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He was instantly angry, not that I could blame him a bit. “I wanted to talk to you.”
“We have nothing to say to one another,” he responded.
Remembering to swallow my pride, all I had to do was imagine what kind of accident would befall him if I didn’t pass on this warning. I could be just overreacting, as I tended to do so over the years, but something inside of me would quell that fear.
“We do.”
“And what would that be?”
Anger... frustration... impatience... They were all detectable in his few clipped words. He’d never been angry with me until the night I had broken his heart, but I had seen him angry at others. I closed my eyes and mentally tried to tell myself that I could do this. I had come this far.
“I... ahh... I heard about your parents and I’m very sorry for your loss. I know how much you—”
“You’re six months too late for sympathies, so keep it and go to—”
I knew where this was headed, so I quickly blurted out. “You’re in danger.”
That stopped him momentarily, and I heard dead silence on the other end of the line. Finally, I heard a chuckle.
“Save your concern for someone you give a damn about. The only danger I’m in is from falling for your lies. I’m no longer a foolish man, so fuck off and never call here again.”
The line went dead and a few tears sprang from my eyes at the incessant beeping of the dial tone. I shouldn’t have been surprised at his reaction. I hadn’t spoken to him in ten years and the last time I had, I’d lied and told him I had found someone else when the truth was that he was all I’d ever wanted or needed. No one, especially that monster, would make me feel otherwise.
My lie hadn’t been to hurt him, but to protect him, and it looked like I would have to use another tactic if I expected to save him this time. Talking wouldn’t work. I would need to see him face to face, and maybe then I could convince him to at least take precautions. I had the guilt from the death of his parents on my conscience, and there was no way I’d ever survive the death of him, too.
Gabriel was stubborn and always had been to a fault. While we rarely ever argued, I knew it had simply been because I did what he told me to do. I rarely stood up to him and rebuffed anything because I loved him and it was all things we both wanted, anyway.
Now, he wanted me to fuck off and leave him alone, but I couldn’t do it. He was a powerful man. All the Titans were. I’d grown up the daughter of one, so I knew. As I thought about what my mother would do to make my father see reason during an argument, a few different instances came to mind.
She would dress up and do what I now knew was seduction. I could throw on a short dress and some “fuck me” heels, but it likely wouldn’t work with Gabriel. From what I saw in the headlines over the years, he dated glamorous women who could succeed in seduction better than I ever could.
My mother would also freeze him out, but since Gabriel couldn’t even stand the sound of my voice, I was sure he wouldn’t give a damn about me playing hard to get.
“Men are not always the smartest creatures,” my mother had told me when I came home from school crying one afternoon when I was about ten.
“What do you mean?” I’d asked.
She wiped the tears from my cheek and smiled. “If he doesn’t want you around, then you’ll have to make him.”
“How?” I’d asked, my voice full of hope and optimism.
I possessed little of that now, especially seeing the course that mine had taken in just a decade. She’d continued to wipe my eyes before pressing a kiss on my forehead. “If you want to make him play with you, then you’ll need to not give him an option otherwise.”
The advice had worked then because I grabbed some snacks and rode my bicycle to his house. He was in the living room when I’d gotten there, and I simply set the food down, and wedged myself between Gabriel and Noah. He’d been so surprised that he lost the level he was playing.
I grabbed the remote and had said, “I can play video games, too.”
I quickly proved that I couldn’t, but Gabriel and Noah didn’t call me a pest again or insist I leave them alone. They began to eat the chips I had brought over with me, and we took turns playing against each other. This wasn’t some after-school game of Mortal Kombat, but real life. We were adults who hadn’t seen each other in a decade.
As my mother’s words about eliminating his choice echoed in my head, I realized she was right. If I wanted him to listen to me, I would have to make him. I needed to go to Chicago, and as soon as possible.
I then grabbed my cellphone and pulled up the airline website. Travel on a holiday weekend was bad enough, but with only a day’s advance notice, the prices were staggering.
I couldn’t shake the eerie premonition that Gabriel was in danger, so I sucked up the price and put a hefty dent on my credit card. Now, I needed to go pack for what would hopefully be just a weekend trip.
HARPER
CHICAGO. ILLINOIS
