Protecting Alabama (SEAL of Protection Book 2) (13 page)

Abe had had time to think about everything that had happened in the last few days and knew he made a mistake.
Knew
he’d made the biggest mistake in his life. Problem was, he had no idea how to fix it. He shouldn’t have opened his mouth. He should’ve let Alabama talk to him. He’d never forget the look in her eyes when he’d told her to shut up if he lived to be a hundred. He knew what he was doing when he’d said it, and that made him even more of a bastard. Abe knew he’d marked Alabama when he saw the shield fall down over her eyes. It as if one minute she was there, and the next she wasn’t.

He wasn’t thinking straight when he’d left the station. It wasn’t until a couple of days later that he wondered what was happening to Alabama. He thought she would’ve tried to call him by now. Now that he’d gotten some sleep, he’d begun to be able to think clearly again. He’d gone through the last couple of days in a haze. Cookie had called asking what was up his butt and Abe told him the entire sordid story.

“So when I went to the police station I was pissed. Pissed at myself, pissed at my dad, pissed at her. After everything she’d been through in her life, I didn’t let her explain. I cut her off and told her to shut up.”

Abe heard Cookie’s indrawn breath and quickly defended himself. “I heard my dad’s words ringing in my ears. His excuses. I didn’t mean it.”

“You didn’t mean it, but you said it anyway. You can’t take something like that back. Once it’s out there, it’s out there. You know it Abe,” had been Cookie’s response, and he’d hung up on him. That was two days ago and Abe hadn’t heard from anyone else on the team since then.

Abe now knew deep in his gut that Alabama was innocent and that Adelaide was behind whatever had happened. He didn’t know how he knew it, but it had to be the reason Alabama had been arrested. Adelaide been pissed at Alabama for supposedly stealing him away from her. That hadn’t been the case, but there was no reasoning with a jealous woman.

As soon as Abe realized Alabama was innocent, he’d thought in horror about what she was going through. What had happened when he left that night? Had she been arrested? Did they send her home? What if they’d arrested her? Panic started clawing through Abe. Cookie was right, he
was
a dumb ass.

Abe started trying to fix the wrong he’d done by calling Cookie. He didn’t answer. He systematically tried each of his other teammates and no one answered. He even called the police department and was told Ms. Smith had bonded out. Abe wanted to throw up. Bonded out. Fuck. That means they’d arrested her. He hoped she’d been able to pay the fine that night, but when he’d inquired about when she left, he was told Alabama had spent three nights and two days locked up.

Shit. Just shit. This was his fault. He had to fix it.

You promised.

The words wouldn’t leave his head. They repeated over and over. He
had
promised, and at the first sign of trouble he’d left her high and dry. Some hero he was. He felt horrible. He had to fix this.

He headed over to her apartment. He’d find her there and they’d talk. He wouldn’t let her take no for an answer. He’d apologize and then set about fixing what he’d broken between them. Abe couldn’t imagine another scenario. He loved her. She had to forgive him.

Abe stood inside Alabama’s apartment and looked around in shock. It was empty. All her things were gone. The couch was still there. The bed too. But the little vase that had been sitting on the kitchen table and had held the many flowers he’d brought her was gone. The bright blanket that had covered her bed, gone. The movies they’d watched together that had been stacked up against the TV stand, gone.

You promised.

Abe walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. Empty. Suddenly in a flurry of motion he threw open cabinets, hoping against hope to find some sign of Alabama. There was nothing.

He sagged against the counter. Jesus. Where had she gone?

Abe startled badly when a voice came from the open door. It was the old woman who he’d winked at several times as he saw her peeking out her door as he and Alabama would pass by.

“She’s not here, boy,” she said disapprovingly holding tight to the cane that looked like was the only thing holding her upright.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean she’s not here. She left. She’s gone. Old Bob came to her door and told her she had four hours to get out. He said he wouldn’t rent to no felon.”

Abe blanched. Shit. This was one more thing piled on his head. “Where’d she go? Do you know?”

“Have no idea. We tried to talk to her, but she hasn’t said more than three words to anyone since she got arrested. All her neighbors know she didn’t do what those bitches said she did, but seems like no one else cares.” She glared at Abe. “Besides, I’m not sure I’d tell you where she was, even if I knew.”

Abe flinched but knew he deserved her ire. “I have to find her.”

“Whatever.” The lady turned around and hobbled back into the hall.

More determined than ever to find his love, Abe knew he’d have to rely on his SEAL contacts to help him. It might be unethical or even illegal, but he’d find her. He had to. He promised. Tex had helped him find her before, he’d do it again.

You promised.

He couldn’t get Alabama’s anguished words out of his head. They haunted him.

* * *

“You have to help me, Cookie,” Abe pleaded with his teammate.

“I don’t have to help you do shit.”

Abe flinched, knowing he deserved that, and anything else Cookie had to say to him. He paced as Caroline, Cookie, and Wolf sat at a table and glared at him. Abe had called Cookie and Wolf and begged them to meet with him. They’d finally agreed. Caroline was also there when he’d shown up.

Abe knew he deserved the cold shoulder they were giving him, but he didn’t care. He’d do whatever he had to do to find, and fix, what he’d done to Alabama.

After Cookie had talked with Abe and heard what happened, he’d immediately called a lawyer and gotten the bond paid so Alabama could get out of jail. He’d gone to pick her up at the station and had been appalled at what he’d found.

He’d found Alabama, but not the Alabama they’d grown to love as a friend. She was broken. She didn’t say more than a few words to Cookie or Caroline. She’d been locked behind bars for two long days. Cookie couldn’t imagine what she’d been though. No, that wasn’t right. He could all too well imagine it. Jail wasn’t a good place to be, even if it was the local county lockup. He couldn’t imagine shy, sweet Alabama in a place like that, and yet she had been. For three nights and two long days. If Abe had called Cookie sooner he could’ve gotten her out before she had to spend so long behind bars, but Abe had waited a few days before pulling his head out of his ass.

“We tried to get her to come home with us,” Caroline spat at Christopher, “but she just shook her head sadly. She wouldn’t even let us come up to her apartment with her. God, Christopher. I’ve never seen anyone broken like that before. I wanted to crush her up in a hug, but she wouldn’t let any of us touch her. When we went back the next day to talk to her, to figure out what’s going on, she was gone. All her stuff was there, but she was gone. A neighbor told us her landlord was going to throw all her stuff out since he’d evicted her and she hadn’t taken it with her. So we packed it all up and put it in storage for her. What an asshole.”

With every word Caroline spoke, Abe’s heart hurt more and more. Wolf picked up where Caroline left off.

“I called my contact on the force and had a long talk with him. All off the record, of course. He told me he didn’t believe Alabama had done it. The “witnesses” seemed too eager and knew just where to look on that damn cleaning cart to find the hidden pocket. He thought it seemed way too easy. He’s been looking into it. Currently, he’s going over the security tapes at Wolfe Realty to see what he can find. What do you want to bet he’ll find Adelaide and her sidekick planting evidence?”

“God dammit!” Abe roared, punching the wall as hard as he could. He barely felt the pain in his knuckles. He turned until his back was against the wall and slid down until his ass touched the ground. Ignoring the blood trickling down his fist, he ground his fists into his eye sockets.

Caroline looked over at Wolf, who was frowning. She was still pissed at Christopher, but she couldn’t stand witnessing his pain. She walked over to him and squatted down.

“We’ll find her, Christopher.”

When he looked up at her, Caroline was shocked to see tears in his eyes. She’d never seen her husband or any of the other SEALs cry. Ever. She couldn’t imagine the pain Christopher was feeling.

“I’ve lost her. I don’t deserve her. God, you don’t even know.”

Caroline sat down on the floor with her friend. “We’ll find her.”

Taking a deep breath Abe tried to get himself under control. “I’ll find her. She won’t want me anymore, but I’ll make sure she’s okay. I promised.” His voice broke and he looked at Caroline. He remembered when she’d lain broken in a hospital bed. Remembered all she went through and how she was here with his friend and teammate today. Anguished, he repeated, whispering, “I promised, Ice, I
promised
.”

Caroline reached up and put her arms around the big SEAL. She couldn’t do anything but hold him as he sobbed in her arms. She couldn’t berate him anymore. Christopher was beating himself up more than any of them could. She had no idea where Alabama was, but she knew Christopher would do everything in his power to make sure she was safe, and that Adelaide and her minion would pay.

Alabama huddled on the cot in the homeless shelter. She was broke. All the money she’d saved up over the years was gone. She’d had to use some of it to pay the bond to get her out of jail. Hunter had paid it at first, but once she’d been able to get her hands on her own money, she emptied her savings account and given most of it to him.

He hadn’t wanted to take it, but she’d refused to take it back. That had been eight days ago. Eight of the longest days of her life.

She had nowhere to go. No job. No money. No Christopher.
No
. She refused to allow herself to go down that mental road. She had to figure out what she was going to do. It was time to leave the west coast. Maybe she’d go to Texas…well, when she earned enough money for a bus ticket.

The only things she had with her were what she could fit into her one suitcase. She hadn’t been able to take her little vase. She hadn’t been able to take any of the belongings in her house that reminded her of better times. Hell, she hadn’t wanted to take any of them at the time, but now…now she’d kill for one of her pillows that smelled like
him
.

It was harder than she’d ever imagined to let him go. Even though Christopher gutted her, she still loved him.

Alabama looked down at the one thousand two hundred and twenty three dollars in her hands. It was all the money she had left, but she couldn’t keep it. She put it in the envelope sitting on the cot and reached for the pad of paper and pen lying nearby.

She penned the note, putting all her bitter feelings into her words. It didn’t have to be this way, but she didn’t know what she’d done to make Christopher dump her so brutally. Mama had been right all those years ago. Alabama was unlovable. If her own mama couldn’t love her, no one could.

She finished the note and folded it carefully. It felt like her heart was breaking all over again. She stuffed it into the envelope with the money inside and wrote on the front.

For Christopher Powers, Navy SEAL.

She didn’t know his address, but when she met with the lawyer Hunter had hired for her later that day, she’d give it to her to deliver. Once that was done, she’d feel better.

She had no idea what was going on with the case. She knew she hadn’t stolen anything, but Alabama had no idea if anyone would believe her. It would be her word, a janitor, against Adelaide’s, who was a respected realtor in the area. It was hopeless.

Alabama knew she’d run before going back to jail. It’d been horrible. Oh, she hadn’t been beaten up or raped or anything, but it was an awful place. She’d been watched at all times. The guards were broken down bitter men and women who had no empathy toward any of the inmates. The people behind bars with her, were just plain scary.

Alabama had stayed away from everyone, which wasn’t hard considering it was just the local county jail. She’d taken meals in her cell and tried to figure out what to do. She didn’t know how the justice system worked, so all she could do was wait.

She’d never been so glad to see Hunter in all her life. She wanted to cry, but she felt dead inside. She was nobody. Caroline had tried to talk to her, but Alabama shut her out too. She couldn’t. Just couldn’t. They were Christopher’s friends. She didn’t know why they were helping her. Hadn’t Christopher told her what she did? She didn’t ask. Just nodded at them when they dropped her off at her apartment and went inside without looking back.

Of course Bob had been waiting for her to kick her out. She knew he’d loved it. He stood at her door and watched her pack her meager belongings and demanded her key when she was done. She hadn’t looked back, just walked out of the building and into the night.

Alabama stood up and grasped the handle of her suitcase. She couldn’t leave it behind at the shelter while she met with her lawyer; if she did she might never see it again. A homeless shelter wasn’t a place to leave anything unattended if you wanted to see it again when you returned. With the envelope in one hand and her suitcase in the other, she walked out of the room to meet with her lawyer in the common space downstairs. One way or another, Alabama hoped this nightmare would soon be over.

* * *

Abe looked down at the note and saw his hand was shaking. Actually shaking. He’d received a call from his commanding officer and he and Wolf had gone down to see him. Abe had been shocked when he’d been handed a thick envelope and that it had been delivered by Alabama’s lawyer. He’d thanked his CO and he and Wolf had gone back to Wolf’s office.

Now he sat looking at the envelope, knowing he wasn’t going to like what was in it.

“Do you want me to open it?” Wolf asked seriously.

Abe shook his head and tore open the seal. Money spilled out onto his lap falling onto the floor as well. He looked up at Wolf then back down to the dreaded envelope. He ignored the bills and took out the plain piece of paper. It was a note from Alabama.

Abe read her words once then re-read them and read them a third time. He could almost feel the pain radiating from the words on the page.

Christopher.

Enclosed you’ll find $1,223. I have no idea if this is exactly what I owe you, but it’s as close as I can figure. I wouldn’t want you to think I stole anything from you, so this is reimbursement for most of the things you did for me while we were…dating. Included in the $1,223 is: three pizzas delivered, four alcoholic drinks, two dinners, gas money for the times you picked me up from work and traveled to and from your place to mine, $157 for the flowers you gave me, and $400 or so for the groceries you bought when you made me dinners and lunches. I included some extra for things that didn’t cost anything but your time, but time is money as they say. So for all the times you took me to work, held open my door, held my hand, and let me spend time with your friends and family, I’ve included reimbursement.

You might be thinking that I spent an awful lot of time remembering every single thing you did for me, and you’d be right. I only remember because you’re the first man to do anything like that for me. Every single thing you did left its mark on me. I only wish I’d realized before now it was all payment for services rendered. I wish I’d known you were paying for me to sleep with you, I would’ve said no thanks.

I’m sorry I misunderstood. My fault. I hope I’ve returned everything. I wouldn’t want to be accused of stealing from you.

–Alabama

Abe realized he’d been rubbing his chest while he’d been reading her letter. He knew he should be pissed at her. The Alpha man inside him wanted to punish her for throwing all of his gestures back in his face. On the surface, sending the money seemed like a petty thing to do, as she’d stated, but Abe knew Alabama well enough to know how much he’d hurt her. She was only trying to protect herself.

He leaned down and gathered up the money tucking it back into the envelope. He’d return it as soon as he could. In the meantime he’d have to figure out how he was going to help his woman.

“Help me, Wolf. Help me find her.”

“You got it, Abe.”