The Photograph

Gabe

The small crowd is gathered in the cemetery under the morning sun.

Aelin and Cara sit in the single row of chairs before the casket while the priest praises Lockwoods as a great, pious man. The viper from last night is there surrounded by other mourners who gawk openly at the sisters.How Aelin manages not to set the motherfucker’s casket on fire is beyond me.

When they lower the pine box into the ground, I stride to the entrance gates of the cemetery and rest my back against the stone arch of the otherwise peaceful place.

Christopher Wend pulls on his cigarette and leans back on the parapet on the other side of the gate. “Tired of the bullshit?”

I nod at the lawyer who pushes off from the wall to snub out the butt of his cigarette against the wall before flicking it in the black iron public trash bin.

He his hands in his pockets and turns his gaze toward the cemetery. “I’ll never understand how a whole community turns a blind eye to the suffering of a child.”

“But not you.”

Chris lifts his frown. “What?”

“You must have been under pressure to do so when this all started.”

The slim man sighs. “Let’s just say, I’d seen the signs before and didn’t recognize them for what they were at the time. But when I saw that fierce little girl telling whoever would listen what happened to her, I had to help and get her out of that hell.”

My cell vibrates. “They’re done. You’re coming?”

The lawyer shakes his head “You go ahead, I’ll meet you at the solicitor’s office.”

****

The sun coming from the window behind the bald, sweaty solicitor bathes the small room as we listen to the reading of the old fucker’s will. Aelin, seated between Chris and Cara, with her sister’s hand firmly niched in hers, straightens her back as the solicitor drones on.

I stand by the door while Mike sits on the Chippendale chair against the adjacent wall. The solicitor wipes his handkerchief over his jowls before shoving it the front pocket of his dated brown suit.

“I leave all my possessions including my three properties and all financial assets to my one and only daughter, Cara Elizabeth Lockwoods.”

Cara gasps and turns to Aelin who wraps her arm around her shoulder.

“Aelin, you can contest…” the solicitor starts.

Aelin snaps her gaze to the old man. “I won’t. He’s right. Cara’s his only daughter. I was just the living representation of his monstrosity.”

When the heavyset man frowns and his mouth opens. I take a step.I fucking dare you.He snaps his mouth shut.

Cara’s breath hitches, and Aelin cups her face. “Cara. My Cara.” She waits until Cara lifts her eyes. “Nothing he did is your burden to carry, absolutely nothing because you are the only redeemable thing about him.” She touches her forehead to her sister’s. “You are spectacular, and I love you. Do you hear me?”

I cough out the emotion stuck in my throat.

“If there’s no contest…”

Cara, Aelin, and Chris stand up as one. Mike moves to hold Cara to walk her out of the stuffy room. I extend my hand to Aelin who wraps her fingers around mine.

In the corridor of the hotel leading to our rooms, Aelin lets go of my hand. “Chris?”

The lawyer stops in front of his room and pivots toward us. Aelin runs to him and hugs him so fiercely, the man grunts. Cara joins them and the three of them stay in the embrace until Chris pulls back and kisses Aelin’s and Cara’s head.

After Chris shuts his door, the sisters cling to each other, and when Aelin raises her wet face to me and smiles, my chest expands. Once Mike closes the door of Cara’s room, I head to the lawyer’s room and knock on his door.

“Mr. Matthews—”

I extend my hand. “Gabe. Anything you ever need. Anytime. It’s yours. No questions asked.”

Chris nods. “I just needed to save those girls.”

“Anything.”

He shakes my hand, and I know we understand each other.

****

A week later, Mike’s head peeks through the doorjamb of my office. “Is it safe to come in?” My brother closes the door behind him.

I haven’t seen Aelin since the funeral, and I’m not in the mood. I don’t mean to, but I grunt. “What’s up, Mike?”

Mike grins and lowers his long body in the chair across from me. “Good stuff…”

A quick knock on the door interrupts him as Erica enters. “Gabe, your 11:00 AM appointment is downstairs.”

I glance at my wrist. “They can wait. Anything else?”

Erica pads further into the room. “Yes, Joan and Kirk want to do a final review of the schedule for Holloway’s grand opening. They also said they’d be happy to organize things with Aelin.”

“What do you mean with Aelin?”

As Michael shifts to look at her, Erica shuffles from one foot to the other. “I put them in contact with Aelin when they asked questions about the configuration of the rooms, and they’ve been consulting with her since the beginning.”

Mike winks at her which makes her smile.

“Set up a meeting with them for tomorrow. It was a good idea to get them in touch with Aelin”

“Sure. Anytime your schedule allows is good?”

“Yes, thanks, Erica.”

When she shuts the door, I lean back. “What’s the news?”

Mike gets to his feet and grins. “Cara and I are back together.”

I’ve never seen that stupidly happy expression on Mike’s face, but it suits him. I hug and

backslap my brother. “Congrats, bro. Happy for you.” I study his face. “How serious is it between you two?”

“She’s it for me. My wife if I can convince her, and I’ve got you to thank for that, even though our reunion was more like a crash.”

I pat Mike’s shoulder. “Convince her?”

He chuckles. “Yeah. I don’t know if you noticed, but to these two, marriage sounds like a death sentence. But I’m going to show Cara how good it is until she has no choice but be my wife.”

Yeah. Stupidly happy.

I grab a couple of waters from the fridge and toss one bottle at Mike. As we sit back at my desk, he says, “Cara’s been hard on you.”

Yes, and for good reasons.“I hurt her kid sister. I get it.”

Mike narrows his eyes. “What are you going to do about Aelin?”

I don’t know. “I have to be careful with her, she’s—”

Mike rolls his eyes. “Gabe, she’s not fragile or vulnerable or whatever crap you’re telling yourself. Trust me, I’ve hung out with her and she’s no breakable doll.”

I snap my head up.“You’ve hung out with her? When?”

“I don’t know, a few times depending on how busy we are.”

Is she hurting as much as I do since we’ve been apart?I stride to the bay window staring at nothing and slide my hands in my pockets.

In the car coming back from the funeral, she turned her beautiful eyes to me, and thanked me for being there for her and her sister. Just before climbing out of the car, she cupped my face with so much sadness in her eyes, I pulled her to me and held her tight until she pushed against my chest and exited the car.

Michael joins me in front of the skyline of the city. “We made a pact of not talking about you or Cara, but the little she said is she thinks you’re a good man.”

And she’s got the biggest heart. But I hurt her too bad.“She does?”

Mike watches me closely. “Yeah.”

I don’t deserve her But enough of that emo shit. My brother’s finally happy.“Any plans tonight?”

“Nope, Cara and Aelin are spending the day together.”

“Cal’s in town, stop by the house, we’ll crack a bottle.

****

I close my laptop ready to leave for the day when my cell vibrates.

“Gabriel, how are you, darling? I was wondering if you had time for us to meet again tomorrow since you cancelled our last date.”

It wasn’t a fucking date.“Vanessa—”

She purrs. “Oh, Gabriel, call me Ness like you used to. I loved that little nickname you had for me.”

I swipe my hand over my face. She hated ‘Ness’ because it made her sound common. It was a different story when we were in the bedroom. She loved being dominated and being called by her ‘common’ nickname while I took her hard.

I don’t miss those times. Vanessa was a selfish lover, expecting to be taken care of while giving nothing back, even as a submissive she kept it all to herself.

“Vanessa, I’m busy and it wasn’t a date. What do you want?”

The woman I fell for all those years ago and who betrayed me in more ways I can count makes a whining noise and she drops her accent. “Gabriel, I just wanted to catch up with an old friend—”

“Vanessa—”

She sucks her breath. “Okay, maybe we’re not friends but we’ve been an important part of each other’s lives. A friend told me about Holloway House’s grand opening on Friday, and—”

“I’ll have some tickets sent to you. Where are you staying?”

She squeals. “I’m so happy for you, my darling, and I would love to attend the opening. I’m staying at the Four Seasons.”

“Okay.” I disconnect the call. My cell rings again.

“Gabriel, sorry, darling. Could you send the tickets to the Radisson hotel, there’s been a mix-up during my reservation, nothing I’ll bore you with, but—”

“Okay, I’ll ask my assistant to send them there.”

“Thank you, darling, I’m so looking forward to seeing you again.”

When the phone beeps again, I snatch it from the desk.

“Vanessa, whatever—”

“It’s Aelin. If it’s a bad time, I can call back.”

Her raspy voice goes straight to my cock, and I shift in my chair.

“No, it’s fine. How are you, Aelin?”

She inhales softly. “I’m all right, how are you?”

I fucking miss you.Do you miss me?“Good.”

She clears her throat. “I was wondering if you could meet Joan, Kirk, and I at Holloway tomorrow at 11:00 AM. I asked Erica and she said you were available. It won’t take long, and it makes sense for all of us to be on the premises to have a better idea of what can be done for Friday. What do you think?”

I don’t care.“It’s a good idea, yes I’ll be there.”

“Great, I’ll see you tomorrow then. Bye, Gabe.”

“Bye.”

****

The next day, Joan, the owner of Events Production, enters the hallway with a man by her side and smiles brightly. “Gabe, always a pleasure. This is Kirk.” I shake hands with the elegantly dressed man who peruses the foyer.

I arrived an hour ago and walked through the house Aelin never got to show me. It’s perfect. It has an old world feel while being completely modern.

“Is Aelin with you?” Kirk asks.

“No, she should be here soon.”

On cue, a car engine roars, and I stalk to the doors as Aelin comes out of John’s truck.Fuckinglover boy’s back.

When the bastard gives her a couple of bags and kisses her mouth, I grit my teeth and descend the stairs. The fucker drives off.

“Is this Aelin?” Kirk whispers behind me. Joan must have nodded. “You were right. She’s an absolute doll.”

She is.

Joan chuckles. “Wait until she speaks… sexiest bedroom voice.”

That too.

Aelin greets me with a hesitant smile. “Gabe, hi.”

Pointing my chin at the small mountain she’s carrying. “Let me help with that.”

“Thank you. Can you take the tray of hot drinks?”

“You brought coffee?”

I can’t help but smile when her grin turns cute. “Yes, and pastries.”

Joan says, “Did I hear coffee?”

Aelin lifts her smile to Joan. “You did, and pastries, too. How are you, Joan?”

She hugs Joan, turns to the man standing next to the event planner and extends her hand. “You must be Kirk. Joan told me wonders about your work. Very pleased to meet you at last.”

When Kirk stares at her wordlessly, she clears her throat and lowers her arm.

“Kirk?” Joan prompts with a frown.

The man shakes his head and grins while he clasps her hand between his.

“My apologies, Aelin. Joan told me you were pretty, but she clearly undersold you.”

Aelin’s face flushes. “Oh, thank you. That’s very nice. Shall we start the tour?” She turns to me. “Is it okay with you?”

No, I want to be inside you and hear you…“Yeah.”

She’s not just pretty, she’s glowing.Is she sleeping with the carpenter?By the way her breathing changes and her pupils widen when I’m close, I know I affect her.

As we enter the spliced up living room, Kirk turns to me. “What about the main bedroom?”

Aelin frowns. “What about it?”

“Maybe we can use it as a boudoir. A relaxing interlude for guests. We did this for the premiere of the Charmaine manor a few months ago and it was very popular.”

Aelin steps before me and I inhale her hair, her skin.Fuck.

“There’s a lounge on the east side which would be perfect for a boudoir. Let me show you.”

As the couple of event planners wander further in the high-ceilinged room, Aelin shifts to face me and I drink in the sight of her. “I’m sorry for taking over, it’s your house and your decision. Would you like to use the main bedroom?”

Yes. And take you in every corner of it. “No, I agree with you.”

Her eyes soften, and my whole body strains toward hers. “Thank you.”

Twenty minutes later, Joan and Kirk shake my hand and Aelin’s after promising to send a detailed schedule the next day. Their car starts leaving Aelin and I face to face in the foyer.

Aelin checks her cell. “I have to go. Cara’s picking me up soon.” She makes her way to the front door. “I’ll see you on Friday.”

“Are you sleeping with him?”

The skirt of her dress swirls as she wheels back to me. “John? No.”

Her eyes widen as I stalk to her. “You let him kiss you.”

She tucks her hair behind her ear. “I didn’t, but Gabe, this is really none of your business.”

I wrap my hand around her nape. “The hell, it isn’t—”

“Gabe—”

“Yoo-hoo. Oh, Gabriel, it’s marvelous, exactly like in the pictures.”

You have got to be shitting me.I whip my eyes to Vanessa. Her loose, long, blonde hair waves around her as she twirls slowly in a studied spin to take in the renovated décor while her high heels clack on the sleek marble.

While my ex-fiancée flashes a bright smile, Aelin steps back.

“Gabriel, darling, I couldn’t wait until Friday to see your mother’s house, she would be so proud—”

Aelin gasps, and whips wounded eyes to mine. “Holloway is your childhood home?”

“Baby—”

Vanessa flashes her gaze to Aelin “Oh, you didn’t know? When Gabriel told me he bought Holloway, I couldn’t resist a sneak peek. You’ve wanted this for such a long time, darling, I’m so proud of you.”

For fuck’s sake. “Vanessa—”

“Congratulations and to you, too, Elaine, you’ve done a wonderful job.”

Aelin nods slowly. “I’m glad you like it.” She glances at the front door. “I think my ride is here. Gabe, I’ll see you on Friday. Actually, I’ll see both of you on Friday.”

“Bye, dear,” Vanessa sing songs. She waves her long fingers and raises her eyes to mine. “Isn’t she just wonderful?”

This shit has to stop.

When I lock my eyes onto hers, she pales and her mouth drops.

“Darling, what?”

“Vanessa, I don’t know what you’re playing at, but stop that shit or you’ll never set foot in Holloway.”

She pinches her lips and stomps to the door.