Diavolo Ch. 15

Everything was going to shit. Gabriel sat at the back of the tour bus staring like an idiot at his phone's screen.

The band was in Florida...somewhere. He wasn't sure. He didn't give a fuck. Abby had chosen to stay back in California because her sister had had a mysterious accident a few days before the tour started. Come to think of it, it was just a day after that lamp almost crushed the life out of his wife. The only reason he was somewhat calm was because Diamond had left her goons looking after her.

Despite Diamond's past track record, he was sure she only wanted what was best for him and the band. She was even being much nicer to Abby, which he greatly appreciated. Diamond had been around long enough to see them through some tough times and if it weren't for her, they might not have gotten as far as they had. She was the one with all the important contacts. Shit was happening and it was happening fast now because of her.

Still...

He hated being far from Abby, especially now. Something happened that night when she spoke to her sister. Abby just wasn't the same anymore. She felt distant. That love he'd seen shining in her eyes had somehow dimmed.

"Fuck," he hissed running his hand through his hair.

"Hey, leave your hair alone," Diamond protested. "It took me a long time to get it perfectly undone."

Gabriel looked up at her.

Her smile wavered and she got up and sat across from him. "What's with you? You've been broodier than Ariel. That's not like you."

Gabriel thought a moment, staring at her look of concern. "I think...Abby might be having second thoughts about having married me."

Diamond blinked and sat back in her seat, hands folded over each other. "She was going to be a nun, Gabe. What'd you expect?"

Frustration gripped him hard. That's not exactly what he'd wanted to hear, but maybe she had a point.

"Most people in this business have to sacrifice a lot. Having a normal family life is sometimes one of those things, Gabe." Diamond said sympathetically.

His heart was breaking in a million pieces right about now, but he swallowed down the hurt and continued to listen to her.

"We all have to make choices. You offered her the life of a rock star's wife, that includes accepting that you're a public figure and most times belong to your fans. Unless you want to give all that up..."

Diamond trailed off, her eyes piercing, studying him intently.

Leave it all? His life-long dream? He didn't need to worry about money anymore with his inheritance, but being on stage and making music...it was who he was, since forever.

He leaned back and let out a heavy sigh.

Diamond came forward, knelt between his knees, and gripped his hands.

"It'll all work out, Gabe. It's all so new to her. Just give it time. Trust me, baby."

He frowned, thinking hard. Would Abby get used to it all? Was he asking for too much?

Diamond laid her forehead against his abdomen and he absentmindedly stroked her long platinum blond hair.

"Anyone who's your wife needs to know and understand all that, Gabe. You shouldn't have to sacrifice who you are to make someone else happy. You'll only end up being miserable in the end and that'll poison the relationship regardless."

Gabriel looked down at her.

Could he give it all up for Abby and still be happy? Would he become bitter like Diamond said?

She looked up at him and smiled. He touched the tip of her pert nose, grateful for the pep talk. She rose up against him, her arms going around his neck. He circled his arms around her waist, grateful for the hug, but then she turned her face and found his mouth and he froze.

He gripped her arms to pull her away, but she climbed into his lap, straddling him, tongue almost down his throat.

Finally, he managed to turn his head away. "Diamond, what the hell?"

"I love you Gabriel. I don't care how long I need to wait. If things don't work out between you and Abby, please—"

"Diamond, stop." He rose out of his seat, dumping her on her ass at his feet.

She clutched his hips and ran one hand under his leather vest. He hadn't finished buttoning up his jeans so the kiss she planted on his abs left red lipstick marks on his skin. He could just imagine the mess she'd made of his mouth.

He sank his fingers into her hair to push her away from him and opened his mouth to demand she stop mauling him, but...

The sound of metallic snicking caught his attention and he looked up in horror to see some girl snapping away pictures from the front of the tour bus.

"Shit," Gabriel yelled moving away from Diamond to shut the door between the front and rear of the bus.

Diamond rose from the floor.

"What the hell is going on?" he shouted at her. "Why is there a pap in here?"

Diamond frowned and stalked forward, reaching for the door. "I don't know. I'll get rid of her."

Gabriel stared, incensed as she walked out, and ordered the girl to leave.

He grabbed a beer bottle, Ariel had left behind and threw it at the window in fury.

*******

Abigail had had just about enough of Mikayla. She'd abandoned her husband to stay with her sister. And for the past week it had been the same.

"You're a murderer," Mikayla sobbed.

"Stop it," Abby demanded. "I told you. I left here, went back home and then I headed to where Gabe and the band were practicing. I did not push you down the front steps."

"You did it on purpose," Mikayla wailed.

Abby's head throbbed. She wanted to leave, but Mikayla was so unstable she was afraid she'd do something stupid.

"I did no such thing, Mikayla. I think we should call the police if you're so sure someone pushed you."

Mikayla snorted. "With all the scandal surrounding our family thanks to you, that's the last thing I need right now."

Abby frowned. Her aunt and mother had been gone over a month now, as well as Daniel. She looked at her little sister who'd laid back amongst the pillows, dabbing at her redden nose, staring out the wide windows by the bed.

Mikayla led a solitary life now that she was married. Suddenly Abby felt sorry for her. Had she always been this alone?

Abby drew closer and sat on the bed as Mikayla glared at her, eyes accusing and a bit fearful.

"Mikayla, I would never hurt you, " Abby said in a soft tone. "No matter everything that's happened, you're still my baby sister. We've let too many things come between us. Please. Can't we just be sisters again?"

Mikayla's lip quivered. "You were always the one they were so proud of. The smart one. No one ever gave a shit about me."

Abby shook her head, but she still remembering all the recitals held at the house for her piano playing and how the few times she came home from abroad, her aunt would hold large parties to welcome her back.

Had Mikayla acted out because she wanted attention? Had she become wild seeking affection?

"Oh, Mickey," she choked out, trying her best to smile through her tears. "You have so much talent yourself. You always were the life of the party. Everyone always gravitates to you."

Mikayla turned away. "That's because I'm prettier than you. At least I have that."

Abby bit her lip and nodded. "Yeah. You are prettier." It was true. "Mickey, can't we be close again?"

Mikayla scoffed and chewed on the corner of her lip. "How? How can I get close to the woman that has the man I love?"

Abby stood abruptly. She loved her sister, but Gabriel was off the negotiation table. "Mikayla, I love him. He's my husband." Her sister sneered at her, but Abby pressed on. "I thought I loved Daniel. He's a good man, but his heart wasn't mine. I don't blame you for anything. No one steals anyone away from a person. If you love no one can steal you away from your intended. That's why I can't be angry at you for Daniel. And you shouldn't be angry at me for Gabriel."

Mikayla covered her ears. "No. I don't want to listen anymore."

Abby gripped her hands and sat back down. "I only wanted to protect you and Daniel."

"No you didn't," her sister spat. "You only cared about Daniel's feelings."

Maybe.

"I knew he'd be good for you. You said you loved him, and I know he's good—"

Mikayla tore her hands out from Abby's grip. "He's fucking boring."

Mikayla, please. People aren't toys we can play with and then discard when we grow tired of them. You've barely been married over two months. There's an adjustment period."

She smirked. "Is that why you're here with me instead of with your own husband?"

Abby blinked. "I chose to stay with you because you needed me more. Gabriel understands that."

"Yeah, because you pushed me down the stairs so I could lose my baby. The baby Gabriel planted in my belly," Mikayla yelled in her face.

"You...low-life tramp," a woman's voice hissed from the doorway.

Both Abby and Mikayla stared at their aunt in horror.

Paulina Montenegro stalked closer.

Mikayla gripped Abby and Abby could do nothing more than hold her, desperately trying to shield her from her aunt's murderous glare.

"Harlots. The both of you," she spat.

"Paulina, please," their mother pleaded behind her.

"Please? I want them out of here. Now."

Abby felt Mikayla's shocked eyes on her.

Disengaging herself form Mik's clutching grip she stood and faced her enraged aunt. "What about Daniel?"

Her aunt's furious black gaze swung to her. "You knew about all this?"

Abby opened her mouth but her mother blurted, "I sent Abby to intervene and keep that devil away from Mikayla."

Auntie Paulina stared wide-eyed at Marjorie, before bursting out in gales of hysterical laughter.

She looked at Abigail. "You poor pathetic fool. You seduced that bastard away from Mikayla to spare my son the same humiliation he bestowed on you?" her aunt cackled some more. "You, my dear, are truly worthy of canonization." Her cold, hard gaze fell upon Mikayla. "As for you, either you become the perfect wife for my son, or, so help me, I will make you and your family rue the day you came into existence. While my son isn't here, though, I want all of you out. Get out. I don't want to see any of your faces. I'll put up with the pretense while my dear boy is here, but while he's gone, I won't have any of you near me. Except for you," she pointed at Abigail. "You should have been the one to marry Daniel, not this little tramp."

With that, she spun on her heel and stalked out of the room, Marjorie rushing after her begging not to be cast out.

Abigail rubbed her temples. She felt like her head was about to explode.

"It'll be fine. You'll just come home with me."

Mikayla looked at her. "Really?'

Abigail nodded. "Of course. I'm not going to leave you and my mother out in the street."

Mikayla blinked. "What about Gabe?"

Abby stared at her sister. Mikayla's face was blank, her green eyes staring expectantly up at her.

"Gabe won't say anything," she said in a rush. No. He'd probably raise Hell just a little.

Mikayla looked around before finally throwing the bed covers off, and standing up. "I'm going to take a shower and change."

Abby stared in wonder at how calm Mikayla was. Her mother on the other hand ran back in and fell I a weeping heap at Abby's feet.

"I'm destitute, Abby. Oh, look what you girls have done to me."

Abby knelt on the rug with her mother and rocked her gently. "You are not destitute. You're coming to live with me and Gabriel."

Her mother turned red-rimmed eyes to her. "Well, you do live in a nice area." She swallowed with a frown. "I won't be seeing any wild orgy parties or drugged out Satanists, will I?"

Abigail scowled at her. "No! Of course not! How could you think I'd allow something like that in my house?"

*******

Gabriel was freaking out...and it was show time.

Some of the fans had hung outside to catch a glimpse of him and the nearly left him deaf screaming his name as he went from the tour bus into the venue where they played that night.

"Where's Diamond?" he asked Ariel as he caught up to the tall bass player backstage.

"I saw her talking to security about two minutes ago. What's going on?"

It was the most he'd heard the bass player say ever. Right now, Ariel was looking at him as if he'd lost his mind.

Gabriel raked his hands through his hair again. He didn't care. He needed to get back to California tonight and talk to Abby before those pictures started circulating. Hell. They were probably circulating the entire internet by now.

"Oh, God," he groaned covering his face.

"Hey, man, what's wrong? You're scaring me here," Ariel said gripping his arm.

Mike ran up next to them. "I got the camera from that chick."

Gabriel threw his arms around his guitarist. "Oh, God, I love you."

Mike chuckled. "Easy. People are going to think we got something going here."

Gabriel grinned. "I could fucking kiss you, Dog-breath."

Ariel took a step back away from them, eyes wide.

Mike just laughed. "I'll let you suck my dick later. We need to get on stage now."

Gabriel threw his head back and laughed. "Let's go then."

The sound of the people as they announced Diavolo was deafening. Adrenaline coursed through his whole body. After the near disastrous moment of that woman taking some pretty compromising pictures of him and Diamond, knowing that Mike had confiscated her camera let him absorb this moment in near ecstasy. There was going to be legal repercussions later, but he'd just pay the chick whatever ridiculous amount she wanted. That camera was going to be destroyed ASAP regardless

Angelo pounded a steady beat on his drums while Mike and Rafe belted out a hair-raising riff with Ariel's bass rocking a mean groove through it all. Gabriel grinned just before racing out on stage, throwing his head back and letting out a wild yell, "Who wants to fucking party?"

The crowd went insane, and Gabriel just absorbed it all. It fed him. Filled his entire being. It was only when he looked off to the side and instead of meeting his Abby's baby-blue eyes, he met Diamond's steady adoring gaze.

Gabriel turned away and leapt onto a tower of speakers.

She should have been there with him. It was the first time they were touring the States and she was with her family instead of with him.

He shoved the resentful feelings aside and finished his song by leaping of the speakers onto the stage again. Fire erupted, not only from the pyrotechnics rigged around the edge of the stage, but in his leg as well.

Shit. He needed to be careful. He wasn't totally healed.

He managed to get through the rest of the performance resisting the urge to limp.

As soon as the show ended, and the lights went out, he ambled backstage.

The audience was still going ballistic demanding an encore.

Mike noticed first something was wrong.

"You okay?"

Gabriel shook his head and leaned against the wall. He couldn't take one more step.

"My leg."

Mike nodded. "I knew you'd overdone it when you jumped from those speakers."

"I did it during rehearsals, I never had problems until tonight."

"What's wrong?" Diamond demanded coming over.

"He's done," Mike said.

Outside the crowd was stomping and clapping, shouting the band's name over and over.

"What's up? Are we going out again or not?" Angelo said jumping up and down next to them.

Gabriel looked at him and nodded. "You ready to sing that song you wrote?"

Angelo's eyes went round. "But we didn't practice it."

"You got this, Ang," Gabe assured. Looking at Michael, "You do the drums, give me your axe."

Mike grinned and nodded.

"Let's do this."

*******

Abby let the phone ring until it fell into voicemail again. "I hope all is well with you and the boys, Gabe. You said to call you after midnight. It's two in the morning. I guess you're really tired by now. I'm going to go to bed, but I'll have the phone on the nightstand in case you call." She held her breath, blinking her eyes before saying, "I love you, Gabriel."

It wasn't a matter of whether or not he'd be upset she'd brought her mother and sister to live with them, it was how upset was he going to be? There was nothing she could do. She couldn't leave her family out in the street. As for Aunt Paulina, she understood why the woman would be livid. Daniel was her only son after all.

The next day, she awakened and immediately reached for her phone. No call or text from Gabriel.

That worried her. It wasn't like him to not contact her. She called again and after ringing for a long while, it fell into voice mail. Instead of leaving a message, she clicked it off and called Mike instead.

To her surprise it also fell into voice mail. Calling Angelo, Rafael, and Ariel rendered the same results. Not knowing what else to do, she called Diamond. There was no answer either.

Fear made her sit up quickly and run to her laptop. She logged into the internet and the first thing she saw on her Yahoo home page was the headliner: Diavolo members in jail.

"Oh no!"

Scanning quickly the name of the county and state they were in, she dressed quickly, brushed her teeth and ran out the front door. She didn't get far, though. One of the body guards that watched over her came running out of the house after her.

"Ma'am, where are you going?"

"I need to get to Fort Lauderdale."

He held up a hand. "Hold up a minute. We'll get you there."

Abby waited impatiently as the guard spoke over his phone. A few seconds later the other body came out adjusting his suit jacket. The man looked as if he'd just gotten out of bed. "Let's go, he said gruffly."

Abby felt a twinge of guilt, but not enough to call off the trip across the continental US in aide of her husband.

Questions assailed her as she read on her phone the reasons for the incarceration. Assault.

Some woman was claiming the band members assaulted her.

"That's rubbish," Abby growled shaking her head. None of the boys would assault a woman, especially her Gabriel."

*******

It took six hours, two different stops to fuel the private jet Gabriel had on standby for her to finally arrive at Fort Lauderdale. Her body guards got her to the police station only to learn the band had already been released just moments before.

She let her guards escort her back out to the rented SUV.

"Where to now, Ma'am."

Abby shook her head and opened her mouth to answer. The phone in her purse began to ring.

Desperate, she clawed through her things to find it and almost sobbed for joy when she saw it was Gabriel calling her.

"Hello?" she said breathlessly.

"Baby?"

"Oh, Gabriel. Where are you?"

"I'm at the hotel. We're getting ready to leave."

"What happned?"

There was silence for a while before he murmured, "so you heard?"

She clutched the phone tightly and tried to control the hysteria in her tone. "What happened?"

She heard him take a deep breath before exhaling loudly. "Where are you?"

In front of the Fort Lauderdale police department."

He cursed softly. "Put one of your body guards on."

Confused, she slipped her phone to Bill, who was sitting in the passenger's seat in the front.

Bill listened a moment, nodded and said, "yes, sir."

He handed the phone back to Abby without another word.

"Gabriel? What's going on?"

"They're taking you back home. Tomorrow we have the day off. The band is flying to Houston, I'm going back home for the night. We need to talk."

Her stomach bottomed out.

"Gabriel, you're scaring me."

"Baby trust me, please. It's all I can say for now. We'll talk tonight alright. I've got stuff I need to do before I leave here."

"Well, why don't we just leave together? I can go wherever you—"

He cut her off. "No. I don't want the media swarming you as well. So far their attention is only on the band. I need you to get back home and keep a low profile. So far they haven't figured out where we live yet. Just go home and I'll be there a little after you."