Desiree's Star

I finally decided how I wanted to finish this story, and there are still a few chapters to come. I hope you enjoy them.

~Hotsprings

~*~

Chapter 8

Desiree's eyes snapped open as she bolted upright. She tired to see through the night but her eyes were met by nothing but blackness. Her heart hammered in her chest as she desperately felt under her pillow for Gabriel's note. A bead of sweat made its way down the small of her back as she could feel herself starting to hyperventilate. She tried to calm herself by taking a few deep breaths but that seemed to only add to her building hysteria.

Desiree shifted in the bed and tried to make out the shape of the body next to her but couldn't. Cautiously she extended a hand expecting it to eventually touch something other than her sheets. When it didn't, she wasn't sure if she should be happy or alarmed. Slowly she reached for her lamp and flooded her room with light. She shielded her eyes for a second trying to get used to the light. When she could finally see, Desiree scanned her room for signs of someone else.

There was no one in the bed next to her, there were no men's jeans on the floor, there were no socks or shirts. There was nothing that indicated who had just been in her bed. Desiree sat with her back pressed against the headboard and arms folded across her chest. She ran a trembling hand through her hair trying to convince herself that it was all a dream. But which part? The soreness between her legs told her that something had happened, but what?

The sound of her door creaking open interrupted her thoughts.

"What?" Gabriel said as he shut the door behind him. "You look like you've just seen a ghost." Denver let out a relieved sigh.

"Where did you go? I woke up and you weren't here..." Gabriel smiled.

"You missed me already?"

"No," she said with an attitude. "I just had this dream that's all." Desiree waited a couple beats before asking, "At some point you didn't leave me a note did you?"

Gabriel raised his eyebrows as he made his way to the bed. "Would you humor me please," she asked as she watched him lay down beside her.

"No, I didn't leave you a note. I left you alone for like two seconds while I went to the bathroom."

"So that was the only time you left me?"

"Yea," he said with a confused grin. "What's wrong?" Gabriel pulled Desiree to him and wrapped her in his strong embrace.

"I had a dream that you left..." Gabriel kissed the top of her head.

"I'm not goin' anywhere."

Desiree smiled and snuggled into his chest hoping he meant what he said. She closed her eyes relieved that her dream was just that -- a dream. But it seemed even creepier that she had sex with her brother in her head...what did that mean?

~*~

When Desiree woke the next morning, she expected to be alone and she was, and she was also relieved to see that there was no note. She grabbed her clothes and padded barefoot down the hall to the bathroom hoping it was emptry so she could take her shower. She lucked out and it was. Desiree could feel the nervousness building as she quickly washed. She couldn't wait to get downstairs and find Gabriel.

Like any girl with the prospect of having a new boyfriend, her mind went wild with scenarios. She could see them walking hand in hand down the street, watching the sunset on the beach - without Amanda interrupting this time. She pictured them laughing and going to parties, celebrating their anniversary over a candle lit dinner. Her imagination was running away from her, and she didn't catch up to it until she heard three sharp raps on the bathroom door.

"You gonna be in there all day?"

Desiree huffed, rinsed off one last time and stepped out of the shower. She pulled on her clothes as she yelled at her brother to stop knocking on the door.

"Don't you have an apartment?" she yelled through the door.

"No hot water," her brother shouted back.

"I'll be out in a minute!" Scott continued to pound on the door testing Desiree's patience, but at the moment, she was looking forward to seeing Gabriel. She smiled because two weeks ago, she would have killed herself for having that thought. Desiree opened the bathroom door with a smile on her face.

"What's gotten into you?"

Desiree smiled and kept walking. She wasn't giving up details that easily.

Desiree bounced down the stairs trying to hide some of the excitement that was threatening to bubble out of her. She landed at the foot of the stairs and scanned the living room. She'd half expected Gabe to be lounging on the couch watching TV trying to pretend like nothing happened. Desiree continued into the kitchen convinced he'd be standing in front of the fridge stuffing his face. Her heart sank when he wasn't.

She stood in the center of the kitchen, her smile gone, thinking that he had to still be somewhere, and he wouldn't just leave her like that. Desiree walked to the front door and glanced out the window just knowing she'd see his truck still parked on the street. She counted the cars twice thinking that even Gabriel couldn't be this cruel. Desiree turned back to the living room feeling deflated and dejected. She hadn't even realized her legs had carried her back up the stairs until she bumped into her brother coming out of the bathroom.

Scott stood in the hallway holding his towel securely around his waist as his still dripping body made small dark circles in the carpet. The smell of his skin toyed with her senses as Desiree stood staring at her brother. Visions from last nights dream came flooding back and she wondered if he looked as good under that towel as he had in her dream. Desiree dragged her eyes from her brother's wet chest and met his gaze as he stood staring back at her.

"What?" he asked looking slightly alarmed. He didn't like the way his sister was looking at him, it was making him uncomfortable.

"Nothing," Desiree said physically trying to shake the images from her head.

"Well then move so I can get to my room." Desiree continued down the hall to her room. She shut her door and pressed her forehead against the cool wood. When she heard the sound of her brother's bedroom door closing, she forced herself to sit down. Desiree threw herself back onto her bed and the scent of her and Gabriel's arousal pushed all thoughts of Scott from her head. She remembered with vivid detail the events of last night. He'd been gentle yet forceful and insistent at the same time. Desiree's fist clenched around her sheets as the familiar flutter in her stomach started. She thought about how he looked, how he acted, and as quickly as the butterflies began to flap their wings, they ceased.

She tried to calm herself saying that there was no reason to get upset, but she wasn't so upset so much as disappointed. She was hoping that today would be the start of something different. But there could be a million reasons why he left without saying anything -- she was acting ridiculous. She got up and ripped the sheets off her bed. She couldn't sit around all day moping, she had things to do.

~*~*~

Desiree had been keeping herself occupied for four days now, trying not to think about Gabriel, when her phone chimed. After day five she stopped compulsively glancing at it to see if she had any missed calls, so it almost came as a surprise that it was chirping now.

She flipped her phone open and pressed the green button asking her if she wanted to read the text message. Her heart jumped in her throat when she saw it was from Gabe.

"Hey sry I dnt call. Been real busy. Talk to you later."

Been real busy? Talk to you later? Desiree stood in her bedroom staring at her phone trying to comprehend what this text message actually meant. She took a breath trying to determine if she was overreacting. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and she was pretty sure she was seeing red.

She sat down on her bed, trying not to think about how awful she felt. Gabriel had taken her virginity in this very room with her family sleeping down the hall, and this was the first thing he said to her in days. Was he kidding? Then it hit her. He wasn't kidding, he was completely serious. Suddenly she was wondering if this was how he got rid of all his other sexual conquests and immediately she got madder. He had said everything she wanted to hear, and it worked, because he fucked her.

Tears of anger were blurring her vision as she willed herself not to cry. This was just a lesson to be learned right? She angrily swiped the tears from her eyes threw her phone across the room. Things wouldn't change, and it was stupid to think they would. Gabriel was always a horndog and poor virgin Desiree couldn't change that.

Desiree left her room and marched down the stairs to the kitchen heading straight for the freezer. Ice cream would hit the spot right about now. Desiree said nothing to her mother as she stood at the sink washing dishes. She watched her work and wondered if she ever had these problems with her father. Her father seemed stubborn and hardheaded, but not when it came to the family. Most feared him, but those close to him knew he was a push over. Especially for his wife.

"Just give it time Desiree." Her mother said never looking up from the sink.

Desiree stopped the spoon midair.

"What?"

"He'll come around."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Desiree said stiffening.

"Only a man has the ability to drive a woman this crazy. You've been moping around for weeks now, and you've finally escalated to ice cream, so I'm guessing it must be serious."

"How do you know it's a man?" Desiree tried a stab at comic relief. She knew pretending that it could possibly be a woman would make her upset. Her sister was a lesbian and it drover her mother nuts.

"Gabriel is just as stubborn as you are. He'll come around."

Am I really that transparent? Desiree thought. "What if I don't care?" she said raising her chin in defiance her mother couldn't see because she was still focused on the dishes.

"Then put the ice cream away and start acting like it." Desiree stared down at the half-gallon carton of ice cream sitting on the table. She didn't realize how much of it she'd all ready eaten. She put the top back on the ice cream and put it in the freezer. She walked out of the kitchen wondering how her mother always knew what was going on. Despite the 'he'll come around' part, she had pretty much hit the nail on the head.

Desiree went back to her room to change. It was Friday and it was movie night with Scott. She wasn't too upset that she was spending all her free time with her brother. When she went back to school, things would return to normal.

~*~*~

Tonight was the first time Desiree had been in her brother's apartment since his breakup with Candy, and it looked completely different. Gone was everything pink and all the throw pillows and stuffed animals. She looked around and was happy to see that her brother's apartment was officially a bachelor pad again.

She set the movies down on the kitchen table and walked to the fridge to grab them both a beer. She sat down on the couch and waited for him to come out the bedroom. She aimlessly flipped through the channels looking for nothing in particular.

"Will you do me a favor?" he asked as he emerged from the bedroom.

"Depends what it is," Desiree replied without taking her eyes off the TV.

"You'll have to get dressed up."

"Not interested."

"It's for charity," he said standing in front of the television. When she didn't say anything, he kept talking. "It's a charity dinner at the end of the month, and I was supposed to go with Candy and now I don't have a date. Please...." He said trying to give her his puppy dog eyes.

"You're paying for my dress. And my shoes." He stood staring at his sister trying to determine how much he wanted her to go.

"Fine."

Desiree held her hand out waiting for him to hand her a credit card. "Try not to break me okay?" Desiree smiled and put the card in her pocket. Her brother stood in front of her looking like there was something else he wanted to say.

"What?" she asked. She had a feeling it was about Gabe, but her brother said nothing and sat down. All this time that Gabriel wasn't talking to Desiree, he still hung out with her brother. Until one of them chose to talk Scott about what was going on between them, he pretended like it was business as usual. Desiree refused to ask about Gabriel, because she didn't want her brother to know just how much Gabriel had gotten to her.

They both settled into their positions on the couch and Desiree handed her brother his beer.

"You okay?" he asked as he popped open his beer.

"Yep." Desiree kept flipping through the channels. She was happy when he let the subject drop. They settled into a comfortable silence as they settled on a movie on TV.

Her brother was first to drift off to sleep around 11:04, and Desiree was thinking of doing the same when she heard the doorknob jingle. She was about to wake her brother, but she had a good guess as to who it was.

Desiree sat staring at the door and watched as Gabriel walked in and went straight to the fridge. She watched his back with her heart hammering in her chest. If she hurried, she could make it out the door before he turned around. If she was fast enough, she could get down the hall and to the stairs before he had a real chance to come after her. Then she scolded herself for thinking he would follow.

She stood from the couch as quietly as she could, grabbed her bag and took a step towards the door. She probably would have made it if she hadn't stubbed her toe on the coffee table. Her brother snorted and resumed sleeping, but Gabriel turned toward the noise. He looked like a deer caught in headlights.

Desiree watched as he stood in front of the refrigerator beer in hand. She could feel the anger starting to boil up inside her just like every time she thought about him. She tried to breath through it, but all she wanted to do was hit him. They stared at each other for a few awkward moments until the rage inside Desiree forced her feet to move toward the door.

As if breaking some spell, Gabriel moved too, walking after her. Desiree made it out the door and down the hall. She was almost at the stairs when she heard Gabriel call her name. Hot tears of humiliation began to blur her vision as she tried to move faster. She was furious with herself for reacting like this. She'd hoped she could have kept it together long enough to get away from him, but it didn't work. She was almost at the stairs when she felt Gabriel's steely grip on her arm.

"Wait." He said not really sounding like he wanted her to.

"Let me go," she said through clenched teeth as she tried of wriggle from his grasp.

"I wanna talk to you, Dessie."

"Now you wanna talk? Now? What makes you think I wanna talk to you?" Desiree was still trying to get away from him when he pushed her back up against the wall and pinned her with his body. She couldn't meet his gaze because she didn't want him to see the tears, so she looked at the floor.

"I've been real busy at work and with family and stuff. Didn't you get my text message?"

"Your text message?!" she said her head snapping up to lock onto his gaze. "Your fucking text message? Yea I got it. You fuck me and all I get is a text message. Next time spare me."

"So, there's gonna be a next time?" he asked, the corners of his mouth turning upward.

"Eat shit," Desiree grunted.

Desiree watched as the lines around his eyes creased and his mouth formed a tight straight line. He looked older, and tired. He had a five o'clock shadow and his dress shirt was wrinkled and rolled up at the sleeves. He must have just come from work...or another woman's house.

"C'mon, let me explain."

Desiree shook her head "You don't have to explain anything to me, I'm not you're girl." Desiree tried to inch past Gabriel, but he moved to block her path.

"Don't be mad at me, Dessie," he said changing tactics. He slowly and seductively ran his fingers along the side of her arm trying to make her forget why she was mad at him. "Please," he said in a hushed voice as he moved his face toward hers breathing in the scent of her shampoo. "lets go somewhere and talk."

"No." Desiree said it with a resounding confidence she didn't feel. Her knees were turning to Jell-O and it felt like the bottom in her stomach dropped out. She felt ashamed at how easily he could get a rise out of her, and she wondered if she would ever be normal again.

"You don't mean it," Gabriel said looking her in the eye. She wondered if he could tell she really didn't.

"You-" but Desiree didn't get to finish. Gabriel pressed his mouth to hers, silencing any protest she was about to voice. Taken by surprise, she was amazed at how eagerly he was assaulting her lips. She willed herself not to respond. If she didn't respond, he would stop, but her body wasn't listening to her brain. The screaming voice in her head that was telling her to get away from him was slowly being silenced by the invasion of his tongue. Instead of it telling her to kick him in the shin, it was telling her what a great kisser he was.

She could feel the heat rising in her body as he plunged his tongue deeper into her mouth and pressed his body up against hers. His hands moved to the side of her face and his fingers lightly traced the line of her chin. She was kissing him back now and despite herself her hands moved to his waist to pull him closer. She could feel his hips crushing into her and he began to grind his growing erection into her stomach letting her know exactly what he was feeling.

Guttural moans escaped Desiree's throat as Gabriel kissed his way down the side of her face and sucked on her neck. Her breath came faster as he lightly licked the edge of her ear. Her hips were moving of their own accord now, trying to feel every inch of him through her clothes. The voice in her head had been silenced long ago by the steady booming of her heartbeat pulsing in her ears.

As her toes bunched in her shoes, Gabriel could feel the struggle leaving her body. Quickly he moved his hands from her face to her hips. In one swift movement, he grasped two handfuls of her ass cheeks and lifted her off the ground. He guided her legs around his waist so he could crudely grind his cock into the pussy he knew was waiting for him.

Desiree's arms snaked around his neck as he sought her lips and pulled her trembling bottom lip into his mouth. Gabriel could feel Desiree's very hard and very erect nipples pressing into his chest, and his mouth watered at the memory of tasting her sweet flesh.

The spellbound couple nearly jumped out of the skin when the phone attached to Gabriel's hip chimed. For a second, their gazes locked, and Desiree watched his eyes. The desire that was there a moment ago was replaced with dread. In that moment, she wished she could help him. In his eyes, he looked so lost, so alone.

Sensing that the moment was gone, the pair untangled their limbs as the phone chirped again. The friction of their bodies rubbing together as Desiree slid back to the floor seemed so out of place now. It was no longer passionate. It seemed to reverberate what the voice in Desiree's head was allowed to say again. They shouldn't be together. This shouldn't be happening.

Desiree watched as Gabriel unclipped the phone from his hip. He turned his back when he answered the phone and she watched as the muscles in his neck tensed. She felt the need to comfort him and was about to wrap her arms around him when she heard him say something that sounded like baby.

Desiree took a few steps closer and tried to hear what he was saying.

"Can it wait?" he asked into the phone. "Ok, ok, just gimmie a minute Hun. I'll be right there." Desiree's stomach flipped as her mind went reeling. She let out an angry grunt as she realized what just happened.