Buying Gabrielle

Chapter 1(part 2)

GABRIELLE'S POINT OF VIEW

I sigh as my phone beeps, alerting me that my teacher had just updated my test score. I glance down, knowing it won't be good. Another C, this was just great. I had been an A student until my mom died a year ago, leaving me to deal with my jerk of a father alone.

I know that I  need to get good grades so I can get into college and escape my dad next year, but it is hard to concentrate on school when I am under so much stress. If I can just pull it together for the rest of my junior year and then my senior year next year, I might be okay.

I hop off the bus when it stops at my house, and then I walk through my front door. I really don't want to go in there, but I don't have much of a choice. It isn't fair, having to dread coming home at night because I don't know what type of mood my dad might be in.

The house is empty. This is  strange, my dad is usually home and drinking by now.

There's a note on the kitchen counter.

'Gabrielle, I need you to go to my work office when you get home. -Dad.'

I frown. My dad has never left me a message like that before.

I grab my car keys off the hook by the door and get in my old beat up car. It isn't the prettiest, but it gets me from point A to point B.

I had been relieved when my dad had gotten this job. His boss is Evan freaking Hunter, and that is pretty awesome. Everyone in the city knows who he is, and every eligible woman is infatuated with him. The attractive, single, and elusive real estate mogul that had made his first million at twenty and continued to amass more money ever since. He is surprisingly scandal free and well respected in the community.

I wonder why my dad has summoned me here, but I am also hoping to maybe catch a glimpse of Evan. I am only human, after all.

I glance down at my clothes and think that maybe I should have changed. Faded skinny jeans, tennis shoes, and my hoodie will make me  stand out like a sore thumb in Evan Hunter's building. Oh well, who am I trying to impress anyway?

I climb out of my car and start to go into the building when I get stopped. They probably want to make sure there isn't a weapon in my hoodie, or something. I'm not exactly dressed in business attire.

"Hello miss. I have been instructed to pick you up, if you would come with me."

He grabs my elbow and gently starts pulling me towards a limo parked in front of Evan Hunter's building.

He opens the limo door, and I say, "That's very kind of you, sir, but my mother always told me not to get into cars with strangers..."

"I'm not going to be a stranger for very long, Gabrielle. Get in." A deep voice says from within the car. I look inside the car for the source of that voice and nearly forget to breathe as I stare into the bluest eyes I have ever seen in my life.

It was the man himself, Evan Hunter.