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Mark Trent was safe and reliable, and that’s what Gabi needed in her life after all the upheaval (and especially because of the monster in her basement). He caught her staring at her during another karaoke night and winked. She rolled her eyes. “You never quit, do you?” she teased.
“Why, is it working?” he shot back with a grin.
Normally this would be the point where one of their friends interrupted or she distracted him with something else but this time, Gabi decided to go for it. She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his lips. She pulled back and wasn’t surprised to see him stunned. “If you play your cards right, there’s more of that in your future.”
“Really?” Mark couldn’t believe it - she had resisted every attempt to hit on her, even though Gabi had continued to flirt with him. He wondered what had changed.
“Really.”
“Get a room!” Margaret yelled, and they all started laughing, the moment ruined.
Gabi could depend on Mark and he was a nice enough distraction from her life. A good friend. “We’ll pick up where we left off later, Trent.”
“Sounds good to me,” he agreed with a smile.
“We can hear you! Should we leave so you can have that room?” asked a semi-serious Lacey.
“That’s not necessary but thank you!” Gabi waved at her, chuckling.
Mark leaned over and kissed her briefly and the two of them flipped their friends off when they all started cat-calling them. “We deserved that,” Margaret conceded.
“Good call.” Gabi shook her head in amusement. She could have had better timing but fuck it. This was her life and she was damn going to do whatever she wanted. No one could ever tell her what to do. She had risen above the ashes.