Page 13 of Unrequited Sloth

GABRIEL

Gabriel was feeling rough, and he was thankful he’d switched to soft drinks around midnight and then bowed out at two o’clock. Those straight boys could drink. Given he was repping for the gays, Gabriel had made sure he wasn’t the first to leave, and the “painkillers and gallon of water before he went to bed” trick seemed to have worked its magic. He could handle feeling a little worse for wear, as long as he didn’t have the headache part.

After a quick shower, he headed down to the breakfast buffet. There was no sign of Bobby, but some of his friends were at a table, so he walked over to them.

“Morning.”

They all looked at him in unison, without speaking, which was creepy.

“Have you seen Bobby this morning?”

“He’s out with Dillon for the day,” said one guy, whose name Gabriel couldn’t remember.

“Oh, I thought we were go-karting later?”

“Speed car racing. We’re not fucking children.”

His tone took Gabriel aback, but he put it down to everyone being hungover.

“Is that still happening, then?” asked Gabriel, hoping they’d say it had been cancelled. It wasn’t really his thing, and he’d rather spend the day by the pool before the drinking started again.

“Why wouldn’t it be happening?”

“You said he was out with Dillon for the day.”

“They’ll be back by lunchtime.”

Not wanting to speak to these guys anymore, he walked away and found a table by himself. The whole thing had been uncomfortable. The speed car racing was not until two o’clock, so he could enjoy some pool time. Gabriel might be in a people-focused job, which he loved, but he enjoyed his alone time as well. He could text Bobby later and find out where they were all meeting.

It was only fifteen degrees outside, but their hotel had three indoor pools. One of them was a quiet, adults only one, which suited Gabriel. He had his tablet, which housed a gazillion unread books on it. The pool was heated, so he got in and swam a few lengths before getting out, lying on a lounger, and scrolling through his book library. He had a lot of romance titles, which he wasn’t feeling today. It would just remind him of how single he was. He had the new Leo Reid book too, which was part of a crime series. The lead female detective was fabulous, plus his books were always at least four hundred pages, so that would keep him busy for a while.

After ten minutes of reading, he heard familiar voices. Looking up, he saw the guys from breakfast. They were talking loudly, which earned them a few looks from others. So much for peace. Gabriel wasn’t sure if he should wave at them, but they were heading to the other side of the pool, so hopefully they wouldn’t see him, as he was lying down. He went back to his book. If they noticed him, he could just say he’d been engrossed in his book. These weren’t friends of his, but they were important people to Bobby, so he could be polite when necessary. At this moment, it wasn’t necessary.

Gabriel cringed when they screamed and bombed into the pool like teenage hooligans. They then started to play fight and splash around. He glanced over his tablet and saw other people getting out.

“Excuse me, this is the quiet pool,” said an American guy, who looked to be in his seventies.

“Chill out, grandpa. We’re only swimming. It’s fucking freezing outside and the other pool has a load of cunt kids in it.”

Gabriel felt mortified that he could be associated with these people, given that he was also British. The gasps around the pool reminded Gabriel that the C-bomb might be used as an adjective at home, but in the States it was deeply offensive. The old man stormed off somewhere, probably to get security. Gabriel decided that was his cue to leave, but he had to think how to do it without being seen. He pulled his stuff together, but the next words he heard stopped him dead.

“Do you think Dillon’s telling Bobby right now about him and Alex?” said one guy. The same one who had basically slapped his dick on the table this morning when talking about cars.

What. The. Fuck!

“He needs to do it soon. The wedding’s in two weeks,” said another.

“She’s his fiancé. It’s on her, not for Dillon to be the bad guy.”

Gabriel felt his stomach churn. This couldn’t be happening. His sister had form, so of course it could happen, but Gabriel thought she’d grown up. She’d never been engaged before, so when Bobby proposed, Gabriel assumed he was the one. Now it seemed she was up to her old tricks, and not with some random person, but Bobby’s best friend.

“It’s been going on since Halloween. You think they would have said something by now,” said the dick guy. “Why are we even here?”

“Tickets were non-refundable, so no point in missing out on a holiday, is there?”

They all laughed and started splashing about. Gabriel took that as his opportunity to leave. He couldn’t get away from the pool quickly enough. What the fuck was he supposed to do? His head spun. The first thought he had was to speak to his sister. He needed to hear her side of things. He couldn’t trust a word those guys said. Dubai was eleven hours ahead, so it would be Saturday night there. Hopefully, she wasn’t already drunk.

Once he was back in the privacy of his room, he paced around a bit, trying to calm himself down. His first thought was how devastated Bobby was going to be. The man loved the bones of his sister. He just had to call and hear it from her. He pulled his phone out and called her mobile. She didn’t answer, so he tried again. It was ringing out, but she was one of the few people in the world who didn’t have her phone permanently on silent. It wasn’t switched off, so he kept trying. On the fourth ring, she answered.