Page 27 of Loan Wolf
Aaron’s eyes all but popped out of his head and Gabe wondered if they really were going to end up brawling behind the hotel. He didn’t really want to fight Clara’s former classmate, but Aaron was bristling like he might not give Gabe a choice.
“What have you got to offer her?” Aaron demanded. “A bike shop? Are you going to knock her up and trap her in this dump just to make a point?”
“Green Valley is not a dump,” Gabe said in outrage, and he couldn’t quite help laughing at himself. It would figure that he’d end up defending the honor of the little town he frequently disparaged, and not the honor of his mate. But whatever else Green Valley was, it was a thriving community of people who cared about each other, even the weirdo misfit bad boy who got arrested when he was fifteen for vandalizing the library.
“It’s not funny,” Aaron said uncertainly.
“It’s hilarious,” Gabe said, leaning out the window. Though Aaron was a few years behind him, he’d caught up in height, and Gabe was glad to have the advantage of higher ground from the truck. “You’re here lurking around the back of Clara’s hotel and you somehow think you have the moral high ground over someone that she actually feels safe around. Maybe you should ask yourself why she’s not asking you to go to Eagle Lake, even though you’re the one from Madison with the pretentious muscle car and the prepubescent mustache.”
Aaron put a hand to his facial hair, surprised and embarrassed. He sputtered for a moment, then shouted, “You’d better leave her alone! You’re nothing but trouble!”
Gabe put the truck in reverse and didn’t wait for Aaron to get away before he backed it out of the spot. “See you later, Aaron,” he said with a jaunty wave.
But Aaron’s words had struck deep, and Gabe wondered if there wasn’t a little too much truth in them.
22
CLARA
Clara woke to a splitting headache and a worried stepmother, with dawn light streaming in the hotel windows. She must have slept several hours more than usual; she rarely set an alarm and always woke at five.
“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Patricia said, closing her laptop. “Did you…have fun last night?”
Fun didn’t really apply.
Clara remembered most of the night before through a haze of humiliation. She’d confessed all her doubts to Gabe and Gabe had been a complete gentleman when she’d tried to climb him like a tree. There was a walk in the dark with Gabe’s hand in his, and after a long, torturous climb of the hotel stairs, she’d blown off Patricia’s worry, devoured her leftover burger, and gone straight to bed.
“Nothing happened, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Clara said. Her voice felt rusty. And it was technically the truth. Nothing had happened last night.
“Did Gabe give you beer?”
“I’m old enough to drink,” Clara protested. “I can use my own ID at the liquor store. I’m not a kid, Mom. And you don’t have to worry. We just went to Eagle Lake and talked. That’s it.”
“Eagle Lake?”
Was telling her where they’d been a mistake? “We just talked. We didn’t even go swimming.”
“Look Clara, I know that you’re young, and?—”
“Oh, yay, it’s the actions have consequences talk. We have that twice a week, at least. I know how it goes.” Clara regretted the snark in her voice at once. “I’m sorry. It’s just— I’ve been under a lot of pressure. I wanted to cut loose a little. I’m not going to do anything stupid. You can trust me.” And she could trust Gabe.
She and Patricia stared at each other and Patricia finally sighed and looked away. “What are your plans for the day?” she asked, in a carefully neutral voice.
“I thought I’d go biking,” Clara said. “There’s a trail Gabe was telling me about that I’d like to try.”
Patricia winced at the sound of his name.
“What?”
“I just…I’m not sure you should be seen with Gabe.”
Clara felt a flare of defiance. “Why not?”
“He’s slept around all of Green Valley. And he brought you home reeking of beer last night.”
“Yeah, he brought me home,” Clara pointed out. “Instead of letting me go off and do something reckless and stupid.” She clearly remembered insisting that they tag the library, and Gabe sensibly talking her out of it. She remembered trying to get him to have sex with her, and how he’d toed the line no matter how she threw herself at him. “He’s not a bad guy!”
“He’s not a bad kid, he’s just…not very settled.”
