Bound to the Fallen (Prophecy #2) (38 page)

Ashley’s eyes widened and she blinked numerous times
. Her eyebrows turned in and her eyes narrowed. “What? Seriously?”

“Yes
. He, oh, he’s just so perfect for me. We’re so perfect for each other. I’ve never felt this way about anyone.” I hesitated, “I know this sounds ridiculous, but I think he’s the man I’m supposed to marry.” I swooned as I faintly whispered, “Mrs. Brooke Hunter, oh, that sounds so perfect!”

My face was beaming, my heart was pounding; I was in a disgustingly blissful fog.

Ashley grinned. “Wow, that’s great, Brooke. Never would’ve seen him as the type to fall for somebody so quickly. You’ve really done him in, haven’t you? You little slut. You broke him!” She glanced back to her computer and began typing. “So, you gonna invite me to the wedding?”

I
giggled. “Of course.”

“You know if Amy finds out she’ll probably try to run you over with her car, right?”

I rolled my eyes. “Evidently, there’s a line of women that may try to knock me off.”

Gavin

I love her. I
love
her. That emotion was something I’d always thought would never touch me.

N
ever had I told a woman that I loved her, and within a few weeks I’d fallen completely in love with her. I knew that I shouldn’t view her in terms of emotions, but it was too late. She’d possessed me, I’d possessed her, and there was no stopping my desire for her.

A twinge of hesitation bubbled up inside me as I thought about the side of me Brooke had no idea of.
I was a demon and a murderer, and even those descriptions made me seem less of a monster than I actually was. I knew I would never allow myself to hurt her. I denied the nagging feeling that I had just damned her existence, that I should have stayed away from her to begin with. I didn’t want to acknowledge that something as strong as our feelings for each other should be forbidden, so I just suppressed it all.

Although the next day was hectic, I loved the days I spent in the operating room. The satisfaction I gained from cutting open someone’s skull and holding their warm, blood covered brain in my hands was endless.
After finishing up with the surgeries I had several in-patients to tend to.  I didn’t get over to my physical office until after Brooke left, and I had reports that needed to be entered into the system. Sitting down at my desk, I pulled a chart from the top of the growing stack.

I finally finished
my work around six-thirty and packed my things up. Just as I was shoving some papers into my satchel I heard a knock on my door. Glancing up, I saw a woman standing in my doorway. She had no business being there so late, so I knew this was not work related.

“So, you
love
her?” she snarled.

I inhaled
a quick breath. “
Absolutely
in love with her.”

I eyed the
figure looming in my doorway as she shook her head vehemently from side to side. “Un-fuckin-believable, Gavin!”

“Not happy for her, aye
? Imagine that.” I’d been waiting on this to happen. I knew that my relationship with Brooke was eating her up inside.

“Man, you just broke all your rules for that one
, didn’t you?”

I pulled the strap to my satchel over my head and walk
ed steadily toward my door when she stepped inside and slammed the door shut. She propped herself against the door and began reprimanding me. “You kissed her,
before
you even screwed her. She didn’t deserve that, she didn’t earn that,” the woman paused and glared at me angrily, “I did, Gavin — I
earned
that, and never got it!”

I
stared at her. “You didn’t earn anything. You were defiant as hell and not worth the trouble.”

“You liked it when I fought back.”

I decided to appease her momentarily to try and avoid a confrontation. “Yes, at times I did, but not when you broke the rules. You started caring for me, and I couldn’t very well tolerate that. Hard rules and all.” I deepened my voice, cutting a foreboding glare in her direction as my posture stiffened. I pointed my finger at her, “Now — get out of my way.”

She didn’t flinch. I noticed her jaw clench and a pleased smile
yanked the sides of her mouth upwards.

“Doesn’t work like that anymore
, Gavin,” she snapped back. “You see, you hurt me, you used me, and I refuse to let another man do that to me.” Her tongue darted out to lick her lips. “I’ve decided to become like you. Emotionless, dominating, and manipulative.” She laughed maniacally. “The control you have, the ability to know it’s up to you to take it to another level or end it.” She brought her hand to her face and the anger in her voice transformed into sarcasm. “But oh, it seems maybe you’ve been weakened from the very thing you tried to avoid all these years. She has complete control of you, and she doesn’t even know it.”

Wrath course
d through my veins as I stared at that succubus of a woman. I pulled my satchel from my shoulder and grabbed her by the arms, clapping them down by her sides.

“You need to get out of my business,” I growled.

She moaned as she spoke, “Oh, I might could go back to a submissive role one more time for you. I forgot how good it feels to have you pressed up against me, growling orders at me.” Her bottom lip poked out as she sighed, “Now, what do you think Brooke will think when she finds out about this little
fetish
you have? You’re too wild to be tamed. You don’t honestly think you can go the rest of your life without her finding out, do you?”

I knew what she was insinuating and I tightene
d my grip on her wrists, crushing her bones beneath my hands. Her eyes winced from the sudden pain.

I swallowed in an attempt to keep myself from screaming.
“You’ll not say anything to her, for two reasons. One, because I’m demanding that you don’t. And two, because I can promise you that you will pay in ways not even your deviant mind can comprehend – I’m not one to be fucked with!”

“Oh, it’d be worth it to see you crumble to pieces over losing her.” Her eyes glea
med as she whispered, “And how badly would it hurt her to know that we’d done that
together
? Oh, she’d be devastated,
completely
devastated. She truly does love you,” she laughed, “at least the part of you she knows.”

“That’s enough,” I screamed through gritted teeth
, my voice bellowing in the small room as I pushed her away from my door.

Narrowing
her eyes, she locked her devilish gaze onto me. “Or maybe I should just turn that pretty little princess into a sadistic queen? Bet you’d love that, wouldn’t you, Gav? I wonder if you’d lose complete interest in her if that sparkle of innocence she has becomes tainted? Would that ruin the perfect little image of love that bitch has painted for you?”

My blood coursed through my veins with a
fire only comparable to that of hell. My skin scorched with heat and my fists clenched tightly at my sides. I lunged toward her, stopping my face within inches of hers. “You will leave her alone, do you understand me? Don’t you fuck with her! You’ve not the slightest idea of who you’re dealing with.”

She calmly
reached behind me and opened the door, walking past me to the exit. I glared at her with a rage flaming behind my eyes I hadn’t felt in many years. Marked or not, the urge to take her life at that very moment overwhelmed me. Each deep breath I inhaled shot adrenaline through my body. The strength I’d been forced to suppress boiled to the surface and my fingers pressed into the metal door frame, molding it into my palm.

I bowed my head;
the glint from my necklace caught my eyes. I stared at it, forcing myself to fight the desire I had to take that wretched woman’s life.

My eyes flinched, my jaws tightened, and I walked back into my office, slamming the door with such brute strength the pictures flew from the wall, shattering onto the floor.

“I’ll have you again
, Gavin Hunter, but this time on my terms,” I heard her yell down the hallway before the hall door shut behind her.

My fate had been sealed
, and I was completely unaware.

Brooke

Constance and I went running
at the track after I got off of work. On the way back to my apartment she looked over at me.

“So, you two are in love, huh? That’s so cute. Promise me you’ll name your first born after me, okay? If it’s a girl just name her Constance
. If it’s a boy you can name him Constantine. Constantine Hunter — yep, that sounds pretty damn good!”

G
lancing over at her, I wiped sweat from my forehead. I raised one eyebrow and smirked. “Not gonna promise that, sorry.”

We
jogged into my complex and Constance went to her car and climbed in.

“You not
gonna come inside for a little bit?” I asked.

“No, I got to get home. I’m supposed to go out with some girls from work tonight. Carly broke up with her boyfriend so we’re going out to celebrate her newly found freedom.”

“Oh — well, okay then.”

“Hey, I’m sure you
r future husband will be over in a little while anyway.” She waved and the car’s engine sputtered to life, rattling underneath her hood as she drove off.

I w
ent to check my mailbox and noticed something on the windshield of my car. As I got closer I realized it was a rose. I smiled as I picked it up and held it under my nose, inhaling the feminine scent. I figured Gavin had left it for me on his way home from the office. Glancing down at my watch I realized it was only six-forty; maybe he’d finished his reports earlier than he thought he would.

Sprinting
up the stairs, I twisted the rose between my fingers. I unlocked my door and flipped the light switch on. Grabbing a Poptart, I went over to my couch and dropped myself onto the cushion with a sigh.

Simon
jumped up onto the arm of the couch and  kneaded his claws into the fabric.

“No
, Simon!” I picked him up and sat him in my lap. “You don’t claw the furniture.” I petted his soft fur and reached for the remote. Flipping through the channels, I stopped on the show
Snapped
. That show amazed me. I couldn’t believe that so many people could go completely psychotic at the drop of a hat.

Halfway through the episode my phone rang. It was Gavin.

I looked at the photo that popped up anytime he called. It was one I’d taken one night while he was playing the piano for me. He had his shirt off and a pair of faded designer blue jeans on. He looked so damn sexy sitting at the piano, his muscles bulging everywhere and that tattoo covering the upper part of his right arm made him look downright lethal. You’d never imagine the man in that picture was a well-respected neurosurgeon, not dangerous in the least.

“Hello
, lover,” I answered the phone in my best sultry voice.

“You at home?”
Gavin sounded distracted and slightly agitated. He didn’t pay a bit of attention to my flirtatious greeting.

“Yea
h, you okay? You sound upset.”

“
I’m fine. I’m coming over.” He was telling me, not asking.

I looked arou
nd my apartment at the mess I’d procrastinated picking up. “Okay…”

Gavin
hung up the phone. No goodbye. I knew something was bothering him.

Standing
up, I took a quick glance around my apartment again. Gavin had never been over before, and it was a complete disaster. He couldn’t see it like this, he’d think I was an absolute slob. His floors stayed so immaculate you could eat from them – and mine had crumbs of things you wouldn’t want to eat all over it.

“Shit,
” I yelled, scaring Simon.

I frantically pick
ed things up, shoving them into drawers, spraying the counters. I raked all of my cosmetics into the top drawer in my bathroom, wiped toothpaste from the mirror, quickly changed my bed sheets, and sprayed perfume throughout my apartment. I even made a feeble attempt to vacuum.

I lit a candle in my roo
m, one in the living room, and then heard a knock on my door. I ran back to the mirror in my bedroom to make sure my makeup still looked okay before hurrying back out to the door, exhaling as I reached for the lock.

G
lancing down, I saw the book I’d received in the mail and had an inherent urge to hide it. I picked it up, immediately dropping it onto the floor with a thud, and shoved it underneath the couch with my foot.

I
slid the chain from the lock and twisted the deadbolt, opening the door.

Gavin walked
inside. His brows were furrowed, his mouth lay straight across his face, and his eyes were focused on the floor. He came up to me, gave me a short kiss, and sat on the edge of my couch shaking his leg. I stared at him and he put his head down in his hands.

I had never seen him worried
— and I’m not even sure worried describes the state he was in. Distraught — he looked absolutely distraught.

“What’s wrong?” I sat next to him on the couch and rubbed his back.

“Someone came into my office – ”

I didn’t even let him finish.
I immediately jumped up and blurted out, “About us?”

I
panicked.
Nicole!
She’d told on us and now we were in deep shit.

He
glanced up at me and shook his head. “No,” he paused, closing his eyes. I could tell that he wanted to tell me something, but was hesitant.

“
Gavin, what in the hell?”

“Look, there
are just some things…” he ran his hands through his hair and lowered his head back down. He let out a frustrated groan. “My past —” He stopped again.” A woman showed up in my office this evening as I was preparing to leave, shut the door behind her…” His voice trailed off once again.

He’s rambling. He’s always collected…

Closing my eyes, I tried to give myself a second to understand what in the hell was going on. My head shook involuntarily from side to side. “Who?”

Gav
in rubbed his hands down his legs and rested them on his shaking knees. He stared at me. His eyes seemed darker than usual, they were so focused on me. “That’s not important,” he said.

“Like hell it’s not
!”

“I’m not telling you
, Brooke. I can’t have you trying to murder her tomorrow.” He shot his eyes over at the television as the title of another
Snapped
rolled across the screen.

I rolled my e
yes. “You can’t come in here acting all weird and start rambling about your past, about some woman shutting herself in your office, and not tell me what you’re talking about. Why even tell me anything?” My body became heated as I tried to figure out who he was talking about. “Amy, wasn’t it. It was Amy?”

My mind flashed back to the memory of Trisha waltzing into my father’s office and shutting the door.

“No.” Gavin looked at me sharply. “It wasn’t Amy.” He held his stare, his eyes piercing through me as though he were searching for something.

“Well, then who?” I screamed at him
.

I was
fuming. All I could think about was how my father would always tell my mother not to worry about so and so cutting eyes at him at social functions, about his telling her the perfume was from a patient who’d given him a hug of gratitude for saving their life. I started to wonder if Gavin was just trying to cover his ass in some way. I was vulnerable, weak, and helpless for this man. I was livid with myself for falling too quickly for him. Then I remembered the night he supposedly got called in to assess a patient. My stomach turned as I recalled the faint floral whisper that wafted up to my nose when he climbed in the bed that night.

My finger twisted the ring he’d given me.
“Gavin, don’t do this to me,” I pleaded.

Gavin stood up and grabbed
onto my shoulders. “Calm down, love.”

“You want me to calm down when
some girl is evidently coming in your office after hours. Doing what? Gavin, what was she trying to do? Uh-uh.” I paced in front of my couch, embarrassed at the lack of control I had over myself.

Jealousy raged inside me
. As far as most people knew, Gavin was completely available. To anyone else I was nothing more to him than a coordinator who stared at him with longing eyes. Just another dumb girl.

“I mean, how can I really get angry anyway
? It’s not like a damn person beside
my
friends know we’re together. I haven’t even met any of your friends, Gavin! It’s not like anybody thinks you’re taken.” I sat down on my couch and threw my head back onto the cushion. I let out an aggravated scream of frustration. 

He stared at me. I could tell he was
shocked by my behavior.

“Never thought you
to be so possessive and jealous,” he said. He smiled at me and sat next to me on the couch, leaning over to give me a short kiss. “I like it, love. Turns me on.” His hands crept up my thigh, his breath blowing on my neck.

I
swatted his hand off of me. “Not now, Gavin,” I said, glaring at him through narrowed eyes.

P
ulling his hand away from me, he said, “Fair enough,” and raised one eyebrow as he glanced at me with a half-smile.

I sat there
, seething in my anger for a moment and then blurted out, “I know that you better have told whoever it was to get the hell out!”

Gavin threw his head back and laughed.
“Such hostility — tsk, tsk, Brooke.” His eyes cut over at me, gleaming with pleasure.

Evidently, he liked my anger.

My tone became harsh. “
Nothing
about this is funny, Gavin. Not even a little.”

“No
, I agree.” He glanced sympathetically at me and tossed his head back against the cushion. “I’m sorry. I promise I’ll take care of it. I just want to protect you.”

My pulse was
slowing, trying to return to normal. I watched Gavin loosen his tie and slide it over his head.

Why had he just said “protect me”? What was he not telling me?
“Protect me?” I asked.

Gavin
redirected his gaze across the room and  cleared his throat. “Yes, I would never want to hurt you. Never let another person come between us.”

“
What the hell is wrong with people?” I asked. “I mean, I get that you’re sexy and all, but how many women do you have after you anyway?”

He laughed. “
Oh, you don’t need to worry yourself with any of that.” His eyes met mine. “I’ve no use for any other woman than you, love.”

Relief washed over me
and I grabbed his chin with my hand and pulled him up to my lips. Those soft lips of his crippled me, the tenderness of his kiss vanquished the anger that was still stirring inside me.

I stood up and took his hand, leading him from
the couch. “You’re staying here with me tonight, right?”

Gavin looked down lovingly at me
and swept the hair from my face. “Where else would I go?”

I
laid in my bed, unable to fall asleep because I’d decided that whoever came in his office was trying to seduce him, and I wanted to know who.

I
watched him as he slept. He was on his back, his head turned to the side, one arm laid across his chest, and the other behind his head. I traced my fingers over his arm, thinking about how lucky I was to be with him, about how wonderful he was to me, and how I really did want to strangle whoever that girl was for even thinking she could have him.

L
eaning over to my nightstand, I grabbed my phone. It was eleven-fifteen, but I didn’t care. I texted Ashley.

             
Some girl went into Gavin’s office and tried to come onto him!

             
Stupid bitch!

A
cathartic release flowed through me after I sent the texts. I gently placed my phone back down, not expecting to get a response until the morning. Just as I removed my hand from my phone it beeped, then beeped again, and again.