Gabs
On autopilot, I nearly plowed into Donny as I rushed in through the rear entrance of Silky Ink.
“Whoa, Donny. What gives?”
He stood, arms folded over his broad chest, blocking the way to the front of the building.
“Done watching you destroy yourself, babe. I’d figured you’d have caved and let Silk in by now, but you haven’t, so you got a choice. You either talk to me, SeVen or Silk. Your choice, but you will be going into the break room and we ain’t letting you out till you fucking let at least one of us in and we have a plan in place to help you out of whatever the hell hole you’ve found yourself in.”
Tears welled. After the altercation with my mom, I didn’t have anything left to resist Donny’s kindness.
“Don’t we all have clients booked for tonight?”
He raised an eyebrow, letting me know he knew I was trying to get out of this intervention. “We’ll cover for you and whoever you’re most comfortable confiding in. You got thirty seconds to choose, or I’ll pick for you.”
Unable to hold my emotions back any longer, I sniffled before I wiped the tears from my cheeks.
“Silk. I’ll talk to Silk.”
“Excellent. Head into the break room. She’s already in there waiting for you.”
His gaze burned into my back until I closed the door behind me. Damn having caring workmates.
“Hey, doll. Come sit with me.”
I sniffled again, blinking through the tears that I knew wouldn’t stop now they’d started. “Intervention time, huh?”
She gave me a sad smile, “We all care about you, Gabs, and you have us all worried. This isn’t like you.”
I shook my head. “I’ve always been closed off.”
“Not with me, you haven’t.”
I shrugged a shoulder as I moved to sit beside her on the couch. The moment my butt hit the cushion, she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me in for a hug, and I lost it. Burying my face in against her shoulder, I sobbed out everything.
“That’s it, Gabs. Let it all out. I got you, girl.”
I have no idea how long we sat like that, Silk stroking my hair and back while I drenched her shoulder with my tears. Eventually, the storm passed enough I could sit back and take a few breaths. I leaned over and snapped a couple tissues from the box on the side table and tried to mop up my face.
“Sorry about your shirt.”
Silk laughed. “Babe, compared to what Raven smears all over me, tears are no problem.” She grew serious. “Although, I hate you’re this upset. Time to spill the beans.”
I nodded then blew my nose. “Let me grab a drink.”
Standing before she could offer to get it for me, I went and got a glass of water, downing half of it before I refilled and returned to sit beside Silk.
“I don’t even know where to start, to be honest.”
“How about why you went out to The Barn that night you met Boone? Normally you’d have come into Styx if you’d just wanted a drink.”
Heat flashed over my cheeks. “I didn’t want it to get back to you that I was out drowning my sorrows.”
She sighed. “Not sure how I can get through to you that I’m still here for you, Gabs. I never went anywhere. Yeah, I got a man and baby now, but you’re my best friend. Ain’t nothing going to change that.”
I took a drink before I answered. “Yeah. I know.”
Damn, I really didn’t want to admit my feelings about being jealous, so I cleared my throat and ignored that silent elephant in the room.