Best of My Love By Charlotte

Gabi stared at the object clutched tightly in her hands, disbelief running rampant through her mind. No. This could not be true; there was no way that this could be happening to her. Not now, after everything had finally been laid to rest between her and Antonio.

Tightening her grip on the object, Gabi felt the crude plastic holding the shape together, begin to crack. Hesitantly she realised her strong grip and grabbed a near by bag, placing the object into it hurriedly. Knotting the bag tightly with her hands, Gabi tossed it into the wastebasket.

Not being able to look at the bag without arising tears to her eyes, she averted her gaze to the open entrance of the loft. It was empty. That was a relief. The last thing she needed was for Ricardo, or worse, Antonio to have seen her little fiasco with the paper bag.

Looking around herself, Gabi did not take anything in. Objects, colours, smells, all passed through her without leaving a trace. Gabi sighed. What was she going to do now? As the picture frame containing the photograph of her, Ricardo and Antonio came into view, Gabi found herself being presented with an option. Her only option.

Grabbing her purse, Gabi started to make her way towards the loft entrance, but was stopped as she noticed the familiar figure climbing the stairs; Ricardo.

Whirling around, Gabi saw no other way out. She was not going to be able to leave the loft without facing her fiancé, and that was one of the last things Gabi believed that she could handle right now.

"Hey Gab." Ricardo entered the loft and dumped his set of keys on the table, Gabi's eyes following the action, noticing how close Ricardo was to the wastebasket, and the paper bag.

"Gab. You okay?" Ricardo walked towards Gabi and raised her eyes to his with a subtle hand gesture.

"Yes, I'm fine Ricardo. I'm just a little nervous about going to see Meg. She's been through so much these past few days with Benjy and all and I was just wondering if she would even want to see me." Gabi looked deep into Ricardo's dark brown eyes, so similar and yet so different to Antonio's.

Ricardo's face was filled with love; he believed every word she was saying. Gabi hated lying to him, she loved Ricardo so much and he did not deserve to be lied to by the person he trusted the most in life. Except for Antonio, Gabi added wistfully. What had she ever done to earn Ricardo's trust? Nothing. She had been presented with his love and trust without deserving it, and yet she still treated it as if it meant nothing to her.

"Ah, Gab. Course she's going to want to see you. She'd be crazy if she didn't." Ricardo placed his hands on to each of Gabi's shoulders and brought her into a soft embrace. Kissing her lightly on the lips, he pulled back, holding her at arm's length. "Meg's your friend, and as you said she's been through so much that she's going to need all the support she can get."

Gabi felt her eyes watering; she could not take Ricardo's kindness knowing what she had done to him. Even though Gabi could not see the object through the paper bag, she could feel it burning her with its hot gaze. A permanent reminder of her betrayal. Of the moment when she had given in and returned to the person she had vowed to leave behind forever. The person she had tried so hard to leave on that stand in the courthouse.

"Thank you Ricardo. I'm sure you're right." Gabi tucked a few loose strands of her dark hair behind her ears. "You always are. You're so good at comforting me." Slipping her arms around Ricardo's waist, she smiled.

"That's not all I'm good at Gabi." Ricardo's face beamed as he lowered his lips to Gabi's neck, gently caressing the flesh.

"Oh, Ricardo." Gabi weighted the temptation to stay against the need to go.

Slowly, Ricardo began to lead her backwards, away from the escape. He placed one hand on the back of Gabi's neck and the other was left touching her middle.

"No, Ricardo. I have to - I have to go." Gabi murmured as Ricardo's searching lips found her throat.

"Ah, Gab. Stay." Ricardo whispered into her ear. "Stay." He repeated the word, sensing Gabi's will to go diminishing.

"I can't." Gabi bit her lip; she could feel herself giving in, the walls collapsing around her as Ricardo kissed on. Resisting Ricardo was not one of her strong points. In fact, she found it was near impossible to walk away from her fiancé when he touched her like that.

"Gabi, Gabi, Gabi." Ricardo moaned, knowing that this would be the last step to convince her to stay with him.

The walls collapsed and Gabi felt herself being drawn. Ricardo scooped her up into his strong arms and carried her towards the bed, nestled seductively in the corner of the loft.

Antonio took two stairs at a time as he made his way up the steps leading to Ricardo’s loft. When his brother had called, he had made it clear that it was important.

Reaching the top, Antonio noticed that the door was slightly ajar. Pushing it gently, it opened inwards to reveal the loft.

He ventured forward slightly. "Ricardo." He started. "Are you here?" A couple of footsteps closer and Antonio was in the loft.

His eyes searched the room until they landed on Gabi and Ricardo, lying in a tangled mess together on the bed. Antonio’s heart raced and his mind flashed back to the night of the cave in: To the night when he and Gabi had shared everything from their souls to their bodies.

"My God. Ricardo!" Gabi’s shrill cry brought Antonio back to his harsh reality, as he realised that Gabi had noticed him standing in the doorway, a shocked and hurt expression wiped across his handsome features. Bewilderedly, Antonio managed to wipe away the look of anguish just before Ricardo looked up at his brother; locks of dark hair flopping loosely in his eyes.

"Oh. Hey T." Ricardo smiled sheepishly as he pulled himself off the bed and straightened his braces. He marched over to his brother and the two stood facing each other.

Gabi remained frozen, her eyes penetrating Antonio's, searching his soul for what he may be feeling right now.

Ricardo remained oblivious to the ongoing saga between his brother and fiancée.

Scratching the back of his neck, Ricardo displayed his usual quirky half-smile. "Anyway T, I’m glad you’re here. We need to talk to you."

"Ricardo. You invited Antonio here? Why would you do that?" Gabi finally stood, trying to hide the confusion that masked her face. "Wha- What do we need to talk to Antonio about?" She stumbled forward reaching Antonio and Ricardo.

"Oh yeah! That’s right, I never cleared it with you. I guess we got a tad side tracked." Ricardo raised his eyebrows at Gabi and smiled. "Not that I’m complaining, mind you." Ricardo wrapped his arm tenderly around Gabi’s waist, drawing her closer to his body.

Antonio winced at the action, it causing a painful reminder of what he could never have to shoot throughout his veins. Every kiss, every touch, every sign of affection just added to Antonio’s burden of guilt. The guilt he had been carrying on his shoulders since the night he had given in to his feelings and made love to Gabi.

"Ricardo…" Gabi pushed her overactive fiancé off of her, his once welcoming embrace now leaving her feeling suffocated and trapped.

Ricardo’s face filled with hurt and rejection. Gabi had been like that for weeks now, distant. It was like she was there, yet he could not touch her anymore. Occasionally she was fine, but when Antonio arrived she retreated to her shell. There was definitely something going on between the two of them and Ricardo vowed to find out. If he was going to ask Antonio what he planned to, then he and Gabi needed to have cleared up whatever was going wrong between them.

MORE SOON....