Someone… probably Alex… put an immeasurable amount of work into this. Or someone had Alex and wanted us to think he was dead.
Why?
I looked at Gabe. He was not the same as the man I’d married. There was no doubt in my mind. For the last six months Alex hadn’t been able to hide the evil lurking beneath the surface. He got off on scaring and fighting with me. While Gabe pretended to be Tack, and even now, his only concern had been me.
Why put all the effort into letting us think it was Alex when we already had a body that matched Gabe’s dental records? Were the partials used because that was the only part of Alex that matched Gabe? Alex had to pull his teeth from his mouth and put them in this man’s. Or someone pulled them. I shuddered at the thought.
The elevator ride to our floor was quiet. The tension between Gabe and Trent was palpable and had been since the hospital. While Bennett had said good-night to me, they’d stepped away for a brief conversation.
Gabe unlocked the hotel room door and it clicked open. Mercifully, we were back to my home away from home.
“Night, Trent.”
“Night, Willow.”
Before Trent closed the door, he said, “I think it should be Willow’s choice.”
My eyes darted between the two men as fury rolled over Gabe. “Trent, I’m warning you. Don’t.”
The darkness in Gabe’s voice wasn’t something to mess with, but Trent stood his ground. “I’m here to protect Willow. Finding out the truth protects her.”
Without another word, Trent turned and left. Both men radiated irritation. “What was that about?”
Gabe clenched and unclenched his fists several times as he in his reaction. He was giving nothing away. “Willow, I don’t want to go there. I need to think some things through.”
Now, I was getting irritated. This morning we had bridged the chasm between us. “Gabe… you’re the one constant I have right now. Don’t make me second-guess you. This morning you said our relationship was not about hiding things from each other. Let’s not lose the ground we’ve fought so hard to gain.”
He was silent as he stared into my eyes. The fact that he was debating on telling me something Trent believed I had a right to now had me boiling.
Enough!
If he wanted distance, I’d give it to him. Abruptly, I took my phone out to dial Trent.
“Willow?”
“Is there another room I can stay in?”
If Gabe was able to get more agitated, he managed to do it. He plucked the phone from my hand. “Willow won’t need another room.”
He clicked off the phone.
“You cannot—”
He took a step forward and I stood my ground. “No, you cannot, Willow. There is a fucking lunatic on the loose and you are not changing rooms because of some temper tantrum. I was going to tell you what Trent referenced, but I just needed to think it through.”
There was a knock at the door.
I went to the door as Gabe called my name. I opened it to Trent.
“Everything okay?”
The last thing I wanted was to leave during our argument since Gabe and I were in the process of working through it. Looking over my shoulder, Gabe appeared furious but remained silent.
“Yes. Everything’s fine. I’ll call if I still need the room.”
I shut the door and stormed passed Gabe to my bedroom.
“You’re not staying somewhere else.”
I got in his face. “I don’t need you censoring what I hear. It’s not your place. I’m not your wife, Gabe.”
Wife. I said wife. Oh shit. I hadn’t meant to throw that out there like that. We weren’t ready. The heat of the moment had me word vomiting again.
He turned and combed his fingers through his hair. “For fuck’s sake.” Pacing five agitated steps, he turned and faced me. His eyes were blazing. “You and I both know I would marry you in a heartbe