by Kylie Walker
This was good news for me. “Okay. So, what's the plan?”
“Another of Abby's suggestions actually.”
“Oh?”
“She suggested we partake in a bit of blackmail ourselves.”
I couldn't help but smile. “Using the banking information… good thinking.”
“All Abby's work, I'm afraid.”
“Why afraid?”
Chase shrugged. “Just seems to be the mood du jour, that's all.”
I sighed. “Not on my part.”
“But on hers?” When I nodded, he leaned forward. “You've seen her since that night at Cobalt?”
“Yeah. Once or twice.”
“Joze told me you paid her a visit. You had no real right to do that, man.”
I couldn't withhold the smirk that crossed my lips. “No real right… she was mine long before she was anybody else's.”
“Time's change. She's her own woman.”
“She's never been that. It just took me a friggin' age to figure it out.”
“You're serious about her?” Chase asked, and I could hear the astonishment in his tone.
“Yeah. I am. I always was though. I simply didn't realize it. I let my hatred for her family spur me on, but I didn't realize it was better to feel that than to miss her.” I jerked a shoulder, uncomfortable with the topic. Chase knew my most intimate details; it was one of the reasons why I'd hired him to deal with this fucking blackmailing business. But Abby and I went deeper than 'intimate'. She had my heart in the palm of her hand and she didn’t even know it.
I hadn't discussed my relationship with her with anyone. Not since the first day we met. Not even my mom understood what had gone wrong between us way back then simply because I'd never shared any of the details with her.
What Abby and I had had together went so much further than the surface. In a way, it was crazy I'd only figured that out now.
“Earth to Will,” Chase growled, snapping his fingers in front of me.
I rolled my eyes at him. “What? Can't a man think in peace?”
“Not when his attorney charges five hundred bucks an hour. Time is money, my friend.”
“Don't I get a buddy's rebate?”
Chase smirked. “Yeah. You only pay four hundred and ninety-nine bucks.”
“You're all heart.” I grinned at him. “Shithead.”
“Asshole.”
I got to my feet and buttoned up my sport's jacket. As I did, he said, “She's in her office.”
“Why do you think I'd want to know that?”
He grunted. “Do I have 'idiot' written on my forehead? No, I don't think I do.”
“Cheers, Chase.” I shot him a smile.
“What are friends for?”
I smirked, then on a serious tone stated, “Do what you have to do to get this woman off my back, Chase. I was pissed at first, now I’m bored. Plus, I don’t want Abby anywhere near her. Do you understand me?” When he nodded, I waved him farewell and let him get on with his work. Geo had been my next port of call after Chase because he was still acting oddly, but now that I knew Abby was in her office, I had to go see her.
It was a compulsion.
Chase's law firm was sleek, elegant, and it screamed expensive. Chase wasn't bullshitting when he said he charged five-oh-oh for an hour's work. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if that was discounted for me.
Chase had the end office, and thanks to his daddy’s connections in the firm, had the nicest view out onto the city skyline. Stacked around him were his minions. There were some small offices but most of the staff sat in cubicles. Abby was big enough cheese to have her own closed-in space.
For some reason, the thought had my blood quickening.
I had about as much chance of getting to see Abby discomposed again as I had of seeing Haley's Comet every year. But still, a man could only hope, and I was really, truly hoping.
Touching heaven once was never good for a person. If she didn't let me near her again, then I really was going to know what being locked out of paradise felt like.
All these years of hating her, all these years of feeling lost with a singular purpose of proving her daddy wrong, of showing him I was better than the lot of them...nothing, not even all my achievements gave me the same buzz as the one I was experiencing as I saw the polished silver sign beside Abby's door.
Heart quickening, I tapped on it but didn't let her call out for me to enter. Instead, I stepped inside and immediately closed the door behind me and locked it.
She looked up with a scowl, then, seeing who I was, her scowl grew a little darker. “What do you want?” she asked me gruffly.
“To see you?”
I decided to be tolerant. Better that than start an argument I didn't feel like fighting.
A huff was her reply, and she buried her head back in her work the instant I took a step into her office.
“Will, please. I don't want to talk about what happened.”
“That's fine.” I amended, “For now. How's your father?”
“Like you really care,” she bit off, her mouth subconsciously sneering at me.
Her derision was like throwing alcohol on some flames. I had to fight hard to dampen my rage. Ever since that conversation with her father, all those years ago, I had an innate hatred of being spoken to like I was an idiot.
It's something I'd worked hard to change. I didn't like having any kind of trigger, but this one, I couldn't stop it. I just couldn't. It was like a red rag to a bull.
She didn't know what was happening when I rounded her desk in less than ten seconds flat, had her jerked from her seat, and sitting on my crouch while I took her place in her desk chair.
Before she could even sputter, I'd dragged my hands up her thighs inching her skirt up over her legs, making sure she kept her ass pressed into my cock against my back. I couldn’t see her expression but I could just imagine it.
“What the hell are you doing?” she squeaked, trying to get up.
My hands held her in place.
“Will, I’m not one of those girls for Christ sake!” she sputtered.
“Abby, I hate to tell you this, but you display very submissive tendencies.”
Hatred glinted in her eyes when she turned to look at me. “I'm next in line to make partner here. Does that sound like someone who likes to be dominated?”
“You think people as high up the ladder as I am don't get a kick out of being dominated?” I leaned in close, putting my face near hers, then whispered, “You're wrong. You like this.”
She bucked on my lap, almost managing to dislodge herself. “I hate you.”
“You hate that you want me,” he corrected. “I bet if I put my hand between your legs, your pussy's wet.”
Abby turned to look at me again, and she tensed her jaw. I could tell I was right; not that she'd ever tell me the truth, and not that I needed her to say a damn word. She was vibrating on my lap, her tension, that bittersweet variety that was at war between the emotions; she didn't know whether to be annoyed, furious, or turned on.
That battle was always a delight to behold.
Most women I'd ever had in my arms had worked harder to battle their own demons rather than any of the commands I'd given them.
Not that I wanted to subjugate Abby. My proclivities were exactly that; a taste, a desire. I liked kink and I felt no shame for admitting it. I love to watch a woman riddled with pleasure knowing it was done by my hand and only mine.
I had my quirks, my own personal preferences, but at the end of the day, I went to what my the woman wanted.
Abby’s sexual desire was apparent even if she tried to hide it, and I'd willingly fulfill that desire for the rest of my life.
Christ.
The rest of my life?
Slow down, boy.
I couldn't get her to look at me in the eye without her sneering, never mind anything else.
Even as I stared down at the back of her neck, I questioned what I was doing. If my intenti
on was to woo her, then this wasn't the way to go. However, my instincts were in charge.
I didn't think she needed me to court her. That wouldn't get me back in her good graces.
This would. This.
And as crazy as it was, I wanted to be back in her good graces. I wanted her to look at me the way she used to, with love in her eyes and not innate dislike or hate.
A month ago, had anyone asked me if I'd ever want to see Abby again, never mind kiss her, I'd have told them they were fucking insane.
I'd grown up in abject poverty. We'd had to fight to pay every bill, and getting food on the table had been a struggle. And yet, the worst part of my adolescence, was what Abby's father and Abby had done to me.
However now, having met up with her again, all the old feelings had come flooding back, lighting me up like a fucking circuit board. I was the kid who'd been paralyzed at the sight of her smile, who'd dreamed of a future where every day, I got to see Abby wake up and go to sleep.
Those memories were hard to fight, and I needed to explore the Abby of today. I needed to know the woman she was now. I let my hand run between her legs and across the wet crotch of her panties. She tensed at my touch but didn't utter a word. She was soaked.
Abby whimpered when she felt me wedging my fingers underneath the elastic. “Will Don’t.” she breathed.
“Shhhh.”
My fingers made contact with the wet lips of her pussy. “Mm, you’re so wet.” I said gracing her ear with my lips. I let them slide up and down for a few seconds and then suddenly grabbed her swollen clit and stroked it gently before I shoved two of my fingers deep inside of her. Abby cried out…mostly in surprise. I started moving them in and out and in a circular motion…hard and fast. A moment later Abby was whimpering and slowly starting to writhe on top of my lap. Fuck how I loved her like this.
“You’re so tight.” I growled as my mouth trailed the back of her neck. I pulled out my fingers and began rubbing her clit. She let out a moan filled with the kind of insurmountable pleasure that I could assume she hadn’t felt in so long. Her hips swayed back and forth on my lap. I slid a finger deep inside of her tight walls forcing her hands to grip the desk in front of her for support.
“Jesus.” She cried. I pressed my fingers deeper inside of her, stroking her walls while my other hand wrapped around her breast and fondled her nipple through her blouse. My lips crashed into her neck taking light sucks as an orgasm ripped through her and she let out a soft moan. Her body shook with convulsions of pleasure as her hands gripped the desk harder. A moment later she laid her head on the desk breathing heavily before getting up and turning around to look at my face. I had my fingers in my mouth, slowly sucking them and then pulling them out giving her a sly grin. “You taste so fucking good Abby.”
There was a mixture of anger and fear in her eyes when they caught mine. It made me frown and tilt my head in question. I watched as she placed a hand over her mouth almost on the brink of tears.
“There's no need to be frightened.”
“There's every need,” she whispered. “You can’t do this. You broke my heart, Will. You tore it to fucking shreds when things fell apart the way they did. I can't cope knowing you could do that to me again.”
“I didn't do that to you in the first place, Abby.” I sighed when I saw that disbelief on her face. “Seriously, I didn't. I have no reason to lie. You talk to your father. You ask him what happened, and when you ask him, you know where to come. I won't gloat, and I won't make you eat humble pie. But you'll learn I'm not the bastard you think I am. Just like you're not the bitch I've thought you were for all these years.”
Her mouth dropped open and she pointed a finger at herself. “You though I was a bitch? But I didn't do anything!”
“Exactly Abby.”
She frowned at me, but seemed to sense my sadness because her hand came out to reach for me before she let it drop. “I-I'll talk to my father.”
Chapter 10
ABBY
The beeps and bells, the whistles and whooshes. The sounds of the hospital were unnerving and soothing all at the same time.
Ever since Will departed my office, leaving me a trembling wreck after that epic orgasm—I'd been at my father's bedside.
Chase hadn't understood my urgent need to come be with my dad, but knowing how ill he'd been, he'd let me go. I'd struggled through lunch traffic to get to Mercy and then, had to coax one of the nurses to let me sit in with him even though it was outside of visiting hours.
She only let me because I pleaded a courtroom emergency that meant I hadn't been able to sit with him during this morning's schedule. I think she'd taken pity on me mostly because I looked like a wreck.
This morning, I'd been my regular turned out self. That was before Will had finger fucked me and rocked my world upside down.
The sadness he'd exuded when he'd said those two words, “Exactly Aby,” had nearly broken my heart.
All these years, I'd hated him. Cursed him. Granted him every horrible label under the sun. I'd been justified, or so I'd thought. It was, therefore, stunning to realize he'd done the same to me. Vilified me, when I'd always believed myself to be the entirely innocent party in this whole mess.
I tried to think back to that horrendous night when my life had literally gone into hibernation mode. I'd been in the dining room, listening in on my parents' argument.
I'd come in late, had missed half of it, and then had heard my father tell my mother that Will couldn't be trusted after all. That money made everyone jump through hoops, no matter how sanctimonious they were.
Add that to my mother's disapproval at what my father had done, and the complete absence of Will in my life thereafter, I'd put one and one together and thought I'd made two.
But Will wouldn't tell me to talk to my father if he wasn't certain I was in the wrong. Will was no idiot. That meant, potentially, I was.
I'd been so heartbroken at what my father's words had implied, so devastated when Will had suddenly disappeared from my life that I'd taken it all for granted.
Had all these years been wasted because I hadn't wanted to ask my father what had really happened?
Had I been so terrified that I'd wasted so many years of happiness with Will?
The thought was going to give me fucking nightmares.
He'd been slipping in and out of consciousness all day. I'd spoken to him for a few minutes before he'd fallen asleep again. In the past couple of hours, he'd woken up a handful of times. On each occasion, his glance had scoured the room. When he'd finally settled his gaze upon me, a small smile had appeared on his lips, then he'd fallen asleep once more.
Truth was, we didn't exactly have that kind of relationship. I was more apt to make him scowl than smile so his unguarded reaction made me a little uncomfortable, sad as that was.
I'd always felt like I was a disappointment. Something that had only been confirmed when Will had come into my life. After, I'd followed the career path he'd wanted, deviating from it only to go into business and corporate law and not medical malpractice.
With a sigh of regret for the lay of the land, I planted my elbow on the armrest, then settled my head on my fist. I was tired, and not altogether sure why. It wasn't like my workload had been heavier than any other time, but the emotional upheaval of the last few weeks was more than I was accustomed to.
My love life and romantic engagements had been few and far between for way too long. I wasn't used to the emotional upheaval, and it was really taking its toll on me. That was life, I guessed. I'd just never imagined that the person who would be making me feel this way would be Will Sheridon of all people.
It was funny how life turned out, wasn't it?
Not funny, ha-ha, funny as in what the fuck was karma doing?
A soft laugh escaped me at the thought. And with that, I decided to rest. No point in sitting, just gawking at my dad and waiting for him to wake up. Might as well take advantage of the time out to chill.
I wasn't sure how long I slept but when I awoke, my dad was seated in an upright position, looking more comfortable than the last time I'd seen him, and he was reading some papers. As was his way, he had his reading glasses perched right on the edge of his nose, so far off they looked like they could fall but they never did.
He was gray. His skin, his hair, everything. I didn't like his pallor; it wasn't the usual ruddy color I was used to, which I supposed wasn't all that healthy either. He smoked, drank brandy like it was going out of fashion, and had the crappiest diet going.
For a doctor, he sure as shit didn't follow the rules he preached. But then, I'd found over the years that was the way it worked.
Most of my dad's doctor friends were the same. Some were on drugs, some were alcoholics.
When health was your business, it didn't compute that you were healthy. And that was how my father was. It was no wonder he'd had a heart attack at sixty-five, let's put it that way.
Maybe the health scare would put him on track. I doubted it though. He was too arrogant for his own good.
Case in point the papers he was reading when he was supposed to be relaxing.
Although, the idea of my father watching old reruns of Jeopardy during his recuperation was ridiculous. The day my dad properly chilled would be the day we buried him.
Not a nice thought, but true nonetheless.
“Are you supposed to be working from your sick bed?”
He peered down his glasses at my cocked brow. “What else should I be doing?”
“Trying to get better?”
Daniel pursed his lips. “I can multitask.”
“So you say. Let it be so, because I'll be saying I told you so to you on your deathbed.”
“You're all heart,” he retorted, his tone wry. “What are you doing here? I didn't expect to see you until I was back at home.”
“Mom would have killed me if I hadn't visited beforehand.”
He rolled his eyes. “Sounds about right. You always did like to please your mother.”
A little taken aback, I sat straighter in my chair. “I liked to please both of you,” I corrected easily. “But you were always more difficult to make happy. Nothing I did satisfied you. After a while, you stop banging your head against a brick wall. I did that a long time ago.”