Chapter 186

• GUSTAVO
• I forced myself upright on the couch, the room tilting like the floor had come loose under me. My head throbbed, a dull ache that started at my temples and rolled down my neck in slow waves. The lounge was dim now, the party music long gone, replaced by the quiet hum of the hotel settling for the night. The evidence stared back at me. Gabrielle’s earring on the carpet. The lipstick-stained glass tipped on its side. Her black silk scarf still draped across my bare chest. My tux shirt and jacket crumpled on the floor like I’d ripped them off in a hurry.
• Memory hit in flashes. Her voice low and bitter. “You’ll thank me later when she walks away.” The second drink she pressed into my hand. Her fingers on my chest. My slurred “Get off me.” My push. Her refusal to stop. Then black.