5. Abel
Chapter 5
Abel
Weird shit has been going down the last couple days. I was itchy and felt like there’ve been eyes on my back. It was fucking with me, man. Brenna’s gone into fight or flight mode, thinking someone was after one of us. Or hell, after all of us. Who the hell knew?
I wasn’t usually a paranoid person, and I didn’t like the feeling of not being in control of my thoughts and surroundings, but here we were. Having a cop for a brother should put you at ease, but sometimes it made things worse. Noah would kick my ass if he knew I had that thought running around in my head.
“Babe! I need toilet paper! Stat! You left me with an empty roll, again. There’s more in the hall closet. Can you grab me some? Please? I need to get back to Mara and my niece. Auntie Pitbull is ragey and needs to see her girls.”
Shit! I knew I was forgetting something when I walked out of the bathroom this morning. I needed to tread lightly with the wifey right now, and I was already screwing up. The gang had a rough day yesterday, and I think we all needed to fucking chill today. I knew that wouldn’t happen until Brenna was back with the girls. There was a mishap of sorts at my brother’s place last night, and the girls were totally freaked out. Mara thought she saw someone watching her through the kitchen window, and it caused a stir. Now she said Noah thinks she’s crazy, and I felt for my brother. Been down the ‘crazy’ road more times than I could count with Brenna and her faithful sidekick, Momma Hormones. God love em’ but damn.
“Knock, knock. I’ve brought your butt napkins, my queen.”
Just as I was about to turn the knob, the door flew open, and Brenna slipped past me in a hurry.
“You took too long, so I drip dried my nether regions. What were you doing out here? Cutting the trees down to process them into your very own butt wipe?”
I had nothing, so I just shrugged my shoulders and reloaded the toilet paper roll. At least I was smart enough to make coffee, and by the moans coming from the kitchen, my lady approved.
“Damn, gorgeous. You keep making those sounds and we’re never leaving this house. Come give Daddy some sugar.”
She started shaking her head vigorously, and the coffee she had in her mouth started shooting out like a sprinkler. Dead serious. Good thing we had a dog who cleaned up our messes with pride. Hippie was in his glory, wagging his tail, as he licked up every last drop that Brenna spilled on the floor.
“Great! Now Hippie’s going to have the shits all day. This is on you, so you better be prepared for the aftermath, mister.”
Just as I was about to chase my little vixen around the kitchen, the doorbell rang. Who the hell could that be? It was eight in the fucking morning, man. Maybe it was Spencer and Cindy, wanting to tag along to my bro’s house with us. Yeah, had to be.
“Saved by the bell. I’ll catch you later, wifey, and I promise you won’t want to run from me.”
She blew me a kiss as she ran to the front door. Meanwhile, I got stuck cleaning up the coffee that Hippie missed. I heard a loud squeal coming from the living room that piqued my interest, so I headed that way to see what all the ruckus was about. Brenna better not have ordered more makeup. Our bathroom already looked like a drag queen’s dressing room. Who the hell needed ten different shades of lipstick, false eyelashes, and all the other crap ladies used on their face? My wife, apparently.
“Gorgeous? You okay? Did the makeup fairy come again? We’re going to need another bathroom if so.”
I walked into the living room and saw Brenna holding a gigantic bouquet of red roses. What the fuck? Who was sending my wife flowers? Whose ass did I need to kick?
“Abel! They’re beautiful! I love you, I love you, I love you!”
Well, damn. Now I felt like an asshole, knowing I wasn’t the one who’d sent them. Mental note: buy Brenna flowers more often. The pure joy on her face was a beautiful sight to see. Again, I wondered, who had really put that smile on her face?
“Ummm…I hate to make myself look like a douchebag, but I didn’t send you those. There’s a card attached. Let’s see whose ass I have to kick, shall we?”
She rolled her eyes as she opened the envelope. Reading the note, her face turned pale white. She dropped the bouquet to the floor and handed me the note. I noticed her fingertips were suddenly red. Well, this couldn’t be good. I grabbed the note that looked to have blood droplets smeared over the black writing.
Roses are blood red
Abel's sexy eyes are blue
Bitch, you and your precious family better watch out
Because I'm coming for you
See you all soon…
“Abel? What the shit? Can you, for the love of my sanity, explain this? Scorned lover? Secret admirer? You can stop me at any time!”
She was kidding, right? This had to be a fucking joke. I'd never cheat on her. Ever. She was my whole world, and I thought she knew that. That nagging pit in my stomach I was feeling? This has got to be a sign that I was right in assuming that something extra stank was going on.
“Seriously, gorgeous? I’d shove myself on a rusty pitchfork before I ever did anything to break our bond. Somebody’s fucking with us, Brenna. I told you, I’ve been feeling uneasy all week, and didn’t know why. I guess we know now. We need to go talk with my brother. Maybe Mara isn’t crazy after all, and someone is deliberately doing this shit to us.”
Brenna was shaking, and I couldn’t blame her. She looked scared as hell, and that made my blood boil. This could be nothing, but it could also be something. My name was on the note, so whoever it was knew me and knew where I lived. Going after my wife, and possibly Mara, was the wrong fucking move.
We stopped at Starbucks on our way to Noah and Mara’s place, picking up coffees and pastries for our gang. I knew we could all use the sugar and caffeine buzz this morning. It had been an interesting one, to say the least.
“Knock, knock. Anybody home? If anyone’s naked, I suggest you get dressed now. It’s too early in the day for me to be traumatized.”
Mara yelled something incoherent back at me, and Brenna just dragged me inside, shaking her head.
“Not today, joker.”
I was just trying to lighten the mood a bit, but Brenna was right. Maybe I just didn’t want to admit that someone was trying to burst our blissful bubble.
As soon as we entered the living room, Mara’s sharp eyes focused on Brenna’s face, and she knew something was wrong. I’m telling you, these two girls of ours had this crazy connection that only they could understand. They even finished each other’s sentences and knew what the other was thinking, without speaking a word.
“Speak now, heffa! I know that look, and I know something’s wrong. Out with it. Now!”
Noah gave me a look, and I nodded my head in the direction of the kitchen. I'd fill him in, while Brenna spoke with Mara, knowing they needed a minute alone.
“What the hell is going on now, brother? I’ve literally just calmed my wife down from another panic attack. She didn’t sleep a wink last night, which means I didn’t either. So, let me have it, Abel.”
I could see the worry in my brother’s eyes, and it sucked. He has always been the strong one, who everyone depended on, but even he had his breaking point. I just hoped I wasn’t the one who sent him over the edge. I gave him the downlow on what had happened this morning, and he didn’t look happy at all.
“Are you sure this isn’t just one of your ex-girlfriends you pissed off? Let’s be honest, little brother, you weren’t exactly a knight in shining armor back in the day.”
This was true, but I’d seen most of my exes through the years, and we were always cordial to one another. I was a young punk kid, who did stupid shit, but I’d never hurt any female intentionally.
“I don’t think that’s the case here. I know I was an asshole at times, but this feels different. Plus, maybe Mara did see someone last night. I don’t think this shit is a coincidence, Noah. That note wasn’t about revenge; it seemed more along the lines of creepy admiration. Do you think it could be a chick that I’ve tatted? It’s the only place I really interact with females other than our girls.”
Noah was rubbing his chin, deep in thought. He was a cop, for fuck sake; he had to see the logistics of it all.
“I’ll have one of my guys dust the note and our outside window seal for fingerprints. We’ll see if that’s really blood droplets inside the note or just red ink. I’ll also see if I can trace where the flowers came from too. There’s only a few shops around town, so it shouldn’t be too hard. Unless they didn’t come from a shop, then we’re back to square one. In the meantime, you’d better start making a list of possible suspects. Anyone you’ve spoken to or glanced at. I mean it, Abel. We all know you’re a charmer, so it’d be easy for a fragile-minded female to think there’s more to your words or glances.”
Fuck me. Who knew being a social butterfly would lead to my wings being clipped? If I had to choose to be at the end of someone’s obsession-filled blade, rather than anyone I loved, I’d always choose to sacrifice myself.
Brenna and Mara were both looking at me with tears in their eyes. I hated seeing them worried. It killed me, man. I was hoping this whole thing would just boil over, and we could move on from it.
“Don’t cry, girls. It’ll be fine. Me and Noah will make sure of it. You know your kings will always shield you from the enemy. We have an extra special baby girl here to protect now, too. I think we’re making more of it than we need to. We have a solid plan, just in case. Now hand over my niece. Uncle Abe wants pretty girl snuggles.”
I grabbed Kelsey out of Mara’s hands, and her chubby little face lit up. She loved her Uncle Abe, what could I say? I watched as Noah escaped out the back door in the kitchen, and I had a feeling I knew what he was up to. My brother the cop, always on the case.
“I’m going to take Kelsey outside for a little fresh air. Keep your noses clean while we’re away. Love you, my girls.”
I caught up to my brother outside, and he was exactly where I though he would be. He was looking at the kitchen window and surrounding area. Pointing to the bushes next to the window, he said, “There! Do you see the broken branches and trampled leaves on the ground? Someone was definitely here. Fuck, Abel, how could I have been so stupid? I pretty much blamed Mara for acting crazy. She was right. Someone was definitely here, peeking in on my family. What the hell is going on? We need to get someone down here immediately to dust this window. I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt my family. I swear to all that’s holy, you better not be lying to me. If you know any reason why this is happening, you better fucking fess up now!”
Seemed we had a stalker on our hands. Was this all because of me? Could I have caused this? Jesus. So many questions ran around in my head, I felt like I was going to explode. Now my own brother was questioning me?
“I’d never lie to you, brother. I’m as much in the dark here as you are. But I’ll do anything to make this right and figure out what’s going on. I promise.”