Managed: A VIP Novel Part 29

Brenna is taking Pepa's lyrics, and I'm Salt. And because neither of us can play an instrument to save our lives, we're using the karaoke machine. We glance at each other. Brenna's eyes are gleaming, but her smile is nervous. "All in?"

"All in," I say, giving her a fist b.u.mp.

The song starts, and I can no longer worry. Brenna is true to her word, delivering her lyrics with sa.s.s, her hips gyrating. She slaps her b.u.t.t, and Rye howls, laughing so hard tears stream down his face.

But they're all looking at Brenna with pride and encouragement.

And then it's my turn.

I don't think. The song takes me. I dance, gyrating, and Brenna joins me. It's so freeing; I understand why these guys sweat their a.s.ses off night after night.

"Kill it, Sophie," Jax yells, clapping.

So I do. I'm rapping about nice dreams and big jeans, my a.s.s wiggling, when he walks in.

It's pretty impressive, actually, that the man can simply enter a room and everything stops.

I mean, the background music plays on, but all of us have halted as if he's pressed pause.

Gabriel freezes too, his brows knitting over that arrogant nose. Impeccably dressed in a blue suit, platinum cufflinks glinting in the low light, he's king of all he surveys. The guys in this room might be the biggest rock stars in the world, but they stand silent before him like recalcitrant kids caught stealing liquor from Dad's stock.

As if to punctuate that thought, Rye suddenly points at me. "She made us do it!"

"We didn't touch a thing," Killian wails dramatically while flailing his arms out. "The lock on the liquor cabinet was already busted!"

It breaks the tension, and everyone laughs. Well, everyone except for me and Gabriel.

Because his gaze has landed on mine. And I can't look away.

Why him? Why is it that one direct look from this man has the ability to paralyze my body, take my breath, make everything hot and sticky along my skin?

I didn't lie that day on the plane. He is the most devastatingly attractive man I've ever met. But what I feel when I look at him, when we silently a.s.sess each other, has nothing to do with how he looks.

His male beauty isn't what makes my heart ache like a tender bruise. It isn't what has my insides swooping to my toes and my lips suddenly turning sensitive. And it certainly isn't what makes me want to cross the small distance between us and wrap my arms around him, hold him close.

Because he looks so very battered. Thinner about the face, shadows beneath his aqua eyes. His gaze conveys pain, yearning, need. I see it, even if I'm fairly certain he doesn't want me to see. I've always seen the loneliness.

Maybe because it matches my own.

We're both experts at hiding our true selves behind a public mask. I make jokes and smile. He plays the robot.

The karaoke machine stops with a click. I still can't look away from Gabriel. I've missed him. Too much.

He hasn't acknowledged anyone, hasn't even budged from his stance just inside the door.

"Time to go," Jax murmurs, and everyone shuffles, grabbing instruments, their stuff-Killian takes the tequila.

They leave without another word.

Gabriel's voice is rusty when he finally uses it. "You've been well?" His gaze flicks to the mic still in my hand and a flash of humor lights his eyes before neutrality settles back into place.

I'm sweaty and flushed, my heartbeat still rapid from abruptly stopping my dance.

"Don't I look well?" It's a cheap tactic, but the insecure part of me needs some sort of sign. And he still hasn't moved from the doorway.

He glances at my b.r.e.a.s.t.s, the swell of my hips, making all those places perk up, become tender with the need to be touched. He meets my eyes again.

"Very well indeed."

d.a.m.n, that shouldn't fill me with heat. I set down the mic, take a swig of my beer. It's warm and flat now. "You should have let them stay."

"I didn't ask them to go." He says it softly, his expression a bit perplexed and a bit p.i.s.sed off.

"You didn't have to. You show up and everyone scatters like c.o.c.kroaches to the light."

His nostrils flare in clear irritation. I ignore it.

"Why is that? Why don't you let anyone in here?" I take a step closer. "Why don't you let anyone in?"

"You're in here," he retorts hotly, his gaze cutting away, as if the sight of me pains him. "You're in."

"Am I?" My heart pounds now, pus.h.i.+ng the blood through my veins with too much force. It makes me jumpy, in need of comfort.

Gabriel frowns at me. "You have to ask?"

I take another step, aware that he stiffens when I do. "Were you really off doing business?"

"What else would I be doing?"

Another step. Close enough to catch his scent. Heat radiates off him despite his cool outward appearance. He stares down his nose at me. Arrogant b.a.s.t.a.r.d.

"You look like s.h.i.+t," I tell him.

He scoffs at that. "Well, thank you, Darling. I can always count on your candor."

"Yes, you can." I look up at him. "You've lost weight. Your color is off-"

"Sophie," he cuts in with a sigh, "I've traveled all day. On a b.l.o.o.d.y plane. I'm tired, and I want to sleep." He inclines his head, his chin set in defiance. "Shall we?"

For a second, I can only blink. "You honestly expect me to sleep with you now?"

That stubborn, blunt chin rises. "You promised me every night if I wanted it. Well, I do."

"Not until you tell me where you've been."

"What?"

I lean in, my nose nearly brus.h.i.+ng the lapel of his perfect suit, and breathe deep. I straighten with a glare. "You may have had a shower, but your suit stinks of cigarettes and perfume."

His eyes narrow to laser-bright slits. "What are you implying?"

"Were you off f.u.c.king someone?"

There. I said it. And I'm sick with the idea.

"That is none of your business."

I don't care if he says it without inflection, it still feels like a slap to the face.

"It is if I'm sleeping with you," I snap.

He takes a step into my s.p.a.ce. "I told you at the beginning, this isn't about s.e.x."

The tips of my b.r.e.a.s.t.s brush his chest with each agitated breath I take. "You're right. It's more than that. We are more. And you f.u.c.king know it." I poke his hard shoulder. "So stop being such a coward and admit it."

With an actual growl, he backs me against the wall, his arms caging me in. Our noses b.u.mp as he bends down.

"Here is what I will admit: I was not 'f.u.c.king someone' and it p.i.s.ses me off that your first suspicion went directly to that."

He's so close, his angry heat feels like my own. I can't move or avoid his eyes. I don't try to. "Why shouldn't I think that when you smell of other women?"

"Because there is only you!"

His shout rings out, broken and desperate. But it's the rage in it, as if he hates the truth, that has me flinching.

Even so, his confession sits between us. And I can't help but put a hand to his waist. Tension vibrates through his frame. But he doesn't pull away, just stares down at me, breathing hard.

"Gabriel, you think it's any different for me?"

He pulls back at that, his expression going blank.

I don't let it stop me. My voice stays soft. "Why do you think I push?"

"Because you can't help yourself, stubborn, chatty girl." His gaze darts over my face. "Even when you should."

"Why should I, Gabriel?" I use his name to keep him from retreating. I know how much he craves hearing it. Even now, when he's angry, his lids flutter each time I utter it. "I'm tired of pretending I don't want you. I do. We dance around it night after night. And it's a f.u.c.king lie. I'm tired of the lie. Tell me why you resist."

His lips pinch. "I have already told you. I will fail you, Sophie. Christ, look at me. I left when you were in need."

"Did you do it to prove that to me?" I press, tears threatening. "Is that why?"

That clearly doesn't sit well with him. "No. I needed a break, time for myself."

Oh, that hurts. And yet he's been a solitary man for so long, can I blame him for wanting his s.p.a.ce?

Exhaustion lines his face as he watches me with cautious eyes. "I can't be the man you expect me to be, Sophie."

The faint yellow of a bruise on his cheek catches my attention. I lift my hand to touch it, and he takes a step back, evading my hand. "Can't or won't?"

"Does it matter?" he counters. "In the end, the result is the same."

I should walk away, save what's left of my pride. But I've never been able to hold back from engaging with this man. "Are you going to tell me where you were?"

"No."

Jesus, I want to stamp my foot. On his. "Why not?"

He's fully away from me now, retreating to the kitchen to grab the kettle and fill it with water. "Because I don't want to."

"a.s.shole."

"Admitted that already, love."

My back teeth click, as he fusses with his tea leaves.

"Teatime, is it?" I grind out. "Having a problem that needs soothing?"

"Yes," he says without turning. "You."

A gasp of pain leaves me before I can hold it in.

He turns at the sound, and his brows lift in apparent surprise. "Chatty girl?"

I blink rapidly. "You are an a.s.shole. And it isn't something to be proud of."

I grab my shoes and head for the door.

"Sophie." He makes a grab for my arm, but I evade his reach.

"Don't," I say, wrenching the door open. "I need to be away from you for a while."

He runs a hand through his thick hair and grips the ends as if he needs to hold something. "At least tell me where you're going so I don't have to worry."

A bitter laugh leaves my lips. "Oh, the irony." I glare at him. "Guess what, Scottie? I'm not telling. Because I don't f.u.c.king want to!"

I slam the door behind me and head out into the night.

Chapter Nineteen.

Gabriel