by Avery James
She was wearing heels and a pencil skirt, and she was striding like she was walking a runway. As she got into line, she looked towards Abby. For a moment, Abby couldn’t tell what the expression on her face was. It was simultaneously cheerful and threatening, a very particular mix Abby hadn’t seen since high school. It was a mean-girl smile with a gloss of fake cheer, underlain with malice.
Abby stared back, wondering how it was possible for someone to have such incredible cheekbones and perfect hair. Part of her wondered why Nolan was dating her instead of someone like Erin. Her starkly gorgeous features seemed much more a match for him than Abby’s could ever be.
The stare continued as Erin got her coffee and headed for the door. Abby was sure she felt a chill as Erin walked by.
As soon as she was gone, Maggie placed her hands on the table and leaned towards Abby. “What was that?”
“What was what?” Abby said, feigning ignorance. “Are you talking about the new scones they put out a few minutes ago?”
“I’m talking about the stare-down you and the reporter just had.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You’re too smart to play dumb, Abby. Does she know who you are?”
“Well, off the top of my head, I can think of three possible reasons for her looking at me like that. One: she knows we’re here snooping on you know who, and she’s aligned with him somehow. Two: she doesn’t know about that, but she knows I’m dating Nolan. The two have different implications, though I’m not thrilled about either.”
“And three?” Maggie asked.
“She hates women?” Abby said with a shrug. “I don’t know what her problem is, but I don’t intend to let it become mine.”
“What do you want to do about it?”
“I have no idea,” Abby said, “but I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”
“Well, don’t look now, but she just walked up the steps to the husband’s house.”
“She’s meeting with him?” Abby asked.
“Well, she is his type,” Maggie said.
“Female and ambitious?”
“I was going to say breathing,” Maggie replied.
Abby laughed. “This is bad, isn’t it?”
“I can’t really think of any scenario in which it would be good.”
“Please tell me there’s some silver lining,” Abby said. She really didn’t want her personal life with Nolan to get tangled up any more than it already was with her professional life.
“Well, there isn’t a silver lining,” Maggie told her as she got up from the table, “but, like I told you, there are scones.”
Chapter 16
By the grace of God, the next day and a half passed without incident. Even though he didn’t say it outright, Nolan seemed intrigued by the idea of Harry being as wealthy and interesting as him. When Nolan showed up at Abby’s door on Saturday night, he was wearing a suit coat and jeans, nothing too special, but his shirt had been pressed, and he was wearing cologne that smelled incredible. The light from a nearby streetlight cast a glow over his back and shoulders and left his face half in shadow.
For a moment, Abby wondered how well she really knew Nolan. She knew they got along well, and that whenever he kissed her she felt like swooning, but there were still depths to him that lay in shadow, just beyond view. She wondered how much more there was, what he wasn’t telling her and why.
These were the kind of thoughts that had never bothered her about guys before. Since she’d always kept things casual, she’d never really cared about the depths of boyfriend’s souls. Plus, she rarely kept them around long enough for these kinds of questions to pop up. Nolan was different, of course. He was singular, and she wanted to know everything there was to know about him. Not in a pin-everything-down kind of way but in a want to eat every chocolate in the box kind of way. She wasn’t afraid of what she’d find out. Instead, the mystery of him drew her forward.
“Everything ok?” he asked as he stepped up to her. He placed a hand on the small of her back and planted a quick kiss on her lips. Just enough to remind her just how attracted to him she was.
“Ready for your big date?” Abby asked.
“Yeah,” he said. “If your friends are half as wonderful as you, it’ll be a good night. I hope we’re not headed to another rooftop. It’s supposed to get cold tonight.”
“You could always keep me warm if that’s the case,” Abby said.
“Rooftop it is,” Nolan joked.
“No, we’re going to some place downtown that Maggie’s wanted to try for ages. I think they have a special menu for pregnant women or something. Anyway, it’s supposed to be great.”
As Nolan walked her to the car, he added, “so what do I need to know?”
“Be yourself and you’ll be fine,” Abby said.
“So, aloof, condescending?”
“Don’t forget arrogant.”
“I thought that was a given,” he said as he opened the door to the SUV and helped her inside.
Sure, there are depths to those waters, Abby mused, but she couldn’t deny the way light played off the surface. In fact, the darkness below made the light even brighter.
When they made it to the restaurant, Maggie and Harry were already waiting. It gave Abby hope for her relationship with Nolan that Maggie and Harry were able to make it work despite being from such different worlds. It seemed like every time she saw them together, they’d grown closer. It’d only been a few weeks since Abby thought she’d never find something like that, but now she had Nolan, and she was starting to believe it really was possible.
The host looked up nervously after double checking something. “I’m so sorry, sir. There’s been a mix-up with the reservations. We’ll fix this as soon as possible.”
“It’s not a problem,” Harry said. “Is the bar open by any chance?”
“Of course, sir.”
“What do you say we get a drink while we wait?”
“Sounds great,” Nolan said. He looked down at Maggie’s baby bump. “Vodka or gin? Both?”
“I think that’s what got us into this mess,” Maggie said.
“I believe it was a bottle of rum that did us in,” Harry said. “That and months of planning.” He placed an arm around his wife.
“How about you, Harry?”
“Scotch with lime,” he said with a smile.
Nolan stared at him, dumbstruck. “I used to know a guy who actually ordered that to mess with people.”
“Me too,” Harry said. His eyes widened and he raised a brow. He and Nolan made confused faces at each other for what seemed like a minute until Harry added, “No… You don’t think?”
Nolan raised his hand above his head. “Was he about this tall?” he asked. Then he held both hands close together in front of his face. “And about this wide?”
“No way,” Harry said. “You know Dick?”
“Know him? He owes me money.”
“Ever been to his place in Barcelona?”
“He was renting that place from me,” Nolan said.
“I crashed on that couch for about two weeks,” Harry said, shaking his head in disbelief.
“We probably crossed paths without even realizing it,” Nolan said. He and Harry were grinning at each other like they were old friends.
“Can you believe it?” Harry asked Maggie.
“Your budding bromance?” Maggie asked.
“You’re just jealous,” Harry said, “of the purity of what we have.” He motioned back and forth between himself and Nolan.
“Well, why don’t the two of you go get drinks while Abby and I catch up?” Maggie suggested.
“Maybe without the lime,” Abby chimed in.
“Have you ever tried it?” Nolan asked Harry.
“I’d never do that to good Scotch,” Harry said.
“You, you’re alright,” Nolan said. He slapped Harry on the shoulder and they headed off to the bar.
“Looks like those two are hitting it off,
” Maggie said.
“Yeah,” Abby said. She didn’t know why she’d been nervous about Nolan and Harry getting along. She just knew how badly Maggie wanted the men in their lives to be friends. It was the first step of many towards her joint vacation plan. That plan was starting to sound better and better to Abby. Maybe Maggie had been right from the start about how good it was to be in a relationship. She just wished she could devote all her attention to the double date without worrying about work. “We should check in on the twins,” Abby said. “I still don’t like the idea of them being around Heck without one of us there.”
“They’ll be fine,” Maggie said. “They can handle themselves. If you were in their shoes, would you want people checking in on you all the time?”
Abby shook her head. “I guess not.”
“Have you talked to Amy about what happened?”
“Not yet,” Abby said. “I’ll tell her on Monday, ok?”
Maggie didn’t seem convinced that was the best plan of action, but a moment later, Nolan and Harry returned. Abby hoped it would be the end of Andrew Heck talk for the night.
As Harry handed Maggie a seltzer, he asked Nolan, “so, how did the two of you meet, anyway?”
“I bought her a drink,” Nolan said.
“She gave her sex talk, didn’t she?” Harry asked.
Nolan nodded. “It was the part about campaign finance that I really couldn’t resist.”
“Ah, that age old aphrodisiac,” Maggie said.
“Actually, it was her expression when I offered to buy her a drink.”
“Instant attraction?” Harry asked.
Nolan laughed hard enough that he almost spilled his drink. “No, the opposite. She seemed annoyed that I was brash enough to approach her. I took it as a challenge.”
“See, I’m a challenge,” Abby said. “Every woman’s dream.”
“Well, we’ll leave that one for the two of you to discuss later,” Maggie said. “How long are you in town for?”
As Nolan contemplated an answer, the host arrived and tapped Harry on the shoulder. “Sir, I wanted to apologize again for the wait, but your table is ready.”
Once seated, Nolan and Harry carried on like they were old friends, while Maggie kept asking pointed questions designed to see how serious Nolan was about Abby. Abby wanted no part of that particular conversation, so she buried her face in the menu and tried to decide if it was impolite to order sashimi while with a pregnant woman. Then her phone started to buzz. Abby gave it a quick look. She’d gotten a text from one of the trainees, Liz.
I might have a situation.
Abby excused herself, and Maggie shot her a glance. “Probably nothing,” she said, “but I got a text from one of the trainees.” And it probably was nothing. The trainees were so used to doing everything perfectly that they checked in constantly for validation. Abby immediately called Liz.
“Hey, what’s up?” Abby asked as she stepped outside.
“I think I have a situation,” Liz said. “I think it’s bad.” Abby could hear the panic in her voice.
“Ok, tell me what happened.”
“You-know-who propositioned me. He asked if I was into bondage. I just shrugged it off and said I was waiting for my boyfriend, but then his mistress found out and confronted me. I didn’t know what to do, so I told her what he said.”
“What did she do?”
“She told me she was going to ruin him,” Liz said. “So I panicked and told her the first thing I could think of. It’s bad. I’m so sorry.”
“What did you tell her?” Abby asked. The hotel where the governor had rented a room was only a few blocks away. She could probably run there. Abby started to make a plan as she waited for Liz to tell her the rest of the story. Then she felt a tap on her shoulder.
“Hey, what’s going?” Nolan asked. “Maggie and Harry ordered some appetizers and told me it could be a bit. I figured I’d see if you needed anything.”
As he talked, she missed what Liz was saying. “One second,” Abby told Nolan in time to catch Liz’s last few words:
“…handcuffed in the service elevator.”
“Stay there. Don’t talk to anyone. Don’t let anyone see him, ok?” She turned to Nolan. “I have to go take care of something.”
“Is it serious?” he asked.
“It’s just a situation with… it’s not that serious,” she said.
“You know whatever you tell me stays with me, right?”
“Yeah, I just shouldn’t get you involved in any of this. It’s not just because you own a media empire, and your reporter has been snooping around my clients,” she said.
“I told you, you’re off limits. You know I wouldn’t do that,” he said.
“I don’t want to put you in the position where you have to make that call,” she said. “One way or another, it’s going to screw with our relationship.”
“So what are we supposed to do?”
“I don’t know,” Abby sighed. This problem wasn’t going to just go away. And if they were going to be serious, they needed to figure it out.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Want to go for a walk?” she asked. She quickly texted Maggie to let her know a work situation had arisen and that they’d be right back. Maggie had already mentioned something about multiple rounds of appetizers, so Abby assumed they’d be back in time for the main course.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’d like that.”
Abby and Nolan found their way to the hotel where Liz had been surveilling Andrew Heck. Abby met Liz at the door and told Nolan to wait. Nolan gave Liz a smile and gave a quick wave when she said hi. “Where is he?” Abby asked.
As Liz led her to the back of the hotel, she asked, “How badly did I screw up?”
“You’re fine,” Abby said. “Things happen. You were right to call. Did he have any idea who you were?”
“No, at least I don’t think so,” Liz said.
“Good. I’ll take care of it from here.”
“Are you sure?” Liz asked. “This is bad, isn’t it?”
“Everything’s going to be fine,” Abby said. The truth was she should have told Liz to leave. Someone would eventually find Andrew Heck in the elevator and get him help. There was no reason to raise his suspicion. It could only cause trouble. The best course of action was to call a 24-hour locksmith and explain the delicate situation. In a pinch, a hair pin would probably work, too.
On the other hand, the bastard had shown up at her condo and threatened her. It was time for him to learn that actions had consequences.
She walked over to the elevator. It was one of those freight elevators that had the heavy doors that slid up. Abby waited until Liz was out of sight and pulled the door open. The sight was even better than she’d imagined.
Andrew Heck was sitting on the floor of the elevator, his suit ruffled, his hair mussed, despondent. Then he looked up to see Abby.
His face turned crimson with anger, and a vein bulged in his forehead.
“You,” he said. He practically spat at her as she stepped into the elevator. She was careful to stay out of his reach.
“Me,” she said. “I thought this was a good time for me to make a proposal.”
“You have no idea what you’ve done,” he said. “You think you’re smart? You think this was a good idea? I will make you pay for this.”
“Calm down,” Abby said. “You look like you’re about to have an aneurysm. Why don’t you just call for help?”
“Do you think I didn’t try that?”
“Oh, right, the whole metal cage thing messes with the signals, huh? That’s a real shame.” She wondered how long she should wait before calling someone to get him out.
“You little bitch,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“Get me out of here this instant,” he said as he launched into an expletive-laden tirade that made his previous statements seem like polite conversation.
/> Abby just stared at him in disbelief. She didn’t quite know how to react. He did understand that other than her, no one even knew he was there, right? “Do you have any medical conditions?” she asked.
“Do you mean besides my hand being handcuffed to this fucking rail?”
“Yeah, besides that.”
“Fuck you,” he said.
“You sure have a way with words, governor. Change of shift is in a few hours, I’m sure someone can help you then. Now if you excuse me, I have a date with a real man, one who doesn’t insult and threaten women.”
Andrew Heck was seething. “Tell my wife she’ll pay for this, and I don’t care what the fallout is for me.”
“Governor, what did I say about threatening women?” With that, she stepped out of the elevator and pulled the door shut. Maybe some time alone would help the governor reconsider his actions.
There would be hell to pay for what she just did. After all, actions had consequences. She knew that as well as anyone, but at the moment, she didn’t care. Andrew Heck was getting exactly what he deserved.
She quickly composed herself as she headed back to the lobby. Nolan was still sitting in a chair by the window. He was typing something on his phone. “Everything good?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “Never better.”
He got up and placed his arm around Abby. She expected him to ask something about the job she’d just done, but he didn’t seem to care. “Just told Harry we’re on our way back,” he said.
“You two are really hitting it off.”
“Any friend of yours is a friend of mine,” he said.
“And my enemies?”
“They’ll wish they never met me,” he said.
Abby thought about the senator’s husband, and the reporter who worked for Nolan. She wondered what Nolan would do if it did turn out something was up. As they headed back to the restaurant, she promised herself she wouldn’t worry about that for at least one night.
Chapter 17
The first thing that Abby noticed upon walking into Amy Haven’s office on Monday morning was the hammer in her boss’s hand. Amy didn’t even turn around when Abby announced her arrival. She simply told Abby to shut the door. It was worth noting that Amy wasn’t holding the hammer in a particularly menacing fashion. She was holding it with her hand just below the head, tapping the handle against her thigh as she looked at a nail on an otherwise blank wall. Abby stood in silence as she waited for Amy to tell her what to do next. She didn’t dare sit. She didn’t dare move.
