“I have to go. Goodbye, Gabriel.” She said it so softly, he had to strain his ears to hear her.

“Serenity, wait. Serenity.” Gabriel glanced down at the display. She’d hung up. He slammed his hand down on the table. “Dammit!”

Darius and Brent rushed into the room and asked what happened.

“She ended it. I know she’s afraid, but she hung up before I could convince her I’m not like her weak-ass ex.”

“Then there’s only one thing to do.” Darius withdrew the car keys and held them up. “You need to tell her in person.”

“But you already booked these rooms for two nights.”

He shrugged. “Brent and I can always come back tomorrow, but this is more important. So let’s go.”

Gabriel stood there, momentarily stunned. But he shouldn’t have been surprised because they’d had each other’s backs for almost two decades and would do whatever was necessary to help one another. “Thanks, man. I owe you.”

“Make me the best man at your wedding and we’ll call it even.”

Brent laughed. “Hold up. Why do you get to be the best man? I rented the car.”

Gabriel shook his head. “Can we go now? Neither of you will be a best man if I can’t convince Serenity to give us a chance.”

Darius made a show of thinking. “Good point. You’ve got at least an hour to come up with a way to get it done, my brother.”

That hour turned out to be one of the longest in his life. The fact that they’d left after ten in the evening and missed all the traffic was the only thing that kept him sane during the drive. When Darius turned into Gabriel’s driveway, Gabriel barely waited for the car to stop before he hopped out. He tossed Brent the house key. “I don’t know what time I’ll be back.”

“Hopefully, sometime tomorrow,” Darius said with a grin.

“You guys can be a pain in the butt sometimes, but I’m glad you have my back.” They did a fist bump and went in opposite directions, them to his house and Gabriel to see Serenity. He rang her doorbell and waited anxiously. He took a surreptitious glance over his shoulder to see if Adele was in her usual spot, but the house was dark. He spun around when he heard the door open.

“Gabriel.” Serenity’s eyes went wide.

“May I come in?”

She hesitated briefly, then stepped back for him to enter. “What are you doing here?”