Gabriel - Jessie Cooke Page 0,7
Gabe as the beneficiary. When he turned eighteen Blackheart gave him the paperwork for a bank account where the $100,000 had been deposited in his name and it had spent two years drawing interest. Gabe’s grandparents had hoped the boy would use it to go to college, but he’d never thought he was smart enough for that. He was more comfortable working on a fishing boat than he’d ever be sitting in a classroom, or someday wearing a suit. He’d used a few thousand dollars to buy himself a used Harley and kept the rest of the money where it was, in hopes that someday he might use it to start a family of his own. In the meantime, riding with Blackheart and the Jokers was all he wanted to do, and after his hanging out around the club for two years and Blackheart’s realizing he wasn’t going to get rid of him, the president had allowed him to prospect. Gabe’s grandparents weren’t happy about his choices, but they also weren’t about to turn their backs on the last living link to their daughter. Eventually they seemed to come around, and Gabe had a standing date for dinner with them every Sunday evening. Sometimes Blackheart even went with him, and his grandfather especially seemed to be warming up to the big Cajun as well.
The past week, before Booger’s untimely death, Gabe had been thinking about asking Patrice to go with him to the next Sunday dinner. He’d never taken a girl home before, but he realized as soon as he started thinking about introducing her to his grandparents, he was thinking of her as much more than any other woman he’d ever been with. Now, he was happy that he hadn’t asked her yet. If it turned out she was using him, the fewer people in his life that knew about it, the less humiliated he would have to be.
It was just after 2 p.m. when the men made it to Baton Rouge. Gabriel was slightly nervous, wondering what Blackheart was going to say to Patrice’s parents, and how they’d feel about them just showing up on their doorstep. When they drove their bikes up in front of the neat little blue Tudor style house in the quiet little neighborhood, Gabriel was feeling sick to his stomach, but Blackheart stepped off his Harley and pulled off his helmet, looking as cool as ever; and not for the first time, Gabriel wished that someday he could learn to be more like him.
They made their way up the cobblestone path that led to the front porch of the house and were almost to the steps when the front door came open, and Patrice came into sight. Her long hair spilled down her back and around her shoulders and she was wearing a pair of cutoff jeans and a red tank top. Gabriel tried not to think about how beautiful she was, but it was hard when just looking at her took his breath away. Her blue eyes focused on Gabe’s face for several seconds before she finally looked over at Blackheart and said:
“What are you doing here?” She reached behind her and pulled the door closed softly. Letting the screen door go, she stepped further out onto the porch. She was barefoot and her long, tan legs shone underneath the hot, afternoon sun.
“It’s not every day someone drops a bombshell on me like you did last night and then just disappears,” Blackheart said, stopping at the bottom of the three steps that led up to the porch. He reached up and pulled off his sunglasses and Gabriel looked from one to the other of them and wondered why he didn’t just see it in the first place. She didn’t just favor Blackheart...she had his face, and his coloring...and as they stared at each other Gabe could even see similarities in their expressions. He expected any minute to hear Jerry Springer’s voice saying, “Evan Babineaux, it’s 99.9% sure that you are the father.”
Patrice was frowning at Blackheart as she said, “Me? You walked away last night, just like that,” she said, snapping her fingers. “Without so much as a word. I took that as my answer...even if I am your kid, you couldn’t care less.”
“I don’t discuss things I haven’t had time to think about,” he said. Patrice rolled her eyes and then she looked at Gabriel at last. Her pretty blue eyes softened and she said:
“Gabe, I’m sorry I didn’t get back