Killer Love (53 page)
As she spoke, her stepfather injected a needle in her vein and depressed the plunger. “You’ll be fine, Abby girl, I promise.”
Her eyelids fluttered and her words slurred. “We’ll all be fine,” she whispered, and went to sleep.
****
Slowly Abby opened her eyes, for a moment, befuddled. Then memory returned. She sensed someone next to her. She turned her head to find Wil sitting beside her bed, his hand wrapped warmly around hers.
“Did I make it?” she asked, her mouth dry, her words barely audible.
“What do you think?” Wil smiled gently.
“Well, I hurt like hell, and you’re certainly no angel, so it can’t be heaven. I’m either alive, or you and I were
both
very naughty people.”
Wil laughed. “You’re alive, thank God.”
“The explosive?”
“It was like an episode of ‘Alias’. I defused it with mere seconds to spare.”
“Sorry I missed that,” Abby slurred, her eyes drifting shut. When she wasn’t so tired, she would tell Wil she’d been wrong. She wouldn’t be so foolish to throw away what they had when she’d been lucky enough to find love again. “What happened to Perry?”
Wil blew a breath out between clenched teeth and said, “Diane shot him. They have her in custody now. She told Ray she followed me from the celebration, thinking I might be heading to where Perry was. She didn’t get there right away because she lost my trail. I set the alarm off on Perry’s car to draw him outside and Diane heard it. She found us and...” he trailed off, shrugging as if to say, ‘you know the rest’.
Abby nodded slowly. She was hurt by Diane’s betrayal, but glad it was all over. So glad everyone was safe.
“Someone wants to see you,” Wil whispered, still holding her hand. “You feel up to it?”
She nodded and opened her eyes. She was still sluggish, but the joy of being alive and out of danger made her feel she could conquer the world.
Abby smiled when Lindsey came into the cabin and stood beside Wil. “I’m glad you’re okay,” Lindsey said.
“I’m glad you’re okay, too,” Abby replied.
Lindsey suddenly began to cry and she dropped to her knees beside Abby’s bed. “I’m sorry I was so awful to you.”
“It’s okay, honey.”
“No, it’s not.” Lindsey shook her head vehemently. “I’ve grown up a lot in the past few days. The whole time that asshole had me, I was thinking, ‘man, and I thought I had it bad before.’ I thought about all the terrible things in the world and how those things are
real
problems. Not the fact that my dad has a girlfriend. And you...you’re awesome. Deep down, I always thought that but I wouldn’t let myself really like you.” She gave a watery smile. “I’ve learned there are worse things than your dad having a girlfriend. I was stupid and I’m sorry.”
“Apology accepted. Thank you.”
Lindsey nodded and brushed her hands across her cheeks, wiping away tears. “Okay, then. I’ll let you guys talk.” She gave her father a tight hug. “Love you, Daddy.”
“Love you, too, baby girl. I’ll be up in a minute.”
After Lindsey left, an awkward silence settled over them. Abby was the first to break it. “She’s a good kid.”
“Yeah.”
Silence again.
“Wil, I was wrong. About us. I want to try again. I don’t want to lose you.”
Wil sighed and dropped his gaze to the floor, gently disentangling his hand from hers.
Panic beat at her heart and she knew then, it was too late. Wil had changed his mind. He didn’t want her anymore. “Wil? What is it?”
He shook his head, not looking at her. “You were right, Abby. We shouldn’t be together. It almost got you killed.”
“But...” she didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know how to fight for him. She said, “Are you punishing me for ending things with you? If you are, I understand, and I’ll wait. But please, don’t punish me forever.”
“Punishing you?” Wil lifted his head, his expression agonized. “I’m punishing
me
. I can’t do this, Abby, can’t do ‘us’. I can’t cause you any more pain, any more danger. It’s best this way. When Lindsey turns eighteen, I’m going back to the force. You should live in peace.”
“You’re wrong. I tried to avoid violence and look what happened. It found me anyway. I don’t want to hide anymore.”
“It found you because of me.”
She stared at him through the tears swimming in her eyes. She was searching for words to make him change his mind when a clatter at the door caught her attention. Two EMT’s entered the cabin.
“They’re taking you to a hospital,” Wil said. “They want to check you over and keep you for a few days just to make sure everything’s okay.”
Abby nodded but didn’t speak.
Wil moved aside to make room for the EMT’s.
“Goodbye, Abby,” he said quietly.
This time, she knew he meant it.
Chapter Twenty
The hospital released Abby two days after the surgery. She hadn’t heard from Wil, didn’t expect to. She knew it was time to heal her broken heart along with her body.
Abby was delighted when Lindsey accompanied Charlene to pick her from the hospital. Apparently, the two of them had formed some kind of bond during all of this. Abby wondered if it would cause any type of awkwardness since she and Wil were no longer together.
“Hey, Abby, how are you feeling?” Lindsey asked, and she looked so much like her father, it made Abby ache.
“I’m good, thanks.”
“You sure seem quiet,” Charlene commented.
“It’s a hospital, Mom. We’re supposed to be quiet.”
Charlene harrumphed, looking shrewdly at Abby, but didn’t say anything.
The nurse wheeled Abby outside and Lindsey helped her into the back seat of Charlene’s Lincoln Continental.
The ride was oddly silent and Abby wasn’t inclined to change that. She stared out the window, watching the people outside their homes, or walking along the town sidewalk, seemingly happy, content. None of them appeared to be living with a hollow ache that Abby knew must show on the outside, as great as the pain was on the inside. Pain that didn’t have anything to do with surgery.
She only roused when her mother passed the turnoff to her road. “Mom, you missed the turn.”
“What’s that, dear?” her mother asked, although Abby knew she must have heard her in the dead silence of the car.
“You missed my turnoff,” Abby repeated, irritation now entering her voice. She just wanted to get home. Wanted to be alone, for the first time in days, to wallow in her misery.
“That’s nice,” her mother replied.
Good Lord
, what was her problem?
They slowed and turned onto Huntington Way. Abby looked sharply at her mother, then at Lindsey, but they both pointedly ignored her.
Abby tensed. This was the way to Wil’s house.
“What’s going on?” Abby asked. When her mother didn’t answer, she said, “Lindsey? What’s going on?”
By then, they were turning onto Wil’s road. His driveway was just a few houses up and, sure enough, the Lincoln slowed and pulled into it.
“What the
hell
is going on?” Abby demanded. “I’m tired. I need to be at home and if this is your idea of a joke, it’s not very funny.” She wasn’t sure to whom she spoke, but thought they both deserved her wrath.
Her mother rested one arm on the back of the front seat and twisted so she could meet Abby’s gaze. “You’re going to talk to him.”
“What? Why? We’ve already talked. It’s over. We both decided that was best.”
Lindsey shook her head, making her ponytail swing against her cheeks. “It’s
not
best. I haven’t seen Dad cry since Mom died. But twice since they took you to the hospital, I’ve caught him with tears in his eyes. He’s miserable without you and he won’t make the move, so you have to.”
“Lindsey, hon,” Abby said gently, patiently. “This isn’t some little tiff we need to get past. There are things involved that you can’t possibly understand. Reasons why we can’t be together. We all just have to accept it.”
“Bullshit,” Charlene said and Abby’s head whipped toward her. She’d never heard her mother swear. “That’s the biggest line of crap I’ve ever heard. You two love each other, bottom line. Go talk to him and quit acting like a wuss.”
“Mom, maybe now isn’t a good time. I’m tired. I was just released from the hospital.”
“Walking will help you regain your strength. Get out.”
Abby sighed and jerked the car door open. She wouldn’t argue. She’d talk to Wil, go back and tell the busybodies it hadn’t done any good, and go home to lick her wounds.
Climbing out of the car, Abby slammed the door behind her, just to show them she wasn’t happy about their little plan.
She looked up at the house and her breath caught in her throat.
She was going to see Wil again.
Although she’d longed to see him, she was terrified at the prospect.
She started toward the steps, but heard noise coming from the back of the house and went around. Wil stood there, shirtless, his back to her, sanding a surfboard. The muscles in his shoulders jumped with his movements and the wind ruffled his hair. For a moment, she just stood there, watching him, letting the sight of him act as balm to her senses.
He must have felt her presence, because he turned. When his gaze met hers, the hazel depths of his eyes gleamed for a moment with something like joy before they shuttered over, hiding whatever emotion had surfaced.
“Abby? Is everything okay?”
No. I love you and you don’t want to be with me and my heart is breaking.
“
Yes,” she said around the knot in her throat.
“What are you doing here?”
She shrugged and gestured toward the front of the house. “My mother and Lindsey picked me up from the hospital. They thought we should talk.”
He turned away from her and continued sanding. “Lindsey can’t seem to get it through her head that you and I are no longer together.”
“I know,” Abby said. “Quite a change from a week ago.”
“Yeah. Kids. Never satisfied.”
“She’s right.”
“What?” Wil asked, still keeping his back to her.
“We should be together. I love you.”
She saw his shoulders stiffen and the sanding stopped. He slowly turned to face her. “Abby, I told you, when Lindsey turns eighteen, I’m going back to being a cop.”
She forced a lightness to her voice. “That’s four years from now. Who knows what’ll happen between now and then?” She grinned as she threw his earlier words back at him. “You didn’t think I was going to marry you, did you?”
He smiled and the smile did the same funny things to her insides it always had. “You’re not?”
She shook her head. “I just want to try again. Take it slowly and see if our love is as strong as I think it is.”
He sighed and his eyes held a pained look before he glanced away, shaking his head. “No matter how much I love you, it won’t work.”
“You’re that sure?” she demanded. “So sure you won’t even give it a try?”
“You couldn’t handle me being a cop.”
She gave a strangled laugh, tears close to the surface. “I carried a bomb around in my womb for a week. I went out on a boat alone to explode into a million pieces. I think dating a cop is pretty mild compared to that.”
He was silent for a moment, then his gaze swung to her and she saw something different in his expression. Something hopeful. “What about marrying one?”
Her breath caught in her throat. “Marrying?”
“Lindsey thinks that’s what we need to do.”
She smiled. “Do you do everything your daughter says?”
“Sometimes, she’s smarter than her old man. But I’m not doing it because she told me to.”
“Then why?”
He shrugged and said, “Because I miss you. Because my life is empty without you and I’m tired of punishing myself. Tired of hurting over you.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
The tears flowed freely now and Abby didn’t even try to wipe them away.
Wil dropped the sander and pulled her to him, staring down at her. “Abby...”
He didn’t say more. He didn’t have to, because he kissed her and in his kiss, she felt the same happiness, the same yearning that churned within her.
His arms tightened, holding her against his heart and at that moment, all was right with the world.
Abby had come home.
Poetic Injustice
by
Alicia Dean
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
Poetic Injustice
COPYRIGHT
2008 by Alicia Dean
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or The Wild Rose Press except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
Contact Information: [email protected]
Cover Art by
Nicola Martinez
The Wild Rose Press
PO Box 708
Adams Basin, NY 14410-0706
Visit us at www.thewildrosepress.com
Publishing History
First Crimson Rose Edition, 2008
Print ISBN 1-60154-337-9
Published in the United States of America
Dedication
For my father, Dean Robertson, who taught me the love of baseball and so much more. I still miss you.
Chapter One
The crimson-black stain spread from the woman’s head wound and ended unevenly in the center of her blonde hair. It would almost look as if she'd been interrupted in the midst of a bad dye job, except she was lying face down, leaching more of the dark blood into the supple leather of the cream-colored sofa.
Detective Samantha Colby bent closer, trying to see the victim’s face without touching the body. She couldn’t. Nor could she see signs of any other injuries. Not that any were needed. The bloody gavel lying on the floor next to the corpse had been more than sufficient.
Sam rose and blew out a breath, resisting the urge to remove her jacket. The heat was oppressive, unusual for Cincinnati, even in July. The sweltering temperatures magnified the smell of decay, not something one would expect to encounter in a five million-dollar mansion. CSI techs wandered in and out of the room, cameras flashing, baggies opening and closing as evidence was neatly secured.