Chapter 25
I called Gabriel right after lunch. I went to the study to make the call, not really wanting anyone to overhear my conversation on the hall phone. Especially if it got more verbally violent than I was planning on letting it. And you never knew with Gabriel. One minute he was happy and carefree, the next a moody, temperamental arsehole.
Michel, being the coward that he was, made no move to follow me into the study. He watched me go with that damn smirk on his face and only laughed when I'd requested emotional support, if not verbal.
"There is no way in hell you are getting me on the phone with Gabriel. He's your friend."
Which wasn't strictly true. Though it probably suited his purposes to let me believe that tonight. We three were all close; Michel and I just happened to be closer than either of us were to Gabriel. But we had spent many nights getting drunk in his penthouse apartment. Gabriel was from a rich family and had a rich job. And Michel and I had no qualms about using his money shamelessly for our own entertainment. Neither did Gabriel, for that matter.
I figured he was a lonely guy, having suffered from a series of bad relationships. I knew that Anna, an acquaintance of mine and one of his friends, had spent years trying to set him up with a girl and prove all the good things a woman could do for him. Gabriel went along with it because he liked Anna, but it never changed his bitter attitude about his own love-life, and none of the females Anna set him up with were inclined to deal with a moody male if they weren't going to be getting sex out of it.
Which left Gabriel even more bitter than before. And because of that, he wasn't so sweet on being left out on any big plans. Like Michel and I flying off to London for three weeks. And not telling him or ringing him, until now.
He answered the phone on the first ring. "Hello," he greeted me in a smooth cultured voice, "Gabriel here."
"Gab! Hey!"
There was silence. Then, "Oh, I'm sorry, do I know you?"
I winced. "Is this a bad time?"
Gabriel sighed, and I almost felt his resentment slide down the phone line toward me. "Not particularly. I really don't have a life so I don't see how you could think to possibly interrupt anything."
"Look, Gab…"
Another sigh. "Don't bother Ria. We both know why you called. You're sorry; I'm sorry, okay fine. Now, I do have company so-"
"-Don't hang up!"
"What is it Ariana?"
"Who's there?" I asked him brightly, instead.
"A girl. You wouldn't know her."
Oh. Ouch. I heard masculine laughter drift through the phone-lines.
"That didn't sound like a girl to me!" I said, still bright, still bubbly.
"Its Jared okay?" he sounded exasperated.
Jared was his elder brother and the darkling of the family. Mainly because he was straight.
"Jared and Lyssa are here and yes you are interrupting something and no I'm really not too worried about you and Michel fucking off to London the moment I turned my back."
"Oh," I said in a small voice. "Well then, I guess, um, we'll see you when we get back."
There was a silence as I prepared to hang up the phone. I hated leaving on a bad note, but if Gabriel really didn't want to talk then I wasn't going to push him. But he caught something in my voice; he must of, because the next moment he sighed again.
"Tell me, Ria. What's wrong?"
Tell him what's wrong? And release all my burdens on him when he was the one hurting? I didn't think so.
"No, really. I'm fine. I was just calling to check in." I said, wincing a little when I recognised the defensiveness in my voice and hoping he wouldn't notice it.
"Bullshit."
"What?"
"I said, that's bullshit. I can tell something's wrong Ria, I know you too well. We went to Uni together remember? I know what you sound like when you're about to have a break down."
"I am not about to have a breakdown." I said indignantly, even more defensive now. Only now, I really was defensive, not just trying to hide something. As if I would let Beth get to me that much!
"Fine. Then tell me what's wrong," Gabriel snapped impatiently.
I gave in. "Michel and I are in London."
"I gathered that." Gabriel's voice was dry, still impatient.
"No, Michel and I are in London." I tried to clarify, without actually saying the words. The words I knew would send Gabriel into fits of laughter.
"Ria please. I'm hardly in mood for cryptic remarks."
I gave in, again. "I kissed Michel."
The silence then was almost touchable. "You lucky lucky girl," Gabriel said finally, in that low, purring drawl of his. It was a voice he worked on for theatre. The voice that made the female characters swoon and fall into his waiting arms.
"Well. I wouldn't say that," I replied, quickly. Too quickly. Because I felt lucky. Because those kisses, even if they were fake, had been incredible. But that was just thing though, they were fake. Fake!
"And why, for all the heaven and earth, are you not lucky for kissing one of the most attractive creatures that have ever walked this planet?"
"Because, um, well, it was pretend."
"Did I mistake something? Did you run away to Broadway instead of your bitch-sisters wedding?"
"No. I mean, we're pretending. To be boyfriend and girlfriend. And we sort of had to kiss. At some point."
Gabriel laughed delightedly, and I waited patiently for him to stop. "Ria darling, how do you manage to get yourself in these sort of predicaments time and time again?"
"I've never done this before."
"Too true." He still sounded amused, damn him.
"There's something else…" I said, hesitating a little over the words. I didn't exactly want more to give Gabriel more teasing ammunition, but it felt good to actually tell someone the truth.
"Can I hedge a guess?"
I didn't answer him, knowing he would anyway.
Gabriel paused for a moment to think. "The reason," he said after a moment, "that you and Michel are pretending to date is because it's your sisters wedding. And someone happens to be there who you want to make jealous."
Damn. Was I that obvious?
"Maybe." I sighed. "But it still doesn't change the fact that I kissed Michel."
"Wait, did you kiss Michel or did Michel kiss you?" There was definite interest in Gab's tone now. And he sounded more patient. I took that as a good sign.
"What are you talking about?"
"Just answer the question Ria."
"Um…I kissed him first. Because Beth was watching. And then he kissed me." And what a fucking lovely kiss it was, I thought, trying to dispel all those lovely images and feelings from my mind. How was it even possible he affect me this much when he wasn't even in the room?
"And what was it like?"
"I beg your pardon?" Okay, so sure I had turned to Gab for help, but did he really want to know all the gory details?
"The kiss, what was the kiss like?"
Okay, so maybe he did. "Erm…passionate. I guess. It was pretty hot." I had no other words to describe it. There was no way to describe that kiss. Or nothing in the English language anyway. I was sure that French or Italian wouldn't go so badly. They weren't called the Languages of Love for no reason. Or in this case, languages of sex.
"Well. There we are."
"'There we are' what?" How could he possibly get any sort of understanding out of those words when I even couldn't? I had been in the kiss and I still didn't understand it!
"It wasn't fake, Ria."
"What are you talking about? I just told you-"
Gabriel interrupted me before I could finish the sentence. "Yes, so you kissed him to make a point to the hag, but Ria, if it was fake, it wouldn't have been passionate. There is no way you can fake passion. Not if it was real passion anyway."
I thought of that night. His long, hard body against my own, his hands trailing down my spine, just lightly, just the tips of his fingers, making me wonder what it would feel like if he trailed those hands other places. And then, when we pulled away, that wild look in his eyes…
Was that real passion? I sure hoped so, because I don't think I could survive the real thing if that wasn't it. It would make my body burst with heat.
"Ria, Michel's liked you for a long time now."
That got me out of my fantasies. "What are you talking about?"
"He's liked you for ages. Anyone can see that. Anyone not blind, anyway." Impatient Gab was back, and now he sounded exasperated, tired. I heard another burst of laughter from his end of the phone-line and smiled when I recognised Jared's laugh. He had an amazing laugh, loud and deep-bellied, addictive.
Okay, back on topic Ria, one guy at a time.
"He has not. Michel? Like me? You've got to be joking." Of course he was joking. This was just gab's way of getting back at me for the London thing.
Then came another burst of laughter in the background. This one feminine, followed by a shout. The phone crackled for a little, and then Gabriel was back, his voice impatient, mid-sentence. "-get your eyes checked, because I sure don't have time to stroke your ego. Now, I really must go, and call soon okay? I want to know how it all turns out. And if you haven't slept with him by the time you guys get on that plane back to the US I'll be just as angry about this whole London adventure as I was 5 minutes ago."
And then he hung up. I sat in shocked silence. Michel liked me? Surely not. Surely I wasn't that blind. I would know, right, if Michel had any feelings for me? And he said it himself; this whole pretend date thing revolted him? Gabriel must be wrong. He must be.