Love Me Like You Do (Love Me Book 1)

by Jaime Russell

  “Of course not. What’s wrong?” I ask, and she tells me the problem about a guest and the police. She’s frantic and doesn’t know what to do. I look at Abby, who’s waiting for me to come back and finish our meal. I explain to Jenny how I would handle the situation and tell her to call me if there are any more issues. “I’m sorry about that,” I say to Abby after ending the call with Jenny. “Apparently Sally decided to shut her phone off.”

  “Is everything okay with Sally for her to turn off her phone?”

  “I don’t know in all honesty. I thought we fixed things, but obviously, I’m going to have to talk to her again. I might just make Jenny have more say in the business, then hire someone to replace her. Jenny is the go -to person when I’m not around. I think Sally just wants to be a wife, and mother. It just upsets me that I can’t have a life.

  “I think giving Jenny that authority will help you and Sally. Once Sally trains her replacement, then she can just be on the board of directors, do the wife and mother thing, and then maybe you two can repair whatever damage has been done.”

  “I don’t even want to fix it some days,” I tell her honestly. Sally has been avoiding me since I found out that she wants to step down.

  “That decision is yours but, let me tell you that having your sibling in your life is amazing. You two are the only ones left. You have no cousins.”

  “We hired two people, and they both quit. They told me that Sally is hard to work for, and they could never do the things she does because they don’t have the same connections. I explained to her that she needs to let them plan something and if they got stuck, to help out. Instead, she planned everything.”

  “She’s like a double standard. She wants to have all the free time to be a mom to her kids but also wishes to have everything in her control. She needs to delegate responsibilities. If she still wants to plan things, then let her. Let the two people you hire, be there at the events to make sure it runs smoothly.”

  “Why didn’t I think of that? It still gives her control but her weekends free for the kids. You may have just saved my sanity.” She smiles at me, and I look in her eyes, I just know that I need to be with her. I’d been in the same town with her for twenty-four hours and hadn’t even been in her yet.

  She must have read my mind because she grabs my hands to lead me upstairs. We walk into her room, and I smile. This room is like a window into her life. There are several pictures of her growing up, silly ones with her and Sarah. I walk around her room looking at everything on her wall. The walls were covered in inspirational quotes, posters from World of Warcraft and movie quotes. My eye stops on this cork board that is decorated with pink. There are pictures of us from Miami. I feel like I’m getting to know her on a different level. I see Abby, who’s standing in the doorway watching me. “What are you thinking?”

  “How much I want you to be naked and underneath me.” I use a come hither look on her, and she rolls her eyes.

  “You have such a one track mind, but I like it.” She comes in and shuts the door with her foot as she takes off her shirt. She hated being naked in front of me our first time together and now she has no problem with it. We spend the next few hours making love and exploring each other.

  Abby had to get up early and head to a meeting for a student, so I hang around the house for a little bit. There’s a knock on the door, and I groan when I see Jack Stephens standing on the porch.

  ABBY

  I turn over and make the mistake of opening my eyes. We’d left the curtain open, and the sun is directly on my face. It’s a bright day out, and I decide to get up and use the bathroom. Max and I have been walking every morning before work, and I want to keep that up. I stretch as I get out of bed and throw on the oversize t-shirt I brought to wear. We decided to spend the weekend in a hotel so we’d have some privacy with Sarah and Max being home. I close the curtain so the sun wouldn’t wake Cash up too early. I go into the bathroom and quietly shut the door. I’d left my overnight bag in there, so I change into my sweatpants and long sleeve shirt that I run in. I put my hair up in a ponytail, and I’m ready to go. I search the room for a piece of paper and pen to write Cash a note. In his jeans pocket, there’s an envelope hanging out and I grab it to write on. Before I can finish my note, I notice my dad’s handwriting on the other side of the envelope. My hands start to shake as I open it. Inside, there’s a check for twenty thousand dollars. A slip of paper flutters out and I snatch it up; tears cloud my vision as I read the words that ultimately break my heart.

  Per our discussion. $20,000 for you to leave Abby and never contact her again.

  J. Stephens

  My dad paid off Cash to leave me, and he took the money. Why? I thought he loved me. I look back at Cash, and I feel sick to my stomach. I run to the bathroom and violently throw up. I gather up everything that I’d brought with me because I didn’t want him to have anything that reminds him of me. I run out of the room and straight to the elevator. Tears stream down my face the farther away I get from his room. He’d promised to cherish me, love me and never hurt me. How could he do this to me? I keep my head down as I walk through the lobby and beeline for my car.

  I get in and drive away blindly. My heart feels as though it’s broken in two. “Why? Why couldn’t he love me? Was I just a boost to his ego?” I pull into my driveway and notice that Max is still home. I run inside, straight to my room. I hear him call after me, but I ignore him. He doesn’t take the hint of course and is knocking on my door in seconds.

  “Hey, squirt,” he says as he walks into my room. “Where’s Cash?” I’m good at hiding when I’ve been crying as I’ve had years of practice.

  “Oh, I got called into work. Mr. Lockwood’s secretary forgot to schedule someone for my morning classes. They have testing all day, so no one was able to cover. I left Cash sleeping in the hotel.” I come up with a quick lie to cover up why I’m home. I don’t want him to know what I found.

  “Okay, well the four of us still on for dinner tonight?” It kills me not to tell Max that I won’t be here and what Cash has done.

  “Yeah just text me the details.”

  “Alright, I got a meeting to get to. Love you.”

  “Love you too!”

  When I hear his truck start, I fall to my knees and cry. What am I going to do? How do I handle this? I shut off my phone and toss it on my bed. I turn on my laptop to check my accounts. I type in getaway, and a beautiful bed and breakfast called E & E in Maryland pops up. I make a reservation for the rest of my vacation and start to pack. I write Sarah and Max a note about what happened and that I need time. I take off my bread tie ring and lay it next to the note. I get in my car, turn on the tunes, and start to drive to Maryland. I stop to gas up my car; I turn on my phone to get directions. I ignore the text messages and voicemail notifications. I find my music to block it out.

  I finally arrive at E & E Bed and Breakfast just as the sun is setting. I sit in the car after I turn it off. Am I doing the right thing? Should I have run instead of talking to Cash? I’m starting to feel guilty for running, but I don’t know what else to do. I get out of the car and walk up to the front door. The bed and breakfast is an old Victorian house. It has a wraparound porch with two swings on it. Taking a deep breath, I inhale the scent of the ocean. The house is green with maroon shutters. The windows on the porch all have flower beds with beautiful colors. This is something out of a romance novel. I enter through the front doors and stop dead in my tracks. It’s nothing like I pictured it would be. The room is so modern. It has a fireplace in the living room with beautiful chairs high -backed chairs, I can easily imagine a billionaire sitting in one while doing business.

  I walk up to the registration desk and ring the bell. “Oh, hello dear. You must be Abigail.” I nod. “My name is Ellen, and I am the owner of this B and B. Let me get your key and show you around. Here we go, now follow me.” She leads me up the steps, and there are six rooms up here. She tells me that two rooms are occupied by two couples,
but they are usually out by eight and home by ten so they wouldn’t be much of a bother. “Here we go, room five. It’s further away from everyone, so you don’t have to worry about hearing anything.” Ellen unlocks the door and lets me in. She points out that I have my bath, but it isn’t anything special. The room is perfect for me. I thank her, and she tells me that she serves breakfast between six and nine a.m.

  I set my bag down on the bed and sigh. “Well, Abby, you’re all alone to do some thinking. This is what you wanted right?” I lay back and look up to the ceiling. A tear rolls down my cheek. “I wish I knew what questions need to be answered.”

  I sit up and go to unpack my bag. My phone is going off in my purse again. I know I should answer it but I can’t, not right now. I shut it off for the night and decide on a nice hot bath before crawling into bed.

  The bathroom, any other time would make me smile, but tonight it makes me groan out loud. It’s a beautiful light yellow in color, and the tub is one of those an old style porcelain claw foot tub. It takes me back to a time where women would just lay in the tub for hours getting ready for their dates with their men before going off to war. “Abby, you need to stop reading so many romance novels.” I shake my head as I laugh. I climb into the hot water and close my eyes. I replay the previous night with Cash. The dinner, dancing, and making love was amazing but never once did he mention my father. Why would he not tell me? Was last night just a goodbye? His last hurrah, and then he was going to break things off when he woke up this morning?

  I feel tears start to form, and I get pissed. I’m tired of crying; all I’ve done is cry today. I rest my head on the back of the tub, and the next thing I know, I’m freezing. I must have fallen asleep. I grab my robe and walk into my room to get ready for bed. The bedside clock tells me that it’d eleven forty-five p.m., and I wonder if Cash is at the airport heading back to Florida. I grab my Kindle so I can get lost in my book. I often get lost in my world of books and wish true love existed for me; I thought I had it, but I guess the joke is on me.

  I don’t remember setting my alarm, but it goes off at five thirty a.m. I hit the snooze button quickly, and then I throw the covers over my head to go back to sleep, I’m a twenty -five -year -old woman having a tantrum.

  CASH

  I groan as I open my eyes and instantly regret it. I repeatedly blink, trying to recall where I am as I don’t remember a thing. I notice a pink comforter and beige walls with brown trim. Sitting up, the room starts spinning, and I lay back down. I’m holding a framed picture of Abby and me from the New Year’s Eve ball and then it hits me how I ended up here.

  Alone.

  I wake up in my hotel room and reach for Abby, but she isn’t there. I sit up thinking she might be in the bathroom, looking at the clock and noticing that it’s almost noon. I must have been tired. I smile remembering the night that Abby and I had. We made love so many times that I was sore. I notice the bathroom door is open, so I get up and go through my morning routine. Looking around the bathroom as I brush my teeth, I see her stuff isn’t there. I frantically look for her clothes and bag, but they’re gone. I’m pulling on my boxers when I see the check from her asshole father. “Fuck!”

  I search for my phone, so I can call Abby to explain to her how I got that check, and couldn’t find it right away. I throw my blankets, pillows, and clothes everywhere looking for it. Where did I have it last? I remember that it’s in my jeans over by the door. Flicking it on, there’s no text, no calls, no emails. Nothing! She just left me without a word, no telling me off. “Oh boy, this is bad. This is awful. I need to find her and get her out of her head, or we’re done.”

  I sit down on the bed and call her. It just rings and rings. I leave several voicemails begging her to call me back. I don’t even know where anyone works so I can’t drive there to talk to them. I decide to grab a cab to take me over to her house, hoping she’ll be there so we can talk this situation out. I pull into her driveway, and her car is nowhere to be seen. I don’t have a key anymore, so I have no choice but to wait on the front porch. I must have dozed off because the next thing I know someone is shaking me awake. I open my eyes, and Sarah is smiling at me curiously. I sigh and stand up.

  “What are you doing here?” she asks.

  “I’m looking for Abby. She won’t return my calls. Have you seen her?” She shakes her head and motions for me to follow her.

  “Did you guys have a fight?” I try not to look at her because I will give it away before I explain.

  Sarah lets me in, and I head to Abby’s room. Her laptop and overnight bag are both was gone. Opening her closet reveals that her whole set of suitcases is gone. Bewildered, I go downstairs and into the kitchen. Max is standing there reading a letter. “Is that from Abby?” Before I can blink, I see a fist coming at me and connecting with my eye. I lose my balance and land on my ass. Sarah yells at Max to knock it off and water is thrown at me. “What the fuck was that for?” I demand as I try to stand up. Max makes a move to come at me again.

  “Don’t you dare say a word. Just pick your ass up and get on the next plane to Miami. Don’t look back, and don’t contact my sister again.” he yells at me and storms out of the house. I don’t understand what happened, and I look at Sarah in confusion. She’s crying, staring at the door that Max just walked out of.

  “Did I miss something?” I ask her as she hands me some ice.

  “Did you think taking a twenty thousand dollar check from Jack Stephens to leave Abby would go unnoticed?” she asks with disgust in her voice.

  “I didn’t take the check. He stopped by here the other day while Abby was helping her student and you and Max were at work. He wanted to talk to me about the dinner the other night. I thought Jack was coming to apologize but didn’t. He started rambling on about how I was a good looking man and needed to be with someone that looked like you not a fat cow like Abby. He asked what it would take to get me to leave her. I laughed in his face and told him to get out. He started off by saying five hundred then seven fifty and all the way up to ten grand.” I scoff, remembering the conversation. “He was shocked I take ten grand to leave her. He went on and on about how I should find someone more trophy worthy. I got in his face and told him to stop talking about Abby like that. I told him not to speak of her or think about her. He was shocked to learn that we’re getting married. He laughed at me and told me that I was making a big mistake. He made a promise to me that he would “fix” things so I wouldn’t be saddled down with her.” I look down at the cuts on my knuckles. “I punched him. I never saw the check until this morning. How it got into my room, I don’t know.”

  “Wow. I can’t believe it. Jack Stephens is a real piece of work. If you didn’t take the check, then how did she find out about it?” Sarah wonders aloud.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Do you want something to drink?” I nod, and she grabs some Jack from the built-in bar. “Do you want Coke with it?”

  I tell her just to bring the bottle. It’s almost eight o’clock at night, and I’m getting worried about her. I hope she contacts someone to let us know that she’s okay. “Will you let me know if you hear from her?” I don’t wait for her to respond, I turn and walk upstairs to Abby’s room. I lay on her bed with the bottle of Jack in my hand. Sarah has followed me and leans on the doorframe. “Why? Am I not good enough for her? Am I not what she wanted?”

  “Why did you ask those questions?” She comes into the room and gets down on her knees to look into my eyes.

  “She looked at the check and left. She didn’t even talk to me about it. Sarah, Abby just ran. If I’m not worth fighting for, then why should I bother fighting for her?” I cover my face with my hands. Instead of Sarah answering, Max speaks up for the doorway.

  “You fight for her because you love her.” He turns and leaves with only making that comment. Sarah squeezes my knee in comfort and then tells me goodnight. I hear them arguing and then silence.

  I stumble out of the bed and walk throug
h the sea of empty bottles of Jack and beer on the floor. I notice my reflection in the mirror, and I look like hell. I bump into Max and make my way to Abby’s room.

  “She’s okay,” He tells me before heading into the bathroom. I’m glad she’s okay, but I’m pissed at her. I grab my phone to check flights back to Miami. I don’t understand why she can’t talk to me about things. I send her a text and throw my phone on her bed. I walk downstairs and open the fridge. I’m hit with the chocolate covered strawberries with the engagement ring sitting in the champagne flute. I drank the champagne and put the ring in my pocket. I overhear Sarah and Max talking about me, but I don’t give a fuck right now. “I’m going to see her. She let me know where she is, and I’m going to talk her.”

  “You know where she is?” I ask Max, my words slurring. He nods and goes upstairs with me hot on his heels. He starts packing a bag as I hammer him for information. “Do I get to know where she is or are you going to keep it a secret from me?”

  “That’s up to Abby. When she feels you’re ready, you can see her,” he leaves no room for argument as she zips up his bag.

  “What do you mean when she feels I’m ready?”

  “You’ll know.” He puts his hand on my shoulder for a moment and then walks out. He whispers something to Sarah and kisses her cheek. He’s going to Abby, and I’m not. I keep drinking to dull the ache in my heart.

  ABBY

  I wake up and blink my eyes repeatedly, trying to figure out where I am. My chest starts to hurt as my memory comes flooding back. I sit up and turn my phone on to see what is going on.

  Max: I’m coming to see you.

  I smile because I need my big brother. There are messages from my mom wanting me to work that I ignore, a few from Sarah and then I see Cash’s name. I hesitate for a few moments before clicking to open his message.