by Avery Gale
“Shhh. Geez, Abby. You’ve probably just alerted security in three states. Damn. It was just a little muscle spasm. I’ve been having them all day in my back so I’m sure this is just my front wanting equal time.”
Abby wasn’t convinced and when she looked toward the bar, she saw Ian holding his phone and frowning in their direction. “Uh oh, I’m sorry,” was all she managed to get out before Callie looked up and saw Ian.
“Well, crap on a cracker. Shoot, I never get to have any fun. But I’m going to look on the bright side, the Wildcats are playing tonight so I’ll have to settle for watching them whoop up on your Longhorns.”
“Dream on sister. Not this day…probably not any day.” Abby laughed at their easy rivalry. When she’d learned Callie had spent time at her aunt and uncle’s in Kansas they’d started talking about sports teams and quickly discovered a mutual interest in football.
“Carlin, talk to me love.” Ian had knelt in front of Callie and held both of her small hands in one of his much larger ones while he tunneled the fingers of his other hand under Callie’s hair to grasp her nape. Before she became involved in a D/s relationship, the significance of the move might have escaped Abby’s attention. But now the way Ian’s hand manacled Callie’s wrists while his other hand gripped her neck with a gentle force that centered her attention on him was such a blatant display of Dominance that it sent tingles racing up Abby’s spine.
“I’m sure it’s just muscles spasms, Master. My body just keeps…well, stretching and sometimes I don’t think it’s got anymore stretch to give.” Callie suddenly looked like she was trying very hard to not cry and Abby wondered just how painful her “spasms” were and how often they were occurring. But then Callie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to disrupt your plans, but maybe you could have someone from the staff drive me home?” Abby could see the perspiration suddenly beading on Callie’s forehead and her breathing was shallow as well.
Ian leaned forward and kissed Callie’s damp forehead. “No, my love no one from the staff is going to drive you home.” Abby noticed Callie’s shoulders droop just a fraction and knew her friend was disappointed but obviously wasn’t planning to object. Just as Abby started to speak she felt a soft squeeze on her shoulder that stopped her. Ian turned to Jace who seemed to have materialized out of thin air in front of them and said, “I’m taking Callie home. Activate B-Plan and I’ll keep you posted.”
Abby didn’t know for sure, but if she was a betting woman, she’d go with “B-Plan” being code for their plan of action for when Callie went into labor. And knowing her brother and Ian, the entire thing was probably mapped out with military precision. Mitch sat down next to Callie and Abby saw her friend smile at him. “Sweetness, you are rushing things a bit, no? But sometimes babies have their own timelines and this one is just really anxious to say hello. You are going to be an amazing mother.” Abby laughed out loud when Mitch started to stand up and then quickly sat back down and touched Callie on the end of her nose with his finger. “And be a good little sub and don’t call Rissa before I get the scoop or I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Ian scooped Callie up into his arms and began making his way slowly toward the closest exit. Abby watched as people seemed to scatter in several directions when Ian started giving orders without ever letting his attention move from his wife. He was obviously accustomed to having his instructions followed because he didn’t bother to check that his directives were being followed, he just continued out the door.
Abby hadn’t even realized she was alone until the hair on the back of her neck stood up on end and she head John Parsons’s grating voice, “Well, seems I’m going to get a chance to speak with you without your guard dogs growling at me after all. Come along Abby.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Logan stepped back into the small sitting area and stared at the empty sofa. What the fuck? Where was Abby? And where was Kalen? It wasn’t like him to go off-grid when they both knew how imperative it was to keep a close watch on Abby. Why in the hell had she moved? Sure, he hadn’t specifically told her to stay put, but they had made it clear she wasn’t supposed to go anywhere without one of the security team. Callie going into labor had thrown everyone a curve because she wasn’t due for another two weeks, but he hadn’t been gone more than a couple of minutes.
He pulled his phone from his pocket just as it rang. “Where is she?” Logan’s internal alarms were going off like clanging gongs in his head and he hoped he would be able to hear whoever was on the other end over the din.
Tony Dent’s voice was clipped and efficient. “We’ve got her. She’s westbound on a cart. Parsons is making her drive and she is pretending she doesn’t know her way around the island so she is driving like a geriatric turtle. Hell, I can hop one-legged faster. She’s a kick, man.” Logan wanted to bat the youngest member of their team upside the head but just waited because he could hear the clicking of keys.
“Okay, Mitch Grayson just joined me in the control room so this is going to get a lot more interesting. He’s taking the comm.”
“Grayson here. Our girl is keeping Parsons talking and getting lots of good stuff, so I’d say he isn’t planning on letting her go. Looks like your guys have already snatched up his escape boat driver and he’s singing like a canary. She’s been recording since he walked her out the back door and as slow as she’s driving I’ll be surprised if they get to the boat before sunrise so we may have to figure out a different way to hide your team.” Logan could hear the amusement in Mitch’s voice and that gave him hope that he was going to have Abby safely back in his arms soon. He was already sprinting down the path she had taken.
When he’d heard Mitch call for all units to report their locations there had been a voice he didn’t recognize, and from the location he’d given, he was the one that was going to engage Parsons and Abby first. Even though the island wasn’t large it was covered in trees and lushly landscaped gardens with intricately winding trails that offered a plethora of hiding places, so he was grateful that the man said he was right behind the cart.
* * * *
Abby wasn’t sure how much longer she was going to be able to stall because Parsons was getting pissed about her driving so slow. And it was true, she was driving slow enough she was worried that the shadow she’d caught in the small rearview mirror was going to overtake them. Hell if it was a member of Jace’s security detail the guy was probably having trouble walking slow enough to not walk right up their asses. “So John, what’s the plan? What makes you think I’m going to help you or whoever is signing your paycheck this week?” She wasn’t even trying to keep the disdain from her voice because she didn’t know for sure he was working outside his authority as a United States government employee, but the fact that he worked for the C.I.A. and they were still on U.S. soil was pretty telling.
“You know what, Abby? We could have been a hell of a team, but you were just too fucking dim to figure it out. Honestly, I’m starting to doubt that you’re really as smart as everybody swears you are. The Consortium has offered you obscene amounts of money to work for them and you have refused each and every offer. And the one guy we send to bring you in that you’ll even give the time of day, you win over and he refuses to use any of our suggestions.”
“You’re an ass. Has anybody every told you that? My dad described a guy like you once…said it was like someone had taken a box of shit and wrapped it up in a real pretty package.” Abby saw the back of his hand in her peripheral vision a split second before it connected with her right cheek. Two things went through her mind at the exact same time, first was that he man had just signed his own death warrant because she was sure Logan or Kalen would kill him and if he somehow managed to worm past them, Jace and Gage would be waiting. The second thought was that she’d just been given a chance to escape so she yelped and rolled smoothly out of the cart and hit the ground running.
She’d rolled to her feet and taken off a lot smoo
ther this time than she had when she’d rolled out of the trunk. Fuck it, one more kidnapping and I’m gonna be a pro. She’d only taken a few steps when she was grabbed and spun around just as she heard a gunshot and felt a sting in her shoulder. She fell backward and the man who had spun her around landed on top of her knocking the wind out of her.
Abby was gasping for air under the man’s weight and her mind flashed to the time she’d fallen out of the tree in her parents’ yard and landed on her back. Jace had been the first one to her. He’d tried to calm her down when he’d seen the panic in her eyes but she’d been convinced she was dying. Later she’d read everything she could get her hands on about the phenomena and she still hated the feeling. Trying desperately to get oxygen into her lungs she was relieved when she was finally able to roll out from under the man who had just saved her. But her relief was short lived when she realized it was Sergio Fantella’s weight she’d just escaped.
As she was trying to get her feet under her again, she felt hand clamp over her upper arms and yank her to her feet. Abby heard her own yelp of pain at the motion in her shoulder, but her mind was so clouded by fear that she barely registered her response before she kicked back with all her strength and connected with her assailant’s shin. When the hard hands didn’t release her, something in her mind simply snapped and she went into warrior princess mode.
* * * *
Kalen hadn’t been far behind Fantella and had been closing in fast when he’d seen Abby appear out of the darkness. And just as she’d approached Fantella, the man had wrapped his arms around her and swung them both around just as Kalen had seen the flash and heard the gun’s report. Kalen rolled the man off Abby because he could hear her gasping for air and he’d been worried the shot had passed through the man that had saved her and caught her as well. Kalen had just managed to free her when she’d started trying to scramble to her feet to run again—damn he was proud of her—until he’d picked her up and heard her gasp in pain a split second before she went completely wild against him.
She’d kicked him with enough force that she might well have broken his tibia if he hadn’t had on his leathers and high-topped boots. And after she’d sunk her elbow into his solar plexus he had barely been able to get out a snarled, “Abigail. Stop.” It had taken just a second for her mind to process his words before she’d gone completely limp in his arms. He set her on her feet and when he turned her so that she was facing him he felt the unmistakable stickiness of blood on his fingers. “You’re hurt. Where?”
Kalen had no sooner spoken the words than the entire island seemed to light up. There were carts and spotlights everywhere and a helicopter overhead with a large spotlight that they were keeping trained on the CIA’s Deputy Director who was currently lying face down on the gravel path with Jace Garrett’s boot in the center of his back while a small man in a dark suit that all but shouted FBI agent read him his rights.
There were several people kneeling around Fantella and Kalen could see they were trying to stop the blood that was still running a steady stream from the gaping wound in the man’s back. Fantella had taken the bullet intended for Abby when he’d spun her around to shield her body with his own. If the man lived, Kalen knew he and Logan were going to do what they could to help him, because it was likely he’d just put himself very high on the Consortium’s hit list.
“Something stung my shoulder, but it’s all right. Is he dead?” Kalen felt her entire body shudder at the possibility. She kept her face buried in his chest and he was grateful that she wasn’t watching the pandemonium playing out around them. But he needed to check-out her “sting” because he had a sinking feeling it was more than that.
Pulling back just a bit so he could look down into her eyes he gave her what he hoped was a huge smile. “Love, you are amazing. Not only did you escape another kidnapping, you nearly dropped me with a couple of those blows. I’m very proud of you and I know Logan will be also. And there’s going to be no living with your brother now.”
Kalen watched as Logan stepped up behind her and his expression went from concern to panic. “What the fuck? Come on baby, we need to get you back up to the club right now.” That was when Kalen looked down at his own shirt and was shocked by how much blood he saw. Logan picked her up and they quickly commandeered one of the many carts and headed back to the club just as Ian’s personal helicopter was taking off and a medevac unit was landing. Don Whiteside was already busy working on Fantella but Kalen knew there were several other medical professionals who were club members so they headed right to the small infirmary inside the club.
Lisa Crain didn’t hesitate to help them assess Abby’s injury despite the fact she was actually a pediatrician. Kalen had never talked to Lisa outside of Club Isola and was dumbfounded as he watched her change from submissive to physician in the blink of an eye. She was a study in contrasts that was for sure. Her husband and Master was leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed over his massive chest smiling. “Amazing isn’t she?” Kalen could only nod numbly. Fucking incredible would be closer. “The first time I saw her at work she was working triage in the emergency room at Children’s Hospital downtown. I’m sure I had the same look on my face that you have now.
Kalen knew that Mark Crain was a detective for the DC police because Jace had been trying to recruit the man for almost a year. Lisa had stopped the bleeding and given Abby something for the pain, but she’d also said Abby was going to need surgery to remove the bullet since there was no exit wound. Kalen’s phone rang and Tony Dent informed him that he’d heard the good doctor’s words and had already summoned another helicopter. Kalen thanked him and then moved over to Abby and discreetly deactivated the audio on her collar and made a mental note to talk to Mitch about the need for a way to do it remotely.
Logan was pushing the hair back from Abby’s forehead and Kalen smiled at the image of his friend’s overtly affectionate gesture. Both he and Logan were known as fairly strict Doms who prided themselves on having helped several Doms tame their unruly subs. But there was something about Abby’s core of vulnerability that pulled the nurturer in both he and Logan to the surface.
Abby’s voice was airy and her words slightly slurred from the pain medication Lisa had given her, but he still heard the worry in her questions about Sergio Fantella. Logan was assuring her that he was in the best possible hands and that Don Whiteside had accompanied him to the hospital.”
“Oh Lord, you sent him with Dr. Donnie Dark? That wasn’t nice of you all…nope, not nice at all. Boy you are up to your asses in alligators now. Holly is gonna kick your cute booties you just watch and…” Kalen wanted to laugh out loud when she fell asleep in the middle of a sentence, but he was too worried about her despite Lisa’s assurance that the wound wasn’t life threatening.
Logan looked up and frowned. “I know it shouldn’t bother me that she is worried about him, but it does. But from what you’ve told me, he saved her life so we’re always going to owe the bastard for that.” Kalen smiled because he could see Logan struggling with the karma of holding on to anger that was really just jealousy. His friends might tease him about his philosophy studies, but they often struggled with the same age old questions without ever realizing it.
Chapter Thirty
Abby woke up suddenly when she heard Logan’s voice telling her to stop struggling. Struggling? Damn, her mouth felt like it had been stuffed with cotton balls and her shoulder felt like it was on fire. She tried to open her eyes but the lids felt like they each weighed a ton. She mentally reviewed what she remembered and her concern for Sergio. Just as she was getting ready to ask about the man she had once considered a close friend, she felt another presence on her other side. When she finally managed to open her eyes, she saw both Logan and Kalen watching her.
“Love, I want you to know that Sergio Fantella is out of surgery and seems to be doing well. During his transport to the hospital, he regained consciousness enough to ask that someone contact his partner.” Kalen�
�s voice might have sounded sweet and loving, but it was almost like there was a strange vibration coming off him.
“She needs a drink of water and some pain meds. I’ll get the nurse.” Abby was grateful that Logan had figured out how much she was struggling, but on the other hand, she was a real lightweight with pain meds. She would probably chatter like a magpie and God only knew what she was likely to say.
The ice chips they gave her helped her parched throat, but the nurse who had injected the pain medication into her IV was more interested in flirting with Logan and Kalen than she was in caring for her. Abby wished the slut had been on her other side, the one that wasn’t bandaged and wrapped up so tight she felt like a half-mummy. After the wannabe poacher left the room Logan burst out laughing.
“Baby, I could hear most of that and even if I hadn’t been able to hear your thoughts, your facial expressions would have given you away.” Abby smiled at him and tried to shrug. Just that tiny movement sent a bolt of white-hot pain through her shoulder.
“Fuck me. I wish they’d left the bullet in, my shoulder didn’t hurt this much before they fixed it.” She knew she was sounding like a whiny child, but she had never been a good patient.
Abby heard the door open and then Holly stepped into her view. “Oh Abby, I was so worried about you. Damn, I can’t leave you or Callie alone for a minute. You two are grounded.”
Laughing at her sister-in-law, Abby asked, “Practicing up on your parenting skills, Holly?”
“Yep. And I figure any child that has you for an aunt is going to be a real handful, so I want to get a head start.” Holly might be a little bit of a thing, but she bulldozed past Kalen to take Abby’s hand. “Oh you should see Callie…well more like you should hear Callie. Holy frankincense, who knew that many bad words could come out of such a tiny woman. Yikes. Good Lord, she’s downright creative sometimes. I took notes.” The look of self-satisfaction on Holly’s sweet face struck Abby as funny for some reason and she started giggling. And then the puzzled look on Holly’s face only added to her hysterical laughter until tears were streaming down both her cheeks.