The Apology Page 5

Chapter 5

  Jesse stared in the mirror and flinched in pain as he put his nose back in the right position. Gabby’s wild attack had packed a powerful hit. He decided he no longer needed to teach her how to punch.

  Jesse sighed, wondering what to do. She’d obviously remembered who he was and there was no way she wanted anything to do with him. He was afraid to leave her alone. She was fragile. She was sweet and she definitely didn’t deserve the life she’d been given.

  “Fuck,” Jesse muttered as he plopped down on the bed, holding a cold cloth to his nose to reduce the swelling. The punch didn’t bother him the way her expression had. Those sad, grey eyes, looking lost, betrayed. He’d betrayed her and he’d never gotten over it. Apparently, she hadn’t, either.

  Now, she was on the run from a man trying to kill her and she didn’t have any of the necessary equipment to take on the fight. Jesse wondered if she’d go back to Sal, but he doubted it. She wouldn’t want her friend to get hurt.

  He’d wanted to go after her when she ran out of the room. He’d started to follow her, but stopped, realizing he was the last person she wanted. He still wanted to go find her, drag her back to the room and keep her safe, even if she didn’t want him to. But he thought logically. She was scared enough. Upset enough. He didn’t want to bother her further.

  “But if she doesn’t know I’m there.” Jesse stood up and looked in the mirror. He’d have a bruise in the morning and a slightly crooked nose in the future, but he looked ok enough to go out in public. He’d follow her. If she needed him, he’d be there. If not, she’d never know he was there. Jesse stood and grabbed his keys.

  She couldn’t have gotten too far on foot.

  ***

  Gabby nervously pushed the door open. She picked the quietest bar she could find. It was a takeoff on an Irish pub; dim, dark, mahogany paneling and classic rock. She’d hoped she’d be able to at least get off the street, hide for awhile. She flinched a little as she realized the place was filled with college kids. Gabby ducked her head and pulled off her hood as she tried to sneak her way to the bathroom. Maybe she could hide out in one of the stalls for the evening.

  “Wow, hello.”

  Gabby ducked her head a little harder, hoping someone hadn’t recognized her. She focused her eyes on the bathroom door, where an old-timey carving indicated it was for ‘lassies only’.

  “Wait!”

  Gabby gasped and took a step back as her way was blocked by a big blonde man, who was barely more than a boy, bouncing in front of her like an exuberant puppy. “What?” She glared at him and he gave her a dopy smile.

  “Are you here with someone?” He was tall, wearing a hat that proudly displayed he was from the University of Central Florida. His smile was wide and his eyes were unfocused. He’d clearly had one too many drinks.

  “I just needed to use the bathroom.” She shoved her way past, hoping she wasn’t looking at a drunken confrontation already. He moved out of her way easily and gave her a good natured smile as he did.

  “Weird. Don’t you guys usually go in packs?”

  “What?”

  “Girls. I thought you all went to the bathroom in groups?” He swayed awkwardly and Gabby reached out a hand to steady him. “Thanks.”

  “No problem.” Gabby watched his face. It was open and honest, and a little ditzy. He seemed to be the harmless type. “You ok?”

  He nodded drunkenly. “I cele…celebr…celebretating.” He let out a drunken hiccup. “I’m twenty-one.”

  Gabby smiled as she remembered her own 21st birthday, which had ended with her drunkenly vomiting in the parking lot of a Miami Denny’s. “Congratulations.” She smiled at him and started to walk by again.

  He reached out and caught her elbow. Gently; not enough to cause her alarm. “Me and my friends have a table, if you need somewhere to hang out.”

  Gabby considered her options. She could hide out in a bathroom stall or she could at least have a warm seat at a table around a group of people. Being around people felt safer to her. “I changed my mind about the bathroom. Where are you guys?”

  The drunk 21-year-old smiled happily and caught her by the hand, leading her back to a table where four other guys around his age sat. Everyone in the group smiled as she approached.

  “Jesus, Kyle, talk about birthday wishes.” A dark-haired man leaned over to give him a high five. Kyle drunkenly missed it by a mile.

  “Birthday wishes?” Gabby was confused.

  “He wished for a smoking hot redhead that looked just like Jessica Rabbit” The dark-haired man gave her a once over. “You’re dead on.”

  Gabby smiled happily. “You think I look like Jessica Rabbit?”

  The dark-haired man nodded. “Only not a cartoon, which makes you even more awesome.” He leaned down and smiled. “What are you drinking?”

  Gabby felt herself blush a little. “I’m not. I don’t have any…”

  Kyle cut her off and wrapped a drunken arm around her shoulder, leading her to a seat at the table. “I’ll pay for it. I saw her first.”

  The dark-haired man glared. “But I offered first.” He reached out a hand and gave a charming smile to Gabby. “I’m Matt.”

  Gabby smiled. “Gabby.” She reached out to shake his hand and Gabby laughed out loud as he nearly gasped when he touched her. She’d been around these kind of guys before. They were nerds. She loved nerds. Nerds, she could handle. She had been one at one time, after all. “I don’t think so. I’m not really looking for a hookup. You don’t need to waste your drink money on me.” She felt like she was back at her old lunch table in high school, with the guys who talked about Mystery Science Theater and argued about whether Batman or Superman would win in a fight.

  Kyle leaned over against her and spoke directly in her ear. “We don’t need one from you. It’s a biological law of attraction. Hot girls want what other hot girls have. As you’re the hottest chick in the bar, we’ll soon be flooded with ladies.”

  Matt nodded. “So the fact that you don’t want to hook up only makes it better. You can hang out with us and be hot girl bait.”

  “Hot girl bait?”

  The men at the table nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Having someone as pretty as you will make other girls come over, too. They’ll be more comfortable. Think we all work at Microsoft or something.”

  “Hmph,” Gabby considered her options. She looked at the table full of college boys watching her hopefully, and didn’t have the heart to hurt their feelings. “Then I guess I’ll take a cosmopolitan.”

  One hour and three cosmopolitans later, Gabby was laughing with the group like they’d been friends since birth. They’d been right about the hot girl bait, as well. Gabby’s presence at the table seemed to attract other attractive woman. A bedroom-eyed brunette was draped over Matt’s lap as he pushed another Cosmo at her.

  The brunette stared at her chest in amazement. “Is that a vintage Greenday shirt?”

  Gabby looked down at the shirt she wore to dye her hair in confusion. “It might be. I’ve had it for years.”

  “Oh my god,” the brunette gasped in amazement. “I’ve been looking for one of those for years.” She reached for her purse. “I’ll give you a hundred dollars for it.”

  Gabby’s mouth felt slack as she stared at the girl. A hundred dollars for a used shirt she’d spent the day sweating in? Gabby shook her head. “I don’t have anything else to wear.”

  The brunette nodded at the bar. “They’re giving out shirts for a wet t-shirt contest.”

  Gabby shook her head. “I’m not getting in a wet t-shirt contest. My husband would kill me.” Somewhere in her blurry haze, Gabby remembered. Her husband actually was tying to kill her.

  The brunette widened her eyes. “Why not! Your tits are perfect.” She looked down at Gabby’s chest. “You’d probably win.”

  “Really?”

  The brunette nodded emphatically and the people at the table started cheering her on. Gabby took another slug o
f her drink. “Where do I get one of these shirts?”

  ***

  Jesse was pretty sure his jaw had dropped so hard it had actually unhinged when he’d walked into a tiny Irish pub called O’Flannery’s. O’Flannery’s was a desperate attempt to look like an Irish pub without looking like it was trying to look like an Irish pub, and it had been the last place he decided to look for Gabby, after going to every bar in town and coming up empty.

  He’d found her. He was supposed to stay hidden, but he was frozen to the floor in shock. Gabby was standing center stage and accepting a prize of $500 after winning a wet t-shirt contest. She was wearing a white t-shirt with the bar name, “O’Flannery’s” draped over her left breast and the shirt was damn near invisible after being sprayed down with a water bottle. People were screaming for her like she was a rock star.

  She was a rock star. Jesse felt his mouth go a little dry as he stared at the girl he’d known since high school. She was perfect. She was jumping up and down and making every guy in the bar swoon as she waved her prize around.

  “Gabby?” Her name came out like a croak.

  Gabby finally spotted him and her eyes widened. She gave him a happy smile and jumped down from the stage, causing her chest to jiggle in a way that made the MC for the contest immediately propose. “Jesse!”

  Jesse let out another gasp as she flung herself into his arms, soaking the front of his shirt. He didn’t care. She felt incredible. He took advantage of her drunken moment and gave her a squeeze. “Oh my God!” She shrieked in his ear. “I’m having so much fun.”

  A dark-haired man with a beautiful brunette draped over him wandered past. “You are one lucky bastard.”

  The pretty brunette on his arm gave a bleary nod. “Don’t be mad at her. I told her to do it. Her tits are perfect.”

  Gabby nodded. “The trick is growing up fat and losing a bunch of weight.” Gabby shot him a drunken glare. “You wanna put a bag on my head now, fucker?” She slumped against him and Jesse smiled. Gabby was definitely wasted.

  “I never wanted to,” he muttered in her ear. “But we’ll talk about that when you’re sober.” He looked down at her tiny, stumbling, soaking wet frame. “You want me to carry you?”

  Gabby gave him a drunken nod and wrapped her arms around his neck. “The room won’t stop spinning. Make it stop doing that.”

  “Ok,” he lifted her easily. She was light and her curves made her fun to carry. “Five hundred dollars, huh?”

  Gabby shook her head as it lolled against his shoulder. “Six hundred. That pretty girl bought my Greenday t-shirt.” She raised her head and looked down at herself. “Only now, I don’t have anything to wear and this one is all wet for some reason.”

  Jesse chuckled. “You can have one of mine.”

  Gabby gave a drunken smile, looking mollified. “Ok.”

  Jesse carried her out the door to his jeep and pulled open the passenger side door. “Has anyone ever told you you’re adorable when you’re drunk?”

  Gabby shook her head as well as she could without making the jeep spin as Jesse tucked her into the passenger seat and buckled her in. “Nope. I don’t get drunk a lot.” She slid her gaze over to him. “You think I’m adorable?”

  Jesse nodded as he gunned the engine. “Incredibly.”

  “You wanna have sex?”

  Jesse sucked in a breath and had to resist the urge to tackle her. “Very much.” He gave his passenger, encased in a tight, white, wet t-shirt a thorough once over. “More than anything, to be honest. But I’m not going to.”

  Gabby pouted, managing to look even cuter. “Why not?”

  Jesse sighed, “Because you’re drunk and you’ll hate me in the morning.”

  “Oh Jesse,” Gabby laughed. “I already hate you! What does a little more hatred matter?” She snorted and left her head drift to the right so she could look out the window. “The very least you could do is get me off.”

  Jesse felt like he had been punched in the stomach. “You hate me?”

  Gabby snorted. “Why wouldn’t I?” Her expression went bitter. “Get in my shoes for once. Your mother is dying. Your home is filled with nothing but the smell of death, the sound of death. The little noises she makes when the doctor is taking yet another bone sample. You know she’s trying not to scream from the pain. She’s doing it for you. But you want to scream for her and you can’t. You go to school and people treat you like a monster because you dare not to be perfect. You don’t weight ninety-five pounds and you don’t have a perfect button nose.” Her eyes slid to him. “Then, you finally meet someone you trust. You spend thirty minutes a day with him and it’s the best thirty minutes of your entirely miserable day.” She straightened in her seat. “Then, the only person you trust humiliates you in front of the entire school for no more reason than you dared to have a crush on him.” She rolled her eyes. “You wanna try that day for a change, Jesse? Will that help with your selfish little guilt problem.”

  Jesse’s heart clenched and his hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Gabby…”

  “You know why you feel guilty, Jesse?” Gabby’s voice was getting stronger and anger was making her buzz wear off. “Because you deserve to. I know your excuses and I know your reasons. Your popular friends were making fun of you. They were teasing you about your relationship with the fat girl. Instead of being brave, telling them to fuck off, you decided to destroy me.” Gabby smirked. “Well the joke was on you, Jesse. The joke was on you and now you’re living it.” She reached for the door handle as they pulled into the motel parking lot. She shoved her door open, damn near sober and fully ready to walk off into the night again. “Because I’ve always been brave and you don’t even know what the word means.” She slammed the door shut, feeling self riotous and powerful. She stomped around the Jeep without hearing Jesse’s response, fully ready to go off on her own.

  And walked right into Grigor’s arms.

  ***

  Jesse heard Gabby’s harsh intake of breath and realized what had happened. There was a black Town Car parked behind his jeep and he hadn’t even noticed them pull up. He’d been too busy being berated by Gabrielle…and a little heartbroken over the fact that she hated him.

  Now, a man who was easily twice his size and triple hers was wrapping his arms around her. He spoke, with just a hint of a Ukrainian accent, to a man behind him. “Take care of the pool boy. I’ll get Mrs. Yakiv in the car.”

  “Pool boy?” Jesse muttered. He watched as a smaller man raised a gun and trained it on him. Jesse ducked just in time to avoid the bullet. He could hear Gabby shrieking as she struggled in the other man’s grip. The man began to drag Gabby towards the back seat of the Town Car.

  Another bullet shot off the pavement in front of him and Jesse ducked down further. He could still hear Gabby’s struggles. His fists tightened as Gabby let out a yelp of pain. Jesse stood. He ignored the smaller man looking at him in frightened alarm and, instead, focused on the larger man, who was trying to shove Gabrielle into the backseat of their car.

  Jesse squared his chest and he ran. Just as the man was shoving her into the car, he tackled him with all the weight in his body. The man was forced to let go of Gabrielle.

  “Gabby, run!” Jesse yelled at her as he tackled the man to the ground. He didn’t turn around to make sure she had done as he told her to. Instead, he began pummeling the larger man with his fists, his hands making a meaty thud every time they connected. Jesse nailed him in the face and felt the blood spray his arm. He’d broken the bastard’s nose. He threw another punch, nailing him in the eye socket, and another and another until the man had stopped struggling. Jesse stopped punching, realizing that the bastard was unconscious.

  He stood. The smaller man was still holding a gun on him but had yet to fire a shot. He could see the fear in his eyes.

  “Are you going to shoot me or not?” Jesse took a menacing step towards him, aware of how grizzly he looked covered in blood. The man took a step back and drop
ped his gun, throwing his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender.

  “That’s what I thought. Where did she go?” The man pointed towards the back of the motel and Jesse ran in that direction. He cut down the only alley behind it, making a sharp right at a chain-link fence. He cut down yet another ally, following the streetlights. For some reason, knew that Gabby would have followed the streetlights when she ran. Finally, after running for what felt like hours, he stopped under the dim orange light of a parking lamp. He gasped to catch his breath and wiped off his forehead with his arm. As he was gasping for air, he heard a whisper behind him.

  “Jesse?”

  Jesse let out a gasp of relief and raced to where Gabby was crouched behind a dumpster, hiding and watching him with wide eyes. “Gabby, honey. I told you to run,” he admonished her gently, at the same time feeling relieved that he found her.

  “I called Sal.” Gabby pointed to the convenience store across the street. “I figured it was a sign when the guy let me use his phone.”

  Jesse thought back to the psychopath he’d met earlier. “I don’t know if bringing Sal into this is a good…”

  Jesse didn’t get to finish his sentence. Just as he was about to, a Chevelle squealed to a stop in front of them. The passenger side window rolled down and a bleached blonde head popped out.

  “Well, are you guys coming or not?”

  ***

  Gabby’s eyes widened as she realized what was in the passenger seat. “Is that a llama?”

  Sal snorted. “Of course not.” She gave the animal’s fuzzy head a pat. “I could never fit a llama in my car. This is a baby alpaca.” Sal smiled and turned her attention back on the road. “I named him Russell.”

  Jesse focused on the animal, who was now glaring at him. “And you’re driving an alpaca around why?”

  “Well, he couldn’t very well drive himself, now could he?”

  Jesse turned to Gabby. “This is the woman who is going to help you flee the country?” He turned back to the alpaca in the passenger seat in time to watch it rear back its head and spit. A glob of goo smacked into the back seat window as Jesse ducked. “Why the hell is he gagging up brown stuff?”