Page 53 of If This is Love

I shifted into park, and the ladies and I all unbuckled our seatbelts.

“Oh my god, Gabe!” Chloe wailed from the backseat, causing me to whip around in alarm.

“What’s wrong?”

She pouted a bit pitifully. “I’ve been kicking your seat this whole time.” She frowned. “I’m sorry.”

I looked at her with my jaw hanging open a bit and blinked, then closed my mouth. “I didn’t notice.”

“Still, it was rude,” she said sheepishly, pushing the door open. “Sorry.”

I leaped out of the truck to make sure I could stand between her and the cars clunking their way down the pothole-riddled street, and she followed Ruth to the sidewalk.

About twenty yards from where I parked, Skye was nonchalantly leaning against a streetlamp, dressed in old jeans and a sweater, without a care in the world and as if she wasn’t standing in the middle of a part of town that had damn near killed her in the not-so-distant past. She’d swapped out her massive diamond ring for a plain, simple, platinum band, which was one of the smarter things she could’ve done in this situation, but that was it. She was just scrolling through her phone, totally unaware of seedy-looking cretins passing by while casting lecherous glances at her.

“Gunner.” I snapped my fingers and pointed at her. “Go to Skye andguard.”

He sprang forward and darted to her, circled her and the streetlamp once, and then stood next to her just as yet another creep gave a low whistle as he raked his eyes up and down her body.

A low, guttural growl lurched from Gunner’s throat, and Skye glanced down at him. She stooped to rub his head and turned to the guy who had whistled. “Yeah, what’s good, buddy?” She cocked an eyebrow skyward. “Wanna meet my dog? He sounds like he’s got something to say to you.”

Gunner was pointing his snout up at the guy, his top lip curling a bit to show off his white teeth.

The guy said nothing and lengthened his strides, hastily moving away.

“What a good boy you are, Gunner!” Skye said loudly, eyeing the creep as he continued up the street, and then she looked at us, smiling brightly as we joined her. “Hey, thanks for that, Gabe. People can be kind of seedy over here.”

You don’t say…

I merely nodded. “It’s why I’m here.”

“Hee-eey!” Chloe said cheerily, slipping her arm around Skye’s waist and squeezing her for a second. “Oh my gosh, Constance called me the other day and said the house is free that Saturday.” She practically squealed and then giggled like a little girl. “I shouldn’t tell y’all why I really,reallywant to have the engagement party there, but I probably will anyway.”

Skye pinched her lips together as though fighting an intensely cheeky smile. “I kind of feel like I know thereason.”

All three of the women chortled like it was an inside joke until Skye waved her hands in front of her face. “Okay, okay, okay, we’re here to do something serious, so we need to focus.” She paused mischievously. “When we get her all settled, we can talk all about how you and Luke did theN-A-S-T-Y,” she whispered the letters as she spelled out the word, “at the Christmas brunch.”

They all broke into tinkling giggles again, and I slapped my hand to my forehead, wiping my palm down my whole face while I tried not to roll my eyes.

“Okay, y’all, stop,” Ruth said through her fizzling-out laughter. “We’re making Gabe uncomfortable.”

I haphazardly waved my hand. “I’m fine.”

“Okay, here,” Chloe cut in, digging through a small messenger back strapped across her slender torso. She pulled out a couple of small items, holding them out in her palm. “Clip one of these to your top or something. I’m going to record, but I want to be discreet about it, and the bigger mic is basically the opposite of discreet.”

Ruth and Skye both took one and clipped them to their shirts, and Chloe turned to me, holding one out. “It’s a mic. Do you want to wear one?”

I eyed the little black microphone. “I’ll pass. I’m just here to make sure nobody fucks with y’all.”

She gave me a warm smile. “You’re the best.” She stuffed the clip-on mic back into her bag and pulled out her phone, which was missing all the clunky crap she normally had on it to film stuff like this. “I’m going to walk behind you, but I’ll keep you out of the frame if you want.” She paused, determination flashing in her light green eyes. “I personally think you should be in the frame because you’re more a part of this than you’ve been acting like.” She gestured at Skye with an open palm. “She wouldn’t even have a facility for these women if it weren’t for you. There wouldn’tbeDestination Destiny without you because it’s aplace. A placeyouare building for them. So I think you should be in the frame.”

The last thing Ieverwanted to do was be in a video intended for social media. I was obviouslynoton any kind of social media and didn’t have any desire toeverbe. But again, I’d been a severe asshole to Chloe because I was majorly wrong about something, and I still owed her some major groveling.

“I don’t mind being in the video,” I said. “I just don’t think I need to be trying to insert myself in any of this. I’m sure this girl would be more comfortable talking to y’all instead anyway.”

Chloe hummed and nodded sagely. “That’s a good point.”

She got into position, and then Skye led the way to the entrance of the building, and we filed inside. The air was rank with all manner of toxic sludge; mold, rot, stale and fresh cigarette smoke, the heady, skunkiness of pot, the faint, burnt-plastic, metallic scent of crack smoke. The rattling cacophony of shouting from some floors up drifted through the narrow hallway, only slightly muffled by the walls. Skye plodded along like it was just a stroll through the park, but Ruth visibly braced. Gunner sniffed maniacally and whined periodically, and I walked instinctively and protectively close to Ruth, eyes darting between doors that lined the hall and glancing back to make sure nobody was fucking with Chloe.

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