All of Me by Tiffany Patterson

Chapter 20

Gabe

I leaned down and inhaled deeply, smelling the top of Lena’s head. It was a mix of tropical fruit from her conditioner and some sort of butter she used on her hair. Either way, it smelled great on her.

She was half asleep as we entered the final hour of our flight back to Texas. Eli sat two rows ahead of us. He’d done well at his exhibition, winning it and garnering the interests of multiple sponsors. None of them had mentioned anything about betting rumors or showed hesitation to make him a part of their sponsorship team.

For his part, though, Eli appeared distracted at times while in New York. He’d won the fight, decidedly, but there was something amiss about his demeanor. I pulled out my phone and set a reminder to go back and rewatch his previous fights. There was something about his two losses in his amateur career that bothered me.

“What’re you thinking about?” Lena asked, pulling my attention away from my phone.

“You,” I answered.

She smiled. “Liar.”

I chuckled.

“It looked serious,” she said. “Whatever is going on in that mind of yours.” She reached up and played with the hairs of my beard.

“Doing that will get you fucked in this plane’s bathroom,” I growled in her ear, grabbing her hand.

Her eyes widened. There was also a bit of intrigue in their cinnamon depths.

“Is that one of your new songs?” I asked, referring to the song she’d been humming moments earlier.

She gave me a curious look. “I need to catch you up to speed on music.” She laughed. “It’s ‘Diary’ by Alicia Keys featuring Jermaine Paul.”

“Sing it to me,” I told her.

She blinked, and I stared right back. Shaking her head, she smiled before she began humming the melody. Seconds later, she started singing.

I listened as she sang about keeping secrets for her lover. When she came to the chorus, it mentioned thinking of her as the pages in a diary. My heart muscles tightened, and I wondered if that was the case.

I waited until she finished the song.

“Alicia’s version is so much better than that. Jermaine is phenomenal on the song. I'll have to play it for you once we land. I don’t have it on my phone, but I just started singing it.”

“Are the words true?” I asked.

She cocked her head sideways. “What do you mean?”

I leaned down farther, making sure our faces were only inches apart. “I mean, will you keep my secrets, Lena?”

Her gaze searched mine.

I waited for her answer, needing her to give me a solid response. I needed her to respond for reasons far beyond my understanding at that moment. Still, I waited.

Slowly, she nodded. “Yes, Gabe. I’ll keep them.”

I placed a kiss on her forehead, something inside of me easing open with her answer. I didn’t say much after that, but I had the confirmation I needed.

For the rest of the flight, we sat in silence, Lena’s head against my chest, my arm wrapped around her shoulders.

When we landed, I spoke to Eli for a few minutes before his Uber arrived to take him home.

Lena and I retrieved our baggage and headed to my car, which I’d kept parked in the airport’s parking lot.

We stepped outside of the airport, and the oppressive weight of the Texas summer heat fell around us. It was mid-afternoon, and the sun was reaching its peak. I checked my phone to see the temperature was already in the mid-90s.

“Oh my God,” Lena groaned. “Jodi said it gets hot here in the summer. She didn’t say Satan himself sits his ass on Texas in the middle of the day.”

Letting out a laugh, I held my arms out wide. “Welcome back to Texas, Cin.”

She grimaced and slid her sunglasses down her nose to peer at me over their brim. “I’m going back to New York.” She turned around and started back for the airport.

I scooped her around the waist and hoisted her over my shoulder all in one move.

“Gabriel,” she yelped. “What is wrong with you?” she growled as I carried her and our two bags in the direction of my car.

“Stop wiggling before I drop you,” I instructed.

“You wouldn’t have to worry about dropping me if you would just put me down, you big tyrant.”

I grinned. “I like that title.” I spotted my car at the far end of the parking lot.

“I’m not going back to New York,” Lena said, sounding exasperated. “It was a joke. Put me down.”

I stopped, and set her on her feet, then laughed when she punched my shoulder.

“That’s assault,” I said.

“You just tried to kidnap me, so we’re even.”

We made it to my car with Lena still bickering about my picking her up. I heard the laughter in her voice, though, so I wasn’t too concerned.

We had a forty-five minute drive back to Harlington. Lena found that Alicia Keys song that she’d sung on the plane for me.

“I liked your version better,” I said.

She rolled her eyes. “You’re biased.”

“Guilty as charged. Your version is still better.”

She laughed. “Let me play something else for you.”

“One of your new songs?”

She shook her head. “I told you. They’re not ready yet.”

“Not ready, or are you hiding them from me?” I asked. “As your muse, shouldn’t I be entitled to be the first one to hear them?”

She gave me a sideways look. “You’re unfair. Trying to guilt me into singing them for you.”

“All is fair in love and war, baby.”

She sucked in her bottom lip.

I hated that I had to take my eyes off her to watch the road as I was still driving. But when I did, that was when I realized the words I said. All is fair in love and war.

Love. I used the word love. Could that be the truth after only a few months?

I shook my head because, of course it was. The second night I met this woman, I declared that she was my future wife. I still meant those words.

About ten minutes before we arrived at Lena’s, she pressed a button on her phone, and a new song I didn’t recognize streamed through my speakers.

“I haven’t recorded any of my new stuff yet. When I do, you’ll be the first to hear it. I promise,” she said, wearing a smile. “But this is one of the songs from Broken Kisses. I remixed it as well.”

“‘Wild Thing’?” I asked, glancing over at her. It was one of the songs from that album. I recognized the lyrics, but the melody was different from the original. The pace of the song was slower and more somber.

“What do you think?” Her face remained neutral, but I could see the uncertainty in her eyes.

As successful as she was in her career, there remained shadows of doubt. The sight of them grated on me. I knew she didn’t have a reason to doubt her talent or skills. But I thought back to the past few days we’d spent together in New York.

At dinner, her parents took every opportunity to throw small jabs at Lena, telling her what they deemed to be her shortcomings. Growing up with parents like that and a douchebag of an ex would be hell on anyone’s self-esteem.

I knew how painful the insults of others could bury themselves inside of our psyche. The closer I grew to Lena, the more I recognized how I used my whole never let ’em see ya sweat mottoto keep people at arm’s length for that exact reason.

“I think I can’t wait to hear the rest of the album once you’ve remixed all of the songs,” I told her as I glanced over. I pinched her chin between my thumb and forefinger.

Her gaze wandered toward the windshield before turning back to me again.

“I was thinking of remixing the songs and putting out the album on my own.” She paused. “Once I finish this album. Then I could release Broken Kisses independently.”

Her voice held a cautious enthusiasm.

“I’ll be the first one to buy it,” I said. “And make sure to put it out on CD so I can get an autographed copy.”

Her smile widened as she sat back in her seat.

“Home sweet home,” she sang as we pulled into her driveway.

I got out and retrieved her suitcase from my trunk before opening her door for her. I trailed behind her as she searched through her shoulder bag for the key.

“Whoa,” she blurted as we entered the house. Warm air shrouded itself around us. She scrambled to input the code for the alarm while I fully entered the hot ass house. I placed her suitcase on the floor by the couch before turning back to face her.

“Did you leave the AC off?”

“I didn’t think so,” she answered, her forehead wrinkled in confusion.

It was almost as hot inside as it was outside.

“Where’s the thermostat?” I asked.

“Down the hall.” Lena pointed.

“Wait here.” I searched for the thermostat and cursed when I read that it said it was ninety-three degrees inside. I punched a few buttons. However, the screen kept reading that the air conditioner was on, but nothing was kicking on.

I pulled out my phone and sent a text to Micah. He responded after a minute and informed me that there had been a power outage the day before. It lasted a few hours, but it likely threw some shit out of whack in the house.

I rounded back up to the living room to let Lena know what Micah told me. I called a local electrician I knew, but he was booked for the remainder of the day. Lena’s place wasn’t the only home affected by the outage.

“You can’t stay here,” I told Lena.

“I’m sure it’ll kick back on soon.”

I gave her a look. “Cin, it’s ninety-three degrees in here. Your ass is not staying here.” I went over to the couch to grab her suitcase to take back out to my car.

“I guess I can get another hotel or something.”

I paused at the door. “Don’t even try that shit.” I placed her suitcase down and moved in front of her, cupping her chin between my fingers. “You’ve finally admitted to being mine. I’m not letting my woman sleep in a hotel while I have a perfectly fine bed and house.”

“You’re asking me to stay with you?”

I grunted. “Did you hear a question in what I just said?” I didn’t wait for her answer, as I went over to pick up her suitcase again.

I paused at the doorway, glancing over my shoulder. “You’ve got ten minutes to get whatever else you want to take with you.”

With that, I had Lena move into my house.