Diavolo Ch. 04

The doctor looked around at their group and nodded somewhat reluctantly. "Sure. He's out right now, and we are limiting his visitors so he won't over exert himself. He needs lots of rest until he heals."

Michael gestured to Anna Maria and Abigail. "Let them see him first. We'll go in two at a time for just a little while."

Abigail looked at Diamond. The woman looked like she wanted to kill her, her face mottled red in fury. Michael ignored the woman's hateful expression and steered Abigail and Anna Maria back out to the hall.

They turned down another corridor and headed toward the doors at the end. Two burly men stood in front of the doors, their faces like chiseled stone.

Abigail took in their black suits, sunglasses, and pronounced frowns and thought they looked like bodyguards.

Stopping before them, Michael turned to lift a brow at Diamond.

The woman's gaze darted to Abigail before she smiled at Michael. "Now, Mike, are you sure it's a good idea to let her in? I mean. Would Gabriel even remember who she is?"

"Tell your gorillas to step aside," Michael ordered.

Diamond took a deep breath, her eyes blazing as she stared defiantly at the band's lead guitarist. Blinking rapidly, she nodded at the two men who immediately stepped aside. One of them even opened the door.

Anna Maria looped her arm through Abigail's and led her into Gabriel's room.

The verticals in the room were opened only a crack, diffusing the glaring rays of the morning sun. The curtain around the bed blocked the view from the door.

When they walked around the curtain, Anna Maria let go of her arm and approached her grandson.

Gabriel lay, slightly reclined in the hospital bed. His right leg was suspended from a strange contraption rigged to the end of the bed. He had a thick bandage around his forehead and his right arm was in a sling across his bare chest. Wires and slim plastic tubes were everywhere. He had an IV stuck into the left side of his throat, white discs stuck on his chest with wires connected to a heart monitor, another big white clip attached to his left index finger, and an oxygen tube secured beneath his nose. As she watched, a band wrapped around his left bicep began inflating, measuring his blood pressure for a few seconds, before it emptied out with a soft hiss.

Thick, black lashes rested against his cheeks. One side of his face was black and blue and there were angry patches of bruising all over his magnificent chest.

Anna Maria fussed with the white sheet draped over his lower half, before smoothing back the long lengths of his dark hair caught on the scruff of his handsome face.

The older woman tutted in disappointment. "He needs a shave, and a good bath."

Abigail could tell he was completely naked beneath that sheet. His grandmother tucked it around him, complaining about how cold the room felt and how they hadn't provided him with at least a hospital gown.

Anna Maria stroked his face again, tenderly, before leaning over and kissing his cheeks and muttering a blessing.

Abigail watched her make the sign of the cross and mark little crosses over Gabriel's forehead, lips, and chest. She left her hand over his heart and bowed her head in prayer.

Abigail crossed herself as well and placed her palm on his knee.

Almost immediately, he moaned, making Abigail break out of her reflective prayer.

Both women stared expectantly at him as his head rolled slowly side to side.

"Hijito," Anna Maria whispered.

Gabriel blinked his eyes open a crack and looked at her.

His grandmother smiled and stroked his face, giving him another kiss. She spoke to him in Spanish, but he just closed his eyes again.

Abigail watched his throat work as he swallowed.

"Gaby, look. Your girl is here too."

Anna Maria moved back and gestured for Abigail to move closer.

Heat suffused her cheeks, and her heart took off at a gallop as her eyes drew over the rippling mass of masculine brawn prone before them like an erotic feast. Sweat made the center of her back and palms clammy even though the room was pretty cold.

"Don't be shy, chica," Anna Maria smiled, a twinkle in her blue eyes. "Come give him a kiss."

Abigail almost shook her head, but the sweet old woman looked at her so expectantly.

Oh-God—she gulped loudly.

She moved forward, her eyes staring at Gabriel's bare chest. Even banged up, bandaged and with wires connected everywhere, he was glorious. His pecs were meaty, arms ropey, and abs hard-looking and chiseled. His hair spilled a little over both shoulders and looked as though he still had little particles of sand clinging to the inky strands.

Sexy scruff darkened the lower half of his face, highlighting his soft, lush lips. Looking at that mouth made Abigail quiver with the memory of his kisses and feel of those scratchy whiskers nuzzling into her throat. She hugged herself, almost afraid she'd succumb to the temptation of just stroking him everywhere.

"Don't be afraid," Anna Maria was saying sweetly with a smile. "Go on and give him a kiss, hijita."

Abigail felt her face grow hotter.

Moving closer, she puckered her lips, and bent, pressing them daintily to his.

Oh-so magical. Heat suffused her entire being at the contact, and that delicious throbbing grew again.

He shifted, eyes fluttering open a bit to look at her.

Abigail just stared back before stuttering out a timid "h-hello."

He blinked slowly, his brows drawing close over his nose, and pursed his lips. "Pop Tart?" he whispered.

Abigail's eyes welled. "Yes. Pop Tart. How do you feel? Are you in pain?" She looked at his leg with a frown, before turning back to him, letting her hand stroke down his left arm.

"What the hell happened to me?" he frowned, voice hoarse.

Abigail bit her lip. "Don't you remember anything?"

He closed his eyes. "I was supposed to go up to Laguna."

Abigail blinked. "You did. You had dinner with us, and," did he remember their kiss? A lump lodged in her throat. "You gave me your phone."

His eyes fluttered open again and he frowned at her. "I did?"

She nodded, unable to look him in the eyes anymore. Rummaging in her purse, she pulled the big phone out and showed him. "I guess you want it back now."

He just stared at it. "I gave you my phone."

He didn't remember, and she just wanted to die of mortification. "You said you wanted to call me, but I don't own a cell phone, so you gave me yours."

His eyes closed again. "Geez, Pop Tart. Everybody five and up owns a cell phone."

She kept the fact that for the last nine months she'd been cloistered in a convent in Florence, Italy to herself. "I'll just put your phone on the nightstand by your bed. I imagine you'll need it."

"No," he said, his frown deepening. "Hold on to it for me. Please. I have another one anyway."

He had two phones?

"I don't think I should—I mean...are you sure?" she asked, the hand clutching the phone hovering over the nightstand.

His eyes had closed and he never answered. She debated as to whether she should leave it by him anyway.

Anna Maria patted her arm. "Put the phone away. I'll have one of the boys get him another one."

Abigail nibbled her lower lip/ "Oh, I don't know. He just doesn't remember and I feel uncomf—"

"Nonsense," Anna Maria insisted, moving Abigail's hand toward her purse again. "Put the phone away. I'm too old to visit him everyday anyway and this way I can call you too to see how he's doing."

Abigail had to remember to close her mouth. "Oh, okay," she murmured, slowly letting the phone drop in her purse again.

The more she tried to untangle herself from the situation, the deeper she sank.

Anna Maria smiled. "You stay here with him, I'll go get Michael."

Abigail was about to decline, but Anna Maria was already making her way out.

The others wanted to see him too, but only two people were allowed at a time.

To her surprise, Michael and Erica came in.

She smiled at them and moved away from the bed. "I'll go outside and wait."

Michael shook his head. "You're his girl. You have every right to stay."

Erica was already leaning over the guardrails to give Gabriel a peck on his cheek.

This time he didn't stir.

"Oh, poor Gabe," she was saying. "Michael, aren't you going to say hi."

Michael made a face at her. "He's out cold."

Erica pouted down at Gabriel. "Anna Maria said he'd opened his eyes when Abigail kissed him."

Michael snorted. "I am not kissing Gabe."

*******

Rafael, Ariel, and Angelo filed in after Michael and Erica left.

Gabriel remained asleep the whole time. A nurse came in, took his vitals, and checked his IV.

After she left, Angelo grinned at the other two. "Quick, one of you two knock me out and call that pretty thing back here so she can give me mouth to mouth."

Ariel snorted and Rafael just shook his head saying, "Ang, she was totally checking me out."

Angelo grimaced. "You? You're crazy. She barely looked at you, Rafe."

A knock at the door had them all turning to see Diamond walking in. "Time's up boys," she said in a quiet voice with a dulcet smile aimed solely at the band members.

Angelo walked over to Abigail. "You staying awhile?"

"I don't think I should," she answered truthfully. She wanted to though.

Diamond sauntered over to Gabriel. Abigail watched the woman place a red-clawed hand on his chest and caress him possessively. "Of course you shouldn't, honey," Diamond said very sweetly. "I can take you home if you like and you can come back tomorrow. There's really nothing any of us can do here anyway. We'd just be in the hospital staff's way."

Abigail swallowed, watching Diamond stroke Gabriel as if he were a cat.

"I brought her, so I'll take her back." Angelo was saying. "Let's go, Abs. See you around, Lady Di." Angelo tossed over his shoulder as he put his hand at Abigail's back.

Abigail nodded at the buxom blond, who smirked at her. Her face heated up as she saw the female's hand trail slowly down beneath the sheet covering Gabriel's groin.

Something inside Abigail snapped and she suddenly turned, stalking back to the grinning woman.

"What are you doing?" Abigail demanded.

To her satisfaction, Diamond's face turned red, her eyes wide. "What do you mean?"

Abigail looked pointedly at the hand she'd now withdrawn to rest at his bellybutton. Standing with her back ramrod straight, Abigail lifted her nose. "You should be ashamed of yourself. He's unconscious, and in a delicate state. How dare you take advantage of this terrible situation to molest him."

Angelo had come up behind her, placing his hands at Abigail's shoulders. The other two men stood at the foot of the bed, eyes darting from one woman to the other.

Diamond's mouth had dropped open, eyes glaring with pure hatred. "How dare you," she hissed, shaking.

"Now, ladies," Angelo admonished nervously. "Now's not the time for a catfight."

Rafael crossed his arms over his chest with a grin. Ariel rocked nervously side to side on his feet, eyes wide with an expression of dread on his face.

"This woman has no right to speak to me this way," Diamond said in a low but forceful voice, her eyes boring into Angelo's. "Get her out of here. From now on, she's not allowed in this room. She's banned."

Abigail knew she had no say in the matter, but she was shocked when the band members came to her defense.

"You can't do that," Rafael snorted.

Angelo nodded in agreement. "Abs is Gabe's girl. She has every right to be here."

Ariel remained silent, but he was glaring at Diamond and shaking his head.

"Gabriel is my responsibility," Diamond stated, looking at all of them. "You all are. As your manager I need to look out for you."

"That shouldn't include sliding your hand under the sheets to fondle your client while he's unconcious," Abigail said haughtily.

Diamond gasped in outrage. "You're out of you mind. I was only adjusting his sheet."

"You were touching him under the sheet. I saw you. That's just wrong, and disrespectful."

Diamond tipped her nose up. "I'm not going to argue with the likes of you. Kindly leave, or I'll have the guards at the door remove you. Don't bother bringing her back, Ang. I'll be speaking to the hospital staff to have her banned from the premises."

Abigail didn't wait for Angelo to escort her out. She turned angrily on her heel and stalked back out to the corridor.

"Abs, wait up," Angelo called after her.

She was so angry she hadn't realized she had no idea where she was headed.

Angelo and the others caught up to her a few feet from the waiting room. Michael came out, his eyes questioning when he saw her expression.

"You've got to do something about, Diamond," Angelo was telling Michael."

Michael's face became serious. "What happened?"

Abigail turned away, embarrassed about her outburst. These people had been around Gabriel probably for years, including Diamond.

"M-maybe I overstepped my boundaries," she stuttered, embarrassed now. "I'm so sorry for my rant in there."

Rafael snorted. "That's bullshit. You didn't do anything wrong."

Erica wobbled her way into the group on her high-heeled boots.

"What happened?" Michael insisted looking curiously at all of them.

"Diamond felt Gabe up under the sheets and Abs and her had words," Rafael snickered.

Erica gasped, her big eyes bulging even more. "That bitch!"

Angelo added, "and she wants to keep Abigail from seeing Gabriel now."

"Well she is your manager," Abigail conceded hugging herself. The thought of Gabriel finally revealing she was nothing to him terrified her. She'd look like such an idiot to everyone, a fake and a phony.

Michael's lips flattened as he crossed big muscular arms over his brawny chest. "Don't worry about Diamond. She's harmless. I'll talk to her. No one is going to ban you from seeing Gabe."

"I-I don't want to cause any problems," Abigail began.

Michael lifted his huge hands, shaking his head adamantly. "No problem at all. She's our business manager. That's all. This isn't her problem, or her place to say who can or can't see Gabe."

Abigail stared wide-eyed at the big man. He really looked annoyed. It surprised her how readily they backed her up. Had they been this nice to Mikayla too?

*******

Gabriel opened his eyes. He was in a hospital room, his right leg hanging from a contraption rigged at the foot of the bed. The room was dim, but he could see sunlight pouring in through the cracks in the verticals over the large window to his right. He had a dull ache in his head and it hurt a little to breathe.

What the hell happened to him?

He turned his head and frowned in further confusion. Pop Tart. She was sitting in a plush armchair near the bed to his left, asleep.

Honey blond hair was pinned behind her head, but a few strands were loose against her cheeks, looking soft and silky and totally touchable. She wore a long grey dress and a white sweater over it. The glasses perched on her cute, upturned nose hung precariously to the side, and she was emitting the sweetest snores he'd ever heard through plump, parted lips.

Gabriel smirked, before quickly sobering.

What was she doing there and what the fuck happened to him?

His memory was murky. Last thing he remembered getting ready to go to the Montenegro estate up in Laguna Beach.

He lifted his left hand and winced at the dull ache in his chest. His right arm was in a sling across his chest. His fingers gingerly felt the bandage wrapped around his head and dread filled him. Had they shaved off part of his hair? The bulk of the bandage was over his left side of his forehead.

Just before waking he'd been dreaming. He'd been kissing Abigail. Had he kissed Abigail? Did he ever get to the Montenegro estate? He kind of remembered seeing Abigail and his grandmother earlier. Abigail told him he'd given her his phone. The memory was foggy and his head was aching.

A nurse walked in with a cart and smiled brightly at him.

"Hello, Gabriel. I'm Jeanie."

He grunted and watched as she came closer. She retrieved a white, plastic, rectangular bag. "Oops. Time to change this out," she grinned bending over.

He watched in silent horror as she detached a similar bag full of yellow fluid and replaced it with the new empty one.

Gabriel held his breath and lifted the sheet over his lap to stare horrified at the plastic tube impaled into the end of his dick.

"Oh-hell-no. Get that thing out. Please," he croaked.

The nurse pouted. "But you can't get out of bed. It's to help keep you comfortable."

Gabriel dropped the sheet and shook his head. Big mistake. His headache intensified. With a moan, he pointed at her. "Take it out."

Abigail rose, much to his embarrassment and stumbled sleepily to his side as she shoved her glasses up her nose with one finger.

"Gabriel, you're awake," she said with her sweet breathy voice.

"He wants me to take the catheter out," Jeanie told her.

Abigail's eyes went round behind her glasses, and her face flushed beautifully. Gabriel was willing to bet his face was redder than hers, judging from the amount of heat he felt in his own cheeks.

He scowled at the nurse. "I like to see the doctor who's attending me."

The nurse's eyes widened as she nodded. "Yes, sir. I'll see if he's available. Excuse me."

Abigail placed her hand on his left shoulder before sliding it across his chest to the strap of the sling. "Calm down, Gabriel. It's there because you can't get up yet."

Gabriel's entire body ached and he leaned his head back with a groan. Abigail petted him some more. It felt good, so he groaned again so she'd keep it up.

"Oh-God. Are you in pain? There's a button thingy there with morphine. Maybe you should press it."

Gabriel perked up and blinked at her. "Did you say Morphine?"

She bit her lower lip and nodded, picking up the little remote by his left hand to show him.

He wrapped his hand around hers and pressed the button on the remote.

Immediately a warm melting sensation infused his body, pushing the achy pains away.

"Abby," he sighed.

She leaned closer and he fixated on her lips. He wanted to kiss her. Had he kissed her before? Damn memory lapse.

"Tell them to take this thing out of me. Look," he muttered lifting the sheet.

Or at least he tried to. Abigail gripped his hand and shook her head. "That's okay. The nurse will get the doctor and they'll take care of it."

Gabriel grinned, loving how her pupils dilated and her breathing became a little agitated

"Don't you want to take a peek?" he teased.

Her mouth opened and closed as she sputtered. "Oh-no. No, please."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Why not?" he teased. "I just want to show you what they've done to me."

Her grip tightened on his hand, keeping him from peeling back the sheet and exposing himself. "Oh, hon, I can imagine. No need to show me, really."

*******

His pupils grew until they'd swallowed up most of the luminous green of his eyes. Eyes heavy-lidded, he licked his lips, staring at her mouth hungrily.

Abigail felt breathless, like prey trapped by a predator. The sheer power of him drew her closer until she heard someone clearing their throat behind her.

Springing away from Gabriel guiltily, she turned to face the solemn faced doctor and nurse.

Her face flamed as he looked from Abigail's face to her hand holding Gabriel's almost right over his most private of places.

She snatched her hand away and walked to the foot of the bed.

Dr Klein approached. "The nurse tells me you want the catheter removed."

"Yes," Gabriel hissed. "Immediately."

The doctor smiled and nodded. "Very well." He approached and pulled out a penlight to check Gabriel's eyes as the nurse busied herself with the placement of gloves.

Abigail turned abruptly and almost ran out of the room.