Tyrant King

Chapter Thirteen

By the time I dried, put clothes on and came down, Gabriel’s plate had already been cleared. I sighed in relief, not sure if I was ready to face him again yet.

“He told me to make sure you ate and that he would wait for you in his study.” Susan placed my plate in front of me. My mouth watered. Tonight, she made seasoned chicken breast with steamed vegetables and rice. I took one bite and my eyes rolled in heaven.

“Seriously, Susan, you need to teach me how you do this!” I said. “I learned to cook in Texas but this is next level.” I froze, my eyes widening. I gulped the food in my mouth and turned to look at her. s**t.

“Don’t worry, Nora, I won’t tell him. He has his own secrets, too. I hope one day you can trust each other with them.” She put the towel down and walked out of the kitchen.

How could I be so stupid? No one knew where I was, not even my best friends! I could feel the panic starting to come. How did I know I could fully trust her? I couldn’t! She’s known Gabriel his entire life. She’s loyal to him, not to me.

I pushed the plate away, grabbing the side of the table. I was starting to hyperventilate. Come on,

Nora, head between your knees. My therapist’s voice kept playing in my head. I sunk down to the floor, my back against the table leg. In and out. In and out. She’s not going to tell him. In and out.

“Nora?” I barely heard the voice. “Nora! What are you doing? Get up… s**t! Susan!” I felt Gabriel’s hand on my shoulder. I could hear him saying something but I couldn’t make it out. In and out. In and out. I closed my eyes, willing myself to relax. In and out.

I felt a gentle pressure on my head, guiding it down further between my legs. After a few more deep breaths, I could feel the oxygen entering my lungs and my head started to clear. When I felt ready, I leaned back against the table leg, resting my head.

“What was that?”

“She was having a panic attack. Nora, are you okay? Can you hear me now?” I nodded, but wasn’t ready to speak. She was going to tell him, that’s all I could think.

I felt hands resting on my cheeks so I slowly opened my eyes. Thankfully it was Susan’s face directly in front of mine. Tears pooled in my eyes seeing the sincerity in them. She gave me a slight nod then pulled my face into her chest, wrapping her arms around me and rubbing my back.

Gabriel cleared his throat before Susan’s head turned towards him. “She’s okay, Gabe. Give her some space.” After several seconds, I felt his body warmth slip away. I didn’t like that I already missed his touch.

After a few more minutes, Susan helped me stand up. I wobbled slightly, feeling a bit lightheaded at the sudden rush before I felt strong arms steady me. Blinking a few times to adjust my eyes, I turned sideways and saw Gabriel already watching me. Without breaking eye contact, he spoke to Susan. “Did she eat?”

“It doesn’t look like it. At least not much.”

“Can you bring it to my study?” He didn’t wait for a reply before he picked me up under the knees and brought me to his chest. I gasped, feeling his hard body pressing against me and put my arms around his neck. I narrowed my eyes slightly. “I can walk, you know.”

He ignored me, walking out of the kitchen and down the hall. He pushed the door to his study open with his foot before we entered and I noticed Susan walking behind us with a faint smile on her face. When she noticed me looking, she winked and smiled brighter. I felt my cheeks heating up, just like the rest of my body.

“Stop squirming.” Gabriel said. “You’re going to make me drop you.”

Before I could respond, he deposited me on the couch in front of his desk. He motioned for Susan to put my food on the table in front of me and then she left. I don’t know when she had time, but I noticed she had heated it up and it was now steaming. “Eat.” He said, as the door closed behind her.

“I’m not hungry.” I crossed my arms and leaned back against the couch. He could keep me here all he wanted but he couldn’t make me eat.

I heard him sigh. He walked behind his desk, opening the drawer and pulling out a deck of cards. “Want to play?” He asked, holding it up.

Growing up, I used to always play cards with Nate. I swear he cheated since he always won, but I could never figure out how. I smiled slightly, recalling that memory. Gabriel must have taken it as a yes because he walked over to the chair across from me and took a seat. Reaching over, he poured himself a generous amount of whiskey then put it away.

“You’re not going to offer me any?”

“You haven’t eaten anything.”

I waved my hand, sitting forward a little. I reached out and took the deck of cards, shuffling them so I knew he wouldn’t cheat, too. “What do you want to play?” I asked.

He shrugged, taking a sip of his drink. “Whatever you want.”

I smiled, dealing out the cards to play Go Fish. I saw him roll his eyes when he realized what I was doing, but he didn’t say anything. We played a few rounds, only speaking to ask for a card or to tell the other to go fishing. I tried to muffle the yawn that came, but he saw it.

“One last game, and then it’s time for bed.”

“I don’t appreciate you talking to me like I’m a child.”

His eyes sparkled. “I enjoy telling you what to do, Nora. I enjoy it even more when you fight me and I get to punish you for it.”

I felt the butterflies in my stomach at the huskiness in his voice. Part of me enjoyed that too, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. I looked him in the eye with a straight face. “I’m not a doll you can play with.”

“We’ll see about that.” He said with a wink. “Now, let’s make a bet for this last game.”

“What kind of bet?”

“Anything you want, except leaving.”

I had to think about that for a second. I was sure I could probably win, it’s just a game of luck anyways. And if not, nothing too bad can happen. Not that he hasn’t taken pretty much everything from me already anyways. “Fine. If I win, I want more freedom. I want to be able to leave this house.”

“That’s a big ask for a game of chance.” He didn’t say no, but I wasn’t fool enough not notice the way his eyes darkened and his jaw clenched.

“Are you going to tell me no?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Nope.” He popped the P. “But if I win, I want you naked and under me in bed tonight.”

My eyes widened and I gulped. “That’s too big of an ask, Gabriel.”

It was his turn to raise a brow at me. “Are you going to tell me no?”

I sat back on the couch. “What if I change what I want?”

“I may reconsider my choice, too.” He took another swig of his drink.

“Alright… I want to ask you three questions. But you have to answer honestly.”

He seemed to need to think on that for a few seconds. His eyes gazed over my face, his expression softening slightly. I saw the decision being made a second before he said it. “Deal.”

“And what would you like if you win, Gabriel?”

“I want you to sit on my lap.”

“Deal.” I could do that. I picked up all the cards and reshuffled them. When I was done laying them out, we picked up our piles and looked through our cards.

“Good luck.” He said.

“You too.”

We played until we were each left with two cards in our hands and two cards in the pile on the table. I glanced over, counting his matches, to see that we were tied even. whoever asked for the right card, won the game.

“Do you have an ace of spades?” Gabriel asked. I looked down at my cards and back at him. I kept my face straight, looking between our cards and the ones on the table. When he caught my attention, I saw his brow raised, waiting for my answer.

“Go fish!” I yelled, a huge smile lighting up my face.

“s**t…” He whispered, before reaching for the card in the pile. I was waiting to see if he had gotten a match between his three cards, but the look of defeat was clear in his features. And I could tell he wasn’t one that knew how to lose.

“Do you have the 7 of Clubs?” Reluctantly he handed it over. “Do you have the 2 of Diamonds?” Again, he reluctantly handed it over. My smile grew so wide it was hurting my cheeks. I reached down to pick up the last card on the table.

“Oh look, the Queen of Hearts.” I laid the pair down on the table and looked up at him through my eyelashes. He was mad that he lost. I was ecstatic that I won.

“Ask your questions.” He said while getting control of his facial expression.

“I’ve always been curious… are you an only child? I have never seen or heard of you being raised with anyone else.”

He took a moment, shocked at my question. “No, I have a younger brother. He doesn’t live around here.”

“Oh.” I said. “Didn’t you grow up together? It must have been lonely if not.”

“I was surrounded by many others to truly feel lonely.”

“What happened to your parents? Did they separate?”

“That’s two questions, Nora. Pick one.”

“Okay… what happened to your parents?”

“They were killed.” My face fell. Growing up he never talked about a brother or his parents, I just assumed he had a life separate from them that he didn’t mix with the business he was into. Poor Gabriel. “Don’t look at me like that.”

I refocused on him. “Like what? I was just trying to remember if we’ve ever talked about them before.”

He stood up, finishing his drink, and walked over behind his desk before sitting again. “It’s time for you to go to bed, Nora. I have some work I need to finish up here.”

I looked at him confused. “I still have one more question…”

He raised his brow again, “No you don’t. You already asked them. Your first was if I was an only child, your second was if my brother and I grew up together, and your third was what happened to my parents.” He counted each one on a new finger. I narrowed my eyes at him.

“I wanted to know if you grew up together, but that was part of the first question.”

He laughed, but it wasn’t a humorous one. “Nope. You had three, you got three. Now leave, wife, I have business to attend to.”

He opened the laptop in front of him and I knew that was the end of this conversation. I stood up, angry that he dismissed me so easily. I pushed all the cards off the table watching them go all over the floor. I didn’t even turn to see his reaction, I quickly hurried out of the room.

My stomach growled, signaling that I was indeed hungry, but I wasn’t going back in there to get the food. I marched upstairs to the room I was brought in originally, pulling the covers back on the bed and climbing in.

I must’ve dozed off. As some point I felt arms sliding under me and lifting me into the air. I was gently set on another bed, feeling the cold pillow under the side of my face. The blankets were pulled over me and I was fast asleep again.