“You are my best friend's boyfriend, Gabriel.”
“Ex–boyfriend,” he corrected.
“Whatever. It still changes everything,” she wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly feeling tiny underneath his scorching gaze.
“It changes nothing, Joslyn,” he took a step closer to her. “Nothing at all.”
She looked up into his eyes, sweet honey orbs colliding with the coral combinations of greens and blues. The colour harmony couldn't be more explosive.
Clearing her throat, she looked away from his captivating imprisonment of a gaze before straightening her posture to match one of confidence and determination, a total contrast to the tornado of feelings overwhelming her insides. His proximate presence was making her feel weak in the knees.
“No matter what, I refuse to betray Sigourney. It is an unspoken rule between best friends to not have anything to do with each other's exes. You're off limits, Gabriel.”
“Fuck such rules! Whether they're ‘unspoken’,” he gestured in an air-quote, “or in the fucking constitution, I don't give two fucks about that bullshit. And I am not off limits, Jos. Lapointe can not decide that. Only I can.”
He moved impossibly closer, backing her up against the frigid marble top of the kitchen counter. “I want you, Joslyn. And I always get what I want,” his voice turned husky.
“That doesn't apply to me.” She struggled to keep her voice within the range of normalcy, only to amount to naught.
“I always get what I want,” he reiterated firmly. At this rate, he was all up in her face, completely violating every goddamn rule regarding personal space.
“Why bother fighting it?” He lifted his hands to caress her face slowly, feeling her smooth and silken skin tingle under the mercy of his mere touch.
“Your eyes, your lips, your entire body, begs for my single touch.” He ran his other hand up her naked arm, feeling the goosebumps surfacing on her skin.
“Admit it. You're just as attracted to me as I am to you. You want me as much as I want you. Maybe even more,” his warm breath fanned her face, making her eyelids droopy.
His baritone voice was just the right amount of deep and husky. His voice was alluring. Like the melodies of a siren flowing into her ears, like the devil resting on her shoulder, whispering sweet words into her soul, Gabriel tempted her. His entire body screamed temptation. And she was falling gradually.
“I don't,” she croaked before clearing her throat. Gabriel smirked, knowing too well the effect he had on her. “Did I ever tell you that?” she retorted, squirming internally as she was well aware that her arguments and denials were all pointless.
“Your lips,” he fondled her bottom lip with his calloused thumb, tracing the very line that defined her Cupid's bow shaped mouth, “need not speak the words your eyes vividly portray, love.”
❀ ❀ ❀
C O P Y R I G H T
This book is solely a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, incidents and/or occurrences are products of the author's imaginations, and have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual person(s), living or dead, places or events is purely coincidental.
Her Strength Her Bane © 2023 by Laramie.
Published by O. A. F., writing under the pseudonym, Laramie.
All rights reserved. All parts of this book/publication are restricted to being reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form(s) or by any means — including but not limited to electronic, photocopying, mechanical, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the author/publisher. The only acceptable exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
|| Three Years Prior To The Present ||Being an air stewardess was very thrilling and exhilarating for someone as adventurous as Joslyn Patel, but unfortunately, as exciting as it was, it also bagged a lot of stress, lots of legwork, i.e. standing and walking around, lots of sweet smiles (whether faux or genuine, but mostly, faux) and lastly, lots and lots of jet lags.The belief that if you continued to do something perpetually, you would eventually grow accustomed to it, was a lie. A big one at that and Joslyn was a living witness. No one ever grows accustomed to jet lags. So, imagine the magnitude of irritation she truly felt when her best friend, Sigourney Lapointe, had tenaciously dragged her jaded and jet-lagged body down to the clubhouse, two hours after she had landed from a 50hr+ flight to and from Kathmandu, Nepal.Joslyn groaned loudly when the words, The Airliner, illuminated in neon lights at the entrance of the club blared in her line of sight. She had had enough of air
Sulking alone while seated at the bar, Joslyn sipped from a glass of water as she scrolled through her phone; precisely through the international dates and times application.Oddly, Joslyn sometimes liked to see how different countries in different regions and varied hemispheres had distinct times from one another. She didn't know if it was as a result of always traveling around, but the idea of the dissimilar time zones between countries always intrigued her.She had just finished informing her parents and twin brother, Joshua who was serving in the Canadian Marines but was currently on one of his rare military leave, of her arrival in their resident city, Vancouver, when the air suddenly shifted and she vaguely noticed someone settling two barstools away from her.From her peripheral vision, she could make out the person's figure; it was a guy or perhaps, a woman who had spent way too much time in the gym to possess such bulging muscles and towering physique even while seated.Befor
|| One Year Prior To The Present || Feeling the uncomfortable and seemingly neverending strain in his pants, Gabriel Nicholas Reid stood stiffly in front of the bulletproof, two-way floor to ceiling mirror glass doors standing between him and his personal office balcony, which overlooked the entire city of Vancouver, British Columbia. Trying awfully hard, but to no avail, he struggled to divert his attention from his carnal thoughts and on to the beautiful and vast view of the city displaying right before his very eyes. With the mountains to the North, the Pacific Oceans to the West and the huge Stanley Park right downtown, Vancouver was well known for its jaw-droppingly beauteous landscapes. And from where Gabriel currently stood, he could see the boundless space of the blue ocean lined with different sizes of ferryboats and yachts mooring by the docks. He could also see the lines and lines of smaller buildings stretching across the city as well as the bridge that connected his si
Silence settled heavily within the confines of the BMW sitting idly by the sidewalk, save for the occasional taps emanating from fingers flying across the Gorilla-glassed screen of his phone and the hullabaloo of the outside world.Gabriel sat in the driver's seat of his car, busy with his mobile as he waited for his girlfriend to emerge from her apartment complex. He was dressed casually, yet with an intention to impress, in a pair of fitted jeans snug against his manly thighs, a black undershirt and a similarly black leather jacket with a pair of Dr. Martens boots adorning his feet. A minute passed and Gabriel shifted his attention from his phone to his wristwatch, checking the time. An exasperated sigh escaped his lips as he looked toward the apartment building he was currently parked in front of. For over a half hour now, he had been waiting for Sigourney to come out but when she'd been busy taking her sweet time getting ready, he'd resorted to busying himself with sorting throu
The sound of balls hitting balls—or occasionally, wood—filled the otherwise dull room. A ways from where they were, music boomed loudly, making even the walls and floors of the VIP section of the club pulsate with each beat, regardless of the stark contrasting quietude settling in the room. The room was dark, save for the dim illumination from the pendant lights hanging from the ceiling of the bar and the faux LED flames licking up the walls of the room, casting the space in an intimate orange glow. Music rocked the rest of the club, swarming the building with liveliness, however, only occasional pong noises emanated from the pool table in the VIP room, filling the otherwise light silence.Gabriel sat, hunched over the bar counter, his hands holding the sides of his head, fingers lost in a forest of dark unruly strands, as he stared unblinkingly at his drink. Minutes idled by with absolutely no movement from Gabriel (not even the blink of an eye) but when the ice cubes in his amber c
Joslyn shambled out of her room and down into the living area, her gaze glued to the screen of the mobile phone in her hand. She had her bottom lip between her teeth, worrying the flesh as her deeply furrowed eyebrows marred her already fatigued countenance even more. Although it was now nearing noon and she had just woken up, having crashed almost immediately Sigourney and Gabriel left yesterday, her bones still felt like mush in her body and the skin beneath her eyes still housed dark circles with heavy eye-bags. Jet lag was a bitch.Sighing, Joslyn plopped onto her couch as she stared expectantly at her phone, awaiting a response to the text she had sent. No sooner had she sat down, did she stand up again and begin pacing, sifting her fingers through her silver strands with the roots being her natural ebony color. Her phone finally pinged and her gaze snapped to the device as she hastily opened the text and read. The hope in her eyes slowly dimmed then extinguished at her father'
“Fuck!”That, alongside a slew of other cusswords, seemed to have become Gabriel's favorite word or one-worded tagline in the past week since his unplanned visit to Joslyn's home.Gabriel admitted that that action of his had been stupid and risky of him to take, especially since his girlfriend, Sigourney, could have decided to visit her best friend that morning, not minding the fact that they'd already surprised her the day before.What reason would he have mustered to justify his presence there? What would he have said he was there for? And how would Sigourney have reacted, knowing her boyfriend came to visit her best friend behind her back?But luck had shone on Gabriel—a rare one, considering the fact that when it came to matters pertaining to Jos (whom he now knew the full name of: Joslyn), all he seemed to garner was bad luck because how else would he explain the happenings of the last two years revolving around her?How else would he explain developing a near addiction for the w
|| A Year Later (The Present) ||“Ladies and gentlemen, we have begun our final descent to Vancouver, British Columbia. In preparation for landing, please return to your seats, fasten your seatbelts, raise your tray tables and ensure your seat backs are in the upright and locked positions. Any personal belongings which may have been used during flight, please make sure they are secured in the overhead bin or underneath the seat in front of you.” Joslyn said as she stood on the aisle in the middle, her eyes scanning the passengers.When she looked satisfied with the fact that they were paying attention to her and already making adjustments, she continued.“Also, please make sure to pass any remaining service items and unwanted reading materials to the flight attendants as they will be making one last trip through the aisles to collect them. We will be landing soon. Thank you.”She smiled, earning a few ‘thank you’s and ‘you're welcome’s as she headed towards the jump seat stationed be