Mine - HelenKay Dimon Page 0,102

Andy to usher Rick out of his sight then turned on Natalie. “Now tell me why I shouldn’t kick you out on your lying ass.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

Anger radiated off Gabe and smacked right into Natalie. She could see it in his drawn features and hear it in the harsh whip of his voice.

Something inside her scrambled. The truth had tumbled out of her. Watching Rick stand there, so sure and so smug while failing to take responsibility for any of the damage he’d done. The pain hidden just behind Gabe’s fury. She thought she’d settle the matter and then they could move on. Instead she just redirected all of Gabe’s rage at her.

She took a step back. “Listen . . .”

“Don’t do that. Don’t act like I’m going to hit you.” Tension pulled at the corners of his mouth and around his eyes. All the light and charm had seeped right out of him. “You know that’s not the case.”

But his words ripped into her with the force of a slap. It was as if he took every secret she’d ever shared and discounted it all before rolling it into a ball and throwing it back in her face.

“You were not handling the issue.” She regretted referring to Brandon like an item to be checked off on a list, but she couldn’t call it back. Not when she had so many other things she regretted right now.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Color washed through Gabe’s face, red and angry. “We’ve known each other for weeks and you think you know what’s best for me better than I do?”

Each sentence struck her like a lash, leaving scars. But she stayed on her feet and fought through. “I thought I meant something to you.”

“So did I.” He didn’t move from his position looming in front of her, hands on his hips as he practically screamed the words.

She tried to swallow. Tried to find her breath but she couldn’t draw in enough air or force her body to work. “My job—”

“I don’t work for you.”

He wasn’t giving an inch. All signs of the caring man who held her at night and gently brushed his hands over her skin vanished. “I am the type of person who resolves problems.” When he started to talk she ran right over his words with a few of her own. “Don’t even think about throwing the fact I was fired in my face. You will regret it.”

He stared up at the ceiling for a few seconds, possibly trying to stem his rage, but when he looked down again all the signs of him being furious held in place. “I told you I didn’t want the test.”

She plowed through that fact as she pushed forward. She’d known that would be a problem. That’s why she hesitated and held back the envelope. Why she debated looking inside, but she had. As soon as he fell asleep last night, she snuck downstairs and found the paperwork right where they’d left it on the couch. She scanned the contents then tucked it away.

Now it haunted her. Good news or not didn’t seem to matter to Gabe, and that’s the part she didn’t get. “We both know you couldn’t hide from it forever.”

“We talked about this.” Her knuckles turned white as he tightened his hold on his hips. “I was clear.”

His words floated through her brain. End of story. She couldn’t exactly claim confusion about his meaning. “Very.”

“But you decided. You took away my choice.”

“I thought . . .”

She eased away from him toward the couch. Standing behind it suddenly felt safer than standing in front of him unguarded. One glance at the open front door and she realized they were alone. Andy wouldn’t come rushing to her aid. Not on this.

Gabe leaned in. “You thought what?”

“I don’t know.” God, she didn’t. It all made sense to her at one point. This is what she’d done for her team. Rushed in and fixed the problem before they stepped into any more danger. The steps made sense to her. Now to put them into words. “I wanted to help, and I figured if I knew the answer I could prepare you.”

His eyes actually bulged. “That was your plan?”

Sugarcoating her thoughts now didn’t make much sense, so she grabbed on to the top of the couch cushion with all of her might and let the facts spill out. They would condemn her or not in Gabe’s eyes. She didn’t have any control over that. “If the news