Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 138522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138522 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
I’m about to order another whiskey when my phone buzzes with a text from Abbie: Where are you? I need you.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
I need her, too. What in the hell has happened to me? I now have a dog and a woman waiting on me at home. Home. That word guts me. I haven’t had a home since my mother died. Any place where she was at, was home. Until it wasn’t. Now, home is where Abbie and Dexter wait. I’m a damn fool sitting at a bar. I’m here when I should be there with them. Instead, I’m avoiding the confessions I know have become inevitable. Because I don’t want to lose the woman I know as home. I type a reply: I’m on my way back now. Are you done with Reese?
Yes, she replies. They’re about to leave.
I’ll be right there, I answer, but Reese’s prep work feels short. Why?
I toss money on the table and I’m already walking, determined to get back to the apartment before Reese leaves, his support of Abbie’s interview now in question. My future with Abbie in question as well. You aren’t going to lose, Abbie. Reid’s words come back to me. Reid who has been through this. Reid who, thanks to our father, had to tell Carrie he’d been connected to a murder our father committed. Just one of the ways our father tried to control him, by setting him up, by owning him. Or at least trying to own him.
I’m almost to the building when my phone rings. I grab it, register Cat’s number and answer. “You’re already done?”
“Reese has a plan, which doesn’t include her answering tons of questions. Which you’d know about had you been there. What’s going on?”
“I can’t talk about this on the phone. I’m on my way there.”
“We’ll meet you in the lobby,” she says. “How far out are you?”
“About two minutes.” I disconnect and finish the walk, stepping into the building to find Cat and Reese standing just inside the door.
“What’s going on?” Cat asks again, her hand resting on her belly just under her trench coat. The belly is what gets me. She’s pregnant. She’s had a lot of stress. I decide right then that I’m not telling her about dad.
“Reid met with Jean Claude. He offered Abbie a buyout and we all think she has to take it. Otherwise, it looks like she was saving the shelter by getting rid of her ex-husband.”
Reese scrubs his jaw. “I don’t disagree but I hate having her manipulated like that. Any chance Reid recorded that conversation?”
“No,” I say. “Jean Claude’s not a man to cross. We don’t want to go down the rabbit hole you’re about to travel. Blaming him to save her will get one of us dead.”
“I hate this,” Cat whispers, and fuck, great job at saving her stress, Gabe.
“Don’t fret, little sis. Reid doesn’t believe he did this. Jean Claude is on our side. He wants someone to go down for this and fast.”
“What keeps him from picking you or Abbie?” Reese asks.
“It seems to me like he already did,” Cat says. “He just wants her to sign over the shelter before she’s arrested.”
“No. This comes from Reid. Reid knows him.”
“Too well,” she snipes back.
“He would agree,” I say. “Bottom line: I have to go up there and get Abbie to agree to sell which I don’t believe will be difficult.” I look at Reese. “How do you feel about things?”
“Ask me tomorrow. Right now, I have another case to deal with and that’s not how I like to operate. Once it’s over, Abbie has me one hundred percent. Let’s hope she doesn’t need me.”
I hug Cat. “Don’t worry. All is well.”
She leans back to look at me. “Dad—”
“Go home. Feed yourself and the baby. Love your husband.”
“I ate pizza,” she says. “We left you some.”
“Hmmm,” I say, studying her belly. “I think you need to eat again. The baby’s sending me subliminal messages. She wants ice cream.”
“We’re on the way to the store,” Reese assures me, and they head for the exit, a mission to feed that baby ice cream.
I don’t move. I stand there in the lobby and call Reid, updating him on what I did and didn’t say to Cat. We agree to protect her where our father is concerned, the best we can for as long as we can. When we hang up I force myself to get inside the elevator. I need to see Abbie. I need to talk to her. I can save Cat from this thing with my father for now but I can’t save Abbie. Not anymore.
The ride is eternal, the car suffocating, adrenaline pumping through me. I won’t lose Abbie. With those words in my head, I step off the elevator and I realize then that I’ve never fought this thing with Abbie. We just happened. We fell into each other, but now, I have to see me in her eyes and it scares the shit out of me.