Affinity: A Salvation Society Novel

by Harlow Layne

  “It’s never been like it was today. If I had known, I would have demanded we make an online order. If it continues, we’ll get security. You didn’t ask to be put in a situation like that one.”

  She straightened up in her seat, and I could see her staring at me out of the corner of my eye. “Neither did you.”

  I didn’t, but growing up as a child actor, I was used to having no anonymity. Luckily, the days of my father constantly putting me in the spotlight were over.

  As we pulled up to the gate of my—our neighborhood, I spotted more paps and watched as Abbi drew back into herself.

  “Are you okay?”

  “If I say no, will it make any difference?” she asked shakily.

  A bitter chuckle escaped me. “I may be an asshole, but I’m not that much of an asshole. If you don’t feel safe, I’ll do anything in my power. You only have to say so.”

  After pulling into the garage, I helped Abbi out of the car. Her legs were still shaky as I guided her into the living room and sat her down.

  “I’m going to grab the groceries. Take all the time you need to get your bearings,” I called over my shoulder.

  “Reeves,” she called out.

  “Yeah?” I turned around.

  “Thank you for caring. I don’t know if it’s an act or real, but for what it’s worth, I appreciate it.”

  She appreciated my fake caring?

  I couldn’t get her words out of my head as I made trip after trip from the garage to the kitchen. I hadn’t realized her opinion of me was so low. Did the rest of the world think the same thing? Could I ever redeem myself in the eyes of the world or the woman in my living room?

  On my last trip, I found Abbi in the kitchen, putting away the groceries, humming to herself. I watched as her ass swayed back and forth before I put the last of the bags down on the counter and stepped away. I needed to retreat into my lair (what I now called my bedroom since my house wasn’t my own anymore).

  “Hey.” Abbi’s hand landed on the back of my arm. “Are you okay?” I didn’t like the concern I heard in her voice. Maybe it was fake? Maybe she was fake, and that’s why she thought I’d been acting.

  Without turning to look at her, I answered. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  Her hand slipped away. “I just thought . . . I don’t know. I’ll put these away. It will be kind of fun to make my own system.”

  “Have fun. I’ll be in my room or outside if you need me. I need to learn my lines.” I already had them memorized, but I hated how much it unnerved me to see her in my kitchen, making it her own.

  Instead of grabbing my script, I picked up the latest Stephen King novel and headed to the back of the property to get lost in my book. I hoped being outside would give me a little clarity into my new situation. I loved looking out onto the city, especially at night when all the lights were shining. It reminded me of how small I was in this big world.

  No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get into my book, which was abnormal for me. My mind kept going back to the grocery store, Poppy, and Abbi. To get it all out of my head, I decided to hit the pool to do some laps.

  Stripping out of my clothes, I dove in and let the water slide over me. I focused on breathing and the glide of my body through the water, only thinking of my movements and breathing until I couldn’t go any further. I came up at the end of the pool with my arms resting on the warm concrete facing the house and laid my head on them as I caught my breath.

  Taking a few deep breaths, I opened my eyes to find Abbi lounging out on a chair, watching me with heated eyes. Maybe diving in without putting on a pair of trunks wasn’t the wisest decision. It was going to take some time for me to get used to not having the house all to myself and being able to walk around without any clothes on if I wanted to. I was lucky there was no way for anyone to take pictures in my backyard, or I would have been in the tabloids weekly, showing all my goods for the world to see.

  “Is that something you normally do?” She sat forward as if she was waiting with bated breath for my answer.

  “When I can’t clear my head, it does the job.”

  Abbi stared at me as if she had x-ray vision and could see my junk through the concrete. “I’m sorry to intrude. I only came out here to ask you what you wanted for dinner.”

  “How long will those avocados last?”

  “A few days. They were still a little hard. Why?” She cocked her head.

  “Fried chicken sounds good.” I licked my lips just thinking about it.

  Abbi’s eyes tracked my tongue as it swiped along the seam of my lips. “I . . . I can do that and make some mashed potatoes, green beans with garlic, and some biscuits.”

  I groaned at the sound of our would-be dinner. Growing up with my father, he never cooked. It was either a frozen meal, or we ate out.

  “Great,” she chirped and jumped up. “I’ll get right on it.”

  As she started to walk away, the creamy skin of her legs was exposed by her shorts riding up. I noticed four small bruises on her leg and wanted to ask her about them, but she darted inside before I had a chance to open my mouth. It made me wonder how I hadn’t noticed them earlier. Had she hidden them somehow, or had she gotten them earlier at the store?

  Chapter Eleven

  Abbi

  “Are you going to continue to avoid me?” Reeves asked, breaking me out of my cooking fog. I didn’t want to admit it, but I had been avoiding him since his eyes zeroed in on the bruises on my leg last night. Every time it seemed like he was going to mention it, I interrupted him or walked out of the room. It was childish, but I didn’t want to talk about how the bruises got there or the sex we both couldn’t remember.

  “Is there a point to what you’re going to ask?”

  He jerked back as if I’d slapped him. “Yeah, there is. I want to know if it was me who put those bruises on you or some other asshole.”

  “You’re the only asshole who’s put bruises on me. Now can we drop it?” I wanted to turn back to frying up the bacon, not liking the way he was looking at me with his eyes zeroed in on where the bruises were hidden underneath my clothes. I was just glad he hadn’t seen the other side with its matching bruises.

  “I feel strange not talking about it. I did that to you.” He crossed his arms over his chest and then grabbed the back of his neck.

  It was sweet that he was concerned about me, but it wasn’t necessary. I was sure if I could remember how I got those bruises, the experience I would remember would have been quite enjoyable. I hated I couldn’t remember the one time I’d ever have sex with Reeves Jenner.

  I turned back to the stove. “It’s fine,” I amended my comment. “I’m fine, so just please drop it.”

  He was quiet for a few moments before he cleared his throat. “I’m sorry if that means anything, and if you ever want to talk about it, then I’m here.”

  “Thank you. I hope you like bacon,” I said to change the subject. “I thought we could eat it with the leftover biscuits from last night if that sounds good to you.”

  “I may not have liked the idea of you moving in or us having to stay married, but I have to admit, you cooking for me is worth whatever else happens.”

  At least he was honest about not liking our circumstances.

  “I think you’re getting more out of this than me. All I get is this gorgeous place to rest my head for the next three hundred and sixty odd days,” I joked.

  “Let’s agree to disagree,” he let out a light chuckle. “What do you have planned for today?”

  Plating the bacon, I pulled the biscuits out of the oven where they were warming before I placed them on the bar. “I think Catherine is sending over an email with some work for me to do. One thing I can promise you is I won’t be leaving the house.” I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to work up the nerve to leave alone. I was already thinking about asking Catherine if I could work remotely. Even though I was pretty sure she would fire me if I brought it up. “What about you?”

&n
bsp; He pulled apart a biscuit and piled bacon on it until it was two inches thick before he placed the top back on. His cheeks actually looked pink when he looked up. “Levi is dropping something off, but that’s all I have planned right now. Tomorrow I’m expected on set bright and early.” He took one bite out of his sandwich, and it was nearly half gone. After chewing for a minute, he took a sip of his coffee. “It’s like they’re punishing me for having time off. I’ll be gone before the sun comes up so you’ll have the house all to yourself.”

  Sucks for him, but it would be nice to be able to walk around and maybe snoop a little bit. Maybe after a day to myself, this place would seem a little more like home.

  “Do you care if I have Sophie over after she gets off work?” I slathered butter on my biscuit before I broke apart my bacon and added it. After I got nothing but silence, I looked up to a frustrated-looking Reeves. “What’s going on?”

  He shook his head. “This is your house for the next year. You don’t have to ask every time you want someone to come over, Abbi.”

  “Cool, I’ll have her over. If you let me know when you’ll be home, I’ll make sure to have dinner ready,” I said with a little more pep in my voice than I meant to. I only wanted to reduce the sudden tension in the room.

  Bracing his elbows on the table, Reeves’ lips turned down. “One thing you’ll learn about shooting schedules is they are never reliable. I can text you when I think I’ll be finished closer to the end of the day or when I’m done, whichever works for you.” He shrugged. “I understand that’s not a whole lot of time, but it’s all I can do.”

  Him getting a warm meal every night didn’t sound too promising, but this was his life, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

  “I understand. If I get a roundabout time, then I can try to make sure dinner is ready around then, and I can keep it in the warmer until you get home. No problem.”

  See, I could be amenable. When I woke up that morning, I decided I wouldn’t let Reeves get to me. If I played nicely, then hopefully, he would, and it seemed to be working.

  Shoving another bacon biscuit in his mouth, Reeves slowly chewed before he patted his belly. “If you keep feeding me like this, my trainer is going to kick my ass. Thanks for breakfast.” He stood with a groan. “I’m going to take a shower before Levi gets here.”

  I left the food out on the table in case Levi wanted some and went into my bedroom to get to work. I didn’t want to disappoint Catherine on my first assignment.

  I should have known things weren’t going to work in my favor when I found my laptop dead and my charger nowhere in sight. I spent over an hour going through all the boxes I’d discarded but had yet to cut down for recycling. After going through everything twice, I found it in the bathroom under a pile of towels. I wasn’t sure how it got there, but I knew I hadn’t put it in there. Had Reeves tried to sabotage me? If so, why? It made no sense.

  Once my laptop starting charging and I could turn it on, I logged into my work email and started reading through them. Catherine was giving me some easy clients where I was to monitor what was being said about them in the media and to make sure they were not putting anything compromising about themselves on social media. Easy, meaning they didn’t get into trouble like my husband.

  I was only twenty minutes into getting myself acquainted with one of five clients when Levi and Reeves started hooting and hollering, and what sounded like a round of high fives going by the slapping of skin. No matter how hard I tried to ignore it, I couldn’t, and it only got louder as time went on. The TV blared with the sound of sports announcers. I didn’t want to know more; if I did, it would only infuriate me more.

  When the yelling turned constant, I slammed my laptop closed and stomped down the hallway. My feet slapped the stone floor as I gritted my teeth.

  Walking into the living room, I found Reeves giving Levi a piggyback ride around the living room and part of the backyard with his arm in the air, swinging it around like a bull rider while calling out the worst yeehaw I’d ever heard. Stopping dead in my tracks, I placed my hands on my hips and waited to see how long it would take for them to notice me.

  They continued to holler as they stopped in front of the TV while watching a soccer game. After what seemed like forever—but was probably only five minutes—I cleared my throat. I was sick and tired of waiting.

  Levi turned with wide eyes and then promptly sunk down on the couch. “Jenner, dude, your . . . wife?” He looked at me with a strange expression. “Am I supposed to call you his wife while in his house?” The way he said the word wife with a sneer had me taking a step back. Where did that come from? In Vegas, he had seemed nice, but maybe it was all an act.

  “What the hell?” Reeves shouted. He took a menacing step toward his friend before he moved toward me. Blocking Levi from view, he put an arm out as if to tell me to stay where I was. “You know the situation. A situation I wouldn’t be in if it weren’t for you. Where the hell were you that night, huh?”

  Levi jumped up from the couch, his face red. “How about you learn some fucking self-control? How many thirty-year-old men do you know who need babysitters?”

  With every word that came out of his mouth, Reeves’ body tensed. “Get out of my house. I’ll personally be informing Catherine you’re fired.”

  “You can’t fire me because I quit. I’ve got better things to do with my life than wipe your ass,” he spat.

  I tried to look around Reeves’ large frame, but he continued to block me, his body hard as stone. The front door slammed, and the sound reverberated through the house. My body shook as I tried to process what just happened. Reeves continued to stand in front of me, and his body started to shake.

  I rested my hand between his shoulder blades and asked quietly, “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fucking great!” He flapped his arms at his side as he turned around. “Just fucking great! What a great friend he was,” he yelled, stomping off toward the kitchen. I followed behind, watching as he swung the refrigerator door open and pulled out a bottle of beer.

  Grabbing his hand, I stopped him before he could take a sip. I didn’t want him to spiral all because Levi was an asshole. “You don’t need this. Don’t let him get to you. He’s obviously bitter about something.”

  “Bitter?” he spat. “Why would he be bitter? You have no idea how much he was getting paid. He’s never going to make that kind of money elsewhere.”

  “Then it’s his loss. Why don’t you continue the game while I call Catherine and tell her what happened?”

  He scowled down at me. “Why would you call her?”

  I didn’t want to tell him that I thought it would be better coming from me than him. I had a feeling Catherine would think it was Reeves’ fault. Plus, I wanted to make sure Levi had signed an NDA and wouldn’t leak anything to the press.

  “Because I was already going to call her about a question I have for work.” It was only a half-lie. Reeves was my job, and I needed to call her about the situation that had just occurred.

  He let out an annoyed sigh as his body deflated. “Fine. I’m going to go for a run to get rid of all this . . . ” He shook his body out. “Tell Catherine if she wants to talk to me, she can call me.” Starting to walk backward, he gave me a salute before he turned toward his room.

  Letting out my own sigh, I went back to my room and grabbed my cell phone off my bed. Opening my email, I looked up Catherine’s number and dialed.

  “CJJ Public Relations, Catherine Cole’s office. How may I help you?” A no-nonsense female voice answered.

  “Catherine Cole, please.”

  “May I ask who’s calling?”

  “This is Abbi . . . Jenner.” It felt wrong to call myself a Jenner instead of Klein. I wondered how Reeves felt about me having his last name. While he had been holed up in his room the other day, I filled out all the paperwork but had yet to turn it in. Levi was supposed to take it, but I guess it was up to me now.

  “Hold one s
econd.”

  Soft music hummed in my ear before Catherine came on the line. “Abbi, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

  “Hi, Catherine. I wanted to call you to inform you what just occurred here at the house.”

  She let out a frustrated sigh. “What did he do?”

  “It wasn’t Reeves. It was Levi.”

  She was quiet for a moment before I heard some clicking noises. “Tell me what happened. Start at the beginning.” I told her everything from start to finish. After another long moment of silence, Catherine finally spoke. “I’m speechless. I’m surprised Levi hasn’t tried to call me yet, but since he quit, I guess he has no reason to.”

  “It was so unexpected. One minute they were having a great time, and when he saw me, something happened. He snapped.”

  “I guess it’s better it happened now rather than later. Is Jenner okay?”

  Lying back on my bed, I covered my eyes with one arm. “I hope so. He said he was going to go for a run after I told him I was already going to call you. I haven’t got much work done today with all this going on.”

  “It’s fine, Abbi. I understand. I’m sure you’ll be able to get more done tomorrow when he’s at work. How are you after going to the grocery store yesterday?”

  It was strange that she knew we’d been to the grocery store, but how could she not since pictures of us from our excursion were all over the internet. Plus, she was his publicist, so she was supposed to keep on top of those things.

  “Honestly?” I asked shakily.

  “Of course, you can tell me. I’m sure you weren’t prepared,” she said softly as if she understood by just the sound of my one word.

  “I’m not sure I ever want to leave the house again.” I laughed nervously. “I think our next grocery order will be delivered.”

  “That’s probably smart, at least until things die down.”

  I hoped she was right. “My cooking seems to have won him over, making things a little more friendly between us.” His hot and cold mood swings were giving me whiplash.