"Kitten..." (BOOK 3 of The Mr. Gabriel Series)

Chapter 12

-Addison-

Every movement, every sound, every face I pass as I follow behind Gabriel on the way up to my apartment, is blurring and becoming more unreal to me. I feel halfway in this world and halfway in another. I'm not sure if I'm losing more pieces of myself. Who will I become once I'm finally gone? Will Gabriel kill me? What if Reuben is still around? If the realm is gone and he's still alive, what will happen...?

How could this be possible? Is he... inside me?

"You said you saw him?" Gabriel asks after opening the door to my apartment, gesturing me to go in first.

I hear him, yet don't reply as I rub my arms and walk forward, through the kitchen and over to sit in a chair in the living room, thinking about these things and hearing Gabriel's voice alone, remembering what has happened between us and what he did to me at James' house, stinging hot tears threaten to drip down my cheeks. My chest aches, my legs are weak, my soul feels like it's going to slip out of my body if I just let go.

He waits for a response, all the while coming in and sitting down on the sofa in front of me. A few seconds pass. He takes out his pack of cigarettes and lights one, getting tired of watching me staring nervously down near his legs.

"I've done well not to read your mind much. Don't make me change that. Just tell me what happened." he blows out smoke, leaning back and throwing his arm over the back of the couch.

I don't even know how any of this came to be. I don't see how it's possible for Gabriel to be what he is, or Jack. I never would have imagined such a thing as Reuben or that place I was at could exist. If I had a reset button, oh how I would do everything in my power to change the paths I've chosen in my life. I would go back to the time I left home and change how I did it, then none of these things could have happened.

"Addison." His sharp tone makes me jerk and shut my eyes, the tears riding down.

"I'm sc- scared." I say in a low shaky voice.

"Of course you are. What happened?"

He's such a selfish sadistic bastard. Why is he like this? Why?

I hear him put out the cigarette and start to get up. I instinctively flinch away with a gasp, balling myself into a defensive position.

"He can't still exist after what I did. Do you have any idea? Did you know I was capable of doing that, Addison? Me, half human and half whatever the fuck I am -- I destroyed that place. He shouldn't be here. Have you been lying to me?"

I bury my face deeper into my arms. "No, I haven't! I think you might know there's- that there's another way this is possible."

He stands there quietly for a moment, thinking about it.

"I know... I know he's still a part of you. I didn't want you to believe that." he says.

He- he knows?! He knows. That's right, he does know. The idea of losing everything that is... me... forces me into more tears; an uncontrollable sobbing. "I really don't know what's real. I'm thrown around, I'm toyed with, my mind is breaking, I hear him, I see him!"

He flexes his fingers a few times before making fists. "I know, I KNOW! ENOUGH! We're leaving for Florida right now! You know what? Let's start packing. I've got the money. You make arrangements with the office." he storms away to my room and I start hearing him moving things around. "Now is as good a time as any!"

Lifting my head, wiping my face and eyes, I sniffle and look in that direction. "No, let me do that!" I quickly get up and go in there.

He takes a few large storage bags out of my closet and tosses them on the bed, an intense expression of stress and anger on his face. "How the hell can this work out if you're going nuts like this? I know what I could do, but-!" he stops what he's doing, slapping his hands on his face, "None of this shit was supposed to happen!"