Perfectly Flawed

Eight - Before You Ruin My Entire Career

Chapter Eight

Gabrielle almost didn't go to class the next day. She couldn't sit in the same room as the boy who would ruin her career any moment.

What the hell was he waiting for?! Gabrielle had spent the whole night refreshing her phone's news app and waiting for an angry call from her father. If he was going to do it, he needed to just rip off the bandaid. At least that way Gabrielle would know when to start packing her bags.

In the end, she decided to go to class simply because of her pride. She wouldn't let him ruin her last few days of school, or her sanity. At least, that was what she told herself.

Imogen met her on the staircase, and the pair walked to the dining hall in silence. Imogen felt guilty and Gabrielle was too scared to be angry at her.

They entered the dining hall, expecting to be humiliated or shunned, but simply were met with the same quiet respect that seemed to follow them around.

The table where the three boys sat was suspiciously empty, which made Gabrielle's stomach flip. Maybe they were on the phone to the media right this moment.

"Gabrielle you're making me sweat. Stop it." Imogen grumbled, pushing her fruit around her plate.

"I'm not doing anything."

"Exactly."

Gabrielle rolled her eyes. "I can't do anything except wait for my downfall."

"Don't be so dramatic Gabby. He won't do anything."

"Imogen please, spare me the false assurances. He's going to tell and I'm going to be disowned. No law business can be run by a criminal. None."

They were silent for a moment.

"Wait." Gabrielle snapped her head up, scanning the room. The three boys had slipped in without her noticing, and were eating lunch at their usual table.

Gabrielle, on some kind of delirious adrenaline, stood up, her chair scraping noisily against the floor, and stormed over to their table. Well, as much as Gabrielle could storm - it was more like a graceful fast walk.

"You can't tell anyone." She planted herself solidly in front of their table, crossing her arms across her chest and staring down at the boys with a smug smirk on her face.

Asher sneered at her. "What the fuck are you on about?"

He doesn't know, Gabrielle thought, they haven't told him. Why haven't they told him?

"Thornton. You can't tell, do you want to know why?" She insisted, ignoring Asher.

Jasper leaned back in his seat, looking at her with a mixture of annoyance and detached amusement. But mostly malice. "Is this the best time," he drawled coolly, "or place, Montgomery?"

Great way to avoid drawing attention to a situation you wanted to keep hidden, Gabrielle cursed herself, as she look around the silent cafeteria, everyone observing her every move. Gabrielle never spoke to anyone like that, she never lost her cool, and no one ever, ever, stormed up to that table like that.

"Probably not..." Gabrielle said in a hushed voice, putting her hands on the table and leaning in closer. "But I don't care. I need to talk to you before you ruin my entire career."

Silas laughed and Asher protested.

"Fine. Follow me." Jasper stood up, and the entire cafeteria stopped breathing. He took his time, stretching to full height and appraising Gabrielle with his cold, piercing gaze, before turning and sauntering out of the room. Asher and Silas were on their feet immediately, but Gabrielle gave them a look so cold that hell would freeze over, before leaving the room alone.

She followed Jasper down a path to the field, where he stood impatiently under a huge oak tree.

"What was so important that you had to disrupt my breakfast?" Gabrielle couldn't make sense of him - everything about him was a contradiction. His words were laced with indifference, yet had a degree of amusement and menace to them. He looked like he was about to strike, but he also looked like he would rather be anywhere but here.

"You can't tell anyone I was gambling."

He raised an eyebrow, staring down at her. "What makes you think you have any authority over me?"

Gabrielle, on any other day, would be crumbling behind her thick mask. Today, she knew she had him in the palm of her hands.

"You can't tell anyone I was gambling. You can't ruin my career. You can't let anyone know that I was doing that because if you tell people you saw me at an illegal gambling place, you would be admitting to being there yourself, ergo ending your career as well as mine."

Gabrielle was smug, but her smirk faltered as Jasper didn't react at all to her statement.

"Is that it?" he asked.

"What... what do you mean? Do you understand?"

He started walking away.

"Thornton!" Gabrielle yelled, doubt seeping into her. He would probably be able to still find a way to tell... After all, this was his one chance to end the rivalry between the families, and once and for all set his business on top.

He stopped, turning around. Gabrielle inhaled sharply when she saw his expression. It was beyond furious.

"Do you really think I would go as low as running to my father and telling on you? I have much bigger, much more important things to think about than what some spoilt brat child gets up to in her free time." He shot his words at her like bullets, leaving her speechless and standing alone on the field, as he stormed off alone.