I Play for Keeps

Chapter Thirty One

I don’t think I was ever going to get used to the paparazzi. I woke up in Indianapolis, Indiana by a loud group of voices and screams. However, I knew that fans would not be up at 3:30 AM just to watch me walk into a hotel room. Or at least I hoped with all my heart that that wasn’t the case.

Gabe woke me up by lightly shaking my shoulders when we stopped at our destination. “C’mon, Rae, you need to wake up.” I groaned and rolled to my side. “Rae, I’m not kidding around.” He growled. I giggled but flipped back over to the other side.

“Please let me sleep.” I whined. I was met with silence and snuggled back up against my blankets, thinking my intruder had left. I was quickly woken up by Gabe ripping the blankets off of my bed. I yelped in protest and dove to get them back. Gabe balled them up and hid them behind his back.

“Now you have no choice.” He said confidently. I rolled my eyes and plopped back down on my bed.

“Well you are highly mistaken if you think that’s all it takes to get a tired teenage girl up.” I grumbled. Gabe disappeared and I smiled triumphantly and closed my eyes, ready for sleep to take me. It never came, however, because Gabe’s next actions startled me to the point where I almost woke up from my drowsy state. Almost. “What are you doing?” I mumbled as he wrapped his arms around my torso.

“I’m carrying you inside the hotel since you obviously won’t get up.” Gabe answered. I would’ve protested. Or at least I like to tell myself that I would’ve protested had it not been for the fact that I was too tired to walk, let alone function, on my own, or the fact that I was being carried away by some guy who put sculptures to shame.

Both were perfectly plausible answers if you asked me.

The media on the other hand, did not seem to agree. Gabe  tensed as we exited the tour bus. It was 3:00 in the morning, the sky was black. But from this angle and with this many cameras snapping pictures of you lying limp in your manager’s arms, you couldn’t tell the difference. White, flashing lights surrounded me, and for a moment, I thought I was dead. Gabe seemed to notice my discomfort and began rubbing circles in my arm, trying to soothe me.

“Are you alright?” He whispered, his lips lightly brushing against my ear.

If the paparazzi didn’t wake me up, that surely did. I hid my face by burying it in Gabe’s chest. His grip around me tightened and he picked up the pace. The walk to the hotel lobby seemed to be a lot longer than either of us had expected. Maybe it was the fact that all these people were blocking the entrance and Gabe had to shove his way through them, maybe it was the fact that I was too preoccupied memorizing the way Gabe’s shirt felt under my grasp or the way he smelled warm and woodsy.

Finally, we were hit with air conditioning and the shouting and flashing stopped. I instantly relaxed and Gabe’s grip on me loosened. I was happy though when he didn’t put me down the second we were in the lobby. He still held me close to him, whispering reassurances of a warm and comfortable bed in my future.

Gabe didn’t take long at the front desk and before I knew it, he was kicking down the hotel door. “You know, if this were any other circumstance, I’d be promising you a lot more than a warm bed.” I blushed furiously and he chuckled. It came from low, deep within his chest and shook me. He flipped on a light switch and cursed. “I told them I wanted two beds…damn it.” I removed my face from his well defined abdominal to assess the problem. Sure enough, there was only one king sized mattress in the room. I lightly pushed myself out of Gabe’s arms and I noticed some sort of unfamiliar look cross his face. It resembled the same look I had seen on him a couple days ago, too. He quickly composed himself and walked around the bed.