Chapter 5 Gabriel's debt

He was tired. Dog-tired. His heartbeat was just beginning to recover from a sweaty engagement of breath-ragged, hair-pulling, nail-scraping pleasure mere minutes ago, evening out and lulling him onward into the soothing darkness of sleep.

Unfortunately, he was yanked back from the calling darkness by the feel of soft feminine hands accompanied by flutters of kisses sliding along his chest.

He reluctantly opened his eyes to the annoying realization that the treat of the night was still in his bed. Yeah, he really was tired, because he usually saw to it that the source of his fleeting pleasure got lost the moment he found his release. His eyes skidded over the olive-skinned, platinum blonde making a meal of his chest, and his brain struggled to remember her name.

Nameless Blond pressed her plum lips against the middle of his chest and murmured in a sultry voice that caressed him in places he really preferred to remain inert at the moment, "I want more." A sigh flowed from him as he mentally kicked himself for almost falling asleep with a woman in his bed. "I'm done. Get dressed. Joel will take you home." The covers flipped back with a simple flex of his muscular arm, and he swung his feet to the red carpeted floor. With the heels of his hands, he rubbed the weight of sleep from his eyes. "Oh, you were great, by the way. Thanks."

"Thanks?" she asked, voice breaking. "That's it?"

Closing his eyes, he pinched the bridge of his nose. Telling a woman to leave more than once had never happened before.

"Pretty much. Thought you understood what this was."

When she just sat there still, staring at him, he full on glared. "Listen, girl, whatever the hell your name is, you need to get your ass up, and go."

Recognizing his seriousness, Nameless Blond hopped up from the bed and scrambled around on the carpeted floor, retrieving her clothes.

Appeased, he got up and strolled over to the floor-to-ceiling glass window of the hotel room, staring out at the bright city lights of California. The weak shade of light from the corner lamp silhouetted his tall, muscular frame in the darkness as he stood stark naked and pensive before the window. One by one, he cracked his knuckles, trying his damnedest not to think of her. He failed. Knuckle cracking no longer worked as a distraction. With every thought of her, his heart ached like a curse from hell. Its as if a bullet was left lodged right in the center of his heart, killing him slowly, painfully, surely.

Asher missed Frankie. She was his first and last love. Will he have another chance to heal his wounded heart?

How much longer? How much longer will it be before I can regain the missing half of my soul?

This marriage was only a deal for him. He wanted to make his parents happy by showing them he is a settled and married man and at the same time recovering his dues from Gabriel was very important. He was a businessman not running any institution for charity.

******

Gabriel was very happy with the offer he got. He could drink, party and gamble with the money he gets. The scum was a selfish and cruel father. All through his life, he had lived on the earnings of his daughter Phoenix and now it was Milana's turn.

Gabriel thought even if she doesn't convince Asher to be his long term wife, she would still return with a fancy balance in her bank account. All his dues to him would be nullified with this marriage. And maybe Asher would give him a free pass and free drinks in his club.

Gabriel went to Milana in euphoria and told her about his proposal to Asher. But as he expected Milana was not happy. On the contrary she shouted at her father for making such a crazy deal. Added to all this he was also a father of a two year old. Milana did not want to be a step mother at such a young age.

"Dad, how could you fix my marriage without even asking me? Am I a bag of rice that you could give it to whichever person you want?" Milana snarled at the temper of 100 degrees.

Gabriel was enraged with Milana's outburst. He did not expect such a reaction from her and thought his daughter would support his decision. "You bloody parasite, how dare you question my decision." He gritted his rotten teeth and took two steps forward to hit her but Milana was quick enough to run away from the place and the old man couldn't chase her. "I hate to call you my dad. I wish I was not born to you."

Now the only option left for him was Phoenix. Till date she had never denied him anything. She was always the most dutiful daughter among his three kids. A crafty grin drawled on Gabriel's lips. If not, Milana Phoenix would get him out of his problems.

The night Gabriel walked inside Phoenix's room like an angry beast. He pulled her up from the bed holding her hairs. "You know what Phoenix, you are a sinful spell in my family. I had enough with you and now I need a pay back. That is why I arranged your marriage with a businessman in lieu of debt I owe to him. Two birds at one shot. You are out of my family and my loan is also cleared here."

"What?" Phoenix looked at her father in shock.

Gabriel nodded confirming she heard it right. "Dad, please do not disown me, please do not hate me and treat me like this. What sin have I committed that you decided to give me such a grave punishment? For heaven's sake daddy, I am your daughter." Phoenix stood from her bed unable to believe her own ears and held the hands of Gabriel pleadingly in whimpers but the monster jerked away her hand.

"I need money to clear my loan and you are my golden duck." He snarled with rage on her face with zero compassion.