The bell on the door rang letting her know someone had entered. She looked up, and her smile froze on her face. Gabriel stood in the doorway, looking her way. He always stopped by to see her. After the way these women had been talking she wished he hadn’t.
One of the women sniggered as Amy rang up their purchases. Her hand was shaking, and she heard him walking closer to the counter.
“He’s the one she’s having an affair with,” one of them whispered. Amy felt the heat fill her cheeks at their rudeness.
“Ladies, I know I’m not considered a proper member of CapeFalls, so I don’t see a need to be polite. Talking about someone while they’re standing right in front of you is f**king rude.”
Amy gasped at his cursing. None of the men talked down to these women in the community. They were respected members.
“How dare you?”
“I dare because, the way I see it, two respected women condone domestic violence, and I’ve seen one too many cases where the woman has been beaten to death because of her husband. It’s so nice to see two women like yourselves who believe a man should raise his fist.”
The women paled, and Amy wanted to curl up in a ball. She hated people talking about what happened with Steven. Her life with him had ended a year and a half ago. No one had a right to question her. She handed them their bags.
“Get the f**k out,” Gabriel said.
Amy watched them disappear with their heads held high.
“You know you’re going to be the main subject of afternoon lunch. They’ll be talking about that awful new Sheriff who doesn’t know how to control his language.” She picked up a cardboard box filled with clean clothes and moved to one of the stands.
“I couldn’t help it. Women like that piss me off and have done for a long time.”
“Then why did you move to capeFalls? Everyone here is like that,” she said. Gabriel was a contradiction to her. In one moment he made her feel safe, and in the next he made her feel a little uncomfortable. He was over six feet tall and made of muscles. There was not an ounce of fat on his profile. His arms were as thick as one of her legs. She knew he was strong as she remembered him carrying her out to his truck on the night that Steven almost killed her.
Her hand trembled as she placed it on a hook and then on the stand. His blond hair fell down in waves to his neck. She never thought she’d like a man with long hair, but on Gabriel it looked right. His blue eyes were always filled with kindness for her. She’d seen the hatred he held for the other women.
“The city is not a place to settle down.”
“And you think here is?” She looked over her shoulder and gave a startled cry at how close he was.
“If you hate it so much why do you stay?” he asked.
“I’ve nowhere else to go.”
He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. The act was so touching she felt like she was going to cry.
“You should never feel you have nowhere to go.” He cupped her cheek, and the spark inside her body scared her. She’d never experienced anything like it when Steven touched her. “Where are your kids today?” he asked.
She needed to focus, which was hard to do when he was touching her.
“They’re at playschool. My parents won’t have anything to do with me, and Steven’s won’t talk to me. I’m picking the kids up at five.”
He ran his thumb along her lip, and she could do nothing but stare into his eyes.
“I’ll pick you up at four-thirty from here, and we’ll go together to get some pizza,” he said.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know. I want to spend some time with you, Amy. I think your children like me, and I know they love pizza.”
Amy smiled thinking about her two children. They were twins, and they liked Gabriel more than they liked their own father.
“Okay. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
Gabriel pulled away leaving behind the heat of his touch.
Amy watched his walk out of the shop. Her hear pounded inside her chest. She should not be having feelings for an older man. Her life was already messed up. One failed marriage and two kids were more than enough for her. She wasn’t twenty-four yet, and her life had gone from shit to worse since she’d started dating Steven.
****
Gabriel walked out of the shop. There was a chill in the air, and he pulled the collar of his jacket up as he walked down the street. Amy always bought out the protective instincts inside him. She was so fragile, and he knew she would break if left alone. If it hadn’t been for the few people who were now outcasts in the town befriending her then she would have folded months ago.
On his walk back to the station, he gained a few cold hard stares, which he didn’t care about. The city may have given him the anonymity that he craved, but CapeFalls gave him the peace and quiet he wanted. He disliked the fact people knew who he was, but at least he got to live a quiet life. In his forty-five years, he’d seen too much death and destruction for his liking. He didn’t want to think about the number of women he’d seen on cold hard slabs in the morgue. If it hadn’t been for her little boy calling the Sheriff’s department and his answering the call when he did, Amy would have become another statistic.
What sickened him the most was the number of people who thought Amy had been lying. He’d carried her out to his truck with her little kids following after she’d been beaten to a bloody pulp.
She’d weighed nothing in his arms, her body nothing but skin and bones. When he’d gone back to the house, he’d discovered the locks on the doors and fridge where the food was stored. Gabriel had asked Steven about the locks. The other guy had smirked and said he didn’t want to f**k a fatty. Her husband had been under the impression he was going home. The f**ker had been in for a surprise when Gabriel bought charges against him and locked his ass up. The guy was serving five years in prison.
From the moment he met her, Gabriel had felt something for the younger woman. Over the last year he’d seen her bloom and open up to him. She needed someone in this world who wanted to care about her. Gabriel wanted to love her. He knew she wasn’t ready for the way he felt. The fact that she let him touch her was an improvement. In the early days of them knowing each other, she spent most of her time trying to put distance between them.
He got into the station and ignored the stares of his employees. They had no idea who he was and what he was capable of. In the city he’d turned into a violent man in order to protect the people in his area. If the need arose, he would kill someone.