Page 7 of House of Scarlett
I’m so full of shit that I don’t even believe my own lies.
My lower lip wobbles when I picture his tortured expression.It hurt him to push me away.Part of me wants to cling to that as hope, but I can’t.Because he did it anyway.
Whatever reason Gabriel Legend had, I don’t know, and I can’t allow myself to care.
But, first ... I need to cry it out in the shower. Tears cried in the shower don’t count, because you can’t see them fall.
* * *
I wrap the towel around my hair, tighten the belt on my robe, and hurry toward the intercom that won’t stop buzzing.
I want to believe it’shim. That he regrets pushing me away. Sending me away.Throwing me away.But I know it won’t be when I touch the button. My friends are relentless.
“Yes?”
“Ms. Scarlett?” The voice that comes from the speaker doesn’t belong to Harlow, Monroe, or Kelsey.
“Who is this?”
“It’s me.Bump. I saw Gabe leave, and Roux and I didn’t know where else he might go. Is he here?”
I drop my head against the wall and close my eyes. I have no idea how he knows where I live, but I have to assume he either googled my address or followed me that time he kidnapped me. “He’s not here, Bump. You should go.”
The speaker crackles, and then he asks, “Do you know where he is?”
“No. I don’t.”
“Okay, we’ll leave you alone.”
The intercom goes silent, and I rush to the window to look out at the sidewalk. Sure enough, it’s Bump with Gabriel’s dog. Alone. In the dark.Hell.
I wrench the crank until the night air hits my face, thankful I had the windows replaced a few years ago, and yell down to him. “Hey! You shouldn’t be walking around at night by yourself. It’s not safe.”
He spins around, trying to figure out where my voice is coming from, and it takes him a second before he finds me at the window above him.
Given his uniqueness, there’s no way I can just let him walk off into the night. If something happened to him, it would crush Gabriel and Q and Zoe, and I’m not going to be the reason it happens.
“Wait, Bump. Come around the side and I’ll buzz you in. We’ll call you a taxi that’ll give you a ride home.”
“I can walk back to the club.”
“It’s not safe.”
He shrugs. “Roux is a tough girl. She won’t let anything happen to me.”
I want to believe him, but I can’t risk it. “Around the side, there’s a brown door. Open it when it buzzes and come up to the fourth floor.”
Bump tilts his head from side to side, as if weighing the decision. When he nods and trots down the path, I wonder what the hell I’m doing.
Am I trying to get Gabriel to come to me?
Oh, hell no. I’m not that manipulative or desperate to use his friend to get his attention. I’m legitimately worried about the kid, and I don’t want it on my head if something else goes wrong tonight.
When Bump knocks on my door, I open it, and Roux nudges her way inside. I’ve never had a dog in my space, but she doesn’t jump on the furniture or knock anything over. She just quietly pads around the room, sniffing things, before she comes back to my side.
“Gabe left and isn’t answering his phone. I hate when he does that. He’s my brother, and I can’t lose him.”
The admission is so raw and frantic that I feel sorry for the kid, even though he’snota kid. He’s themanwhokidnapped me.
