Page 7 of Gabe's Obsession

"Yeah, Gabe," an all too familiar female voice from behind him said. "Are you going to join them?"

Chapter Three

Nina had stood justinside the front door while she listened to her family discuss her. She hadn't gotten far when the realization of just what these idiots were up to had soaked into her desperate mind.

That information alone had forced her to hightail it back here as quickly as possible.

Admittedly, she'd rushed through the house this morning with a single-minded focus—getting out before Gabe returned.

But somewhere along the way as she sped through the kitchen and out the garage door, her mind had registered a full buffet table covered with food. It had just taken more time than usual for her brain to process it.

There had been enough to feed a small army, or her family.

With her memory of Tori pounding on the front door and Gabe mysteriously returning after having just left for what should have been hours had all percolated in her mind until she was ready to see it.

Gabe turned and looked at her, surprise crossing his features.

"I'm surprised you came back."

She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm pretty surprised myself. More like shocked actually that you'd do this to me. An intervention, really?" She turned to the rest of the group. "That's what this is, right?"

"Why don't you join us and we can discuss it?" Mason leveled his 'I'm a big bad Dom' gaze on her and even lowered his voice like she'd heard him do with Rebecca.

That only served to make her angrier. "There's nothing to discuss," she said through gritted teeth.

"Nina," Gabe started.

She whirled back to him. "Please don't Nina me right now. This whole situation is such a betrayal of trust, I don't even know where to get started. So unless you want to push me into saying something we'll both regret, I suggest you stop now."

His eyebrows climbed his forehead and she could imagine how shocked he was to be talked to like that. Especially given how obedient she'd been these last few weeks.

That went for all of them. The men in this room were so overdone on testosterone, they couldn't stand not being in charge at all times.

Well, they were just going to have to suck it up for once. When it came to her life, she was in charge, not them.

"She's right," Tori spoke up from her seat and all eyes turned to her. "Now hold on before you all go off on me, too. Hear me out. This whole family has been under a lot of stress lately. Lots of changes have happened both good and bad and it seems we're putting too much pressure on Nina to be the one to take responsibility."

"Tori," Levi warned.

"What? I'm not wrong. We're all being convinced to believe that if Nina faces up to whatever is stressing her out that somehow everything will be magically better. But maybe it's not that simple. She's not the only one with answers, you know."

"I agree." For the first time since she'd entered the room, Tucker spoke up.

Nina turned her gaze to him, the face she'd been avoiding the most. He'd been the closest thing she'd had to a real brother growing up. All those years of his father coming to her house, all but ignoring her and it had been Tucker's shoulder she cried on when he left.

In fact, her sneaking into his big house on the lake had become such a regular thing, he kept his window unlocked all the time just in case.

He knew more than any of them how frustrating and painful her non-relationship with their father had been. Now, he too thought she'd killed him. That killedher.

The fact she couldn't remember the details of that night made her want to pull her hair and scream. Why couldn't her brain cooperate and just let her remember? Then she could shut them all up once and for all.

"Do you think I did it, too?" She interrupted whatever he'd planned to say.

He stared back at her. His mouth now set in a grim line, his nostrils flared as he took a deep breath. Next to him, Maggie had a death grip on his arm as if trying to stop him or hold him back or something.

Nina closed her eyes against the wave of emotion slamming into her. He didn't need to answer the question. It was written all over his face. Why she’d forced him to affirm what she suspected had been stupid on her part.

She opened her eyes and once again surveyed the entire group around the table. Her brothers, their wives and/or girlfriends, although they preferred to call them submissives. Maggie and Tucker had run off to Vegas and gotten married. Now they were expecting their first child.

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