Blackbourne Investigations 01 - Introductions

Chapter 10 - Gabe cont. (hijacked by Nathan)

Gabe lead us down the hallway to the door past Victors office.  I walked in, expecting a similar set up to Victors room, to be assaulted with colour.  The room was huge, at least twice the size of Victors office.  Victor’s office itself had been much larger than I had expected.  Private investigators must earn a lot more than I had previously thought. 

The entrance of the room was crammed full with a computer desk, shelves and what looked to be painting supplies.  The middle of the room seemed to be dedicated to music with several guitars placed about on stands and a sound system.  While the entire end of the room was clothes.  It resembled a giant walk-in closet with what looked to be enough clothes to furnish the entire population of Charleston. 

Each section somehow had been mixed.  A guitar was amongst the clothes, the sound system was on top of a filing cabinet and a dress form was beside the computer desk. 

With the black carpet and off-white walls, the room should have felt like a storeroom filled with chaos.  Instead it came across as a masterpiece, a work of art. 

‘Your room is absolutely amazing’ I said, slowly turning around taking it all in.  ‘Did you do the decor in the rest of the building?  It’s impressive.  The different feeling you get in each room is so individual yet perfectly suited...’  I finished my turn and found Gabriel scrutinizing me closely, his eyes lighting up.  I closed my mouth with a snap and gave him a half smile. 

Nathan stepped into the room behind us, keeping his eyes firmly locked on me.  Did he feel I had even infiltrated his workplace? Wishing that I wasn’t here with his friends?  His family? 

‘You’re f*cking cute Sang.  Yeah, I did do these offices.  It was unusual because usually you want the whole building to flow together but I wanted to try something a bit different.’

I was relieved Gabriel was there.  It allowed a buffer between Nathan and me.  I didn’t understand why Nathan came with us.  Was he making sure I didn’t impose? 

‘You stay here with Nate and I’ll go grab these dresses’ Gabriel continued, ‘Nate, keep her out of trouble.’

He shut the door, leaving Nathan and I alone in the room.  I turned slowly so I was facing Nathan and slid back to lean against the desk.  I could feel Nathan’s gaze heavy on me as I studiously looked at a pair of sparkling red stilettos that were propped on the desk. 

‘Why did you leave Sang?  I was only trying to help.’

My eyes flew up and met with Nathan’s.  That wasn’t what I was expecting him to say.  He sounded almost upset that I had left.

‘I didn’t want to intrude,’ I slowly started, ‘I was able to look after myself, you didn’t need to worry about me.  You didn’t have to take me home with you.’

‘Were you uncomfortable being alone with me at my house?  You shouldn’t have left Sang, f*ck!’  He ran his hand up the back of his neck as he huffed with frustration.  He hadn’t wanted me to go?  I hadn’t been a burden for him?

My eyes unconsciously traced up his bicep to his shoulder then up to his face again.  He had frozen and was watching me, a slow smile coming over his face.