“You made her pay,” she assumes.
“I did what your ex did to people who crossed him, Abbie.”
She stiffens ever so slightly but she doesn’t pull away. “What does that mean?”
“I wanted revenge. I’m not proud of that, but I did.”
“You hurt them.”
“Yes.”
“How?” she presses.
“Do the details matter?”
“Yes,” she says. “I believe they do or—” Her brows dip. “Where is Kendall now?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care.”
“And the baby?” she asks.
“A teenager in a fancy prep school.”
“And Mike?”
“He’s dead, Abbie. My ex-best friend is dead.” I stand up and turn to face her. Dexter scoots closer to her, nudges her hand to pet him, letting her know that he’s there for her. The way I want to be there for her.
“Tell me,” she orders softly.
“I wanted revenge. I’m not proud of that but I did. I called the one person I knew would know how to make that happen.”
“Your father.”
“Yes, and I told him that I wanted Mike ruined. I didn’t give him limits.”
“Did you know what that meant with your father at the time?” she surprises me by asking.
“No. I didn’t know what that meant with my father at the time, but I damn sure do now.”
“What did he do?”
“It didn’t take much. I had no idea that Mike’s family was into some shady shit. My father made sure it went public. They lost everything and Mike killed himself.”
She covers her mouth on a gasp. “You didn’t do that to him. You didn’t—”
“I ordered the ruin of a man and he killed himself, Abbie. Don’t even think about softening that blow.”
“And Kendall? What did your dad do to her?”
“He didn’t. That was all me. I ruined her myself. We’d had some issues over ethics violations she refused to see as an issue. I made sure they were exposed. She was disbarred. She gave birth and put the baby up for adoption.”
She stares up at me, seconds ticking by. “Where’s the baby now?”
“He’s a teenager who was adopted by a good family. Word is that he may well end up in an Ivy League school.”
“Which you know because you helped him.”
“I know because I’m the one who stole his parents from him.”
She stands up and walks toward me, closing the few steps between us. “Because you helped him. Because you look out for him.”
“A child will never know his mother or father because of me.”
“Stop making yourself into a monster.”
“Stop making me into a hero who helped a child that only needed help because of what I did.”
“His parents were corrupt, Gabe. And what you did wasn’t kind, but you didn’t kill anyone. You didn’t set Mike’s family up and make it look like they did things they didn’t do. That’s what Kenneth would have done and from what you tell me, that’s what your father would have done. And that angers me. You were young. You took guidance from your father. He could have taught you to move on, but he didn’t do that.”
“I’ve gone after people, Abbie.”
“Have you ever killed anyone?”
“No.”
“Have you ever broken the law to hurt someone?”
“No.”
“Revenge is dangerous. What you did wasn’t kind. It wasn’t forgiving but you have to forgive yourself. I do. I forgive you.”
I tangle my fingers into her hair and pull her close. “Abbie,” I breathe out. “Damn it, you need to really look at me. I don’t want you to see one thing now, and then later, when I can’t live without you, see something else. See me now. Be angry. Make me fight past that anger so that I know you see all of me.”
“I do and thank God for it. One of us has to. You see your father when you look in the mirror. I see you, the real you, the man who fights for those he loves. The man who saves animals and babies. A man who would have been an amazing father. And if it’s the last thing I do on this earth, you will see you the way I see you.”
Her words punch me in the gut. She sees the man I want to be. The man I had a chance to be but that man is long gone. That’s a problem for us both. “You have on rose-colored glasses and one day you’ll take them off, you will see the real me and that shock will drive you away, the way my mother woke up and warned us not to be like the man she’d once loved.”
Her hands come down on my face. “I don’t believe that you would do the things your father does. The things my ex-husband did.”
“My blood—”
“Is also your mothers and your mind is your own. Your actions are your own. You were young. Would you go to your father for revenge now that you are older, wiser, and you know him as the monster, not the man?”
“Never. I’d go to my mother who Reid and I should have idolized over my fucking father.”
“Your mother would be proud of you, Gabe, because you learned that lesson. Because you’re not your father. And knowing that you could have been, that one piece of your life could have sent you that direction, not this direction, matters. I have never wanted to be an ‘us’ more than I do with you and Dexter.” She presses her lips to mine and whispers. “You are already my best friend.”
I rotate her and lay her down on the bed, shifting to slide my leg between hers, my body angled to hers. “And you, Abbie, are my best friend.”
“Best friends don’t use rose-colored glasses, Gabe. They see perfection in the imperfect.”
Those words, radiate through me and spin ten emotions I don’t try to name. Instead, I kiss her because I want to, and because if I don’t, I’ll confess my love. And it’s too soon for love when, despite her denial, she still wears rose-colored glasses. I fear she just doesn’t know it yet.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Gabe…
I lay awake holding Abbie, with Dexter at the foot of the bed, a surreal sense of rightness to the three of us together. Until these two came into my life, rightness meant alone. Rightness meant no one really knew me. No one at all. Not even Reid. Hell, the truth is that I always felt my father knew me better than anyone because of the past, and his role in Kendall and Mike’s undoing.
Did I blow my past into more than it had to be? Or did Abbie, downplay my sins because contrary to her vow not to, she’s falling in love with her best friend? Holy hell I want her to fall in love with me. I want and want and want some fucking more with this woman.
That thought was the last thought I had when I fell asleep and the first I have in the new day.
Exactly why I wake Abbie by kissing every part of her body I can possibly kiss, her soft sweet moans, the best damn way a man, this man, could wake up. I don’t fuck her. I make love to her and when we’re done, there’s a warmth between us that expands like a fire casting a glow across a cold room. We’re the fire that does more than cast me in warmth. We ignite fuel in me to take action. To shut my father down once and for all. To make everything bad in our lives right now good.
Still in a playful mood, Abbie mentions the shower and I proceed to carry her there, depositing her into the hot water, and then thanks to Dexter’s demands, leave her there alone. He needs to pee. Damn cute fucking dog. I throw on sweats and a T-shirt to take him out, avoiding the front of the building when the building staff warns me of reporters. A necessity that has me dialing Reid. “We got rid of him but we didn’t deal with him.”
I don’t have to say who “him” is. “Exactly what kept me up all night,” he admits. “We should meet.”
“Agreed. I need to get Abbie to the office and settled but I don’t want to talk there.”
“The coffee shop,” he says, referencing the spot by the office we often meet. “Ten AM.”
“Ten AM.” We disconnect and I head back upstairs to feed Dexter.
I enter the bedroom already
peeling away my T-shirt and toeing off my shoes. “Your dog licked the doorman from chin to forehead,” I call out, walking toward the open bathroom door. “And I’m talking full-on lips-to-tongue action.” I find her at one of the two double sinks, a silk robe hugging her curves.
“My dog?” she laughs, turning to face me, a lacy black bra teasing me through the gaping V of the silk robe.
“I’ve decided he’s your dog when he does shit like that,” I say, dragging her to me and squeezing her backside. “I could really get used to this view in the morning.”
“You better. I’m moving in, remember?”
“I do. When Abbie?”
“You tell me?”
“Now.”
“Now?” she laughs.
“Yes. We’ll get all we can ourselves this weekend and call movers to get the rest.”
“I have a lease.”
“I’ll pay it.”
“You are not—”
I mold her to me and kiss her. “What’s mine is yours. We’ll work out the details later, but you will never want for anything ever again. You have my word.” I kiss her again and walk to the shower, undressing and stepping inside, pulling the door shut.
It opens again and Abbie stands there, tempting me to pull her inside, and if her hair wasn’t dry and her make-up done, I would. Hell if I didn’t have the meeting with Reid, I’d do it anyway and she could just get dressed all over again.
“I don’t want your money. I’ve had money, remember? It didn’t keep me warm at night or make me laugh, or even moan like you do, Gabe. And I don’t want to be taken care of. I want to be equal. I want to be friends. I want you, Gabe Maxwell, and nothing more.” And with that, she shuts the door and disappears, leaving me with more of that warmth spreading through me, as does my determination to do just what she said I shouldn’t.
Take care of her.
Whatever that has to mean. Whoever I have to cross. Even Jean Claude. I don’t care how dangerous he is, he’s not as dangerous as a man protecting the woman who woke him up.
***
Abbie and I drink coffee in the kitchen, our kitchen, and talk through the plans to move her out of her place. Dexter is exceptionally excited, feeding off our energy and laughter as we talk about what furniture she wants to keep. “We can redecorate,” I offer. “Anything you want.”
“Really?” she challenges, sipping from my coffee cup when hers is out of reach, comfortable. We’re remarkably comfortable with each other. “Because I was thinking a pink theme. Pink blinds. Pink rugs. I have a thing for pink.”
“Then we’ll decorate in fucking pink rugs and blinds, baby.”
“Good,” she says. “I can’t wait to go shopping.”
We laugh together, give Dexter goodbye affection and a bone before we decide to make the short walk to the office. “Talk to your mother about the shelter,” I say. “If she can’t get a place secured, find some options. Let’s start looking.”
“You’re sure about this, Gabe?”
“Tax write-off, baby. Is there another shelter we could buyout and merge with? A shelter we could improve? Turn it into a doggy spa shelter?”
“A doggy spa,” she laughs. “I like that idea. And maybe. I’ll talk to my mother.”
We chat that out a bit more, including the merits of doggy manicures, and we’ve just walked into the office to be greeted by Lulu who is apparently back from Italy today. I should know this of course, she is my assistant, but hell if I did. I introduce her to Abbie and since she’s also a redhead, the comparison is awkward. The looks Lulu casts between me and Abbie are as well. She knows me. She senses something between us, but I’ll have to have the “zip your lips” conversation with her.
When I’m finally in Abbie’s office with her alone, she arches a brow. “You don’t like redheads?”
“I don’t care what color her hair is when she kicks everyone’s ass for me, and she does, you’ll like her.”
“I do, but I think she knows about us.”
“She knows me,” I say, repeating my earlier thoughts out loud. “She reads me. She, no doubt, knows about us because of those things but she’ll zip her lips. She’s good like that.”
“I didn’t even think about how living together might make us more obviously a couple here at work. We live right around the corner. We could be seen in the area walking around arm in arm.”
We live.
I fucking love how easily she merges our worlds. “I don’t think we should hide our relationship,” I say sitting on the corner of her desk as she claims her chair. “As we discussed, you’re it, baby. You’re the one launching our much-needed charity division for the company. If someone tries to throw stones at you, they’re going to look like shit. Besides, Reid and his wife work together. But we’ll handle us how you want to handle us with the staff.”
My cellphone rings and I snag it from my pocket and glance at the Caller ID. “Reese,” I say, answering on speaker. “You have me and Abbie on the line.”
“Just what I hoped for,” he says. “Listen, I’m going into court, but I got some news. Blake got off-the-record word on an arrest being made today. A man named Neal, who was doing some work for Kenneth. Apparently, Kenneth was cutting him out of the new complex which meant cutting him out of big money. Neal killed him before he could make the cut.”
“I knew Neal,” Abbie says, sitting up straighter. “He did dirty work for Kenneth. I know he did. I overhead conversations.”
“And Neal knows you,” Reese replies. “Law enforcement believes that he used a wig to make the murder look like you did it but the crime scene was too professional for that to fly. I have to go, but hang tight for more news. Once the arrest is made, Blake or myself will update you both.”
“Will we still be interviewed?” Abbie asks quickly.
“I’ll know more soon,” Reese says. “I suspect we’ll know a lot of things today.”
He says a hasty goodbye and then disconnects. My phone immediately buzzes with a text and I glance down to find a message from Reid: Two plus two does not equal four. I’m headed to the coffee shop now.
My jaw tenses at an old saying my father used to use when telling us to look beyond the obvious. In other words, my father’s involved.
“Gabe? Something wrong?”
I shove my phone back in my pocket. “Reid is waiting on me to talk about the agreement with Jean Claude. And as for what’s wrong? It sounds like a lot of right, baby.”
“Could this really be over?” Abbie asks hopefully.
I stand and pull her to her feet. “It will be soon,” I say, stroking her cheek. “And then you’ll be free to fall in love with me.”
“I told you. I will not fall in love with you, Gabe.”
“And I will not fall in love with you, Abbie.”
We smile and it’s a united smile, one that says we both know this is a game. One we both win. “Call your mom. Make sure she knows what’s going on. Find us a shelter location. Let’s save some animals while we’re not falling in love.”
“I like that idea.”
“Good. I need to take care of Jean Claude, among other things. I’ll be back soon.” I kiss her hand and head to the door, with the intent of meeting up with Reid. Kenneth’s murder might be solved, but another problem is not. My father.
“Gabe,” Abbie says, as I’m about to open the door.
I pause, and I know without looking at her that she read me, when I thought she hadn’t. I glance over my shoulder. “Yes?”
“You aren’t your father. Don’t forget that.”
My jaw clenches. Yes. She knows. She damn sure knows that I’m after blood and my father. “No,” I say, agreeing with her. “I’m not like my father.” And with that, I leave. She’s right. I’m not my father. I don’t hurt people for personal gain. I don’t turn my back on those I care about and I’m not going to start now.
Abbie’s the reason this is over for my father.
She’s the reason he won’t be a
ble to hurt anyone else.
She’s the best thing that ever happened to me and anyone who has ever known my father.
CHAPTER FORTY
Gabe…
I’m barely out of Abbie’s office when Lulu steps in front of me. “You had an interesting time while I was gone, I see.”
“Not now. I need to go.”
“I’ll walk with you,” she says, as she often does. “I have a few messages for you.”
“Save them. Get rid of them. No time for them. But yes. Walk with me.”
She nods, and we fall into step, but we don’t speak until we’re on the elevator alone. “Yes, I’m seeing Abbie. We’re moving in together. No, I don’t want anyone to know until she wants them to know. That’s Abbie’s call.”
“You don’t like staying silent about it,” she observes. “She’ll come out of the closet when she trusts you. Not until.”
I feel that assessment as accurate and painful. She wants to trust me. Some part of her does trust me, but her ex was horrible to her. He burned her. Time builds trust. We need time that’s about our life as normal human beings, not murder suspects. “You know about—”
“The murder? Yes. I know. What can I do?”
I update her on the arrest. “That’s good news,” she says. “And again. What can I do?”
“What you always do. Control the sharks biting at my feet. And protect Abbie.”
Her eyes soften. “I will. Like she was my very own boss and friend.”
She’s telling me I’m a friend. “Friend,” I say softly, because we both know I don’t have many. I don’t let people close to me.
The elevator opens and I leave her in the car, thankful she’s back and a friend who will be Abbie’s friend, too. I’m comforted by this thought and walk through the lobby with a focus I might not have without her presence watching over Abbie. It’s a short walk and not long before I’m sitting in a corner booth with my brother.
“Neal, the guy they’re arresting today,” Reid says, “he did work for dad. A lot of work. He’ll know I know. He’ll know that he has to be behind that red wig.” He jabs the table. “He came at my wife. Now he came at your woman. I’m so fucking done with him.”
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