The Fallout
"What in hell was that?" Miguel asks, who heard the loud slam.
Claire hesitates. "It's… It's Gabriel. He seemed angry."
"Angry over what?"
"I don't know."
"I thought you said you two were okay."
"Yeah, I thought so, too. He even gave me a new phone, for company use."
"Then why…" Miguel pauses. He sighs. "Gabriel is like that sometimes. Did he say anything, some hint to what he might be feeling earlier?"
"No idea," Claire says; she tries to stop her voice from shaking, afraid that Miguel might hear it. "I was just… I don't know what happened."
"He was probably talking to his people again, and got some bad news."
Claire says nothing.
"Are you all right?" There's concern in Miguel's voice.
"I'm fine," she mutters.
"I'm sorry, Claire," he says.
"You don't have to," she says, and at the tail-end of what she said, her voice was hoarse. "There's nothing to be sorry. You know how Gabriel can be sometimes."
"Yeah," he says. "I got used to it. I have to. He's my brother."