9. Abel
Chapter 9
Abel
Yesterday was a huge dumpster fire, and I was to blame. I’d let Brenna believe the worst in me, and I’d spent the whole night groveling at her feet.
This shit with Leah and the unknown crazy pants stalking my family was hitting my last nerve. Everyone was on edge, especially Brenna, and I needed to fix it. How, you ask? Good fucking question.
I made a mental note to thank Mara. She’d found Brenna yesterday and talked her out of killing me. Mara! Of all people! She was usually the one spearheading my demise. Then again, she had the perfect arsenal of happiness with her. A baby, a dog, caffeine, and sweets. There was no way Brenna could turn Mara’s bribes away.
Since my wife was still wrapped in my arms, I was grabbing the opportunity to show her just how much she meant to me. Fuck, I’d die without her. I couldn’t believe I’d made her cry. She’d fucking cried last night. I was the world’s biggest asshole!
I slowly ran my fingers down her body until I hit that sweet spot. She moaned and lifted her hips towards my fingers. Oh, hell yes, she was thinking what I was thinking. Since we sleep naked, most nights, I didn’t have to worry about clothing being in my way. Inserting two fingers into her, I got to work.
“Oh, fuck, Abel.”
“That’s the plan, gorgeous. Bite my neck, while I finger fuck that pussy of mine.”
Mine. All mine.
She bent to my will, and when she bit down on my neck, I damn near busted a nut. I liked to take it slow with her, savor every inch of her delectable body, but I couldn’t. I was too wound up, and by the way she pushed my fingers into her with frenzied force, I knew she wouldn’t last long either.
Brenna took my fingers from inside her and shoved them in my mouth. I sucked them dry, and she lost it. She was feral. Just the way I liked her.
“Fuck me, now, Abel. Please!”
Not one to ever complain about that command, I flipped her onto her back. She gripped the sides of the bed, as I forcefully thrust inside her. My dick was hard as a rock, and I was about to lose it. She was the only one who had ever had this effect on me. She owned me. She completed me. When I was inside her, we were one.
“Abel, I’m sorry. I love you so much. I’m so sorry. Just love me.”
She was sorry? Jesus. None of this was her fault. If her only crime was loving my stupid ass, then lock her up.
“No, my queen, I’m sorry. I’m so goddamn sorry. My love. Forever. You and me.”
I pounded into her a few more times, and like always, we climaxed together. The only way it should ever be.
Our intimate moment was ruined by the loud thump of something hitting the front door. Hippie was growling and clawing at the door so loud, it sounded like he was going to crash through it.
“It’s okay, boy. Calm down. Go sit with your momma, Hippie. Go.”
I didn’t even have time to put boxers on, so whoever was making a racket at my front door was going to get an eyeful.
I opened the door, yelling at whoever had ruined my sexy time with Brenna, “Whoever you are, be prepared, I’m freeballing it.”
No one was there, but they’d left a gift, if you wanted to call it that. Seems our little stalker was at it again. Hanging from the door was a bloody heart with a knife through it. Was that a pig heart? Jesus. I didn’t know, but it was fucking nasty, and Brenna was going to freak out. I tried to pull it down before she came snooping, but I was too late. A note fell to the floor, right in front of Brenna’s bare feet. We both stared, in slow motion, as if it was a ticking time bomb. Hell, it could have been, at this point. Brenna picked it up before I could grab it and proceeded to read it with shaky hands.
Here lies your bloody heart,
The one that will shrivel up and die,
Tears running down your face,
He'll be the only one to survive.
Until next time, bitch.
“Oh, I’ll show her bitch! She hasn’t even scratched the surface of what a colossal bitch I can be! It’s Leah, I’m telling you, Abel. Shrivel up and die? I said just about those same words to her in your shop yesterday. It can’t be a coincidence.”
I texted my brother, telling him what had happened and to get his ass over here now.
DeputyDumDum: Don’t touch anything.
Me: Too late, bro.
DeputyDumDum: You idiot. Now you’ve tainted evidence with your fingerprints.
Me: Sorry? I was trying to get rid of it before Brenna saw it. I failed.
DeputyDumDum: You can say that again.
DeputyDumDum: I’ll be there in 5. DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING!
DeputyDumDum: Maybe we can salvage a print or something.
Me: Hurry! Brenna is two seconds away from committing murder.
Me: She thinks it was Leah.
DeputyDumDum: Fuck. Hold her down if you have to.
Me: My pleasure!
DeputyDumDum: Jesus. 5 minutes, Abel.
“Noah is on his way. Please, try and calm down. We’ll figure it out. I promise, gorgeous.”
Her eye roll was on point this morning. I was sure she was having a hard time believing that we’d ever catch whoever was playing these fucked up games. It had been a complete dead end so far. I might have thought it was Leah, but would she have knifed her own tire?
Maybe?
Fuck, I honestly didn’t know.
“There’s only one butcher in town, so we need to go talk to him. Mr. Sanderson keeps a log of all purchases made from his shop. He’s old school, in that way, and it just may help us. I’m going to grab Mara and head down that way. You play nice with your brother. Maybe help him for a change?”
I didn’t know why everyone said that to me. It was like they didn’t trust me to act like an adult around Noah.
Okay, maybe I gave him a hard time. Frequently.
Wasn’t that what brothers were for?
“Will do, gorgeous. You might want to put some clothes on first. I’m down for my wife walking around butt naked, but for my eyes only.”
It was at that moment that Brenna realized she was holding her purse, ready to walk out the front door, in nothing but her birthday suit.
“Shit!”
Brenna
The she-devil had tried to get me to drink the Kool-Aid of fear, and I was about to throw that shit right back in her face. The only one who was going to be fearing anything was that psycho! She thought she was getting the best of me? Hell no! If she wanted beast Brenna, then beast Brenna was what she’d get.
I got to Mara’s and heard baby cries and vampires talking. When Mara was stressed about something, she always turned to Twilight . It was her go-to. Personally, I preferred brain-eating zombies to get my juices flowing.
I sneaked in and came up behind her, whispering in her ear, “Ciao, Bella.” You’d think there was a fire under her ass, the way she jumped out of her skin.
Whoops.
“Heffa! You scared the ever-loving shit out of me, woman! Good thing your niece wasn’t in my hands or they’d be scraping your remains off my rug! What do you want? It better be good.”
I handed her the coffee from behind my back and was rewarded with a smile. My girl loved her Starbies. I told her about my shittastic morning, and she rubbed her hands down her face. This situation me and Abel had found ourselves in, was not only affecting us, but our friends too. I could see the worry in her eyes, and it pissed me off even more. Mara shouldn’t be dealing with my bullshit right now. She had a beautiful baby girl who should be getting all her attention. Not some pathetic she-devil that had blue balls for my husband.
“I’m going to need another Starbies on the way. Help me get Kelsey ready, then we can roll out. Mr. Sanderson and I go way back, so I’m sure he’ll help us in any way he can.”
Kelsey was cooing in her stroller, and we had coffee in hand as we entered the butcher shop. It was a Tuesday and absolutely dead inside. No pun intended. Okay, maybe a little pun.
“Miss Mara! Long time, no see. Who’s this little beauty?”
His’ old man’ eyes lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw Kelsey. She was a dude magnet for sure. Auntie was so proud, but the first boy who tried to steal a kiss from her would be toast. Except this old man, because he was the sweetest soul. I could just tell, ya know? He played with Kelsey a bit, then Mara told him what had happened and why we needed his help.
“Well, Miss Mara, as you know, I keep handwritten records of each purchase made. It may be out of date, but I’m what the kids call old school. You don’t ever want to fix what isn’t broken, right? Let me just get my notebook out, and we can take a look at this past week.”
Mr. Sanderson pulled out his notebook, and let me tell you, this old man was organized. I needed to hire him to organize my damn house! He had the item purchased, the cost, the date, and the name of who purchased it. He said he liked them to leave their name, in case he got future meats they might be interested in. Made sense, I guess.
Mara was looking over his shoulder as he got to yesterday’s date. Skimming the page, his finger stopped as Mara yelled, “Stop! You’ve been right all along. It’s her, heffa. It’s that hussy, Leah! No one else purchased a pig heart.”
Mr. Sanderson giggled at the word ‘hussy’ like he was a teenage boy again. If I wasn’t filled with so much rage, I’d have laughed, right along with him. Just as I was about to throw down a nuclear meltdown, Abel and Noah walked in to ruin my fun. Party poopers! Abel saw me and gave me that sexy wink of his. Damn him for being sexy because he made me forget why I was mad in the first place. He had sexy superpowers, that one.
“Noah! Brenna was right. It’s Leah! She’s the one who bought the pig heart. The dumb idiot even signed for it. Look!”
Mara shoved the notebook into his hands, and he saw what we saw. We got her. We now had proof she was the one behind all this bullshit.
“Okay, ladies. Let’s calm down a minute. Yes, Leah’s name is on here, but I need more evidence. Mr. Sanderson, sir, I see you have a camera facing your front end. Would it be possible for me to take a look at yesterday’s activities? If you want to go by the book, I can come back with a warrant. Or you could help me out with the ladies here. Your choice, sir.”
Did Mr. ‘By the Book’ just bribe an old man? Hell, yes, he did. I knew he had a sneaky streak in him, and I was super stoked he was using it to help me. My brother-in-law was scoring major points today.
“Dude! Bribery? Me likes it!”
“Shut up, Abel!” Mara and I said at the same time.
Mr. Sanderson politely agreed to show us the videos, saying he was more than willing if he could snag a few more minutes of baby Kelsey time. Damn, who knew my niece and her cute little chubby cheeks would come in so handy?
Noah started skimming through the videos, and it seemed like a lifetime when he finally blurted out, “Fucking hell!” I also saw the look of sheer surprise on Abel and Mara’s faces. They couldn’t be surprised it was Leah behind all this. Could they?
I finally looked at the screen and saw the woman behind all the drama of the past few weeks.
Only it wasn’t Leah.
It was Willow.