Affinity: A Salvation Society Novel

by Harlow Layne

  Footsteps sounded in the distance. It was probably Paul letting us know he was about ready to make an appearance.

  Abbi leaned forward. “I hate to say this, but I hope things get a lot less awkward. I want to get to know your friends and for them to not hate me.”

  “They won’t hate you. I’m pretty sure Alex already loves you. After being in your presence for only a few minutes, she was advising me to give you a chance. She’ll be happy to know we’re . . . ”

  Paul stepped out from behind a tree, causing us both to retreat from each other.

  “There’s a sandwich and some chips in there for you if you’re hungry,” Abbi called out as her brother bypassed us and went straight for the door.

  Turning to look at her over his shoulder, he replied. “Thanks, I’m going to eat and then hit the hay. It’s been a long day.”

  Letting out a stifled sigh, Abbi looked back at me with her eyes and mouth downcast.

  “Maybe when he sees her security system, he’ll leave and go back home to Virginia.”

  “As much of an asshole as he’s being, I’m happy to spend time with him. He was deployed for much of my college years. I think he needs a girlfriend or to get laid. Maybe Alex has a friend?” she asked, hopeful.

  I hated to burst her bubble, but I doubted that was going to happen. “Her group of friends is pretty tight-knit, and from what I know, they are all married or in committed relationships. She did have a friend who was single, but she met a guy.”

  Cocking her head to the side, she tapped her fingertip on the top of my hand. “You seem to know an awful lot about her friends and their lives.”

  Quick as lightning, I wrap my fingers around the one she was tapping me with. “If a person matters to me, I’m a great listener. And Alex has been there for me through all the Poppy shit. She sat on the phone with me and listened to all the crazy things I came up with as to why my ex was acting the way she was. She listened and then tried to reason with me.”

  “That’s why I like her.” She looked around our area. “This is nice and peaceful.”

  “It is,” I agreed, and a total change in subject. I’d let it slide, though. I’m sure it couldn’t be easy for her to hear about my ex, and knowing Poppy might have something to do with running Abbi off the road was even worse.

  “Do you know what would make it even better? A fire. And s’mores,” she blurted out. “Do you happen to know how to make a fire?”

  “I don’t. Do you?” I suddenly felt the need to learn.

  Her eyes flitted to the RV behind me. “I bet Paul does.”

  “Alex has a fire pit at her house.” I didn’t want Paul to come out to join us.

  “It’s not the same. I want the total experience while we’re out here.” She pouted.

  I stood and went over to a circle where a bunch of burnt wood rested. “How hard can it be? Do we have stuff for s’mores, or am I going to get this going only to be disappointed?”

  “We’ll have s’mores if you can make a fire.” She laughed. “Now, get to work.”

  Never having created fire, I pulled my phone out and looked it up. There were only about a billion videos on YouTube showing how to do it from bare-bones to having all the essentials. I was pretty sure we didn’t have anything with us that would aid in making a fire, but I wanted to do this for Abbi.

  “Do you know if we have a lighter or any matches with us?” If we had one of those, I had a feeling I would be successful, or maybe I was fooling myself.

  “Doubtful,” she frowned. “Maybe when we stop to get gas tomorrow, you can buy a lighter.”

  Another twenty-four hours later and a different RV park, I was trying to make a fire so Abbi could experience her first campfire, and we could make s’mores. Ever since she’d mentioned them, I’d been craving something I’d never had. I’d had something that resembled them in restaurants but never the real thing.

  “Maybe if you—” Abbi clamped her mouth closed as I drilled her with my eyes.

  I’d been working on trying to make a fire for thirty straight minutes. I’d even set my phone up so I could watch a YouTube video and tried every step unsuccessfully.

  Stalking back to the RV, I swung the door open and tore up one of the paper bags, and twisted the strips together. I should have bought lighter fluid when I bought the lighter at the gas station earlier in the day, but I thought I had it with the simple lighting device. Heading back outside to where Abbi was waiting for me, I inwardly cringed, knowing I was going to look like a fool. Before today, I prided myself on being a man, but as each passing second went by that I was unsuccessful, I felt my manhood shrink.

  Flames flicked up into the night sky and danced across Abbi’s makeup-free face. Her eyes were lit up with glee. Paul was crouched down in front of the fire with his hands on his knees, and a smile aimed right at his sister.

  While I loved seeing the happiness etched on her face, I wanted to be the one to put it there. Instead, I felt like a huge failure, but I put a smile on my face and stepped out of RV.

  “You made that look so easy. Jenner’s been trying for the better part of an hour.”

  Had it really been that long?

  When she spotted me, her smile only cranked up more. “Paul got the fire going. Now we can have s’mores.”

  Of course, he got it going. I’m sure he loved making me look like a failure in front of my wife. Putting me in my place and showing us who the real man was.

  “If you would have told me before I left, I would have started one for you. I had no idea you wanted one so bad, Abbicakes.” He smirked, making me hate him even more.

  Abbicakes? Puke.

  “Can you grab the stuff to make the s’mores?”

  With her face lit up from happiness and not the fire, I turned on my heels and went back inside. I didn’t want to be the killjoy when she’d seemed down the entire day. I didn’t blame her, though. It had to suck not being able to get around. The ground was uneven, making it difficult to get where she wanted to go with her crutches and so she was reliant on her brother and me.

  Stepping outside, I saw Paul’s retreating form disappear into the night. “Where’s he going?”

  “I don’t know. He said he needs his space. Do you think he’s okay?” She chewed on her bottom lip as she looked in the direction her brother had disappeared. “I think he’s messed up, and I don’t know how to help him.”

  Sitting down next to her, I pulled Abbi against me and kissed the top of her head. “All you can do is try to talk to him.”

  “Yeah, I’ll try.” She rested her head against my bicep and sighed. “I don’t think he’ll talk to me, though. He still thinks of me as the little girl he took care of.”

  I understood why he wanted to take care of her. Some innate need sparked inside of me when I saw her in that hospital bed. Right now, I could only help her try to forget about her brother.

  “Are you ready for s’mores?” I asked, hoping it would bring back the smile she had on her face earlier.

  “I’ve been craving them for over twenty-four hours. Of course, I’m ready.”

  “Good, why don’t I grab some sticks and roast the marshmallows, and you can get the rest ready?”

  “Sure.” She bumped her shoulder with mine.

  I searched around our campsite for a stick long enough to roast marshmallows but keep me far enough back from the flames. I found one without any branches that was a good three feet long and held it up. “Do you think I should wash it before I put the marshmallow on?” I wasn’t a fan of dirt with my food. “Is that something people do?”

  “No, the fire will kill anything on it,” Abbi said matter of factly.

  That didn’t seem right, but what did I know? I shrugged and then started shoving marshmallows on the stick.

  “How many marshmallows do you think go on one s’more?”

  “Two? Did you forget I have no idea how to cook?”

  Even in the dark, I could see Abbi roll her eyes. “Not knowin
g how to cook doesn’t give you the right to have no clue about food in general.”

  “Since neither of us has ever had them before, what makes you the expert?”

  “It’s commonsense. Plus, I may have watched a YouTube video while you were in the shower this morning.”

  Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. “Fine, we’ll only put one on each cracker, but I know they’re going to be the bomb, and we’ll want more than one.”

  Putting the stick by the flame, I held it out and watched as the white globs slid off the stick. “What the fuck?!” I threw the stick in the fire and backed away. “Why am I so fucking incompetent?”

  “Just try again. I’m sure no one gets it right on the first try.”

  Kicking the dirt, I mumbled. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

  Pulling the stick out of the fire this time, I only put two marshmallows on. I made sure to keep it slightly upright even though it put me closer to the fire.

  “Hey,” she took my free hand in hers and ran her fingertips along the vein on the top of my hand. “I’m sorry about Paul making the fire. I know you wanted to do it yourself.”

  I wasn’t going to tell her how it made me feel like less of a man. Instead, I kept quiet and watched our marshmallows.

  “I think they’re ready. Now how do we do this?” I tried to pinch the first one to pull it off the stick, but it was hot as hell, burning my fingertips.

  Abbi bit her bottom lip and wrung her hands together. “Should I pull up another video?”

  “You don’t need to do that.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “I know you know how to do it already. Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”

  She rolled her lips and tried not to smile. “Bring it over here. I’ve got the chocolate on the graham cracker already. We’ll put the marshmallow on top of the cracker, and I’ll pinch it off between the crackers while you pull the stick out.”

  “That sounds like a disaster, but let’s do it. I want to eat one of these damn things already.”

  We followed Abbi’s instructions to the letter, and when I bit into my s’more, I swore my eyes rolled back in my head. Those three ingredients were pure perfection.

  “This is so good.”

  “I know.” That time I didn’t hide my moan.

  Abbi scrunched up her nose. “What no one bothered to mention in those videos is how messy they are. It’s like I want to lick my fingers clean, but they’re covered in dirt and bark, and who knows what else.”

  “I guess the only way to fix it is to eat more,” I said as I shoved the rest of it in my mouth.

  “I like the way you think,” she patted my cheek with her sticky hand.

  “The ones that caught on fire are even better.” Abbi moaned with her mouth full.

  “Agreed.” My lips tipped up at the corners as a thought came to me.

  “What’s that look about?” She nudged me with her elbow.

  “Now, I can officially make one meal.”

  “More like you can make one dessert, but it’s an awesome dessert that you’re going to have to make at least once a week.”

  “Deal. At least at home, I have fire pits that I can easily use.” I spied a bit of white cream at the corner of her mouth. “You’ve got a little something right here.” I leaned forward until we were nose to nose. “Let me get it for you.”

  “Okay,” she answered breathily, her big brown eyes becoming heavy-lidded.

  Slowly, I licked the corner of her mouth. I’d never tasted anything better. Tasting her again, I dipped my tongue inside her warm, sweet mouth and tasted every inch of her. Devouring her mouth, my hands roamed over her bare back. It took everything in me not to pull her onto my lap. I had to remember her leg was broken, her brother was somewhere out there, and I had to keep my dick in my pants.

  A deep voice cleared from behind us. “Get your fucking hands off my sister.”

  Abbi and I jumped apart, laughing. “God, your brother is a dick.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Abbi

  When we pulled up to Alex and Luke’s house, I expected to be greeted with smiles, but we were met with nervous looks and odd glances. Jenner went on high alert as he helped me across the driveway and into their house. The second he helped sit me down on their couch, he rounded on them, pacing back and forth. “What’s going on?”

  Alex looked nervously from Luke to Jenner and back to her husband again. “I don’t know . . . there’s no easy way to say this. Poppy went to some gossip rag and spouted a bunch of shit about you and Abbi.”

  He stopped pacing in front of them, and his body went rigid. “What did she say?”

  Pulling his wife against him, Luke, the formidable blond, wasted no time spilling what Poppy had said. “She says you were both drunk out of your minds when you got married, and that you went to rehab for cocaine use instead of alcohol.”

  Luckily, Paul was asleep in the back of the RV, or he would have been able to read the truth on my face at Luke’s words.

  Stepping to me, Luke held out his hand to shake. “I’m sorry, we haven’t formally met. I’m Luke.” His accent was more pronounced than it was on screen, and I hated how much I liked it. Accents were damn sexy, and I couldn’t help it. I only hoped I didn’t blush around him every time he spoke.

  “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Abbi,” I greeted back as I shook his large hand.

  “This is not how I wanted to start your stay. I’m so sorry, but I thought you should know what’s being said. I don’t think you need to worry about anyone taking her seriously since she’s a known drug user, but you should probably call your publicist.”

  Sitting down heavily onto the couch beside me, Jenner hung his head. “Catherine is not going to be happy.”

  “No, but it’s her job. You can’t let people slander you in the press,” Luke interjected. “You’ve worked too hard to get yourself into good standing with people in the industry. You can’t let them start to have questions about you.”

  His elbows were on his knees, and he gripped the hair on the top of his head and pulled. “It’s all true, though. I never wanted you to find out because . . . ” He lifted his head, and the pain in his eyes caused my heart to constrict in my chest. “I never wanted to see you look at me like you are right now.”

  “I don’t understand. Why would you lie to us?” Alex’s steps faltered as she tried to sit down. Luke helped her and then sat next to her. He held her hand in his, giving her his support.

  I couldn’t believe what I’d heard. Of course, I knew what went down in Vegas since I was there, and my life had changed irrevocably after that. All this time, I’d thought Jenner had gone to rehab for alcohol abuse only to find out it was something much worse.

  When he looked up to make eye contact, his eyes were shimmering with remorse. “Because I’m ashamed of how far I fell. Now you’ll never look at me the same way again. I’m sorry for coming here and ruining everything.”

  “I think we all need time to process this new information,” Luke blew out a breath. “I mean we knew about the circumstances with you and Abbi, but—”

  “Do you want me to leave? I can leave if you’re uncomfortable with me being here. I can promise you that I haven’t used since I got out. God,” he groaned, “I hate how that sounds. I’ll tell you anything you want to know, but please don’t hate me. You three mean the world to me and . . . ” Jenner let out a choked breath before he jumped to his feet. He looked back at me with sadness radiating from his eyes. “Are you okay here? Sitting there? I need to get some fresh air.”

  Luke stood and placed a hand on Jenner’s shoulder. “If she needs anything, we’ll take care of her. Do what you’ve got to do.”

  Jenner gave Luke a manly back-slapping hug before he slipped outside and disappeared.

  Leaning forward, Alex looked at me and asked. “Did you know?”

  “No,” I shook my head. “He said he didn’t have a problem with alcohol, but I don’t know. I guess I
thought he was in denial about it. Never did I think he went to rehab because of something else.”

  “I can’t believe he lied to me all this time.” Her lower lip quivered. “I hate to do this with you just getting here, but I think I need a little time to myself to wrap my head around this. Will you be okay?”

  “I’ll be fine. I need to process it myself.”

  I watched as Alex took the stairs slowly with her head hung. Luke watched her as well before he sat down in one of the chairs opposite me.

  “You can go be with her. You don’t need to stay with me.”

  He gave me a lopsided smile that didn’t meet his eyes. “You don’t know Alex that well yet, but I have a feeling you’ll be good friends, so I’ll share this with you. My wife struggles with her emotions. I’ve made a lot of progress, but she hates for people to see her cry to this day. She gave me no indication she wanted me to go with her.”

  “That must be hard.”

  “She just needs a little time to herself. Once she has control of her emotions and grasps how she’s feeling, she’ll come to me. How are you feeling about what you learned?” He looked out the large window that looked out to his backyard. “It seems like things have changed between the two of you.”

  I wanted to get up and look for Jenner, but I knew I needed to give him and myself time.

  “I know I don’t have any right to feel betrayed since I didn’t even know him then, but I do. I can’t imagine how Alex must feel. How you feel?”

  His gaze went to the stairs. “Not that Alex would ever do what Poppy did, but I understand why Jenner went the way he did even though I don’t think he loved Poppy. He felt used and taken advantage of, which is common in our line of work, so to have your wife do it is unthinkable. I can’t imagine how I’d be if Alex ever . . . you know.”

  He couldn’t even say it, that’s how much he loved his wife. It was sweet to see and something I desperately wanted and wondered if I’d ever have with Jenner.