Page 42 of Beautifully Used
Brodie was right. No sense getting all worked up over that asshole. I was safe here with Brodie and the rest of the band. Except, what if it wasn’t Jeff?
Chapter 33
Brodie
* * *
I watched Gabrielle finish the huge hamburger smothered in ketchup, some of which ended up at the corner of her mouth. “Here, let me.” I swiped the bit of red leftover from her mouth, then kissed it. I stopped kissing her, lingering at her lips for several seconds. She sighed.
“You’re still thinking about the phone call,” I said as I pulled her in close against me.
“It’s hard not to. I mean, even if this person isn’t Jeff or isn’t violent—which, by the way, doesn’t seem likely—it sucks knowing someone hates me so much that they felt the need to phone me and call me a slut.” She shivered in my arms.
“I’m sorry. I know this doesn’t help, but I need you to know, you are safe here with me.”
She glanced up at me. “I know. Thank you. I don’t think I could have gotten through these past weeks with what happened with Jeff without you. You’ve been a great friend.”
I’d thought about telling her we were more than just friends, but I wasn’t sure how she actually felt about me. Kissing is one thing. We needed more time exploring exactly what all the kissing meant and might become. Instead, I simply said, “Yep, that’s me. Friend to the end.”
She laughed. “It’s been a long day. It’s crazy how just sitting in a car for eight hours makes you tired.”
“I’ll take the sofa. You can have the bed.”
She looked at the small sofa and grimaced. Granted, it was only about five-feet long and my six-foot-two body would never get comfortable on that thing, but I was willing to give it a try.
“I’ll be fine,” I lied.
“I need to go brush my teeth.” She got up, grabbed something out of her suitcase and went into the bathroom. I opened the closet to find an extra blanket and a couple more pillows. After I tossed the pillows and the blanket on the sofa, I went out onto the balcony to listen to the waves. There was only a sliver of a moon, and the stars filled the cloudless sky. I picked out Orion’s Belt, the Big Dipper, and the Little Dipper. That was about all my astronomical knowledge allowed me to recognize. I turned as the sliding glass door from the room opened and Gabrielle walked out to stand next to me.
I glanced down at her as she stared out at the dark water. “It’s scary, Brodie.”
I put my arm around her and tugged her against me. “I know. I swear, if I run into that creep, he will be nothing but mincemeat by the time I’m finished with him.”
“No. You can’t do that. You know he’d get back at you, and you’d get hit with an assault charge. I don’t want that. Promise me you won’t.”
I sighed. “That’s a difficult promise, but how about I just say, I’ll try to keep my cool.”
“I suppose that’s all I can hope for.” She smiled. “I’m tired. I’m going to bed.”
“Okay. I’m just going to stay out here for a while longer. Good night.” I kissed her on the forehead, wanting to kiss her on the mouth, but knew if I did, she wouldn’t be going to that bed alone.
After about fifteen more minutes of watching waves crash and counting how long it took between each one, exhaustion took hold and I went in. I laid down on the tiny sofa, my legs dangling over one end. I wasn’t the type to sleep on my back, and tried to roll over on my side and scrunch my knees up so I would fit, only as I pulled my legs up, I slipped off and landed on the floor, grunting from the impact.
“Are you okay?” Gabrielle asked.
“Yeah. I thought you were asleep.” I picked my sorry ass up and scooted back onto the sofa.
“No. I can’t sleep. I keep thinking about that phone call. It doesn’t look like you fit on that thing very well, Brodie. Why don’t I sleep there and you sleep here?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m okay here. Just takes a little… adjusting… that’s all,” I groaned as I tried turning again, only to have my legs hanging over so far that my feet were on the floor.
“Brodie. Come up here. If you won’t switch with me then we’ll both sleep in the bed. There’s plenty of room. It’s a king-size bed. You can have that entire side and I won’t even know you’re there. Please. Besides, I think I’d feel better if you were closer.”
I eyed the bed. It was rather huge. “Okay.” All I had on were my boxers. I hadn’t planned on sleeping so close to her and wondered if I should make an effort to get up and put on a t-shirt, but I didn’t want it to look like I was doing that because of her either, so I decided to just go with my naked chest. I got up and quickly slipped under the covers. “You better not try anything…” She laughed. “Or I’ll have to tickle you to death.”
“Brodie.”
“Yes.”
