Adea
“As soon as she started throwing hands, I knew sleeping boy wonder was done for,” Gabe continued. “She looked like Sukuna the way she was going at him; it was the wide eyes. She moved so quickly it looked like she had four arms!”
“Sukuna?” I asked.
“From Jujutsu Kaisen?” Gabe asked incredulously as if he was someone I should know.
“You know I don’t watch anime, Gabe,” I huffed.
“Ugh,” Gabe huffed in return as if I was somehow burdening him by not knowing who this guy was. “He’s a curse or demon, for your uneducated mind to kind of understand, and he’s got four arms. I’d let him do whatever he wanted to me with those arms,” Gabe groaned.
“Gabe!” I exclaimed while a smile spread across my face.
“What!? Don’t play coy with me. He’s daddy and you’d agree with me if you knew what he looked like. You know what? I’ll bless you today, I’ll have to show you a picture when we get back to the packhouse.”
“I’m good,” I laughed. “I’ll take your word for it.”
“Noo, don’t be like that Ady. I need you to fangirl with me!”
“I’m good,” I confirmed.
“You’re missing out!” I gave him a look that told him I was more than okay with my decision. “Well anyway, Zoe was moving like him and I was impressed,” Gabe said. “I’d be down with sparring with her. I’m always up for a challenge.”
“I’ll pass,” I said. “I choose life.” Gabe burst out laughing and I rolled my eyes. I was serious but okay.
When he stopped laughing we sat in silence for a few minutes. It wasn’t until I started watching Leo that I realized I had my best friend alone. This was my chance to ask him about last weekend. Zoe’s fight distracted me and I wasn’t sure how much time we’d have left without Leo.
“Are you going to tell me what went down this past weekend?”
My eyes wandered over to Leo as he held his opponent in the air before throwing him down. The guy grunted before rolling out of the way of Leo’s kick that was aimed for his head.
Gabe wasn’t watching him, instead, his eyes were on the blue cloudless sky. The light mood and joking atmosphere were gone and he didn’t look at me, didn’t show signs of hearing my question.
He swallowed slowly and it looked painful as if words were trying to come up but were getting stuck and he couldn’t get them out. I wasn’t expecting a choked-up Gabe. He blinked a few times and I knew he was trying to keep back tears.
What the hell happened?
And whose ass do I need to kick?
NO ONE hurts my best friend.
I expected him to play coy with me, maybe call me crazy and dangle the truth in front of me before recounting in very clear detail everything that had happened. He turned his head so he was looking at me. My best friend stared at me with hurt-fill eyes and I bit the inside of my cheek; that was the last thing I ever wanted to see in his eyes again.
“Oh, Gabby,” I said as I grabbed his hand. “What happened?”
“I slept with Odis.”
When I say my jaw dropped, my jaw dropped. It almost had to hit the floor. I could have caught flies with it if I wanted.
“You slept with Odis?” I asked gently.
“Well, fucked, we fucked,” Gabe said as he nodded. I chuckled, he had to set that straight. “… and I want it to happen again… and again. I want it to happen a lot of times.”
“Why aren’t we squealing about this and why is it bad?”
His eyes watered and he pursed his lips together. I squeezed his hand as I waited for him to continue. “It wasn’t bad… like at all. The sex was mind-blowing. What happened after was bad… he said it shouldn’t have happened. He regretted it.”
“At first, I thought it was because of the pack, or maybe I was a shit lay. I wasn’t asking him to be my boyfriend but after he fucked me three different ways til Sunday, he instantly told me he wished it hadn’t happened.”
“Did he say why he felt this way?” I asked.
He said it was because of… her. He said we were betraying her by being together. When I thought it was almost like she brought us together,” Gabe said quietly, with a one-shoulder shrug. “Was I being selfish in hoping she brought us together?”
“No, baby. That wasn’t selfish. I would have thought the same thing if I were in your shoes. I knew Olivia and him had a past… I didn’t know how deep his feelings ran for her.” Gabe held my hand tightly. “I don’t understand why he thinks it’s a betrayal. I would think Olivia would want you to be happy, want Odis to be happy.”
“I wasn’t asking him to take me as a chosen mate. Goddess, I wasn’t asking him for anything. I… I just felt happy and… it has been so fucking long since I felt happy, Ady,” Gabe’s voice cracked and I wanted to bring hell down on Odis. “I let myself be selfish and I liked it. I liked every moment with him…. until he left. He left mid-fight, he left without fixing it. He just left and it hurt as much as his words did.”
“I’m sorry,” I said as I wiped a tear from my own cheek. “You deserve to be happy, Gabe. You didn’t deserve him treating you that way.” Gabe gave me a sad smile and my heart broke because the way he looked at me said he thought otherwise. Goddess, I’ve never wanted to hurt someone as badly as I did at this moment.