Page 5 of Gabe's Obsession

Except when she walked past him, he caught her looking at the screen of her cell phone at a familiar car service, which made a sudden surge of anger rise inside him.

"Don't even go there, Nina. You do notneeda stranger to take you wherever it is you want to go. Your Cherokee is still parked outside and the keys are in the key case next to the garage door. Or I can drive you."

"How did you—? Never mind. I don't want to know. I'll drive myself." She turned and practically skipped down the stairs without another word, stopping only long enough to grab the keys and disappear through the door.

"Say hello to Savannah for me," he said to the empty room.

It wasn't easy watching her go. Not when part of him wanted nothing more than to continue hiding her from the world. He had a feeling it wouldn't take much for the situation with her family to spiral out of control. She also wasn't the only one still in the dark. Mason had told him very little, keeping everything close to the vest as usual. And the details from Nina had come soaked in tequila, so it was hard to tell fact from fiction at this point.

He crossed the foyer and opened the front door to an irritated Tori standing on the other side.

"Was that Nina? I just saw her Jeep go down the driveway."

He nodded. "Might as well come in. I caught her trying to sneak out the back door."

"You just let her go? Is that a good idea right now? Is she going to the café? What about the—? Maybe I should just meet her there."

"I doubt you'll find her there, at least not right away. She claimed that's where she was headed, but little Miss Secretive wasn't telling the truth. I've known her long enough to know when she's hiding something."

"I don't understand. I thought she wasn't communicating? Do we need to go after her?"

Gabe narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. "What do you think? She's not one to be managed."

Tori laughed and shook her head. "No, she's not. But I'm going to guess that if you’ve let her go out on her own like this, then you or Mason are having her followed and that wherever she is going the two of you will probably know before she does."

He pinched his lips and said nothing. He felt no need to confirm or deny that accusation. Yes, they might be called controlling, but more importantly, they were being cautious. The situation at the moment felt a little like sitting on a keg of dynamite that hadn’t decided whether it was going to blow or not.

Gabe led Tori into the kitchen without bothering to answer. Her relationship with Levi meant that she had a pretty good idea what it was like to be part of this family and the women seemed to know their men well.

"Breakfast?" he waved his hand over the buffet that had been laid out while he was gone to the office. He was surprised Nina had not noticed.

Before she could answer him, the doorbell sounded again.

"Let me guess," she said. "I was lured over here this morning as cover." She glanced around at the place settings at the breakfast table, counting each one. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight. Jesus, that's the whole family. Were you planning some sort of an intervention? Except now the interventionee has left the building?"

Gabe shrugged. "Don't look at me. This was definitely not my idea."

Before Tori could ask any more questions, they were interrupted by the arrival of the rest of the family.

Levi walked up to his woman with a wide grin across his face. "Hey babe," he said, kissing her on the cheek.

"You could have told me about this, you know," she said.

"Nah, what fun would that be? I thought you like surprises."

Tori whispered something to Levi that Gabe couldn't make out as they crossed the room, but he guessed when they got home alone the fireworks would go off. Those two had a hard time keeping their hands off of each other on a good day. Add in a little conflict and they combusted.

Gabe shook Mason's hand and then shook his head. "I think your sister must have radar when it comes to your interference."

Tucker joined them next. "Why's that?"

"Because for the first time in days, your sister left the house."

"What?" Mason exploded. “And you just let her leave? Where did she go? Why didn't you call me?"

Rebecca, Mason's lovely submissive, laid her hand gently on his arm. "I'm sure she's fine. She probably saw this coming a mile away. She's no slouch, you know."

"Maybe she's tired of your suspicions." Tucker's directed comment toward Mason fell like a bomb in a deathly quiet room.

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