ABIGEALI TUGGED at the neckline of my dress for the umpteenth time, frowning as I did so. I'd told them I didn't want to show any cleavage.I'd told them that the dress showed way too much cleavage, but the shop attendant had just cackled like I'd told the funniest joke and packed the dress up for me in a box.The dress in question was long and flowing to cover up the bandage on my leg but had a slit on my right side to aid mobility. It also came with a matching walking stick so it looked more like a fashion statement than something I actually needed.After another week of intense physical rehabilitation, I'd graduated from crutches to a walking stick. I'd gone back to the hospital for a check up and the doctors had said that with the way I was going, it should heal up completely soon. Although they griped a bit over me ripping the stitches the first time.Like it was my fault a murdering bastard had broken into my room and tried to kill me. Not that I could tell them that anyway.“
ABIGEALFUCK MY LIFE.“Why does trouble seem to follow you everywhere you go?” I hissed at Blaine amidst the screams of people. An ironic thing to say, considering that the only reason why I was here was because I was contracted to kill him. And I followed him wherever he went.“Why have you immediately assumed that they are here for me?” He shot back, risking a glance over his shoulder before ducking back down behind the table. I wanted to tell him it wasn't an assumption, but I couldn't. I recognized the man from Morgan Soliz's madhouse. He was one of the people who had been cloaked in the red robes with the crazy, fanatical glint in his eye.When this was over, I was going to have a word or two with Morgan.Andrea was clutching my arm in a vice grip, her other hand gripping her necklace as she knelt on the grass beside me. “My daughter. My daughter,” her voice was trembling. “I'm sure she's fine, Andrea. Try to stay calm.” Blaine soothed. She ignored him and started to stand up,
ABIGEALI MADE it through to the other side. As expected, my dress was torn to ribbons and there were bloody gashes where the thorns had bypassed the fabric and dug into my flesh. I didn't have time to dwell on it though, I still had to make my way around the guy so I could drop him. I started to move again, keeping my ears open for any change in Matt or Marissa's tones. I could see an opening in the hedges on the far end, and started to make my way towards that, hoping he couldn't hear the quiet sound of my dress slithering along the grass.Halfway to the opening, I heard Marissa's slight intake of breath and paused. I tried to see what was happening through the gaps in the brushes, but they were too small to make out anything. I calculated that I was near where they were standing so I couldn't risk looking over the hedge. All I could do was increase my pace and hope Marissa wasn't busy getting murdered on the other side. Matt started to laugh hysterically, then stopped just as s
ABIGEAL“ARE YOU okay?” Blaine asked, skating a hand down my arm. He had finally managed to detangle himself from Marissa's clutches and was now hovering over me. He lifted my arms to inspect the scratches and I barely refrained from yanking it out of his grasp and instead removed it gently. “I'm fine.”He frowned. “You're scratched all over. We need to get that looked at. It could get infected.” He said, reaching for my arm again. I stepped back, out of his reach. “They're just scratches. I can treat them myself," I replied. We were waiting for the valet to bring the car around and watching people leave the event, but my mind wasn't here. There was a thought forming in my head and I didn't like it one bit.“Excuse me.” A male voice said. I looked in it's direction and found a familiar face staring at me. It was the guy who had been with the woman earlier when I'd told her to throw up her dress. The woman in question was standing a little distance away with a sulky look on her face.
ABIGEALMY SENSES came back to me in bits and pieces. First my toes twitched, then I could hear the hissing of smoke from the engine and smell the metallic scent of blood. Then I blinked slowly as my vision returned. The last thing to come back was my hearing, and I heard shouting.“Abigeal? Abigeal!” Blaine's voice contained a healthy dose of panic. “Oh my God, are you okay?”My head felt fuzzy, like it was stuffed with cotton wool, but I still held up my left hand. It contained the key card I'd stolen from his jacket pocket. “I win.” I said with a groan, peeking at him from my left eye.He stared at me, speechless. Then all of a sudden, we began to laugh. Bone deep, hysterical, tears coming out of my eyes laughter that went on for a long time before I started to cough. I lifted my head from the airbag that had deployed on impact as Blaine patted me gently on the back before settling into his seat when the coughs subsided.“Man, that was crazy.” Blaine sighed. I settled back as wel
ABIGEALI CREPT into the house and closed the door slowly so I didn't wake anyone up. I let out a breath as the door shut without a sound and bent at the waist to take off my shoes so I could walk to my room soundlessly. I turned and looked directly at Blaine, sitting cross legged on the sofa with a glass of wine and staring at me.I swallowed and tried to banish the feeling that rose up in me, like I was a teenager getting caught sneaking in at midnight, and said casually. “I didn't know you'd still be up.”He took a sip from his wine then dropped it on a side table with a soft clink before standing up in one single motion. I'd never seen him move like this before; slow and deliberate, like a predator hunting his next meal. I'd also never felt danger around Blaine, but the air was charged with it now.“Didn't know, or hoped I wouldn't be?” He asked silkily as he took a few steps towards me. I fought the urge to increase the distance again. “What are you talking about?” My tone wave
ABIGEALI WAS awoken by a cat.I opened my eyes, found it blinking bi-colored eyes at me slowly while sitting on my torso. I stared back at it in silence for a moment, not sure how I was supposed to react to a strange cat making itself comfortable on my chest. I was pretty certain there were no pets in this house.“Move.” I said finally. It didn't react apart from swishing its tail twice. I cocked a brow; I'd had many strange experiences, but I’d never been challenged by a feline before. “You have about three seconds before I throw you across the room and give your owner something to cry about.” I deadpanned.The cat must have heard the threat in my tone as it extended it's claws, but before we could do each other any damage, someone pushed my door fully open and poked her head in. It was Esme. “Soul? There you are, you beast. What did I tell you about sneaking away from me?”He mewled in response, got up, stretched and lazily walked down the length of my body. Esme picked him up an
BLAINE“BRING ME a teddy.” Ella-Mae whispered in my ear as I hugged her. “I'll bring you the most handsome teddy.” I promised and watched the grin bloom on her face before she stepped back. I hugged the rest of the kids then moved on to my aunts. When I hugged Tia Gabriela, she held me extra tight. “Make sure you catch the bad guy, and give him a punch from me.” She whispered. Tia Gabriela was the only one who knew where I was actually going and why. The rest just thought it was another regular business trip.I smiled at her so nobody would suspect and nodded. I intended to do more than punch him in the face, but I was going to keep that to myself. I watched Esme approach Abigeal hesitantly where she stood ramrod straight with her arms folded looking like an impenetrable fortress. Esme looked like she wanted to hug her but changed her mind at the last minute and just laid a hand on her arm.“What is it with that girl? Yesterday I just went to get Soul from her room and chit chat
ABIGEALI TIGHTENED my grip on my fork for the umpteenth time and let myself relish the thought of stabbing Heather Green to death with it. As her high laugh floated to my ears again, I imagined her blood splashed across my face and the look of shock that would be evident in her eyes just before they film over in death.Why such violent thoughts, you may ask?“Oh my God, do you remember.” Giggle. “Do you remember that time in seventh grade when Andrew” Giggle. “Andrew with the surname that's had to pronounce? That Andrew? When he put that whoopee cushion on Mr. Davies’ seat and he sat on it and got so embarrassed that he actually peed himself?”Blaine's aunts seemed to have done a good job of raising their kids, as the children exchanged horrified glances when she said that. “That's horrible. Why would he do that to a teacher?” Juan asked?Under Gabriela's disapproving stare, Heather immediately sobered up. “The question you should be asking is why would anyone do that to anyone,
ABIGEALAT THE end of the workday, Blaine and I stood facing each other with our eyes narrowed. The silence was all-encompassing and tension hung thick in the air. “Ready?” He asked.I scoffed. “I was born ready.”“Let's go, then.”We raised our right fists at the same time, then smacked them onto our open left palms three times. “Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.” Blaine presented a rock. I looked at my scissors and sighed.“I win.” He smirked.I wasn't going to concede defeat that easily. “Best of three?”“Just let me enjoy my win, girl.” He shook his head with a smile.“Alright. Wonder what would happen when people find out you were afraid of losing to a woman.” I said casually, folding my arms.He laughed. “I'm not afraid of losing to a woman if she beat me fair and square, but fine, we'll do it your way.”We played two more times and I held back a groan while he smirked triumphantly, holding out his hand. “It appears I win again.”“I'm just having an off day.” I replied as I droppe
ABIGEAL“WON’T YOU come give your old mother a kiss?” The woman said. Jordan merely looked at her. “You didn’t have to come here. I could have booked you a hotel room.” He said. She laughed like the idea was absurd. “Book me a hotel room? When my son has a big ass house in the city?”Her eyes left Jordan and landed on Jasmine who had stopped grinning. “I don’t appreciate being dragged all the way here because of you, young lady. The next time you decide to evade the bodyguards and bribe your way through an airport, I won’t be there to do damage control.” She reprimanded coolly.Jasmine lifted her chin. “I asked if we could come see Jordan, you said no. I asked if I could come see Jordan, you said no. What else did you want me to do?’Jordan turned cool eyes to his mother. “She asked to see me and you declined? What were the terms of our agreement?” She rolled hers. “Yes, believe everything she says, because mummy is the only one capable of telling lies because she’s so bad.”“Um.”
ABIGEALI STARED straight ahead as Blaine drove in the direction of the headquarters, arms folded and staying silent. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught him throwing me glances until he finally sighed. “Abigeal, I can hear your angst from all the way over there. Spit it out.”I turned towards the window and debated staying stubbornly silent or speaking. “Nothing.” I said eventually. “No, nope. We're not doing this.” He replied instantly. “There's clearly something on your mind. I want to know what it is.”I cast my eyes to the roof of the car. I was reluctant to speak because I'd be tempted to murder him if I told him and he laughed at me. “Okay. You fired me last night for saying things how they were- and you can't say I was wrong- yet this morning, Anna sweet talked you through it and now you're taking me back to work without an apology or a reinstatement or anything. Looks like an abuse of power from where I'm standing.” I said on one long breath.“Abigeal.” Blaine said my na
ABIGEALTHE FIRST thing I noticed was the pounding headache. The next thing I noticed was the presence of something or someone else in my bed. I rolled out of the sheets, slipping a hand under my pillow to grab the dagger I always kept there, but my hand came up empty.“Looking for this?” I whipped my head up at the familiar voice, feeling my eyes widen in shock when Blaine Daniels dangled my dagger in the air with his eyes still closed. “Yeah, I thought you might. I didn't particularly feel like getting stabbed, so I took it.” He threw it in my direction and I caught it by the hilt. “You can have it back now.” He turned on his side and fell silent.But I wasn't done with him yet. “What are you doing here? And why the fuck are you in my bed?”He let out a long sigh. “It appears that I have just won a bet against myself. Or lost one, depending on your point of view.”“Answer the question before I do something we won't be able to come back from.” I threatened, keeping my grip on the
ABIGEALI SNUGGLED closer to the warmth near me wrapping my arms around it. It was solid but somehow felt like it was made for me, and I let out a contented sigh. This was the stuff dreams were supposed to be made of.Dreams.Was I dreaming?The warm cottony feeling I was wrapped in certainly felt like a dream, but the constant motion did not. I frowned as the back and forth rocking pulled me further and further out of my dream state until I blinked and opened my eyes.I slowly came to realize I was going up a flight of stairs, but my legs weren't the ones moving. My legs were suspended in the air with the rest of my body. I blinked in confusion and slowly turned to look up at the person carrying me.I should be alarmed, but because of the warm fuzzy feeling, all I could conjure was a mild concern. “Oh no, am I getting kidnapped?” I yawned.My…kidnapper?...snorted. “There's not much I could do with you.” His voice sounded oddly familiar.I frowned. “I take offence to that. There's a l
ABIGEALI WALKED out of the bathroom and back to the bar. Michael and Anna were watching me warily as I went straight for my unfinished drink and gulped it down. “Next bar. Now.” I said. Anna didn't argue this time. We collected our things and left the bar. The cool night air hit my face as we walked outside. I turned to my right as we made our way back to Michael's car and locked eyes with Blaine who was about to get into his own car. I stopped walking as I stared at him. He still looked angry and after a final shake of his head, got into his car and drove away.I got into Michael's car and slammed the door. Michael met my eyes in the mirror. “Um. I can take you home if you're not feeling up to a night out anymore.” He said tentatively. “No. Tonight isn't about me. Where's the next bar?” I answered, the last part directed at Anna? She pulled out her phone and gave Michael the address.This bar was not that different from the first. The only big addition were the two poles in the
ABIGEALI'VE SEEN Blaine angry before. I've heard him yell, watched those eyes darken till they were almost black. But nothing could have prepared me for the way he looked at me now. Like the only thing keeping him from strangling the life out of me was the distance between us.I wanted to walk up to him. I wanted to explain that it wasn't what it seemed. But Jordan's terms kept ringing in my head. Going near him would violate the terms and the deal would be off.So instead, I forced myself to look away and finish the rest of my drink. “Where's the next bar?” I asked Anna. “What? We just got here.” She protested. “And you're not drunk yet.”“I don't have to get drunk at the very first bar, Annalise.” I responded. “Can we just stay a little longer? The music's fire.” She pouted. In response, I just sighed and ordered a cocktail.“Don't you think you're going too fast? Maybe slow down on the alcohol a bit.” Michael said, laying his fingers on my hand. “Make that a virgin mojito, plea
ABIGEALMY NAME was called and I turned, hoping nothing of what I was feeling showed on my face. “Pasta. I'll have the pasta.” I said without looking at the menu, even though my appetite was gone. The server smiled patiently. “You need to pick a kind of pasta, ma'am, unless you want them all.”I glanced at the menu again but my eyes saw nothing. I vaguely remembered Anna saying something about “Fettucine chicken alfredo.” I said it and the server noted it down and went away.I found both Michael and Anna giving me concerned looks. “That's the second time you've spaced out. Are you okay? Do we need to leave and reschedule?” He asked, worried eyes moving over my face.“I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude. I feel fine, maybe a little distracted.” I tried to smile, then decided against it.“Are you sure?” Anna asked. I looked over at her. “Yeah, I am. Let's enjoy the rest of our evening, shall we?”Anna smiled at me and picked up where she left off on a topic. Apparently Michael had ask