Read Online Concealed - A Hiding From Love Novel #2 by Selena Laurence - Free Book Online

“Babe?” I say quietly.
    She sobs again.
    “I’m going to help you upstairs now, so hold on, okay?”
    I think I see a nod under all the hair and saltwater. I scoop her up, and she folds herself into my body, her quiet sobs shaking her every so often. I don’t have a shirt on, and the feel of her warm soft body against mine makes me want to walk back to my apartment and lock her inside with me. It nearly breaks me to hold her this close.
    “I’m sorry,” Beth says as she leads me across the parking lot to the stairs. “She never drinks like this.”
    “Well, she’s drunk as hell, but she also needs some food.”
    “Why? So she can yak it all back up?”
    “No, her blood sugar’s dropped. She does this, gets low blood sugar and cries. I guarantee if you get a few carbs and a little protein into her she’ll perk up a lot.”
    Beth stops midway on the staircase and looks back at me. “You’re serious?”
    “Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”
    “You know this about my sister? I mean, you spent a month with her two years ago and yet you know that if she gets too hungry she cries?”
    “Beth, we’re in the middle of a staircase and your sister is wiping snot all over my neck. Can we have this conversation inside or something?”
    She looks at me intently for a moment more before nodding and walking the rest of the way to Alexis’s door. After she opens it and motions me in, I step through. Alexis mumbles something into my shoulder.
    “What’s that?” I ask quietly into her hair.
    “Did you come for me, Gabe?”
    “Yeah, babe. I did.”
    “Will you always come for me, Gabe?”
    I kiss her softly on the forehead as I lay her on the sofa. “Yeah, Alexis. I’ll always come for you.” Fool that I am .
    I straighten and turn to where Beth is watching me from the doorway.
    “Thanks a lot,” she says, trying not to be obvious as she keeps darting glances to the parking lot.
    “But Marco will be here soon,” I finish.
    She nods sadly.
    “See you around, Beth.” I pass by her and walk out of the apartment. Marco is just reaching the top of the stairs when I walk out. He stiffens as he sees me.
    “She’s all yours,” I tell him and walk by, shoulder-checking him as I go.
    “You need to stay away from her,” he says as I head down the stairs.
    “And you need to watch your back, Marky Mark ‘cause I’m not done here. Not by a long shot.”

 
    Alexis
     
    Te deseo.
    I want you
    .
    I ’M having a delicious dream. Gabe, bare-chested, wearing only a pair of loose flannel pajama pants, is carrying me to bed. “I’ll always come for you, babe,” he tells me. He’s so warm and I can smell him, that special combination of guy and soap and motor oil. His muscles flex beneath my hands as he carries me. I run my fingers over the raised scar that snakes along his shoulder. I can almost feel the letters of my name that lies next to the puckered skin.
    “Lex,” a voice calls to me. “Lex.”
    I open my eyes, only to be blasted by pain shooting through my skull. I grimace, yelp, and shut my eyes again.
    Marco chuckles. “Guess that answers the question of how you’re feeling.”
    I almost cringe away from where Marco sits next to me on the bed. I immediately feel guilty. I’m pulling away from him not because he’s done anything wrong but because he isn’t Gabe. What is the matter with me?
    I slowly open first one eye and then the other, blinking a couple of times as I try to breathe through the excruciating pain that rocks the inside my head.
    Marco sits beside me, watching me thoughtfully. He reaches out and pushes my hair back off my face.
    “Paying for your little bender last night, huh?”
    I nod my head, not sure if I’m ready to use my voice or not.
    “Beth took you home, and when I got here, you were on the sofa bawling your head off, something about someone coming to get you. Then Beth said you needed to eat. I thought she was nuts, but as soon as you had a piece of peanut butter toast, you