Page 2 of Marry Your Best Friend

Gabe reaches for me and brushes my hair off my face, tucking it behind my ear. I do my best notto let myself react to his touch. I wave his hand away. “I haven’t been avoiding you, I’ve been busy.”

I try to draw Bethany back into the conversation. “We’ve been busy in the ER, haven’t we?”

She nods at the clear look I give her. “What? Yes, I mean, yes, we’ve been busy.”

I avoid Gabe’s gaze. “Tell him about the broken leg today.”

She smiles real big. “Oh, you mean the man that broke his leg and the bone was sticking out of his skin this far?” She holds her hands around five inches apart and then whistles. “You want to talk about a bad break. I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life. Blood was spurting everywhere and…”

Bethany keeps talking, and the more she says, the greener Gabe gets. He’s never been able to stomach blood, and Bethany’s stories are full of it.

It’s when he starts to turn white that I interrupt her. “Okay, okay, that’s enough. If he passes out, I can’t lift him. Can you?”

He takes a drink of my water, chugging it. “Pass out? I’m not going to pass out.”

He drinks some more water and wipes hismouth and then gives me a worried look. “You look tired. You okay?”

This time, I look him right in the eye. “Tsk, tsk, Gabe. Really? If you were looking for a way to compliment me, you went the wrong direction.”

He gives me that smile of his. The one that makes my nipples hard and my body get hot all over. “Honey, you know I think you’re beautiful, but I’m worried you’re not taking care of yourself.”

Bethany chimes in, and I swear I forgot she was even sitting here. “She’s not. I’m forcing her to shove the sandwich in. She’s had a rough morning, and she’s only drank a half a bottle of water.”

I give Bethany the side eye. “Really? Stalker much? I think we need to talk about some boundaries.”

She shrugs her shoulder. “What? It’s the truth.” She points at Gabe. “And she’s not been sleeping well, but that’s more of an occupational hazard.” I give my friend a dirty look, but it doesn’t even faze her. “What? He’s your brother, it’s not like I’m giving away your secrets to a stranger or something.”

I can’t stop the frown from forming on my face. I can’t help it. Anytime someone refers to Gabriel Gray as my brother, I get an icky feeling inside. Youcall King, Holden, Ledger, or Dom my brothers, I’m fine with it. Heck, I call them my brothers. They are in fact all my foster brothers, but for some reason, I can’t do it with Gabe.

“He’s not my brother… he just likes to think he’s the boss of me.”

Gabe looks at me curiously, but at least he’s not giving me a wounded look or anything. I couldn’t handle that. He has been my best friend since I was eight years old and moved into the same foster home that he, King, Holden, Ledger, and Dom were living in.

Gabe is staring at me searchingly, and I start to fidget under his gaze.

I gesture to the cut on his arm that I noticed when he sat down. “That’s infected.”

He just shrugs. “Trust me, it will take more than a cut to take me out. You’re going to be stuck with me for a while.”

I start piling all my food on my tray. “Come on, I’ll clean it out before I get back to work.”

He puts his hand on mine to stop me. “Eat your food, then I’ll let you clean me up.”

“Let me?”

He chuckles. “You forget I know you, Chrissy Aiken. It will pain you not to take care of this cut.You will worry about me all day and night, wondering if I’m okay. So yeah, eat your food and then I’ll LET you clean me up.”

Reluctantly, I pick up the rest of my sandwich. “Fine. I’ll eat.”

I finish my lunch while Bethany and Gabe talk. She hangs on every word he says, but I can’t begrudge her for it because Gabe just has that thing about him. I take the last bite of my sandwich and wad up my napkin. As soon as I swallow, I smirk at him. “Happy?”

He grabs my water bottle and stands up. “I’ll fill this up for you.”

He grabs my tray as he goes, and I watch him walk away.

“Dammmmmnnnn,” Bethany whispers loudly.

Again, I forgot about her, but I don’t have to worry about being caught staring at Gabe because she’s doing the same thing. She whistles low. “Just one night. That’s it. I just need one night with that man and I would be content for life.”

---