Chapter 11

GABRIEL

“Bring the boys, Gabriel. At least I can watch them while you’re working.”

Gabriel closed his eyes as he listened to Grandma’s voicemail. It wasn't her fault he was in a shitty mood, or that she could call a spade a spade when he just wanted to see it as a trowel. He felt guilty as hell for ghosting Amelia, and he missed the little girl with his whole being, as much as he missed her mother.

With a sigh, he opened his eyes and glanced at the large faceless clock Tracy had on the kitchen wall. He had a couple of hours before his shift started. He sent a quick message to Tracy and then went searching for the boys. He shook his head when they whooped in excitement when he told them that they were going to be staying at Grandma’s and barely kept up with them as they loaded their bags into his truck and raced out of the door.

“Grandma!”

“Come here, my babies,” Grandma gushed as they ran to hug her when Gabe pulled up. “There’s a treat for you in the kitchen after you’ve taken your bags upstairs.”

The three boys raced up the stairs, the house filled with their excited chatter as they guessed at what could be waiting for them.

“Gabe—”

“I’m sorry, Grandma.” He shrugged his shoulders as he leaned down to kiss her cheek. She patted his arm as she took hold of it and led him to the kitchen.

“You’re an adult. I keep forgetting that. If you want to populate Olathe with black-haired-blue-eyed little monsters until your seeds run dry, you are free to do so. I just want you to settle down with a good girl like Sarah. But it is your choice. I will respect and love every one of those monsters until my ashes nourish the roses.”

Gabe raised his eyebrows at his grandmother offering him the tray of hazelnut chocolate brownies, a Band-Aid for the wounds she inflicted with her well-placed barb. “Who said my seeds are gonna dry up, Grandma?”

She was saved—or more ~he~ was saved—from her response when the boys bounded into the kitchen, scrambling for the brownies, cupcakes, and caramel croissants that she had prepared for them. “You need to get ready, or you’ll be late, Gabriel.”

He coughed on the hazelnut that got stuck in his throat at his grandmother’s fake innocence as she poured the boys some juice. “You’ve got this round, Grandma, but you better hope that I don’t get my hands on some foam again.”

“Gabe, you won’t!”

He flashed her a smile and kissed her cheek as he scooped the brownie out of Ryder’s hand. “I’m off for a couple of days so we can camp in the backyard tomorrow night. What do you guys say?”

Ryder’s protests were turned into howls of pleasure at the idea. Gabriel chuckled at his grandmother’s floundering expression, enjoying the sweet treat as he started his truck for the drive to work. He was pulling his boots on in the locker room half an hour later when Seth joined him on the bench.

He missed his friend, especially after they had spent so much time together over the summer, but he had kept busy to avoid Seth if he was honest with himself. How did he explain to the man he thought of as a brother that he was shit scared of his twin sister? How did he start describing the emotions she stirred in him when he wasn’t understanding them himself? He had gaped like a guppy when he had seen her at the restaurant the night he had dinner with Tracy, unable to concentrate on the meal, his attention caught by the happy swing of her blonde ponytail and sparkling green eyes as she interacted with her colleagues in the open kitchen.

And Gabe was too honest with himself to not admit that he had fallen in love with Sarah before he had even met her. The cheerful way she dressed Amelia for church said a lot more about her own personality than the little girl’s happy disposition. Not having Amelia’s little arms hugging him tightly was like wandering in a desert and not seeing the oasis that was right in front of him. Her hugs were the comfort he needed when he felt the anxiety and panic race through his mind. It was her green eyes he thought about when he suffered from the flashbacks and nightmares, the gift he had been given when he retired from the military.

“We need to talk, Jiminy,” Seth said, his voice gravelly in his earnestness. “I don’t know what happened between you and Sar, and quite frankly, you two are grownups and need to sort out your own shit. But my niece is another story. I won’t have you fuck with her the way you have been doing. I’ve protected her from a father who thought he was the magic shit that made vegetables grow but was just plain shit. I won’t have you make her think that you care then break her little heart. I don’t care that I love you like a brother. I don’t care that you held me together after Ranya died. I don’t care that you saved my life more than twice. I will push a blade between your ribs and walk away with your blood on my shoes for that little girl.”

Gabe gulped at the blatant warning issued by the mellow Seth, knowing that he was capable of doing it. They had been partners, leading a team of covert assassins taking out major terrorist kingpins around the world in innovative ways, so he knew that the passive, jovial Deputy Sergeant Sethford Marshall could make him disappear to the extent that even Google would struggle to find his body parts.

“Look, Seth. I honestly don’t know what is going on—”

“Gabriel.” The commanding officer’s voice Seth used had Gabe sitting straighter. “I know you love Sarah. I know you love Amelia. But you need to get through this shit on your own and I get that. I want to help you and be there for you like you were for me, but you’re not allowing me, or anyone else for that matter, close. So, I’m going to give you the name of someone who can help you, and I want you to call her.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“No.”

“Okay. I’ll call her.”

“And you’ll call Sarah.”

“Seth—”

“No choice.”

“Okay. I’ll call her.”

“And you’ll be present on Sunday morning in a suit with a haircut for Connor’s christening. And no, you don’t have a choice.”

“About that… Indie—”

“Wants you there but won't speak to you.”

“Lovely…”

Seth got to his feet but stopped at the door and tapped on it as if he remembered something. “Oh, the other thing. Stay away from Grace, and if you see her with a letter opener, run.”

Before Gabe could register what Seth had just said, his friend disappeared down the hall. ~How is it possible that he could piss off every woman in his life without literally saying a word?~

***

Gabe hated swing shifts. With the seasons changing and the weather becoming colder, people went home directly after work, and fewer of them took the time to walk through the parks or visit downtown and spend time with friends. There were fewer drunk and disorderly calls but more traffic incidents. And in between all that, way too much time to think as the afternoon mellowed into the evening hours and the city settled.

It gave him too much time to think about the random stuff. Stuff like Amelia teaching him to sing “Amazing Grace” as he taught her to fish on the lake. Or the way Sarah taught him to bake a soufflé, unconsciously teasing him when she licked the cream from her fingers. Or the way Seth and Indie would sit on the sofa and have a conversation that wasn’t private but only they could understand, and the way it made him wish that he and Sarah hadn’t settled into the undiscussed friendship zone. It made him miss reading Amelia her favorite story as she fell asleep on his shoulder, mumbling for one more when he went quiet.

“Unit two-two-one, respond?”

“Unit two-two-one responding, dispatch,” Gabe replied.

“A report came in of suspicious activity at an address close to your location.”

“On my way,” Gabe said as he made his way to the address sent to his onboard system, slowly cruising down the alley. He pulled to the side when he saw a figure loitering behind the restaurant kitchen door. Gabe’s heart stuttered when he realized it was the restaurant where Sarah worked. The figure hid behind the large trash trolley when someone came out of the kitchen for a smoke break. Gabe watched him move to another position to get a better view of the kitchen but caught sight of the patrol vehicle and fled. Gabe put on his lights and gave chase, but lost sight of him when the guy slipped between two narrow buildings. He parked and followed the guy, not afraid to enter the darkened alley, knowing that his partner would be right behind him.

“Going left,” he heard Seth say into the radio, and Gabe nodded as he herded the guy in that direction. Seth dove across the alley’s opening and tackled the guy to the ground as he cleared the entrance. Gabe quickly drew his taser as Seth cuffed him.

“Why the hell did you run, man?” Seth asked as he turned the guy over and then reared back, shock evident on his face. “What the fu—?”

“What’s up, man?” Gabe asked as Seth’s eyes turned as cold as glass, his weapon still aimed at the man sitting on the pavement. With a frown, Gabe looked down at the man who had elicited such an angry response from the normally cool Seth. The man was tall but extremely thin, his cheeks sunken under his dirty, straggly blond hair, his brown eyes filled with a mixture of hatred and malice. “You okay, Seth? Who is this?”

“Somebody who isn’t even supposed to be in Olathe.” Seth dragged the man to his feet and roughly pushed him in the direction of their patrol vehicles.

“Did you miss me, ~brother~?” Gabe watched as Seth’s face hardened even more at the man’s question. He stepped between Seth and the man, his gut telling him that his friend would be in big trouble if he didn’t intervene when Seth’s knuckles whitened on the man’s arm.

“I’d keep my tongue behind my teeth and my lips together if I were you, buddy.” Gabe glanced at Seth before securing the guy in the vehicle and closing the door. “What the hell, man?” he hissed when he turned back to Seth.

He watched as his friend took a deep breath, his fists loosening with major effort as he looked up at the night sky before looking at Gabe.

“That’s the fucker that nearly killed my sister.”