by Shannyn Leah
“We won’t.” Sydney promised, turning to catch a kiss on his lips.
“We won’t,” Abby seconded.
Another shot was directed at Riley. “Drink up.”
Riley’s fists had the urge to knock that drink out of his hand. “No.”
“Avery,” Abby scolded. “Riley doesn’t drink.”
“Why not?”
“It’s none of your business why not,” Abby snapped and he liked her coming to his defense.
“You don’t drink...” Avery said, clarifying what Abby had just said. “...and you’re Abby’s play toy?”
Play toy? Play toy! Is that what she told them he was? And what exactly did that mean? And how long had she nick named him her play toy? That’s exactly what he’d been hoping he wasn’t and hearing Avery say it sent disappointment and anger for allowing himself to think he meant more to Abby.
The shot Abby had swallowed spewed across the table and the rest of the table erupted in laughter. They would all be singing a different tune if they knew the life altering thoughts he’d been having all evening.
Abby grabbed the sleeve of his shirt turning toward him at the same time wiping her face with a napkin. “I didn’t call you my play toy. Peyton called you my play toy.”
“Abby!” Peyton scolded.
“What? I’m not taking the wrap for your nicknames.” Riley liked Abby’s honesty and the fact she hadn’t made the name up. Abby looked back at him with a serious face and lowered her voice for only him. “I would never call you my play toy.”
“Yeah, she just talks to Gran and goes on scavenger hunts in the attic looking for something Gran told her to find,” Avery said.
The table quieted, all eyes falling on Abby. Abby’s smile fell like a wave crashing against the shore, along with the rest of the table. The color in her face drained at the horror of the words, but in a split second she pulled it together and put on the face that matched the makeup: bold and solid. But Riley caught a glimpse of something in those eyes and it reminded him of the night she crawled into his bed.
“What did Gran tell you to find for her?” Avery asked Abby, unaware of the tension he’d spread across the table.
Abby turned to Avery. “A coffee to sober your drunk self,” she shot back.
Nobody laughed, but a round of forced smiles and shared looks went around the circle.
Abby’s shoulders stiffened, even against that perfect face she played for them.
“No, no, no,” Avery continued. “You were up there cause you’re having dreams about Gran remember? She’s telling you something. What was it? What is it she’s telling you?”
All eyes went from Avery to Abby.
“I’m not having dreams about Gran,” she scoffed and he knew she was lying, and she was very good at it.
“What are you looking for?” Sydney asked.
“I’m not looking for anything. I was just rummaging through her stuff in the attic.” Her tone didn’t flinch, her smile didn’t waver and she was talking with her perky smile and highlighted eyes. “Would you believe I haven’t been up there? Ever? It’s amazing and you guys need to come check it out. Grandpa’s stuff is up there too. It’s like history.”
Tell them the truth Abby.
“After talking to Gran in dreams you decide to go up there,” Avery added. “That’s weird right?”
“I did not talk to her,” Abby said, sternly losing her composure for an angry stare at him.
“I’m so sorry. Let me rephrase.” Avery burped. “In your dream she told you, like she talked to you. Are you sure you didn’t talk to her? Are you sure you were sleeping? Is this an ongoing thing? Maybe you should go to therapy. Of course people do believe in ghosts. Is it a ghost? Let’s set up surveillance and maybe we can all talk to Gran!” Avery nodded, stepping away from the table and almost knocking himself over with the excitement in his plan.
Abby glared at Avery, losing the rest of her composure. “Hey Avery, why don’t you go get another shot you don’t need?”
His eyes lit up. “Who wants a round of shots?” He left without waiting.
“He’s at his limit,” Jake said rising to his feet. “I’m going to go cut him off.” Jake kissed Sydney’s head before following behind Avery.
“Do you need help?” Colt asked standing. “I’ll be back.” He kissed Peyton square on the lips before following behind.
Three sets of McAdams eyes filled with concern and worry fell on Abby.
“What?” Abby snapped.
They all looked hesitant to talk and Riley thought he should excuse himself too, then he felt Abby’s fingers wrap around his leg, tightly, her long nails making him shift uncomfortably. Scratch those nails up my back any day.
“Abby, are you okay?” Kate asked in an unmistakable motherly tone. “You can talk to us if something is going on with you. We understand how hard Gran’s death has been on you.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“You’re talking to Gran?” Peyton asked, the teasing gone.
“I’m not talking to Gran. He’s drunk and misconstruing what I said, like a stupid fool.”
“What did you say?” Sydney asked.
“Nothing.”
“You’re dreaming about Gran?” Kate asked. “What does that mean? Once in a blue moon or every night? You haven’t said anything to us.”
“Because there’s nothing to say. Don’t you dream about Gran?” Abby sent a hard, cold stare to Kate. “Or Mom?” she asked, and Kate must have caught a truth behind the statement leaving Riley in the dark.
Kate squared her shoulders. “We don’t go digging through attics because she told us to.”
“Neither do I. So...” Abby stopped talking and looked into the air. “I love this song,” she exclaimed, sending her chair back flying. She tugged at Riley’s hand. “Come dance with me.”
Um...no.
Abby didn’t wait for an answer and pulled him to his feet and toward the dance floor, leaving her sisters to worry and gossip among themselves.
Abby weaved them through the crowded dance floor and didn’t slow until the cold fresh summer evening cooled them down on the back patio.
Abby let his hand go and headed down the stairs to the right, in a huff of anger.
He followed.
“I’m okay!” she yelled, waving her hand at him. More like dismissing him.
She wasn’t okay? She was lying to her sisters. He wasn’t sure why. What was the big deal if she told them the truth?
“I just need a minute,” she continued, as her heels hopped from the last step and hit the ground at an incredible speed, keeping her balance. She stormed around the darkened side of the Cliff House...alone.
He wasn’t about to just leave her here while she was obviously upset.
He followed.
Chapter Fifteen
AVERY THAT BIG mouth drunken fool! Who did he think he was spouting off her life like it was yesterday’s news? It was her damn life and if she wanted her sisters to know what she was doing in the attic, she would have damn well told them all herself!
She didn’t want them to know. Sure she could have easily spun Avery’s declaration off Abby-style turning it into a, yeah I’m in the attic cause Gran told me, no big deal, instead of flat out lying to them. The concern that direction would have drawn would triple the texts, the visits and the phone calls. They cared.
Abby felt some of her anger swish away into the shadows around her knowing they cared, but she didn’t want them looking at her like she was pathetic. She was twenty-three for crying out loud. Twenty-three! The anger returned.
Why did they treat her she was a baby? Thanks Avery.
Did Avery want her to start telling them about his I don’t want to talk about it problem? No, because that wasn’t how the two of them operated. They didn’t tattle on each other to the sisters and now he’d went and broken the twin code. She could skin that stupid talented song-writer into nothing.
She was fumin
g!
Abby paced the platform along the side of the Cliff House, out of everyone’s view, ready to slap that drunken fool silly. Big mouth.
Her eyes were drawn to the ground as she paced and a pair of sneakers met her heels. Sneakers with dress pants...who taught this man to dress?
She knew Riley had followed her, even after she’d told him flat out she was fine, which translated to, back off and give me some space.
Where were the days when he thankful backed off so he didn’t have to deal with her craziness? She needed him to bugger off right now and let her work off her steam. Not follow her around the side of the building and walk directly into her line of fire.
On top of her sisters seeing her like a pathetic child, Gran haunting her dreams and guiding her to something in the attic...and Abby believing she actually was...then there was Riley kissing her, which was a new set of dreams, and Abby could hardly think straight!
Her eyes trailed up the front of his body, aware of what it looked like underneath his clothes, and her fingers remembering what his skin felt like. She found him staring down at her with concern on his face.
Concern? Concern!
She was horrified. He was giving her the same look as her sisters.
“What is that?” she snapped through clenched teeth.
“What?” He looked as confused as she was angry.
“I am not crazy.”
“I didn’t say you were crazy.”
She laughed, a sad, hard laugh, barely able to escape her tightened chest.
Why didn’t he just leave her alone to get over this without an audience? Her mouth was like an unwired circuit and it wouldn’t stop talking. She was going to drag herself deeper into the “crazy little Abby” title.
“Your face says everything, Riley,” she spat so hard she could scream. “Poor little Abby. Childish, young...crazy.” She said the last word with a glare, before continuing her pace in the opposite direction of him. “Dreaming and talking to her dead grandmother. Lying to her sisters. Digging in an attic for clues to...” She threw her hands in the air. “God I don’t even know what I’m looking for!” She turned to him. “And then you,” she said, pointed a finger at him. “What is with you lately? You’ve shared a dozen new expressions I’ve never seen including the poor little Abby one right now. I don’t want those looks from my sisters and I certainly don’t want them from you!”
His face snapped the concern away like the flick of a switch and back to his hard, rigid stare. It stopped her feet from moving, and froze her body in place. She could only stare at him now.
He stepped forward, hardly taking a moment to register her ramblings. “I do not think you’re crazy.” He said it so seriously that she actually believed him...but it still didn’t stop her mouth.
“Yes you do. You know more than they do. You know I’m not sleeping at night and waking up with nightmares about Gran. Running on the beach at three in the morning. Sneaking down to the shop for pastries...and now you know I think she’s telling me she wants me to find something in the attic. You see me like everyone else does.”
He took another step, staring harder. “No one sees you like I do.” The words pressed past his thin, hard lips with such dark, deep and raw-hot truth that her breath caught in her chest...for a moment.
What did that mean? Was it a sweet compliment she couldn’t decipher? Why was he complimenting her? What did he see her like? Who cares? You do that’s why you’re freaking out.
“The kiss right?” Her words were back. “A pity kiss at best. Poor little Abby having a nightmare I better kiss her better.”
He was closing the distance between them with each large step he took, filling up the air between them with hot electricity.
Why was he staring at her like that? All dangerous, mysterious and hot...stealing her anger away and replacing it with a blast of desire.
“That was no pity kiss,” he said, so low it made her belly to a nosedive.
Abby took a deep breath as he stepped closer to her and was she...speechless? Twice in one day and over the exact same thing. Girl, you need to get a grip!
He cupped her face with one hand but he didn’t lean in for a kiss. Her breathing was wild from yelling and her eyes were wide. His hands on her face surprised her.
“You might whine like a child, tease like a teenager, but you have the strength of a tribe. You stand on your own. You are fearless about what could possibly be around the corner. You back down from no one and you live by your own morals and your own beliefs. Your love is so strong that your heart is broken because Gran died. Not because you’re crazy.”
None of that sounded like her at all but all of it sounded incredible. Is this how Riley saw her? The man who said nothing and who she let her true self show...conjured all that up...about her?
Without thinking, without caring what it meant or where they were headed, feeling like he actually knew the real her, Abby tip-toed up and grabbed the sides of his face, kissing these sonnet spouting lips...if that’s what sonnets sounded like. Honestly, she never had read any.
She thought for sure in that split second that he would grab her shoulders and yank her off. After all, he was just being nice and didn’t really see her in the beautiful way he had expressed, but rather the crazy person she felt like.
Abby hadn’t expected his mouth to open immediately, sinking his honey rib-flavored tongue in to search hers out. He licked the roof of her mouth, swiping her tongue wildly and forcefully, full of hot desire. He had a need to touch her as much as she needed to touch him. When she’d thought he would pull his body away, he leaned against her even closer, sending heat waves over them. When she thought his hands would separate them, he tightened and pressed his lips harder instead, clicking their teeth together. His mouth covered hers. He sucked her bottom lip then covered it and plunged again inside.
Abby melted against him, lost with him. Avery, her sisters and whatever was in that attic didn’t matter in this moment. The only thing in her mind was the desire to search every last inch of his mouth and−
“Guys!” One of Avery’s arms slung around Abby’s shoulder while the other found Riley’s. His drunken tumble made them all stumble back a few steps before regaining their composure.
“Avery what the−” She could strangle her twin.
Avery pouted up at her. “I’m done. Take me home please, Abby.” He laid his shoulder on Abby’s and closed his eyes. “I thought she loved me Abby. You know? I thought I loved her.”
Her? Who was her? The reason behind his I don’t want to talk about it statement revealed. But really? Right this second?
Riley was staring down at her with a smirk.
“What’s so funny?” She wasn’t angry anymore and didn’t feel like pacing the patio stones. She had a whole new bundle of desires and they started with those smirking lips.
“How angry you are right now?” Riley asked.
Her? He’d been interrupted too? Unless he was glad to be interrupted.
“Aren’t you angry?” she asked.
“Yeah, but this is what you do to your sisters and me on your bar nights,” he said. “How does it make you feel?”
She glared at him.
Ticked as all hell.
Chapter Sixteen
RILEY PULLED A completely passed out lump of dead weight from the back seat.
“Don’t hurt him,” Abby said, as he threw Avery over his shoulder. The guy was so drunk he didn’t stir.
Riley turned to her. “How do you think I get you out of the car when you’re in this state?”
She drew her eyebrows together. “You slug me over your shoulder? Like a Neanderthal?”
“Yes.” Truthfully, he lifted her soft body into his arms and she would automatically wrap her arms around his neck. Then she’d nuzzle into his chest and making him not want to set her down...but he didn’t tell her that.
“Go unlock the door,” he said instead and she bounced up the front stairs letting them in.
>
Riley was still stewing from the warning Kate had given him while they’d loaded Avery into the vehicle. “Don’t you hurt Abby,” she’d whispered for his ears only and he felt like they went back to the first day he met Kate. Abby had fallen during one of her runs after Gran’s death, waltzing right past him through the alley while he’d been throwing garbage bags into the dumpster. Her make-up smeared eyes didn’t make eye contact with him and no quip had come out of her mouth. Her pants were torn through to bleeding skin and she didn’t stop when he called out at her. That alone in itself indicated she needed Mrs. C He’d run into the bakery and found Mrs. C talking with Kate, who he’d never met. She’d given him the warning eyes when she discovered he was talking about Abby.
Tonight, it seemed they went back to that day. “I mean it Riley. Whatever you’re hiding and I know there’s something, it better not hurt her,” Kate told him.
Hurting Abby was the last thing he ever wanted to do. He’d nodded his understanding and climbed into the driver’s side of Abby’s car. Kate watched him skeptically.
“Here, bring him to Gran’s bedroom,” Abby instructed, pushing a door open down the small hallway.
A grandmother’s bedroom was exactly what Grace’s resembled. Clean and polished to perfection with nothing out of place. From the quilt across the bed, the antique furniture and even a rocker in the corner with a basket of wool sitting on a hooked rug, this room screamed old lady.
Riley dumped Avery on the bed and Abby scooted around to cover him up with the quilt, before they stepped back into the hall and shut the door.
The ladder to the attic was still pulled down and Abby’s gaze followed his, her blonde hair hanging halfway down her back. His fingers itched to comb through those wild locks and he liked not having the urge to scold himself for the thought.
Abby looked back at him, shyly fidgeting with her hands. He found this whole new side of her absolutely adorable.
“Listen I’m sorry about losing it like a crazy person at the Cliff House,” she started. An apology. How unlike her.