"You know ... your space. I don't want to take up any of it," I said and looked at him again.
That made him chuckle and shake his head.
"Better go back, before he finds out you are here," he said.
I looked surprised at Gabriel. I was certain he was going to bring me back to the king himself, tell him what I had done and where I had been, but he didn't. Instead, he did a small tilt with his head towards the door and made a tsk sound, as if to tell me to hurry. I walked a bit hesitantly past him and over to the door, but just as my hand grabbed the doorknob, he called out to me:
"Hey, sweetheart."
I looked over my shoulder and saw him smiling at me.
"Our little secret," he said and winked.
I couldn't help it ... I smiled at him and nodded gratefully, and then I opened the door, closing it silently behind me, but as soon as I turned to walk away, I hit a wall of a body.
"Ah, shit ..."
I should have known the king would find out, even if Gabriel was holding his hand over me, and he looked pissed. The king was only wearing a pair of sweatpants and his big arms were crossed over an even bigger chest. Had he somehow turned bigger while I was sneaking around, or was it just because he looked angrier?
"I was ... it isn't ... I can explain," I said.
The king's dark eyes darted to the door behind me, and I could only imagine how this looked. One thing was catching me sneaking around, another was seeing me come out of one of the other's bedrooms. Yeah, I was screwed.
"Oh, do please try," he said, in a way that indicated I was in deep shit no matter what.
"I ... wanted something to drink."
So lame! I was not good at coming up with a good lie. I was not a good liar anyway, and in this tense situation, I was an even worse one.
"So, you went to find that in Gabriel's room?"
"I got ... lost?"
"And he led you to his room?" he asked.
I looked over my shoulder and then carefully back at the king.
"Yes ..."
He sighed, tiredly rubbing his eyes, before grabbing my arm, not hard, but in a way that indicated this was not over for me.
"I mean I needed air!" I said as I tried pulling away from him.
"On his balcony?" he asked.
"It got a good view!"
"I bet it does."
"Nothing happened!" I told him.
"No, I don't believe anything did, that is not why I am pissed," he said.
"I wasn't running!"
He didn't listen to me though, and just opened the door to his bedroom, dragging me inside, before closing the door, and the clear sound of a lock being turned echoed in the room. I retreated quickly, trying to create some distance between us. I chose to stop on the other side of a couch to see if he had followed me, but the king hadn't moved.
"Do you want to come to me, or should I come to you?" he asked.