9. Gabriel
GAbrIEL
Gabriel woke on Monday morning still feeling rough from two days of drinking in a row.
It had been a long flight home, and he hadn’t been able to get any sleep, so his body clock was out of whack as well.
Gabriel had felt guilty leaving Bobby at Heathrow, but what was he supposed to do?
The others, including his sister and her tribe of hens, would be returning today, although they wouldn’t get back until later.
He wasn’t back at work until Wednesday, and nobody knew he’d come home early.
There was no way he was letting Jason and Dexter know, they’d be knocking on his door immediately.
He’d been right in that sleeping next to Bobby had been torture, although he had fallen asleep and woken up being spooned by the man who’d been about to become his brother-in-law.
That could still happen. It was possible Alex would come to her senses and realise she’d never find a guy better than Bobby Kavanagh, and he might forgive her.
Did Gabriel want that? He wanted his sister to be happy, of course he did, but he would never do what she did if he had someone like Bobby as his partner.
Gabriel would never do it to anyone. But they’d always been different.
He was faithful and loyal, so was perpetually single.
His sister was the complete opposite and had been in relationships back to back since she was sixteen.
Being spooned by Bobby had felt incredible, and he’d indulged himself by enjoying it for a while.
Eventually, he’d pulled himself out of Bobby’s hold without waking him.
He’d said he thought Gabriel would make “some guy” happy one day.
It was sweet of him to say that, but it wasn’t what Gabriel wanted to hear.
It was another reminder that he and Bobby would never be anything.
Maybe he should set some dates up again.
After the disasters in early January, he hadn’t been back on the apps.
Getting out of bed, he walked into his kitchen and put the kettle on.
He’d stopped to get some milk and bread last night on the way back from the airport, and he’d booked a shopping delivery slot for lunchtime so he’d be stocked up before he went back to work.
There would be questions from the others, and he wasn’t sure what to tell them.
Jason and Dexter were his best friends, but it wasn’t his business to share what had happened with anyone else.
Before he could overthink things, he headed for the shower.
Hopefully, that would clear his head. The tea and toast for breakfast could wait.
He needed to do something. The last thing he wanted to do was sit here all day, with his brain conjuring up drama.
Maybe he should speak to someone, and there was only one obvious answer who that could be.
“What’s with all the secrecy?” asked Dexter, sitting opposite Gabriel after he’d given him a hug.
“Nothing secret. I just need someone calm.”
Dexter snorted. “Can I be there when you say that to his face?”
Gabriel couldn’t help but laugh. He loved Jason, but he could be a lot.
In a professional setting, he was a brilliant leader, but if you were his friend, then he wanted to butt into your personal life all the time.
It had gotten worse since he’d met Patrick.
Jason had been a bit of a tart before he’d met the older man.
Seeing his boss command a room of C-suite leaders and then be all bratty with his daddy was a bizarre contrast, but whatever made Jason happy was good by him.
In Gabriel’s view, nobody deserved their perfect man more than Jason, given all the shit he’d been through in his life.
It was mid-afternoon. Gabriel had spent the morning doing every domestic chore he could think of to keep himself distracted and then put the shopping away.
He hated not knowing what was going on, but he also knew nothing was going to happen until everyone was back in the UK later today, so it might even be tomorrow before the shit hit the fan.
Gabriel did not know how his parents were going to react to the news.
They were both fond of Bobby, but his dad was blinkered with Alex.
His sister could do no wrong in their father’s eyes.
“Obviously, we came home early,” said Gabriel.
“We?”
“Me and Bobby.”
“Gabriel, please tell me you didn’t . . .”
“No, nothing like that. Look, this has to stay between us. It’s not that I don’t trust Jason, but the fewer people who know the better.”
“Of course. I won’t say a word.”
“My sister’s been cheating on Bobby with his best friend, Dillon.”
“What the fuck?”
“I know. It’s a big mess. And I think most of his friends knew about it as well. I know for a fact some of them do.”
“How?”
“I overheard them talking about it in the pool.”
“And you’re the one who told Bobby?”
“No, Dillon was shouting his mouth off at me, and Bobby overheard.”
Gabriel felt his face heating at the memory. Dillon had also called Gabriel out on how he felt about Bobby. Had he overheard that part as well? He hadn’t said anything, so hopefully not. If Bobby knew how Gabriel felt about him, he’d never be able to look the man in the eyes again.
“What’s got you all flushed?” asked Dexter.
“I don’t get flushed.”
“I’ve known you a long time, Gabriel. You might not go red like this ginger does,” he said, pointing to himself. “But I can tell when you’re all hot and bothered.”
“Dillon knows how I feel about Gabriel. What if he’s told my sister?”
“Anyone with eyes can see you’re into Bobby. It doesn’t mean you’re going to act on it, does it?”
“Of course not, he’s with my sister.”
“Not anymore, from the sound of it. Does that change things?”
“Bobby’s straight.”
“I know better than most that sexuality isn’t that simple.”
Dexter was pansexual, and Gabriel had seen his friend in relationships with many people over the years, but none had made him as happy as he was with their former boss, Simon.
They might all have disliked him intensely when they first met him, but he was good for Dexter.
He treated him like an equal, but also took charge when needed.
Given Dexter’s history, he’d needed to grow up quickly and be an adult long before he was supposed to.
It was good for Dexter to have someone who looked out for him.
“Even if that were a possibility, he wouldn’t be interested in someone like me,” said Gabriel.
“Why not?”
“The man is a Greek god.”
“You’re hot, Gabriel.”
He flushed at the compliment, but that was what friends were supposed to say. He took a sip of his coffee. They’d met out of the way of the office, so no one they knew would see them. Knights Corner had not been an option, especially as Langdon seemed to be Jason’s personal spy.
“This is a pointless conversation,” said Gabriel.
“Why did you want to speak to me?”
“I don’t want to lose Bobby as a friend, but how can I do that to my sister? I don’t agree with what she did, but I can’t turn my back on her.”
“Of course you can’t. What’s this Dillon guy like?”
“A prick”
Dexter chuckled. “Anything else?”
“He’s probably got a massive dick.”
Dexter cracked up laughing. “What makes you think that?”
“He’s a short arse, looks like a shovel hit him in the face, and does not know how to style his hair. Then look at Bobby. The guy is literal perfection, and he hardly has a small dick, so Dillon must be huge.”
“Something you want to tell me, Gabriel?” Dexter said with a smile.
“What do you . . . fuck!”
“Come on, you can’t leave me hanging now. How do you know Bobby has a big dick?”
“I don’t. I just saw him in his boxers and, you know, I had a look at the bulge.”
“You’re not telling me everything, but I’ll let it go for now. How did you leave things with him?”
“How do you mean?”
“Did you agree to speak, or to meet up?”
“Why would we do that?”
“You just said you want to be friends with him.”
“Why are you saying it like that?”
Dexter leaned forward, his voice a whisper, but still with that deep tone he had. “If he said, ‘Gabriel, I want to fuck you so hard you won’t be able to walk for a week,’ what would you say to that?”
Gabriel felt his whole body pulse with desire, imagining Bobby saying that to him. If that happened, he’d be on all fours with his arse in the air like an alley cat before he finished the sentence.
“I think I’ve made my point,” said Dexter, sitting back in his chair and picking up his own coffee.
“I’m not sure I chose the right person for advice,” grumbled Gabriel.
“You don’t need advice from me. It’s obvious you’re still into him, and that’s not the issue. You haven’t acted on it for the past two years, so you can be friends and keep all those dirty thoughts to yourself.”
“Piss off,” he said, unable to stop himself laughing.
“You should talk to him, though.”
“And say what?”
“How are you doing after your best friend fucked your fiancé and ruined your life would be a starting point.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes. He was hardly going to phrase it like that.
Besides, he knew the answer to the question.
Bobby had been devastated by the betrayal.
That his friends knew as well had to be even worse.
It wasn’t just the two people closest to him keeping a secret, but others as well.
He’d known those guys since uni, so over a decade.
There was no way Gabriel could continue being friends with someone who’d betrayed him like that, but then he wasn’t Bobby.
He might have the heart to forgive people.
Gabriel wasn’t sure how, but people could surprise you sometimes.
“I’m not sure how I say that I still want to be friends, and not make it weird,” said Gabriel.
“You don’t need to put it like that. Just be there as he goes through this. The friendship will be a given.”
“What if Alex asks me to choose?”
“Then she’s a bitch.”
Gabriel snorted. Typically, he would defend his sister when anyone said anything bad about her.
But Dexter wasn’t wrong. He couldn’t believe what she’d done, and who she’d done it with.
She worked with Dillon, so it’s obvious that’s how it had happened, but he’d never heard Alex talk about him.
It was always Bobby she spoke about, and how wonderful he was.
Gabriel may have memorised all his perfect traits from what his sister had shared, but he wouldn’t be sharing that knowledge with anyone.
“Maybe I’ll leave it until the weekend,” said Gabriel.
“Why? Like you said, everyone is back later. Do you think it’s all going to wait another three days before anything blows up?”
Gabriel shook his head. He wasn’t sure who was going to pull the trigger later, but someone would. This wasn’t something that could stay quiet for long.
“I have a feeling my sister will try something so she doesn’t appear bad.”
“What can she say, given what she did?”
Before he could respond, his phone beeped. Gabriel looked at the message, and his stomach plummeted.
Bobby: We need to talk.