I'm back. Was very sick, but pulled through. Gotta finish this story and my series, so heaven (or hell) can wait, lol! No. Seriously, I had to go back and re-read from the beginning to get back into what was happening. Found a lot of errors and changed a bunch of stuff. I made GAbe less of a hot head so I guess (hopefully) you'll feel that change in his personality. Abby is still in the process of developing so please be patient with her. She is a sweet, loving, giving, selfless person, and I really don't want to take that part of her away, just make her little stronger and less of a victim, but these are things she has to learn on her own. It takes time. Anyhow, I'm really sorry for the wait you all had to endure for this chapter. Circumstances beyond my control, but here it is. Please feel free to point out any boo-boos since my eyesight and concentration isn't what it used to be. Guess I'm really going to need your help from now on. Thank you to all the well-wishers. My hubby kept me abreast of all the comments. Thank you so much.
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CHAPTER TEN
Gabriel sat silently outside the recording booth. Inside, Ariel played his base line, engrossed in the music. Normally, he'd be right there with the sound tech at the mixing board adjusting the sound and adding his touch to the music.
Not today.
Gabriel looked at the screen of his phone for the hundredth time. Still no answer from Abigail.
Christ. She was consuming his every thought. He wanted her with him. He wanted to sleep, eat, bathe with her. He loved the way she laughed. Loved the sound of her voice, the scent of her, the innocent way her mind worked. She was an angel. His angel...and he'd yelled at her.
He'd been so scared when she'd run out of the apartment and left her phone behind, but he shouldn't have yelled. That was inexcusable and lately he'd been blowing up for any stupid reason.
It was those fucking pills.
Getting up with a wince, he stalked to one of the bathrooms outside their recording room.
He unscrewed the top to the bottle of pills and poured them into the toilet.
"Christ! Are you insane? What are you doing?" Michael exclaimed ripping the bottle of pills from his hand, but it was already too late.
The white pills floated innocently inside the porcelain bowl.
"Clearing my head."
"You've been out of the hospital a little over a month. You need those still," Michael argued, watching in dismay as Gabe flushed the toilet.
"Not when they're turning me into an asshole."
Michael snorted. "You've always been an asshole, don't blame the poor pills."
"Thank you," Gabriel deadpanned.
Michael shook his head slowly as he tossed the empty bottle into the trashcan in the corner. Gabriel huffed, crossing his arms over his chest as he hung his head, reliving the hurt expression on Abby's face when he opened his big mouth.
"She still won't talk to you?"
Gabe shook his head. "She covered the cameras with something. Socks, I think."
Michael crossed his arms over his chest, taking a deep breath, "Just get her some flowers, and something shiny. Always works for me."
Gabriel frowned at Michael. "She's not like that."
Michael rolled his eyes. "Get her the flowers, buy her some chocolate, and grovel at her feet. They like that."
"I've never had to grovel at a woman's feet."
Michael grinned and slapped Gabe on the back a few times. "If she means anything to you, you're going to have to start. In the meanwhile, we're going to have to call your doctor and get a prescription for some new pain meds. You can't get through this cold turkey, man."
Gabriel could care less about his pain. Abigail was on his mind. The memory of the way her beautiful blue eyes had widened when he began yelling at her, the way her shoulders had hunched in ate away at him.
He wanted to kick himself. Why the fuck did he have to explode like that?
Yeah, he'd been terrified when she'd run out of the apartment, wondering if maybe he'd gone too far teasing her. He'd wanted to call, but she'd tossed the phone on the counter before racing out the door and down the steps.
He'd overreacted. Seeing her mother and sister at the apartment hadn't helped either, especially when he suspected someone from the Montenegro household had tried to run him off the road a little more than two months ago. He didn't know these people. Didn't know what they were capable of. All he knew was that Abigail's mother had played a part in keeping his parents apart so that Paulina could sink her claws into his real father and his money.
"Look," Mike sighed, "just let her cool off. Go over to her job tomorrow, bring her a bouquet, and invite her to dinner. And then do lots of groveling."
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Abigail listened to the soft tones of some random piano piece on Pandora radio as she dug into her gallon of cookies and cream ice cream. She knew it'd go straight to her hips, but she was beyond caring. She hoped she'd get fat so Gabriel would get disgusted and walk away all the sooner.
Her heart squeezed painfully at the thought, and her eyes and nose itched as she blinked rapidly, refusing to let herself cry.
"I just need to put my foot down. I am not letting anyone else boss me around as if I were an idiot."
Her phone had been dinging and ringing until a few minutes ago.
He'd either gotten the hint she wasn't speaking to him at the moment, or he was on his way back to the apartment again.
She was ready if he showed up. Abigail was going to demand he have all those ridiculous surveillance cameras removed, firstly, and secondly, she was going to give him a piece of her mind.
How dare he yell at her in front of the guys from the band. How dare he monitor her whereabouts all the time. It was stressing her out, and it had to stop.
She sighed looked down at the half-eaten gallon of ice cream. This wasn't the answer either.
She padded into the kitchen, looking up at the sock-covered camera in the corner with a frown.
Abigail had half expected him to come back storming into the apartment for having covered all of them. The night was still young.
Putting the ice cream away in the freezer, she took her electronic tablet from the counter and walked back out into the living room.
Curling up into the corner of her couch, she typed Diavolo into the search engine in her browser.
Immediately, many results popped up; their official website, news clips and You Tube videos.