Blackbourne Investigations 01 - Introductions

Chapter 13 - Gabe cont. (still!)

'I'm so sorry! I hope I didn't hurt the dress. It was just so beautiful...' I could hear myself babbling but couldn't stop.

I felt two hands gently grasp my hands and pull them away from my face. Victor had crouched down in front of me, his fire eyes searching my face. 'Next time you want to twirl, could I hold your hand?' The calmness of his smooth baritone with his gentle expression began to ease my embarrassment. A small giggle escaped me at the idea of us twirling, then me falling again.

'F*cking cute you are, Sang. Get your sweet ass up and we'll get this back unlaced. You can even do a supervised twirl if you like.'

I couldn't help the smile that broke across my face. I had thought that was one of the more embarrassing moments of my life and they had both made me feel at ease. Victor stood up and offered his hand, helping me to stand again. He stepped close clasping my hand and wrapping his other arm around my waist. Gently he lifted our hands above my head and guided me through a twirl. The skirt of the dress gently rustled around me, brushing against Victor's legs. I came to a stop in Victor's arms. His thumb softly rubbed across the back of my hand as he released my hand, stepping back.

The sound of a phone ringing broke the moment. Gabriel cursed, reaching into his pocket and tapping at his phone to answer.

'You on your way back yet?'

I tried to not look like I was listening in, wondering who he was talking to.

'For f*ck's sake, stop faffing about, we've got a new receptionist you need to meet.'

That sent my eyes shooting up to look at Gabriel, then Victor.

Victor was leaning against the wall, eyeing the dress I was wearing with a thoughtful expression on his face. His eyes flickered up to me and he leaned over, as if to whisper in my ear.

I froze, feeling him come close, his hand landing back onto my hip with his lips by my ear. 'You look beautiful Sang. I've got to get back to work and leave you two to it. Save your next twirl for me.'

He stepped back and caught Gabriel's eye, giving him a sharp nod before leaving the small room.

He thought I looked beautiful? I felt like crying. I didn't know how to take it. I did feel beautiful wearing this dress. It was beautiful. He seemed so sincere. His gentle touch and warm smile were genuine, my doubts that had grown over the weekend seemed to be trickling steadily away.

'...f*cking ugly, poor thing.' I heard Gabriel reply to his phone. He glanced up at me with a wicked grin, 'All right, I'll get onto that. Just one last thing...' he pulled the phone away from his ear and tapped the end button, ending the call mid-sentence, then slipping it back into his pocket.

'We're going to have to leave the last dress for later, I've got to get onto some things for Luke. Turn around and I'll get this dress undone for you.'

I turned around, presenting my back. I felt him move closer and untie the bow, then slowly work his way down, loosening the straps in stages.

'We'll have to go dancing sometime Sang, you'll love it. But now for my question you owe me,' Gabriel started. The dress had started to sag slightly as it became looser. I grasped the bodice and pressed my arms against my body, watching Gabriel's face in the mirror. I felt myself tensing up, what would he ask me this time? Would I be able to answer it?

He finished the laces, the back of the dress now gaping open. His fingers started removing my hairpins again, placing them on the counter beside me. I felt myself start to relax again, my eyes drifting closed.

'Have you got a boyfriend?'

My eyes flew open and my back stiffened. I looked at his reflection, wide-eyed. What kind of question was that? Was he asking because he personally was interested or was it a general kind of question?

'Err... Do you?' I asked, hoping to deflect.

He laughed at my blatant attempt. 'Have a boyfriend? Definitely not. Have a girlfriend? No, why do you ask? Are you interested in applying for the position?'

My mouth dropped and my face flushed for what felt like the hundredth time today.

'Now Sang, since you didn't answer that question, you have to answer this one. You ready for it?'

He stepped in front of me and lifted my chin, looking into my eyes. 'Have you ever had a boyfriend?'

I dropped my eyes, studying my hairpins he had neatly placed on the counter. He had lined them up neatly, with all of the ends facing the same way. I shook my head no.

'How...' he stopped then puffed lightly. He shook his head slightly and reached up, lightly tracing the slight bump on my forehead. I examined it this morning in the mirror and had been quite confident nobody would notice it. I hadn't taken Gabriel into consideration. 'Into your clothes now, I'll let you get back to your day.'

He shut the door of the bathroom behind him and left me standing there, unsure of exactly what had happened.

I changed back into my clothes, hanging up the dress. My own clothes seemed so plain and ordinary after trying on those dresses. A rude reminder of my place in the world.

Gathering my hair up I twisted it up into a bun and turned to the counter to pin it into place.

My hairpins were gone. Every single one of them.

I crouched down looking under the counter in case they had been knocked off but they weren't there. Pulling open the drawers I saw some spare toothbrushes and tubes of various toiletries but no hairpins. Where could they have gone? I had just been looking at them earlier. Surely Gabriel hadn't taken them.

After one last searching look around the room I left the bathroom to find Gabriel packing up the last of the accessories he had spread across the room. 'Did you see my hairpins anywhere? I can't find them and they were right on the counter.'

Gabriel turned to face me with a belt in his hand. He angled his head to the side then came over, dropping the belt on the table and pulling my hand still holding my bun out of my hair. His fingers combed through my hair, fluffing it out slightly then running them through to the ends. 'You'll be right without. You're hair is an unusual colour. Have you had it coloured?'

'No.' The thought of having the time or the money to colour my hair seemed so extravagant.

He dropped his hands and picked up the slim red belt off the table. He threaded his arms around me, pulling the belt snug and clipping it at the front with the bow clasp. He stepped back, assessing the overall effect and nodded.

I was torn. I loved the belt and the small touch to my outfit, yet I couldn't just wear things which weren't mine. It was probably an accessory for someone Gabriel was organizing, they would need it.

Gabriel's hand landed on my mouth 'Don't want to hear it.' He placed the last boxes into the suitcase and zipped it up.

'Chop chop, get that ass back to reception before Kota yells at me for stealing you for too long.'

He strode to the intercom and pressed hard. 'Let Sang out now.'

'About time.'

I quickly slipped through the opening door with a half wave at Gabriel. I looked up at the camera above the door and gave Silas a small wave. I didn't know if he would even see it, but it seemed rude not to.

Now to try and refocus on my work. Work hard and head down.

I had to not let myself get so drawn in. All of them, Gabriel, Victor, Kota, Nathan and Silas were making me forget the reasons why I had to keep my distance.

I couldn't afford to forget them.