Diavolo Ch. 04

Out in the corridor, the two guards that stood sentinel at Gabriel's door barely paid her any mind. She walked to the elevators and went down to the lobby, thinking of getting some air outside, completely forgetting the mob of people stationed in front of the hospital for the past two days since Gabriel's arrival..

A large group of people stood at the front desk talking loudly.

Some of them held cameras and microphones. Abigail's eyes widened and she turned to go back into the elevator, but the doors had already closed.

"Darn," she whispered, casting a wary glance over her shoulder.

One tall, blond woman turned, expression frustrated and angry. Her eyes clashed with Abigail's and narrowed before widening in recognition.

Oh-no.

Abigail turned again and tried to make her way to the stairway, in hopes of escaping the mob of reporters, but the blond woman and a chubby cameraman intercepted her.

"You're the one! You're the girl from the pictures!" the woman exclaimed grinning broadly. Her voice carried over to the front desk, drawing the attention from the others.

Before Abigail knew what was happening, she had a microphone shoved in her face as the woman leaned closer.

"How is Gabriel? Is it true he's paralyzed?"

Abigail opened her mouth in horror. "What? No. He's—"

"Miss, are you his new lover? Are you moving in with him?"

Abigail blinked as more people swarmed her. "I..."

"Are you breaking up with him now that he's a paraplegic?"

"He's not paralyzed," Abigail exclaimed, panic gripping her as they started to push and shove, trying to get closer.

"There she is," someone was shouting. "That bitch. Gabriel is ours."

Abigail's eyes gaped as a hoard of angry looking females with posters claiming love for Gabriel flowed in from outside.

The guards posted at the entrance were trying to get the crowd under control.

Abigail just wanted to escape.

One of the security officers made his way to her and helped move her to a pair of swinging doors near the main desk. Other guards intervened and kept the mob from following them.

From down the corridor, Angelo came running, worry etched on his face.

"What the hell happened? Abs, what are you doing down here?"

Abigail was fanning herself as Angelo steered her away from the doors. "I just wanted some air."

"Oh, hon, why didn't you take the back way, the way we came up?"

Her legs were still trembling as he led her to one of the lounges on the first floor. "I forgot. I'm sorry. I just wanted some air."

Angelo shook his head. "Everybody knows Gabe is here, sweetheart. The price of fame. We gotta sneak in and out now."

Abigail blinked at him. "Yes, I know. I'm sorry." She apologized again. "Th-there are women out there who look like they want to kill me."

Angelo grinned. "We've got a few psychos for fans, Abs. They just think you're some glorified groupie trying to gain all the limelight for yourself. They don't know the truth."

Abigail flinched. The truth? The truth was she was a fake. If it weren't for Anna Maria's insistence she remain close to Gabriel and keep her informed of his progress, she wouldn't even bother to come anymore. Today was the first day in the past two days Gabriel had come awake fully. She'd been hoping he'd forgotten about that diabolical scheme for revenge. She wanted no part of it anymore. This life wasn't for her.

The memory of how he'd almost pulled the sheet down to expose himself had her flushing beet red again. She wasn't used to such behavior. She was just a plain, quiet, boring girl, completely out of her element.

Raking a deep cleansing breath, she squared her shoulders and looked Angelo in his big blue eyes. "Take me home, please."

Angelo's golden brows pinched together. "Eh...it's still early. You sure?"

She nodded. "Yes. Please."

She was quiet all the way back to the house. Angelo had the music on, and the sunroof open. He chatted incessantly until he pulled up in front of the Montenegro house. Abigail reached into her purse and placed Gabriel's phone in the cup holder between the seats before reaching over to hug the drummer. "Goodbye, Ang," she sniffed, and then dashed out of the SUV.

He was persistent. She heard him call out to her, the brake being pulled, and a door opening. Abigail ran as fast as she could right into the house and all the way to her room. Locking the door behind her, she raced to her bathroom and locked herself in there as well.

She didn't know if he followed her inside, but it didn't matter because he wouldn't know where her room was located. She was sure Mikayla would never tell him.

Mikayla. Maybe she'd go to visit Gabriel instead. Abigail frowned. Oh-God! What if Mikayla started up with Gabriel again?

She buried her head in her hands. It wasn't her problem. She was tired of being the one to fix everything. Her mother had gone through her trust fund, leaving Abigail virtually penniless. Luckily, she'd taken a sizable chunk out and put it elsewhere.

Going back to Italy would have to wait. She didn't want to spend every last dime traveling back and forth.

The best thing to do was get herself a small used car, rent a little studio apartment, and try to find a job. More than anything, she wanted as far away from the Montenegro estate and its inhabitants as possible.

Having decided, she rose from the glossy marble floor in the bathroom and peeked out into her room.

Everything was quiet. It was still early so she decided to get a little car first. She'd need transportation in order to find a job and an apartment. Last thing she wanted was her dysfunctional family finding her and bringing their problems to her doorstep again.

Carefully, she tiptoed back out into her room and switched on the little white laptop perched on a small table by the glass doors to the balcony.

*******

Night was falling. Michael had come around to see him, but there was still no sign of Abigail.

"So you really don't remember the accident?"

Gabriel took a deep breath. "Not really. I went to dinner at the Montenegro estate. Paulina threatened me, Micks threatened me, and I got the feeling my half brother was laying it on a bit too sweet. Something about that didn't seem sincere to me."

Michael's golden eyes bore into Gabriel's as he scratched his chin, face grim. "And you said you blackmailed Abigail into pretending to be your girlfriend?"

Gabriel grimaced. "Blackmail is such an ugly word, Mike."

Michael snorted. "But that's what you did. Are you nuts? Why'd you do that?"

Gabriel closed his eyes in frustration. Where was she anyway? Some fake girlfriend he had. "I don't remember."

Michael snorted again. "How convenient. That poor girl's been here by your side for the past two days religiously. I'm the one who picked her up this morning. If I'd have known you were using her—"

"I'm not using her," Gabriel snapped and the regretted it when his head began pounding.

He reached for his morphine remote, but Michael yanked it out of his reach.

Gabriel glared at him.

"It's not like you to mess with a nice girl, Gabe."

"Geez, Mike, I'm not messing with her. I just want to get to the bottom of this mess with my parents."

"A lot of good it'll do you if your six feet under."

Gabriel's eyes narrowed at him. "You think one of them tried to kill me?"

"You drive like a demon sometimes, but you're good at it. How many times have you taken that curve by El Moro?" Michael shook his head slowly, eyes blazing. "Try to remember that night, man. I really think someone else was involved in that accident."

Gabriel looked at his suspended leg, tapping the clip on his index finger against the metal railing to his bed. He only remembered pieces of that night, getting ready, riding there, dinner, the expensive wine and then the meeting with Paulina and Daniel. He remembered Mikayla telling him he was going to be sorry, and...that's it."

"Give me your phone a sec."

Michael frowned but handed over his phone anyway.

Gabriel pulled up the messages and tapped: Pop tart where r u?

He clicked send to his personal number and then stared at the phone waiting.

"Did you lose your phone in the accident?"

Gabriel shook his head and was about to answer when Michael's phone dinged.

Gabe:

On my way snookums.

Michael was peering over his shoulder and chuckled. "Snookums?"

Gabriel also frowned at the nickname, but tapped: Baby why'd you leave?

He stared at the phone for three minutes until Michael sighed. "I gotta go before Erica freaks on me. She hates being alone and I gotta score points before the next round of touring."

Gabriel grimaced, wondering how long it would take for him to recuperate from a broken leg.

The door to the room hissed open an his heart began to pound in anticipation.

"Snookums, I'm here," Angelo announced opening his arms wide as he approached Gabriel with his lips puckered for a kiss.

"Fuck," Gabriel grumbled tossing Michael, who was laughing, back his phone. "Why the hell do you have my phone, Fucktard?"

Angelo smirked and dropped Gabriel's Galaxy on the bed by Gabriel's left hand. "Abs put it in the cup holder before she hightailed it into the house."

"Why'd she do that?"

Angelo shrugged. "I don't know, man. I think she got really spooked by all the press and groupies outside."

"Give her some time, she'll calm down," Michael reassured. "I'll go get her tomorrow for you."

Gabriel wasn't satisfied with that. "Why didn't you insist she stay with the phone? Now how am I going to contact her?" The thought that she might decide to up and leave had him feeling frustrated and anxious, especially since there was nothing he could do.

"I tried to follow her inside," Angelo explained, "but that girl can run fast, and I'm not a runner, I'm a drummer. Besides, that Paulina woman came out and threatened to call the cops on me. She fucking told the chauffer to toss me out. Fucking Edvard, man. You believe that? That asshole listens to rap music." Angelo's face twisted into a moue of disgust.

A light rap on the door and a nurse peered around the curtain.

"Visiting time over, boys."

A sense of loss filled Gabriel. He was tuck in the hospital until God knew when and had no way of getting in touch with Abigail. It was late and he didn't want to disturb his grandmother. Now he'd be completely alone until the next day. He felt helpless.

Michael patted his shoulder. "You get Skype on that thing?"

Gabriel nodded.

"Talk later then," Michael said.

Angelo leaned close, lips pursed for a kiss.

Gabriel cringed in the bed, glaring at the crazy drummer. "Get the fuck outta here before I hit you in the face with my bedpan."

Angelo straightened, trying to keep a straight face. "No love, geez!"

Gabriel shook his head with a disbelieving smirk as Ang winked and turned to leave.

"Nighty-night, Snookums."