Page 62 of Stepson

Marcus Price

CEO of Price & Rittenhouse Enterprises

All the blood drains from my face as I sink down onto the desk chair, rereading the letter as tears blur my vision.

"Baby, what is it?" Gabe's voice breaks into my stupor as I let the letter fall to the floor at my feet.

"That bastard got me fired. He took my job away from me so I'd have nothing," my voice trails off as I recall the night I was fired.

Kory came into the bar earlier than he ever had before, walking straight up to me. He pulled me into the back office for privacy and handed me my last check, firing me on the spot with some bullshit excuse. It all makes sense now. Kory fired me because he was being blackmailed. I lost everything because of it and Marcus swept in like a knight in shining armor as he'd planned to do all along. The bastard!

Gabe picks the letter up from the floor, reading it himself before he grips the edge of it and curses. He slams his hand down on the desk and glares at me.

"He won't get away with this, Bentley. Look at this." He hands me another piece of paper as my shaking hands grab it.

I’m almost terrified to read it, but I know I have to. There, in my hands, is the title to a 2015 Jeep Cherokee. In Gabriel Price’s name. My eyes whip up to his as he holds mine.

“So, the Jeep was yours all along?”

“Seems to look that way, doesn’t it?” He scoffs, handing me another piece of paper. “This is how I got fucked.”

I take the paper and read over a transaction between an offshore account and the Lancaster Police Department in the sum of five hundred thousand dollars.

"And this is how they finally convicted me." He tosses over another piece of paper as I look down to read it. "My father said he tried to help me. That motherfucker helped all right, but onlyhimself. The lawyer on that piece of paper is his personal lawyer. I got fucked."

Gabe slumps down on the edge of the desk with his back to me and his head down. My heart lurches in my chest as I quickly stand and go to him. He’s hurting in ways I can't even imagine. His own father put him behind bars for seven long years and did nothing to help him.

I step between Gabe's legs and grab his face, forcing him to look up at me. Our eyes connect and silently exchange words neither of us can speak. He lost seven years of his life for something he didn't do and couldn't control. The anger he must feel for his father would drown me if I were in his shoes. I wouldn't stop until he was dead.

"I love you," I whisper.

His eyes light up as they travel to my lips, his own parting slightly. His hands grip my hips and pull me toward him.

"Say it again," he rasps as tears fill his eyes.

I stroke his cheek as he leans into my hand. "I love you, Gabe Price. I think I always have."

He licks his lips and stares deep into my eyes.

"I'll never forget the night I first laid eyes on you," he begins as his hands claw at my hips. "You were minding your own business when me and my buddies offered to buy you and your friends some drinks. I knew the moment I looked at you that I had to have you."

A small whimper leaves my lips as I recall that night from my own memories. When I looked into Gabe's eyes, it was as if I had a connection to him long before I met him. There was a bond there that scared the hell out of me before excitement took over. It was only when our lips touched for the first time that I truly knew in my heart he would mean so much to me.

“You in that little skirt that barely covered your ass, a Led Zeppelin t-shirt hugging your breasts, and those little fuckingblack boots.” He shakes his head, biting his bottom lip as his eyes fill with sweet memories.

I giggle, staring into his eyes with the most love that I can. He remembers what I was wearing? I mean, I remember whathewas wearing, but I never thought a guy really paid much attention to that.

“You remembered what I wore?” I ask my internal thoughts.

He smirks, slowly nodding at me. “I remember everything about that night, Bentley.” He brings his hand up and cups my cheek, running his thumb across my bottom lip as my mouth parts. “I’ll never forget how you made me feel in the back of that Jeep. I’ve been with a lot of women, babe, I won’t lie to you, but you’re the only one I remember. The only one I’ll always remember. I didn’t know it that night, but I know now that was the night I fell in love with you.”

Another whimper leaves my mouth as I lean forward and wrap my arms around his tattooed neck, lining his jaw with kisses before I find his mouth. His hands dig into my bare skin as he pulls me impossibly closer until I’m crawling onto his lap, straddling him.

He kisses my bottom lip before plunging his tongue in, brushing gently across mine before he moves his kisses along my jaw. I moan into his ear as I grind my hips against him, wanting him all over again.

“I love you,” he says against my jaw and my heart nearly explodes.

But then my eyes land on something in the lock box we haven’t taken out yet, and my blood runs cold. I reach for it, still allowing Gabe to line my neck and jaw with his kisses while I hold up the paper behind him.

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