Twisted Hearts

Chapter 7: "He'll train you,"

A groan slipped through Gabriel’s lips, his eyes blinking away the haze that had clouded his vision. He was in his room; he fumbled, moving his hands over the covers to grab the small device that had woken him up. His hands grasped his phone, he blinked, his eyes focusing on the words on the screen as it continued to vibrate.

Unknown

A frown creased his brow as he momentarily hesitated to answer, then sighed and swiped across the screen.

“Hello,” His voice was hoarse, still doused with sleep as he pushed himself up slightly on the bed.

“Mr. Hastings,” Raven greeted from the other line, her voice sharp and formal as always. “It appears we miss judged you, I’m very impressed by your work yesterday, getting a direct meeting with Alexander is quite a feat you managed to obtain,” He complimented, causing a small spark of pride to flare in his chest.

“We have to get you ready for when he sets it up I’m expecting you at the base in one hour, Sebastian is already waiting for you…Don’t be late,” The call dropped in that moment, Gabriel glanced at his phone, noticing the call had only taken 24 seconds, his mind shifted back to what Sebastian had told him.

“A standardized call is to be less than 30 seconds, any more than that and they can track you and get your location, and always destroy evidence” He swiped across his screen, deleting the call from his call history.

Bracing himself, he swiftly stood from his bed, walking over to the shower as he recalled how he’d gained his monumental victory.

Gabriel, tightened his hand around his glass of Champaign as he watched Sebastian flirt with the woman, his mind going numb as he quickly gulped up the last remnants of the drink

“Excuse me,” He muttered, leaving the crowd as he turned to the doors. He needed fresh air ,it bothered him why he even cared if the man was flirting with that woman. Sebastian meant nothing to him, nothing at all. He was just a part of a past Gabriel wished he could  leave behind.

He had it all now, money, power and the confidence to back it out. This was what success was all about, nobody could bully him now, and he was at the top of his game. Yet success didn’t feel all that great, it lacked something that he couldn’t find.

“Excuse me,” A rough accented voice said ,startling him, his pulse spiked as he turned sharply, being met by a man he quickly recognized. Alexander Knight stood a few feet from him, his eyes observant as they fell on Gabriel, causing his skin to crawl.

“The party isn’t doing it for you,” Alexander teased, a small smile tugging up his lips. Gabriel swallowed thickly, running a shaky hand through his hair as he avoided looking Alexander directly in the eyes.

“To be honest, its more the people than the party for me,” He muttered, his mind drifting back to Sebastian before he pulled his thoughts back to the moment, as he stood with presumably one of the top bosses who ran New York.

Alexander nodded, taking a small step towards Gabriel, reducing the distance between them. “Am I one of those people?” The question had caught him off guard, so much so that his eyes widened as he shook his head.

“No, you’re definitely NOT one of them,” He’d shot back, a little too enthusiastically, but Alexander seemed to like that.

Gabriel blew out a sigh, leaning into the shower as the warm water ran down his skin, with it he hoped his feelings would go as well. He didn't know if luck or coincidence had been on his side last night, but he dreaded to think that perhaps Alexander knew who he was...and what he wanted from him. He finished quickly, walking out the bathroom with a towel around his waist, his phone lit up as he removed the towel, using it to dry his hair.

Jason: Come home tonight. We need to talk.

He glanced at the screen, throwing it back onto the bed as he changed into leisure clothes.

* 

This time, he walked through the building with a sense of direction, quickly finding the training room just a few doors from the exit; he felt a sense of pride at having peeked in the first time he was here. The first thought that ran into Gabriel’s mind as he walked into the gym was the sheer size of the room, though it was partially empty the room was well equipped, no doubt tax payers money at work. The second thought was…

Shit...

As his eyes found Sebastian, dressed in shorts and a light grey vest that clung to his body from sweat, he was panting heavily, bare knuckle boxing in one corner of the room. He felt every nerve in his body sizzle awake, his mouth going dry at the sight of Sebastian, though he tried to shake it off.

“Impressive isn’t he?” A feminine voice asked, causing him to turn over his shoulder at the woman. She was also dressed to workout, her phone and headsets in one hand as she watched Sebastian alongside Gabriel. Feeling self-conscious of the way he was staring, Gabriel turned to face the woman to keep his mind busy, though at the back of his mind the sound of the punching bag being hit and Sebastian’s groans filled his ears.

The woman turned, meeting his gaze with curious eyes as she stared him up and down before realization filled her eyes. “Jennifer Winters at your service,” She thrust out her hand for him to shake, her face breaking out in a bright smile.

Gabriel clasped her hand with his own, shaking it firmly, “Gabriel Hastings,” He muttered formally.

“Ow, I know who you are Gabriel,” Her smile quirked up into a smirk. Gabriel swallowed uneasily, shifting onto one foot.

“How do you know me?”

His question was left unanswered because at that moment, Sebastian appeared besides him, sweaty and panting as he smiled at Jennifer.

“Jen, early as always,” He admired. Gabriel couldn’t shift his eyes from Sebastian's hands as he unwrapped the gauze he had wrapped around them. They were bruised, some cracked slightly as the man flexed them out; seemingly unaware of the pain they must have been causing him.

“You know me, dedicated as always,” Jennifer smiled, turning her eyes to Gabriel, the attention was placed back on him and he didn’t like the way he could feel Sebastian’s eyes—silently caressing him with his eyes.

He anxiously glared at his watch, looking around the room. A sigh to his side drew his attention to Sebastian, he could see the clear hurt in the other man’s eyes as he glanced at the door, “Raven said to meet her at her office, come on,”

There was no room for refusal as Sebastian walked off. Gabriel glanced at Jennifer one last time, seeing the woman stare between them with assessing eyes. He faked a small smile, “It was a pleasure Jennifer,” He muttered with a curt nod goodbye. He walked stiffly, feeling the woman’s eyes on the back of his head as he caught up to Sebastian, ignoring the way his pulse rose as those steely grey fell on him.

“You really knocked it off the park with Alexander, didn’t you?” Gabriel glanced at Sebastian, willing himself  to see what the other man was thinking but Sebastian’s eyes were guarded, expression clear.

Gabriel shrugged, stuffing his hands into the pocket of his trousers as they reached the office.

“Just, stay safe Gabe, don’t trust him.” The warning was sincere, though Gabriel didn’t miss the way Sebastian’s hand clenched as he opened the door and walked in, not even giving him a chance to answer. But what could he have said? He didn’t have an answer to such a request, Did Sebastian even deserve his answer?

“Good day gentleman, I’ve been waiting for you,” Raven’s curt voice cut through Gabriel’s thoughts, taking him back to the moment as he met her eyes. She looks pleased, he thought, taking a seat besides Sebastian.

“I have to say, I’m pretty impressed so far, you’ve managed to set up a meeting with Alexander in such a small time. We had calculated that at this point you would be dealing with his right hand but it seems you’ve grown on him Mr. Hastings.” She smiled, pulling out a folder from her cabinet; she gave it to Gabriel who took the file a little gingerly.

“In there is all the information we’ve managed to get on Alexander, all his personal details as well as business wise. Given that you’ve dented the wall Alexander has built around himself you no longer will be coming here...because he can’t know you have connections with government personal. From now on Sebastian will help train you and teach you all you need to know.”