“No. A nightmare, I guess,” Abby mumbled, and she repositioned herself so she could snuggle into Danny’s lap, which felt really good but was a really bad idea. He wasn’t very good at controlling how his body responded to Abby, and he had to restrain himself from wrapping her into a fierce embrace.
“Wanna talk about it?” he asked while his fingers started another slow path up and down her arm.
“I don’t really remember anything.”
A comfortable silence grew between them, and after a few moments, Abby’s breath evened out. He glanced down and saw that she had fallen asleep.
He tried to untangle himself so he could go back to his room, but as soon as he moved, she tightened her hold.
“Abby?”
“Don’t go.”
“I can’t stay in here.”
“Why not?”
Because it would be a bad idea, me being this close to you. He didn’t voice that thought. “Tell me what your dream was about,” he said instead.
“It’s fuzzy, but Sean was there and it freaked me out.”
“He’s not here. He can’t hurt you here.”
“Please, Danny. Stay.”
He relented. “I’ll be over on the chair.”
“Why? It’s a big bed.”
There was no good reason for him to stay, but he was helpless to deny the raw fear in her voice. “Fine,” he said, relenting.
Abby moved over and rolled the covers back for him. In the dim light, he could tell what she was wearing. Or rather, not wearing. She had on T-shirt and a pair of very skimpy night shorts. This is such a bad idea, he thought as he settled in beside Abby for the rest of the night. He lay awake for a long time, listening to her breathe, not daring to move too close. Finally, he managed to doze.
* * *
Danny blinked and was assaulted by the sun. He thought he closed the curtains before he went to bed. He turned away from the bright light and opened his eyes to take in his surroundings.
Shit.
He was tangled up in the blankets with Abby. He silently berated himself for staying in her room.
“Hey,” she said in a sleepy voice that he found irresistibly sexy.
“Morning,” he managed.
“Sorry I freaked out last night,” Abby said.
“Don’t worry about it. What was in the dream that upset you?”
“I wish I knew.” Abby attempted to shrug.
“You don’t remember anything?” Danny asked.
“No,” she said too quickly.
“You were yelling. Scared the hell out of me and Connor.”
“I’m sorry. I’m gonna get dressed.” Abby pushed the covers back and nearly ran into the bathroom.
He sat up and a few seconds later heard the water from the sink. It was best to leave now before she came back out with nearly nothing on. His control was only so strong, and this was not the day to test it. Maybe later, she’d be willing to talk to him about the dream.
Danny hoped that a few days at the lake would help Abby, but he was beginning to think maybe that bringing her up here had been a bad idea. She wasn’t working, so that left her with lots of time to think. Or rather, brood. Hopefully when Sophie got here, it would help pull Abby out of her mood.
He walked out onto his wraparound porch. He knew she’d be out here. It was her favorite place the last few days. She sat in an oversized wicker chair, sipping coffee and looking out at the lake. She’d done that a lot lately, too. And it worried him that she only seemed to sit and stare.
“I knew I’d find you here,” Danny said as he sat down next to Abby and placed his coffee mug on the small table between the two chairs.
“It’s so peaceful. I can sit here for hours and get lost in it all.” Abby motioned to the vast scenery in front of her.
“I know. So how are you feeling?”
“I’m good. How can I not be when I’m looking at this?” She looked over at him and then back to the forest that had finally started to come alive with the change in the weather.
“You want to go exploring? Might do you some good to get out and about.”
“I’m fine,” she snapped.
He sighed. “But you really aren’t, and I’m concerned. I don’t want to push you, but I want you to know if you want to talk about it, I’ll listen. I’m here for you.”
“I’m fine,” she repeated as she eased out of the wicker chair. “Really,” she reassured him in an overly bright voice.
Danny watched her walk inside and wished he knew how to get her to let her guard down and confide in him.
* * *
Abby escaped through the porch doors and into the living room. She continued up the stairs to her room. Why did he have to push her? She wanted to forget the whole thing, but he wouldn’t leave it alone.
She kept telling him she didn’t remember, but she knew he didn’t believe her. Danny was not someone she could lie to. What did he want her to say? They knew who attacked her. Admitting the rest wouldn’t change anything. Besides, a lot of it was still fuzzy. She at least knew she hadn’t been raped.
There was a knock on her door, and she turned.
“Can I come in?”
“It’s your house.” She immediately felt bad after saying it.
“Don’t be like that. You can say no. I told you already to make yourself at home, and I meant it.”
“All right then, no. I really want to be left alone right now.” She stared at him.
He backed down. “Fine. I’ll give you time. I’m sorry I pushed.”
Abby waited until he closed the door before she curled up on the bed and cried.
* * *
Danny could hear Abby’s faint sobs through the door. He wanted to comfort her, and he wanted to go hunt Sean down so he could beat the fuck out of him. It broke his heart to see her like this, but she clearly wasn’t in a welcoming mood. He walked away from her door and back downstairs into the living room.
Connor would be here tonight with Sophie. Hopefully, she could break through and get Abby to open up. Regardless, he had work to do. He dialed his office.
“Good morning. Nucci Securities, how may I direct your call?” his receptionist answered.
“Hi, Paula. It’s Danny. How are you?”
“Well, hi, there. What can I do for you?”
“Is King around?” Danny asked.
“Yes. Transferring you now.”
“Thanks.” Danny waited while Paula placed him on hold.
King clicked on the line.
“Hey, Nucci.”
“What do you have for me?” Danny was eager to find out if there was anything new. Lack of information was the downside of being so far away.
“I’m sorry, man. He’s a fucking ghost.”
“Nothing? Still? How is that even possible? In this goddamn day and age, how is it possible to be nowhere?”
“I don’t know. I mean we’re so far in his shit that he can’t do anything without us knowing. He has someone helping him, or he took the fuck off. We’re watching his credit cards and debit card. He’s hiding or operating on cash only because for the past five days not one damn thing has come up in his name. You know we’re working ’round the clock shifts on this,” King explained.
“Mother fucker.” Danny raked his free hand through his hair. “Shit. We’re gonna have to force him out.”
“I’m hoping to avoid that.” King didn’t sound pleased with that option.
“If this shit keeps up, we have no choice.” Danny wasn’t thrilled with that idea, and he’d try everything before involving Abby.
“All right. I’ll keep you posted. Let me know when or if you want to try something else.”
“Yeah. Thanks.” Danny hung up. The only thing that would get Sean out of hiding was Abby. But there was no way she was prepared to act as bait. And how could he even ask her? She was clearly depressed, and he wasn’t equipped to deal with it.
His phone beeped. He checked it and found a new web aler
t. He clicked the link. Christ, Vivien again. She was all over the damn media, trying to drum up sympathy for herself.
It made him want to puke. The press was camped out in front of Abby’s apartment building, looking for any sign of her. No matter how many holes Sophie tried to plug, Vivien would make another one with more asinine statements, keeping the story alive. It was as if she was trying to force Abby’s hand. Danny grimaced. Of course she was. That’s how she operated. Good thing Abby had told Danny to put her phone in protective custody. She didn’t know how much Vivien texted, called, and emailed. Danny didn’t have Abby’s password, but her notifications were turned on. Easy enough to see it on the front screen. Fortunately, nothing from any unknown numbers or emails.
He placed his phone down on the coffee table in the living room and turned on the television and searched for a game to watch. Connor and Sophie would be here later, and until then, he’d give Abby her space.
* * *
“No!” Abby woke with a start. Shit. She’d fallen asleep. She pushed herself into a sitting position and wiped her trembling hand across her forehead.
“Abby?” Connor called from outside her room. “You okay?” He opened her door slightly.
“I’m okay. What time is it?” She blinked the sleep from her eyes and noticed the sun had set.
“It’s past eight.” Connor opened the door some more.
“Shit. You can come in. How long have you been here?” Abby sat up.
Connor opened the door wide, “About an hour.”
“Sophie’s here?”
“Downstairs. You all right?” Connor sounded concerned.
“Yeah. I can’t believe I fell asleep, or that I slept that long. I’ll come down in a minute. I have to let my brain realize I’m awake,” she joked.
“Okay. We saved you some take out.”
“Thanks.”
Connor left but didn’t close the door.
Abby gave herself a pep talk as she tried to calm down. Only a dream, Abby. Only a dream. Not real.
Since her memories had come back, Abby hated sleeping. Every night she woke from a nightmare. She didn’t like feeling so frightened by her own dreams that she had to lean on Danny to protect her. He did that enough already in her waking hours.
She padded to the bathroom to clean up before going downstairs. She splashed cool water on her face to help her wake up. Her head was killing her, and she was hungry, but she needed to look halfway decent so that she wouldn’t face the Sophie inquisition. She headed downstairs for food.
“Hey, you’re up.” Danny greeted Abby with a warm smile.
“Hi,” she croaked. “Great. I sound like I’ve smoked a pack of cigarettes.” They were all sitting in the living room, watching a baseball game. Sophie looked pretty comfortable sitting next to Connor. His gaze was plastered to the television, but his body was angled toward her. Danny’s gaze was on Abby.
“Hey, girl,” Sophie said. “Eat. Get something to drink. You’ll wake up and feel more like yourself.”
“I can’t believe I slept that long. I wasn’t even tired. Or so I thought.”
“Your body is still healing,” Sophie said as if she was some kind of doctor.
“I guess.” Abby went to the kitchen, and Sophie followed. “How was your trip?” Abby asked her.
“Interesting,” Sophie said with a smile.
“Yeah, I can imagine being stuck in a car with Mr. Jokester. For nearly six hours.”
“He’s pretty funny. He’s also really smart.”
Something in her tone made Abby scrutinize her. “Oh, my, is someone crushing out on Connor O’Brian?” Abby said in a stage whisper.
Sophie blushed. “Whatever.”
“Oh, my God. You are crushing.”
“Shut up.”
“You are totally in a crush. Oh, this is going to be fun.” She searched for a plate and placed Lo Mein and boneless spareribs on it.
“No one’s crushing on anyone so be quiet.”
“Whatever.” She placed the plate in the microwave for a minute.
“Don’t. He’s here to do a job.”
“So, he could be here to do you too.”
Sophie flushed again. “Clearly, all this free time has affected your brain, because you’ve lost your mind.”
“Sophie and Connor sittin’ in a tree…” she started.
The microwave beeped.
“Eat your dinner and keep your damn mouth shut. Geez.”
Sophie went back into the living room, and Abby laughed and damn it if it didn’t feel good. She poured herself a glass of wine, grabbed her plate, and joined everyone.
Two really good days had passed since Sophie arrived. Sophie had brought Abby her keyboard, so she could play a little music, and the two spent time chatting and reconnecting as friends. It had been so long since Abby could relax and be herself, she’d forgotten how much fun it was to hang out with Sophie.
Connor had her in stitches from his Army stories and overall goofball antics. He even got Danny to loosen up a bit. But no matter how much they joked, there was always an undertone of seriousness. Danny was always watching, and though he pretended not to be concerned, Abby could tell he was. He never sat and relaxed.
“We ship out in ten,” Connor called through the hall.
“I’m done,” Sophie answered.
Abby was still fretting over her make-up. No matter what she did, she could still see the bruises, though faint, where Sean hit her.
“Hey sweets, you ready?” Sophie called.
“I’m not going.” Abby threw her make-up brush across the bathroom.
“Huh? What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong? I can’t go out like this.” She pointed to her face. “I can’t seem to cover it, and the more I add, the worse it looks. I have like five pounds of foundation and powder caked on my face. I look ridiculous.” She covered her face with her hands and began to silently cry.
“Hey, come on.” Sophie took one of Abby’s hands and guided her to the toilet. “Close the seat and sit down. Take a deep breath and let me see what I can do.”
Abby followed her friend’s instructions while wiping gingerly at her tears.
“You can’t get so upset.”
“Easy for you to say. You didn’t cause all this shit.”
“Oh my God, Abby, would you stop. You didn’t cause this. Sean is crazy. He caused this, and so did your mother. They’re both delusional and thought that you were their puppet to play with.” She tilted Abby’s head up. “I’ll be honest, here. When you finally stood up and said no, you shocked the shit out of me. I could only imagine what they thought and when the issue was pressed you stuck to your decision.” Sophie wiped away all the make-up from Abby’s face. “Only someone not right in the head does something like this to someone. I repeat; this is not your fault. So you’d better stop thinking that now. Geez girl.” She tilted Abby’s head upward. “Keep your eyes closed.”
Abby relaxed and let Sophie help.
“Have you been sitting here the past few days thinking that we all blame you for this?”
“Well…” Abby opened her eyes.
“I can tell you are. Ridiculous. No one blames you, so get it through your thick skull. I don’t want to see you moping in the corner thinking we all hate you or blame you or whatever. Everyone in this house supports you and wants nothing but the best for you. And speaking of, you should take this time to figure out what that is. What do you want?”
“Hell if I know. This is the first time in a long time I’m not under the iron fist of the one and only Vivien Murphy.”
“Now is your time to figure that out.” She stopped messing with Abby’s face. “Okay, go look.”
Abby stood and walked to the sink. Sophie had done an amazing job. The bruises weren’t completely covered, but you’d have to be pretty close to notice. She doubted Danny would let anyone get that close.
“You can hardly tell.”
“I’m glad you’re hap
py with it. Okay, let’s get moving before the men start complaining.”
Abby grabbed a tube of lipstick and followed Sophie out of the room.
* * *
“It’s beautiful out here.” Abby said as she admired the lush greenery and peaceful blue skies.
“I love this time of year because the tourists aren’t flooding the water yet.” Danny turned and smiled at Abby.
“Well, this view is amazing.”
“Go relax. I’m going to ride us out a little further, and then we’ll stop and break out a beer. Do you want me to bring you one?”
“No, I’m good. Thanks.” Abby spent the next hour soaking in the sun and admiring the views from the top of Danny’s two-story yacht. The first level had a small kitchenette and living space, while the second had a few spots where she could relax.
“You awake?” Sophie poked Abby in the arm.
“Yep.”
“Feeling any better?”
“A bit. I’ve been thinking,” Abby hesitated. The thoughts about her future were a little too new for her to be confident about sharing them. Sure, it was only Sophie, but Abby felt vulnerable nonetheless.
“About what?”
“Just…well…” Abby sat up and turned toward her. “I’ve been thinking about what my next step should be. I don’t think I can go back to the city and act like my mother didn’t stab me in the back or that she didn’t try to keep someone on the tour that was violent toward me. She really took things to the extreme.” Abby sighed. “We’ve never been close. You’d think that with the way my dad had treated us, she would’ve had some motherly instinct to protect me, but no. All I’ve ever been was her way out of our slummy neighborhood and into the limelight.”
“Hey,” Sophie said gently as if she was trying to comfort her.
“It’s okay. I’m over that. Trust me; he was no prize, so I’m not crying over it. But it sucks that I got fucked when it came to parents.”
“You know I understand that.”
Abby squeezed her arm in support. “I know, and I’m not trying to say I had it worse than you, but it’s all getting to me. Too much to take at once, and I feel overwhelmed.”
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