Page 34 of If You Could Only Feel
I felt his hand run up the middle of my back until he clasped the nape of my neck in his large hand and squeezed. I could sense him leaning in and it was confirmed when I felt his breath on the shell of my ear. “If I were you,” he seethed, his voice dark and deadly. “I would choose my next words wisely, Justice.”
I shivered at the heat in his voice. Gabriel was pissed, and I sort of couldn’t blame him. No matter how we came to find ourselves here, I was his wife, and he had just overheard me talking about screwing other men for comparison.
I suddenly felt ashamed.
I was married-no matter how it came to be-and I was acting like I wasn’t. The very least I could do was wait until we were divorced to start…start behaving as if I wasn’t.
My stomached turned with alcohol, liquor and remorse as I remembered that I still wasn’t wearing my rings. It was one thing to be at work and not wanting anyone to ask questions; it was another thing to be at a bar drinking with my ring finger bare.
I wanted to find enough anger and resentment to convince myself that I didn’t owe Gabriel anything, but drunk or not, I recited wedding vows and I was rubbing them in the dirt.
I kept my eyes focused on Bea. “Wh…what are you doing here?”How did he find me?
“You have your locations on,” he informed me. “It wasn’t too hard to find you.” He squeezed my neck harder. “Sounds like you have quite the night planned.”
I turned my body to face him, but his hold on my neck was so firm, I couldn’t move. It wasn’t until he relinquished his hold on me a few seconds later that I realized it had been a power play. I looked up at his magnificently fuming eyes. “Wh…why are you looking for me?” Bea let out a small cough, but I ignored her.
“I tend to worry when my wife doesn’t answer my texts or phone calls,” he replied, his voice filled with controlled anger.
I was about to ask why was he calling me when Beatrice chimed in-out of curiosity or to diffuse the tension, I wasn’t sure. “Hi,” she said, smiling at Gabriel. “I’m Beatrice Easton, Justice’s friend.”
Gabriel worked his jaw and I could see him fighting to be cordial. His eyes finally left mine as he looked over at Bea. “Hello, Beatrice,” he said smoothly. “I’m Gabriel Buchanan, Justice’s husband.”
Bea grinned at him. “Yeah, I heard,” she replied. “I gotta admit, though. I’m kind of disappointed there was no Elvis. I mean, if you’re going to go drunken Las Vegas wedding, you gotta have an Elvis.”
Gabriel’s voice held no warmth. “I’m not sure what all Justice has told you, but the circumstances of our wedding do not make our marriage any less legal and binding,” he growled.
Bea threw her hands up in a surrendering motion. “Oh, hey,” she said, her buzz killed just like that, along with mine. “I have a pretty good guess as to what you’re thinking there, Husband-Man, but let me let you in on a little knowledge. Along with your snazzy Las Vegas wedding, Justice also told me about your lovely six-year courtship, so if your wife is sitting here without her rings on, talking about looking for dick…well, it’s not because I dragged her here, that’s for sure.”
Gabriel stepped forward until he was standing next to me. “An admitted mistake I am doing my best to rectify,” he snapped back.
Bea leaned back and smiled. “I sure hope so,” she replied. “Justice is an amazing woman, and even though all the evidence points to you being a dick, I don’t think you are.” I looked up and saw Gabriel cock his head at her; not sure where she was going with her ramblings. “I think she should give you a chance.”
I gasped and narrowed my eyes at the traitor. “Beatrice!”
She looked at me and shrugged. “That’s just my opinion, though.” And then the hussy winked at me.
“So, then, you don’t mind if I drag you guys out of here?” Gabriel asked, completing ignoring the fact that I was not in agreement with Bea.
“What? Why me, too?” she exclaimed, clearly losing focus of her betrayal.
Gabriel’s arm wrapped around my back, and my foolish body leaned into him. “Because I’m not leaving my wife’s best friend alone and drunk in a bar, Beatrice,” he explained calmly. But I knew the truth. Gabriel was being cordial and respectful, but the man was still pissed. He was just going to wait until we got home to unleash.
“I am perfectly sa-”
Gabriel held his hand up to stop her. “Get up like a good little drunken adventurer and follow us out or I will carry you, Beatrice,” he instructed, shocking the shit out of both of us. “I am doing my best to convince Justice to stay married to me. So, the last thing I’m going to do is leave her best friend behind in a bar just to hear about her being cut up into tiny pieces the next morning and having Justice really never forgive me. So….” He pulled out his wallet, nodded towards the bartender, and stepping in between me and Beat, dropped three one-hundred-dollar bills on the bar.
“Dude,” Beatrice deadpanned, eyeing the bills he threw on the bar. “How drunk do you think we are that warrants a three-hundred-dollar bar tab?”
Gabriel side-eyed her. “I don’t care if you guys only purchased one drink,” he retorted. “I will always pay for Justice and make sure she’s covered.”
Beatrice leaned her head to the side to look at me. “Look, I know he was a dick for six years, but come onnnnnnnn…”
I knew she was joking. And because we’d been friends for so long, I knew she wasn’t the type of person whose eyes twinkled over money or status, but her teasing comment put a huge spotlight on the fact that Gabriel was loaded. This is the first time we’ve ever been out in public together, and him overpaying my tab was making me hugely uncomfortable. I had been too mad in Vegas to make it an issue the first time, and too drunk to argue the rest of the time.
Ignoring Bea’s joke, I stood up, grabbed my purse and took out three twenties, tossing them on Gabriel’s pile.
“What are you doing?” he asked, eying the additional bills.
