18. Gabe
18
GABE
Two more hours, and the end of my shift can’t come soon enough. I feel like I haven’t had any time to breathe this last week, and I feel like I could sleep for days, but that’s not why I am ready for my shift to end. I’m ready because as soon as I get out of here, I’m going straight to Chrissy’s, and we’re working this out.
We can’t keep going like we are, and the truth is, I miss her. I miss talking to her, joking around with her, hell, just being around her. Somehow I need to show her that we can be good with one another. I need to show her that we are meant to be together.
I’m sitting in the dining hall, looking between the clock and the television. Everyone is just hanging out, and I’m praying we don’t get a call in the next two hours. The door to the station opens, and all heads turn.
All the guys get to their feet. “Holden!”
“Go Bears!” someone hollers.
I just stand up and watch as everyone talks to my brother. I’ve gotten used to him being some sort of celebrity. He was the best catcher in the professional league for a long time, plus he’s an amazing guy. He always gets noticed when he goes places, and even though he’s here at the station a lot, the guys still get excited to see him.
When he finally reaches me, he’s smiling, and he hugs me. “How you doing, brother?”
I nod and look around the room. All eyes are still on us, so I gesture to the door. “Want to go outside?”
He nods and talks to a few more guys on his way to the door. I’m shaking my head when he finally gets outside. “You’re a superstar, brother.”
He shrugs. “Not really. I throw a ball. You save lives.”
I point to the lawn chairs that one of the guys had brought and set up out here. “Want to sit? To what do I owe this visit?”
Holden gestures to the mountains in the distance. “Is that something to worry about? ”
I look at the smoky sky. “It’s a brush fire in the mountains. Jasper FD is on scene, and they say it’s almost contained.”
“That’s good,” he comments.
I nod. “Yeah, is that what you came to talk about?”
Holden sits down next to me and leans his elbows on his knees. “So Cat came home telling me how upset Chrissy was after seeing you today, and I thought I should come talk to you.”
I know Chrissy has been through a lot the last week, and I thought with time it would be okay, but it kills me to know she’s upset. “Fuck, I messed up, Holden!”
I stand up and start pacing back and forth. I didn’t think I was messing up, but now I do.
Holden stands up, and the happy lighthearted look is completely gone from his face. “Did you… shit, I don’t even know how to ask you this… did you take advantage of Chrissy?”
I stop, and my mouth drops. “Is that what she thinks? Is that what she’s saying? I knew I should have made her wait. Ledger died, and we were both hurting, and one thing—”
“Gabe, what were you thinking?”
“I love her. ”
He stands up and just looks at me, and I nod my head. “I love her and don’t say like a sister or some shit like that. I mean, I’m crazy in love with her. I want to marry her. I want her to be the mother of my kids. I want to spend the rest of my life with her.”
He hesitates, but it doesn’t look as if he’s surprised. He asks me as if my answer is going to change, “You love her?”
“Of course, I do. You can’t tell me you didn’t know!”
He throws a hand up in frustration. “Well, I thought I knew, but hell, for the last three years you guys have denied, denied, denied, so I wasn’t sure, and then Cat comes home saying you’re seeing someone and—”
“Seeing someone? What the hell are you talking about?”
He points toward the station. “The girl you were with today?”
“Bullshit. She’s new, we work together, and she offered to go with me to pick up food for the guys.”
Holden laughs. “Look, I’m not sure what’s going on, but I did tell Cat that there’s no way you’d hurt Chrissy. You need to fix this.”
“Oh, I will. I have—” I lift my arm and look at my watch. “An hour and twenty-five minutes until my shift is over and then I’m going straight to Chrissy’s.”
He sits back down in his chair. “Listen, you're my brother, I support you, but you gotta handle this. This is our family you’re messing with.”
“I’m not messing with anything. I promise I’ll fix this.”
He searches my face and then nods his head. “Okay.”
Holden and I hang out until it’s time for me to clock out, and then I drive across town to Chrissy’s house. I barely put my truck into park before I jump out and run up to the front door. I knock almost frantically, and Chrissy comes to the door. “Gabe! What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
She’s blocking the door, and I gesture inside. “Can I come in?”
She moves to the side, and I walk past her, not stopping until I’m inside her house and across the room. I know I need to keep some distance because we need to talk, and if I put my hands on her, it’s over. I need her more now than I ever have.
She has on short shorts and a tank top without a bra, and her hair is up in a high ponytail. She looks beautiful, and I clench my hands at my sides .
When I don’t say anything, she looks at me worriedly. “Gabe, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”
I look at her and only now notice her red-rimmed eyes, swollen lips, and red nose. “Have you been crying?”
She shrugs without answering.
I take a step toward her. “Answer me. Have you been crying?”
She just purses her lips and stares at me.
“Chrissy, I’m not dating Lainey.”
She gasps, and I continue. “I’m not interested in her. She wanted to go with me to pick up the food, that was it. She’s new, and I was showing her the ropes.”
Finally, she responds. “Our family talks too much.”
I take another step toward her. “You should have asked me. If you thought something like that, which is insane by the way, you should have talked to me about it. I don’t know how to convince you of this, but I don’t want Lainey.”
Chrissy puts her hand to her chest. “I knew it would hurt, Gabe. I mean, I thought I knew how it would hurt, but I had no idea it would be this bad. And okay, maybe you don’t want her, but there will be some woman, some day, and then—”
I can’t take it another minute. The insecurity on her face is killing me. I take the last few steps and then cup her face in my hands. “You are the woman for me, Chrissy. I love you. I love you. You’re the woman I want.”
I lean in to kiss her, and when she kisses me back, it’s like a shock to my system. We need to talk, but I think we both need this. I pull my lips from hers, and in between kisses, I tell her, “We can’t go on like this.” Kiss. “You can’t avoid me.” I lick that soft spot on the side of her neck, and she moans. I whisper in her ear, “You talk to me if you’re upset.”
I pull back, and she whimpers. “Are you going to talk to me if you’re upset?”
She throws her arms around my neck. “If I tell you yes, will you do something for me?”
I lock my hands at her back and pull her flush against my body. She presses her hips against my erection, and I groan. “You know I will do anything for you.”
She releases her hands from my neck. “Prove it.”
She grabs my hand and pulls me down the hallway. We’re walking into her bedroom when I pull her to a stop. “Honey, we need to talk.”
“I don’t want to talk. I want to make love to you.”
Even though she didn’t say she loves me, hearing her say the “L” word has my heart beating wildly. “Take your clothes off.”
She lifts her chin up defiantly. “You take my clothes off.”
I don’t waste any time removing her clothes. When she’s naked, I lift her up in my arms and lie down on the bed with her. I lift her chin to look at me. “You are so beautiful, Chrissy. I could look at you like this all day, every day.”
Her smile practically lights up her face. “Oh yeah, well, I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
I frown. So help me if she tells me this is only for one night or some shit like that, I’m going to lose my mind. “Why not?”
She smirks. “Because eventually I’m going to have to go to work, and I don’t think my birthday suit would align with the hospital's dress code.”
I let my hand slide down and palm her breast, flicking my finger across her nipple. “Plus, I would have to cut out any man’s eyes that looked at you. ”
Her smile gets bigger, and I tug on her nipple. “You like that, don’t you? You like that I’m jealous.”
She hisses out a breath. “I do because then I don’t feel so bad that I’m jealous of all your women.”
I trace my finger in circles around her nipple. “I don’t have any women… just you.”
She rolls her eyes. “You obviously don’t see all the women ogling you.”
I can’t stop the smile, and she smacks me on the chest. “You like that, do you? You like knowing that women ogle you?”
I push her to her back and then stand up. As I remove my clothes, she watches my every movement. “I don’t like that other women ogle me. I like it that you look at me. I like that you don’t like it that other women look at me.”
She goes up on her elbows to watch me, and I take down my pants and underwear in one swoop. My cock is hard, pointing right at her, and she’s practically salivating looking at me. “Turn over.”
“No.”
I’m not sure if I’m going to like this game she’s playing. “What do you mean no?”
She sits up. “I mean I want to touch you, Gabe. I didn’t get to last time, and I’ve thought about it ever since. I told myself if I ever had the chance, I’d—”
She stops, and I hold my breath. “You’d what?”
She lifts her head. “I’d taste you this time.”
Fuck me. Blood rushes to my cock, and I feel like I’m almost delirious. I shake my head. “I’m sorry, did you just say you want to taste me?”
She nods and gets off the bed, sliding to the floor in front of me. She circles her hand around my cock and grips me.
My hips surge forward, and she kisses my tip. When she licks along my length, I groan until she takes me in her mouth, and then I lose all sense of reality. She sucks me in, stroking me with her tongue, and I can barely contain myself. My hips pump even though I try to keep them under control.
She smacks my thigh. “Don’t hold back from me, Gabriel Gray.”
She sucks me in, and when I hit the back of her throat, she swallows, taking me deeper. I tangle my hand in her hair and gently tug until she pops off my cock.
She looks up at me with arousal in her eyes and swollen lips.
“I need to be inside you, baby. ”
She hesitates and I pick her up off the floor and then lay her face-down on the bed. She tries to lift up, but I hold her down with a hand to her back.
Her eyes widen as she looks at me over her shoulder. “But…”
I shake my head. “You trust me?”
She nods, and I tell her, “Good. Because I want to see this ass, Chrissy.”
I groan seeing her plump bare ass. I can’t stop myself from palming her cheek and squeezing it and then giving it a slap. She lets out a grunt but turns her head to smile at me. “I didn’t know you were a butt guy.”
I grab both her cheeks in my hands. “I like your butt.”
After another smack, she widens her legs, and her cunt is dripping for me. I pull her toward me, until her legs are hanging off the side of the bed. I slide my thumb through her slit and then up by her ass, and she twitches.
“Gabe!” she admonishes me.
I can’t resist touching her. “Don’t worry, honey. One day, I’m going to take you here too, but right now, I need inside that pussy.”
“Gabe!” she says, surprised.
I lean over her and whisper in her ear, “I need to be inside you, baby, and when I take your ass, I need to take it slow. I can’t go slow tonight. You’ve kept your pussy from me for too many days. I don’t want to wait.”
She sticks her butt out, and my cock lies along her crevice. I kiss down her back. When I get to her butt, I kiss and gently nip at her skin, and then I squat down and kiss her, stroking my tongue through her slit.
“Gabe,” she pleads with me.
I lift up and wrap my hand around my girth. I line my cock up at her entrance and slowly enter her. I try to take it slow and give her time to adjust, but she’s not having it. She rears her hips back, taking me deep, and gasps.
When I’ve impaled her with my cock, I have to grab her hips and hold her still before she slams into me again. I need to slow this down.
But she keeps pumping, and I can’t hold back. I reach around her and stroke her clit with my finger. Two more pumps and I’m not sure which of us orgasms harder. My thrusts become erratic, and her groans get louder.
When we’re both satiated, I lean over her and try to catch my breath. I whisper into her ear, “You’re mine, Chrissy. I hope you know that.”