THE MARK OF A FALLEN ANGEL

Chapter 4.

Tell Me The Truth
Gabriel jumped into the car, slammed his door shut with a little too much force and started driving.
I stared at him. His jaw was clenched, his features were tense, his body was sort of shaking, and his hands gripped the steering with so much strength it was unbelievable.
Plus he was driving like a maniac.
My hands were shaking like crazy. And I was stupidly confused. How did Gabriel know where I was? The road was empty, I didn’t tell anyone about the date except for my dad and my brother but my brother didn’t know where we were going. And even though my dad was protective, he wouldn’t send Gabriel in to look over me…
And what the hell happened with Tommy?
Why did it look like he was getting strangled? Gabriel was no where near him.
Gabriel turned at a corner onto a dirt road.
Where were we going?
We came into a small circled clearing when he stopped the car and jumped out abruptly. My eyes travelled to the steering wheel and they almost bugged out. His fingers had made large dent marks. How bloody hard could he have been holding on?
I got out of the car but almost dropped. My legs were almost jelly. He immediately came toward me and held his hands on my waist to steady me. He still looked horribly pissed when he took a couple of steps back and started walking around the clearing.
I took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself down. I was still shaking over the fact I was almost violated by a seemingly nice and very attractive boy. Can’t judge a book by it’s cover I suppose…
Gabriel suddenly punched a tree and said, “Is that all you can think about? Do you not give a damn that you were almost forced to have sex with that… that asshole.”
My eyes widened and my mouth gaped open.
“Were you thinking about how ‘attractive’ he was when he was touching you? Did you enjoy it? Did you prefer it if I never turned up?” He growled at me.
I looked at the tree he punched and a nice large chunk dangling by the skin of its teeth. My God…
He started pacing again. He was breathing heavier.
How did he know I was thinking that? That wasn’t possible, it wasn’t. The moon was lighting the clearing perfectly. Gabriel looked so… dream like. Not the right time to think about that but still.
He looked at me as he paced.
Oh, crap I forgot he can hear me- Can he really hear me? I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
I tried to empty my mind.
I finally gathered enough strength and walked up to him. There was only one way to calm him down. I put my arms around his neck and leaned my forehead against his.
“Calm down,” I whispered. “Please.”
His arms encircled my waist and he shut his beautiful neon blue eyes. His body wasn’t as tense anymore. He was definitely more relaxed. He sighed and his cool breath brushed against my cheeks.
“Thank you, Gabriel.” I whispered.
His eyes opened slowly.
And his lips pressed to mine.
My eye lids felt heavy, they dropped on their own accord. I wasn’t confused anymore. This felt so right. But why? Gabriel has been my best friend for years and I’d never thought of him in that way… Okay, that was a bald-faced lie. A few times he’d caught me staring at him whenever I wondered what it would have been like if I’d let myself see him differently. Even as his mouth moulded to mine, for some reason I felt like he was made for me.
His lips slowly parted mine as his tongue slid in deepening the kiss. Whoa. I actualy gasped. How could he kiss… like this? I melted slightly into him as I moved my hands down his neck, ending on his Adonis sculptured chest.
That’s when I remembered.
He’d obviously heard my train of thoughts because he broke the kiss by saying, “Don’t,”
I ignored him and started unbuttoning his shirt. He didn’t stop me. It didn’t take me long to do it because of it only being half buttoned. When I finished I stared at his six pack and the small hair trail going into the waist band of his jeans for a millisecond before pulling his shirt off.
I gasped at his right side.
The marks I felt on his arm looked like a tattoo but it was brown. It was in the shape of a tribal tattoo. I touched his right ab. It didn’t feel like one. It was raised; like it was placed on him. It spread out slightly on his chest but most of the patterns were on his shoulder and the top half of his arm. I touched it all.
I tried to turn him around so I could see his back but he stopped me.
“What is this?”
He frowned.
“Gabriel, what the hell is this? A tattoo? I’ve never seen one like this before.”
“It’s-”
“If you say nothing I will kick your ass.” I said seriously.
He chuckled.
“Gabriel, you basically strangled Tommy without touching him, you can hear my thoughts, and you have some crazy tattoo covering your right side. There is absolutely nothing you can’t tell me that will surprise me. Unless you’ve joined a cult. Then that will be shocking.”
He laughed without humour. “Trust me, there is so much I can’t tell you it’s breaking me into pieces.”
I put my hands on either side of his face. “Please tell me.”
He moved backwards so he was at least a couple of yards away from me. “I can’t tell you.”
Looking at his marks from afar, it looked so much like a tattoo. “Gabriel, I’m not going to push you into telling me anything. But I know now that there is something going on and it’s completely… weird.”
He nodded.
“Can you at least tell me two things?”
He became guarded.
“Can you read my mind?”
He smiled and nodded.
Not normal. The thought was like a flashing alarm going over and over again in my head. I shook it away and asked, “Can I read yours?”
He furrowed his eyebrows. “I’m not entirely sure. When you answered my question earlier today I thought it. I didn’t say it out loud.”
He thought that?
“Whoa…” I paused before I started laughing nervously.
He looked at me as if I were crazy.
“Shit like this doesn’t happen, Gabe. We live in North Carolina for goodness sakes and this fantasy crap never happens.”
He nodded and joined in with his own bout of nervous laughter. “Fantasy is so much different to reality, Alexis.”
“I know. One more thing. What are those marks?”
He sighed. “I told you I can’t tell you. I will only say that this thing is hereditary.”
My eyes widened. “You mean your family has one too?”
He nodded and came forward for his shirt. “Yes we all have one in different places. Mine has been developing for a while now and it finished the day before the first day of school. It’s also bigger than theirs.”
That’s why he winced on Monday when I touched him. “How long has it been developing?”
He shrugged his shirt on. “No more questions, Lexie.”
I sat down on the ground and ran a hand through my hair. This is too much. I can’t believe this. I find out its possible for two people to converse telepathically, and the thing on his shoulder runs in the family.
“I’m sorry,” Gabriel said.
I sighed. “Is there any way to turn off the mind reading thing? I don’t exactly want you reading my every thought.”
He sat in front of me. “There’s a way. You just have to figure it out.”
…That’s helpful.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on keeping him out.
Can you hear me? I thought.
He stared at me blankly.
“Did you hear what I thought?”
He shook his head.
I sighed with relief. Maybe it’s easier than I thought.
A thought hit me. “Why is it I can hear your thoughts and you can hear mine? It doesn’t seem like you can hear anyone else’s. And I know I can’t hear anyone else.”
This question made him freeze. I didn’t understand why but I certainly wanted to.
“Gabriel?” I prompted.
He sighed. “I said no more questions.”
“I have one more. Maybe two,”
He looked frustrated now. “You said you only had two questions in the first place and you’ve asked me about four.”
I held up my hands in defeat. “I’m sorry but this is a lot to take in here.”
He crossed his arms over his broad chest.
“Were you strangling Tommy back there?”
He shrugged obviously unashamed. “Yeah.”
My eyes widened. “What the- How? You weren’t even near him?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Is that your second question?”
I shook my head fiercely. “No! It isn’t!”
He smiled a little.
“My last question is… How did you know I was there?”
He looked down at the grass so I waited.
He grabbed my hand and started looking at my palm. “You have a pure heart and soul, Alexis,” He said in a serious tone. “You’re beautiful, smart and loving. But you’re also kind, caring and thoughtful. You look at things with a different perspective to others. I like that,” His hand covered mine and he looked up. “Because of your pure heart and soul I can probably pick you out of a room of a thousand people. Maybe even more. But… That fear you felt when Tommy was near you,” His body tensed again. “It was unbearable. So I found you.”
“You could feel my fear?” I whispered.
He nodded. “I had to make it stop. I have to keep you safe.”
“It isn’t your job to keep me safe, Gabriel.”
“It is… Well, it used to be.” He said to me and both himself.
I held myself back from asking any more questions. I’ve asked him enough. But… He felt my fear. How?
I looked him over again.
So many things have changed over the years but this summer showed everything; his body, his scar that I’m going to call a birth mark, the loss of control and his temper. And then you have the supernatural stuff: the mind reading, the tracking and lifting his finger to strangle someone without even touching him.
I looked down at his feet only now realising that he was… bare foot? “Gabe, why are you bare foot?”
Even though it seemed like a simple question, he became guarded all over again. “I came from home…” He said a little unsure.
I shrugged. He could have had time to put some form of shoes on though. “Okay then.”
He looked up at me and sighed.
“Thank you, Gabriel,” I said to him. “I don’t know and don’t want to think about what would have happened if you didn’t turn up.”
He gave me a tender smile.
I leaned over and gave him a hug. He chuckled and squeezed me but I made sure not to squeeze too hard because of his birth mark.
I pulled back and ran a hand through his soft dark brown hair. I realised now that I was completely sitting on his lap.
He pulled me down and touched my lips to his.
If this were a couple of years back I probably would have back handed him. But thank god it wasn’t.
I wrapped my arms around his neck. His tongue ran across my lower lip; I parted mine letting him in and held him closer. He started leaning backwards so his back hit the soft grass and I was on top of him.
My blood was boiling and my heart was thumping so hard against my ribcage I felt like it was going to explode. The only noise filling my ears were the light ruffles of the trees overhead and the sound of crickets and other insects.
I pulled back a little and giggled against his lips.
“What?” He asked curiously.
I lifted my hands to either side of his face. “Did you loose control again?”
He chuckled.
I smiled. “You’ve been my best friend for a long time. I would have never thought this would happen.”
His arms tightened around me. “What? You finally in my arms?”
I raised a brow. “Finally?”
He smirked. “I said no more questions, Lexie.”
I groaned and leaned my head to his. “You just gonna leave me hanging?”
“Yep,” He said popping the p.
I lay my head down on his chest and closed my eyes.
I felt a little bit sleep deprived for some reason. I didn’t know what time it was but it must be quite late.
“Gabriel?” I asked half asleep.
“Hmm?”
“What am I to you?” I asked sleepily.
He paused before he said,
“You’re my angel.”