Chapter 21
Brodie
I woke to the sounds of gunfire. Loud and obnoxious.
I squinted at the TV. Some sort of battle was going on with robots, and I realized it was right in the middle of one of the Transformer movies, though which one I had no clue.
I picked up the remote and clicked the TV off.
Gabrielle was all curled up and sound asleep on the other end of the sofa, the toes of my feet just inches from her calf.
I pulled my feet closer to me, swung them off the couch and stood.
A nice, welcomed, cool morning breeze flowed in through the window I’d left open, so I grabbed a light blanket and covered Gabrielle before going to the kitchen to make some coffee.
I’m fairly certain we both fell asleep right toward the end of the movie.
I don’t know where we’d gotten the energy to stay awake, but the movie had kept us laughing and not thinking about what had happened earlier in the night.
My ultimate goal. I enjoyed hearing Gabrielle laugh throughout most of the silly movie.
I was surprised we’d stayed on the sofa all night.
No, I wasn’t surprised I had, but I was surprised Gabrielle had slept there.
I was glad she’d agreed to stay the night.
I was also glad she seemed to be okay. No long-term emotional effects, but then I suppose things would have been different if Jeff had managed to get any further.
I finished filling the carafe with water and turned to pour it into the machine when Gabrielle came walking into the kitchen, rubbing her hands over her eyes. “Good morning,” she said through a yawn.
“Morning to you,” I said, reaching into the cupboard for a couple of mugs.
She smiled at me. That was a good sign.
“Coffee will be ready in a minute. Want something to eat?”
She shook her head. “Just coffee for now.” She sat at the table, elbow on the edge, her chin propped against her knuckles as she watched me.
I filled two cups with coffee and placed one in front of her before sitting down across from her.
Silence ensued as I sipped my coffee and tried not to stare at her, but it was impossible.
The way the sunlight trickled in through the window and caught the red highlights in her hair gave her an ethereal appearance.
She didn’t have any makeup on, just like last night after her shower.
She was pretty with makeup, but she was beautiful without it.
Even with a busted up lip. Damn, fucking Jeff.
Her lip wasn’t too bad though, no worse than my own.
I still wanted to kill him for giving it to her.
“We must look a sight,” she said, breaking the silence.
I stared at her in amazement. “Are you psychic?”
“No. Not that I’m aware. Why?”
“I was just thinking about how you … we looked.”
And we both stared at each other, and in unison, quoted Ben Stiller from Zoolander, “Have you ever wondered if there was more to life, other than being really, really, ridiculously good-looking?” It cracked us both up to the point of her getting a side ache.
It was good to laugh. God knew we needed to. Gabrielle sipped her coffee and stared at the wall. I was about to say something, when all of a sudden she whispered, “Too bad good looks don’t convey what type of person someone is.” She looked at me. “Can’t judge a book by its cover, right?”
I nodded. Not sure what to say. I figured she was thinking about how attracted she’d been to Jeff before he’d showed her his true colors.
“No one would have guessed that about the guy, Gabrielle, so don’t beat yourself up about it.
” When she only glanced at me briefly and shook her head at her coffee cup, I added, “I asked Jackson about him, you know.”
Her eyes raised to meet mine in question. “When you were dancing with him. I asked Jackson about him. Nobody really knew him all that well.”
“Why was he invited to the wedding?”
I shrugged. “Jackson invited the whole soccer team. Hell, he invited the whole town.”
“You got there in time. He didn’t… he wasn’t… he never…”
“I’m glad,” I interrupted, not wanting her to have to say it.
She seemed grateful for that. “Gabrielle, I don’t…
I mean, I’m not going to pretend to know how you feel about what happened, but I want you to know that I wouldn’t blame you if you broke down and cried or yelled or screamed. Got angry. Hell, I’m angry.”
“I am angry, Brodie. But I don’t know how to feel about it. He didn’t get to rape me. I’m glad about that, but at the same time, I’m pissed because now he won’t go to jail.”
“He will for attempted rape and assault.”
She shook her head. “Not the same.” She stood, headed toward the door, and turned toward me.
“Look, Brodie, I appreciate what you did for me, but you heard him. He told the cops that he never intended to go that far. That he was never planning to screw me. That we were just having an intimate make out and fondling session until you came and interrupted us. It’s his word against mine, and what if they believe him? ”
“We’ll just have to make sure they believe us; your word and my word.”
“You weren’t there the entire time. You can’t testify to something you didn’t see.
He’s liable to say anything up until the point when you yanked him off of me and started fighting with him.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m so very grateful and glad that you stopped him, but another part of me is almost sorry because now he’s going to be free to do it to someone else.
There is no proof of what he was going to do.
He’ll do it to someone else, or worse yet…
” She stopped and sucked in a sob. She didn’t need to complete the sentence.
We both knew what her fear was, maybe it was my fear too; that he’d try to find her and finish what he’d started.
“Let’s get going and clean up the back yard. I have to find a place to live, and I only have two weeks to do it.”
“You know Lena and Jackson won’t kick you out if you don’t find something by the time they get back.”
“I know, but I don’t have the slightest desire to room with newlyweds either.”
“Why don’t you just stay here, then?” The words had left my mouth before I had a chance to think about them. Gabrielle and I may have had our differences, but I didn’t like the idea of her staying alone at Lena and Jackson’s after what happened.
“Here?”
“Sure.”
“You want me to stay here? With you?”
I shrugged. “Not with me.” I suddenly felt like I needed to clarify that.
I knew she didn’t like me all that much.
Even if we had shared a dance and a movie last night.
“But here. Yes. Why go to Jackson’s when all your stuff is already here?
You can just stay in the same bedroom you’ve been staying in until you find something. ”