20. Gage
Twenty
Gage
“ H ow sick is this hotel room?” Robby swung open the connecting door between his and Gage’s rooms and looked around their new environment.
Before leaving for Miami with his cousin, Gage’s boys had informed him of the attack on Willow. He could smell a setup a mile away and knew that Waldo had planned it all to try to be her rescuer. It was a repeat of Venice all over again.
He knew leaving Willow with Waldo still in town wasn’t the smartest idea, but her blatant rejection of him in front of everyone made it clear she didn’t want him around. Explaining to them why he was supposed to fuck off was the most uncomfortable conversation he ever had. Clay had agreed that maybe some time away would be best and Nikolas promised to keep an eye on her. Horatio and Matteo sat there and looked at him like he was the biggest idiot on the planet.
They weren’t wrong.
That second time they had sex wasn’t supposed to happen. He had it all planned out how he was going to tell her about Venice, his trust issues, and he was even going to take Robby’s recommendation and tell her that he was a little scared. Because he was. The feelings he had for her were stronger than he had with Venice, yet he had known Willow for a much shorter time.
That night, it was like his brain had turned to mush when he looked at her and all he wanted was to be inside of her as she clung to him screaming his name. He’d let his primitive part out and took her on that table instead of having the civilized conversation he wanted. Then he ran away scared like a dog with it’s tail between his legs. When he got home he’d destroyed his painting of the beach scene out of anger at his stupidity. He’d thought about how she would never talk to him again, and he turned out to be right. To make it worse, it had seemed like Waldo was trying to snake his way in and take his place.
He’d blown his last chance at love. He would be lucky if he could even get her to the point where she would be willing to be civil toward him. So he’d left for Miami to get some information on why Waldo was going north and to try to revert to his old ways to help him move on from Willow.
Robby continued, “We’ve got front row seats to the ocean, an in-ground pool, room service with a five course meal as an option, and everything looks so clean. I’m used to staying in some sketchy motel on the mainland where you’re lucky if you get a working toilet.”
“I figured you would pick the cheapest option available, that’s why I booked the room.”
Gage opened the small fridge that was settled into the TV stand and pulled out a mini bottle of tequila and took a shot. He noticed a small switch on the wall and flicked it, triggering blue LED lights to flash on behind the 52-inch TV. Robby let out an astonished gasp as he turned off the main lights and the entire room glowed blue.
“Dude, imagine taking acid and having sex with these lights on. It would be the most magical time of my life.” Robby spun around and let out a small laugh. “Actually, scratch that. I don’t think I would be able to get it up since I would be too distracted by the beauty of this room.”
“You are so easily amused, it’s alarming. Speaking of sex, are you going to be my wingman tonight or what?”
Gage grabbed a pair of cufflinks with fangs engraved on them and attached them to his black dress shirt. It wasn’t often he dressed up, but tonight he was hoping putting extra effort into his looks would help this depression over Willow. It hadn’t fully settled on him yet, but he knew if he was alone with his thoughts for too long the depression would jump off the sidelines and take over.
Robby stared at him out of the corner of his eye and spoke slowly. “Your wingman for information about Waldo, right? Not sex?”
“Both. Tonight’s goals are to find out what we can about Waldo and finding me a pretty girl to fuck.”
“Whoa whoa whoa. I may be a whore, but I’m not a cheating whore. There’s no way I’m going to help you cheat on Willow while we’re here. She’s way too sweet and deserves better than that.”
“Don’t worry, we’re not together and she completely hates my guts. So I’m in the clear to get with whoever I want.” He threw his empty tequila bottle into the trash and headed toward the door. When he noticed that Robby wasn’t following him, he turned around a raised an eyebrow. “Are you coming?”
Robby’s face scrunched up in confusion. “What happened? I thought you were going to talk to her and apologize for saying sleeping with her was a mistake.”
“I tried, but then I fucked it up even more. It’s to the point now where she straight up told me she doesn’t want to talk to me.”
Robby covered his mouth with his hand. “What did you do?”
Gage closed his eyes and groaned. “I chickened out and had sex with her again instead of talking to her. ”
Robby dropped his hand and screamed, “What do you mean you chickened out and had sex again! How does that even happen? The sex comes after you talk it out, not before! What did you say afterward?”
“Nothing. I said absolutely nothing and left. Then she was attacked and saved by Waldo after I acted like a piece of shit, and now not only do I feel like an idiot, but I feel like a guilty idiot. Maybe if I wouldn’t have been such a fucking pussy, we could’ve worked things out and she would have never been out alone. But that’s not what happened, and now she wants nothing to do with me. I’m going to lose another girl to Waldo.” He ripped open the hotel door and his voice came out bitter and sarcastic. “But hey, like I’ve been saying, I’m not the dating type. I’m just a lowlife scumbag vampire that can’t handle a relationship. So, let’s go.”
To his surprise, Robby kept his mouth shut and did not continue the conversation. To start their night, they ended up at a dive bar next to the hotel. They planned out which clubs would be best for finding those who were a part of Waldo’s family and would spill some information about what “north” meant. They would also scope out potential new family members, though Gage was less concerned about that and more concerned about finding a woman he could bury himself in to block out his ever-growing thoughts of Willow.
Gage downed his sixth shot of the night. “How many men does Waldo have in his family?”
“I don’t know the exact number, but I know it’s a lot. The stupid bastard has adding new members down to a science. I swear he’s like a Mormon and goes around knocking on doors asking if people are interested in eternal life.”
Gage snorted. “Could you imagine him in a white button down with slicked-back hair and a bowtie? I think I would have to punch him just for looking like a dork.”
Robby frowned. “Yeah, well, there’s many reasons why I would want to punch him.”
Both Robby and his attention were dragged toward the TV above the bar, which stated there was breaking news. Half the crowd in the bar also noticed the alert, so the bartender turned up the volume.
“Another surfer was attacked today, this time near West Palm Beach. This marks the second dolphin attack within the past month, something that is not only confusing, but also unlikely. Dolphins have been known to drag people underwater to cause accidental drowning or have attacked when provoked, but Florida has never encountered dolphins that have purposely attacked humans. Scientists are looking into causes as to why this phenomenon is occurring, but for now the reasoning is unknown. It is advised to stay away from any wild dolphins if you are participating in ocean activities. Stay alert, stay calm, and most importantly stay away. Back to you, Mark.”
“Well, there goes my plan to take that surfing class tomorrow.” A feminine voice sighed and Gage turned to find a petite blonde perched next to him at the bar.
“Yeah, that’s not the best activity to do right now.” He responded.
He gave her a once over, noticing that she had the legs of a supermodel, pin-straight hair with platinum highlights, and a rounded face that matched her round, blue eyes. She was wearing a white sundress that accentuated her tanned skin, which smelled like coconuts and water lilies. She looked like the perfect distraction.
“Such a shame I drove all the way down here from Nashville to learn how to surf. Guess I’ll be laying around the pool all day instead.”
“You’re from Tennessee?”
She giggled. “No, Nashville, Georgia. I get that a lot though. I’m down here for my friend’s birthday, it’s her big three-oh so we decided to plan a girl’s trip to Miami. What are you here for?”
“My cousin and I just wanted to take a vacation. We’re from up near Daytona, but the clubs are better down here. ”
“Clubs? Is that what you guys are doing tonight?”
“Yeah. You know, you and your friends are more than welcome to join us. We’re probably going to start at Peter’s Bay, then go club hopping to whatever seems interesting.”
“Oh, that would be so much fun! Let me go ask the girls and see what they say.”
Gage watched her ass wiggle as she headed toward a table packed with similar-looking girls. Robby leaned over and whispered, “Why did you have to invite them? She’s got like eight other friends with her, none of them male.”
“That’s eight potential girls to convince that they want to join our families, and one for me to sleep with.”
They watched as the girls squealed and clapped at their ring leader’s suggestion to join them. “They seem annoying as hell and I know you don’t have the patience for them.” Robby said.
“What does that matter? I thought we were viewing them more like employees than part of our family. It’s not like they’ll be living with me.”
“For what job would we hire them for, Gage? What job! Also, two of them clearly have fangs and are already probably part of a family. It’s a grey area when we start enticing others to leave their current one. You have enough drama happening and don’t need to add more by starting stuff with other families.”
The boys dropped their conversation as the blonde bounced her way back across the bar. “They said that would be an awesome adventure! My name is Gabby, by the way.”
“Mine’s Gage, and this idiot is Robby.” Gage nodded his head toward his cousin.
The group of girls collectively stood up from their table and made their way over to the bar. He hated to admit that Robby was right. His nerves were put on edge as three of them cackled at some ridiculous joke, two swooned over Robby, and three more flagged down the waiter to order one last drink. Gabby was the only one who seemed somewhat tolerable.
“I’m sorry, my friends can be a little much.” Gabby smiled at him.
“It’s fine.”
“Your face tells me differently, you look so annoyed.”
“My face always looks like that, don’t take offense to it.”
A faint blush crept up her cheeks. “If you don’t want to go out with them, I would be fine with staying behind and doing something else. I wouldn’t mind getting to know you better and I don’t think we’ll be able to talk much inside these clubs.”
Gage looked over his shoulder at his cousin who was surrounded by a sea of blonde women, suddenly adoring all the attention he was complaining about a few seconds earlier. “I think our party will be just fine without us. Where were you thinking of going?”
She pursed her lips and looked up at him from under her thick eyelashes, cocking a brow. The look reminded him of Willow as she waited for his reaction after naming the drink, The Rich Brat, after him. It took everything in him to keep his focus on the pretty little mouth in front of him and not let the cloud of depression consume him.
“I think your hotel room would be pretty quiet, what do you think?”
“I think it’ll be quiet until we get there.” He smiled and wrapped his arm around her, guiding her away from the bar and to the hotel next door. On his way out, he noticed Robby look at him with a sad smile.
The two crashed into the room, barely closing the door behind them, their lips entwined together and tongues desperately searching for each other’s mouths. No matter how much he tried, his mouth had not found the sweetness he was craving.
Gabby broke the kiss and stepped backward, and he smirked as she began to lower the sleeves of her dress to reveal the white strapless bra she was hiding underneath. As she slowly slid out of her clothing, Gage sauntered over to the switch and flipped on the LEDs, turning her white lingerie an iridescent blue.
She uttered an astonished noise, then watched him as he stepped toward her and wrapped his arms around her to undo the bra. Her pink nipples were hard, begging him to take them between his teeth. She laid down on the bed sensually, never breaking eye contact with him, and let her hair fan out behind her.
He tried to stay in the moment, but his mind was a traitor and kept wandering off. The excitement in him wavered as he imagined a flash of brown hair and recalled Willow’s face as she looked up at him so affectionately at Sammy’s party. He wanted nothing more than to worship her that night as she spread herself out for him. He knelt before her and tasted her, reveling in the wetness he had caused.
Tonight, he was not kneeling for Gabby.
He pulled her off the bed only to take her place. He slipped her underwear off and placed his hands on her hips to guide her to straddle him. She let out a soft moan as she began to grind on his pelvis. He tried his hardest to focus only on the topless blonde that was pleasuring herself on top of him, but a knife of guilt was beginning to rip into his heart.
“Is something wrong?” She whispered. He knew he was as limp as a dehydrated plant, but instead of being frustrated or embarrassed, he was simply sad.
She tried to thrust her tongue back into his mouth, but found his teeth were blocking her way. He pulled back and looked her in the eyes. “There’s nothing wrong, you’re…just not her .”
“Oh.” She stopped her grinding and a look of understanding crossed her face. It seemed like this was not the first time this scenario had happened.
“Yeah. I think I need to go.” He gently slid her off and stood up to grab his phone off the counter. “If Robby asks what happened, let him know I went to get some coffee, okay?”
She nodded and began putting her clothes back on. “I hope things work out between you two.”
“Me too.”