Bloodbond

Chapter 7

So, here's the thing. Not only was I worried about what Gabriel had to say to me, but he also made me nervous. Like, super hot, brooding male within touching distance nervous. Making sense? I tried not to think about why my stomach was in knots or why my palms started to sweat. It really wasn't attractive and I didn't want to dwell on why I felt that way around him. He was a butthead; remember that.

The second Gabriel told me to sit down, I felt my mood darken. I was no longer impatient to hear what he had to say. Now I felt like I could wait all day without losing my temper. That should tell you the mood of the room right there. It takes a lot for me to lose my curiosity, but it was all gone now.

Gabriel was just standing there, staring. I guess he wasn't too keen on talking either. Well, weren't we just two peas in a pod?

After a few minutes of silence, I started to jiggle my leg up and down. I had a tendency to do that when I was nervous. It was a bad habit that I'd been meaning to break. Gabriel saw me do this and he frowned.

"Are you alright?" he asked me.

"Yeah, sure. Why wouldn't I be?" My response was too quick and I could tell that Gabriel didn't believe me. I watched his warring emotions play out on his face until he finally settled with his usual blank stare.

"Did you sleep well last night?" So he was going for small talk I see. Alright. I could play that game, too.

"Sure, until Claire pounding on my door woke me up."

I saw the ghost of a smile cross his face before he spoke. "She can be a bit pushy, but I'm glad you slept well." We fell back into silence again. And I thought I was awkward around people I didn't know. This guy was making me feel normal by comparison right now.

I still had a great amount of patience remaining, but somehow I knew that, if I didn't initiate the needed conversation, I'd be here all day. I couldn't spend all day locked in a room with this man. The way he made me feel would drive me nuts. I was not about to let that happen, so I decided to give him a little nudge instead.

"Why did you send Jacob and Andrew to my apartment? Do you have any idea how terrifying that was for me?"

I saw his jaw tense. Didn't seem too pleased with that one. "You were never meant to see them. It should never have happened the way it did and I promise you, they've been properly punished." What?

"Listen, accidents happen. I'm not so much concerned about them as I am about you. It's not about them anymore, Gabriel. I don't want to know what should have happened. I want to know why it happened. You've been putting off telling me since last night and the waiting is beginning to annoy me."

He sighed. "You're right and, to be honest, I still don't want to answer your questions. I still feel it isn't the right time to involve you, but Claire really gave me no other choice." Now that irked me a bit.

"Um, actually, I beg to differ. You were the one who decided to send two scary creatures to my apartment in the middle of the night to put up some protection ward things, knowing that they could be seen by me, thereby frightening me half to death. Claire only came to me because she could sense that something was wrong and she wanted to help. That's more than I could say for some OTHER people around here. So, if anyone's to blame for this, I would say it's you, Gabriel," I finsihed my little speech and sat back to wait for his reaction.

Gabriel was not happy. The little muscle in his jaw kept jumping and I was worried that he'd punch something. He was fighting really hard to keep his temper in check and it was showing. It took him a minute to rein in his patience and I gave it to him. I wasn't up for being yelled at today, so I had no problem waiting a little longer to get my answers.