“My car!” I cried.
“Are you sure this is where you parked it?”
“Yes!” I could hear voices in the distance. “What the f**k?! Why are they still looking for you?”
“Gabrielle, this is an illegal gathering and there are important people here. We just snuck out the f**king window. That may cause them some concern.”
“Well, then we have no choice.” I took out my phone.
“Who are you calling?” Cam asked.
“The police. We’re about to give them an anonymous tip.” I called it in and we set off on foot trying to get as far away as possible before the cops arrived and raided the place. We ran until we were all out of breath. Finally, we paused to rest in an alleyway.
“Okay,” Mark panted. “I say we call a cab from here.”
“Hey! Isn’t that your car?!” Jess cried. I looked up. It was the Mini Cooper about three blocks away! Somebody had just boosted it for a joyride! We ran toward it and dove in. I pulled away with my tires squealing and headed home. Fifteen minutes later the four of us, bedraggled and sweating, were staggering into the lobby of our building, when I heard a voice. Oh shit. Ricky was home early from the club.
“And I thought the garbage was good,” Adam said, sounding amazed.
“Gabrielle?!” You know, I had never actually heard Braden sound incredulous before. “Why are you dressed like that?!” He looked over at Cam. “Why are you dressed like that?!”
“Mark? Is that you?” Adam asked, cracking up. “Nice shorts, man.” It wasn’t long before he was actually doubled over with laughter. I hoped that he peed himself.
“Baby! What the f**k are you doing now?!” Braden was not laughing.
“There’s an explanation for this,” I said in a timid voice.
“Does it involve something kinky that you and Cameron were doing together?”
“No!” All four of us started trying to explain at once.
“Let’s go up to your place,” Braden said loudly over the top of the noise. This was also the first time I had heard him sound absolutely furious.
We all got on the elevator rather uncomfortably and rode in silence as a MUZAK version of Send in the Clowns played in the background. We entered my apartment to the sounds of joyful yips. At least Bruno was happy to see me. We went into the living room where everyone sat down and Bruno jumped up by Braden. He was happier to see him. I think that Bruno had clued into the fact that Daddy was the more stable parent.
“I know that you’re probably going to beat the shit out of me, Braden, and I accept that,” Mark said, sounding resigned. “But if it makes any difference, I did everything that I could under the circumstances to keep her safe.”
“He did!” I backed him up. “This wasn’t his fault. I made him do it.”
“And I want you to know that Gabrielle and I didn’t do anything together,” Cam said desperately. “I swear to God, Braden! I didn’t touch her!”
“So, why are you dressed like that?”
“Because we were trying to get a handwriting sample,” he explained.
“And for that you had to dress like one of the Village People?” Adam asked.
“The person whose sample we needed was at an underground sex party,” Jess offered helpfully.
“At a what?!” I had also never heard Braden yell before.
“She didn’t go in!” Mark said in a panicked voice. “Only Jess and I did. They just wore costumes in case they had to come in to help us.”
“Help you to do what?!”
“Get out after I spanked Cole Stephenson into giving the sample,” she answered.
“The state congressman?” Adam asked. “Wow, Gabrielle, you really are dangerous.”
“That’s all I did – when they crawled out the window and the bouncers started coming after us – I told them where to run so that they could get away. That’s all.” My voice was starting to quaver. I hated seeing Braden this upset.
“Oh that’s all, huh?” Braden stood up and plowed his fingers through his hair and started pacing angrily. “You promised me that you wouldn’t knowingly put yourself in danger and you lied to me.”
“I didn’t lie to you! I didn’t think it would be dangerous!”
“Why would you even do this?”
“Because you and my parents are worried about me. I didn’t want you to worry. I honestly believed that either Marla or Cole or possibly Mrs. Mason was the anonymous letter writer. I figured if I just had a little proof I could tell them to back off.”
“Why couldn’t you just have told me that, or told the police that?”
“Because if you had them investigated it could cause a backlash for you and your family. I didn’t want to see that happen over a couple of stupid notes.”
“A couple? You got more than one?”
“I didn’t want you to worry. I thought that if I told you that I had gotten another one, and I told you who I suspected, you might do something rash.”
“I might do something rash?! You went to a f**king orgy dressed like the fifth member of KISS!”
“My plan worked! We got the handwriting sample from Cole!”
“Did you know that Marla’s a call girl by the way?” Jess asked.
“She’s a what?!”
“Don’t worry about that now!” I glared at Jess. “I just wanted to find a way to make the letter writer leave me alone so that you wouldn’t worry. I love you and I don’t want to cause you stress.” Finally his expression softened a little.
“Well, I happen to love you too and if you don’t want to cause me stress then you can try actually talking to me rather than assuming that you know how I’ll react to something. From now on, and I mean this, Gabrielle, you will not keep this kind of information from me. Do you understand?”
“Yes. Braden, baby, I’m so sorry.”
“Do you promise me?”
“Yes. I promise you.”
He paced some more and raked his fingers through his hair some more. We all sat quietly, not wanting to say anything to make him any more agitated. Finally he stopped pacing and turned to face me with a very determined look.
“Okay, you really want to make sure that I don’t worry about you?”
“Yes, of course.”
“And you love me?”
“Yes! So much.” I could feel tears start to sting my eyes.