15. Gabriel
Chapter fifteen
Gabriel
Jealousy looks cute on you.
~ Three Days Later / July ~
I’m still seething. It’s been three days, seventy-two hours since Ronnie told us what that piece of trash did to her, and I’m still enraged. I just want to find him and rip his throat out for hurting her.
But fuck, she’s so strong. My beautiful Vixen. She’s the bravest person I’ve ever met. How she can still stand so tall, after everything she’s been through, makes me fall for her even more.
I know she’s still living through her trauma, still working on getting better. But she’s doing it; she’s fucking trying. She sought out help on her own and has been doing everything in her power to heal. She isn’t hiding from her trauma. She’s facing it straight on.
Unlike me.
I knew our wounds were similar in some way; our stories may not be the same, but in the end, we were both brutally hurt by people we thought loved us. Aside from Noah and the people who helped me get out, no one knows my story.
I’ve never wanted to share it with the world. I just wanted to ignore it, pretend it didn’t exist, and hope it would go away. I’m the funny guy, the flirt, the guy who always smiles and laughs.
What would they think of me if they knew just how broken I really was inside?
But Ronnie knows. She might not know the story, but she sees my pain. She sees right through me. It’s why she offered her therapist. It’s why she told me I shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help, because she knows how desperately I still need it even if I pretend to be fine.
I don’t think I’m ready to try therapy again, despite me telling Noah I would go. I’ve tried so many times, and it just makes me feel worse in the end. But now that Vixen has shared her past with us, it makes me want to share mine with her. I just don’t know how to bring it up. How to just… say it.
Like, ‘Hey! Remember that time you found holes in my sheets, and I claimed it was because of wild sex? Yeah, well, that was bullshit. The truth is I have night terrors about my past because my parents used to beat the shit out of me daily, to the point of almost killing me a few times. So yeah, want to toast to our shared trauma?’ God, that just makes me sound even crazier.
I’m jolted out of my thoughts when Vixen’s hand taps against my thigh. We’re currently seated by our boarding gate, waiting for the rest of the gang to get here. We picked up Ronnie and Aubrey at their condo this afternoon before heading to the airport.
Vixen has her head leaning against Noah’s shoulder as they watch something on his phone together. She’s not looking at me, but her hand still reaches out for me, hitting against my thigh, then higher up until she lands on my forearm.
From there, dark purple fingernails drag down my forearm, into my palm until they slip between my fingers and curl. I bring her hand that now holds mine up to my lips and kiss it. She still doesn’t look my way, but her lips spread into a heart-melting smile.
God, she’s mesmerizing.
The day after her encounter with her ex, I brought Ronnie to see her friend Maze, who dyed her hair a nice orchid purple.
She’s a pretty cool chick with a flashy pink pixie cut and tattoos from her toes to her neck, from what I could tell.
A little heavy on the makeup, but she has this whole punk rock look going on that seems to fit her perfectly.
What freaked me out a little was that she called me by my name the minute I walked into her little hidden workspace, located in the middle of nowhere. She didn’t say it out of recognition from being a fan or seeing me on TV. She said it like we were old-time buddies and knew exactly who I was.
After seeing my stunned face, she laughed and revealed that Ronnie often talks about me and Noah to her.
Well, complains would be the correct word, which I’m not surprised about.
Vixen has never been shy to speak her mind, and I know we were very determined when it came to having her, which meant we pissed her off most of the time.
But I’m hoping that will change, or maybe it already has.
Because ever since that day in our home gym, things have been escalating between us at rapid speed. Every day feels like we’re getting closer to her. And since the episode with her ex, our relationship has developed even more.
She kisses us at least once a day. Once a day, I get to feel those perfect pink lips against mine.
It’s not like that scorching hot session, where I was ready to make her scream my name.
But it’s still her and me, and I happily die a little more inside every time she melts into my arms and moans into my mouth.
When I look in front of me where Aubrey sits facing us, she smiles with a pink tint covering her cheeks, which makes me chuckle and shake my head. This girl and her uncontrollable blush.
“We’re finally here!” Morgan calls as she rushes over and kisses all our cheeks in greeting.
“Vacation time, baby!” Emma shouts as she plops down beside Aubrey. “Are you excited too, little Tulip? We’re going to have so much fun!” she says to her daughter, who claps with joy in her arms.
Cecilia comes over next, doing the same as Morgan did while holding her son’s hand. I lean forward to get as close to eye level as I can with him and stretch out my free hand to him, palm facing him. “Hey, little man. You excited to spend some time on the beach with your favorite uncle?”
He tries to high-five my hand with a stuffed pillow shaped like a hockey stick. “Ockey!”
I lean back in my seat and laugh. This kid cracks me up. His obsession with hockey is borderline unhealthy.
“Ugh!” Cecilia groans. “I can’t wait for this idiotic phase to be over.
It’s getting ridiculous. You should have seen the tantrum he gave us because we weren’t bringing his hockey stick with us.
” She shakes her head. “Sy had to run out and go from store to store until he found this pillow-shaped stick. It was the only way to get him on board with leaving his favorite stick behind.”
Silas comes up to her side with a wide grin and kisses her head. “What can I say? He’s my son after all,” he says, to which she rolls her eyes.
Noah chuckles. “What did you even do to get him so obsessed with it?”
“Probably decorating his room with nothing else but hockey gear wasn’t the best idea,” Silas replies with a snort.
“And may I remind you that all the gifts I received from you guys at the shower had something to do with hockey? I literally have twenty miniature hockey sticks, so you’re all to blame for his obsession.” Cecilia gives us all the stink eye.
“I’m just happy Gracie isn’t obsessed with anything yet.” Grey sits down beside his girlfriend and daughter. “As much as I love hockey, I could not stand hearing that word every minute of every day.” He laughs.
“Dada! Miam, miam,” Gracie says and reaches out for her father.
“You hungry, Buttercup?” He takes her into his arms.
“I’ll go buy her something,” Em says as she stands and kisses her daughter’s cheek.
“I’ll come with you.” Aubrey quickly gets up and joins her.
“Me too. Sam, can you watch Dante while I’m gone?” Cecilia asks the kids’ nanny.
He walks over and takes Dante’s hand from her. “No problem.”
“I’m right here, you know.” Silas frowns. “His actual father.”
She giggles and pats his cheek. “I know, honey.” She’s totally doing it on purpose to ruffle his feathers at this point.
“So, Sam. You excited for a nice tropical vacation?” I ask him, bringing my hand that still holds Vixen’s onto her lap, needing to feel her smooth skin some more. She’s still leaning against Noah but is now paying attention to all of us.
Sam looks down at our hands, then to Ronnie and Noah, and smirks. “Yeah, a free paid vacation filled with fun. How could I not be?”
“You’re here to watch the kids. Not have fun,” Silas scolds him.
“Oh, don’t be so grouchy, Sy. He can have fun as well. We’re eleven adults with only two children. We can all watch them. Sam’s mostly here to give you guys a break when you want some time alone with your wives. But that doesn’t mean he can’t still enjoy his vacation,” Morgan tells him.
Silas groans and drops down in a seat. “I guess,” he grumbles, not looking pleased.
Suddenly a group of four teenage boys wanders over, all with excited grins on their faces. “Hi!” one says. “We’re really huge fans. We were at your game when you guys won the Stanley Cup.”
“It was epic!” another shouts.
“Seriously amazeballs! Mr. Ford, you killed it with that hat trick!” a third one adds. “Could we get your autographs and some pictures?”
The last one rips out his phone. “Oh, yeah! My brother will totally be jealous. He’s been a fan for so long. He would die if I came home with your autographs all over my shirt and selfies.”
“Thank you,” Greyson says to the third one. “And sure, why not.” He smiles, then turns to Morgan. “Mind holding her for a sec?”
“Not at all.” She beams and takes Gracie from him.
The boys come in closer, all going to each of us as we fish out our permanent markers from our carry-ons. It’s become a habit to always wander around with a few markers in our pockets. Fans stop us often, wanting autographs, and don’t always have things to write with.
I release Ronnie’s hand to write properly on all their shirts or papers and take pictures.
Soon, we’re gathering a crowd of more people wanting some and congratulating us on our win.
By the time it dies down and we’re doing the last pictures and signings, the girls have already returned with food and drinks for everyone.
I’m just taking the last picture with a woman who claims it’s for her son when two chicks walk up to me. When I look up at them, I notice they’re identical twins and seem oddly familiar.
“Hi, Gabe!” One waves. “Remember us?”
They’re both fluttering their fake lashes and sticking out their chests in my direction. Shit, I hate these moments. I feel like an ass for not remembering names, but when it’s only about sex, I don’t find it necessary to remember it.