Watch Me Take Your Girl (5 page)

Chapter
8

“
I apologize, Mr. Robinson
,” Tyson told Henry. “I didn’t mean to upset her. All I wanted to do was to see her again and meet the family in the process.”

Henry sat back in his chair, still at the kitchen table. Destiny and Carmen had
since finished their meal and were preparing for bed. They had school in the morning.

“Have a seat,” Henry said.

Tyson sat in the same chair as before with a conquered look on his face. He felt defeated and that bothered him. He didn’t fail at anything. He was always one step ahead of everyone else, the man with a plan. But he hadn’t had a good history with women, and the woman he needed more than the next beat of his heart was pushing him away.

“You like my daughter?
” Henry questioned.

Tyson nodded. “I do.”

“I know. There’s no way you would show up here just to say ‘hi’ to her and cook dinner for the family. So tell me, Tyson...what’s the story?”

“Well,
Gabrielle lived with me for four months.”

“Now why would she do that when she’s a married woman?” Henry asked, playing dumb. Gabrielle had already brought him up-to-date, but he wanted to hear what Tyson had to say now.

“Um...uh,” Tyson stammered, looking for the right words to say without giving away too much. He wasn’t sure how much Gabrielle told her father already. “Dilvan wasn’t treating her right so she moved in with me, and in that time, we bonded.”

“Bonded?”

“Yes. I’ve always been respectful of her, of course, but somewhere along the line, I began having feelings for her. I tried not to...tried to fight it because Dilvan is my cousin, and I didn’t want to get involved with what was going on with them on a relationship level. I’m actually still unclear about how Gabrielle feels for Dilvan. All I’m certain about is how I feel for her.”

“And how’s that?”

Tyson looked Henry in the eyes for the first time during this man-to-man conversation. “I love your daughter, Mr. Robinson, and I would do anything for her. I’m not just saying that. I mean it. I’m a man of action, sir, and I’ve been helping her and trying to make her happy.”

A barely noticeable smile came to Henry’s face.
“Have you told her how you feel?”

“No
. Not yet, but I will. I have to, especially since I intend on making her my wife,” Tyson said without hesitation, “With your blessing of course.”

“You want to marry my Gabrielle?”

“Yes, sir.”

Henry scratched his head.

“Is there a problem?” Tyson inquired.

“She just been through so much with Dilvan—”

“I know. That’s why I need to talk to her about that situation. Only thing is, she doesn’t want to talk to me right now.”

“Then if you love her like you say, you’d keep trying.”

“That’s exactly what I’m determined to do, sir.”

Henry smiled.
“You know what, Tyson...I don’t know you that well, but you came here, introduced yourself to me like a real man and I appreciate that. And I cannot thank you enough for what you did for my daughter. So if it is really your intent on marrying her, you have my blessing.”

“Thank you, Mr. Robinson.”

“You can call me Henry, son. We’re going to be family soon.”

“Yeah, I hope...still have to get through to Gabrielle.”

“You will. Listen...why don’t you stay here for the night.”

“N
o, Henry. I’ll get a hotel.”

“
No need for a hotel. The couch pulls out to a bed, and I leave for work early in the mornings and then Carmen and Destiny have school. So that’ll leave you here with Gabrielle and maybe the alone time will give you the opportunity to hash things out with her.”

“Okay,” Tyson nodded, feeling Henry’s idea. “
In that case, I’ll stay.”

“Good. Well, I guess I’m going to get ready for bed.”

“Hey, Henry, before you do, I have another question.”

“Shoot.”

“I hope I’m not being too intrusive, but where is her Mother?”

Henry dropped his head. He blew a breath
. “Um...she left me a long time ago.”

“You mean she just woke up one day and vanished
?”

“Well, she told me there was som
eone else and then she left...said she couldn’t handle living in poverty and she deserved better. For years, I blamed myself, but now, I sit back and think about how we both took vows before God. She said ‘I do’, and I said ‘I do’ for better or worse.”

Tyson nodded.

“But through the struggle, she only grew to resent me. Instead of reaching out to help the family, she went seeking a man who could give her everything she wanted out of life. But what kind of woman would just walk out on her daughters like that?”

Tyson shook his head. “Does she come back to visit them?”

“No. My girls could walk pass her on the street and wouldn’t even recognize her.”

“Wow.”

“They’ve accepted the fact that she’s not around.”

Tyson wasn’t sure if Carmen and Destiny accepted it, but he knew for a fact Gabrielle hadn’t. Her interaction with his Aunt Padma proved that she longed for a mother-figure in her life.
She loved Padma like a mother.

“Well, I’m off to bed. Have a good night Tyson.”

“You the same.”

~~~~~

Tyson sat up on the sofa bed and checked his watch in the dimly lit room. It was a little after two in the morning and he was restless. With Gabrielle so close to him, only a few steps away behind the walls of another room, he couldn’t close his eyes and rest comfortably without seeing her. All he had to do was walk down the hall, but what if she’d locked the door?

Deciding it was worth a try, he stood up and quietly walked down the hallway towards the bedroom where Gabrielle
was sleeping soundly. He turned the knob and pushed the door, elated that it opened.

T
here she was, the woman he came seeking, lying there in the center of the small bed in all her glory. Her body was hidden under the comforter, but the form of her underneath the covers still made Tyson remember exactly how her petite frame was plump in all the right places. Her hair was all over the place, splayed on a white-cased pillow and she was sleeping very soundly, like he remembered. She was a quiet sleeper, a calm one. Even the expression on her face looked very serene, like she was having a pleasant dream or floating on a cloud.

He
eased the door closed behind him, then climbed on top of the bed – on top of her. When he felt her stirring, he covered her mouth with his hand.

Gabrielle squirmed
, her heart racing. Her scream was muffled by Tyson’s hand in the dark room. To feel someone climbing on top of her gave her flashbacks to when Dilvan would sneak in her bedroom every Tuesday and Thursday night. She’d been free of Dilvan, but as she panted, tears rolling from her eyes, all she could think about was Dilvan pinning her to the bed and hurting her.

“
Gabrielle, it’s me,” Tyson said softly, trying to calm her, as his hand lay against her ripe lips. “It’s Tyson, okay. Now I’m going to move my hand, so don’t scream.”

The moment he
moved his hand, she cried, “What are you doing in here? Get off of me, Tyson!”

“Why are you crying?”

“Why are you here? Get out.”

“No. I can’t sleep
and—”

“H
ow’s that my fault?” She sniffled, trying to push his solid, hard body off of her.

“It’s
not
your fault,” Tyson said, staring at her lips. “I didn’t mean to make you cry. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“Listen, Gabrielle, I know you’re peeved about me being here—”

“That’s an understatement
.”

Tyson sighed.
“I came here to tell you that I’m sorry for not giving you an opportunity to talk to me about the whole Dilvan situation, but I’m giving you one now. Please talk to me.”

“No.”

“Gabrielle,” Tyson said, gripping her arms by the wrists, pinning her to the bed. “Stop being stubborn and talk to me.”

“I know you didn’t call
me
stubborn.”

“
Then talk to me, baby.”

“I’m not your
baby
, now get...off...of...me!” Gabrielle said, straining to move her arms but Tyson had a firm grip on them.

“Talk to me
, Gabrielle.”

His determination was making her angrier.
“Why? Why now? The damage has been done. You hurt me, Tyson,” she admitted, tears rolling down her face. “You hurt me to my core and I tried not to show it, tried to convince myself that I wasn’t bothered by your nonchalance, but I cried every single night for two months in that dreaded apartment.”

“You
don’t think it hurt me to wake up without you, Gabrielle?”

“
How would I know?”

“
I’m telling you it did.”

“Then you should’
ve given me a chance to explain why I went to dinner with Dilvan that night. If you had, you would’ve known that I didn’t eat with him, because I didn’t want to eat. I wanted to be with you. The entire time I was with him, listening to him apologize to me over and over again, I wanted to be with you, Tyson. Now, I don’t know what I want.”

Tyson frowned and loosened the grip on her wrists.
“You don’t know
what
you want, or
who
you want?” he asked for clarification.

Gabrielle sighed.
“Tyson, Dilvan has asked me to go away with him this weekend.”

Tyson grimaced. “I was hoping he was making that up.
” He rolled off of her and sat on the edge of the bed.

“What? You talked to him?”

If nearly breaking his nose qualifies as “talking, yes
. “Yeah, sort of. What I don’t understand is why you would want to go anywhere with that man?”

“Because I need to figure out what I want
out of life, Tyson. I can’t let you or anyone else do that for me.”

“So the time we spent together doesn’t mean anything to you?”

Exasperatingly, she said, “It does, but—”

“But you don’t care for me. You care about the man who hurt you, not the man who
took care of you.”

Gabrielle scooted to the e
dge of the bed and sat next to him. “Tyson, I—”

“W
hy are you going away with him, Gabrielle?”

Gabrielle closed her eyes and took a breath
. “Because I need closure.”

“And what about what I need?”

“What do you need, Tyson?”

“I need you,” he said, kneeling down in front of her.
He kissed her tenderly on her knees, while squeezing her thighs with his strong hands. Then he rested his head on her lap, closing his eyes when he felt Gabrielle’s warm hand against his face, the tips of her fingers lightly stroking his head.

“I
miss you, Tyson.”

Tyson rose up to a stand, then leaning over her, he let the weight of his body push her back onto the bed and kissed her
sweet lips, savoring them the same way he did two months ago at his home. He broke their kiss to say, “I miss you, too,” and was right back at it, loving the taste of her lips and pushing his tongue in her mouth to get more of her flavor.

After he’d gotten enough to be satisfied, he held her tightly in his arms and closed his eyes. In that moment, he knew that Gabrielle had to be a part of his life, no matter what it took. He would make it happen.

If she needed a while to sort things out, so be it. But when she was done working through her issues and finding herself, he would be right there at the end of her journey – ready to start a new journey with her. Ready to blend their lives together.

Chapter
9

Tyson woke up
around nine and took a walk around the quiet home. Henry was gone to work. Carmen and Destiny were at school. He had Gabrielle all to himself. The thought of it made a smile come to his lips. It had been a long time since he and Gabrielle were alone. Too long.

He
was busy in the kitchen preparing breakfast when he turned around and saw Gabrielle walking in.

“Good morning,” he told her.

“Good morning.”

“
How did you sleep?”

“Good.”
She took a seat at the table. “Everyone’s gone, huh?”

“Yeah...looks that way
.” Tyson walked over to the table with two plates. Then he grabbed a glass of water for her, coffee for himself and sat down.

“I can’t help but think about last night and the way it felt to be close to you
again.” He bit into a breakfast pastry. “Being with you feels natural.”

Gabrielle
blushed, not quite sure what to say, because though Tyson was being a gentleman now, she knew he had a mean streak, especially by the way he made her leave his home, then left Heshan there to practically supervise her move, making sure she’d gathered up all of her things.

“
It makes me wonder if you feel the same way about me that I feel for you.”

“And what way is that, Tyson?
” she asked, holding his gaze. The look in his eyes sent a shiver down her spine, the same way his kisses in the wee hours of the morning had.

“I care deeply about you.”

“And kicking me to the curb is your way of showing me how much you care?”

He had no answer. He just sat there, staring at her.

“I do care about you, Tyson,” she said.

“You do?”

“Yes. I do.”

“Then when you were living with me, why did
n’t you make a move on me.”

“I
did. I kissed you...it was a small, inept one, but it was still a kiss. Honestly, I’m not the make-the-first-move type of woman. I’m young, but I’m old-fashioned when it comes to relationship stuff.”

Tyson took a sip of coffee and
examined her.

“Besides, I didn’t think you were the relationship type
,” she added.

He frowned.
“Why not?”

“Because you seem to enjoy your personal space, enjoy running alone in the mornings—”

“Not true. We ran together for a while and I enjoyed every minute of it with you.”

“I know, but I couldn’t help but feel like
I was invading your space.”

Tyson tried to disguise his mounting frustration by sipping on more coffee. He’d never
did anything to make her feel like her company was an inconvenience to him, but if that’s what she was feeling, who was he to question her?

“
And
, you were single for years,” she added.

“
Your point?”

“Just makes me feel that you weren’t
completely over your ex...that you haven’t been able to move on from what you had with her.”

“T
hat’s not true.”

“Then let’s talk about it.”

“Okay,” he said, even though he hadn’t completely opened up about Desiree to anyone, not even Heshan.

“
For starters, what’s her name?”

“Desiree.”

“And how did you and Desiree break up?”

“I told you...she wasn’t willing to compromise with me, so she moved away.”

“Compromise with you, how exactly?”

“I opened up a restaurant in Atlanta, my first one, and I was busy trying to get that of
f the ground. Desiree was doing her own thing in finance, got a job offer and moved away.”

“Just like that?”

“Yes, Bri. Just like that.”

Gabrielle frowned. “That seems odd to me.”

“Why?”

“I mean, you were engaged to this woman and she didn’t love you enough to want to make it work with you? Or was it vice versa?”

Tyson took a sip of coffee. “I feel like you’re putting me in the hot seat,” he said testily.

“No. I’m just learning a lot of things about men that I didn’t know...things that
a Mother would tell her daughter...things she would warn her about.”

“Warn you,
Gabrielle? You know I would never do anything to cause you harm. You know that. On the other hand, your fake husband, the man you’re going on vacation with this weekend, is the one you need to worry about.”

“First off, I’m not going on
vacation with him, Tyson. Dilvan only wants to talk. Second, right now, we’re talking about you, not me. It’s time I learned about Tyson Alexander since he knows me so well.”

Tyson smiled, showing his white, evenly aligned teeth, along with the pretty dimple that
enhanced his adorable face.

“So tell me
straight up...what really happened with Desiree? You were engaged to this woman. Why didn’t it work out?”

“
Uh...hmm...”

“Because the way I see it is, you could’ve moved with her and commuted. You could’ve opened a restaurant there.”

Tyson nodded. He could pick up on the subtle differences in Gabrielle since she’d been on her own. She analyzed things more, talked through things and fought to find understanding when something didn’t make sense instead of just listening and taking someone’s word for it. “Yeah. You’re right, I could’ve moved there. I actually have a restaurant there now.”

“But?”

“But I don’t think Desiree’s boyfriend would’ve liked me living with her. What do you think?”

Gabrielle
tilted her head. “Her boyfriend?”

“Yeah. She was cheat
ing on me for a couple of years, apparently.”

“
Oh, my. Sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about, sweetheart. What’s done is done.”

Gabrielle quietly ate her breakfast for a moment, tossing this confusion around in her head. Then she asked, “How did you not know that she’d been cheating for years?”

“Well, she was uh...she was taking business
trips back and forth to Chicago and I never went with her. I always stayed behind, running the restaurant. So she met the guy and chose him over me and that’s all I have to say about that.”

After a few moments of awkward silence, Gabrielle said, “So that’s why you’ve been single for so long.”

Tyson shrugged. “I dated a woman about a year after things didn’t work out with Desiree, but I wasn’t ready I guess. Now, I am.”

“
Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure
. I’m sure about you. Now the question becomes, are you sure about me, or are you going to let Dilvan ruin what we could be?”

“I’m not going to let Dilvan ruin anything. I do feel I owe it to myself to listen to what Dilvan has to say about the way he treated me. I need to make up my own mind and come to my own conclusions without someone in my ear.
And it’s only going to be for a day and a half. He’s taking me to Hatteras Island so we can be alone and talk.”

“He’s taking you to
Hatteras Island?”

“Yes.”

Tyson stood up and leaned against the counter, staring at her with his arms crossed, his legs crossed at the ankles. “I don’t trust him, Gabrielle.”

Gabrielle took a sip of water.
She didn’t trust him either. But Tyson had known Dilvan a lot longer than she had, being that they were cousins and all. Why did he not trust him? “Dilvan is your first cousin, right?” she asked.

“Yeah...and?”

“Why do you dislike him so much?”

“Because he’s a jerk,” Tyson said, angrily.
“He’s been a jerk for a long time and—”

“You don’t think people can change?”

Tyson turned his back to her and resting his elbows on the countertop, he buried his face in his hands. He felt sick at the thought of losing Gabrielle to Dilvan. If Dilvan got her alone on some private beach, who knew what might’ve happened?

Gabrielle stood up, walked over near Tyson and stretched her arms around his muscular frame. “Tyson, look at me.”

He reluctantly did as she asked, but felt angry at the thought that he might lose the woman he loved. “Tyson, I appreciate you. I care for you and I know there’s not a better man for me.”

“Then why are you going away with him, Gabrielle?” he asked,
giving her a penetrating look.

“Because I need to do this. I know you don’t understand
. Sometimes, I don’t even understand, but I need to do this. Just trust me.”

He took her into his embrace, strumming his fingers up and down her back.
“Okay,” he said, brushing a kiss across her temple. “As long as you come back to me.”

“I will. I promise.”

Tyson drowned his hands in her hair and tilting her head up, he drove his lips into hers, kissing her. He’d let her go with Dilvan so she could get her closure, but if Dilvan so much as put a scratch on her, he’d be a dead man.