Page 463 of Hate Mates

FOUR

Aria

Ever since my night out with Stacy, I’ve felt different. I’ve noticed so much more than I ever did before. She opened my eyes to what was going on around me and I feel so stupid knowing Gabe’s been using me. Was I blinded by him, or did I only see what I wanted to see? When I saw him in the club with that woman hanging off him, I knew then it was time to change. I refuse to be a doormat. And here’s me thinking it was because Stacy doesn’t like him.

He hasn’t shown his face for a couple of days. It took me all day Sunday to get over my hangover and the tiredness. I went to bed early, since I was working the early shift on Monday morning. There was fat chance of seeing him at all later.

After coming in from work, exhausted and dying for a coffee and a sit down, I check my cell to see there’s still no contact from Gabe. He’s really beginning to piss me off. Clicking on his contact information I open my messages.

If you don’t come home tonight then don’t bother coming back at all, asshole.

I closemy messages and go to my gallery and come across the pictures I took of me and Stacy on our night out.

The man in the suit haunts my dreams. I remember his voice - I hear it over and over again, like it was yesterday. I shouldn’t have left. I should never have let Gabriel upset me like that, it’s not like he even saw me that night; well, I don’t think he did. I bet if I went there again, the delicious man in the suit probably wouldn't even remember me. What the hell is wrong with me? I shouldn’t even be thinking about him, but I can’t help myself.

The door bangs,startling me. I must’ve dozed off as my cell is still in my hand. I lean up and look around the room. I know I heard the door open but I can’t see anyone. Shit, rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I get up from the chair and head for the front door. I can’t see anyone through the window in the door, but then a bang comes from the bedroom. With a frown etched between my eyes, I make my way to my bedroom, the closer I get, the louder the noise is. My stomach clenches with a slither of fear. Why, I don’t know, it can only be Gabriel.

Cautiously, I make my way down the hall. I peer around the door, breathing a sigh of relief to see Gabe. Not that I’m actually glad to see him but at least it isn’t an intruder. My hand goes to my chest, “Fuck’s sake, Gabe. You scared me.” His head whips around and I see the bruises all over his face. “What the hell happened to you?” His eyes are sunken into his head, framed by dark bags. Two black eyes, a cut lip and a gash on his cheekbone,a plaster sits across the bridge of his nose. And that’s just the minor injuries.

“Nothing.” He grunts grumpily.

“What?” I laugh out loud, “Did you walk into a door?”

“It doesn’t matter.” His voice is quiet, but cold.

“It’s about time you came back anyway. I think we need to talk.”

“No, we don’t.”

“Yes, we do.” He turns his head as he stills. “I saw you with that woman the other night.”

He shrugs it off like it means nothing, it’s then that I notice he’s gathering his things. “Is that all you’ve got? A fucking shrug. I’ve just said I saw you and you haven’t the decency to give me a shitty fucking excuse.” He throws item after item into a holdall, I still, “Gabe, what are you doing?”

He doesn’t answer me, instead he lifts the bag from the bed and leaves the bedroom.

I follow him out, determined to get some kind of answers, but again he ignores me. “You know what, go. I don’t need your fucking shit.” I slam the door shut behind him and rest my back against it. I’m so angry. I’ve given him years of my life, and what do I get? Nothing.

The next coupleof days go by uneventfully. I get up, eat, go to work and come home exhausted, but still Gabe hasn’t been here. Not even a word to let me know he’s alive. Fuck him, the asshole. I don’t even miss him. Is that bad? I stop by the supermarket on my way home from work to get some essentials. I suppose I may as well resign myself to the fact that he’s not coming home.

Paying for my items, I grab the bags and stroll tiredly back to the car. My mind is full of crap. I’m so sick of being treated like shit, yet I can’t help but worry what he’s got himself into. And ontop of that, I’ll have Stacy saying,‘I told you so.’ No one needs that.

It’s like I’m on autopilot as I drive home. I don’t notice the roads I take or the traffic lights I go through…I don’t even see people. I’m so stuck in my own head, all because of that fucking jerk. I can’t go on like this.

A few minutes later, I pull up outside my house and step out. Leaning into the back of the car, I grab the shopping. Once stable, I maneuver the keys in my hand and try to slide the right key into the lock, but it opens by itself.Hm, maybe Gabe’s here to grovel. Well, he can fuck off.I push through the gap of the door, still armed with bags, entering the narrow hallway and drop my keys on the small table. My shoulder tilts and my purse strap falls, I leave that on the table, too. “Gabe?” I call out into the empty space. “Are you here?”

I huff out a heavy sigh and use my ass to push open the door to the living room, still cradling my shopping against my chest as I move through the door backwards. As I turn something is lodged against my neck. I try to swallow, but whatever it is, it’s holding me fast. A muffled scream bursts from the back of my throat until my mouth is covered.What the hell?My legs kick and my arms flail wildly. My shopping hits the floor as I try to remove whatever it is from my neck, it’s then I realize it’s an arm. The large hand fits tightly across my lips and nose stopping my screams and squeezing my cheeks. I scratch at the hand and arm that’s holding me captive, squirming in his hold while trying to escape.

The lidof the trunk opens and the light is so blinding, I have to squint to dull the brightness. The guy who had a hold of me inthe house grips my bicep with a rough, calloused hand and pulls me out. “Ouch.” I emphasize the pain in my arm with a whine, but he takes no notice. He spins me around and my eyes open just in time to see something black. It goes around my eyes and is tied tightly at the back of my head. I feel like it's squeezing my skull. “Shut the fuck up.” I do as I’m told and grit my teeth. His hand circles my arm roughly and again, I’m dragged away.

I have no idea where I am, or where I’m going, but still, I keep my mouth shut.

The next thing I know, the softness that breaks my fall has me frowning from beneath the blindfold. As I roll to my back, my body flinches at the sound of the door slamming shut.

FIVE

Vincente

“Aria.” I say her name out loud as I watch my guys take her from the car, wondering if it’ll sound different on my lips than inside my head. Who would have thought that when she collided with me in the club, and the attraction I instantly felt towards her, she’d be handed to me on a silver platter. I wonder whether she knows about Gabriel's little habit and the job he does for me? I doubt it very much, Gabriel has never been very forthcoming, fucking weasel, not while I’ve known him, anyway. I sit back in my office chair and place the short tumbler at my lips, sipping on the liquid inside and savoring the taste as it burns its way down my throat.

---