Chapter 4

GABRIEL

It’s late, or early depending on how you look at it, when the last person is shoved out the door. The house is a mess. There are cups and beer bottles everywhere. There’s even trash floating in the pool. It’s going to take forever to clean, but knowing Kendrick, he’ll just call someone tomorrow and pay them to do it for him.

We lock up, and Kendrick sets the alarm. He heads off to his room, which is on the first floor on the opposite side of the house.

I swear, I think I’m too old, at my ripe old age of twenty-six, for this partying. I’m just not in it like I used to be. It could be the twenty-four-year-old sleeping upstairs that’s making me feel this way.

After Whitley headed to her room, I just wasn’t in it anymore. It was like the light had left the building, and I was waiting for a glimmer of it to come back. I got rid of whatever her name was and just sat back nursing my own beer until everyone started to thin out.

No matter what, I’ll always feel guilty about the night she was attacked. Not only was Whit beaten to within an inch of her life, but it was done because of me. The major injury was to her leg, but she also had several fractured ribs and a bruised kidney. It took months for her to recover.

I still remember the phone call from Kendrick that night. My heart sank, and I rushed to the hospital to find the cops waiting for me, wanting to speak to me about my relationship with Brittany Riddell. There was no relationship, I told them. I didn’t even know who she was.

Heading upstairs, I hear something. I stop walking and listen. There it is again. I’m trying to figure out what the sound is when I realize I’m standing in front of Whitley’s door. I put my ear against it and listen. She’s whimpering in her sleep. I carefully turn the knob and open the door just enough to check on her.

“Whitley?”

As my eyes adjust to the darkness, I can see her thrashing in her sleep and whimpering.

“Stop, please don’t!” she screams.

Shutting the door behind me, I approach the bed and grab her arms to keep her from flailing.

“Whitley!”

“No! We’re not together!”

~Oh, god…the attack.~

I shake her.

“Whitley! Please wake up, baby!”

Her eyes fly open, and she notices it’s me.

“Gabriel.”

“Yeah, it’s just me.”

She hugs me around the neck. I take her in my arms and hold her tight. Her heart is beating a mile a minute, and her breathing is quick. After a few minutes, she starts to calm down a little and pulls back.

“I’m sorry, Gabriel. It must be the new atmosphere.”

“Nothing to apologize for, Whit. You want me to stay with you until you fall back asleep?”

She looks at me for a minute and then nods. I slide my shoes off and climb into bed beside her. I stay on top of the sheets as she snuggles underneath them. Lying on my back, I put my arms behind my head and stare at the ceiling as my mind wanders.

How in the world am I supposed to tell her how I feel? What if she doesn’t want to see where this can lead? The bad part is that I’m on a time limit here. She’s only here for the summer before she goes back to New York. What happens then? What about Kendrick? How do I tell my best friend how I feel about his sister?

***

I wake up to the sun shining through the sheer curtains. My arms are wrapped around a warm body, and damn if that body don’t feel good. I remember what happened right before I dozed off as Whitley moves her ass against my crotch. My dick wants to sink deep into her and know what she feels like.

~Fuck me, if that ass doesn’t quit squirming.~

“Whitley, baby, you have got to quit squirming that ass.”

“Hmm?”

“I may be your brother’s best friend, but I’m still a man.”

She freezes, realizing exactly what I’m talking about. Then she does something that shocks me. She pushes her ass against me hard before pulling back.

“Hmm, impressive.”

Before I can even say a word, the door opens and Kendrick comes in, stopping dead in his tracks. His eyes widen.

“What. The. Fuck!” he shouts.

Whitley calmly speaks up before I have a chance to.

“Not even what it looks like, Kendrick. So put that blood vessel on the side of your head back where it belongs. I had one of my nightmares.”

I watch as Kendrick’s eyes soften. He knows she still has them from time to time. He comes and sits on the side of the bed. I decide it’s a good time to get up and grab my shoes.

“I’m sorry, Whit. I didn’t even think about you being in a strange place might bring back the nightmares.”

“It’s okay. I’ll get used to being here soon. Plus, Gabriel helped by waking me and then staying with me till I fell asleep.”

“Looks like he fell asleep too.”

He’s giving me the stink eye. Yep, it’s time for me to go. I’m pretty sure there’s a lecture sometime in my near future about staying away from his sister.

“It’s okay. He made the nightmares go away. Plus, I learned something interesting this morning.”

“What’s that, Whit?” Kendrick asks.

I’m almost completely out the door when Whitley says, “Your best friend has a pretty impressive cock.”

~Holy shit…~

I’m gone by the time Kendrick shouts, “What the fuck happened last night!?”