GUILTY (Gabe's Trials)

Of Gods and Men

I was driving fast, my heart beating even faster, my head hurting like a bitch. I was still doing my best to proccess everything I'd witnessed that night, the picture of Gabriel holding that damned whip not helping in the least. What the fuck had happened to the man who was not into hurting or inflicting pain on the women he slept with?

A sudden movement caught my eye in the rearview mirror, the yellow Aventador behind me pulling up at the edge of the road, a black, speeding SUV taking its place. An incredulous laugh went past my lips. They were after me now?

Pushing the gas pedal to the floor, I found it easy for me to sneak in between two other cars, leaving the huge SUV behind. A superior smirk pulled at the corner of my mouth. I couldn't wait to see Mathew try to do the same. 

A few minutes had already passed by the time I realised that something was wrong. The cars behind me were still there and no angry horns announced the advancement of the SUV. So where the fuck was my murderer?

The answer to that question almost crashed into my Mercedes a moment later. Appearently, my murderer and his wingman had taken a shortcut which had brought them right in front of me, the SUV taking up half of the road and forcing my to step on the breaks. The wheels screeched on the pavement, and it wasn't only my Mercedes that was forced to stop. The traffic jam that Gabriel had created was most likely one of the biggest I've ever seen. 

But then the doors of Mathew's car opened, Gabriel's tall frame coming into view and making me forget about everything surrounding us. I could see his muscles moving underneath his black T-shirt, his broad shoulders tensed, his stride purposeful. The fine specimen of a man walking towards my car was so obviously angry that, for a minute, I considered the possibility of making a run for it. I was, in no way, prepared to face his wrath. 

The knock at my window almost made me jump out of my seat. When the fuck did he get there? Risking a glance at the man glowering at me from just outside the car, I could see his burning hazels daring me to keep the door shut and that made me swallow my pride and crack the window open -I knew that I had to give him something. 

"Ok, dea, you're getting out of this car right now and we're working things out." The strong scent of alcohol drifting from my murderer in waves made me narrow my eyes at him. By the smell of it, he has spent his entire day drinking. "Out, Julia! Now!" The fact that he'd already lost his patience with me only made my anger escalate further. Who the fuck did he think he was?

"We're not working anything out. I refuse to talk to a drunken version of you." His hazels darkened, his jaw tensing to breaking point. I was playing a dangerous game, I was perfectly aware of that, but I was also not quite ready to give in yet. "In fact, I honestly don't think there is any version of you that I wanna talk to right now. I can barely look at you, Gabriel." The tormented look on his face broke my heart. 

"I know I screwed it up, Julia, you don't need to twist the fucking knife. I just didn't know how to handle everything. Damn it! I still don't know how to handle it." Placing his hands on the car's door, my murderer leaned forward, his head bowed in something that resembled shame. It killed me to see him like that, but he'd brought it on himself. "Please, dea, get out of the fucking car. I can't stand the distance between us at the moment." A short laugh went past my lips. I had a feeling that it was more than the physical distance that he couldn't stand. 

Rolling my eyes and allowing a sigh to escape me, I waited for Gabriel to step back a little and only then opened the door, stepping onto the pavement, next to him. Ed Sheeran was singing something about some chemicals burning in his bloodstream, his smooth, low voice coming through the slightly open window of the car and filling the silence between us. The moment Gabriel looked up again, it wasn't me he was looking at. It was his friend.