“The hell I can’t. You don’t get to tell me what I can or can’t do.” Gabriel tosses her a smoldering glare, and she falters, taking a step back as she seems to realize she’s put herself in harm’s way.
“We’ll call the police,” the girl behind the plexiglass says, her voice quavering. Suddenly, as Gabriel’s wrath turns in her direction, I understand better why they had the protective barrier installed.
I wonder how many angry men have stormed into their waiting room before to merit such an option. I can guarantee none of them were nearly as intimidating as Gabriel.
I’m grateful to her that she’s still willing to say something. I’m immobilized with fear at what Gabe might do, so I don’t dare continue to fight his vice grip, though my fingers are starting to tingle as I lose circulation to them. As Gabe pauses to turn his gaze on her, she shrinks back despite the glass separating them.
“Fucking go ahead. See what happens,” he threatens, and the tone of his voice seems to freeze her in place. “I’m taking my girlfriend back home to Blackmoor.”
Her hand, hovering over the phone on her desk, draws back, showing him she won’t aggravate him further. Though I feel betrayed by the tiny motion, I can entirely understand why. Gabriel scoffs and resumes his exit, hauling me around the nurse with the tight bun and toward the door once more. I stumble along behind him, starting to sob from the bruising pain of his fingers digging into my arm and the terror suffocating me.
“Gabriel, please!” I beg as he yanks me out into the frigid winter air. I stumble again as his strides completely outmatch mine, and he rights me, setting me back on my feet without slowing down. “Let me go!” I scream, my tears coming harder still.
“Get on,” he orders, shoving me toward the bike.
But I can’t. An overwhelming urge to flee strikes me in the chest, and now that he’s released my arm, I do just that before I even have time to think. My feet scramble as I whirl, dashing toward the front of the bike and away from Gabe, who’s reaching for the helmet in the back. There’s no way I can outrun him, but I can’t help myself. I’m so consumed with fear that it’s all I can do. I’m running like my life depends on it. Which it just might.
Cussing under his breath, Gabriel changes direction, chasing me and wrapping his arm around my waist, lifting me right off my feet as he scoops me up. Carrying my back to his bike, he plops me onto it. In the same motion, he scoops my helmet from the back of his motorcycle.
“Put it on,” he growls, shoving it into my chest and waiting until I take it from him.
I do so with shaking hands and slowly lower it onto my head. I shouldn’t have tried to run. I’ve only angered him further, and now I’ll have even less freedom as he takes me where he wants me. I have no freedom. No say in the matter, no choice when it comes to my own body. Gabriel is more than capable of forcing me to accept his will, and it appears he doesn’t want me to get an abortion.
His eyes are beyond furious, and by the way his jaw muscle pops, I know he’s grinding his teeth in an attempt to keep his rage under control. I’m so fucked. I don’t want to find out what he has in store for my punishment this time. And now that he knows I came here, there’s no way I’ll ever find an opportunity to return. Hell, he might just lock me up until I have the baby.
Gabriel slings his leg over the bike and revs the engine, taking off before I can try to escape again. Tears continue to stream down my face, fogging the visor of my helmet as I cling to him, afraid for us to reach our destination but too much of a coward to try and bail from the bike. He goes from zero to sixty in such a short time, I don’t think I could get off without hurting myself severely. Still, I’m tempted. I might prefer a broken bone to facing Gabriel’s wrath.
Then again, he might just kill us both on the drive home. He’s winding around the curves of Blackmoor’s East Coast roads at such a speed that we lean dangerously close to the pavement around each bend just to avoid flying onto the shoulder and skidding out. I feel as though my stomach got left behind in the parking lot.
We make it back to the clubhouse in no time, and as soon as he stops the bike, Gabriel is off and gripping my arm once more. I barely have time to take off my helmet before he’s dragging me into the house by my wrist. From the tension in his muscular shoulders, he hasn’t calmed down from the cold, fast ride.
“Gabriel, you’re hurting me,” I sob, futilely trying to resist him as he steers me toward our room.
The shocked looks on his friends' faces say they’re not expecting his anger in any way, shape, or form. But they don’t move from their spots on the couch.
“Everything okay?” Knuckles asks, his beer halfway to his lips.
“Peachy,” Gabriel growls without looking at them or slowing down.
I throw them a terrified look, silently begging them to come to my aid. They just shrug and turn back to the TV. I start to hyperventilate as we make it to the room, and Gabriel yanks me through the open door. Slamming the door behind him, he blocks my means of escape as he towers over me.
“What the hell is going on, Winter? What were you doing at that clinic?” he demands, his voice strained as if he were trying to suppress his anger but failing miserably.
Looking up into his eyes, I sob, too scared to speak the words aloud. I shake my head, slumping forward and covering my face with my hands as my shoulders twitch with the force of my crying.
“Winter, speak to me!” he growls, his composure slipping as he grabs me by my shoulders and shakes me harshly, making me lose my balance.
Only his firm hold keeps me on my feet as I suck in breaths, trying to breathe despite the intensity of my tears.
“Winter!” His hand cups my chin as he forces me to look him in the eye. “What were you doing at the clinic?”
“I…” I burst into another round of sobs. “I-I-I’m p-pregnant!” I wail, closing my eyes for fear of seeing his reaction. I feel as though my world is collapsing around me, like any sense of control I might have retained since Gabriel saved me from that creepy basement has vanished because now, I can’t even decide whether or not I have a child.
“You’re… what?” Gabriel’s hands slide down my arms, the strength seeming to leave them as the breath escapes his lungs.
Fury erupts in my chest at the sound of his disbelief, and I forget my fear momentarily as I glare into his eyes. “Oh, don’t even pretend like that shocks you. You shouldn’t be surprised after coming inside me so much,” I hiss, the choppy inhales of my residual sobs making my anger sound less intense than it is. “You did this to me, and I was just trying to take care of the problem.”
Gabriel’s jaw muscles pop repeatedly as he grinds his teeth, seemingly trying to keep his temper in check. “You’re pregnant. You decided to get an abortion, and you weren’t even going to tell me?” His tone is flat and deadly, which is far more chill-inducing than when he yelled at me just a moment before.