Page 78 of Forever Entwined
"Yeah, that's probably her. I threw her over my shoulder and dragged her into the bathroom, forcing her to stick her fingers down her throat until she was sick. But she was already on the verge of losing consciousness, so I sent someone to get you or firecracker."
"You know her name is Ava," I mutter, but he just rolls his eyes at me in response.
"When Ava arrived, I went after him and his buddy," states Gabe, bluntly. I just stare at him for a few seconds, trying to process what he is saying because he can’t be telling me he saved my friend from being roofied at a birthday party.
"Oh My God, Gabe, I had no idea any of that happened. You literally saved us all, thank you." I gasp. I reach out and try to hug him, but he pushes me away almost as soon as I touch him.
"What the fuck do you think you are doing?" yells Gabe, continuing to back away.
"I just wanted to thank you and show you how grateful I am that you attempted to protect us," I say, awkwardly pulling my still outstretched arms away.
"I'm no white knight, Izzy. I think you've got the wrong brother if you were hoping for someone to ride in on a white horse and save you," he spits venomously. "I would much rather burn the world to the ground and dance in the flames."
"Well, whatever you want to call it, you were my guardian angel that night. Because of you, Ava and I ended up with nothing worse than a few wet clothes. Even though Harper had a horrible night throwing up and passing out, it could have been so much worse, so thank you, Gabe. I’ll be forever grateful you were there."
"It's fine. I know what it's like to have no control over your own body. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, especially not you girls." Gabe shrugs absentmindedly.
"Aww, I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me, Gabe," I announce, feigning a swoon.
"Hey, is everything okay? I saw you two talking and thought I better come over to make sure hell hasn't frozen over," Nate jokes, as he startles me by hugging me from behind.
"Yeah, just having a chat with my guardian angel right now," I say, turning to hug Nate back.
"Guardian angel, eh? It’s been a while since anyone's called you that, ay Gabriel?"
"Fuck yeah, your name is Gabriel, and you're my angel." I start to giggle now, wondering how I’d never made the connection. Especially after all the times Nana made me accompany her to church growing up.
"Way to live up to your name," I joke and playfully try to poke him.
"The name is fucking Gabe," he hisses, growling like a wild, angry animal before storming off.
"Thanks for that, we were almost talking until you showed up, and scared him away" I huff, playfully shoving Nate.
"Scared him away?" Nate chuckles. "He's not a wild animal, you know?"
I just give him an ‘are you sure about that?’Look, before shaking my head, and rolling my eyes like a stroppy child.
"Come on, I'll find a way to make it up to you later," Nate winks, pulling me closer to him and leading us to our seats, even having the audacity to smack my ass as we walk away.
***
NATHANIEL
The game is over and we won, of course. It's time for all of us to head home. We've all got our final exams in math and science this week, so we need to study hard if we ever want to graduate. The girls have already started talking about colleges, but Tucker and I are happy enough to just continue working at O'Malley's after graduation. Learn the business from the ground up and one day own our own. Although that's still a good ten years away.After all, it's easy work and pays decently. We need to learn the business from the ground up first. The girls have better plans, though. They’ve applied to all the Ivy League colleges as well as some local ones. Ava apparently wants to be a kick-ass lawyer, Harper and Riley are doing something to do with art and design, and Bella hopes to be a teacher or go to a specialist art college. It seems to change weekly. Either way, I know whatever she ends up doing, she's going to smash it.
"So, who needs a ride?" I ask the group.
"Our dad is picking Harper and me up, and he offered to drop Izzy off at hers on the way home," Riley informs me.
"And my family is taking Ava and me out for supper to celebrate," Tucker replies proudly.
"Looks like it's just you and me, bro," I say, but Gabe just grunts back in response.Honestly, he’s so fucking rude at times.
We walk to the car and climb in. "So, you and Bella seemed fairly friendly earlier?" I comment, hoping this is the start of him extending an olive branch. I know it hurts Bella that he refuses to forgive her, even though she tries to play it off by assuring me that he just needs more time.
"I don't do friends," Gabe replies, still staring straight ahead.
"Well, you were talking, and you both survived the horrible ordeal, so I consider that a victory." I shrug before reaching for my seat belt.