Page 52 of Fragile

Eight

Gabe

When we got back to the apartment, Leonie was distant which annoyed me; considering the massive fucking olive branch I had dealt her.

I glanced over as she sat staring out of the window with her tiny hands curled in her lap. Her ‘I’m not sleeping with you’ comment still circulated that space between us and I unclipped my belt with more force than was necessary. Leonie did the same and climbed out of the car before I could get the door for her.

She was probably on her guard, I’d been a complete prick to her since the day she arrived, I shouldn’t be surprised if she was still wary of me. Fuck me, most of my friends were still wary of me and with good reason.

We rode the lift in silence, Leonie clutching the welcome pack from Felice in her hand.

“If you complete the application form tonight, I can drop it off for you over the weekend,” I offered, checking my phone for messages. I had nine missed calls from my father and two from Max. FFS.

Dear old Dad had probably heard of my interest in one of his rival firms and was calling to give me shit about it. He just didn’t get that I wasn’t interested in his precious firm and was probably reeling from the fact that I wasn’t jumping through hoops of fucking fire to join him. Working for my father would be like signing your life away; in blood, I might add.

My father’s main client swam into my thoughts. I had decided to stay as far out of Gerard Kinlan’s arse as possible. Not easy considering I’d gone to school with his son Kai, aka ‘The Bull’ who was also a certified psycho. He’d been a loner back then, the weird lad that both students and teachers steered clear of. There was a rumour that he was the one who set fire to the gym, whilst several members of the football team were in there.

Leonie’s honeyed voice snapped me out of that dark place.

“I’ve never filled out a job application form before,” she informed me, her pretty little freckled nose wrinkled. Adorable.

“How’d you get the job at Aquarius?”

“A friend already worked there so on a recommendation I suppose,” she replied.

I lifted my eyes from the screen of my phone. “Why am I not surprised? You're lucky they paid you on time.”

Her mouth dropped open slightly. Here we go.

“They did fucking pay you I assume?” I shot out, feeling a jet of fury at the thought of someone trying to rip her off. Wow, her presence in my life really was fucking with me; I usually didn’t give a shit about other people getting crapped on. Gullible people deserved to get screwed over in my opinion. No one pulled the wool over my eyes. I was always six steps ahead of the game and could smell a con a mile away.

“No, they did pay me, not necessarily on time though,” she replied with a vacant smile. Her comment barely satisfied me but I decided not to be super vocal about that. She was done with that shit hole now.

The lift arrived and we both walked out into the apartment to a shocked Asher. He stood facing the lift doors with a bucket in his hand.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I questioned, striding past Leonie and over to my brother. I noticed she slowly followed me like a puppy.

“Mopping the floor,” he informed me with a twist to his lips.

I threw my car keys onto the counter before pinning him with a look. “Since when do you clean up after yourself?”

He shrugged and placed the bucket on the floor, sloshing some liquid onto the lino before straightening again. “What? I may have dropped some wine is all,” Ash replied. “What have you two been up to?” he added with a stupid grin.

“None of your business,” I said, closing that shit down.

Leonie cleared her throat nervously which caught my eye, “Thank you for today, Gabriel. I’ll have a go at filling out the application. Should I put Aquarius down as my last employer?”

Was this girl for real? I bit back my temper. “No,” I replied in a firm voice and she nodded her understanding.

“I suppose it’s a done deal since you already got me the job.” So that was the reason she was so strangely quiet.

I held back replying that her fucking looks got her the job and said, “And now the rest is up to you.”

“Thank you, I really do appreciate it.” Really? Maybe you want to tell your face that, I felt like saying.

Her, ‘I’m not sleeping with you’ comment shot back into my thoughts. She clearly didn’t know about how dangerous it was to challenge a man like me.

Those words had the opposite effect and had drawn my attention to sex. I’d thought about all the other ways she could thank me before I managed to put a lid on my inner pervert. Something that had come out a little too often lately. Mind you it didn’t help that she left her recently washed Victoria fucking Secret underwear hanging up to dry in the bathroom. I’d be lying if I said that the thought of grabbing a pair of her thongs and holding them to my face hadn’t crossed my mind. Yep, proper shady shit, I was slowly turning into a disgusting bastard with more kinks than he knew what to do with. I’d moaned to Asher about it and he’d explained that some girly shit was delicate and so couldn’t be put in the washing machine. Which meant I was screwed and now stuck to my ensuite.

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