Gabby awoke in a fog of disorientation and massive headache as the phone rang. Her hand reached out instinctively to the nightstand to pick up the current object of her irritation and with that touch the sound decreased. ?Who th? hell is callin? so early??

She looked at the screen with blurry eyes but saw a picture of King flashing so she immediately tapped the screen to decline the call. Gabby rolled her eyes then looked around. This was when she nearly had a panic attack because she didn?t recognize the decor around her...but she did recognize the man laying beside her, mumbling in his sleep. Her first instinct was to lift up the blankets, still in a silent panic, to be sure she was clothed. Which she thankfully was. Then she checked to be sure he was still clothed. Which he thankfully was. Gabby began the process of trying to piece together the previous night

After she and Rix had sufficiently scared everyone they came into contact with, they had gone out for middle of the night breakfast. During all of this, Gabby had been trying to drown her sorrow in a bottle of pixie stix rum and with mass quantities of candy. It wasn?t like she had to drive or even walk so there wasn?t a reason, in her mind, not to try to make herself feel better. It did make riding on Rix?s shoulders rather difficult and she had taken a nasty tumble more than once until he had decided to just keep a hand on her leg to hold onto her when she started to slide backwards. He had been a willing ear as she drunkenly disowned King as her friend, denied ever having feelings for the girl, and then broke down into a fit of sobs that had the giant of a man patting at her shoulder as he tried to awkwardly console her about a failed relationship that had never been an actual relationship. Rix had been a trooper and had handled Gabby with true finesse.

She remembered all of these things vividly but she couldn?t recall how she ended up in his bed...with him. It was obvious they hadn?t done anything to warrant her concern but it was still disconcerting to wake up in a man?s bed with no idea how you got there.

What Gabby didn?t remember, and this was probably for the best, was that she had cried about not wanting to go home when they were done eating. Rix had taken pity on the girl and invited her to his house because he had worried about what might happen if she did go home alone in her current state of mind.

Gabby was brought back from her painful recollections of the night prior when Rix suddenly moaned out, ?Nooo, don?t take my tail...? This had Gabby snickering behind her hand even as she groaned a little from the pressure in her head. She remembered his reaction to her calling him a monkey a couple of days prior, saying his tail had been removed when he was eight. Now he was having a nightmare about it. Well, she was having a nightmare as well...because she just heard the ding on her phone that indicated she had a voicemail. ?S**t...?

Gabby paused to debate whether she should just delete it without listening to it but curiosity won out in the end. After last night, why would King be calling her? She had sealed her fate once Gabby realized that the half and half had been lying to her and then King hurt her feelings when she ?pawned? Gabby off on Rix. That had turned out well even if she had spent the night being emo and drunk and woke up in his bed with no idea how she got there. But that wasn?t the point. Gabby was hurt and this warranted a rash decision that she wouldn?t talk to King anymore. That was just how she dealt with pain and what she considered rejection.

She felt herself growing tense just thinking about what had transpired at the Outback last night and realized she was angry. She dialed her voicemail and listened to the nearly frantic King stumble all over her words. Gabby was smirking and muttered ?Damn straight you f**ked up and don? deserve me. Hindsight is a b**ch, ain? it, doll?? Then came the part that made Gabby drop her phone...?You what?? she shrieked, forgetting in that moment that someone was asleep next to her. I love you, Gabby...resounded in her head over and over and she couldn?t stop the outpouring of tears that followed. Rix awoke to find Gabby crying hysterically and moved over to put his arms around her.

?She left me a message and said...? her sobs wracked her tiny frame as she allowed him to wrap her up and try to comfort her. ?She said she loves me. The hell...?? She was so distraught that she forgot to immediately bombard him with questions about how she ended up here. Gabby reached over to drop the phone on the bedside table and proceeded to cry for the next hour; each time the tears seemed to stop flowing, they would start right back up. She looked like a raccoon and Rix didn?t hesitate to tell her this in attempt to lighten the mood for her; he was perplexed and didn?t know what to do to make her feel better.

?Maybe you should call her back, Gabby?? It was stated more as a question than a suggestion. He wasn?t sure what the girl should do, he just knew he didn?t like seeing her so upset. It defied the laws of nature for Gabby not to have a bright smile on her lips.

?No, I can?t talk to her right now. Maybe later...?