Gabe

"Sasha, I don't mean to alarm you but we need to get inside. Right now."

My hands finally close around my keys. "Okay, here's the key right here."

He plucks the key ring from my hand and unlocks the door. It swings open and he pulls me inside with him. Then he shuts the door and flips the deadbolt.

"Gabe, what are you doing?"

He grabs me by the hand and pulls me further into the building. "I'm hiding."

Exasperated, I yank my hand back after he pulls me behind one of the bookshelves still sitting in the middle of the floor. "Yes, I can see that. But who are we supposed to be hiding from?"

Gabe leans down to peer between the shelves so I do, too. Where we're standing we have a clear view of the front window. "Him. We're hiding from him."

Just then a guy with dark hair strolls casually past. I hate stereotyping people but everything about this guy makes me want to take a step back.  His dark hair is gelled down and he's wearing a worn black leather jacket. But it's not the clothes. It's his expression. Cold. Like anyone in his way had better move because he'll have no problem taking them out. He looks completely out of place in this neighborhood.

Just before he's out of sight, he turns his head to look directly through the front window. A shiver runs through me. At that angle, the dead look in his eyes is clear but worse is the thin scar that cuts across his cheek bisecting his face.

Gabe looks like trouble. This guy looks like he should be carrying around a body bag in the trunk of his car. He also looks vaguely familiar.

"Friend of yours?" I whisper.

"Not exactly."

"Okay. So why are you hiding from Scarface?"

Gabe looks grim. "Because this isn't the first time I've seen him. Would you excuse me for a moment?"

He moves away slightly and pulls out his cell phone. I take the opportunity to look around the space. I pull out my file folder and dig until I find the sketch provided by the general contractor who'd given me an estimate on constructing the stage. He'd decided that we could use the back right corner without impeding the flow of movement in the rest of the space.

It's so hard to imagine how different it's all going to look in just six weeks.

"Sasha?"

I look up to see that Gabe has ended his call. But he looks agitated.  "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I just need to go check on something. Are you going to be okay by yourself?"

"Of course. I'm going to be here alone a lot over the coming weeks. There's so much to do. The first shipment of furniture should be here this afternoon. Then I can get started putting things in place."

I drop my tote bag next to the back door and open the blinds to let in the light. "There's so much I want to do here. I just hope I can do it justice."

Gabe comes to stand next to me and peers out the window. There's another set of row houses behind our block separated by a small garden pavilion. There's several benches arranged in a semicircle.

"I can easily see myself going outside to eat lunch some days or taking a break to relax before going home at the end of a long day. I can see myself here and that excites and scares me."

"Scares you?"

I shrug. "Because if this doesn't work out, I won't just be losing the club. This is something I see more as a purpose. Something my life sorely needs right now. I just want to feel like something I do matters."

I turn and he's looking down at me with an expression of wonder on his face.

"You're important to so many people, Sasha. How can you not know that? Your family, your friends, hell even Finn threatened to castrate me if I screwed around with you."

My mouth drops open. "Finn said that?"

A slow grin eases over his mouth. I love that expression on him. He's so serious most of the time that it's a joy to see when his guard drops.

"Not in those words exactly. It was a little more subtle, something about not wanting to have to make our business his business. It loses something in the translation. I think you had to be there to see the menacing look in his eyes."

A warm feeling flows through me. "So that's why you said we have to be just friends?" It makes me feel a little better to know that he wasn't lying about that.

"That actually happened after you left. But I knew all along that my brothers wouldn't be pleased if they saw us together.  Tank and Finn both consider you family now. I heard about how you've been visiting their mom along with Emma."

I shrug, even though it makes me sad to think about it. "Emma lost her parents so she's really attached to Claire now. I was happy to go with her. Everyone needs a little laughter and girl talk sometimes."

"Maybe that's what draws me to you," he whispers. He's talking so softly I'm not sure he even means for me to hear him.  "I couldn't figure out what it was that kept drawing me back to you. Kept me thinking about you even when we were apart. But it's that kindness. That sweetness. You're just so real. It makes me want that for myself."

His hand slips underneath my hair, his thumb tracing a drugging path back and forth behind my ear. I have to clench my stomach against a wave of longing. Everything about Gabe Marshall turns me on and I don't think he even realizes it.

"Gabe…"

That's all I get out before his mouth is on mine. We back up and I jump when my back hits the wall. I stretch up on my tiptoes and anchor my arms behind his head. Every time he touches me it's the same, this sudden scorching blaze that seems to tear through all my resistance. His other hand comes up to frame my face.