Page 11 of A Simple Mistake (Deadly Mistakes #1)

ELEVEN

Liam

Present

When I reach the diner, I slam the closed sign to open just as Tracy walks up in her server uniform.

“Dear god, you look like shit. What the hell did you do last night?” she asks.

“Brawled a serial killer,” I growl as I head toward the back.

“You’re hilarious. You know that? Always make me laugh.”

“So funny,” I say dryly.

I tried to sleep, but instead I obsessively kept an eye on anything that could relate to Gabriel as his cat screamed from the bathroom. I sent off my statement, but Michaels still sent Robinson to my house to make me state it again. I also handed over the knife I stabbed the killer with, though I doubt they’ll get anything from it after all the rain.

Really, all I care about is that Gabriel is in the hospital and that’s it. That’s the end of our story.

I will find the killer if the police don’t find him first, and I will cut him into little fucking pieces. And then I will go back to running this godawful diner. I grab a chair and fling it, which does nothing but make my side hurt and Tracy arch an eyebrow.

“What did that chair do to you?”

“I hate everything. I’m closing the diner. Burn it down for all I care,” I decide.

“Like… closing it for today… or like… I need a new job because those are vastly different.”

“I just want him to love me,” I say.

She looks startled. “Oh… uh… I mean… maybe like take him some flowers or something? That’s a sweet thing to do. Burning a diner down to proclaim your love is weirdly less sweet.”

“Flowers?” I ask.

“Yeah. Unless he hates flowers. Then maybe chocolate. Something sweet that’s just like ‘Hey, I’m thinking of you.’ You know?”

No, I don’t know. To me the most romantic thing I could do would be to dice up the killer and present Gabriel with the body, but I’m not dumb enough to think he’d enjoy any part of that. I, on the other hand, would find it extremely romantic.

“Chocolates and flowers.” And no body. “Okay. If it doesn’t work, you’re fired.”

“Why the hell would I be fired?” she asks in disbelief.

I head out the door, leaving her to deal with shit, before I get back in my car and drive to the local flower shop.

“Can I help you?” the woman behind the counter asks, but my eye is already on some fresh-cut roses with sprigs of green shit and random other things tucked with them. Each flower is a mixture of red and white that immediately drew my attention to them, so I point to the bouquet.

“I want that.”

“Okay, of course. Do you want a vase with it? We also have cute little bears that wrap around the vases,” she suggests as she holds one up to show me.

It’s literally the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen in my life with its overly large eyes and fuzzy ears, which tells me that Gabriel will love it.

“Fine, wrap as many around a vase as will fit.”

“Oh… so… more than one?”

“The uglier the better,” I say.

She seems unsure but manages to fit three around it. I quickly pay and rush over to a chocolate shop two doors down where I get him the most expensive chocolate I can find. Then I hurry home for a moment before I drive to the hospital he’s staying at. I only know where because I threatened Robinson last night.

I take the elevator to the room and find a police officer standing guard outside of it. She smiles when she sees me. “Hey, Paige.”

“I’m going in to see Gabriel,” I say. This is not a question.

“I’m sorry, no one without a badge is allowed in,” she tells me, looking apologetic.

Anger spikes inside of me but I tamp it down. “You know who I am. I was literally the one who saved his life yesterday. Are you really going to claim I can’t go in? You think I risked my life to save him just so I could off him in a hospital bed?”

“I’m sorry, Paige. I know you saved him, but rules are rules.”

I step up close to her. “Is that what you say before you fuck Sergeant Michaels while his kids play soccer with yours?”

She freezes.

My god, I love dirty little secrets and the results they get me.

She reaches back and even opens the door for me. What a sweetheart.

The door shuts behind me and I stop when I see that Gabriel is asleep. The white blankets are pulled up tight, but one arm hangs out from under them. His handsome face is bruised and swollen. His wrist is bandaged but I can see the bruises peeking out from beneath it.

Quietly, I walk over, and I set the vase and chocolate down on the table by his bed as I stare down at him. I want to touch him. I want to feel him. I want him to be mine.

Something drives me forward as I slowly set my knee on the bed and when he doesn’t stir, I climb up onto it and lie down beside him, tucking my face against his chest and wrapping my arm around him.

He’s mine. He’s mine.

But he’s not…

Though for just a moment… I can pretend.

“I didn’t know you were clingy,” Gabriel says, voice quiet.

“You don’t know a lot about me,” I respond, not wanting to get up. “I brought you flowers and chocolate. They’re supposed to signify that I like you or some human bullshit.”

“Because you’re not a human as well,” he says as he opens his eyes and looks over at them. “Did you pick the red and white ones because they look like they’re coated in blood?”

“Maybe.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“So you’ve told me,” I say. “I promised I’d never see you again.”

“You did.”

“But I have to break our promise so I can kill him.”

Gabriel tenses. I can feel it, and I know he wants me to leave, but I don’t want to.

“Fuck,” I growl as I start to push off him, but his hand snags my shirt, and I can’t sit up without pulling against him. The look on his face makes me think that his hand betrayed him, but he’s hard to read.

“You need to stop him before he kills more people. He’s not going to stop,” he says, sounding anxious.

“I’ll kill him. I promise I’ll kill him.”

He shakes his head. “No… as a detective.”

Why would he shackle me like this?

“Gabriel—”

“As a detective,” he repeats sharply, but there’s a catch to his voice. “You will find him.”

Why is he the only man who can talk me into anything? I’m confident he could persuade me to jump off a cliff just by looking at me right.

“That is the only way,” he says, and I don’t know what that means. That’s the only way I’m allowed to kill the man who hurt him? That’s the only way he’ll forgive me? That’s the only way he’ll let me back into his life?

And I realize that I’ll do it. Even if it means just another moment with him, I’ll do it. He’s putting me on a leash. But I’ll be his pet dog. I will bite only on his command.

“Fine,” I say as I take his hand in both of mine and run my fingers down it until I get to the very tip of his index finger. I gently trace my finger over his.

“What is with your obsession with fingerprints?” he asks.

“I like how unique they are. Each one tells a different story.”

“And what do yours tell?”

I glance up and catch his eyes watching me closely. “The story of a man who will tear this world apart for you.”

“Why me?”

“I’ve asked myself that very question again and again.”

“I…” Gabriel shakes his head. “I don’t know that I can forgive you. I don’t know that I can look past what you’ve done… what you are .”

I don’t even care. I don’t care about anything at this moment but the feel of his fingers in mine. Because this is better than a life without him in it.