All Chapters of COLLECTION OF LUST AND LOVE: Chapter 271 - Chapter 280

At one point during the reception, Abegail thought Hammer was about to say something to her, but then J. Henry wafted by and the moment had passed. Abegail ached for it all just to come out in the open. Having to work their way out of reality couldn't possibly be worse than what they had now, Abegail thought.Immediately after the wedding reception, Abegail and Wally were off on the road for the long drive through the Rocky Mountains and over Rabbit Ears Pass and down into Denver, where Abegail commenced a life that was as different from her cloistered years in exile in New Hampshire as it possibly could be. The Hollands, major art patrons now that they had opened their own museum to the public not to mention all of the other cultural endeavors they supported, became the talk of the town, cultural moguls and benefactors. Wally's construction company worked on some major public buildings and monuments gratis, and the acclaimed artist, Abegail Raven, became not only the hostess of choic

"Yeah, sure," Richard said. He shoved his chair back from the table and stood up. "Gotta go," he said. "Will you be around later if I need to talk with you about this job?""As far as I know, I'll be," I said. "If I'm not here, you know my cell phone and pager numbers."Richard laughed. "Yeah, I sure do, don't I? he replied. "Thanks for the coffee. Nice seeing you again, Eva." He stumbled across the kitchen to the back door and left."You think he's going to need to use you?" Eva asked after Richard left.I shrugged. "Could be," I said. "Providing protection for someone around the clock takes a lot of manpower and isn't cheap. I hope whoever's hiring him has a fat bank account.""It must be nice to have that kind of money," Eva said. She finished her coffee, then stood up. "I think I'm going to take a shower, then you can take me out to breakfast and drive me to work.""Sounds good to me," I said. She worked for one of the airlines and was based at the local airport. I'd picked her up

I thought about it for a minute. That was ten days of work, but she had a point about me not being on duty all the time. And I would be sleeping, too. I hoped. “I’ll give you a deal,” I said. “Three grand will buy you three weeks of protection. I pick you up here after work, take you home, stay with you overnight, and bring you to work in the morning.”“What... what happens after the three weeks are up?” Jenna asked.“Well, I guess we’ll have to see what happens,” I said. “Maybe I can think of some way to discourage our friend Billy before then.”“All right,” Jenna said. She sighed. “I guess that will have to do. For now. Do you want a retainer?”“Give me a thousand now, the rest at the end of the three weeks,” I said. “We’ll see how things go.”She wrote me a check on her personal account and handed it to me. I folded it up

Eva looked at her watch. “My God!” she gasped. “I gotta get going. My boyfriend’s going to kill me if I get home late!” She got to her feet, gathered her clothing, and slipped into it. When she finished dressing, she stopped and looked at me, smiling. “You got a pen and paper?” she asked.“Ah...” I searched through my shirt, which I still had on, found both, and handed them to her.Eva wrote something on the paper, then handed it to me. I looked, she’d written a phone number.“Call me,” she said, then she kissed me on the cheek and started for the locker room door. “I get home from work at three, and my boyfriend doesn’t get home until seven,” she said. She disappeared, and the door closed behind her.Still a little weak, I got my pants back on, straightened my clothes, and left the women’s locker room. Once more, I walked across the exercise room and listened at the door of the men’s locker room. Moans were still coming from behind the closed door, so I opened it slightly again.I go

My alarm woke me at seven o'clock, and I got up and took a shower. After I got dressed, I made myself a sandwich and ate it. I wasn’t sure whether Jenna planned to feed me or not. Even if she did feed me, given her obvious focus on health, she might want to give me some kind of tofu concoction. That stuff gags me.Finally, I locked up my house, got in my car, and headed for the health club. I arrived just before eight o’clock and went inside. The receptionist wasn’t behind the desk, but the door to Jenna’s office was slightly ajar. Out in the area where the exercise machines were, some people, most of them women in excellent shape, as far as I could see, were still working out on the machines. Other club members, both male and female, were heading for the locker rooms.I walked over and knocked on Jenna’s door.“Come in,” she said. She smiled when I pushed the door open and entered her office. “You’re right on time,” she commented.“I always give my clients what they pay for,” I said.