5. Gabriel
GAbrIEL
Gabriel was feeling rough, and he was thankful he’d switched to soft drinks around midnight and then bowed out at two o’clock.
Those straight boys could drink. Given he was repping for the gays, Gabriel had made sure he wasn’t the first to leave, and the “painkillers and gallon of water before he went to bed” trick seemed to have worked its magic.
He could handle feeling a little worse for wear, as long as he didn’t have the headache part.
After a quick shower, he headed down to the breakfast buffet. There was no sign of Bobby, but some of his friends were at a table, so he walked over to them.
“Morning.”
They all looked at him in unison, without speaking, which was creepy.
“Have you seen Bobby this morning?”
“He’s out with Dillon for the day,” said one guy, whose name Gabriel couldn’t remember.
“Oh, I thought we were go-karting later?”
“Speed car racing. We’re not fucking children.”
His tone took Gabriel aback, but he put it down to everyone being hungover.
“Is that still happening, then?” asked Gabriel, hoping they’d say it had been cancelled. It wasn’t really his thing, and he’d rather spend the day by the pool before the drinking started again.
“Why wouldn’t it be happening?”
“You said he was out with Dillon for the day.”
“They’ll be back by lunchtime.”
Not wanting to speak to these guys anymore, he walked away and found a table by himself.
The whole thing had been uncomfortable. The speed car racing was not until two o’clock, so he could enjoy some pool time.
Gabriel might be in a people-focused job, which he loved, but he enjoyed his alone time as well.
He could text Bobby later and find out where they were all meeting.
It was only fifteen degrees outside, but their hotel had three indoor pools.
One of them was a quiet, adults only one, which suited Gabriel.
He had his tablet, which housed a gazillion unread books on it.
The pool was heated, so he got in and swam a few lengths before getting out, lying on a lounger, and scrolling through his book library.
He had a lot of romance titles, which he wasn’t feeling today.
It would just remind him of how single he was.
He had the new Leo Reid book too, which was part of a crime series.
The lead female detective was fabulous, plus his books were always at least four hundred pages, so that would keep him busy for a while.
After ten minutes of reading, he heard familiar voices.
Looking up, he saw the guys from breakfast. They were talking loudly, which earned them a few looks from others.
So much for peace. Gabriel wasn’t sure if he should wave at them, but they were heading to the other side of the pool, so hopefully they wouldn’t see him, as he was lying down.
He went back to his book. If they noticed him, he could just say he’d been engrossed in his book.
These weren’t friends of his, but they were important people to Bobby, so he could be polite when necessary. At this moment, it wasn’t necessary.
Gabriel cringed when they screamed and bombed into the pool like teenage hooligans. They then started to play fight and splash around. He glanced over his tablet and saw other people getting out.
“Excuse me, this is the quiet pool,” said an American guy, who looked to be in his seventies.
“Chill out, grandpa. We’re only swimming. It’s fucking freezing outside and the other pool has a load of cunt kids in it.”
Gabriel felt mortified that he could be associated with these people, given that he was also British.
The gasps around the pool reminded Gabriel that the C-bomb might be used as an adjective at home, but in the States it was deeply offensive.
The old man stormed off somewhere, probably to get security.
Gabriel decided that was his cue to leave, but he had to think how to do it without being seen.
He pulled his stuff together, but the next words he heard stopped him dead.
“Do you think Dillon’s telling Bobby right now about him and Alex?” said one guy. The same one who had basically slapped his dick on the table this morning when talking about cars.
What. The. Fuck!
“He needs to do it soon. The wedding’s in two weeks,” said another.
“She’s his fiancé. It’s on her, not for Dillon to be the bad guy.”
Gabriel felt his stomach churn. This couldn’t be happening.
His sister had form, so of course it could happen, but Gabriel thought she’d grown up.
She’d never been engaged before, so when Bobby proposed, Gabriel assumed he was the one.
Now it seemed she was up to her old tricks, and not with some random person, but Bobby’s best friend.
“It’s been going on since Halloween. You think they would have said something by now,” said the dick guy. “Why are we even here?”
“Tickets were non-refundable, so no point in missing out on a holiday, is there?”
They all laughed and started splashing about.
Gabriel took that as his opportunity to leave.
He couldn’t get away from the pool quickly enough.
What the fuck was he supposed to do? His head spun.
The first thought he had was to speak to his sister.
He needed to hear her side of things. He couldn’t trust a word those guys said.
Dubai was eleven hours ahead, so it would be Saturday night there. Hopefully, she wasn’t already drunk.
Once he was back in the privacy of his room, he paced around a bit, trying to calm himself down.
His first thought was how devastated Bobby was going to be.
The man loved the bones of his sister. He just had to call and hear it from her.
He pulled his phone out and called her mobile.
She didn’t answer, so he tried again. It was ringing out, but she was one of the few people in the world who didn’t have her phone permanently on silent.
It wasn’t switched off, so he kept trying. On the fourth ring, she answered.
“Gabriel, is everything okay?”
There was noise in the background, but it was muffled so it sounded like she was out and had gone somewhere quiet to take the call.
“Is it true about you and Dillon?” he asked, not bothering with any preamble.
The gasp followed by silence was all the confirmation he needed.
“Why, Alex? Bobby worships the ground you walk on.”
She started crying. “Does he know?”
“I’ve no idea. I heard his friends talking about it. He’s out with Dillon somewhere.”
“We agreed we weren’t going to say anything until we were back.”
“Why, Alex?”
“I don’t want to get married. I’m not ready to settle down yet,” she said through sobs.
Gabriel sighed as he sat on the edge of the bed.
“Then why did you accept his proposal?”
“Because he did it in front of everyone. What was I supposed to say?”
It was a fair point. What could you do in a situation like that, other than agree? But she’d had a year to raise her concerns and hadn’t. He asked her why.
“I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.”
“And screwing his best friend is better than just ending the relationship?”
“You don’t understand, Gabriel. You’ve never been in love before. Dillon and I are meant to be.”
“So, you want to marry Dillon now?”
“No. Dillon never wants to get married after it messed his parents up. He doesn’t want kids either, and Bobby wants to have at least four.”
Gabriel closed his eyes. He was getting a headache.
This was the first time he’d heard she didn’t want to have kids.
Good luck explaining that to their mum. Gabriel might be gay, but she was always asking when he was going to find a man to settle down with and start a family.
The difference between him and his sister was that Gabriel would love to have his own family, it was just unlikely to happen given his history with men.
“You aren’t going to tell him, are you?” asked Alex.
“That’s Dillon’s and your responsibility, not mine.”
“Thank you. I couldn’t bear for him to find out from someone else. I don’t want to hurt him.”
“He’s going to be hurt either way when he finds out about you and Dillon. I can’t even imagine what that would feel like.”
“That’s the thing. We aren’t going to tell him about me and Dillon just yet.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m going to break things off when we get home. Then, when the dust settles, we’ll make out we just got together. I know Bobby, and he will want his best friend and me to be happy. We work together, so he’ll understand how it happened.”
Gabriel was lost for words. Was she for real? Even if that’s what actually happened, who the fuck was going to be okay with their best friend getting together with their ex, especially when it was someone who called off their wedding two weeks before the big day.
“His friends were just talking loudly about it by the pool, and I overheard them. How do you think you’re going to keep this quiet?”
“Dillon will talk to them. You can’t say anything, Gabriel. We’ve got a plan.”
“Why didn’t you tell him before the stag and hen dos?”
“I wasn’t going to let people waste their money. We’re not all rich like you.”
He earned a good salary but would hardly call himself rich. His sister felt differently. Their parents had worked hard, and they hadn’t wanted for anything growing up, but luxuries like the latest clothes or holidays weren’t something they’d experienced.
“Why do his friends think Dillon is telling him now, then?”
“He’s not telling him. Bobby has always wanted to see the Grand Canyon, so Dillon has taken him as a surprise.”
Gabriel’s heart sank. That was something they were supposed to be doing together tomorrow. But this wasn’t about him. Bobby was going to have his heart broken, and his sister needed him to keep a secret. Of course he’d support her, but he didn’t have to like it.
“I’m going to get a flight home,” he said. That would be the easiest thing to do. Then he wouldn’t be stuck in the middle.
“You can’t do that. Bobby was so happy you were going. He’ll get suspicious if you leave.”
“I can’t stay here and lie to the man’s face, Alex. I can keep your secret, but I will not spend the rest of this weekend with him pretending everything’s normal, especially when he talks about how amazing you are, which he does a lot.”
“I know. He’s too intense. But you can’t leave,” she shouted, her voice sounding hysterical.
“I’ll make up some excuse. I can get out of here before he comes back from his trip.”
She started screaming at him, so he hung up.
How the fuck did he find himself in the middle of all this?
He hadn’t wanted to come to Vegas in the first place, but Bobby had batted those pretty blue eyes at him and talked about them having some bonding time together, and his stupid feelings had decided for him.
Now Bobby was going to have his heart broken by Alex, and he would never want to speak to her again, or Gabriel for that matter.
Why was he even thinking like that? His feelings didn’t matter in all this.
If he got a flight today, Bobby would assume he knew, but then, if the man asked Gabriel outright, he wouldn’t be able to lie to his face.
If only he hadn’t gone down to the pool, he wouldn’t have known about any of this and could have happily enjoyed the day with a bunch of straight guys who didn’t seem to like him for some reason.
Before he could overthink things any more, he pulled his suitcase out and started packing.
If he couldn’t get a flight to London today, he might stay at an airport hotel and get a flight out tomorrow or something.
He picked up his phone and there were twelve missed calls from his sister, and a string of text messages asking him to call her back.
He threw the phone on top of his half-packed suitcase, not sure what he was going to do.
He smelt of chlorine, and was still wearing his wet shorts, so that was something he could deal with. A shower would give him time to think about the best way to deal with this, without being dragged into it any more than he already was.
After he’d showered, he was drying himself off when someone started banging repeatedly on his hotel door.
He wrapped the towel around his waist and went to open it.
Gabriel looked through the spyhole and was shocked to see Dillon.
What was he doing here? Then he realised, Alex must have called him.
How had he gotten here so fast if he’d been at the Grand Canyon?
He wouldn’t stop banging, so Gabriel opened the door, and Dillon pushed his way in.
“Close the fucking door,” he snapped.
Gabriel wanted to tell him to get fucked, but he was interested in what he had to say. Dillon walked over to Gabriel’s open suitcase and smacked it with his hand.
“You’re just going to leave and not say anything?” asked Dillon.
“I don’t want to be in the middle of this.”
“Bit fucking late for that, isn’t it? Are you going to tell Bobby?”
“That’s not my responsibility.”
“I thought you’d jump at the chance.”
“To hurt someone? Why would I do that?”
“So you can swoop in and have him all to yourself.”
Gabriel’s jaw dropped, and his face heated.
“I fucking knew it,” said Dillon, looking like he’d won the lottery. “Aren’t there any gay guys left you haven’t already fucked? You’re trying to turn people now?”
“Does my sister know that’s what you think of her gay brother?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, you always have to make everything an attack, don’t you? Look, just keep your mouth shut until we get home.”
“I intend to. Like I said, it’s not my business.”
“Then unpack your shit. You’ve got your little boys’ trip to the Canyon tomorrow, remember?”
“How do you know about that?”
“How do you think? I plan a surprise for my best friend to visit the Grand Canyon, no expense spared, and he refuses to go because he’s got something already planned with you.”
Gabriel was shocked, but also not surprised. That was pure Bobby. He had made a promise to Gabriel, and he wouldn’t go back on it. What was wrong with his sister? Why had she chosen this prick over someone like Bobby?
“You can go now,” said Gabriel, pointing at the door.
“Just keep your mouth shut. This is none of your business.”
“None of my business that you’ve been fucking my sister since Halloween behind your best friend’s back?”
“Like I said. Keep out of my business, or you’ll regret it.”
Gabriel almost wanted to laugh. Who did this guy think he was, and what did his sister see in him? Dillon stormed over to the hotel door and yanked it open, before freezing in shock: it was Bobby.