Scarlet Disaster by Colette Rhodes

Chapter 13

This was the weirdest night of my life, without a doubt. The weirdest day, period.

From Frank to Nate to the spite date to… whatever was happening now. Whatever had just happened.

I’d woken up wondering if the animal kingdom was hosting an exorcism in my backyard. It wasn’t just an odd wolf howl, it was multiple howls, plus a bunch of other noises I couldn’t even identify because apparently I needed to brush up on my wildlife sounds. Except that wasn’t how wild animals behaved, as Nate pointed out. Nothing about the sounds I’d heard or the attack on my back porch sounded like regular wild animals scavenging for food.

But what he said didn’t make any sense either. He’d said it was Frank, which was ludicrous. It’s not like Frank would have stood outside my house in the middle of the night, making weird noises, destroying my porch and shredding my screen door to try to frighten me.

That would be insane. No one would do that.

I needed to sleep. Maybe after I got some rest I wouldn’t be so thoroughly questioning my own sanity.

My hands shook slightly around the gun I was still clutching, although I wasn’t entirely confident I could fire it at someone, so I really hoped Nate was being honest. I’d used it for warning shots before when there was a coyote in my yard, but I’d never shot to hurt anything before, let alone a person.

We drove along the tree-lined stretch of highway that led back towards Fairbanks proper, and I caught a glimpse of my frowning reflection in the window as we passed under a streetlight. How had Nate got to my house the first time without a vehicle?

“So,” Nate began before I could interrogate him. “Are we going to talk about Scarlet?”

“Scarlet?” I repeated dumbly. It was a distraction tactic, and I contemplated calling him out on it but after everything that happened… maybe a distraction wasn’t the worst idea. And of course he’d be curious about Scarlet. I’d put on a wig and called myself a different name, and as far as I knew, that wasn’t entirely normal behavior for a one night stand. I was still somehow disappointed that he wanted to know more about my stage persona rather than little ol’ Lou though.

Remember, you hate him. Embrace the hatred.

“I started camming when I was 20. Some… things happened, and I needed to figure out how to make money on my own quickly. That’s how Scarlet was born.”

“How’d you get into it?” Nate asked. He didn’t sound judgmental like I expected him to, just curious.

“I’ve always had a fascination with sex, and almost zero parental supervision most of my life. Basically, I watched a lot of porn,” I replied flatly. Plus daddy issues and a whole host of other things I didn’t want to think too hard about. “I’d seen ads, and decided to give it a shot.”

I could only see Nate’s profile in the dark car, but he just nodded like that was entirely reasonable, and some of the tension in my shoulders eased. I didn’t have a lot of people in my real life to tell anyway, but I tended to keep my old career a secret from the few people I could share it with. Ria had lived in the same house as me and not known what my job was.

“Is that how you met Frank?” Nate asked, spitting out his name like it was poison.

I hummed in agreement, but didn’t elaborate. I felt unexpectedly comfortable talking about the cam stuff, but the Frank stuff… if I’d just treated him and our arrangement like a job, it would be a whole different story. But I’d gone and gotten myself embarrassingly attached and the whole thing was too humiliating to talk about, honestly. Nate opened his mouth to ask a follow up question, but I cut him off.

“It’s all irrelevant now. Scarlet is retired,” I told him. “At least in a professional sense.”

Nate was quiet for a long moment, only the rumble of the engine filling the silence. Maybe he was disappointed? If he was just into me to fuck a camgirl and score man points, it was probably a lot less prestigious to bang a retired one.

Scarlet could seduce the pants off anyone, but I had no clue what went on in a man’s head. At least not the one on their shoulders.

“We’re here,” Nate said quietly, pulling into a tree lined driveway that hadn’t been maintained over winter as well as mine, judging by the bumpiness.

We were parked next to a truck in front of a small, dark cabin—very serial killer-esque—and I kept my gun clutched tight in my freezing hands as I opened the passenger door. Before I could jump out, Nate was there, reaching towards me without actually grabbing me, which I appreciated because I was feeling a little twitchy and I didn’t want to accidentally shoot him. Shooting a person seemed like the kind of thing you should do intentionally, or not at all. Preferably not at all.

I looped my bag over one arm and shuffled forward into Nate’s waiting arms, a little amazed when he scooped me up bridal style, kicked the truck door shut behind him, and carried me and all my stuff up the front steps of the cabin. I was pretty sure he didn’t get those muscles from tattooing all day.

I adjusted myself in his grip so I didn’t feel like I was about to fall and I could have sworn he grunted like he was in pain, but when I glanced at his face it was completely blank.

“Uh, so this is it,” Nate said, sounding a little embarrassed as he set me down on the stoop and unlocked the door, stepping aside for me to enter first. “It’s a rental.”

I let myself in, feeling around for the light switch and turning it on. It was small and impersonal, but well maintained, if a little chilly. The living room we were standing in was only big enough to house a three-seater couch, a coffee table, the television and a fireplace. I couldn’t imagine how cramped it must feel with all three guys in here.

“You can’t sleep on that couch,” I pointed out, raising an eyebrow at the offending piece of furniture. “Can you even lie down on it without your feet hanging over the edge?”

Nate shrugged, closing the door behind him. “I’ll bunk up with Gabriel tonight.”

Unless Gabriel brings a girl home, I thought bitterly, since he and Brooks were out tonight. Or maybe Nate didn’t care about that. Maybe he was into that.

Oh my god, I needed to get some sleep. My brain was being ridiculous.

“I’ll show you to my room,” Nate offered, tugging my bag gently off my arm but leaving me with the gun. I couldn’t decide if he was uber trusting or a little delusional. Maybe both? I followed him through a miniscule kitchen and down a hallway that he seemed almost too big for. Three bedrooms and a bathroom were all packed into the tiny space, and Nate gestured to the one at the farthest end of the hallway.

There was a double bed with a pretty wrought iron headboard that didn’t look like Nate at all and a flowery white quilt, even less like him, and some built-in closets at the back. I wasn’t even sure how the doors opened, there was so little space between them and the small nightstand by the bed.

“Bathroom is through there,” Nate said, gesturing at a door behind him. “I’ll be up for a while, so I’m going to get the fire going. Shout if you need anything.”

Despite all of the assurances he’d made that this was all in the interests of my safety, I was still surprised when he walked away, actually leaving me alone.

I let myself into the room and locked the door behind me, stripping out of my outer layers and setting the gun next to the bed. Maybe I’d wake up tomorrow and freak out about, well, all of this. But for now, a few extra hours of sleep sounded like a great idea, and I had to admit, I did feel safer not being alone in the house.

I just had to hope that I’d put my faith in the right stalker.

* * *

I woke up confused, and not nearly as well rested as usual, so it took me a minute for the events of last night to come back to me. Right. Weird, not-animal, animal sounds. Nate showed up. I agreed to come back to his place for the night. Gabriel and Brooks probably having one-night stands with beautiful women who weren’t me.

Just a regular… Tuesday? I didn’t even know anymore.

I grabbed my phone, messaging Ria via her boyfriend’s satellite phone to let her know I was okay, before scrolling idly through my social media comments.

Message Request from Frank Ashford.

I snorted, rolling my eyes. I hadn’t bothered blocking him on social media, but that was about to change. Curiosity got the better of me though, and I decided to see what he had to say first.

Frank_Ashford:

Meet me for lunch at midday at the bistro on 1st Avenue.

Delusional. Absolutely delusional. Block.

The house was quiet as I let myself into the bathroom and got ready for the day and applied my makeup before digging through my bag in Nate’s room for something presentable to wear out of the weird combination of stuff I’d shoved in my bag. I eventually settled on some lavender leggings, gray fluffy socks, and a pale turquoise sweater before undoing my bun and running my fingers through my wavy hair. I probably looked like a red-headed easter egg, but whatever. My options were limited.

I thought I’d been moving around quietly, but by the time I was ready, I could hear all three of them talking in the kitchen, and the smell of coffee drifted down the hallway.

Huh.On reflection, I realized I felt a little bit nervous as I approached the three of them in their own house. I channeled some Scarlet-style confidence, because I had no room for nerves right now. I didn’t even know exactly why. There was a strange, almost instinctual need for me to show them that I wasn’t afraid.

“Good morning,” I sang as I squeezed into the overcrowded kitchen. Super chill, not intimidated in the slightest. “Is there any coffee left?”

“If there’s not, we’ll make more,” Brooks mumbled, slumped over the dining table, not looking surprised in the slightest to see me. “I’m going to live off it today.”

Gabriel passed me a cup of black coffee with a tight smile, looking as exhausted as Brooks did. I guess whichever girls they hooked up with last night wore them out, I thought bitterly.

“Did you sleep okay?” Nate asked raspily. Had he slept? There were dark shadows under his eyes that I didn’t remember seeing yesterday.

“Fine, thank you,” I replied carefully, sipping my black coffee. “So, uh, we should probably discuss what happened last night. I’m sure your roommates want to know why I’m here.”

Brooks gave me a puzzled look, like he didn’t understand the question. Maybe Nate had filled them in while I was sleeping.

“They already know. I drove past your house because I had a bad feeling, pulled into the driveway, and whoever was there ran,” Nate said in a monotonous voice, staring at the floor.

I frowned at him, irritated he wouldn’t make eye contact.

“You said last night you thought it was Frank,” I pointed out.

“I’m confident it was,” Nate replied, finally meeting my gaze.

“Did you see him?” I pressed. I couldn’t imagine him terrorizing my house then inviting me out for lunch the next day. “Because it didn’t sound like a person. It sounded like animals. Which is weird, yes, but not exactly a reason to hide out at your house.”

All three of them exchanged a panicked look that had warning bells ringing in the back of my mind.

“Why not just stay a few days, querida?” Gabriel suggested gently, rubbing his stubbled jaw, looking delightfully rumpled in the early morning light. “Until you know for sure that it wasn’t a deliberate attack on your property.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but Nate beat me to it. “You’re painting your house anyway, right? Surely you’d be more comfortable staying here while you’re working on it.”

I would be. And as much as I believed that last night was just animals, I was still a little nervous about going back. Being alone in the house while the walls shook and growls filtered through from outside… I’d never felt so afraid in my life.

“I’m keeping the gun,” I warned Nate.

“I would expect nothing less,” he agreed, while Brooks and Gabriel nodded like that was completely rational.

“And I need to go back to my house to check the damage, and get my stuff.”

“I’ll come with you, whenever you’re ready,” Nate replied easily. I had to give the guy credit. I’d told him multiple times I hated him, but he wasn’t deterred in the slightest.

“Pack a swimsuit,” Brooks said with a lazy wink, grinning when I gave him a seriously? look. “There’s a hot tub out back.”

“Fine. And maybe in the car, Nate can fill me in on whatever it is that you’re all lying about,” I announced primly, spinning on my heel to go find my coat while Brooks choked noisily on his coffee behind me.

* * *

By the time I emerged in my winter layers, Gabriel was waiting for me at the door, swinging a keychain around his finger. “Sorry, querida. Nate had to go into the studio to meet a client.”

“Sure he did,” I said drily, walking past Gabriel out into the snow. Coward. The SUV from last night sat in the driveway, but the truck was missing.

“Did you have a nice night?” I asked, shooing away Gabriel’s hand when he offered to help me into the vehicle. I was annoyed. For reasons I didn’t quite understand.

“I wouldn’t say nice,” Gabriel chuckled, moving around the car and climbing into the driver’s side.

It was probably more than nice. It was probably sweaty and passionate and screamy, featuring a woman who didn’t wear a wig and asked a guy to call her by a different name.

“Are you feeling okay?” Gabriel asked gently, pulling out of the driveway. “It sounds like last night was frightening.”

“The noises were a little creepy,” I conceded. “Whatever they were.”

Gabriel stared determinedly ahead, fiddling mindlessly with the radio until quiet country music came through the speakers, not engaging in that line of conversation. Did he believe Nate’s theory that it was Frank?

We’d been driving on the highway heading out of town for a few minutes when I realized I’d never told Gabriel my address. I guessed Nate could have told him and it could have been a totally harmless thing, but I was adding it to my pile of evidence that these guys were keeping secrets and all men were liars.

He pulled up in front of my house, leaping out of the vehicle before I had a chance to move—shit, he was fast—and stomping around like he was looking for threats, jaw tense, nose… twitching? I needed more coffee.

Leaving him to whatever it was he was doing, I let myself out of the car and climbed the front steps, looking for any more unwanted deliveries on the porch and finding nothing. Maybe Frank was listening to me after all.

“You okay over there?” I called, craning my neck to look at Gabriel behind the pillar.

“Fine,” he growled, his voice rougher than I’d ever heard it. “The smell is a little overwhelming.”

Rude. My house didn’t smell.

I unlocked the door and let myself into the house, relieved to find that it all looked as it should. Of course it did. Frank wasn’t going to break into my house. I really needed to stop letting Nate’s paranoid ramblings get to me.

Gabriel followed me inside, but I ignored him in favor of heading to my bedroom and pulling out the rolling cute floral print suitcase I’d bought specifically for my trip to New York to meet Frank. I hated looking at it now, it just reminded me what an idiot I’d been.

I moved around my room quickly to distract myself, going through my drawers and pulling out a few days’ worth of clothes. If they happened to be extra tight yoga pants that made my ass look phenomenal, well that was just an added bonus, wasn’t it?

Since Brooks had mentioned the hot tub, I packed a skimpy one-piece.

For absolutely no reason, I packed some cute lingerie.

Work.I told myself. I’d still need to take some photos. I didn’t know how I was going to manage to do that staying with the guys, but I still needed some content. Carefully, I packed my ring light, tripod and wig on top.

Satisfied I had enough stuff to last me a few days, I rolled my suitcase into the living room—which looked so much better now it was all painted—and took a deep breath before heading towards the kitchen. The door was already open, exposing the decimated screen door behind it, and I followed the sound of creaking wood to find Gabriel already outside. He’d pushed his sleeves up and was yanking the broken balustrade rails off with his bare hands, tossing them in a pile on the snow.

“I took photos of the damage,” Gabriel said, not sounding out of breath in the slightest. “I’ll send them to you. But we’ll fix this, you don’t need to get insurance involved.”

“You’re really strong,” I said, watching him work in awe, barely registering what he’d said.

Gabriel looked a little panicked for a moment before laughing awkwardly. “I lift.”

“I can see that.” He could probably lift me with one arm. Or whoever he’d been doing last night. “I had planned on painting the entryway today so, uh, I’ll just meet you at your place later.”

Gabriel raised one dark eyebrow at me, and I must be a little bit fucked in the head because his judgmental expression really did things for me.

“I’m not leaving you alone, querida. Did you forget what happened last night?” He gestured at the decimated porch.

“I didn’t forget,” I replied carefully. I’m just not sure I believe the story you’re trying to sell me.

“I was going to finish with this and take the screen door off anyway. Then I’ll come in and help you paint.”

“That’s not necessary,” I assured him. “I wasn’t fishing for extra help. I’ll be fine here, I’m sure you have work to do.”

“I’ve never painted walls before. You can teach me.” His expression softened a little from the tense look he’d been rocking since we’d arrived at my place, and it melted my resolve to argue with him.

It would get the job done faster and he’d probably get all this damage cleaned up faster than I could.

I got my toolbox for Gabriel to remove the door then set everything up in the entryway, too vain to change into my ugly painting clothes and hoping I didn’t ruin these ones because I liked these leggings. Gabriel joined me inside, stripping off his sweater to reveal a fitted t-shirt underneath and tanned, muscular arms that I wanted to lick.

“Did Nate do those?” I asked, nodding at his tattoos.

“He did,” Gabriel said with a small smile, pushing his sleeve up so I could see. He had one of the old-fashioned maps—the kind with two circles that showed the two hemispheres side-by-side—split across both arms. The continents were shaded around the edges in a way that made them look almost three dimensional, and surrounded by incredibly thin latitude and longitude lines, wrapping around each arm.

It was a masterpiece.

“You know, I was kind of on the fence about having my tattoo filled in, but not after seeing this,” I murmured, tracing one of the lines with my finger, slightly in awe. Except spending hours in Nate’s company was a terrible idea, so maybe not.

“Can I see it?” Gabriel asked, hot breath fanning across my face. When had I gotten so close? “Your tattoo, I mean.”

“You’d have to get me naked for that,” I retorted, a little bit of my flirty Scarlet confidence popping up at the worst possible moment. As already demonstrated by last night’s disaster of a date, nothing could ever happen between me and Gabriel. Not now that I knew Nate was his friend, and I was fake dating Nate. And had history with Nate. And Gabriel had probably gone out and screwed another girl last night.

There were a lot of extenuating factors at play.

I took a step back, pasting a friendly smile on my face and pretending I hadn’t just issued him a not so subtle invitation. “So, paint. Um, we’re going to start by cutting in the edges. You’ve never done this before?”

“Where I grew up, in Brazil, it was a community and we all lived in cabanas that had been there for generations. We couldn’t really make changes because they belonged to everyone,” Gabriel explained.

“Like a commune?” I asked dubiously, letting Gabriel move the ladder for me when I went to drag it into the corner.

“I suppose a commune is one way to look at it,” he replied thoughtfully. I couldn’t think of any other way to look at it, but maybe I was being narrow minded. I guess the trailer park I grew up in had a pretty communal vibe too.

“How did you meet Nate and Brooks?” I asked, ignoring the mildly alarmed noise Gabriel made when I climbed the ladder. Worrywart.

“We met in our early twenties. Many years ago now,” Gabriel added with a chuckle like they were so old when I was pretty sure they were all in their mid-thirties, tops. “It was in Mexico. Drunk on a beach in Sayulita.”

There was a wistful quality to his voice that I found kind of adorable.

“And it was love at first sight?” I teased.

Gabriel barked a laugh. “Not at all. Nate and I got along right away, but Brooks was a real little shit back then.”

“I don’t believe it,” I deadpanned, making Gabriel grin.

I was pretty sure Brooks could be a real little shit now, but he was so charming that he got away with it. I’d already mentally given myself a gold star for resisting his charms when I’d met him at the coffee shop. Well, mostly resisting. But I had told him I wasn’t interested, so the gold star was still well earned. If stupid Nate hadn’t ripped my heart out through my vagina, I would have definitely been interested. But I was also dealing with the whole Scarlet/Lou conundrum, because while Nate asked me to take the wig off, it wasn’t lost on me that he wouldn’t have actually fucked me if I hadn’t gone full Scarlet on his ass. My insecurities had been throwing a week-long fiesta in my head.

Gabriel seemed interested in me as I was last night, though. Before everything went wrong.

“After a few weeks, Brooks settled down,” Gabriel continued and I forced myself to concentrate. “Stopped getting drunk and trying to fight everyone. We realized he wasn’t a bad dude after that.”

“Brooks doesn’t seem like a brawler,” I replied as I squinted up at the ceiling, attempting to not get too much paint on the crown molding.

“He’s not really, not now,” Gabriel admitted, working slowly on the corners. “But he left home very young and was a little lost for a few years. I’ll let him tell you that story though.”

I glanced down at Gabriel in surprise, but he was entirely focused on what he was doing. I doubted he’d meant it the way it sounded. I was staying for a few days at their insistence, we were hardly going to start ripping open our emotional wounds for each other.

Though maybe we could be friends after all of this. Not me and Nate, obviously. But Brooks and Gabriel seemed really cool, and their jobs were super interesting, and they’d traveled all over the place. I definitely wouldn’t mind getting to know them better.

We got into the groove of painting, and eventually Gabriel got my speaker out of the kitchen and connected his phone to it. My expectations were low, but his taste veered towards sing-along style golden oldies, and I could definitely roll with that. He wasn’t even a terrible singer.

“Nate is the talented one,” Gabriel laughed when I pointed that out, heaving the roller up the wall. “In places where he isn’t licensed to do tattoos, he bartends, sings, whatever odd jobs he can find.”

“Don’t tell me if he plays guitar,” I told Gabriel, shooting him a warning look. “I don’t want to know.”

He’d look so hot with a guitar.

Gabriel was silent for a moment, lost in thought with a faint smile on his face as he worked on the wall adjacent to mine, and I was more curious than I had any right to be about what was going on in his head.

We finished the entryway in record time and I was blown away at how much better it looked. I was going to be able to sell this place in no time.

“For a newbie, you did an amazing job,” I told Gabriel, bumping him with my shoulder as we worked together to clean everything up.

“You’re a good teacher,” Gabriel replied affectionately. “Though I might faint if I don’t get away from this smell soon.”

“It’s really not that bad,” I scoffed. The windows had been open the entire time, airing the place out. “Want to have a coffee on the front porch? Actually, you don’t have a jacket,” I added, frowning at him. I wanted to leave the windows open a little longer and I doubted Gabriel was going to leave me here on my own.

“I’ll be fine,” he assured me, grabbing his sweater and pulling it back on.

“You really must run hot,” I commented, grabbing my bulky layers and heading to the kitchen to put coffee on. “Doesn’t that get uncomfortable when you’re in a warmer climate?”

“I’m very adaptable,” Gabriel replied, leaning back against the counter and watching me work. “Querida, I’d like to talk to you about something.”

I snorted. “I gathered that after all the long contemplative silences. What’s up?”

Gabriel looked pensive, and I did my best to suppress my natural urge to be snarky at every opportunity—a very Lou response, Scarlet was sweeter—to listen to him. I didn’t know Gabriel at all, but I got the impression he considered words carefully before he spoke them. Besides, after the ordeal I put him through on our “date” last night, listening to him was really the least I could do.

“I understand that you are in this… pretend relationship with Nate, and I am not objecting. Having seen Frank last night, I think that’s a sensible course of action,” Gabriel began.

Uh, why? It had been a spur of the moment excuse I’d spouted that had spiralled wildly out of control. What’s done was done, but in no universe was it a “sensible course of action.” It was possibly the least sensible course of action I could have taken.

“I was wondering if you’d be open to getting to know me, regardless of your arrangement with Nate?” Gabriel asked, the politeness of the request taking me off-guard. “You called me last night, and I hope that means you have some interest in me. Of course, that was before you discovered Nate and I knew each other, but I’m hoping that you’ll consider spending time with me anyway.”

“I’m spending time with you now,” I pointed out.

“Dating me,” Gabriel clarified, his lips tipping up in amusement.

“Usually, when a guy sees a girl he’s interested in shoving her tongue in his friend’s mouth, that’s kind of a dealbreaker.”

I needed a filter. The words just spilled out like they had a mind of their own.

Gabriel laughed, not at all perturbed. I was perturbed. I’d perturbed myself.

“If it was anyone else, sure. Nate and Brooks are… it’s hard to explain. Family, I suppose. Whatever you do with them, it doesn’t bother me. Well, perhaps if I’m left out,” he said ruefully. “But I don’t say that to pressure you. If you aren’t interested, you aren’t interested. I just sort of hoped that you were.”

“I don’t know if I should be dating right now,” I said slowly, because had he just told me he was fine with me fucking his friends? It kind of sounded like that was what he said.

“You’re here until the end of winter, no?” Gabriel shrugged. “So are we. Brooks and I, at least. Nate is being difficult. Why not enjoy ourselves while we’re here?”

That… that did sound kind of perfect actually. Maybe Gabriel was a giver? I really wanted another round of oral sex, just to verify that it was, in fact, as glorious as I remembered it.

“Do you think Nate will be okay with that?” I asked slowly, my resolve crumbling into dust. “Not that I care,” I added hastily. Fuck that guy.

“He might surprise you,” Gabriel said, all sexy and mysterious, and not really answering my question.

“You are talking about me potentially hooking up with any of you, right?” I clarified, my cheeks heating instantly. “This will be awkward if you’re not.”

“Hooking up sounds a little cheap,” Gabriel replied with a small frown. “I’m talking about you dating any combination of us for a fixed set of time. If a fixed set of time is what you want.”

I disregarded his last comment, not willing or able to process that right now. The winter was a nice finite stretch of time that I could comfortably focus on.

It would be nice to just agree to this and jump Gabriel’s bones here and now—he’d asked me out. Me! Not Scarlet. No fake identity or elaborate internet seduction required. Still, it would probably be a good idea to discuss this with the other people involved first. Nate was a no-go, I’d been thoroughly burned by his fire already, but Brooks…

He’d been flirty as hell, but he’d also gone out last night. So had Gabriel for that matter.

My eyes narrowed on him and his eyebrows lifted. “What exactly were you doing last night?” I asked, aiming for a relaxed tone and missing the mark entirely.

Way to be cool,I groaned internally. All he’d suggested was casually dating over the winter—you know, with his two besties, as you do—and I was going full jealous girlfriend on him already.

Gabriel looked momentarily surprised, like my question had taken him off guard, before his mouth spread into a smug grin that shouldn’t have been as attractive as it was.

Be infuriated, I instructed my idiot brain with no success.

“You’re jealous,” he announced. I could have sworn his chest puffed up a bit, like an arrogant peacock strutting about.

“I am not,” I protested instantly. “I’m doing recon.”

Gabriel snorted. “What an unusually hostile approach to beginning a casual relationship.”

“Just keeping you on your toes,” I sassed back, rejecting the R-word completely. “Are you going to answer my question?”

“Brooks and I were hanging out together. There were no women involved, I assure you,” Gabriel said sincerely.

Soooo…. were they hooking up with each other? I almost opened my mouth to ask, but that seemed a little personal. Did it really matter if they were? This was just a temporary thing anyway. It’d probably be hypocritical for me to ask, given Gabriel had just given me the go-ahead to pursue Brooks if I wanted to.

“There is no one else we are interested in, querida,” Gabriel continued, misinterpreting my silence. “You managed to separately snare all of our attention in the short time we’ve been here.”

“This is a lot to process,” I admitted.

“Then just think about it,” Gabriel replied easily, accepting the cup of coffee I handed him. “Now let’s go outside before the smell of paint knocks me out.”