I sit up and swing my feet over the edge of the mattress, standing up like a zombie. I need to find Gabriel.
When I open my bedroom door, I can hear Alanna talking to someone in the kitchen as I shuffle down the hall.
Gabriel is leaning up against the counter, waiting for a pot of coffee to brew. Alanna is sitting at the kitchen table talking his ear off about Nathan. They both turn and look at me as I approach.
“What the hell!” Alanna shoots up and stomps across the kitchen, grabbing me by the arm to inspect my bruise.
“Who did this to you?” she demands.
“Alanna.” I shake her hand off my arm. “I’m fine. It’s Gabriel I was worried about, look at his head. We were attacked last night, walking home from dinner.”
“Oh my God,” she gasps. “Are you serious? What happened?”
I walk towards Gabriel and curl into his arms. He leans down and kisses me, stroking my back as I explain.
“It happened so fast.” I shudder, remembering the thud as Gabriel fell to the ground in front of me. “Two men came up behind us and hit him in the head with something. They were trying to rob us.”
I look up at Gabriel for reassurance, and he pulls me closer. “And then I made it worse,” I mumble.
“What? How?” Alanna asks.
“She was trying to help,” Gabriel interjects. “But one of them turned on Victoria and attacked her.”
“Oh my God, Toto!” Alanna lunges forward and pulls me into a bear hug. “Attacked you how? Did he touch you? I swear to God if someone else hurt you like that again…”
I cringe as Gabriel shoots Alanna a questioning glance. She realizes her mistake immediately and silently begs me for forgiveness.
“What do you mean?” he asks in a low voice. “Again?”
“I’m fine.” I groan in frustration. “Everybody just needs to relax. Nothing happened and I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“I’m sorry,” Alanna whispers.
Gabriel pulls me back to him, enclosing me in his arms. I can tell he’s irritated by another secret, but there isn’t much I can do about that.
“I know you said you’re fine,” he says stiffly. “But you might not feel that way later. I don’t want you being left alone for a while.”
“I can guarantee you she will not be left alone,” Alanna assures him.
“I don’t need to be babysat.” I scold them both.
“Well, it won’t be for long anyway,” Gabriel announces. “I want to take you away for the weekend. We can leave tonight, just as soon as I’ve wrapped up some loose ends at work.”
“What?” I blink in surprise. “But Alanna…”
Alanna holds up her hand. “No, Victoria. Don’t worry about me. I can stay with Nathan. And I think you should go, it would be good to get away for a couple days.” She looks at Gabriel sternly. “As long as you promise to take care of her.”
“Always.” He smiles, kissing me on the temple.
“But where will we go?” I ask nervously.
“I have a place, it’s only a couple hours from here. Nobody knows I have it. It will just be you and me for the weekend.”
I can’t stop the grin from creeping across my face. That sounds blissful.
***
Gabriel leaves a couple hours later after making me promise that I wouldn’t go to work today. He arranges to pick me up at 5:00 pm sharp this evening and tells me to pack light, whatever that means. He has no clue how women work.
Alanna has been following me all over the apartment like a puppy dog, driving me crazy. So I have a long hot shower just to get some peace. When I get out I ask her if she wants to go shopping with me since I want to get a couple things for this weekend.
As we walk down the street, I start to relive last night’s events and my stomach churns. Maybe Gabriel was right. I’m glad he was so overprotective this morning, and even more thankful that Alanna is by my side.
“I still can’t get over what happened to you last night, Toto.”
“I know,” I croak. “It was scary. I was so worried about Gabriel… I couldn’t see what was happening to him, and I didn’t know if he was okay or not.”