Their relationship was like siblings—best friends one day, mortal enemies the next. “Peter tried to get in touch with me in the past three years. Cutting him off permanently is my one regret that I’m realizing now.”
“Thought you simply didn’t want anything to do with me.” He gave a lopsided smile. “It’s why I deliberately misbehaved at school when Peter was out of the country so you’d be forced to see me.”
Gabby shook her head and gave a wry smile. “You were a pain in the ass, you know that?”
“Sorry, not sorry.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
They shared a brief chuckle before she turned serious again. “I’ve always thought of you as my brother regardless of blood. It was just hard to look at you, you know.”
“That too,” he said, lifting his eyes and searching hers. “I’m surprised you didn’t kick Roarke in the nuts when you saw him again.”
Gabby set down her mug. “Let’s get something straight. The breakdown of my marriage to your dad—”
“Sperm donor,” Theo growled.
“No,” she reiterated. “Claudette was right. I was the first one who stepped out on our marriage.” She closed her eyes. “With Nick.”
Silence.
She opened her eyes. Theo was staring at her, mouth open.
“Dec and I were having problems and it was really bad.” Gabby pursed her lips, remembering. “Really bad.” Her brother was still staring at her and she realized she hadn’t clarified the situation. “Nothing happened between Nick and me that night. I came to my senses before it went further, but Dec’s timing was the worst. Let’s just say the damage was done. Irreparable.” She shook her head in regret. “Declan and I … we were young. I was barely nineteen and he wasn’t even twenty. We weren’t prepared for how volatile our emotions were, and we didn’t know how to handle it without hurting each other.”
Theo gave a brief nod.
“Anyway, I’m telling you this, because I don’t want you to miss out on having a relationship with Dec.” She grinned wryly. “You should give him a chance.” It was on the tip of her tongue to say he was a good man. She felt he was. A cop’s instinct and all, but she couldn’t equivocally say that because she knew Dec had been a mercenary.
“Are you reconciling?”
“God, no,” she responded instantly.
“Then why was he in your room last night?”
“We had something to discuss regarding what happened yesterday.” She did her best to hold his stare.
Theo angled his head and a corner of his mouth kicked up. “Riiiight.”
Gabby made a tsk sound at his teasing, batted him on his arm with the back of her hand and then leaned forward to pick up another piece of toast. “Are you going back to the studio tomorrow?”
“Maybe. Need to get clearance first from the doc. Nick’s orders.”
One thing she couldn’t fault about ex-husband number two was he liked to play by the rules. He took care of his actors.
“Dec going with you or Levi? I might need your dad … what?” she asked when she saw the teenager grimace.
“Referring to Roarke as my dad doesn’t sound right. I called our father Dad, you know. My dad has just been buried. As far as I’m concerned, it’s not about blood, but the person who really cared for you.”
“I agree,” Gabby enunciated. “But—”
Theo cut her off by raising his palm. “Stop. Taking it slow, okay?”
“Fair enough.” She’d stuck her nose in it too much already.
“And yeah, Dec said you might need him for some shit he started.”
“That’d be right.”
“What did he do?”
“Can’t really tell you.” Gabby leaned back against the sofa and put her foot up on the table. “Maybe you should go to bed.”
Theo looked at her. “That’s how it’s gonna be?”
“What do you mean?”
“I ask you something personal and you try to deflect or send me to my room?”
Her brow quirked up. “You’re not a child. Just pointing out what the doctor ordered.”
Theo jumped to his feet and stretched, a yawn overcoming him. “Guess I am tired. See ya around, sis.”
14
Declan turned away from the mouth of the hallway and moved down the corridor. He stopped, leaned against the wall, his knees threatening to buckle beneath him. Hearing Gabby’s side of the story about Nick was a sucker punch to the solar plexus and his mind tried to wrap around the enormity of what it meant, what he needed to face.
To top it off, hearing how logical she was, how she’d taken his side, he couldn’t help comparing her to the spoiled young