The Gates of Byzantium (Purge of Babylon, Book 2) (51 page)

Sarah was in the kitchen, wiping down the counters with a wet rag. “Just dump them in the sink, guys. I’ll deal with them tomorrow.”

There were already piles of plates and silverware in the large industrial sink behind her.

“Are you sure?” Gaby asked. “I can help.”

“That’s sweet, but the kitchen belongs to Al and me. He cooks, I clean up. Besides, you guys must be tired from the long trip here. I know how it is out there, always running, looking over your shoulder. Go get some rest, and we’ll do it all again tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” Josh said, putting the plates in the sink. “For the food and for everything else, too.”

“Don’t mention it,” Sarah said, smiling back at him. “Go get some sleep. And don’t worry about anything. You’re safe here.”

Josh turned to go, but Gaby paused to embrace Sarah. The other woman looked momentarily embarrassed, but she quickly hugged Gaby back, and he thought both women looked close to tears.

“Thank you,” Gaby said. “Thank you for everything.”

“You’re welcome, you’re welcome…God, you’re going to make me cry,” Sarah said, sniffling.

Gaby wiped at her eyes. “I have something in my eyes.”

“Me, too,” Sarah said.

They laughed and embraced again.

Josh stood back and watched them awkwardly, not quite sure what to do next.

*

They finally left
Sarah in the kitchen, wiping away tears, while Gaby dabbed at her eyes with a napkin. As they were making their way back across the lobby, Josh caught a glimpse of Tom, standing outside on the patio, smoking under the bright halo of the floodlights.

Tom disturbed Josh, in more ways than one. He was always showing up where you least expected him, like a bogeyman in a horror movie. And Josh still couldn’t shake that conversation in the Tower.

“That was a good meal,” Gaby said.

“That was a great meal,” he nodded.

“I think I’m going to really like it here. What about you?”

“Definitely.”

“Even Will and Danny looked pretty happy by the end of the night.”

“It must be the wine.”

“Probably. I’m still a little light-headed from the wine, too. Did you have some?”

“I tasted a little bit. Not my thing.”

“What is your thing?”

“You,” he blurted out before he had the chance to stop himself.

“That’s sweet. I think.”

He did his best to grin away his embarrassment. “I meant that in the best way.”

She laughed. “What other way is there?”

They were halfway to their rooms when Gaby stopped in the hallway and reached over and took his hand. She looked him in the eyes and smiled. He was suddenly very nervous, afraid and anticipating where this was going. Maybe she felt his nervousness, or actually saw it on his face, because she said, “Relax.”

“I am relaxed,” he lied.

They were the only two people in the hallway, and it seemed like they were the only two people in the entire hotel. The hallway had working lightbulbs, and he could see every inch of her lips and the tip of her nose and her light, incandescent green eyes. She was perfect in every way, and he was always reminded of that every time he looked at her.

Compared to her, he was a mess. And that was before the swollen eyes, bruised lips, and cracked nose. What did she even see in him? He had saved her, yes, but she had saved him back.
Twice.
He was the one who owed her, not the other way around. Yet here she was, looking at him with a smile that could make men do just about anything.

What did he ever do that was so right in a past life to deserve this?

“I know we have our own rooms,” she said.

“Yeah…”

“But you should come and stay in mine.”

“Why?”
he was going to say, before he realized why, and said instead, “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she said, then turned and walked up the hallway, leading him by the hand.

He went willingly, floating on air.

*

They were sitting
in the middle of her bed when Josh asked the question he hadn’t thought he would ever get to ask in this life, much less to the girl of his dreams. “Shouldn’t we have some kind of protection?”

“I’m on the patch,” Gaby said.

“What’s that?”

“The patch. It’s a contraceptive. Lara gave it to me, just in case of, well, this.”

“How does it work?”

“You stick it to your skin and it keeps you from getting pregnant.”

“So it’s like a patch? Literally?”

“Yeah. You wanna see it?”

“Where is it?”

“Over my right shoulder.”

“Does it have to be there?”

“Not really, but that’s where most women put it.”

“Oh.”

Gaby lifted her arms and pulled off her T-shirt. She tossed it to the floor next to them, then turned back to face him in a white lacy bra. For some reason, he had always expected her to wear lacy white undergarments. “Your turn.”

He pulled his shirt off. Or at least tried to. He was trembling so badly she had to reach over and help him. “Sorry.”

“For what?”

“I’m nervous.”

“I know.”

“This is my first time.”

“I didn’t know that.”

He almost laughed. “But I’ve always loved you,” he said, surprised at how earnest the words sounded tumbling out of his mouth.

“I know,” she smiled. “We’ve lived across the street from each other most of our lives, Josh. You don’t think I’ve noticed you watching me from your bedroom window?”

“I didn’t think this would ever happen. I mean, I knew it would happen eventually, but I never thought it would happen with you.”

“Why?”

“Look at you, Gaby. And look at me.”

“It’s not as swollen as this morning…”

“I don’t mean that. Even before that guy in Beaumont beat the crap out of me, I was still just me, and you were—are—still
you.
”

“I don’t know what that means, but it sounded sweet.” She smiled at him again. “Besides, you probably would’ve ended up being a millionaire if none of this had happened. I read somewhere that most millionaires who didn’t have a lot of luck with girls end up marrying trophy wives who resemble the girls they lusted after back in school.”

“Where did you read that?”

“I don’t know.
Cosmo
or
US Weekly
or one of those. You think it’s true?”

“I don’t know. Maybe?”

“Doesn’t matter. We’re here now.”

She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. Softly, like she was afraid he would crumble against her. Josh leaned into her and kissed her back. When their noses made accidental contact, he felt a stinging sensation but didn’t pull away. He was kissing Gaby in bed.

He was kissing Gaby in bed!

He was still repeating that to himself when he felt her fingers against his bare chest and electricity raced through him.

*

I’m a lousy
lay,
Josh thought, when he heard her sighing with disappointment after it was over, even though he knew she didn’t mean for it to come out so loudly, or for him to hear.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered against her, out of breath.

“Don’t be,” she whispered back.

He lay on top of her, feeling useless and lacking, and as manly as a wet paper bag left out in the rain for a month. He wasn’t sure if he should move or roll over or stay perfectly still. It wasn’t like he had a lot of experience
during,
so his experiences
after
were just as lacking.

“God, I suck at this,” he groaned.

“It’s okay,” she said, and he felt her fingers in his hair. “The night’s still young.”

“Yeah?” He lifted his head and looked at her beautiful face in the darkness.

“You have someplace else to be?” she said, smiling back at him.

He grinned. “No.”

“Good. Lay down on your back.”

He did, and she climbed on top of him. The room was dark, except for a night-light in a corner, and they had closed the patio curtains. Still, he could see enough of Gaby in the semidarkness to know that naked, she was even more glorious than clothed.

“Now just relax,” she said.

Josh didn’t think he could do it again so soon, but when she reached down between them and touched him, he realized he was wrong. Man, was he wrong. She guided him back inside her and he almost died.

This time, he lasted longer, and when she shuddered and lay down on top of him, their bodies slick with sweat despite the cold air pouring from the vents, Josh thought,
Maybe I’m not such a bad lay after all.

Suck on that, mofos!

*

Josh dreamt of
walks in the park, marrying Gaby, having kids (two or three—that part of the dream was a bit murky) and opening a computer repair shop, of all things. He didn’t even like computers that much.

All of that faded when he felt cold, alien fingers around his left calf and something smooth but cold brushing against the back of his head. Josh opened his eyes to find a dark, silhouetted figure moving in front of him. It was a big man, wearing all black, with broad shoulders and dark black hair. And he was
dragging
Josh by the feet along the hotel hallway.

This is such a shitty dream.

He had always assumed post-coital dreams would be better. He had just had sex with the most beautiful girl in the world, and what did he dream about? Some guy dragging him through the hotel hallway.

So Josh lay back and waited to wake up.

And he waited, and waited…

It wasn’t until he felt a stinging pain against the back of his head that Josh finally accepted that he was very much awake. He opened his mouth to scream, but no sounds came out. He tried to lift his hands from the polished marble floor, but they wouldn’t move. His fingers stared back at him, pliant and useless. The only thing he had control over were his eyes and his mind. The rest was asleep.

He was tilted onto his left cheek, and he couldn’t lift his head off the floor. The coldness of marble seeped through his hair and scalp. There was a big bump at the back of his head, and it looked like someone had put his boxers back on him, because he remembered going to sleep with Gaby in his arms, both of them naked.

Oh God, why couldn’t this be a bad dream?