Flight or Stay

As Alex stood in front of the fireplace, she thought about how she had gotten here. From the escape from her wedding to her arrival here, in Oregon, everything had been such an awful blur. She had hitched a ride here but even that fact didn’t put her in an attentive mood as she should be. She had been dull, her mind all jumbled up, right up until now when it had snapped into focus.

When Cara told her there was a job on Berkeley Moore estate, she hadn’t asked any question. All her mind was on was how she would get away from her family. She had an elder brother, but he was as useless as her parents had been in the department of protecting her. Instead, they didn’t mind throwing her to the wolf. Now, she wouldn’t allow herself to be caught in any web as long as she breathed. 

Her senses were on full alert, and she could feel the eyes of the man behind her on her back. She was fully aware of how her body had reacted as soon as he opened the door, but she wasn’t going to dwell on that. She didn’t need any of the trouble that could bring, after all, he was now her boss. 

She couldn’t deny the way she had felt her heart flutter, something that had never happened before, and it was all thanks to the man resting sitting on the couch behind her with his arms folded and his head tipped back, weighing her up. She had glanced over her shoulder at him to see that a few moments ago. 

There was something about the way he looked at her like he could really see her, and not just glazing at her and looking over her like her parents and brother usually does. 

There was power in his gaze because it did things to her. When she was sure that she won’t freeze anymore, she turned to face him, looking at him and waiting for him to speak. As she waited, she studied him slowly, the way his shoulders spread wide, his lean torso and muscle, his right abs reflecting under his t-shirt, and even his face added to his beauty. His eyes were arresting. 

When she had gotten off the car that finally brought her here, and started to look for this place, she had pictured some elderly woman or man as the person who would be giving her a job. Cara didn’t really mention anything about the job, other than the fact that it would be a live in, and with good pay. She didn’t think it would be this huge man in jeans and a snug-fitting t-shirt with a chain around his neck. This man was very different from the man she had almost married, the one she had left at the altar; if he ever made it there after finding the “goodbye” note she left. 

Finally, he spoke. “Well, I’m Gabe. Cara told me…” he paused. “Well, nothing about you.” He said, looking at her. “Maybe you would like to fill in the gap and explain why you’re wearing a wedding gown if I assumed correctly.” 

Alex swallowed hard, her mouth not cooperating with her brain that wanted to explain things. Well, this was surely awkward. 

Suppressing a guilty sob as she thought of the look that would be on Alberto's face when he found the note she had bothered herself to write, she looked down and sigh. 

Gabe sighed as he caught the tears shining in her eyes before she looked away. Something must have happened, and he hoped that his wolf won’t claw his way out just to comfort her. He was feeling a huge need to wrap his arms around her and let her get whatever it was off her chest. 

She started to tug at her dress and that made him frown. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked her, slowly. 

“I need this off me,” she said. “I don’t deserve to wear it.” Her voice was starting to shake. 

He stood up and walked to her, then he grabbed her hand and started to tug her upstairs to his bedroom. People were around in his house and anyone could walk into the living room at any time. Somehow, the thought of someone else seeing her in her underwear made him clench his teeth, and he folded his free hand in a fist as well.

“Follow me!” he had said when he grabbed her hand. His voice was low and husky, and it was doing things to her insides that should be illegal; things she should be arrested for thinking. It had stirred things that made her feel guilty inside her to the point where she wanted to tell him everything that had happened. 

When they got to a door, he pushed open the door and they stepped inside. The room was decorated in grey and black throughout, the bedspread, curtains, paints on the wall, and even the frame of the glass door that led to the balcony. It showed the masculinity of the one who owned the room. Unlike other places in the house, it was adorned with simple furniture aside from the king-sized bed. 

The glass door was opened so, Gabe walked there to close it, then he looked back at her to see her looking at the bed, and his wolf chanted in his head. “Our mate, our mate, our mate!” 

He suppressed the urge to go to her, pull off her clothes and have his wicked way with her. She was still so vulnerable and troubled over something. No matter what, he couldn’t take advantage of her. That wasn’t the kind of person that he was.

“Get the clothes off, I’ll go grab something for you to wear,” he said. “In the main time, tell me what you’ve done that is so bad.”

As he walked to his closet, she said. “It’s not bad, it’s horrible.”

Glancing over his shoulder, he asked. “Did you steal from someone and kill them?”

“You're going to think that I’m a bad person.” She said.

“Wow, that bad?” He asked as he entered the closet, leaving the door open.  

“Yes. Very bad.” She nodded. After that, she didn’t say anything, because she actually couldn’t bring herself to open her mouth. 

Forget the fact that this was her parents and brother's fault, but this was also something she had done, leaving a man at the altar, even though the man was old enough to be her father’s elder brother. She didn’t know what she was thinking, buttering up to him just to suit her family just until the last minute. She had even smiled occasionally at him, but she knew what she wanted to do. Now, she was here, feeling something she had never felt before for the first man she saw. 

Something must be wrong with her. That was the only explanation that she could think of. It was either that, or she was just cruel and cold. But, Alex knew there was nothing cold about her, except for the way she was feeling at the moment. 

Gabe had told her to remove her clothes, and she didn’t even find it odd or self-conscious to get out of her clothes in front of a stranger. He wasn’t a total stranger because he knew Cara, but still, she should, but she wasn’t. She had even been the one to start tugging at her clothes before he brought her here. 

Normally, she wouldn’t do such a thing, so she blamed her behavior on the blood pumping in her body, and the sound roaring in her ears. There must be some sort of explanation for wanting to do that. Perhaps, the explanation was as simple as just wanting to get rid of the clothes she didn’t deserve to wear. 

Alex hated her family, but she kind of hated herself more. Maybe she wouldn’t have felt like that if she had not stayed that long in Seattle, maybe if she had fled as soon as she had been told, then she wouldn’t feel like trash. 

Gabe stepped out of the closet holding some clothes in hand, and she started at him, from head to toe. It was the chuckle she heard from him that snapped her out of the reverie. Now, she was more angrier with herself for the reversal she had in her concentration. 

“You haven’t gotten rid of your wet clothes. I guess you like how it feels against you.” He said, watching her closely. He thought that maybe she was now conscious of herself and didn’t want to anymore. 

She looked at him and shook her head. “I wanted you to come out to help.” As she started to fumble with the tiny buttons at the back of her dress, she turned her body and said. “Could you please help me with this?”

He didn’t hesitate to walk to her and angled her back to him properly. As he moved behind her, his warmth surrounded her, sending tingles of sensation down her spine. She could smell his scent, clean and musky with a hint of aftershave in the mix. She held her breath as he reached out and touched her. When his hands touched her body, she shivered visibly as he felt the electricity that passed between them. It was so current that his wolf felt it too. 

Her body was so soft, and he felt as if he should press his mouth to her soft skin, her neck and shoulders preferably. 

Surprising himself, he badly wanted to turn her around and kiss her plum full mouth. Her lips were the color of strawberry, ripe, but he wasn’t sure if it was the natural color or a lipstick color was added.

“You know you still haven’t told me the horrible thing you did.” He said as he began to unbutton her dress. “Are you ready to tell me about it or we talk about it later?” For such a big-looking and tough man, his voice was surprisingly soft. 

Alex nodded, but the brush of his fingertips on her bare skin made it difficult to speak. In a moment when she could breathe again, she opened her mouth and started to tell the story, even though in truth, she had been hoping he wouldn’t ask her again.

“I left my own wedding before we could be joined.” She said, putting it as mildly as she could. She felt so ashamed. She had let things get out of hand and now she had only herself to blame for it, even though it wasn’t her fault. She just couldn’t stand to be married to an old man, that was all. She wished that her brother was a woman, maybe he would have been the one pushed forward to marry the man, seeing as he didn’t do anything wrong in it. 

She was standing so frozen as she waited for him to react, but Gabe just made a “Hmm” sound, continuing what he was doing. “You shouldn’t stop. I need to hear the whole story.” He said. “To decide whether or not you’re horrible, you might as well tell the whole story. That’s the only way to know.” 

“Well, I’m still horrible, no matter what I say, you’ll see that. The only reason I couldn’t go through with the wedding was because it was forced, planned by my family over my head, and the man to be married is old enough to be my father's elder brother.” She said. 

“That’s not one reason, Alex.” He said. 

She felt herself tighten, and then she relaxed into the electrifying feeling that was created by Gabe’s fingers moving smoothly on her back. This was the first time he used her name, and even that made her heart flutter, butterflies swarming around her lower belly. 

Who the heck was this man, and why was he making her feel this way? She wondered if she should run for her dear life, or stay and take everything that could come to her.