16– Kayden

“Are you upset about something?”

I had to ask the question. The suffocating silence in the suite was starting to choke me. 

The moment I told Gabrielle that I had fired my trainer to protect her, she had frozen. Her first reaction had been a flash of wide-eyed shock—and then, nothing. Her face went blank.

She finished the rest of her soup in tense silence, stood up without saying a word, and walked into the adjoining living area of the suite.

Now, she was curled tightly into the corner of a couch, staring at nothing.

Of course, Gabrielle had always been the quiet type, but today felt different. It felt dangerous. She looked like she had the weight of the world pressing down on her shoulders, and I had no idea how to lift it.

As if sensing my intense gaze, Gabrielle finally cut her eyes over to me. “I’m not upset. Why do you keep asking?”

I stood a few paces away from the couch, shifting my weight from one foot to the other, my fingers anxiously fiddling with the drawstrings of my hoodie. “I don’t know… you just seem to have a hell of a lot on your mind right now.”

“How exactly do you figure that out, Alvarez?”

“You’re unusually quiet,” I said softly. Slowly, I closed the distance between us, lowering myself onto my knees on the floor beside the couch so I was looking up at her. “Did something happen last night, Gabrielle? Is that the real reason you didn't come home last night?”

“Nothing happened, Kayden. I told you, I’m perfectly fine.”

“Are you sure?”

She didn’t respond with words. Instead, she just stared blankly over my shoulder, her hollow eyes locking onto the far wall. 

The emptiness in her gaze made an ache twist in my chest.

After a long moment, she shifted her posture. She sat up, sliding her bare feet across the cushions until she tucked them between my knees on the floor. 

The casual, intimate contact sent a sudden jolt of electricity straight up my spine.

“I was thinking…” she began, her voice dropping into a whisper. She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth, biting down on it for a second before letting it pop back into place. “Do you ever… maybe regret what we’re doing here?”

My brows pulled tightly together in confusion. “What exactly are we doing?”

“Lying about being together. Deceiving the media, and everyone,” she said, her voice edged, as if the answer should have been common knowledge. “Don’t you ever feel like we’re taking this little game way too far?”

I slowly shook my head, my heart rate instantly picking up a frantic speed against my ribs. “No. I don’t feel that way at all.”

“Why not?” she asked, tilting her head.

My mouth parted to give her a response, but she beat me to the punch. Her next words cut through the air like a sharp blade. “Are you truly that desperate to fuck me, Kayden, that you’re willing to orchestrate a nonexistent relationship just to get what you want?”

The question was so heavy that I felt my heart pause on a beat. The air left my lungs in a rush. When my chest finally kickstarted again, my pulse went berserk, hammering erratically against my ribs.

“It isn’t about sex, Gabrielle,” I ground out, my voice rough and laced with pain. I forced my eyes to lock onto hers, desperate for her to see the truth. “I just… I genuinely like you.”

A laugh started small at the back of her throat. It was a dry, hollow sound. Then, it slowly climbed an octave, and then another, until her head was thrown back against the cushions and the sound of her laughter was booming bitterly across the suite.

The sound sent a chill down my spine. There was nothing humorous about it.

“The things you say so casually, Kayden…” she breathed out, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye.

“What? You don’t like hearing them?”

“I told you before,” she said, her expression turning stone-cold. “It’s inappropriate for the kind of relationship we have.”

“And what kind of relationship is that, exactly?” I demanded, leaning closer.

“The professional kind. The contractual kind.”

“What if I wanted that to change?” I whispered, my heart in my throat. “What if I want it to be real?”

Gabrielle fell silent. A flash of something raw crossed her eyes, but it disappeared far too quickly for me to name it.

“If you really want to fuck me that badly,” she murmured, her voice sultry in a way that made my blood run hot. She raised one of her legs, placing her foot flat against my thigh. She trailed it up toward my crotch, her eyes locking onto mine with a mocking challenge. “Then I can just take my clothes off right now and let you have a taste. Maybe then you’ll finally get off my back and stop playing these ridiculous romantic games.”

A breath left me in a frantic rush. I swallowed hard around the dry lump in my throat, my entire body freezing up. 

The offer was tempting, but the insult behind it made a wave of anger crash over me. I looked away from her, refusing to touch her like that.

“What’s the matter?” Her sultry, mocking voice filtered into my ears. “Isn’t this exactly what you want from me?”

“I told you, I like you way beyond this,” I whispered, heat creeping up my neck.

I was angry, but I wasn't angry at her.

I felt a crushing anger at myself. I had to question the kind of life I had lived up until this moment—the reckless, empty playboy reputation I had built—that Gabrielle could hear me confess my genuine feelings and still interpret it as a cheap line to get her into bed. 

My past was sabotaging my future.

“What is there to even like about me?” she asked.

My head snapped up so quickly that she let out a sharp gasp, reclining back against the sofa. 

I couldn't believe she had actually asked that question. 

The brilliant, fierce, untouchable Gabrielle Rose truly didn't see her own worth.

“You’re beautiful. Like, completely, out-of-this-world gorgeous,” I blabbered without a single second of hesitation, the truths spilling out of me in a desperate rush. “You’re incredibly smart. You’re confident—”

A sharp, mocking laugh burst out of her again, cutting me off. “Confident? Me? Wow. That is the first time in my entire life anyone has ever used that word to describe me.”

“But you are so confident,” I argued, my hands tightening on my knees. “You rule every room you walk into.”

“You only say that because you’ve never met my mother or my sister,” she whispered. “Their confidence puts mine to shame.”

“Is that what you were told by them?”

Gabrielle shrugged. “Who knows.”

“Then I guess I should work twice as hard to win your heart,” I said softly, my voice filled with determination. “So that I can finally meet your family and tell them how wrong they are about you.”

Gabrielle flinched as if I had burned her. “Don’t say stuff like that, Kayden. Just stop.”

“Are you asking me to stop because you understand what I’m saying and you're rejecting me?” I pressed, refusing to let her hide again. “Or are you asking me to stop because you are terrified of the truth standing right in front of you?”

She didn’t reply.

She jerked up to her feet, dragging her fingers through her hair as she paced away from the couch. “I’m going back to my friend’s apartment,” she announced, her voice clipped and trembling. “Don’t expect me back at the estate for another two days.”

“So you’re running away from me then,” I stated, rising to my feet as well.

“It’s nothing like that.”

“It’s fine, Gabrielle. Run all you want,” I said, a slow smile touching my lips despite the ache in my chest. “Run as far as you need to, as long as you always find your way back to me in the end. And don’t stay gone longer than two days. Remember, I have a game in Montreal in three days, and you're coming with me.”