Chapter 40.

**Narrator’s POV.**

After receiving the beating he assumed he deserved, Gabriel crashed unto the couch, panting heavily and wheezing in pain. The other two men who were nursing their split fists glared daggers at him, “You are fucking dick, you know that?”, Alex yelled, he still wasn’t over what Gabriel had told him- he had walked straight into his trap, “Tessa deserves much more than you- hell! She deserves much more than the three of us”, he flopped unto the seat behind him with a loud sigh,

“Technically, she deserves better than the both of you, I never did anything wrong”, Kevin pointed out, “But still, she decided to choose dickhead here over me”, his tone was evidently scornful, till date, he still replayed the day that Tessa had left him for Gabriel in his head,

“Get over it”, Gabe huffed out as he tried to roll his eyes but ended up hissing due to the movement- they had really done a number on him. He turned to Alex, “Plus, I did not send that girl to you and even if I did, it was your job to keep it in your pants so do not blame me for any of the crap that is happening to you”.

“Then why did you?”, Alex’s eyes widened in alarm once he say the smirk coming from Gabriel’s busted lips, “You sick bastard!”, he yelled at him, “You fucking used me to get yourself beaten up!”,

“Do not act like you did not enjoy every single second of it”, of course he did! He had been wanting to do that ever since he was in his diapers, ever since Gabriel ‘mistakenly’ pushed him off the swing when they were toddlers but all he could do was cry for the mother who had practically abandoned him with a horrible man who he was forced to call his father.

“Now that we have gotten that out of the way, we need to talk- seriously”, Kevin said as he also took his seat. A large frown found its way to Gabriel’s face, “But first, you might want to take care of your face”,

“Thank you for noticing”, he said sarcastically as he stood up from the chair and headed to the bathroom,

“I do not mind rearranging your face again”, Kevin called to him and received his middle finger instantly, making him chuckle a bit.

“Just know that I am in if you ever want to that again”, Alex butted in but Kevin rolled his eyes,

“What do you want to do? Hold pompoms at the side while cheering me on?”, he received an incredulous, confused look from Alex, “Face it man, you punch like a fucking bitch”, Alex scoffed but did not say anything as Gabriel walked back into the room.

“Tessa called me”, he said as he sat down, indicating that it was time for them to get serious,

“Did you happen to get the number before you smashed your phone?”, Alex asked, pointing to the broken phone at the end of the room, Gabriel sighed and went over to it, picking up the corpse of what used to be his phone- it was completely unfixable,

“No, it was a private line”, he said shaking his head, he took out his sim cards from the phone and shoved them into his pockets, making a mental note to remove them later, “A new phone can be added to the budget, right?”, Alex sighed tiredly but nodded his head,

“Just don’t go all out, okay?”, Gabriel nodded and looked over to Kevin, “Do you think we should hire a PI?”, the option had been on his mind for quite some time now but this whole thing suddenly pushed it to the forefront.

Kevin’s eyebrow went up in questioning, “A private investigator?”,

Gabriel nodded, “Yes, I think we should get one of those, they are very effective, I think”, the look of skepticism on both Kevin and Alex’s face was showing him that his suggestion clearly wasn’t appreciated,

“I do not think bringing any other person into this is safe Gabriel, our father knows people and if he should find out that we are close to finding Tessa, things would all go down from there”,

“Well, it is stupid to assume that he doesn’t already know, considering the fact that one of his men caught Tessa talking to me”, he stood up again and sighed, “I am tired of waiting for some sort of miracle to happen, I need to know that she is safe and okay, I would give anything to just see her right now”, his lips tugged at the side as he remember how beautiful Tessa was- how dazzling and mesmerizing her smile could be and how he found it cute when she frowned. “I am tired of walking on a straight line and thinking inside the box, its not bringing me anywhere”.

“I wonder if dad realizes that he actually kidnapped Tessa?”, Kevin stated as he used his fingers to massage his temples, he could already feel a headache coming- goddamn it!

“Now if only the police could see it in that view”, Kevin sighed and stood up, “I understand what you are saying Gabriel but I really do not think we should make stupid decisions like hiring a PI”,

“Do we really have a choice?”, he shot at Kevin who just kept his anger and emotions at bay- *think positively* he reminded himself over and over again, his therapist had always told him to do that when he felt like beating someone up- that was the only way he could deal with his annoying bandmates.

*Think positively*, “We always have a choice”, he replied, “And right now, a very important choice is that we find something to eat”,

“Well, you both should make that choice without me, I am not hungry”, he was lying and they knew I but they decided not to push him as he turned around and walked back to his room in the middle of that hall.