Frey (39 page)

“
He’s been lied to for the
last ten years by the only male figure in his life. I don’t want
there to be any secrets between us. I want Matt to know there are
good males he can count on.”

“
I understand, Frey. Good
luck with him, although you don’t need it. You’re one of the best
Goyles I know, and I’m proud to call you Brother.”

Frey took a second to compose himself.
“Thank you. Be well, my King.” Frey disconnected and stood quietly,
reflecting on Rafael’s words. He didn’t feel as though he needed
luck with Matthew, only time. Speaking of the teen, the back door
opened, and he walked slowly onto the deck, enjoying the early
evening air. That was one thing they had in common. Even though he
owned a gym and spent a lot of time inside, Frey preferred being
outdoors. Another way they were alike was in their protectiveness
of Abbi. Both men wanted her safe first and foremost. Yes, Frey
trusted the teen with their secret, and first chance he had, he
would show Matthew the truth of the Gargoyles.

He had bigger concerns at the moment. Like
why his mate was in the house throwing up.

Chapter
Thirty-Five

Once Abbi excused herself to her room, she
lost it, literally. She had kept her composure on the ride home as
well as during supper. Now, she knelt on the bathroom floor,
violently retching the contents of her stomach into the toilet.
Watching Matthew and Frey together had allowed her mind a brief
respite from the earlier news she’d gleaned out of Amelia. The girl
hadn’t been sick, and her mother hadn’t been on a bender. Troy had
taken their car and left them with no way to get around. No wonder
Debbie had been smirking when she saw Abbi and Frey together. It
wasn’t because Abbi was with another man; it was because Debbie had
accomplished what she’d been trying to do since high school. She
had Troy.

That in itself didn’t bother Abbi. If she’d
been smart and not let Troy convince her to marry him, Debbie could
have had him all along. They deserved each other. No, what bothered
her was the fact Amelia was the product of his cheating, and he was
using the little girl to blackmail Debbie into helping him.
Technically, she and Troy hadn’t been married at the time Amelia
had been conceived, but Troy had expected her to be faithful when
he hadn’t been. How Abbi hadn’t seen it earlier was a mystery. When
she stopped and took a good long look at the child, she saw the
resemblance. Amelia had his dark hair and dark eyes. She even had
his crooked smile. She probably hadn’t recognized that trait
because the little girl never had a reason to smile, unless she was
dancing.

When Amelia showed up for
class, Abbi had been happy to see the child, until she saw her
dirty tear-stained cheeks. Abbi pulled her aside while the other
kids were warming up and asked her what was wrong. The little girl
had unloaded a whole lot of information she probably wasn’t
supposed to know, and obviously didn’t understand. Troy had been to
their house, fighting with Debbie. They had argued about a lot of
stuff, one being
their
child
. Debbie had obviously asked for
child support, and Troy had called both Debbie and Amelia names no
child should ever hear, much less when it was directed at them.
Amelia said she had nowhere to hide since her room was a little
corner of the living room. The girl had heard everything. Troy had
grabbed the keys to Debbie’s car and stormed out of the
house.

One of their neighbor’s had given Amelia a
ride. Since the other mother didn’t bother to stay during class,
Abbi couldn’t confront her about Amelia being upset. By the time
class was over, Amelia was smiling and seemed to have forgotten her
worries. Dancing did that for a person, no matter their size.

When Abbi was finally able, she rose from
the floor and brushed her teeth. As she rinsed, she thought about
seeing Amelia every day and being reminded of Troy’s infidelity.
The thought of him being able to have a child with someone else
drove home what he’d said every time she’d had a miscarriage – she
was a failure as a woman. She had to remember, it wasn’t the
child’s fault, and she still needed Abbi to show her the love she
never received at home. She would have to pretend the familiar face
didn’t rip a hole in her heart and continue on as she normally
would.

Abbi couldn’t face Frey or Matt, so she
turned off her light and covered her head completely with the
bedding. The dark would overtake the sunlight soon enough, and she
would hopefully get a little sleep.

A few hours later, Abbi got up. She had lain
in bed until both Matthew and Frey turned in for the night. She
gave them time to get sound asleep before she slipped downstairs
and outside. She sat down in one of the deck chairs and stared at
the sky. There were no clouds to obscure the millions of tiny
twinkling lights. The last time Abbi had sat outside at night
enjoying the sky was when her parents were still alive. Even though
their house was in a neighborhood, the closest street light was at
the end of the block. She would take a blanket to the back yard,
lie on her back, and stargaze. Back then, she had been amazed at
the stars. Now, sitting out in the middle of nowhere, the lights
were even more spectacular. She couldn’t wait until summer when the
fireflies would be out in full force.

Would she still be there in the summer?
Abbi’s head was hurting from thinking about all that was happening
around her. Before she met Geoffrey, her life was what it was,
abuse and all, but it was her life. She knew what to expect on a
daily basis. Matt constantly begged her to leave Troy, but she
couldn’t. She had been resigned to the fact that she would never
dance, never have babies of her own, never know a happy day. Now,
in a week’s time, everything had changed.

She was still married to Troy, but not for
long. Hopefully the divorce would go quickly, but knowing her
husband, he’d contest it, dragging it out for as long as possible.
Would Frey stick around through the drama? If he decided he was
tired of her, where would she go? Her teacher’s salary wasn’t
enough to live on. Troy didn’t make a lot of money, either, and
they had no savings. There was nothing to split other than the
contents of their house. If she couldn’t afford a place to live, it
didn’t matter if she got half the furniture or not.

Abbi sat on the deck, worrying about it all
until she could no longer stand the chill. She silently padded back
upstairs just in time to turn her clock off and get ready for
school.

Jasper picked Matthew up and headed to
Dante’s. “You hungry?” he asked the teen. The kid was always
hungry.

“
Does a bear shit in the
woods?” Matt always had a smart ass answer, but Jasper enjoyed it.
The kid didn’t have many friends, and those he did have, he only
saw at school. Jasper had enjoyed his time watching over Matt and
hoped theirs would be a friendship that lasted a lifetime. At least
Matt’s lifetime. That was the bad thing about friending humans;
their lifespan was so much shorter than a Goyles.

“
I honestly don’t know the
answer to that. I try to steer clear of bears.”

“
So, you, a big bad
Amazon, are afraid of a lil ole bear?”

“
I’m a badass, not an
Amazon. That’s a river. Or a rainforest, or something like that.”
Jasper pulled into the first drive-thru he came to and told the kid
to order whatever he wanted. Matt slowly slid across the seat so he
could look at the menu. He was practically sitting in Jasper’s lap.
The teen definitely wasn’t shy about being in someone else’s space.
“What are you doing?” he asked him.

“
I’m seeing what they
have, duh.” Matt stayed leaned against Jasper until he’d placed his
order. He dug his wallet out of his pocket and handed Jasper some
money. Jasper doubled Matt’s order and pulled up to the
window.

“
Put your money back, I’ve
got this,” Jasper said.

Matthew huffed, “I ain’t a charity case.
Here.” He placed the money in Jasper’s lap, precariously close to
his cock. Jasper picked the money up, added it to the cash in his
hand and paid for their order. He passed the paper bag over to
Matt, who had finally scooted back to the passenger side. He placed
their drinks in the cup holders before driving away from the
window.

Matthew took the food out of the bags,
divvying it up between them. He placed a napkin with Jasper’s food
and set it on the seat beside him before starting in on his own
burrito. The kid took a huge bite, moaning as he chewed. “God, this
is good.”

“
I’m assuming you’ve never
had a breakfast burrito before.”

“
Not one from an actual
restaurant. The cafeteria at school makes some, but they skimp on
the eggs, and they don’t add all this other good stuff.”

Jasper had to wonder at how Matthew lived.
He had thrown out kernels of information as they were playing video
games, none of which had been positive. At least not since their
parents had died. He never dissed Abbi, but he did say he wished
she’d never married Troy. If she’d married someone better, neither
one of them would have ended up so battered and bruised.

“
I’ll make these for you
any time you want,” Jasper told him. “I know we’re just hanging out
right now while I’m pulling security detail, but after this is all
over, you’re welcome to hang out at my house, too.”

“
Really?” The kid’s eyes
were huge.

He laughed, thinking how much Matthew
reminded him of Trevor. They were both so full of life, yet so
insecure. Both had shitty family lives. Trevor’s parents only
wanted him as a back-up in case Travis’ heart gave out. Matthew
parents were killed before Matthew even hit puberty. “What about
when Trevor comes back? He won’t want me around.”

“
I was just thinking how
you and Trev are a lot alike, except for your age. You’ll still be
welcome, and I have a feeling the two of you are going to be good
friends.”

They pulled into Dante’s driveway, and
Jasper rolled his window down, speaking into the security box. The
gate opened, and they drove on through. “Do all the Amaz… badasses
have those talky things at their gates?”

“
Yes. As a matter of fact,
Frey’s brother Julian designed them. Rafael, who you met yesterday,
designs all our homes. My home was already built when I bought it,
but he had designed it for the previous owner. You’ll find we are a
close-knit group.” Jasper parked beside the other Goyles’ vehicles.
“We’ll go in and say hello to Dante’s mate, Isabelle, and her son,
Connor.”

“
His mate? Don’t you mean
like his wife or girlfriend?” Matt had his hand on the door handle
but waited for an answer. “Look, I know y’all are different. Frey
told me that much. He said he would show me rather than explain it
to me soon.”

If Frey had told him that much, he was going
to be honest with the teen. “Yes, we have mates. One person who is
chosen for us. Trevor is my mate.”

Matthew frowned. “So, even if you wanted to
date someone else, you couldn’t?”

“
Once we find our mates,
we don’t want anyone else. I have dated before, it just wasn’t
meaningful. And now that I’ve found Trevor, I know he’s the
one.”

“
So, Abbi was chosen for
Frey?” Matthew was trying to figure it all out.

“
Yes. Let’s talk about
this later.” Jasper pointed to the door. “It appears they’re
waiting for us.” They got out of the car and headed to the front
porch. Jasper had called Dante giving him a heads up that he was
bringing Matthew. He was waiting on the front porch with
Connor.

“
Dante, welcome home. And
you must be Connor. It is my honor to meet you,” Jasper said as he
approached the porch. “This is Matthew.”

“
Nice to meet you, too,”
Connor said. He held out his small hand for both guys to
shake.

Connor asked Dante, “Da, can I take Matthew
out back?”

“
You sure can. We’ll be
right behind you.” Dante’s face lit up like a new, proud
father.

Jasper shook hands with Dante and asked,
“Have you heard from him?”

Dante clapped him on the shoulder. “No, I’m
sorry, Jas. I’ve texted a couple of times, but he wanted space.
I’ve been trying to give it to him. He hasn’t been gone that
long.”

“
I have a very bad
feeling. Someone was watching us. I thought it was Craig, but he’s
dead. Someone killed him and …What if they followed Trevor? He’s
out there, alone and vulnerable. Dante, this is my worst nightmare
coming back to haunt me in broad daylight.”