out of here—”
“I know.” He patted Damon on the shoulder as he turned away from the stage. “And there’s no one around watching. No cameras, no DJ, no bouncers. You’re welcome.” He hurried toward the exit, not really wanting to be around for what was to follow.
“Come here, sweetheart,” Damon called to Anna Victoria. “How about a lap dance?”
“Nuh-uh, Chief. You can look but you can’t—”
Gabriel shut the door behind him, shaking in laughter. Oh boy, I hope she shows him a good time. Anna Victoria didn’t need a lot of convincing to go along with this plan; in fact, she insisted on it, as with the wedding only a week away, both she and Damon were stressed out and needed to blow off some steam. As a gift, he’d even booked them a pool suite at The Palms Hotel where Anders would never be able to find them.
Temperance was a genius, coming up with this plan.
His lion huffed haughtily, as if saying, of course she is, she’s our mate.
He sighed and took his phone out of his pocket. Out of respect for Damon, he had put it on silent. He didn’t want to be checking on it all the time as this weekend was supposed to be about celebrating his best friend. But Temperance should already be out of work by now, so he could at least give her a call and say goodnight. Maybe I could convince her to send me some naughty pics. He groaned as his cock twitched in his pants. Even though he’d been surrounded by gorgeous women all night, only the thought of Temperance made him crave sex.
Better get outta here or they might get the wrong idea, he thought as he searched for the door. As he walked toward the exit, he looked back toward the main stage, shaking his head as J.D. and Anders were once again front and center, tossing bills at the stage. Shaking his head, he slipped out the door, breathing in the cool, desert air. Unlocking his phone, he frowned at the ten missed calls and a string of messages from Ginny.
Pick up.
Where the hell are you?
You need to call me. Now.
It’s about Temperance.
His blood froze in his veins, and his first instinct was to call his mate, but she hadn’t called or messaged him. His fingers quickly tapped on the missed calls from Ginny. “What’s up, Gin?” he asked his voice tight.
“Oh, Gabriel, thank God! Where the fuck have you been? I’ve been calling you for ages.”
“I was busy,” he said. “What’s wrong with Temperance?” And why didn’t she call me herself?
“I’m not sure,” she said. “I mean, I went to Rosie’s to check up on her, but Rosie said she’d already gone home. But one of the waitresses, Bridgette—she and I go way back—told me about something that happened that morning.”
“Something happened?” He already didn’t like where this was going.
Ginny sucked in a breath. “Some guy came in looking for her. Brought flowers and everything and caused a scene.”
“What guy?” he growled. “Tell me or I’ll—”
“Hold yer horses, I’m trying to tell you! So, Bridgette just overheard all this but she says, he got on his knees and wouldn’t leave until she agreed to go out to dinner with him tonight at the Full Moon Diner.”
“Motherfucker!” His blood was now boiling in his veins. “I’m coming back.”
“When?”
“Now.” His entire body was shaking with rage, but he somehow managed to hang up the call and then dialed the number for the pilot they’d hired for the weekend. “Get the plane ready, we’re headed back to Colorado,” he barked at the phone as he waved down a passing cab. “I don’t care if you just got back, I want that damned jet ready to take off by the time I get there.”
The taxi and plane ride seemed like the longest of Gabriel’s life. Surprisingly, he looked calm on the outside, despite the turmoil he felt inside. His lion made its wrath known, clawing at him and ripping him to shreds from the inside. It took all his concentration not to shift during the flight, but he didn’t want to startle the already distraught pilot. While he didn’t want to throw his weight around, this was an emergency, so he was short with the pilot as he ordered him to fly back to Colorado.
Perhaps the worst part of all this was that his imagination had run wild, thinking about all the possible scenarios. Who was this guy? Had she