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Chapter Forty-Three

Gabriel

I refuse to give up.

It’s been a full week since Storm left, and I can’t stop thinking about him and wondering where he is. I have no idea how to find him, or where to even begin looking for him. There isn’t much I know about his life, and I’m so angry with myself for not learning more.

I’ve already been by the living facility. They told me Storm was here and requested his mother be taken off life support. He signed all the paperwork and then he left. He didn’t even stay with her when she passed… I’m not sure they were supposed to tell me any of that, but I’m glad they did. Not that it gave me any answers, but at least I have something to piece together.

I am going to find him. I have to. Even if he tells me he doesn’t want to be with me or want anything to do with me, I need to try. I should have gone after him that night, and I didn’t. It’s what he wanted me to do. I know it down to my bones. I failed him, and I can’t live with that. So I’m going to find him, tell him everything, and hope for the best.

I’ve laid out everything I know about him in my office. I bought a giant white board that I hung on the wall and I’ve been making notes. There aren’t many. What I keep leaning toward is his friend, Dominic. I recall the wedding and his full name—Dominic Blake. He’s an adult content creator too, and I’ve already checked out his page, but there isn’t a way to message him on his page. I spent more time on that page than I’d like, have seen more of him and his husband than I’d like… and it was all for nothing. It was a dead end.

I don’t have social media, but I created accounts just to look for him. Storm Andrews doesn’t exist there. Neither does Dominic Blake, Mikah Blake, or Mikah Reed—yeah, I recalled his maiden name. But it’s not doing me any good. No matter what I do, I hit a dead end and I’m running out of roads to take.

My phone rings from my desk. I know who it is, but I can’t help but wonder if it’s him. His phone has been off since he left. I try every day, multiple times a day. All calls go straight to voicemail. When I reach my phone, disappointment floods me, even though it’s exactly what I expected.

“Hey, Marta.”

“How are you doing, Gabriel?” she asks gently.

“I’ve been better,” I answer honestly.

“No luck?”

“No luck.” I sit in my desk chair, leaning back and closing my eyes.

“Well, I’ve decided to give you your Christmas present early.”

It’s very early, considering Thanksgiving hasn’t passed yet.

“I’m not in the mood for gifts, Marta.”

“You’ll be in the mood for this one. Check your email.”

“Marta—”

“Check your email,” she says sternly.

I open my laptop and when the screen comes up, I enter my password then navigate to my email. There is a bunch of junk, but through it, I spot the one from Marta. The title says Merry Christmas.

I double click to open it. The body of the email has nothing but another Merry Christmas , but there’s an attachment, so I click on that to open it.

“Did you open it yet?” she asks.

“Doing it now.”

It’s a PDF that opens to my browser. I’m not sure what I’m looking at until I focus on the bits and pieces of information on the page. Name. Birth date. Address. Previous address. Employer.

“Marta…”

“Merry Christmas, Gabriel. That should be enough information, right?”

“I don’t understand,” I breathe out, scrolling down the page to look at the rest of the info listed.

“You know Luiz’s brother is an active cop.”

I gasp. “This is illegal?” I ask in a whisper.

She laughs. “No, it isn’t illegal. I hired a private investigator.”

“A private investigator…”

“That’s right. So you can find your Thunder Storm. According to his bank account, he’s been having a lovely vacation—”

“On Kauai.”

“I wonder if that place has any special meaning to him…” she says knowingly.

I shake my head. How did I not consider this? Maybe because I hadn’t considered him caring. He has no reason to go there, no ties to that place, other than his friends getting married there and us spending the weekend there.

“I have to go,” I say softly, then jump to my feet. “I have to go.”

“Be safe, Gabriel. Go find your Thunder Storm.”

I pull the phone from my ear to end the call, but then quickly bring it back.

“Thank you, Marta. Seriously, I cannot thank you enough.”

“You’re so welcome, Gabriel.”

The call ends this time, and I sit back down as I look for a flight. I can’t be sure Storm is still on the island, but considering he was making transactions there just a few days ago, it’s a good place to look. And if he isn’t, I guess I’m just marking one more spot off my list, which is better than nothing.

The warm breeze brushes across my skin as I step out into the bright sun. I don’t have a plan, even though I had a long flight to think it over. The island isn’t huge, but it’s big enough that it’ll take me time to find him—if he’s even here. But I go off instinct, hoping like hell that it’ll serve me right.

I get a car to the hotel we stayed at for Dominic and Mikah’s wedding. As I make my way there, I can’t help but think how easy it is to take these ride shares. It was never something I would do before, but now that I’ve done it with Storm a few times, I realize it’s not so bad. I took one to the airport back home, after parking my car in the garage because hail was on the weather forecast, and I’ve already had shattered windshields thanks to that.

When I’m dropped off, I don’t go to the front desk. I go right to the elevator and up to the tenth floor. When the doors open, memories of the wedding night crash over me. I was drunk, but I remember so much of that night. Like trying to get into his pants in the hallway. Not able to keep my hands off him as he tried to open the door. The way he took control once we were inside, and the way he felt against me once we finally got naked.

Making my way down the hall, my feet move faster with each door that I pass. I stop in front of room 1021 and raise my hand to knock. I have no idea what I’m doing. This is crazy. The craziest thing I’ve ever done, I think. My hand falls to my side. What if he isn’t here? Or worse, what if he is? How psycho am I going to look? I came all the way here just to find him after he left.

He left. He hasn’t called me. That means he doesn’t want to talk to me. I shouldn’t have come. I should have just left this alone and gotten over it. But… I can’t do that. I won’t. I refuse to let this go until I know for sure that he doesn’t want to be with me. I need to hear those words. So, I raise my hand again, and this time I knock on the door firmly three times.