Frey (18 page)

“
Same as any other Friday,
with the exception of some man bringing me a new phone.” She
sheepishly smiled and looked away. “Thank you.”

“
You’re welcome. What time
is your class at the community center?”

“
Normally at 4:30, but I
canceled it for today. Troy has a habit of showing up there
unannounced, and I didn’t want to risk it.”

“
Very good. Matthew’s
already home, so let’s go see about feeding him.”

Abbi didn’t respond. She
did, however, stare at Frey’s profile. He could feel her eyes on
him, and his beast was punching him from the inside.
You can just simmer down there big boy. It’s
gonna be a while before you get loose with this one.
“Do you want to tell me why you’re staring?” he
asked.

“
Do you want to tell me
why you care so much? I know there are good people in the world,
but you are going above and beyond.”

Frey couldn’t stop his hand from reaching
for hers. She didn’t pull away; if anything, she held on a little
tighter. “I have already tried to explain it the best way I can.
Abbi, I am attracted to you. I’m not going to call it love at first
sight, but I felt an immediate connection to you the first time I
saw you. If you were single, I’d be asking you on dates, begging
you to let me get to know you better. The situation is a little
strange, I agree, but I still want that chance to know you and for
you to know me.” He glanced her way before turning his eyes back to
the curvy road his house was on.

Abbi continued staring at his profile.
Instead of responding, she threaded their fingers together. The
rest of the drive was made in a sweet silence. Frey pulled up to
the gate and said, “Open says me.” The gate opened and Abbi let out
a giggle. He raised his eyebrows at her and asked, “What?”

“
You do realize it’s ‘open
sesame’, don’t you?” She was still giggling when he huffed at
her.

“
Not at my gate it’s not.”
He pretended to be disgruntled, but Abbi’s laugh had him smiling
quickly.

As they rolled up to the
garage, Abbi asked, “Who’s car is
that
?” Sixx had chosen to drive his
Bugatti Veyron. No wonder Matt thought he was a rock
star.

“
That would be Michael’s.
I’m afraid to let you close to him.”

“
Why?” Abbi asked
excitedly.

Frey cringed. “See, you’re already excited,
and you’ve only seen the car. All the women love Sixx. That’s what
Michael calls himself, after the guitarist, Nikki Sixx of…”

“
Motley Crue! I love that
band. Does he really look like a rock star?”

“
Only on the weekends.
Come on, let’s get this over with.” Frey knew it was a lost cause.
Why would Abbi want a big oaf like him when someone as good looking
and sophisticated as Michael was around?

The front door opened, and Matthew bound
down the steps. “Have you seen this car? Holy shit! It goes like
two hundred plus!”

“
What?” Abbi wasn’t
impressed with Sixx now. Frey knew there was no way Sixx would have
gone that fast with the kid in the car, but he wasn’t about to
clear that little misunderstanding up.

About that time, the
culprit walked out the door, shaking his head. “It does go that
fast.
We
didn’t
go that fast. Hi, I’m Michael.” Sixx kept his hands in his pockets
and stayed back from Abbi.

“
Nice to meet you. Thank
you for watching over Matt today.” Abbi pulled Matthew into a hug,
keeping him away from the expensive sports car.

“
You’re welcome. Matt, are
you ready to study?”

“
Yeah, sure. And while
we’re getting set up, I’m going to show you the lead singer for
Cyanide Sweetness. I swear you look just like Desi
Rothchild.”

“
What did you say?” Sixx
asked accusingly.

“
Man, the lead singer of
Cyanide Sweetness. We’ve already discussed this.”

“
Yes, but you didn’t
mention his name. Never mind, let’s go.”

Sixx and Matthew climbed the steps,
disappearing into the house to study, leaving Frey and Abbi alone.
“I went to the store, and I have steaks marinating. Is that okay,
or would you prefer hamburgers?”

“
Mmmmm.” Abbi groaned
enthusiastically. “I can’t remember the last time I had a grilled
steak.”

Surely she was kidding. Everyone ate steaks.
Everyone except those who couldn’t afford it or had a fucktard for
a husband. Frey knew cops didn’t make a lot of money and neither
did school teachers. But surely, between the two of them, they
could have bought the beef on sale at some point. “Steak it is,
then. I will fire up the grill then get started on the
potatoes.”

“
Let me do those. I
wouldn’t feel right you doing all the work.”

“
I’d appreciate that. The
potatoes are in the pantry. There’s also stuff for salad in the
fridge if you want to tackle that too. I suck at peeling
vegetables.”

Abbi laughed and told him, “I’ll have to
teach you the proper way to do it then.”

Frey wanted Abbi to teach him all sorts of
things, and most of them had absolutely nothing to do with food.
They worked in tandem, Frey manning the grill, Abbi handling the
salad and potatoes in the kitchen. When everything was ready, Frey
called out to Sixx.

“
There’s no way he heard
you.”
Shit
. He
really needed to be careful around her. She was highly observant.
Her eyes widened when Sixx and Matt came down the steps.

“
What is that smell?”
Matthew stood at the entrance to the kitchen and sniffed the air.
Abbi laughed at her brother.

“
It’s steak.” She
whispered, almost reverently. Frey didn’t miss the look between the
two of them, nor the one Sixx gave him.

“
All right, I’m out of
here. I’ll see you at the restaurant in the morning.” Sixx bumped
knuckles with Matt and nodded at Frey and Abbi.

“
Man, he’s the coolest!”
Matthew was bouncing around the kitchen. Frey couldn’t blame the
kid. Sixx was pretty cool for an old man.

Abbi dished out salad into a bowl, and said,
“Yeah, if you like the brooding silent type, which I don’t.” She
glanced at Frey and smiled. His heart soared.

Chapter
Seventeen

The three of them sat at the table, eating,
talking, and basically acting like a family after a day at work and
school. Frey was afraid to get his hopes up, but dammit, he wanted
this. All of it. When they finished eating, they all pitched in and
did the dishes. Afterwards, they went into the large living area,
and Frey told them to pick a movie to watch. When he opened the
hidden cabinet on one side of the wall, Matthew just about had a
teenage seizure. Frey could open his own video store with all the
movies he had. “If you can’t find any on that side, check in here.”
He opened the cabinet on the other side which secretly housed the
video player as well as several different gaming systems.

“
Holy shit, Batman!”
Matthew began looking through the myriad of video games.

“
Matty!” Abbi chastised
him for his language, but Frey could understand the teen’s
excitement. When Matt confided he didn’t play basketball, because
he had to work, Frey guessed then the teen probably wasn’t allowed
to have any of the smaller things that would make a kid happy. “You
can go through the videos while I’m at work. Go ahead and pick a
movie.” Even though she was fussing at him, she did it with a soft
voice and with love. It was probably her teacher voice. Frey would
love to see her interact with her students.

It took Matt about fifteen minutes, but he
finally chose a movie they all agreed on. When the credits rolled,
they all said goodnight and went to their respective rooms. Before
Abbi walked to her door, she stopped Frey and held his hand. “Thank
you for everything.” She tugged his hand down and stood on her
tiptoes, placing a kiss on his cheek.

“
You’re welcome.” When she
closed her door, he leaned against the wall, sighing. His cock was
trying to escape its confines. He knew then it was going to be a
long night.

Frey hadn’t been wrong. He willed his
hard-on to go away for over an hour and finally gave up. He started
off taking a cold shower, but his dick would not deflate, so he
allowed his thoughts to drift to the beautiful blonde across the
hall as he tugged one out. He woke a couple of hours later, his
dick once again standing at attention. Instead of taking another
shower, he slid his hands under the covers, removed his boxer
briefs, and grabbed his erection tightly.

He reached out with his senses, hearing both
his guests were breathing evenly, good and asleep. Once more he
brought the vision of Abbi to his mind, her beautiful smile, her
toned body, her pert breasts. Gods, she was perfect. Frey closed
his eyes and imagined his mate, straddling his body, riding his
cock for all she was worth. It didn’t take long until he was
shooting his load into his underwear. Using his boxers, he cleaned
the come off his spent dick. Hopefully, that would sate his need
until morning.

Abbi had risen early and cooked breakfast
for everyone while the boys had gone down to the dock for
meditation. Once again, it had been the three of them eating
together, talking about their upcoming day. “I’m ready whenever you
are,” Frey told Matt when the teen came down from his shower.

Frey so wanted to kiss Abbi goodbye, like he
would if she were already his. Instead, he gently gripped her
shoulder and squeezed. “Jasper might get here before I get back. If
he does, he’ll let himself into the gate, so don’t be alarmed.”
Frey had explained their cell phones and the preprogrammed numbers
the night before. “I’m going to drop Matt off and check on the
dojo. If you need anything before I get back, just call. If I don’t
hear from you, I’ll see you soon.”

“
Bye, Abs.” Matthew kissed
his sister on the cheek and followed Frey to the back door. “I’ll
be glad when my time’s up at the restaurant. I can’t wait to work
for you instead.” Matthew climbed up into the jeep and buckled
up.

“
Won’t be long now. You’ll
be washing stinky towels instead of dirty dishes before you know
it.” They both laughed. Frey turned on the radio. “Put it on
whatever you want.”

Matthew gave him a guarded look. “Seriously?
Dude, I listen to metal. You don’t look like a metal kind of
man.”

“
Oh, yeah? What kind of
man do I look like?” Frey regarded him out of the corner of his
eye.

“
Country. Maybe some old
rock, just not the new stuff.”

Frey grinned inwardly as he turned up the
volume, metal music blasting through the speakers. Matthew’s eyes
grew wide to match the grin on his face. He just shook his head and
started singing. When they reached the restaurant, Frey peered
around for Sixx, spotting his car in the lot across the street.
Frey turned the volume down. “There’s Sixx. He’ll probably sit in a
booth toward the back, out of the way, so he won’t interfere with
your job. Just don’t leave alone, okay?” Sixx walked in front of
the Jeep giving Frey an almost imperceptible nod.

“
I still think Desmond
Rothchild is that man’s love child,” Matt said staring after
Sixx.

“
That’s highly unlikely.
Now, get in there and clean those dishes. I’ll see you at home
later.” It wasn’t lost on Frey that he said
home
.

Matthew held out his fist and they knuckle
bumped. “Later, Frey.”

Frey waited until Matthew was safe inside
the building before driving away. With Sixx there watching, nothing
bad could happen to the teen.

Dane arrived at the coffee shop a little
before eight. He took a seat at the same table where he’d
previously waited for Katherine to show up. That meeting had been
at her request. Since then, he’d only seen her on the news or at
certain crime scenes. Scenes she shouldn’t have been privy to, at
least not as quickly as she was. He asked her to coffee under the
false pretense that he had some news to share with her.

Julian sat at the next table over, sipping
coffee, typing away madly on a laptop. Dane was nervous, and if he
was being truthful, feeling a little unwell. Marley, the pretty
waitress who served him before, arrived at his table with her usual
chipper smile. “Hello, Detective. Having your usual?”