Page 11 of Mine to Love
Assholes.
They didn’t deserve to be parents of such a special man.
Her heart tightened. At one time, her father had a soft spot for Gabriel. Or at the very least, he would spend time with the boy. He would play games at night while he waited for his wife to get ready for whatever party they were going to attend that evening.
When she was ready, he’d stand up and tell his son he’d see him tomorrow and Gabriel would accept that small amount of attention from the man he called dad. But his mother wouldn’t even acknowledge his existence, and that always did a number on Gabriel.
“Good, because I made your favorite,” she said.
“Lasagna? With sausage?” Gabriel rocked back and forth, something he did when things troubled him.
Damn Charlie. What the hell had happened in that car ride?
“I sure did.” She smiled. “What about you, Miles? Or did you fill up on wedding food?”
“I’d never turn down a home-cooked meal.” He placed his screwdriver in the toolbox. One thing she noticed about Miles was he liked things neat. Organized. His auto shop was about the cleanest garage she’d ever seen. “But I don’t want to intrude.”
“You’re not,” she said. “Gabriel, go wash up. We’ll be in shortly.”
“Okay.” Carefully, he placed his wrench where it belonged and scoffed off toward their home.
Miles sat on the hood of the golf cart and wiped his hands on a towel. “While I want to ask you how that went, I need to tell you something first.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“And I don’t like breaking that man’s confidence.”
“It’s interesting that you’re always calling him a man when most call him a boy,” she whispered, unsure of why she decided to call him out on that distinction.
“I’ve called him a boy before because he does have childlike qualities. But ultimately, he’s twenty-two and that’s a man. He deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.” Miles ran his fingers through his thick, dark hair. “Gabriel said something a little disturbing while you were having your chat with Charlie.”
“And what was that?”
“It appears that Charlie is digging for information about me.” Miles lifted his hand. “That’s not how Gabriel relayed the conversation. But some of the questions he was asking me I know he didn’t come up with on his own. He pulled out his cell twice because he totally botched one of the things he was trying to ask me.”
“Charlie thought we were fucking.”
Miles pounded his chest and coughed. “That’s not quite how Gabriel put it, but yeah, that was one of them.”
“What did you tell him?”
“The truth.” Miles arched a brow. “That we were friends, but that I liked you and wouldn’t mind taking you out.”
“Fuck,” she mumbled, planting her hands on her hips.
“I take it that I’ve just crashed and burned. Again.”
She laughed. “You do know that I haven’t had three seconds since my conversation with Charlie to talk to Gabriel, so he’s probably inside right now texting Charlie that you’re hot for me. Gabriel is a loyal human and right now, he still has some loyalty for Charlie.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I asked him to keep that to himself because I wanted to ask you proper.” Miles took out his cell and stared at the screen.
God, that pissed her off.
“Eyes up here,” she said.
He glanced up. “Sorry.”
“For the record, it doesn’t. Like I said, Gabriel has a sense of loyalty and he’s being put between a rock and a hard place. Not so much by you, but by that asshole of an ex-husband of mine. I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns around and comes right back.”
