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)
“Another something we have in common,” I say. “Another something I wish you didn’t understand as well as you do. Another something that should make us both walk away, but I’m not, Abbie. And I don’t want you to either. Don’t walk away. Don’t let him get in the way.”
“Don’t be an asshole,” she says. “Translation. Don’t let her, whoever she is, get in the way.”
But she can get in the way, I think, because Abbie’s damn ex knows about her. And my father knows everything about her, which is information I have no doubt he’ll use. My father knows that KM is Kendall, a woman who’s my buried past. A woman who was the devil I destroyed.
An act that was brutal, even if deserved, and I’m not sure Abbie can handle just how vicious I was, and am, when I have to be. And I had to be, but I doubt that’s how she’ll see it. Bottom line: I’m the devil who wants her.
Chapter twenty-one
Abbie
Gabe and I stand in the patient room with Gabbie and her puppies at our feet, a happy little animal family, but we’re focused on each other, on the sins of our past, or the sins committed against us.
But what’s really between us is my ex and his. He knows about mine. He knows who he is, but Gabe doesn’t give me much about his ex, about “her,” whoever she is, but I know she exists. I know she hurt him. I know she’s the reason that he’s single and never been married. It’s a daunting idea. Maybe he still loves her. Maybe he’s damaged. A man who will never want me forever, but in truth, I’m damaged as well. We are two damaged, broken people who have perhaps found each other to heal. In this I find liberation.
I reach up and touch his face. “I don’t need to know your past, Gabe. I don’t need to know who she is.”
He takes my hand. “There’s nothing in my past that does anything but make me want you more, Abbie.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“You will,” he promises, his words cryptic, a hint of rawness to his tone, but before I can press for more, Gabbie paws at Gabe’s leg, breaking the spell between us.
“I have a problem,” my mother declares, rushing into the room.
“Another problem, you mean?” I ask.
“My God,” she breathes out, pressing her hand to her forehead. “There’s someone from the city here who says they’re going to shut us down.”
“Shut down?” I demand. “What? How? Why?”
“And here I thought I didn’t get to play attorney today,” Gabe says. “I got this.” He starts for the door.
My heart lurches and I grab his arm. “Gabe. I got this. I’m the attorney for the shelter.”
“And so am I. I hereby donate my services.”
I step closer to him. “Gabe,” I warn, eyeing my mother with a silent command for privacy. She nods and exits the room. “I don’t need you to protect me,” I say, my voice low as the door is still open.
He strokes my hair, tenderness in his touch. “I know. You’re a tough one, Abbie, and it’s sexy as hell.”
I’m warm and cold at the same time. That’s how crazy this man makes me. I want his help. I think I need it, too, but fear depending on him. I fear how damn vulnerable he’s making me. I want to heal with him, not hurt for him. “I need—”
He kisses me. “Me. You need me. Or you will if I get my way.” He turns and walks out the door and I know he doesn’t know what he said wrong. I know he doesn’t mean he wants me to need him and be captive to his money and power. I know that is not what Gabe means and I mentally kick myself. He just told me to get my ex out from in between us and he was right to make that request. I need my ex gone. I need him to stop making my decisions.
I follow Gabe through the doorway and he’s already facing off with two men in slacks and collared shirts, sans the ties. My mother turns to me, arching a brow. “What is he doing?”
I shove aside all those feelings of fear as they relate to the Gabe’s “need him” comments. We do need him right now. “Gabe and his brother run the firm I went to for help,” I explain as I’d told her about Reid Maxwell. “Reid’s his brother.”
“Shannon!” one of the staff yells, appearing at a doorway leading to the kennels, calling my mother. “We need you.”
“Go,” I say. “Gabe’s good. Really good. We’ve got this.”
Understanding fills her face as does relief. She feels like we have armor and I owe Gabe for this. She has been panicked and beside herself. “You’re just as good,” she says, being the great mom she is, never allowing me to forget I have skills, even when Kenneth did everything in his power to do the opposite. She held me up. She always holds me up.