Chapter 10

GABRIEL

^TWELVE YEARS AGO…^

His heart pounded in his ears, nearly drowning out the sound of the gunfire around him, bullets barely missing his helmet as he crawled across the floor of the dusty old cabin.

“We need to get out of here!” Seth yelled to be heard over the noise.

“There’s no way, man! We’re surrounded!”

Seth shook his head. “We can go out the back!”

“They have a ~tank~ waiting for us to poke our heads out! Are you insane? You’ve lost your damned mind!”

“Come on! You were a pitcher in high school, you can toss a grenade in the tanker from any distance!”

Gabe stared at Seth, not sure if his friend had finally lost it completely. “That was seven years ago!”

“It's like riding a bike, Jiminy!”

“You’ve lost all your fucking fairies, Seth!” Seth laughed as he slapped Gabe on the back then placed the muzzle of his rifle in the broken window and pulled the trigger. Gabe used the distraction to slip out of the door, pull the pin out of the grenade, and with a deep breath and a desperate prayer, tossed it in the direction of the enemy’s tank.

The gunfire stilled as everyone watched the flight of the grenade, its final bounce against the top hatch, before plunging down the hole.

“Oh, shit!” Gabe exhaled as the tank lifted a few feet off the ground, seeming to do more than the laws of military machinery bargained for, and landed with more force than the damage a simple grenade should have done, bursting open like a can of old sardines with a loud bang. He realized that the enemy forces had stored most of their explosives in the tank.

“Get down, you fucking idjit!” He heard Seth yell and felt a sharp sting in his left arm as he was yanked to the floorboards. He looked up to find a bolt from the tank stuck to the wall at the level of his heart, a piece of his sleeve hanging from it like a sad flag.

He heard Seth through the ringing in his ears… “Who’s the one who lost all their fairies now?”

***

Gabe blinked the dream from his mind, but the ringing wouldn’t stop until he realized it was his phone. He untangled his arm from where it was pinned under the corner of the sheet to reach for his phone. He grimaced as he tried to free his legs, a heaviness settling around him at the realization that his nightmares were bad again. They had eased a bit when he had spent time with Sarah, but in the last couple of weeks, they had flared up again. They left him tired and grouchy, and because of this, he kept to himself. He shook his head; he was the snotty new kid at school at thirty-five.

“Von Ashner,” he greeted the caller, his voice husky with sleep and something he wasn’t ready to name.

“Gabe, it’s Tracy. I’m sorry for disturbing you.”

“It’s not you disturbing me.”

“Resting grouch phase?”

“Something like that.” He rubbed a hand over the scruff on his face and grimaced again. He needed to shave before his shift at four. “What’s up? You don’t sound like yourself either.”

“I need to go out of state for a few days, maybe a week at the most. The lady that usually takes care of the boys won’t be able to help me because her son just had a baby and they’re moving in with her this weekend. I hate to ask but—”

“Hey. What are friends for?”

“Gabe, you see them a couple of times a week, not on a daily basis.”

“We’ll be fine. It’s just for a few days. And I’m off the weekend so I can take them camping.”

“Gabe…”

“Nope. Don’t say anything. Give me half an hour?”

“Thank you, Gabriel.”

Ten minutes later, Gabe was showered, shaved, and dressed, and was heading down the stairs when he heard voices in the living room. Cursing softly, he leaned against the wall as he recognized Indie and Grace’s voices chatting with his grandma. He briefly considered slipping down the back stairs but immediately dismissed the cowardly thought. With a fortifying breath, he descended and had to catch the excitement when he saw Connor’s blanket over the back of the sofa.

“And so Poseidon rises,” Grandma intoned when she saw him.

“Gee, morning Grandma,” he groaned as he went to kiss her cheek. “Indie. Grace.”

Ordinarily, he would have hugged them, but their cold glares had him keeping his distance. Instead, he lifted Connor from his blanket and gently lifted the little boy to his shoulder, having a quiet conversation with him. Gabe had checked in at the hospital the day after the birth and found Indie and Connor asleep. One of the nurses saw him and told him they were doing great and would be discharged later that day, which he was glad of. But he had kept his distance since.

“Your food is in the fridge.”

“I’ll eat when I get back, Grandma.”

“When will that be?”

“In a while.” Gabe bit back the impatience at her interrogation. “Tracy asked if we could help out with the boys for a few days.”

“They are always welcome, Gabriel. But is it fair of you to spend as much time with them as you have been when…”

“When ~what~, Grandmother?”

She blinked at his challenge, putting a sleeping Connor back on his blanket. He had a good relationship with his grandmother, she raised him and knew him better than anyone else. He respected her input in his life, and she, unsuccessfully, tried not to interfere in it too much. Except for his teenage years, they barely had disagreements.

She tilted her chin up to meet his Arctic stare. “When you’re not spending time with a little girl that loves you.”

That cut him deeply. He ground his teeth hard and silently counted to five to control his suddenly erratic breathing, sliding his fisted hands into the pockets of his cargo shorts. Instead of addressing her accusation, he shook his head and asked her another question. “Their mother needs to go out of state for a few days, and their usual caretaker can’t keep them full-time. Will you help me?”

“Only if—”

“No bargaining, Grandma,” Gabe warned tightly, but as usual, she ignored him.

“I will help you only if you spend as much time with Amelia as you do with them,” she finished quickly, but Gabe had already started climbing the stairs.

Five minutes later, he went down the stairs with a packed duffle. The fear that filled his grandmother’s eyes made him hesitate for a moment, but it didn’t change his mind.

“Gabriel, where are you going?”

“I figure it's just easier for me to sleep on Tracy’s couch than disrupt the boys’ routine by bringing them here.”

“Call me later.” Her voice is soft and filled with questions he had no intention of answering.

He stopped at the front door, his hand on the handle before turning to his grandma. “Maybe. I’ll see you ladies around.”