Who Do You Love

Summary: Gabi picks her prom date, but is it really her final choice?

Note: This part of the ‘series’ adapts the events of Chapter 14 of the book to fit Gabi’s love triangle situation. Much of the dialogue is from the chapter but there is some original dialogue and moving some things around as well.

How did this happen? Five minutes ago she had no prom date, and now she’s got two guys dressed and ready to go at her door and doesn’t know what to do. She’s got to turn one down, and she knows in her heart who that is, but how is she supposed to do that now with them both right here staring at each other?

Gabi inhales deeply looking between Colt on Riya’s doorstep and Logan on the sidewalk one more time. “Colt, can you go wait inside? She can’t bear to do this to either one in front of the other. Colt narrows his eyes at Logan before giving a nod and heading inside. Logan looks so handsome, yet so sad as he tentatively steps towards her. “Logan…”

“You don’t have to say anything, Gabi. I’ll spare you that. I was the idiot who left you when Colt stayed. I shouldn’t be surprised you want to go to prom with him…that you’ve chosen him over me.” Defeated, Logan drops his gaze to the ground.

Gabi closes the distance between them and picks up Logan’s hands, threading her fingers through his. “Look at me, Logan.” He does, reluctantly. “I didn’t know Colt was going to show up here tonight, just like I didn’t you were. Right before that I was sitting on Riya’s bed moping when she told me to text whoever I was pining over, and you know who that was?”

A glimmer of hope flashes in Logan’s eyes before the pain returns. “Well you were just kissing Colt, so I guess that’s my answer.”

“Logan, you idiot.” Gabi let’s out an exasperated sigh and drops his hands. “You see this?” She pulls out the necklace chain that’s been tucked inside her shirt. “I’ve worn this every day since you left, to keep you close to me. Yes, I know you’ve figured out I had a thing with Colt, and I missed him too, but when I really think about who I can picture by my side, it’s you Logan, only you.”

“So your saying-”

“I’m saying you should do what you came here to do.” Gabi smirks and a big grin spreads across Logan’s face.

“Gabriella Santos, will you go to prom with me?”

“Yes!” Gabi collides with Logan and wraps him. In a bear hug. “Nothing would make happier,” she exclaims, but then she backs away as she remembers what she has to take care of. “….But I have to let Colt down first.”

“Take all the the time you need. I’ll go wait wait in the Limo.” Logan points his head in the direction of a black stretch limousine parked down the street.

“You got us a Limo?” Gabi steps up on her tiptoes and pecks Logan on the lips. “Okay, I’ll text you when I’m ready.”

Logan gives her hand a squeeze before she walks back to the house. She steels herself before she turns the knob and finds Colt sitting at the kitchen table scrolling through his phone. “Hey, Gabi” he says as he starts to get up.

“Wait,” Gabi holds her hand up, motioning for Colt to stay seated. “We need talk.”

“Okay…” Colt sits back in the chair as his smile fades. “What’s up?”

She reaches across the table to put her hand on his. “You know I didn’t know you would be showing up here tonight. I haven’t even heard from you since we all went our separate ways. Maybe then things would have been different…but I can’t go to prom with you.”

But I thought-“ he starts, a bewildered expression on his face. “You just kissed me!”

“You kissed me, Colt. I didn’t have time to react.”

“And then he showed up.” Colt seethes.

“It’s not just that-”

Colt abruptly stands up and rips off his boutonniere, throwing it down on the table. “Save your breath, Gabi. I get it. You chose him over me. I was just a distraction. Someone you could mess around with until you made up your mind.”

Gabi puts a hand on his shoulder as Colt walks by, and he pauses momentarily. There’s so much she wants to say but the words aren’t there. Even if they were she doesn’t know if he’d listen. “Colt, you know you were more than that…you are more than that.”

Colt scoffs and shrugs her hand off. “Whatever. Have a nice life.” He stomps outside and slams the door without looking back.

Gabi sinks down in the nearest chair, feeling like the wind has been knocked out of her, and sobs. She knows this was the right choice but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. She still has a place for Colt in her heart and probably always will. She didn’t want to leave things like this, but there’s nothing she can do about it now. She concentrates on her breathing, inhaling and exhaling deeply to calm herself and then splashes some cold water on her face. Thinking about Logan waiting for her makes her feel a little lighter. She’ll have time to be sad about this later, but for now she’s going to focus on having the night of her life.

~~~~~

It still feels so surreal. A few months ago the last place Logan would have thought he’d be was a high school prom, but here he is dancing to a slow song and holding Gabi tight as she rests her head on his shoulder. He’d been speechless when he saw her come the stairs at Riya’s house in her pale pink gown, thinking about all the times he’d heard someone described as ‘glowing’ that this must have been what they meant. He places a kiss on top of her head, inhaling the familiar and comforting scent of her fruity shampoo. The night’s been perfect and only get’s better when Riya gives them a key to a hotel room she had booked for herself and Gabi. He doesn’t want to pressure her into anything she’s not ready to do, but even if he just gets to sleep with her in his arms again he’ll be completely content.

Logan lets out a low whistle as they walk into the modern looking, well appointed hotel room. “Remind me to thank Riya later.”

Gabi smiles shyly. “I will.”

Logan pulls her into his arms and can’t help but smile back down at her. They sway together like the music from the dance is still playing. “How did I ever survive before I knew you?”

“I honestly do not know,” she teases. “Tonight has been perfect.”

“Yeah? I can think of a couple ways to make it better…”

Gabi slaps his shoulder playfully. “What? I bring you up to a hotel room, and you’re immediately thinking about–”

Logan feigns offense. “I was talking bout room service. Get your mind out of the gutter.” Giving her a hard time is just too much fun. Room service would be good too, but he’d be lying to himself if he said he wasn’t hoping to get her out of that dress the moment he saw her in it. Gabi throws her head back and laughs, and Logan hasn’t seen her this light and carefree in a long time. He grazes her cheek with his thumb. “I was a fool to think I could stay away from you, Gabi.”

“I don’t want you to stay away. You mean so much to me.”

“It’s more than that, though. What I feel for you…it’s more than that.” If she didn’t believe it before, he hopes with everything that she does now. “I already told you how I feel. I love you, Gabi.”

Her thoughts are difficult to discern as she takes it in, but then her face lights up like the sun. “Oh, Logan…I love you too.”

Logan smiles so big his cheeks hurt. “Say it again.”

“I love you. I love you. I love–” Gabi squeals as he picks her up and spins her around, and Logan has never been happier than in this moment.

“I love you, Gabi. More than I thought I could.” To think before Gabi, he didn’t known if he was capable of loving anyone, never having experienced unconditional love himself. “You know how sorry I am that I lied when we first met…but honestly, as much as I hate myself, I know we wouldn’t be here right now if it weren’t for all that. And I wouldn’t trade this for the world.”

“Logan…” He notices a shift in her eyes to something more serious, and he can tell she’s a bit nervous to say it out loud. “Logan, I want…I want…”

“What do you want, Ellie? Show me.” She pulls him in by the lapels of his coat, kissing him passionately and it says everything. “Gabi…” he moans into her mouth and she arches into him as his lips trail down her neck.

“Logan…” She breathes and his mouth finds hers again, weaving his hands in her hair and taking in as much of her as he can get. With shaky hands, she reaches for his belt and slides her fingertips just inside the waistband of his pants.

“You don’t have to–” It would kill him to stop now but he loves her too much ask her to do anything she’s not ready to do.

“I want to.” She grins confidently, wiping his doubts away. She makes quick work of taking off his suit coat and shirt, tossing them across the room and then he helps her in undressing his lower half. She steps back and takes him all in and he can almost literally feel the heat of her gaze as a warmth flushes through him. She runs her hands all over his body, his muscles flexing under her touch, and as she inches lower and lover down his abs, his cock twitches in anticipation. “Gabi… you’re driving me crazy.”

“Good.” She replies smugly with a grin. She starts at the top of his chest again to tease him and suddenly he can’t take it any longer, grabbing her wrist and pulling her onto the bed with him.  He sucks on her neck, twirling his tongue over her skin and he can hear her inhale sharply and hold it like she’s forgotten how to breathe.

“My turn.” He runs his hands over the top of her dress and then pushes up the skirt of her dress. “As stunning as you look in this dress…it has to go.” He fights the urge to rip it off, slowly unzipping the back and delicately pulling it down, kissing, touching, and savoring all the newly exposed skin as he goes. She’s finally his for real, and he doesn’t want to miss a single thing.

“Logan…” she moans softly.

“God, Gabi. You’re perfect,” he utters between kisses and he feels her tremble beneath his touch. “Tell me what you want, Gabi.”

“Kiss me, Logan. Kiss me everywhere.” Her emphasis on the last word indicates the exact place she wants his mouth and he’s more than happy to oblige.

Logan looks up at her and smirks. “That, I can do.” He flips her onto her back, pressing light kisses to her lips, moving down teasingly and painstakingly slow, her whole body tensing up in anticipation as he gets close. He wants to taste her so bad, but the payoff will be so much better if he makes her wait.

“Mmm,” she whimpers as he kisses her hip, stomach, inner thighs…

It’s pretty clear how bad she wants it, but he won’t risk ruining this for her, so he has to ask. ‘Gabi, are you sure?

“Yes,” she pants and he decides she’s been tortured enough. He licks a broad stripe through her folds and she tastes even more incredible than he thought she would. She twists her fingers through his hair as his tongue works her clit, increasingly louder moans and guttural sounds escaping her lips. He grips her thigh with one hand as he brushes his thumb over her nipple with the other. She bucks her hips into him, and her responsiveness to his touch is turning him on like nothing else. He hears her breaths quicken, and he knows she’s close, so he concentrates on his movements, gradually swirling his tongue faster unit she cries out, pulling on his hair as her whole body stiffens and then relaxes back into the soft mattress. He lazily laps at her entrance as she comes down from her high, his tongue slipping inside to feel her walls still pulsing.

“Logan, I want all of you,” Gabi demands once she catches her breath. She pulls him back face-to-face with her. He can see all the love and desire as he stares deeply into her eyes, but also the uncertainty. “It’s…my first time,” she says as if he didn’t already know.

He wraps her in his arms and hugs her tightly, whispering reassuringly in her ear, “I got you, Gabi,” and he feels her tension dissipate. He grabs a condom from the nightstand and puts it on before lowering himself onto her. He caresses her cheek and then guides himself inside her, never breaking eye contact. She winces slightly as the tip goes in with a little resistance, but then as the rest of his hard length easily glides in, her eyes flutter shut and she moans contentedly. He buries his head in her neck, holding still and relishing the feel of her walls around him. She’s so sweet and sexy at the same time, and he wants this to last. He finds a slow and steady rhythm, rocking his hips against hers and she moves in time with him. He leans back just enough to slip a hand between them, tracing circles over her clit until she’s falling apart again and calling out his name, and that’s all he needs. He picks up the pace, groaning as he finds his release inside her.

After cleaning up, they lie in bed, Gabi wrapped in Logan’s embrace while he presses a kiss to the top of her head. “Mm..I could  stay like this forever–” Gabi’s thought interrupted by her rumbling stomach.

Logan chuckles. “Sounds like your stomach might have something to say about that.”

“Well I did just work up an appetite…”

Logan cups her cheek and kisses her sweetly. “We both did. Lets order some room service.”

What follows next is par for the course in Logan’s life. Their perfect fairy tale of an evening doesn’t last. Instead of room service, they are greeted at the door by a member of the brotherhood, Gabi knocking him out with a vase. They narrowly escape Jason and the other members only to run into Mona, who despite being captured and recruited by the brotherhood to work against them, risks everything to get her and Logan out safely. Gabi hot-wires a car and they drive away undetected, for now, the only certainty being that the brotherhood won’t rest until they’re all dead.

~~~~~

“What now?” Gabi asks as they drive away from the scene, not knowing where they should be going or what to do.

“We need to text Colt,” Logan asserts.

A flash of dread courses through Gabi. “Really?” She can’t imagine seeing Colt again right now, or him wanting anything to do with them after what happened earlier.

“We’re outnumbered. Mona is on their side now. We need help, and he stuck around town to get his revenge.”

“But Colt? After the mess he caused” And after I ripped his heart out and threw it on the floor…

Logan frowns. “You got a better idea?”

“Fair point,” Gabi concedes.

“And be careful what you say. They might be tracking your messages.”

Gabi groans but takes out her phone and texts Colt, letting him know the brotherhood found her and Logan. She gets the notification that her message was seen but he doesn’t reply. ‘Please, Colt. Your life is in danger too. Meet me and Logan at the place we first met. We’ll explain there.’ Colt responds back with a simple ‘Fine.”

Colt is already at the refinery in El Sugundo where they first met the night of the sideshow, leaning back against the fence with his arms crossed. He glares at Logan, looking him up and down. “You look like a waiter,” he spits.

Gabi narrows her eyes. “Come on, Colt. We don’t have time for your crap.”

“You don’t? Then why am I here?” He’s evidently not going to make this easy on them.

Colt finally calms down and cooperates and they fill him in on everything, momentarily pushing all the tension between them to the wayside so they can figure out a way to stay alive. Logan offers to play the hero and turn himself in, but Gabi won’t let him. Not only does she not want to lose him, but there’s no guarantees that will save anyone else. They are running out of options, when it hits Gabi – she needs her father’s help.

Gabi gets both Colt and Logan to agree to come with her but as they turn to get in the car, Colt stops her. “Can I talk to you for just a minute…please?”

Logan protectively puts an arm around Gabi, and squeezes her side. “It’s okay, Logan,” she assures him, but she’s not even sure she believes it herself. Logan reluctantly gets in the car, and Colt pulls Gabi just out of view.

Colts mouth is pressed in a thin line as his eyes sweeps over her. “Looks like you had fun at prom.”

She nervously tucks a strands of her behind her ear, suddenly feeling very exposed. She hadn’t had time to think about it, but with Logan’s rumpled clothing, and her smudged makeup and messy hair falling out of her once neat braided up-do, it’s probably clear what they were up to. “Colt, are we really doing this now?”

“After I got over being pissed at you, I kept wondering if there was something I could have done differently…if I had slept with you when you wanted me to…”

“Colt, it’s not like that-”

“Oh, really? I see the way you’re throwing heart eyes at Logan now-”

“Enough. I’m not discussing this with you.” Gabi makes a move to leave but Colt grabs her wrist.

“I’m sorry.” Colt frowns. “You know my response to almost every emotion is anger, and I need to work on that. You don’t owe me this consideration, but I just need t say this in case I never get the chance…in case it makes a difference. I love you, Gabi.”

Gabi’s mouth falls open as this was the last thing she expected to here. “Colt…no you don’t.”

“What?” Colt is taken aback. “You can’t just say someone doesn’t love you.”

“But you don’t!” If he loved her he would have been on her side like Logan was. He would have tried to consider another way when she asked him to.

“Please don’t say I just love the ‘idea of you.’“

“We barely know each other Colt. You love…this dream of us defeating everyone who ever doubted us, side-by-side. But love isn’t like that. It’s not about winning. If you loved me, you wouldn’t need any of that. Love is no matter what.” She puts everything out there. All the things she’s been wanting to say but he wasn’t ready to hear.

Colt’s look of defeat turns to one of determination. “This is no matter what..and I’ll prove it to you.”