the thing."
I gasped. "NO!"
"Yes!" she wailed softly. "And he promised to delete it! He swore! But he didn't! When I checked his gallery last week... I saw a folder. A private folder. Locked. But I saw the thumbnail, Aleesha. It's still there. He kept it!"
"That monster!" I hissed. "That is blackmail material! That is... that is..."
"He said if I ever leave him or make a scene, he'll leak it," Stephie buried her face in her hands. "He'll send it to the whole campus! My parents... everything will be ruined! I feel so dirty, Aleesha!"
I stared at my best friend. She was shaking. She was terrified.
This wasn't just cheating. This was predation. This was evil.
I remembered.
This wasn't the first time I had to deal with a predator.
I remembered Mr. Samuels.
I looked at Stephie.
"Stephie," I said, my voice serious. "You are not dirty. He is the dirty one. He is garbage. And garbage needs to be taken out."
"But I can't do anything!" Stephie cried. "He has the phone! He keeps it on him all the time!"
"You want the phone?" I asked. "You want the folder deleted?"
"Yes," she sniffled. "I want it gone. Forever. I want him to suffer."
I nodded slowly.
"Consider it done," I declared.
"Really?" Stephie looked at me with hope in her panda eyes. "But... how? He's bigger than us! And he's paranoid!"
I smirked. A mischievous, chaotic smirk.
"He may be big," I said, adjusting my robe like it was a superhero cape. "But he is stupid. And I have resources."
I thought of Gabriel waiting outside. I thought of my own skills. I thought of the Mr. Samuels Case.
"This is my second task," I whispered to myself. "Operation: Delete Chad."
I grabbed Stephie's hands.
"Don't worry, Stephie," I promised. "I will get that phone. I will delete that folder. And I will make Chad wish he never learned how to unlock a screen."
"Thank you, Aleesha," Stephie hugged me.
I looked at the mirror on the wall.
Aleesha Serena Garcia: Wife. Student. Crocheter. And now... Digital Assassin.