Daniel?
Hey Gabby. I missed you at dinner yesterday and breakfast this morning. Are you trying to avoid me?
She felt a twinge of guilt at that. She hadn't been trying to avoid her family, but she had. All because she was trying to avoid one person. She sighed. No, Dad said you wanted to meet with me.
Yeah. How about this afternoon around four? My office?
Okay, I'll be there.
Are you coming to lunch? Daniel asked her.
Probably. Probably not, but he didn't need to know that. She wished she knew if he was still here or not, but she had no way of knowing that. Her father might know, but that would mean telling him who her mate was and she really didn't want to do that.
She managed to avoid lunch too, much to Caleb's dismay. "Gabby, you can't hide up here forever."
"I know, I know," she grumbled. "I have to meet Daniel at 4pm."
"Are you going to go down for dinner," he asked her.
"Maybe?"
He shot her a glare. "At some point, I'm not enabling you anymore."
She cringed. "I know. I'm going to take care of it."
"I love you, Gabby and I hate to see you absolutely miserable over a guy, and yes I know he's your mate, and you think he's going to reject you, but you need to find out," Caleb told her. "I thought I was bad keeping your mom a secret as long as I did. You might be worse."
She bit her lip. "Its different though."
"I know it is, but you're still procrastinating," Caleb said.
She frowned at him, then sighed and nodded.
He left her room, and Gabby turned back to the book she was reading. She still had a bit to go before her meeting with her brother. Hopefully she didn't run into him.
A few hours later, she took the elevator down to the ground floor. She stood there for a moment before exiting the elevator, holding the door open and scenting the air. His scent filtered under her nose, catching her attention as she allowed herself to focus solely on it for a moment. He smelled so good.
She was half tempted to go knock on his door and demand that he reject her now, but then she'd never make it to her meeting with Daniel. She sighed and exited the elevator. She peeked down the hall, but he wasn't in sight, and she breathed a small sigh of relief at that. She hurried down and knocked on her brother's office door, wanting to get inside before she saw him.
"Come in, Gabby."
She opened the door and walked inside and sat down in front of Daniel's desk. "Hi."
Daniel smiled at her. "Hey. I'm glad you're back."
She wasn't, but she wouldn't tell him that. "Glad to be back."
A knock sounded at his door and he looked up. "Come in."
It was him. She looked up at Daniel. "You know what, I don't want to interrupt. I'll come back later."
"Gabby.."
"It's fine." She quickly stood as the door opened, and held her breath as she hurried past him, avoiding both looking at him and touching him.
Her wolf was on high alert as she moved past, wanting to see the man that was their mate, but Gabby kept her eyes lowered. She wasn't about to do this in front of her brother.
She moved quickly down the hall and headed out the back door and into the woods, breathing in deeply the fresh air. She couldn't keep doing this, she realized. It was stupid. She needed to confront him and reject him. It would be for the best.
Eventually she'd have another mate. One who would be happy to be mated to her. One who would be happy to be mated at all.
She sat down on the bench on the dock and pulled her legs up, wrapping her arms around them, as she stared out into the water. For a brief moment, she thought about just walking in to see what would happen. She wouldn't drown, well she'd drown; it just wouldn't kill her.
It was stupid though, and she sighed as she watched the sun begin to go down. She hadn't realized how much time had passed and how long she'd been sitting out here. She'd missed dinner. She needed to go home. She unfolded herself and stood, then headed back towards the house, slipping inside the back door. His scent was there, but not strong, and she slipped on the elevator, taking it up to the fourth floor.
When it opened, she got off and headed down to her parent's apartment, and opened the door. They were both seated on the couch.
"Hey, where have you been?" Her father, Caleb, asked.
"Outside," she said. "Im going to take a shower."
She had a feeling her brother had said something to her father about her quick exit, though she hoped not. It would probably confirm to him who her mate was, and she wasn't sure she wanted him to know. She had a feeling he suspected though.
She showered, then crawled into bed, and grabbed her book, though she couldn't concentrate on the words. Her mind was still on him.
His scent had been overwhelming today. He smelled so good. She hated him for being her mate. Why him? Why a man that she was ridiculously attracted to, that smelled so intoxicating and yet he would be the one to break her heart.
She lay there for several hours, staring at her book, but not seeing the words, her mind on him. Her gaze darted up to the time. It was after midnight.
She was over it. Done with all of this. She needed to move on, and she was doing it. Tonight. Before she lost her nerve.
She got out of bed and threw on some clothes, then slipped out of the apartment and took the elevator down to the first floor. He stayed in a guest room because he was in and out so frequently. She also thought he did that because he never expected to have a family.
She stopped at his door and took a deep breath. She could smell him, his scent that screamed at her that he was her mate. She closed her eyes, then lifted her hand and knocked.
It took a few moments and she hoped he wasn't in bed with another woman. That would be just perfect. She doubted it though. He'd never had a woman here that she was aware of, and his scent was the only one she could catch.
The door finally opened and her lowered gaze came in contact with his bare abs. She swallowed. Why was he shirtless? She couldn't help but look at them, the perfectness of them, and how they sat just above his V cut which was cut off by the low waistband of his sweats.
"Gabby?"
His voice.. he still had an accent, and she liked it and the softness of it. She liked how it flowed and warmed her.
But all good things must come to an end, and she braced herself and lifted her eyes to meet his.
It was earth shattering, meeting the gaze of your fated. For a moment, he was the only thing that existed in her world and she hated him for it. Hated that he wouldn't want her.
He stared back at her, a puzzled expression on his face as he tried to comprehend what was going on. Did he experience this the same way she did? But it wouldn't be enough.
The bond was there though, between them, a bond she was about to sever. She couldn't do this. It was better she ended it before he did.
But he was so gorgeous. So mouth watering. She wouldn't mind tracing those perfect abs of his with her tongue. Her gaze moved over his handsome face and she sighed.
She took a deep breath, reminding herself of why she'd came. She licked her lips and saw his eyes move down to her mouth. "I, Gabrielle Remington, reject you, Dominic Beckham, as my mate."
His mouth dropped open as he stared at her in shock. Then, he shut the door in her face.
She stood there, staring at it, as tears streamed down her face. He hadn't accepted though. He had to accept it to fully sever the bond. Then she could get on with her life. She could begin to heal.
She took a deep breath, and brushed away the tears, then raised her hand and knocked again. The door opened and he stared at her. His hair was a bit messy now, as though he'd ran his hands through it.
"Accept it." She needed him to.
His stare turned into a glare and he reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her into his room and shutting the door. He still hadn't said anything.
"Please. Just accept it."
He turned and stepped closer to her. She took a step back and he kept coming until her back was against his door. He stopped inches away, standing over her, his hand resting on the door as he stared down at her. "How long?" he demanded.
"Just tonight." Well not exactly, but confirmed tonight.
"The truth, Gabby." He glared down at her.
"I've suspected since I turned eighteen," she admitted.
"Five freaking years??!!" He was even closer now, and his scent was beginning to overwhelm her. "I haven't seen you since you started college. Is this why?"
She could feel the tears threatening to fall again and she swallowed hard. "Yes."
He closed his eyes and shook his head. "Why tonight? Because you can't avoid me anymore?"
"I just wanted to get it over with." She looked past him and into his room. It was rather neat.
"So you don't want to be mated to me."
"You don't want to be mated." She couldn't look at him. His scent was driving her insane. It was so overwhelming. "Could you please back off?"
"No. You just assume whatever you want and show up at my door in the middle of the night demanding I reject you without caring what I think, or how I feel about any of it. That kind of hurts."
She looked up at him in surprise. He was hurt? She doubted it. Maybe he was trying to soften it. She looked away again. Looking at him made her heart ache. "Please do it."
He suddenly straightened and grabbed the door knob, opening the door. "Get out."
She frowned in annoyance. "Dominic.."
"Get. Out. Now."
She huffed at him, but left his room, jumping when he slammed the door behind her.
She took the elevator back up to the fourth floor, then walked down to the apartment, slipping back inside and back to her room. She crawled in her bed and the tears began to fall.