35
Abby
There was no point in sitting around her room. Abby hopped from the bed and walked to the master suite. She started the hot water in the shower. At least if she were in her office she could be distracted. She’d rather listen to Maureen ramble on about her dating life than sit alone and worry about what could happen when Cole and Deacon faced Cal.
She had never expected them to take on her problems. As she stepped in the shower she wondered if knights in armor were a real thing. Were Cole and Deacon her knights? It didn’t seem possible they could forgive her after what she had done.
But they had rushed off to fix everything.
The water ran over her shoulders and down her back. On top of everything, she had shared something with them this morning she never imagined she could experience. They had both been inside her at the same time. She wrapped her arms around her body trying to hold on to that feeling.
What it felt like to be totally possessed. To be filled beyond her dreams.
Cal couldn’t take that away from her. Cal didn’t control her destiny anymore. She turned off the water, watching the last bubbles slide down the drain and disappear.
Abby reached for a towel. She loved Deacon and Cole for what they wanted to do, but this was her mess. She had to clean it up.
She got dressed and grabbed her keys.
***
Abby squared her shoulders as she faced the Mantelli compound. She had prayed she would never set foot inside this place again, but she couldn’t run from her problems. And she couldn’t send her knights in to rectify something she had done.
She took each of the stone steps with confidence. This wasn’t like the last time she was here. No one would ever drag her out and stuff her in a trunk again.
Deacon’s sports car was parked in front. She could hear their loud voices from the other side of the door.
Abby burst inside. Their eyes darted toward her.
“What are you doing here?” Deacon asked. His face was stern. Cole was as determined as his friend.
“Abby, you don’t need to be here.”
She stepped forward, locking eyes with her cousin. “Yes, I do. Cal has no right to do any of this.”
Her cousin laughed. “So you sent your men to take care of your little fuck up, but you don’t trust them enough to take care of it?” he mocked. “This little arrangement the three of you has is fucked up.”
Her eyes narrowed. She could claw at his face. She could kick him in the balls. She could spit on his cheek. But she held her ground. She didn’t want him to know how much she hated him.
Deacon stepped in front of her, but she didn’t want him to protect her this time.
“I can do this, Deac.” She pressed a hand to his elbow.
She stared at Cal. “You’re not going to the media.”
He rolled his eyes. “You sound like these two. I’m happy to keep your escapades to myself if you hand over a hundred thousand to start.”
She didn’t let her eyes bulge or her jaw drop. She had to stay steady.
“You aren’t getting the money and you aren’t releasing the story.”
Cole was behind her. She felt the warmth of his body as he laid a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, trying to convince him she could do this.
Cal sat on the couch, crossing a leg over his knee. “See, what you don’t get is that I have dirt on you.”
“What you don’t get, is that I have way more on you,” she hissed.
He raised his arms in the air. “My hands are clean. I had nothing to do with your internet heist. You can’t trace that to me. Not even the accounts. You know they are ghost accounts.”
Abby reached in her pocket and held up a thumb drive. “But I have every other piece of dirt on you I could find.” She slammed the drive on the coffee table. “And that is just one of many, many copies.” She tilted her head in his direction.
Cal reached for it, but Deacon cut him off. “Don’t touch it,” he snarled, knocking Cal back on the couch.
“You collected evidence against me? Against your own family?”
Abby nodded. “You wanted me to be hacker. Don’t you remember? You created this little skill I have.”
“But you’re using it against me? You’re turning on me?”
“It’s all there, Cal. And if something happens to me, or to one of them there are plenty of copies that can be discovered that will incriminate you. You’ll be in prison the rest of your life.”
He looked at her and then his eyes flicked to Deacon and Cole. “Fuck.”
Deacon collected the drive from the coffee table. “We’ll take this as one of the insurance pieces that you aren’t going to release that story about Abby.”
Cal turned his head, ignoring the three of them.
“Let’s go.” Abby feathered her fingers through Deacon’s strong hands and then Cole’s. “I want to go home.”
They followed her outside, closing the door to the compound behind them.
Abby felt her knees buckle, but Deacon held her steady. “I think you better ride home with me, sweetheart. Cole can drive your car.”
“Of course.” Cole looked for her keys.
He buckled her in the front seat as Deacon stuck the key in the ignition. She looked at them. “That drive is blank.”
“What the fuck?” Deacon stammered.
“I had to think of something. It was all I could come up with.”
Cole laughed so hard he almost hit the top of his head on the inside roof of the car. “You are the smartest woman I know, Abby.”
She bit the inside of her cheek. “I can hack him now and get the insurance policy. If you want, I can do it?”
Deacon shook his head. “I think he’s scared shitless. We’ll worry about that later if we have to. I have a feeling he isn’t going to bother any of us.”
Cole kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll see you at the house.”
“I’ve got a meeting.” She remembered the design team expected to see more details about Soar.
Cole shook his head. “No. The three of us are taking the rest of the day off.”
“And doing what?” she asked.
Deacon’s hand squeezed her thigh. “What we do best.” He winked.