with each controlled breath as his features twisted.
Ben placed a hand on Gabriel’s chest, the contact calming the tic of Gabriel’s clenched jaw and stiff shoulders. It took every ounce of control in Ben’s body to maintain his composure. The thrumming anger inside him was foreign, but he couldn’t walk away from Gabriel’s father or ignore the hurtful words that were daggers to Gabriel’s spirit.
He turned to Frank. “Gabriel knows exactly who he is and what he wants. He wants his father to accept him.” He stood taller, straighter, and more confident as he signed, feeling the weight of Gabriel’s stare on him. “And if you knew your son half as well as you’d like to think you do, you’d know he would never hurt me.”
Frank winced as if stricken by Ben’s hands with each signed word.
Ben shook his head, refusing to waste his effort on someone who had no desire to change. Over the years, he had seen the same signs with his sister, but had ignored them. Ben didn’t know if Frank was ignorant to how his words and actions hurt or if they were intentional, but he wasn’t going to stick around and find out. Especially not with the obvious pain eating away at Gabriel’s soul.
He slid his hand into Gabriel’s, leaned in, and placed a tender, closed-mouth kiss on Gabriel’s lips. It was meant to show support and comfort. To show him that Frank’s words hadn’t driven a wedge between them.
The emotions screaming from Gabriel’s gaze squeezed his heart. Ben tugged on their clasped hands, leading them toward the front door and out of the house.
Natalie followed. He glanced over at her, catching her repeated apologies to Gabriel, but he seemed too numb to acknowledge her. Ben opened the passenger side door of the SUV and guided Gabriel inside. There wasn’t a chance he would let Gabriel get behind the wheel with the mental disconnect evident in his distant gaze.
Ben stilled when Natalie climbed into her own car. “You’re not staying?”
She shook her head. “No. And I’m so sorry. I thought if he saw you two together and how happy you both were…” She glanced over to the passenger seat where Gabriel sat. “If you need anything, text me. Please…just…”
He nodded and climbed into the driver’s seat, pulled out of the driveway and headed for the highway.
The drive back home took an eternity. Gabriel either stared ahead at the road or out the side window. He didn’t speak, he didn’t smile, and he wouldn’t touch or look at Ben. Gabriel needed space, and Ben would grant him all he needed to process everything that had happened tonight.
It would hurt once the blow hit him. Just as it had hit Ben when his sister had severed the blood ties between them.
Ben pulled into the hotel’s parking lot and into their designated reserved spot. Gabriel attempted a wave at staff as they walked toward the elevators, even feigning a quarter smile to the guard at the security station. But his gait was weighted and sluggish, still bearing the burden of everything that had happened tonight. Not a word or sign escaped as they walked through their door and into their bedroom. With a kiss to his cheek, Ben left Gabriel sitting on the edge of the bed as he went to the bathroom and readied himself for bed.
Minutes later, he stood in the doorway after switching off the bathroom light. He froze at the sight of Gabriel sitting in the exact same spot and pose. The faint glow of the corner lamp lighting the room enough to show he hadn’t even bothered to strip a single item of clothing off his body.
Gabriel’s chest heaved with each deep breath.
A few seconds later, the dam of emotions finally broke.
Ben quickly walked over to him as Gabriel’s shoulder slumped and shuddered. Gabriel reached out and wrapped his arms around Ben’s waist and held him close, burying his face against Ben’s chest.
He held Gabriel close, stroking his broad back and running his fingers through his hair.
Over and over again.
After his breathing settled and the shuddering stopped, Gabriel glanced up at him. Even in the dim light of the room, Ben could see the pain in his eyes. “I would never hurt you.”
Ben stroked his cheek before signing, “I know.”
Out of everything that had been said tonight, every emotional jab that had been aimed at him, it was the worry of Ben believing a hurtful lie that had lingered the most in Gabriel’s