Behind the Mask

Chapter 47

North's POV

I sat staring at the work crews transforming our house, trying to digest the last forty-eight hours. When Nate grabbed her last night, I really thought for a moment he was going to seriously hurt her. The last time I'd seen that look in his eyes was the night he almost killed his dad. No one had known that his dad was coming home, and Sang was sleeping in the bedroom when a very drunken Mr. Griffin mistook her for a hooker. Her screams had woken Nate and Kota who was asleep on the couch. And when Nate saw the bruise on Sang's face, it was all Kota could do to pull him off his dad.

He had that same look of rage last night when he grabbed Ris. Then to hear her screams from the other side of that door was pure torture. I almost killed him when I saw her back, but Raven grabbed me and made me listen. When he told her to forgive herself for surviving, it all clicked. Raven's shoulders sagged at his words. I can only imagine they felt Nate's words as deeply as Ris did. Each of them had lost someone they thought they'd have forever with, and not like we did with Sang. They never got to say goodbye, never got to find closure.

"How are you, love?" Silas asked, handing me a mug of hot coffee.

"Thanks," I said, taking a sip. "I'm processing, I guess. The past few days have been a lot, but last night was just..."

He chuckled, "Yeah." We both peered outside trying to see past the giant curtains. "Any idea what he came up with this year?"

I grinned, "I stopped trying to predict anything Gabe does years ago. My guesses were never outlandish enough to even come close to his reality. The man has the most amazing mind."

"Yeah, and a fabulous fucking ass too," Gabe said as he came up next to us, grinning. "But thank you for the compliment," he said, giving me a kiss. His blue eyes sparkled as he looked out the window. Even when we were kids, he was always an enigma to me. This scrawny kid with punk rock looks that developed into a brilliant artist in so many ways, and he was right - he did have a great ass. He let out a low groan, "Take this," he said, handing me his cup then stormed outside, yelling about something not being in the right place. Silas and I just laughed.

"Am I still welcome?" Nate asked from behind us.

"Yeah," I muttered, "Pull up a seat and enjoy the show. Gabe's hitting full diva mode early this year." Nate came up next to us and watched our husband raving at workers who just rolled their eyes and nodded. Those poor crews had dealt with him for so many years, they knew better than to get upset. "I'm not mad at you, Nate," I finally said to him. "At the time I didn't understand, but after hearing what you said, I get it. I guess in a way, I'm disappointed in myself that I didn't see it too."

"North."

I turned to him, "How did I miss it? We were so focused on protecting her from the outside, that we missed what was going on inside her own head and heart. But you saw it, hell, you saw it before the damn Toma team even did and they're going through the exact same thing."

"Gabe," Nate said, "That's how I knew. When he lost his family he did similar things. It was before you and Silas came to the states. When his mom and little brother died, his father blamed him - told him he should have died instead of them. He was a kid, but he believed his piece-of-shit dad and started taking risks. He'd climb towers, walk over railroad suspension bridges, sit on roofs in storms, stupid shit - like he was tempting death to take him in their place. It's one of the reasons Kota and I watched him so closely after Sang left, but by then, Gabe had found himself and ended up being Victor and Luke's rock." He laughed as we saw Gabe with his hand on his hip shouting a slew of southern insults that went completely over the heads of the New York crew. "That man was still a boy when he taught me what facing death and grief was all about."