Imminent Danger (Adrenaline Highs) (30 page)

“You know I can’t.” Yesterday she’d discovered she was moving on to the next level of auditions for the reality show. Thankfully, the auditions would take place on a secure studio lot. She had another four days for the bruise on her cheek to heal. Makeup should cover what was left by then. “And you hardly ever need me when you travel,” she continued, stating what they both knew.

Julie shoved Abbey’s shoulder with her own. “Sometimes I do.”

This went beyond work. “If I leave now, I kill any chance I have at this show. You know how hard I’ve worked for something like this. I can’t just bail.” If anyone understood, it was Julie.

“I know.” The reluctance in her voice came through loud and clear. “If I could cancel on this thing, I would in a second,” she added. Julie was speaking to Congress on behalf of a coalition devoted to worldwide women’s rights.

“I know, but it’s too important. You have to go. It’s not every day a girl goes to Washington and gets to have dinner with the president and first lady.”

“Now,
them
I would cancel on,” she teased. She’d been waiting for this appointment for months.

Abbey chuckled. “Liar,” she coughed and Julie grinned at her.

It was times like these with her boss, where their friendship mattered most to Abbey. She could go to Julie with anything and have her ready support. It was one of the reasons she worked so hard for this lady.

The smile on Julie’s face dimmed as she looked out to the slate fountain. “You’ll stay here, right? It’s safer.”

“I’ll stay here.” She’d already brought enough clothes to last a week and Troy’s home gym made working out even easier. “But I can’t live here forever. You know that, right?” Abbey needed her space.

“Yes, I know.” Julie patted her thigh and stood up. “Troy’s waiting for me.”

“Don’t want to keep the man waiting,” Abbey said with a lopsided smile.

Julie crooked her index finger and Abbey obediently stood up. Julie gave her a sisterly hug. They didn’t hug often, but Abbey let her because Julie was a worrier. “Don’t go anywhere.”

Abbey just nodded, because as soon as she got a time and location for her callback, she was out the door.

No sooner had Troy and Julie left for the airport that Abbey’s phone rang. The detectives on the case had discovered a body. A body they were hoping she could identify as the man who’d been knifed at the Sports Center.

Blake hated the idea of leaving the house, but he took Abbey to the police station anyway. She got queasy thinking about identifying a dead man. Would it be like television or movies where they pulled him out of a cold cubby in the wall and unzipped a bag? Would his eyes be open and sightless? Would he have more wounds than what she remembered on that horrible day?

“The body we recovered matched the description you gave us, otherwise we wouldn’t be asking you to verify,” Detective Patrick said.

“I understand.” Abbey felt Blake’s hand brush across hers, but she wouldn’t take it. She’d had to take a step back after their night in Palm Springs. The whole thing had embarrassed her beyond belief. Her request, his denial. His actions after that… God. Her cheeks got hot from the memory. So, no, she wouldn’t take his hand.

The detective pulled out a picture from a file on his desk. “Here it is.”

The relief washing through Abbey was enough to weaken her knees. She’d pictured a walk through a cold morgue. Still, her stomach rolled over again anyway because she had to identify the man.

A second before the detective lifted the picture, Abbey changed her mind, took Blake’s hand and squeezed tight. He squeezed back.

“He was buried within a plastic tarp, but it wasn’t sealed tightly. Meaning the body was open to certain elements.” He waited for her nod before revealing the picture.

Abbey braced herself for something gruesome, but not quite enough. His sheer white face had the same look on it as when he’d been knifed. His brown eyes sunken in his skull held the same fear. It was the slice on his cheek that sealed the ID. She turned away. “It’s him.”

“You’re sure?” Detective Patrick asked. “Maybe you can take another look just to be positive.”

“If she said it’s him, then it’s him,” Blake said, giving her hand a squeeze before wrapping his arm around her shoulder.

Abbey took another quick look anyway even though it made her stomach flip. “Yes. I’m sure. I’ll never forget his face.” She met the detective’s gaze. “He was so scared when we ran into each other. Did he have any identification?”

“We didn’t find anything on him, but we do have a missing person’s report and he matches the description. We’re waiting for someone to confirm the ID.”

“Will you let us know who he is?” Blake asked.

The detective nodded. “Sure.” He showed them out and Abbey practically ran to Blake’s Explorer.

“You okay?” Blake asked as he slipped on his sunglasses and started the SUV. The shades almost hid his latest bruise, but not quite.

“I think so.” She nodded and took a deep breath. “I just a need a minute to chill.” Then she needed a time travel machine to go back to the day this whole thing happened so she could avoid the Sports Center. Abbey glanced over at Blake. His jaw was set and his mouth a grim line. He could’ve been upset for a few different reasons. There were plenty to choose from. “Are you okay?”

“I guess.” He didn’t sound too sure as he pulled toward the exit, then he shook his head. “I hate that you had to ID that guy. You’ve been through enough.”

“You’ve been through a lot too…because of me.”

He glanced at her, his expression unreadable behind those dark shades. “That’s not an issue.”

“It should be. I don’t get why you have any desire to be around me. All of a sudden I’m like a trouble magnet.”

“That’s BS.” He checked the rearview mirror and made a right turn onto the street. “You saw something you weren’t supposed to see and now you’re a target. It’s not your fault.”

No. But it made her a victim. Again. “You know…” she stared out the window as the city buildings blurred by. “I told myself I wouldn’t be a victim again. I’ve taken so many self-defense classes, I think I could be an instructor.” She took a deep breath. “And it didn’t matter.”

“Bullshit. You better believe it mattered. You got yourself out of that place in Palm Springs. You saved yourself, Ab. How many people, men included, could’ve done what you did and get free?” He glanced at her again. “Not many. I guarantee it. I’m so proud of you for that.” He shook his head. “God, I can’t tell you how much I wish I’d been able to get free during…” He trailed off and Abbey’s heart sank at the helplessness in his voice. The one time they’d talked about this, he’d been exhausted after nearly being run over by a Hummer. But her curiosity still burned.

Yes, she’d seen the movie, but movies only told one story and Blake had his own.

“Will you tell me what happened?” she asked. The movie had shown the aftermath of the actual kidnapping with only short flashbacks of everyone’s individual struggle. It left the majority of the actual kidnapping to the viewer’s mind. Sometimes that was more powerful than images.

Blake swallowed and nodded as he made a left hand turn. “It was Saturday, late afternoon. Brendan and I were coming home from a movie.” He shook his head. “I don’t even remember what it was. I just remember we were laughing and fucking around. We came in through the kitchen like always. Bren was ahead of me. His phone had died and he wanted to call his friend, Dave, about a computer sale.” Blake took another right turn and kept checking his rearview mirror. “The house was really quiet. I should’ve felt the difference in the air, but I didn’t. I stopped at the fridge to get something to drink and I heard Bren in the hallway. Then I heard this giant thump. At first I laughed. I thought he slipped or something taking the stairs, but then I heard more.” He swallowed again. “I dropped the Gatorade in my hand and bolted for the hallway. As soon as I came out of the kitchen, I got nailed in the face. The son of a bitch was just waiting for me to turn that corner. Two guys were beating the shit out of Bren.” He got a faraway look in his eyes and Abbey’s heart rolled over. “We had this little table in the entry hall and when I bounced off it, I grabbed at it and swung hard. I got the guy who nailed me, but another one jumped me from the other side. There were four of them.” He shook his head. “I remember the weight of them pressing me to the floor. I remember the fists and the boots. Mostly I remember hearing Bren grunting every time they hit him. But he wouldn’t quit. He just…” His voice cracked and he swiped beneath his glasses. “I remember screaming for him to stop. We were outnumbered. I figured we walked in on a robbery. Let ’em have whatever they want. It wasn’t worth it. But…” He checked his mirror again and ran an agitated hand through his hair. “They weren’t there to rob us. They cuffed and gagged us both so we wouldn’t make noise when everyone else got home. They picked everyone off one at a time. My mom was last.” His jaw clenched tight. “I didn’t see it, but I heard it. She took the first guy out with one well-placed hit to his temple.”

“With her fist?” Abbey asked.

Blake shook his head. “Her purse. Dad’s always joked that she carries bricks in that thing. Her wallet alone weighs a ton. The house was destroyed by the time she got in. They couldn’t let her get as far inside as we did because she’d have known something was wrong. They pounced on her as soon as she walked in the kitchen door. I heard someone drop and I got so sick to my stomach. I knew she’d hit the deck. But then I heard her voice and I thought, man, my mom is so fucking tough. Then the big guy who’d beat the shit out of Bren went in and…”

He paused, took a deep breath. “He hit her so hard, all the blood vessels popped in her eye. She was unconscious for hours. I thought my dad was going to puke. By that point, he was tied and gagged like the rest of us.” He took another unsteady breath. “But my mom…” Blake shook his head. “Man, she’s so strong, she never quits. Never lets anything get her down. She was the one who nearly got us out of that house. She managed to get the key from the guy guarding us, then she lured him back in and I slammed him in the head with a wooden chair leg. We got out the back door, and Eric and I made it over the fence.” He shook his head. “We just weren’t quick enough. They discovered we were gone and caught us.” He rubbed his chest. “That was when I learned the difference between a bruised rib and a broken rib.”

Abbey didn’t know what to say.

A few seconds later, he shook his head and rolled his shoulders. “Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and my shoulders hurt because of being in those cuffs so long. I can’t even stand to have blankets tucked around me anymore. I need to be able to move, to have my hands and legs free.”

He finished the drive to Troy and Julie’s place in silence.

It was as bad as her experience, maybe worse on another level because not only had he been beaten, but he’d had to watch his family as they were beaten as well. Abbey might have been violated and thrown into a dark space for a few hours, but her issues dealt solely with herself. Blake had to deal with hearing the ones he loved being brutalized repeatedly.

Once the gate closed on the property and Blake cut the engine, he looked at her. “So for the most part, I do understand what you went through. I mean, obviously I’ll never be a woman and know what it’s like to be…” he had a tough time saying it, “…violated. But I understand being bound and gagged. I understand the helplessness.”

Abbey nodded and felt a kinship with him that she hadn’t experienced before. He’d gotten past his trauma and lived his life.

Something she still needed to do. Something she would do.

As they got out of the SUV, a sudden realization hit Abbey head on. All this time she’d been keeping Blake at a distance when he was the one man who understood her better than anyone. Everything he did, all his words, said what she’d been hoping to hear her whole adult life. She’d been too focused on her inability to have a relationship instead of opening her eyes and seeing what this man had to offer.

Why run from the emotions he stirred in her? He made her feel normal, wanted and loved.

Another realization smacked her like a punch. Blake was like this dance show. She wanted him and she’d do whatever it took to get him.

She loved him. Her heart raced as the word swam around in her head. She loved him.

It was time she took the first step in her journey to get better. Time she let Blake know how much he meant to her. And there was no better way to do that than to show him.

Blake walked into the house, tossed his sunglasses on the entry table and rubbed his eyes. He’d only shared that story twice before. First to his family when they’d been held hostage by a whacked out Vegas casino owner and then to the police when they’d been rescued. He’d never planned to talk about it again. It brought up too many feelings he couldn’t deal with. Being helpless was his biggest fear. Being tied up and watching the ones he loved as they suffered was more devastating than any beating.

So though he could relate to Abbey’s trauma, there remained that one element of difference. She’d been a young girl and she’d been violated. What kind of sick bastard got off on hurting innocent girls? Blake shook his head to get that picture out of his mind. If he thought about it for too long, he’d drive himself crazy.

The other thing driving him crazy was discovering that the owner of the Palm Springs estate was none other than Paul Facinetti’s cousin, Michael. Like Troy, Blake didn’t believe in coincidence. Kwami was the one factor that the Facinettis had in common. He got a whole new bad feeling about the entire situation.