Page 42 of Gabriel's Salvation

“I'm not deaf Harp, I'm coming out now,” I reply, laughing when she attempts to leave and ends up hitting her head on the door frame.

“Oh and Harper,” I call just as she's leaving. “Can you grab me an aspirin? I've got a terrible migraine coming.”

Painkillers may not be able to ease the emotional pain, but even if they’re able to ease some of the physical pain, just enough that I can sleep and hopefully wake up and realize this whole night was just a terrible dream.

I climb out, dry off, wrap the thick purple robe around myself, and head out. I see Harper sitting on my bed with a huge tub of cookie dough ice cream and two spoons.

“So, what happened?” Harper asks, eying me sympathetically.

“Remember that guy I told you about?” I begin.

“Gabe?”

“Yeah.” I sigh heavily, “Well turns out Gabe is Nate's older brother,” I continue hesitantly.

“Shit, you're kidding me. Did you know? Before today I mean?”

“No, I only found out when I went to meet him tonight.”

“Talk about keeping it close to the family,” she laughs. But when I don't laugh back, her face drops again. “So what happened next?”

I tell her everything that happened, about the name debacle, about taking him to the restaurant, and that I opened up about Mom's cancer scare. Harper nods along but doesn't say much.

“Okay, so that sounds mostly good,” she says cautiously.

“Yeah, it was until…” I continue, telling her about losing my virginity, although obviously, I summarize most of it and definitely don't tell her about the nasty things he did or said to me. I can feel myself blushing just thinking about those things.

“And that's where it all went downhill…” I go on to tell her about the girl in the bar, although obviously I don't tell her we saw her coming out of the toilet together.

“What? That sleazy little shit!” she shouts. “He's the worst. He doesn’t deserve you, Riley. Dump his ass and find yourself a new guy! You know Ashton from science has always had a thing for you.”

“It's not that easy Harper,” I sob. “I think I like him, like really, truly like him.” I look at her, pleading with my eyes to get her to understand.

“What's to like, Riley? That guy is a monster,” she snaps.

“He's not a monster, he's just… well… a little bit broken," I huff, feeling this unnatural need to defend him.

“You're beyond help, Rilez; first Damon, then Jax, now HIM. You've never found a broken villain you haven't fallen in love with,” she says as she rolls her eyes. I could hear the disappointment and something akin to disgust lacing her voice. My stomach drops. I need to get her on another topic. I can’t sit here and listen to her poor opinion of him. It hurts too much.

“Yeah, but the villains are so much hotter.” I grin, ignoring her tone and trying to lighten the mood.

“How about I distract you from this villain with a fictional one, Jax or Damon?” Harper laughs as she walks over and grabs the remote.

“Hmmm, I think a bit of Damon is called for.”

“Good, means I get to drool over Stefan then,” Harper says as she throws herself onto her own bed.

The intro is just playing when there's a knock at the door. “I'll get it,” Harper shouts.

Chapter Sixteen

Nate

Idrove Bella home and agreed to have a coffee with her and her grandparents. But the whole time all I'm thinking about is how sad and hurt Riley looked. I knew that her going on a date with someone like Gabe was a bad idea, but I never suspected it would be that bad of an idea. I know Gabe can be an ass and he's always been a bit of a womanizer, but I also know that deep down he’s a good guy. Isn’t he? But that looked like much more than a bad date. Surely he wouldn't have physically hurt her… would he?

“I'm really sorry baby, but I've got to go. I've had a great time and I'll see you tomorrow,” I say as I lean over, quickly glance around to see if her grandparents are within eyesight, and steal a kiss.

“Oh no! Can't you stay just a little while longer?” Bella whines as she pouts in that cute way of hers.

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