Ch. 02: Gabriel
Author's Note: Sorry this took so long! Hopefully the next chapter won't be as long in coming. Thank you for all the wonderful feedback, I'm so glad you guys like my story. Check my profile page for updates. As always, all comments are welcome. All characters are 18+ at the time of any sexual acts. Huge thanks to coloryourworld, azraeyl, and alwaysup4u2004 for their essential editing help. This chapter was written from Gabriel's POV, and repeats some of the previous chapter, but the rest is new. Lyrics are 'Mr. Brightside' by The Killers. Enjoy.
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It started out with a kiss,
How did it end up like this?
(It was only a kiss)
(It was only a kiss)
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Gabriel had been dreading this talk, ever since he had closed the door on her last night. He didn't want her to get the wrong idea, but he didn't know exactly what it was that he
did
want.
He had worried that Kes would be angry with him, feel that he had taken advantage, and was worried that she might tell her brothers. But when she'd finally come down the stairs this morning she'd seemed more concerned that her brothers would find out than about him.
So now they were finally alone in the kitchen, and he had his first chance to straighten everything out. And he had absolutely no idea what to say.
"We need to talk, I know," Kesare said quietly.
"Yeah," he sighed. "Look, not that last night wasn't...nice, but, well," he paused, trying to find the words. He really didn't want to hurt her.
"I get it. Last night was nice, but you don't see me as anything more than a friend. It's okay. It's not like I'm madly in love with you or anything. It's nice though. Learning from someone I trust. I don't want anything more than that," Kes stated.
Huh
, he thought. He was dumbfounded. Yeah, it was what he was trying to say, but hearing her say it was a little...weird. He was surprised to find that he was a little pissed at her brushing off what happened so easily.
I guess I'm nothing more than a practise dummy to her. No strings. Well, that's not a problem for me. Just so long as she doesn't start getting expectations.
He blinked, clearing his thoughts and noticed her watching, waiting for him reply.
"Yeah. Right. I enjoyed being your teacher. But I don't want anything more." The words sounded hollow, even to him. He had to get out of there. "I've gotta go Princess," he said, barely remembering his jacket on the back of his chair.
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As he started to pull his truck out of the drive, he went over their history in his head. Until the day she had asked him to kiss her, she had always been little Kes Ramirez, the skinny kid that used to follow along after him and her brothers. It was only when she stood in front of him in her faded jeans and worn Green Day t-shirt that he realised she had become a 'young lady' as his Grams would have put it.
Even then, when he had agreed to kiss her, she had still been nothing more than Little Kes to him. But the way she responded to him, the way she felt in his arms, well, he couldn't deny that she was now a young woman.
He also couldn't deny that his body had responded to that discovery. From one kiss, he had begun to get hard. Part of him didn't want to stop the kiss, and he found it difficult to do so, reminding himself that this wasn't just some girl, it was Kes, his best friend's sister. His best friend's
underage
little sister.
Still, he had barely gotten control of himself when he asked, "How was that for a first kiss then?"
Only half expecting an answer, he had been more than a little surprised at her coldness when she responded, "Fine, thank you. The guys shouldn't be too long, but I've got homework to do, there's some leftover pizza in the fridge. Bye."
As she ran up the stairs to her room, he growled back, "Glad I could be of service
Princess
." He was angry and confused at her dismissal, and still a little riled up from the kiss, so instead of going back to his book, he switched on the TV, zooming through the channels, not really paying attention to what flickered across the screen.
He didn't notice the time passing until he heard Mateo's old pickup pull into the drive. He had started to panic that they'd know something had happened. But Kes acted normally enough, and the guys didn't seem to notice anything although Matt kept give him strange looks.
Months had passed, and things had gone back to normal. Kes dated for a while, but stopped to focus on school. Juan had started talking about handing the business over to Gabriel, which had been like a dream come true for him, and he had continued his playboy ways, dating different girls, never getting serious with any of them.
From time to time, his thoughts would drift to Kes. Ever since they had kissed, he started thinking of her as less than a sister and more as a, well, girl. He noticed what she would wear, and how she acted. More and more, he thought about the nature of their relationship, and about its boundaries. He knew that if he put the moves on Kes, her brothers would beat the crap out of him. But more than that, he knew that if he did, she'd end up hating him forever, and then he'd have to beat the crap out of
himself
for breaking her heart.
But Kes hadn't seemed that interested in him since things had settled down after the kiss. One day when they had been making dinner, she had cut herself. When she had first yelled out, the first thought that came to his head was that she had really hurt herself, but when he'd gotten a look at it, it has just been a nick, and there was only a little blood which he wiped away. Then he had suddenly had the desire to, so he kissed it better. When he did that, he could have sworn he saw a flicker of desire in her eyes, but he wasn't sure.
Ever since then he'd been wondering if he was wrong about her feelings towards him...thinking himself in circles about what was right and what was wrong...if she wanted it or if she didn't...if it was worth it or if it wasn't.
Then last night he found himself at the Ramirez house at the request of her brothers, waiting for Kes to come back from her date. He'd been watching some Arnie action movie that was nearly over, and was surprised when Kes came bursting through the front door earlier than he'd expected, slamming the door shut and leaning her forehead against it.
When she had slowly started opening up about her date, and about her previous experience on dates he realised two things. One: he wanted to kill every guy who had even laid a finger on Kes, and two: Kes was a virgin. A very inexperienced one.
He'd kind of guessed she was a virgin, more because of her brothers than anything else, but hearing it was something quite different. He wasn't the kind of guy who went around deflowering virgins, and in fact had never been with one. He read somewhere that girls either grow to love or hate the man who takes their virginity, and he wanted neither of those.
But hearing Kes talk about how inept her dates were made him want to show her how good it could be. Before he knew it, he had offered to show her what it was like, and to his surprise, she had agreed.
