Diavolo Ch. 09

Abigail frowned at her mother. "I'm paying for this apartment, not Gabe."

Mikayla began to laugh and then tried to pretend she was trying to control herself. Her eyes gleamed with evil intent though.

"So you're not living with him anymore?" Mikayla asked, eyes gleaming with glee.

Abigail had just about had enough of her.

"Follow me," she said.

Her mother frowned, but Mikayla had a very smug look on her face.

Abigail led them to the bedroom. The king-sized bed was dressed in white; comforters, shams, and sheets. The only touches of color were the three decorative throw pillows in shades of Navy blue and silver.

Mikayla's grin began to wither at the size of the bed, before dropping completely when she saw the guitar case leaning in the far corner of the room.

Abigail rolled one side of the sliding doors to the big closet open, exposing Gabriel's side of the closet, stuffed with his things.

She turned with a grin at her sister. "No walk in, but most of our stuff fits in there."

Her mother snorted. "This is worse than I thought. You've turned into a groupie."

Abigail's jaw dropped at her mother's condescending tone. "He asked me to marry him."

Both women gaped at her. Mikayla gasped, face going so pale, Abigail was afraid she was going to faint.

Next thing she knew, her little sister was digging her nails into her wrist and yanking Abigail's left hand up.

"I don't see a ring there, you liar."

Abigail snatched her hand back, rubbing at the burn from being scratched by Mikayla's claws. "He just asked me a few days ago."

Her mother's gave her a look of pity as Mikayla laughed.

"So! The mighty virgin has finally fallen," Mikayla spat.

Abigail glared at her. "Not that it's any of your business, but I'm still a virgin. We're waiting until after the wedding."

Mikayla's laughter sputtered to a stop, her jaw dropping again.

Marjorie looked around. "I don't understand. Why are you living in such a hovel? And why isn't that man paying your expenses if he's truly your fiancé?"

"I wanted to do this on my own, mother," Abigail replied defensively. "He wanted to buy a house, but I told him I wanted to be on my own a while. Really. We had our first fight about this and everything, but he understood and...Oh, mom. I love him so."

Mikayla scoffed, her eyes shooting sparks. "If it weren't for me, you'd never have met him. You'd never even heard of him or his band before."

"Mikayla," her mother admonished.

Mikayla only spun around and gripped one of the shirts hanging in the closet.

Abigail, jumped with a gasp when her sister tore it off the hanger and pressed it to her face. "He was mine first, damn-it," she muttered with a sniffle.

"Mikayla Maureen Brown! You are marrying Daniel Montenegro—"

"I fucking know! Shut the fuck up about it already," Mikayla screeched.

Abigail cupped her throat, blinking at the both of them.

Her mother was rubbing her temples, as if trying to soothe a migraine, and Mikayla had shoved her face back in her boyfriends shirt.

"Abigail," her mother began after taking a deep breath, "Why don't we go sit in your living room."

"S-sure," Abigail said sliding a glance back to her sister who was emitting a high-pitch sound as she held the Gabe's shirt to her face.

They walked back out into the living room, Mikayla still hanging on to the shirt. They sat on Abby's couch.

"Would you like anything to drink?" she offered, hands flailing nervously.

And why wouldn't she be nervous? Her mother looked at everything with a critical eye. She frowned when she saw Mikayla rubbing the shirt over her face though.

"Give me that, you idiot," Marjorie snapped, tearing Gabe's shirt from Mikayla's clutches.

Her sister's eyes widened and she looked like she was about to protest until her mother held up a finger and hissed "don't."

Mikayla flopped back on the couch, gripping one of the throws to hug, sulking.

Marjorie held out the shirt to Abigail still glaring at Mikayla.

Abby took the shirt and tossed it back in the room.

"Abigail," her mother said clearing her throat, "Mikayla and Daniel's wedding is in exactly four weeks and you still haven't been fitted for your gown."

"My gown?" Abigail parroted.

"Yes, dear," her mother replied, brows arched. "You're the maid of honor. You need to wear a gown."

Abby choked. "Maid of honor?"

Mikayla rolled her eyes, as Marjorie continued. "Of course. You're her sister. Who else would it be? Now, I've made an appointment for you this Saturday at one o'clock. Hope that's not inconvenient for you."

Abigail blinked, her mouth opening and closing. "But, Gabe wanted me to accompany him to the studio—"

"Abigail, this is important," her mother said sternly. Behind her Mikayla was looking at Abigail through mere slits of rage from the moment Abigail had said she'd be accompanying Gabriel to his recording studio. "You can't possibly put your fling with that devil-worshiping savage—"

"Stop calling him that!" Abigail demanded. "He is not a devil worshiper nor a savage!"

The door burst open and Gabriel rushed in, eyes wild, teeth bared, hair sticking up at weird angles as if he'd been plowing his fingers through it.

"What the fuck is going on here?" he bellowed, making Abby cringe.

She jumped in front of him when he stalked closer.

"Gabriel, please," she pleaded putting her palms on his chest to hold him back.

She stared up at him in confusion. In the doorway stood the rest of the guys from the band.

He looked down at her and gripped her arms gently.

"You okay?"

Abby scrunched her nose. "Of course. What's going on?"

He pulled her to him, glaring at her mother and sister. "What do they want?"

Her mother huffed in outrage, muttering under her breath about how rude he was.

"They just came to talk about Mikayla and Daniel's wedding. Mother said I need to go to a fitting this Saturday."

Gabriel's gaze snapped back to her, his lips pressing into a hard line. "Fitting for what?"

"Abigail's going to be my maid-of-honor," Mikayla said tossing her red locks back as she came closer. Her eyes flashed defiantly at Gabriel.

Abby turned, moving so that she stood between the both of them in case Mikayla decided to throw herself at her boyfriend. She turned her head to give Gabriel a worried look over her shoulder though.

He gave Mikayla a cold once over before turning his attention back to Abby. "Seriously? You're going along with this shit, baby?"

Mikayla gasped, probably at Gabriel calling Abby baby.

"Listen here, Mr. R-Raven-or-whatever-your-name-is," her mother said approaching too. "Abigail is still part of our family and will attend this wedding whether you like it or not."

Gabriel chuckled. "Whatever."

His arm encircled Abby's waist as he pulled her back against his chest and kissed her temple affectionately.

"I guess this is a good time to let you all know Daniel asked me to be his best man."

Abby gaped up at him. "He did?"

Gabriel looked down at her, expression shuttered. "Yeah. Told him I'd think about it."

"Mikayla, let's go," Marjorie said grabbing her sister's arm and hauling her toward the front door. "Remember...Saturday," her mother said primly as she stalked past Abby and Gabe. "I'll send Edvard to pick you up."

Gabriel scoffed. "Hell-no. I'll take her, and that's final," he snapped.

Abby watched her mother and sister leave. Mikayla kept her eyes on Gabriel the whole time, not even realizing the guys from the band waved at her as she passed them with a dazed expression.

Once they were gone, Gabriel released her and stalked with a noticeable limp to the counter where she'd left her phone.

Snatching the phone, he stalked back toward her, eyes furious. "Don't ever—" he snapped, shaking the phone mere inches from her nose "run out of here without the fucking phone!"

Abby winced at his tone. He grabbed her hand and shoved the phone into it, turning on his heel abruptly. "Let's get the fuck out of here now."

She watched, jaw gaping as he stalked out again without another word to her.

Michael walked in and gave her a hug.

"Ignore him. He'll calm down before coming back tonight."

Abby just nodded, still in shock.

Angelo shook his head, face scowling after Gabriel, Rafe gave her a weak wave from the doorway, and Ariel a chin tip instead of a wave.

In less than a minute, her house was empty again.

Abby walked numbly to the couch and sat.

What the heck happened? Why had Gabriel yelled at her that way?

How dare he?

She blinked hard at the moisture that blurred her vision, swallowing down the lump in her throat.

This bossy and aggressive side of Gabriel was something she really didn't like. Would he always be this way?

She shook her head. This was not the type of person she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.