The Guardian Chronicles 1: Rise of the Phoenix (18 page)

All the way to the club, Gabriel couldn’t get the conversation with Imogene out of his mind. He kept repeating her comments about the Well of Souls. Even if she only heard rumors that was more of a lead than they currently had. He shook his head, trying to push the thoughts away so that he could actually have a good time with his friends. They might even forget about the mess with the vampires and the lycans tonight, at least for a little while.

Gabriel parked his car and headed inside. Already the dance club was packed full of people. It looked almost as full as the first time that Ryan and Ethan had brought him here. He scanned the room for the faces of his friends and found them located in a corner booth. Ryan quickly waved him over.

“Where’s Alex?” Ryan asked, as Gabriel slipped into the booth.

“He’ll be along in a bit,” Gabriel answered. “He needed to finish some stuff up with his dad.”

“Cool,” Ryan nodded.

“Thanks, I mean for inviting him and me along,” Gabriel said, looking around the table. “You guys didn’t really have too.”

“Don’t worry about it dude,” Tony said. “Tonight is all about blowing off steam, no talk about work.”

Gabriel quickly decided to table his discussion with Imogene and his sparring session with Ethan for the time being. Tony didn’t look like challenging him on the subject would have been a good idea. Besides, they could all use a night where they didn’t spend a majority of it talking about the potential world ending scenarios that could be playing out with the hybrids.

The music kicked up a notch, prompting the dance floor to fill up with even more bodies. Gabriel was actually kind of jealous that Alex wasn’t there right now; although for all he knew he could hate dancing.

“Is it true?” Ryan asked.

“Is what true?” Gabriel responded.

“That you haven’t ever kissed anyone...not even Alex?”

Gabriel let out a long exasperated sigh. He had no idea why that fact was so fascinating to all of them.

“Oh for the love,” Elise grumbled. “Would you give the guy a break. So what if he hasn’t kissed anyone, that doesn’t make him a loser.”

“Well, that depends on who you ask,” Tony spoke, with a shrug of his shoulders. “Besides, he’s pretty badass now and the way that he was looking at Alex I just figured that they already had one hell of a make out session.”

“Not everyone moves as fast as you,” Marissa responded.

“No one has ever complained about my speed or my moves,” Tony stated smugly. He waggled his eyebrows at Mariss and Elise, both of whom let out a snort of disgust.

“Don’t you want to snog him?” Cody asked, bringing the conversation back to Gabriel. He felt warmth spread into his cheeks.

“Snog means kiss by the way,” Ryan translated, take a swig of his drink.

“Yeah, I know what it means,” Gabriel grumbled. “Of course I want to kiss him. The chance just hasn’t really come up yet. And even if it did, I mean what if I screw it up. The way that you guys all talk maybe I really am the loser that hasn’t had his first kiss yet.”

“Stop whining about it and do something about then,” Tony suggested.

“Like what?” Gabriel barked, his cheeks flushing again.

“Maybe you could blush like that,” Elise suggested. “It does make you look awful cute.”

“What if I never get my first kiss?” Gabriel continued, starting to get slightly panicky.

“Oh shut up,” Tony snapped.

And then Tony did something very unTony like. He grabbed Gabriel by the front of his shirt, pulled him in close, and then planted his lips firmly against the Gabriel’s. That abrupt move ceased all conversation at the table as everyone stared wide eyed at the two Guardians locked in a kiss.

Gabriel was beyond surprised and before his mind could catch up with his body, Tony had already pulled away, leaving him sitting there, just as speechless as everyone else. Tony was one very good kisser. His heart was racing and he had doubt that he had turned a bright shade of red.

“Wow.”

“Now, will you please shut up about it,” Tony grumbled, motioning for them to move so that he could slide out of the booth. “I’m going to get more drinks, anyone want anything?”

No one said a word. Tony slid out of the booth and headed off to get more drinks. Everyone at the table looked at Tony, then back at Gabriel, then back at Tony. Finally, Everett spoke up.

“I did not see that coming,” Everett said.

“I don’t think anyone saw that coming,” Ryan said.

“I can’t believe that he snogged you like that!” Cody blurted out. “I mean Tony is adventurous but I never thought...bloody hell mate!”

“You’re telling me,” Gabriel finally managed to spit out. “Although, I’ll tell you one thing if he kisses girls even half as good as how he kissed me...it’s a wonder that he doesn’t have them falling all over him.”

“Oh he can’t be that good,” Marissa grumbled.

“I dunno...I thought it was pretty good,” Gabriel muttered.

Tony returned with another drink.

“What? Stop looking at me like that!” Tony barked. “And stop being such sticks in the mud for god’s sake! It was just a kiss.”

Gabriel blushed again. But as first kisses go, well there were certainly worse people he could have locked lips with.

“Now if you’ll excuse me I am going to go dance with a few young hotties that I met over at the bar,” Tony continued, pointing toward two blondes and a red head. “Everett, Cody, you’re with me. Lucky for you two they don’t care that your dancing sucks.”

“My dancing does not suck!” Cody retorted, as he slipped out of the booth. “It just looks like it sucks because I have to stay in this bloody dorky outfit.”

“Mine does suck,” Everett admitted.

“Do you want to dance?” Ryan asked, offering his hand to Elise.

“Whoa, wait a minute...you don’t dance.”

“I’ve been working on changing that,” Ryan beamed. “Mi’lady.”

Elise almost giggled as she took his outstretched hand. Together they made their way to the dance floor, leaving Gabriel and Marissa sitting at the booth.

“Guess that just leaves me and you,” Gabriel said with a smile.

“Actually, I think that it just leaves me,” Marissa replied, pointing toward the door.

Gabriel turned around and saw Alex enter the club, looking around for a familiar face. He spotted Gabriel and Marissa and gave a nod before wading through the crowd. Alex appeared at the side of the table a few moments later.

“Hey,” Alex said, smiling at them both. “Marissa, it’s good to see you again.”

“You too Alex,” Marissa smiled.

“Do you want to dance?” Alex asked, a sly smile on his face. “I hear that you are actually a pretty good dancer.”

Gabriel’s eyebrows went up. “Um, where did you hear that?”

“I have my sources,” Alex replied. “Come on, are you just going to sit there or actually dance with me?”

Gabriel hesitated, he had never really danced with anyone let alone another guy in a crowded place like this. And he wasn’t sure that he wanted to embarrass himself in front of his friends by actually getting out there on the dance floor. But there was something about the way that Alex looked at him that practically drug him out of the booth and onto the dance floor.

“I am so going to regret th
is,” Gabriel sighed, as he slid out of the booth and followed Alex onto the dance floor.

Alex only smiled at him.

Ryan and Elise stepped off the dance floor just as they saw Alex and Gabriel stepped on. Neither of them had seen Gabriel with Alex; let alone dancing with him. Almost at once it was clear that the two of them had chemistry. It was also clear, despite Gabriel’s embarrassment, he was one hell of a dancer. Alex wasn’t that bad either.

Ryan and Elise moved off the dance floor and toward the open air patio. The music faded into the background as they stepped out into the early night air.

“I’m glad that you convinced Gabriel to invite him along,” Elise said.

“I’m surprised to hear you say that after the conversation that we had at the restaurant,” Ryan admitted.

“It’s what Dominic would have wanted. He was never one to hold a grudge.”

Ryan nodded in agreement. “I know, I just wish that Ethan would see it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ready to invite him over for dinner or anything but we need to put the past in the past, right?”

“Yeah,” Elise said, with a sigh. “I know what you mean. Part of me almost feels like I’m betraying Dominic’s memory. But then I stop and I realize that he was all about looking forward and not looking into the past. You learn from it but you don’t live in it, that’s something that he told me once.”

“He told me that once too,” Ryan nodded.

Elise ran a hand through his hair and hooked her arm around his waist. “He was a lot smarter than I gave him credit for.”

“Yeah, I think we all figured that out.”

They stopped to lean against the railing, turning around so that they could still see what was going on inside the club. One look at the dance floor showed that both Gabriel and Alex were having what appeared to be a great time; they were both smiling and dancing close. Very close.

“Gabriel is your friend, you just want him to be happy. And by the looks of it, Alex makes him happy.”

“There you go, being all wise and whatnot. I really hate it when you do that,” Ryan said. He pulled Elise into a kiss. “You’re going to make me look bad.”

“I don’t think that’s possible,” Elise responded, kissing him back.

“Are we interrupting?” Tony asked. He, Everett, and Cody were sans the girls that he managed to acquire earlier.

“Where’s Marissa?” Elise inquired. “And what happened to those lovely girls that you had hanging off your arms?”

“Sucking face with some hot blonde in the corner that’s not Alex,” Everett said, jerking his thumb back towards the indoors. “At least that was the last place that I saw her.”

“And those girls are getting us some drinks.”

“Only you could make them buy you drinks,” Elise grumbled.

“First off, I didn’t make them buy anything, second off, you don’t complain when guys buy you drinks.”

“Okay, I know that you said we shouldn’t ask but why did you kiss Gabriel like that?” Ryan asked.

Tony took a drink and rolled his eyes. “It was a kiss, what in the hell is the big deal? No, that doesn’t mean that I am attracted to him, although he is pretty hot, it just means that I kissed him. Now, can we please stop talking about it?”

Again everyone nodded.

“You never told me you could dance like that,” Alex remarked. “Seriously, with moves like that I’m surprised you are still single.”

Gabriel managed to contain his blush slightly this time. They were walking hand and hand along a path that ran next to the river, several blocks away from the club.

“Yeah, well you had some pretty good moves yourself,” Gabriel responded.

“Not as good as you.”

Alex squeezed Gabriel’s hand and that small gesture sent a wave of contentment pulsing through Gabriel. He couldn’t contain his blush this time, despite his best efforts.

“Figure out who your leak is yet?” Alex asked.

Gabriel shook his head. “No, although Jonathan would have a fit if he knew that we were talking about it.”

“Well, we know that it’s not me,” Alex said, flashing Gabriel a grin.

“Yeah,” Gabriel said, with a sigh. “I can’t help but think that it’s going to the person that we least suspect.”

Alex pulled him close, wrapping his arms around him. Gabriel instantly felt secure in his arms, like he was cocooned in suit of armor. Everything about Alex seemed to instantly put Gabriel at ease. The way that he smelled, the way that his body felt against Gabriel’s - everything about him.

“So, are you still waiting on your first kiss?” Alex asked, leaning in close.

Gabriel swallowed hard, his breath catching in his throat.

“Yeah,” he managed to get out.

“Not anymore.”

Alex leaned in and kissed him. It wasn’t like it was with Tony, not to say that Tony’s wasn’t good but he didn't’ have feelings for his friend. This kiss, on the other hand was amazing. As soon as Alex’s lips touched his own, Gabriel’s senses went into overdrive, every nerve in his body became alive with excitement and energy.

He melted into Alex, kissing him back as his heart started racing. Alex slowly pulled away from him and if it weren’t for the fact that he was still wrapped in Alex’s arms, Gabriel was pretty sure that he would have melted into a puddle right there.

“Wow...I mean...wow.”

“So, how was that?” Alex whispered. “Better than Tony?”

Gabriel’s breath caught in his throat. “Um, you saw that?”

Alex laughed. “Yeah, he is pretty hot.”

“Crap,” Gabriel muttered.

Alex leaned in and placed his forehead against Gabriel’s. “You never answered my question, was that better than Tony?”

“Hell yeah,” Gabriel beamed.

“He’s going to be crushed,” Alex said, a grin breaking out across his face.

“He’ll manage,” Gabriel responded. This time he pulled Alex in for another kiss. “Come on, we better get back before they assume we are doing something wildly inappropriate.”

“Do you want to do something wildly inappropriate?” Alex asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Oh shut up.”