Chapter 3
“How was the car ride?” Liberty tried to pull Gabriel in for a hug. She took them when she could get them, and they weren’t often. Gabriel wasn’t one for physical touch and right now, he shied away.
That could mean a variety of things and she tried not to read anything into it.
“Fun,” he said.
“Hey, Gabriel,” Miles called. “Want to work on the golf cart with me?”
“Yeah.” Gabriel took off running like a kid in a candy store, not bothering to say goodbye to Charlie.
Which was uncharacteristic, even for Gabriel.
She glanced over her shoulder and watched, her heart in her throat, as Miles and Gabriel strolled toward Miles’ garage. Miles was so good at gauging Gabriel’s emotions, or lack of them.
He knew when he could touch and when he couldn’t.
And he understood this wasn’t the time to even offer a squeeze of the shoulder.
“Did something happen?” She turned her attention back to Charlie.
“Nope.” Charlie leaned against the sports car. “Who is that guy to you? Are you sleeping with him? I hope not.”
“Even if I was, I’m not your wife, so that would be none of your business.” She folded her arms. “We need to talk.”
“I agree,” Charlie said. “I’ve had enough of this little temper tantrum you’ve been throwing. I never should have signed those divorce papers. I thought if I gave you some space, you’d come to your senses, but this has gotten out of hand. It’s time for you to come home. Where you belong.”
She blinked. “Excuse me? Did you honestly believe I’d go through the trouble of divorcing only to take you back a few months later?”
“We went through a tough time. Perhaps we both needed space. Now it’s time for us to reconnect.”
“No, Charlie. It’s time for you to leave me alone.”
He pushed from his car and put his hands on her forearms. “Come on, babe. This is ridiculous. How long are you going to make me pay for one mistake?”
“One mistake?” She shrugged free. “Try a dozen and I’m not even going to get into that with you. Come here one more time and I’m calling the cops. And don’t even try to get to me through Gabriel. You need to stop contacting him. He’s not your brother. He’s nothing to you and stop acting like he is.”
“I see that asshole over there has been putting ideas in your head. I know who his mother is.”
“Miles, or his family, has nothing to do with this. I’m tired. I’ve tried playing nice. Not just for Gabriel, but because I saw no point in making a spectacle of what happened.” She poked him dead center in the chest. Something she wouldn’t have dared do in the past. “I did that for your parents and your father’s business. I let everyone in Palm Beach believe I was the bitch who left you high and dry. I don’t care that everyone still believes that. You can go back to your nice cushy life and leave me the fuck alone.”
“I see your foul language has come back.”
“It never fucking left me.” She pointed to his car. “Now leave, or I call the cops tonight. Your choice.”
Charlie leaned closer. “You’re making a mistake.”
“The only mistake I ever made was not doing this sooner.” Damn, this felt way too good.
Charlie opened the driver’s side door and smiled. “I give you a month tops before you’re begging me to take you back.” He climbed into his sports car and peeled out of the driveway.
“Never going to happen, asshole.” She tugged at her ponytail and released her hair, letting it flow over her shoulders. She gave it a good shake, before turning on her heel and heading toward Miles’ garage.
She owed him big-time for giving her the courage to do what deep down she knew she needed to. Dealing with Gabriel, however, might have to come in stages. She’d start slow, telling him some truths. She had to because Charlie wasn’t going to be in their lives anymore and she owed it to her little brother to be honest.
Leaning against the opening of the garage, she smiled at the sight of her little brother leaning over the engine of the golf cart with a wrench in his hands and a towel over his shoulder.
“I know it’s late, and the sun has already set, but are you boys hungry?” she asked.
“I’m starving.” Gabriel stood. He looked so much like their father with his dark hair and blue eyes. But he’d gotten shortchanged in the height department. Their dad had been six-three and Gabriel only stood five foot ten.
Liberty took after their mother with her long blond hair, but she also had blue eyes. Height-wise, she was only five-five, whereas their mother had been five-seven.
She often wondered where in the world her parents ended up after they left Palm Beach, shamed for having a son with such a disability.
Assholes.
They didn’t deserve to be parents of such a special man.
Her heart tightened. At one time, her father had a soft spot for Gabriel. Or at the very least, he would spend time with the boy. He would play games at night while he waited for his wife to get ready for whatever party they were going to attend that evening.
When she was ready, he’d stand up and tell his son he’d see him tomorrow and Gabriel would accept that small amount of attention from the man he called dad. But his mother wouldn’t even acknowledge his existence, and that always did a number on Gabriel.
“Good, because I made your favorite,” she said.
“Lasagna? With sausage?” Gabriel rocked back and forth, something he did when things troubled him.
Damn Charlie. What the hell had happened in that car ride?
“I sure did.” She smiled. “What about you, Miles? Or did you fill up on wedding food?”
“I’d never turn down a home-cooked meal.” He placed his screwdriver in the toolbox. One thing she noticed about Miles was he liked things neat. Organized. His auto shop was about the cleanest garage she’d ever seen. “But I don’t want to intrude.”
“You’re not,” she said. “Gabriel, go wash up. We’ll be in shortly.”
“Okay.” Carefully, he placed his wrench where it belonged and scoffed off toward their home.
Miles sat on the hood of the golf cart and wiped his hands on a towel. “While I want to ask you how that went, I need to tell you something first.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“And I don’t like breaking that man’s confidence.”
“It’s interesting that you’re always calling him a man when most call him a boy,” she whispered, unsure of why she decided to call him out on that distinction.
“I’ve called him a boy before because he does have childlike qualities. But ultimately, he’s twenty-two and that’s a man. He deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.” Miles ran his fingers through his thick, dark hair. “Gabriel said something a little disturbing while you were having your chat with Charlie.”
“And what was that?”
“It appears that Charlie is digging for information about me.” Miles lifted his hand. “That’s not how Gabriel relayed the conversation. But some of the questions he was asking me I know he didn’t come up with on his own. He pulled out his cell twice because he totally botched one of the things he was trying to ask me.”
“Charlie thought we were fucking.”
Miles pounded his chest and coughed. “That’s not quite how Gabriel put it, but yeah, that was one of them.”
“What did you tell him?”
“The truth.” Miles arched a brow. “That we were friends, but that I liked you and wouldn’t mind taking you out.”
“Fuck,” she mumbled, planting her hands on her hips.
“I take it that I’ve just crashed and burned. Again.”
She laughed. “You do know that I haven’t had three seconds since my conversation with Charlie to talk to Gabriel, so he’s probably inside right now texting Charlie that you’re hot for me. Gabriel is a loyal human and right now, he still has some loyalty for Charlie.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I asked him to keep that to himself because I wanted to ask you proper.” Miles took out his cell and stared at the screen.
God, that pissed her off.
“Eyes up here,” she said.
He glanced up. “Sorry.”
“For the record, it doesn’t. Like I said, Gabriel has a sense of loyalty and he’s being put between a rock and a hard place. Not so much by you, but by that asshole of an ex-husband of mine. I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns around and comes right back.”
Miles waved his cell. “Right now, he’s getting a speeding ticket for doing fifty in a thirty-five by my mother and she’s pissed.”
“Wonderful. You pulled your mother out of her son’s wedding just to piss off Charlie because you could.”
Miles pushed from the golf cart and inched closer. “No. Actually, I didn’t. My brother’s wedding was broken up because there was a three-alarm fire outside of town that required Jameson and basically all hands on deck. That dick of an ex-husband cut her off and nearly caused an accident. My text to Chris had nothing to do with it because he was already at the scene.”
“Oh.”
“I don’t have to come over for dinner if you’d rather have a conversation with Gabriel. But I didn’t want you to go into it without knowing what Charlie was fishing for.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t have laid into you that hard.”
“It’s okay. I get it. I know this isn’t easy for you.” He traced her jawline with his finger.
“How did you get to be so understanding about someone like Gabriel?” she asked with her breath stuck in the center of her chest.
“That’s a story for another day.” His lips were so close she could feel his hot breath tingle against her skin. His mouth covered hers in a sweet, tender kiss. It started slow, building with intense heat that crawled across her body like hot lava flowing from a volcano. It was the kind of kiss that promised all the passion and desire in the world.
It was a dangerous kiss and one she should end.
Along with this dance she was doing with Miles. They could be neighbors. And friends. But not this.
She fisted his shirt and pushed, blinking her eyes open.
He licked his lips and smiled.
Her heart tumbled like a bowling ball being hurled down an alley, preparing to hit every single pin for a strike. “Well, if you’re hungry, I’ve got plenty. Maybe you can help me with Gabriel. He responds well to you and Lord knows he’s going to need someone he can trust and he’s going to be angry with me after I tell him Charlie’s not going to be welcome anymore.”
Shit. She was playing with fire and she was going to get burned.
Miles leaned back, raising his wineglass and taking a sip. He generally wasn’t a wine guy, but he could appreciate the flavor and this particular red blend did go well with pasta. Not to mention the company. “That was delicious. Thank you.” The dinner conversation had been light. Airy. Mostly the topic of discussion had either been the auto shop or the golf cart.
But Gabriel hadn’t been his usual chatty self. He loved cars and he knew more about them than he was given credit for. He was a quick study, when someone took the time to try to figure out how he learned and processed information. His reading skills were better than Miles by a long shot, but Gabriel didn’t take verbal instruction as well, and that had made it harder for Miles. They were opposite that way.
But they both thrived in an environment where they could learn by doing and once Gabriel got it, he retained it.
He was a hard worker. He wanted to please Miles and everyone in the shop. Gabriel had drive and determination.
Miles understood that kind of passion in a world that didn’t make sense, and finding that singular place where you fit was hard.
Those days were long gone for Miles, but it didn’t mean he didn’t remember them well.
Liberty pushed her plate to the side and folded her hands on the kitchen table.
The setup of her house was almost identical to Miles’ with an eat-in kitchen in the rear of the house, a family room in the front, and a master bedroom next to that. Then there were two bedrooms upstairs. The only real difference was that her house needed a ton of work. The hardwood floors were a mess, whereas he had refinished his. The walls needed a fresh coat of paint and the stairs squeaked.
All of that, he and his brother Jameson could easily fix.
The outside would take a little more work as all the windows needed to be replaced. Not only were they old, but they weren’t hurricane grade. Jamison’s contacts could get her a really great deal, and he’d like nothing more than to do that for her.
But one thing at a time.
“Gabriel, I need to talk to you about something important,” Liberty said in a soft, tender tone, one that a mother would say to a small child, and for some reason that grated on Miles’ nerves. It wasn’t his place to step between these two siblings. He’d be pissed if someone did that to him and one of his brothers if they didn’t truly understand the dynamics of the relationship.
However, Miles knew two things about Gabriel. One was that he was capable of more than anyone knew. Maybe even his sister, who tended to baby him, though with good reason.
The second was that he didn’t process emotion the same way everyone else did and had to be guided. That wasn’t something that Miles had much experience with.
“Okay.” Gabriel continued to stare at his plate, pushing a few pieces of food around.
“It’s a difficult topic and might be unsettling,” Liberty continued.
“Are we moving again?” Gabriel jerked his head.
“No. No. Honey. It’s not that. But I’ve made a hard decision. It involves you and I wanted to tell you. I thought having Miles here might help with the transition.”
Oh boy. While Miles could understand the gentle touch and the kind, soft tone, he couldn’t get behind the way she spoke to him. It was as if she were talking to a two-year-old, which he wasn’t. But it all came back to Miles’ lack of understanding how Gabriel dealt with his raw emotions. So, Miles would have to sit back and let this one play out for now.
Gabriel placed both hands on the table and rocked back and forth, as if he were preparing himself for the worst.
Miles had seen this behavior before at the shop, twice. The first time had been when a customer, who hadn’t been made aware of Gabriel’s special circumstances, became abrupt and spoke tersely. Miles had been terrified he was going to have to call Liberty at work, but he’d been quickly able to redirect Gabriel. It hadn’t been that difficult to do, and he certainly didn’t coddle the man. At least not with his tone or demeanor. He spoke to him the same way he would any other person. The only difference was he didn’t expect Gabriel to just get over it. Miles knew that wasn’t possible. Instead, he spent time under the hood with Gabriel until Gabriel calmed down to the point he could focus on something else. It had taken a good forty-five minutes. But it was well worth it to see Gabriel excel and move past a trying situation.
Liberty rose, moved to the other side of the table, and sat down next to her brother, resting her hand over his, holding them and rubbing her fingers over his palms. “Gabriel. I didn’t mean to frighten you. We just need to make a few changes and I know change can be hard for you.”
Gabriel sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly but didn’t stop rocking. He kept his gaze on his water glass and didn’t say a word.
“I’ve asked Charlie to stop coming around. He’s not my husband and it’s time for me to have a clean break.” She leaned forward. “I’m sorry this affects you, but I can’t have you spending time with him either. It’s going to be an adjustment, but we have each other.”
“You don’t want me to see him or talk to him? Ever?” Gabriel asked.
“I know that’s asking a lot, but yes. It’s time for us to have a fresh start. Just the two of us,” she said.
Gabriel’s chest rose and fell with a huff. “I’m tired and want to go to bed.”
“Is that all you have to say?” Liberty asked. “I know Charlie means a lot to you and I’m not?—”
“I don’t. Want. To. Talk. About it.” Gabriel slammed his hands on the table and stood. He shoved his chair back so hard it fell over. He stomped off through the house and out the front door.
Liberty jumped to her feet and lunged forward. “Gabriel. Come back here.”
Miles stepped in front of her, wrapping his arms around her tiny waist. “Let me go.”
“You don’t know how to handle him when he gets like this.” She glared.
“Let me try.”
“He’s my little brother and he’s… fine, but if he’s self-harming, you have to promise to get me.”
“I will.” Miles squeezed her shoulder before leaning in and kissing her cheek, letting his lips linger longer than he should have, but he wanted her to know he was on her side as much as he was Gabriel’s. He turned and made his way outside where he found Gabriel pacing across the front yard, tugging at his hair and calling himself names.
Damn, that broke his heart.
“Gabriel. Come sit with me.” Miles took a seat on the last two steps of the porch.
“I. Don’t. Want. To. Talk. About it.” Gabriel gave his head a good pound.
Shit. “I don’t either,” Miles said. “And I’m not asking you to tell me anything. Just to come take a load off.”
“Okay.” Gabriel kicked the grass before stomping over, at least with his hands at his sides.
With a big huff, he fell back on the steps. “She treats me like a baby. I’m not a child. I’m a man.”
“That you are.” Miles leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “But are you angry because of how she talked to you or that she told Charlie not to come around anymore?”
“Both,” Gabriel whispered in a small, childlike voice. “But I still don’t want to talk about it.”
“I can’t force you to do that.” Miles rubbed the back of his neck. “However, I’d like to give you some advice.”
“What’s that?”
“I think you should tell your sister that it bothers you when she babies you like that. Let her know that you understand she’s only trying to protect your reactions, but that how she’s doing it makes it worse. That you’d rather she just tell you.”
“It makes me so angry. I get I’m different, but she knows how to really make me feel that way.”
“She loves you and only wants what’s best for you.” Miles gave Gabriel a little punch in the arm. “You know, sometimes when we’re different from others, the people who love us the most, in an attempt to protect us or make things easier for us or even to teach us the hard lessons in life, they do the dumbest things. Trust me, I know a little about that.”
“You’re not different. You’re cool.”
Miles burst out laughing. “I’m glad you think so, but growing up, I wasn’t. I was the dumb kid. The one who all the other kids picked on.” He tapped his temple. “Because I don’t process information the way everyone else does.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“I have a couple learning disabilities that made school incredibly difficult. I had to repeat second grade, putting me in the same grade as my younger brother, Jameson. But it got worse. I flunked most of my classes my junior year and that meant I wasn’t going to graduate with Jameson. Not only wasn’t I down with that, but neither was my mother. Her approach was forcing me into summer school and tutors and drilling it into my head that I was going to be a big fat loser if I didn’t get my shit together.”
“Your mother said that to you?”
Miles cringed at the memory of the words his mom actually used. Twenty-odd years later, his mother looked at him very differently. And his learning disabilities. But back then, she honestly believed someone could wave a magic wand and they’d vanish. If it hadn’t been for Nathan, Seth, and his dad, he’d surely have been a bum. They had been the ones to sit their mom down and get her to agree to let him go to trade school. Becoming a grease monkey had been the best thing that had ever happened to him because it had given him purpose.
He became good at something other than being the dumb kid.
“Pretty much,” Miles said. “Honestly, my mom did mean well, even if it was misguided. She wanted me to be successful in life.”
“But you own your own business.”
Jesus, Gabriel was good for his ego.
“I do. However, it took me a long while to get there between the pressure my mom put on me and the fact I struggled with the way I learn. It wasn’t easy. Sometimes it’s still not.”
Gabriel started rocking.
“You’re not understanding, are you?”
He shook his head.
“Can you do me a favor and take in a few deep breaths? That always helps me relax.”
Gabriel did as Miles asked. The rocking slowed, but it didn’t go away.
Progress, that’s all Miles could ask for.
“You know how you sometimes process emotions differently than your sister. Or me?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Well, it’s like that for me with information. I struggle with reading. I’m dyslexic, among other things.”
“I’ve never heard of that before.”
“It’s a big word to describe someone who sees words on the page different from everyone else. It’s so bad for me, that it’s easier for me to listen to a book. Or to learn by doing something rather than have to try to read it. My mother always believed that in time, I’d simply overcome it.”
“Haven’t you?” Gabriel glanced up.
“Nope. Letters and numbers are still all jumbled on the page. It’s why I almost never deal with the money at the shop and why Trinity has to run the business side of things. It’s why I never became a cop like my brothers because I would have never been able to pass the entrance exam. Add that to something called ADD and what a psychologist would describe as generalized social anxiety, I was lucky to go to trade school and learn how to tinker with cars.”
“But you’re so good at doing that. The best. And you’re good with people.” Gabriel blinked his big blue eyes. “You’re so smart when it comes to all that.”
“I had some good teachers who understood that I didn’t process information the same way. But people. Not so much. I do well with one-on-one situations, but I hate crowds. Despise them,” Miles said. “Your sister totally gets you and how you deal with emotions. I get that she doesn’t always go about talking to you the right way, but cut her a little slack when it comes to Charlie. While she might not want him in her life and you need to respect that, she doesn’t want to hurt you in the process.”
“That does make sense.” Gabriel sighed. “I’m tired. Do you mind if I go to bed now?”
“Not at all. I’ll see you first thing in the morning for work.” Miles held out his fist.
Gabriel pounded it.
Miles leaned back on his elbows and let out a long breath. While he got Gabriel to understand his sister meant well and that maybe a conversation might be in order, Miles still had no idea what had upset the man in the first place.
And it wasn’t being spoken to like a child because it wasn’t that bad. Not to mention that it was all in the tone because of his emotions. Change the tone, and he wouldn’t feel like he was being treated differently.
But that was all beside the point.
Charlie had put Gabriel between a rock and a hard place and that was what had gotten Gabriel upset.
The floorboards rattled under his ass. He turned his head. “Hey,” he said, staring at Liberty’s sexy legs as she made her way down the steps.
He’d been instantly attracted to her from the moment he’d laid eyes on her two months ago. Lots of women turned his head, but not like Liberty and that was odd. He never went for women who had baggage and he could tell just by looking at her that she carried a few suitcases full.
For an entire month, he admired her from a distance while he got to know Gabriel. He sort of felt like a shithead for doing that. But then in walked her asshole ex-husband, reminding him of why he didn’t do women with a checkered past.
Only, he couldn’t keep his distance if he tried.
And he hadn’t tried all that much.
“I owe you an apology.” Liberty stretched out her legs.
“For what?”
“Eavesdropping.” She smiled sheepishly.
He shook his head. “Didn’t trust that I could calm him down?”
“Maybe.”
“I’ve told you about every issue he’s had at work.” Slowly, he rose. “I said I wouldn’t meddle. But fuck it. You’ve got to stop treating him like a child.” He held up his hand. “Stop coddling him. He’s been dealing with who he is for as long as you have. He’s got some coping skills. Let him use them and when he’s off the deep end, redirect.”
“He’s my brother.” She raised her hands and slapped them on her legs. “I love him and I watched him cry for months after our parents abandoned him. And again after I told him Charlie and I were getting divorced. I hate hurting him this way. So excuse me if I want to ease that pain for him and absorb it on myself.” She let out a long breath. “It’s not that I didn’t trust you. I wouldn’t be sending him off to work with you if I didn’t. There’s an adult program one town over that deals with adults on the low end of the spectrum, but I know he’s higher functioning than that and I didn’t want to do that to him. It’s what Charlie’s family did and honestly, Gabriel hated it.”
“Then why did you listen in on a private conversation?” Miles cocked his head.
“It started off as simply watching, but I became fascinated by how quickly you got Gabriel to sit with you. Not many people can do that. And then there was the conversation.” She tucked her hair behind her ears. “I have to know. Was all that stuff true?”
“Jesus. You honestly think I’d make that up?” He raked his fingers through his hair. “Don’t answer that. It’s late and I’m tired. I’ll see Gabriel at six for breakfast since I know you have the early shift.” He spun on his heel and strolled across the yards to his home. He no longer had the bandwidth to deal with her, or his attraction to her, a second longer.