Once Upon A Time(76)

Without warning, he threw his weight into Gabriel. Kylie, Quinn and I watched in horror as Luca threw one swift punch to Gabriel’s jaw. I was stunned. Gabriel didn’t move, not once did he try and deflect the rain of punches from his brother.

“Enough!” Quinn yelled, pulling Luca from his brother. “I suggest you leave. That means you too, Luca.”

“Payton,” Gabriel said, almost a groan, clearly hurting from his injuries from Luca. My gaze moved to the floor as fresh tears streamed down my face. “Payton, please let me explain.”

“Please leave,” I whispered.

Turning on my heels, I walked back to my room and slammed the door closed. Crawling into my bed, I got beneath the covers and cried, using the pillow to muffle the sounds of my heart breaking.

After a couple of minutes, silence descended on the apartment but the silence did nothing to help the noise running around my head. Question after question. Why didn’t I see this coming? Who was Kate to Gabriel? Was this a damn set up between them?

But before I could really come up with any answers that actually made sense, my door opened and in walked a clearly upset Kylie.

“Hey sweetie,” she whispered, taking a seat at the end of my bed. “Everyone’s gone.”

“Hey,” I croaked back, my voice a little hoarse from crying.

“I know you’re hurting right now but I promise it’ll get better.”

I closed my eyes for a moment. How would it get better? I’d thrown my job back in my boss's face; my boss who was, somehow, connected to Gabriel, who was, in fact, married. And I loved him.

“You said that after we found Cam with Kendra,” I whispered, trying to hide my emotions beneath the whisper.

“I did, didn’t I?” she said quietly.

I nodded, sitting up and resting my back against the headboard of my bed.

“So what do you plan on doing?”

One question was laced with more hidden questions. What would as I do as far as a job? Would I have to move back to my parents' because I couldn’t afford the rent? How would I support myself if Kate told everyone who’s anyone in the PR world about me, subsequently stopping me from working in PR again?

The truth was I didn’t know, but I knew I had to get out of here to clear my head.

“I’m probably going to spend some time with my parents. I need some breathing space,” I said, hoping I’d have enough in my savings account to cover the cost of a last minute flight to Kentucky. Then, I realized out of all of the chaos, I wasn’t the only one hurting. Kylie had thrown Luca out of the apartment along with Gabriel. I had no idea what her relationship with Luca really was, I’d caught him sneaking out at the crack of dawn but we’d never talked about it. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m good,” she lied. I could tell when she was lying, her nose would wrinkle. Kylie didn’t have a poker face of any kind. “It was just casual sex with me and Luca.”

That surprised me. Kylie was the one who wanted the fairy tale, the knight in shining armor who’d rescue her on his white horse and whisk them away into the sunset, so hearing about her casual relationship with Luca was something I wasn’t expecting.

“What happened to your knight in shining armor?”

“He wasn’t my Prince Charming or my knight in shining armor. Instead, all I got was an asshole covered in aluminum foil,” she said, her voice filled with sadness.

“This isn’t like you.” I placed my hand on her shoulder and squeezed.

“Luca is… different. Much different from Gabriel. Luca has commitment issues.” Kylie shook her head and laughed a little. “Fuck, I feel so naive.”

“He’s not all that different. Gabriel clearly has commitment issues, he’s still freaking married.” The last part was said on shaky breath as I pushed back the tears; he’d had enough of mine to last a lifetime. “Can you help me arrange a flight?”

“No. I’ll call my father and get you the jet. You’re not paying for a flight to Kentucky.” She smiled, standing from my bed.

“Well, at least we’ll be able to arrive in style.” I chuckled.

She turned around and stared at me.

“What do you mean 'we'?”

“I think we both need some breathing space,” I suggested.

I wasn’t the only one hurt today and I knew Kylie needed a change of scenery as much as I did.

“I’ll call my father and let Phil know I’ll be away for a couple of days. I’ll just tell him there’s a family emergency.” She nodded her head. “I love you, Pay.”

A lump formed in my throat at the sound of those words but I decided not to give Gabriel that kind of power, to let me revert back and squash everything I’ve achieved, even if it was because of him.