Page 60 of If This is Love

“Hence why you got your ass caught because you’re stupid and weak as fuck and had no business being there in the first place.”

Emma’s jaw fell open, and Gunner started barking loudly. Brennan stepped into the room holding a steaming mug of coffee, but he took one look at Gabe and immediately set it down, approaching the couch we were sharing.

“Hey, man, I don’t what your problem suddenly is,” Austin snapped, pushing off the couch to stand in front of Emma, “but you need to back off. You’re not going to talk to her like that.”

Gabe leaped off the couch, and I stood automatically, holding his arm. He was vibrating like he did when we rescued Olivia, except it was so violent this time that I felt like I could hear his body buzzing. I cast a panicked glance at Skye, who was basically frozen with her fingers covering her mouth.

“My problem is this smug-as-fuck moron is acting like she has any right to talk about anything over there when all she did was traipse around gawking at people so she could write a bunch of sob stories and use it for personal gain.” He took an aggressive step toward Austin, glaring at Emma, who sat, unflinching, and stared right back at him. Gunner was barking ferociously, and Brennan arrived at my side, gently clasping my elbow and nudging me to back away from Gabe. “How much fuckin’ money did you make off all the people you were over there supposedly trying to help?”

Austin lunged toward Gabe and stabbed his finger against his sternum. “Back the fuck off, asshole.”

Brennan stepped in between them, facing Gabe and backing him up slightly. “Brother,” he said, calm, but firm while he held Gabe’s shoulders, “come on over here and let’s have a seat for a second.”

Gabe’s face was twisted in a snarl. Gunner was all but howling as he butted his head against Gabe’s thigh, as if assisting Brennan in breaking up the almost-fight. Skye was still wide-eyed where she was sitting and watching with her hand over her mouth. Emma was stone-faced other than intermittent slow blinks, almost like she was oblivious to the commotion.

“Come with me, Gabe,” Brennan continued to coax, nudging Gabe’s shoulders, while Gabe was glaring at Austin with glazed-over, unfocused eyes. Brennan reached for the back of Gabe’s neck and gave him a firm pat on the chest. “Let’s go cool off—”

Gabe shoved him. “I really don’t want to hear shit from you, Riley. ‘Specially since you should be taking that big fat mouth of yours to go apologize to your best fucking friend for always fucking around with his wife right in front of his fucking face.” He jerked his chin in Skye’s direction. “Have you ever even apologized toyourwife for any of that?”

“Gabe,” I murmured, standing at his side while Brennan continued to separate him and Austin. “Friend, let’s go cool off. I can see you’re not feeling—”

“Gabe,” Brennan kept saying in the same low, steady voice, “brother, come with me now. Just try to take a deep—”

“Do I take orders from you, Riley?” Gabe fisted Brennan’s collar, shaking and shoving him, and I side-stepped out of their way. “Stand down, you arrogant little fuck.”

Gunner bellowed a wall-shaking bark and leaped at Gabe, his front paws colliding with his shoulder.

“Gabe, come on back,” Brennan said firmly while Gabe continued to grip his collar, and Brennan clasped his hands around Gabe’s fist and forearm, using it to guide him backward out of the room. “You’re too far. Come on back, brother. Listen to Gunner. Can you hear—”

Gabe threw a punch, and his fist slammed into Brennan’s face, and Skye leaped from the couch. “Baby!Holy shit.”

Brennan stumbled backward, colliding with me, and my hands flew to brace against his back to steady him just as he did a half turn to hold my shoulders and nudge me behind him. His lip blanched white and immediately turned hot and deep red before blood started to seep from a split at the corner of his mouth. “Ruth, honey, I need to you to step back right now for your own safety.”

I did as he said, and Skye was frantically pacing in front of Emma and Austin, who had moved from the other couch and were staring at Gabe with pity across the room. Like they suddenly figured out what was really happening here, too, and I wanted tocry.

Brennan gripped Gabe’s shoulders, pushing him back and forcing him out of the room, which sent Gabe into an incoherent, spitting, snarling rage. He swung again, but Brennan ducked this time, and they slowly inched their way down the hall with Gunner snapping and growling and barking as he followed them.

Skye began apologizing to Emma and Austin, and I was already halfway down the hall.

“I said don’t touch me!” Gabe was hollering, voice cracking with intensity as they entered the master bedroom. “Don’t fucking touch me, Riley, I’ll have your ass on a fucking platter!”

“Look at me, Gabe,” Brennan was saying, louder now, but still calm. “Look right here. Try to look at me. I got your six, brother. I’m here for you. Come on back, Gabe. You’re too far, brother. Come on back now. Just try to look at me.”

“Fuck you, you smug fuck!”Gabe bellowed just as Brennan had him edged into the bathroom, and I continued to follow.

He pushed open the door to the expansive, ornate shower and nudged Gabe once more, causing him to trip on the lip of the entrance to the shower and go down hard on the marble, immediately subduing him. Gabe lay still on his back, half of his body in the shower and half stretched out on the bathroom floor, chest heaving, and Brennan reached to turn on the water, dousing Gabe’s face and chest in cold water that caused him to suck in a sharp breath.

“Cool off, brother,” Brennan said, still calm, though he was panting a bit now, and he backed away. He held my elbow and looked at me through sad but deadly serious eyes. “I don’t think you should be in here with him. He could hurt you when he’s in a state like this.”

Adrenaline and worry coursed through my veins, and a lump surged to the top of my throat as I returned his stoic stare. “How can you ask me to leave him like this?”

Brennan eyed me warily, but his expression flooded with understanding. “Just try to stay out of his reach until he’s coherent. I have to call Luke.” He dabbed his lip with the back of his hand, peered at the blood, and then turned his sorrowful brown eyes toward Gabe. “We’ve got you, brother. Everything’s okay. We’re going to take care of you.”

Gunner was circling just outside the shower, whining and moaning and panting, and in all kinds of distress. He circled several more times until he stepped over Gabe’s body and lay down on his hips like he was trying to hold him in place. Gabe heaved gasps of oxygen, but his shaking hand found its way to Gunner’s neck, and he gripped his thick, yellow fur.

I pulled a towel off a nearby rack and knelt on the floor next to Gunner, flanking the half of Gabe’s torso that was outside the shower stall. His chest was rising and falling, deep, and steadily, almost as if he’d slipped into an exhausted slumber, and the water continued to pour over him, and I couldn’t just sit here and do nothing for him. I had to dosomething, even though I wasn’t sure what that should be.

I carefully planted my palms on the slick marble floor on either side of his body, and I crawled all the way into the shower, the frigid water dousing my head and my back, and I hovered my face above his.

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