CHAPTER 22
GAbrIEL
Gabriel was back in the office for the first time this week. He’d been planning to work at home on Tuesday, so had kept to that plan, even though he’d been off on Monday. Jason knew about him and Bobby now, but perhaps he would keep his opinion to himself.
“We’re going out for an emergency team meeting,” said Jason when Gabriel arrived at his desk.
Perhaps not! “Who are we?”
“The Three Queerketeers.”
“We appear to be missing one.”
“He’s meeting us there.”
“Where?”
“Just leave your shit and let’s go.”
Gabriel laughed. “I see we’re role-modelling leadership skills this morning.”
Jason ignored him and started walking. Realising he had no choice, he left his bag on his preferred desk and followed Jason. He pulled his phone out and sent a text to Bobby.
Gabriel: The other Queerketeers have summoned me for an emergency meeting. Pray for me! xx
Bobby: Let me know if you need rescuing xx
Gabriel: I’m not sure it’ll be safe for you xx
Bobby: I can be your bodyguard xx
Gabriel: Against Jason? xx
Bobby: Good point. I’ll pray for you! xx
Gabriel laughed as he stepped into the lift. Jason raised an eyebrow. His blue eyes stared at him intently, but they were sparkling with mischief. The likely outcome of this morning would be a grilling about him and Bobby, with a side order of delicious breakfast.
Once they were on the ground floor, they walked out onto Bishopsgate.
Jason was in the lead, and Gabriel guessed where they were heading.
There was a café that had been around for decades.
Modern buildings and shops had gone up around it, but Joey’s Café had not changed since the eighties.
The food was top tier, though, so it was always packed.
Walking in, Gabriel saw Dexter already had a table, which explained why he hadn’t been in the office.
“What do you want?” asked Jason.
“I’ll have a sausage and egg roll and a cup of tea.”
“Usual for you, Dexter?”
He nodded.
“Right, sit, and do not speak about anything until I get back,” said Jason.
Gabriel and Dexter both laughed. Jason could be demanding, but he hated to miss out on gossip.
“What has he told you?” asked Gabriel.
“I’m following orders and saying nothing.”
Gabriel snorted before banging his head on the table.
“None of that,” said Jason. “Spill it. How long have you been fucking him? And what happened with Sergio?”
Gabriel jerked his head up and checked that nobody had overheard. This was London, so most people were oblivious to other humans, but there was a high probability of seeing a colleague in here.
“It only happened this weekend. Sergio was a nice guy, but he’s not . . . he’s not Bobby.”
“Well, that’s kind of sweet,” said Dexter.
“Simon has made you soft,” said Jason.
“And how was Daddy Patrick this morning?”
Jason glared at him. Gabriel couldn’t stop himself from laughing, which resulted in more glaring.
“Look, it all happened over the weekend, and we’re still working things out, so no interfering from you two. I don’t want him scared off. And yes, before you ask, we’ve had sex.”
“He called you his ‘sexy husband’ and kissed you on the forehead. That’s romantic, not just him wanting to nail you.”
“Why can’t he do both?”
Jason chuckled. “Did he live up to your very high expectations?”
“Yes, he did . . . several times.”
Jason squealed, which startled a woman standing behind them.
This made them all laugh, and she moved away from them in a huff.
Knowing he wasn’t going to get out of it, he shared the juicy details with his two best friends, leaving out his feelings.
He didn’t need to confirm what they already knew; he was head over heels in love with Bobby Kavanagh.
Gabriel’s day went past in a blur. Jason hadn’t brought up Gabriel being off sick on Monday, so he hadn’t either.
He was certain Jason had thrown a sickie before, and probably to spend the day in bed with Patrick.
Dexter had definitely done it with Simon, as he’d told Gabriel.
The three of them were excellent HR role models!
It was mid-afternoon, and he was at his desk, focused on completing a dashboard when he got a Teams message from reception saying someone was there asking for him.
He had nothing in his diary, and it was rare for people to randomly show up to speak to him without getting in touch first. There was no guarantee he would even be in the office today.
When he asked who it was, he was shocked to learn it was his mother.
He rushed out to reception as quickly as he could.
“Mum, is everything okay?”
She was dressed up, so perhaps she was going somewhere. He hadn’t seen or spoken to her in weeks.
“Everything’s fine, but I need to talk to you. Is there somewhere private we can go?”
“Give me a second.”
He walked over to Lucy at reception and asked if any of the client rooms were free, as they were the closest.
“Twelve sixty is free. I’ll book it for you. How long will you need?”
He shrugged, having no idea what his mum wanted to talk to him about.
“I’ll book it until five. Most of the other rooms are free from four so there won’t be any problems Use it as long as you need to.”
He thanked her and took his mum to the room, asking if she wanted a coffee on the way from the barista station they had in the office. She ordered a flat white, and they said they’d bring it in. Gabriel didn’t want a coffee, but he grabbed a glass of water as soon as they were in the room.
“Gabriel, I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you,” said his mum, choking up.
He pulled her into a hug, smelling her flowery perfume.
He’d missed her hugs so much. Gabriel knew they needed to talk about why she’d believed Alex over him, but she was apologising, so something must have happened.
That made him concerned about Alex. Given how she’d been the last time he’d seen her, he wasn’t sure why he was considering her feelings at all, but he couldn’t help it.
She was still his sister, and he’d always love her.
“What’s happened?” he asked, the two of them taking a seat.
“Your sister showed us the note Bobby wrote for you.”
“You mean the private note she and Dillon took after barging into my home?”
“Gabriel, don’t get yourself worked up,” she said, taking hold of his hand. “Your sister has never been the sharpest tool in the box for common sense.”
Gabriel chuckled. If anyone else said that about Alex, his mum would be quick to jump to her defence, but she could slag off her children as much as she wanted.
“The note was clear that whatever was going on between you and Bobby was new. It referred to a ‘first date,’ and she said the note had been written that morning.”
“It was.”
“See what I mean? Anyone with some street smarts would have said it was an old note and more proof that you two had been together for months behind her back.”
“Or you could just have believed me.”
“I know, sweetheart, we’ve been so shitty to you.”
Gabriel gasped. His mother rarely swore. She was smiling, which made him laugh.
“What does Dad make of it?”
“He believes you aren’t the reason Alex and Bobby broke up, but he refuses to believe she’s in the wrong. He’s not keen on Dillon, though.”
“What do you think of him?”
“Don’t trust him as far as I could throw him. Even if what they’re saying is true, what kind of person gets together with their best friend’s ex-fiancé a few weeks after they broke up?”
“Well, you could apply the same opinion to me.”
“Are you going to tell me what happened there?”
“It’s new. It only happened this weekend. I don’t want to jinx it before it’s even started.”
“Because you love him, and have done for a while?”
He nodded, getting tearful, and she gripped his hand again.
“You do like to put yourself through the wringer, don’t you?”
“I can’t help how I feel about him.”
“Of course you can’t. I saw it ages ago, but I knew you wouldn’t act on it. That’s not you. It’s why I was so shocked when I heard you’d got married. I couldn’t believe you’d do something like that to anyone, let alone your own sister.”
“That was just a silly drunken mistake. We didn’t even think it was legally binding, or we would have tried to get it annulled when we were still there.”
“Maybe it was fate.”
Gabriel snorted. “You think everything is fate.”
“It was fate for me and your dad.”
“He came round to fix your plumbing. That’s more like a plot from a porn film than a romance book.”
“Cheeky sod.” She was smiling.
It was a running joke Gabriel and Alex had made for years.
Given they’d met young, when his dad was still an apprentice, they weren’t as up on the half a dozen recycled porn scripts, so they thought how they’d met was really romantic.
Thankfully, they’d seen the funny side when their kids had told them.
Their friends had confirmed they’d thought the same for years but had said nothing.
His mum’s coffee was brought in at that moment, giving Gabriel a minute to think. Was it fate for him to end up with Bobby? If so, then the fate gods certainly liked to put you through a lot of drama first.
“Bobby’s a good man,” said his mum when they were alone again.
“The best.”
“Just remember, you’ve had feelings for him for a long time. It’s still new to him. Don’t put him under unfair pressure. Just see what happens.”
“And you don’t have the same issue with Alex and Dillon?”
“It’s different. Dillon reminds me of a furtive little weasel. Bobby is like a golden retriever.”
He laughed at her description. She wasn’t wrong about either of them.
“Besides, I was looking forward to having Bobby as a son-in-law.”
“I think we’re a long way away from something like that.”
“Isn’t he technically already my son-in-law?”
Gabriel laughed with her, but he couldn’t help wondering if perhaps one day he would marry Bobby again. This time maybe he’d remember it, though, and be able to tell the man how much he loved him.
“What are we going to do about your sister?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure I’m ready to forgive her yet, but we need to get her away from Dillon.”
“Why? I mean, I agree, but why have you got that ‘big brother’ look on your face you always had when anyone hurt her as a kid?”
“I’m going to play you something, and you’ll see why.”
He took out his phone and played the recording of his conversation with Dillon.
Gabriel watched her closely. His mother rarely got angry.
She kept control of her emotions. Gabriel was like her in regard to getting angry, although he cried at anything.
Something else he seemed to have in common with Bobby.
“Can you send that to me. I think your father needs to hear this.”
“They’ll just deny it and say we faked it with voice cloning.”
“Your father doesn’t have a clue about all that. Give me a couple of days to come up with a plan.”
“Why does that sound terrifying?”
She laughed, but then her serious face was back. “We can’t have your sister with a man like that. I need your help with this, Gabriel.”
“Of course. Just tell me what you need and I’ll be there.”
He could deal with his own issues with Alex later. Right now, the priority was to get her away from a man who could end up hurting her.