Rachel shook her head. “I asked her. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I did. And she said no.”
Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Scott slammed his beer down on the counter. “Well, where is he? Let’s go, Aaron. Someone needs to teach him a lesson.”
“Gabriel got to him first. Ron told me that they had to take Simon to the hospital to have his jaw wired shut. Gabriel smashed his face in,” Aaron explained.
Scott’s eyebrows shot up. “The Professor? Why would he do that?”
Aaron and Rachel exchanged a knowing look.
“I’d still like to pay the asshole a visit.” Scott cracked the knuckles on his right hand. “Just to talk to him.”
Aaron shook his head. “Listen to yourself. You’re a prosecutor; he’s the son of a senator. You can’t tune the guy up. And besides, Gabriel finished it. They’ll take him into custody when the doctors are done with him.”
“You still haven’t explained why Gabriel would get his pretty little hands dirty for Julia. He barely knows her.”
Rachel leaned over the kitchen island toward her brother. “They’re a couple.”
Scott blinked like a lazy stoplight. “Come again?”
“Just what I said. They’re—together.”
“Holy shit. What the hell is she doing with him?”
Before anyone could offer a hypothesis, Gabriel walked into the kitchen. He looked at the worried faces of his family and frowned. “Where’s Julianne?”
“Still being interviewed.” Richard smiled at his oldest son and clapped a hand to his shoulder. “I’m very proud of you, for what you did for Julia. I know we’re all grateful you arrived in time.”
Gabriel pressed his lips together and nodded uncomfortably.
“Clocking Simon Talbot will earn you a medal. But screwing around with Julia will earn you a beating. You aren’t good enough for her. Not by a long shot.” Scott put his beer down and cracked his knuckles again.
Gabriel’s eyes glinted coldly at his brother. “My personal life is none of your business.”
“It is now. What kind of professor screws his students? Don’t you get enough tail already?”
Rachel inhaled deeply and slowly moved toward the door, away from the impending titanic clash.
Gabriel’s fists clenched at his sides, and he took a step closer to his larger but younger brother. “Speak about Julianne that way again and you and I are going to have more than words.”
“All right, you guys, no more Cain and Abel bullshit. There are cops in our living room, and you’re scaring your sister.” Aaron stepped in between the seething men, placing a light hand on Scott’s chest.
“Julia is not the kind of girl that you screw around with and then dump. She’s the kind of girl you marry,” Scott said over Aaron’s shoulder.
“You think I don’t know that?” said Gabriel, with evident hostility.
“Don’t you think she’s had her quota of assholes?”
Richard held his hand up. “Scott, that’s enough.”
He looked at his father curiously.
“Gabriel rescued Julia from her attacker.” Richard nodded slightly.
Scott stared at his father as if he’d just told him that the earth was flat. And everyone, except him, already knew it.
Rachel jumped in, eager to change the subject. “By the way, Gabriel, I didn’t know you knew Jamie Roberts. Did you go to high school with her?”
“Yes.”
“Were you friends?”
“Vaguely.”
All eyes swung to Gabriel, who turned on his heel and disappeared.
Richard waited a few minutes for the tension in the air to dissipate before turning his attention to his remaining son. “I’d like a word with you, please.” His voice was calm but firm.
The two men climbed the stairs to the second floor and walked into Richard’s study. He closed the door behind them.
“Have a seat.” He pointed to a chair in front of his desk. “I want to talk to you about your attitude toward your brother.”
Scott sat opposite his father and prepared himself for what was to come. Richard only brought his children into the study for the most serious of conversations.
He gestured to a reproduction of Rembrandt’s The Return of the Prodigal Son, which was proudly displayed on one of the walls. “Do you remember the parable behind that painting?”
Scott nodded slowly. He was in trouble.
***
Julia sat bolt upright in bed, gasping for air.
It was only a nightmare. It was only a nightmare. You got away.
It took a moment to bring her frantic breathing under control. But once she realized that she was safe in the Clark’s guest room and not underneath Simon on the floor of her old bedroom, she was able to relax. Somewhat.
She leaned over and turned on the lamp. The light dispelled the darkness of the room but did not cheer her. She picked up the glass of water and the pain pills that Gabriel left when he tucked her into bed several hours earlier. He’d curled around her, fully clothed, and held her until she fell asleep. But he was gone now.