11. Abigail
ELEVEN
ABIGAIL
I turned to Rex as blood rushed in my ears. “Hide.”
“Hide?”
I pointed to the closet. “In there. Quick. Gabe’s here.”
“Abigail.” Rex crossed his arms and gave me a look that was indulgent and amused. I hated that I liked the look of it. “I’m not hiding in your closet.”
“Under the bed, then.”
He stood up, swaggery and un-Rex-like, and took a step toward me. His chest really was a work of art. I knew firefighters were fit, but I guess I hadn’t realized all Rex was hiding under his casual tees and good-guy smile.
But my brother was downstairs, and I’d almost kissed Rex, and my heart wasn’t pumping exactly right. I put a hand up, and Rex collided with it. “Stay here.”
He threw his palms up, relenting.
I hurried through my bedroom door, pausing at the threshold. “Don’t make a sound, Rex. ”
My brother’s best friend said nothing, and I shut the door on his handsome face. Then I took the stairs two at a time and rushed to the front door. Gabe was just turning the knob to let himself in, his sandy-haired head appearing through the opening.
“Did I wake you up?”
“Um,” I said. “No. What are you doing here?”
He opened the door wider and lifted a tool bag. “Figured I’d have a look at your sink. Didn’t think you’d’ve managed to call a plumber by now.”
I didn’t know whether to be thankful or annoyed. He was right, obviously, but it was also rude of him to assume I couldn’t handle the maintenance on my own home. But then again, it was nice of him to stop by and offer to fix the sink. But it was rude of him to barge in here. But he was right that calling a plumber hadn’t been on my radar.
Basically, I didn’t know how to feel. And that was Rex’s fault. Wasn’t it?
A hinge creaked down the hall, and the guestroom door opened. Donny poked a disheveled head out. “Oh, hey man.”
Gabe paused just inside my door. “Donny? What are you doing here?”
“Hoping to take a shower,” Donny said, flicking a look at me. “Is it upstairs?”
I grimaced. “Yeah. I only have one full bathroom, but the sink is clogged.” I waved at my brother’s tools in explanation. “If you want to use the powder room downstairs for teeth, we can work on the sink and then let you use the shower.”
A snort sounded from behind Donny. “Of course there’s only one bathroom,” Blair said, loud enough for me to hear, which I assumed was on purpose. “Remind me why we couldn’t get a hotel, Donny?”
“Blair-bear, I told you, it’s better this way. It makes us seem more relatable to our followers.”
I could feel Gabe’s gaze on the side of my head like a couple of red-hot laser beams. Painting a smile on my face, I turned to face him, sweeping my hand toward the staircase. “Shall we?”
Halfway up the stairs, Gabe said in a low voice, “What is Donny Montgomery doing with his fiancée in your guest room?”
“Having disgustingly loud sex all night long,” I answered blithely, waving a hand.
Gabe made a noise, and I assumed more questions were coming, so I scrambled to come up with an appropriate lie. Or maybe I should go with the truth? Donny had forgotten to book a hotel, and I lived right by the botanical gardens; that was explanation enough, wasn’t it? Except if Gabe probed the slightest bit deeper, I’d have to tell him about?—
“Rex?”
I froze just in time to see a large shape crouched in my bathroom. Rex glanced over his shoulder, then swore, a spray of water drenching him from under the vanity. He dove under the sink again and the water stopped, then he sat back on my bath mat and met my brother’s gaze. “Hey, man.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Is the sink fixed yet, or what?” Blair’s voice called from downstairs. “I need to get my hair and makeup done now; I’m going live in less than an hour. My followers are begging me for a tour of the venue.”
I peeked over the stair rail. Blair stood at the bottom, her foot tapping on my floorboards. “Can’t you use the downstairs bathroom for that?”
Blair rolled her eyes, then glanced at my brother, who’d looked over the railing beside me. She smiled. “Hi, Gabe. You look like you’ve been working out!”
I gagged a little, which made Gabe shove my shoulder, which made me stick my tongue out at him, which made him reach toward me like he wanted to put me in a headlock so he could give me a noogie. Why not? He already treated me like a child. But I dodged out of the way (I had years of practice) and flew toward the bathroom—then crashed to a stop against the doorjamb.
“Um,” I said.
Rex pulled his shirt off the rest of the way, letting the drenched fabric dangle from his fingertips before dropping it to the linoleum floor. The fabric hit with a wet slap, and Rex ran his fingers through his hair, then shook his head like a dog trying to dry off. Little droplets of water flew all around the bathroom (annoying) and dripped down Rex’s cut chest and back (not annoying).
“What the fuck, Rex?” Gabe demanded.
Rex gave Gabe one of those upward chin nods that guys do. “Hey.”
“What are you doing? Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” Gabe glanced at me, frowning.
I reared back with my palms up. “Why’re you looking at me ?”
“I’m fixing Abigail’s sink,” Rex said, then crouched in front of my vanity again. “You wouldn’t happen to have an adjustable wrench, would you? Abigail’s tools kinda suck. ”
“Hey!”
“Yeah, sure,” Gabe said, cooling off and putting his tool bag down to dig through it. “Brought all my tools because I figured Abigail wouldn’t have what I needed.
“I’m right here, you know.”
“Here’s a basin wrench.” Gabe handed the wrench over to Rex. “But how did you know about the sink? Why’re your brother and his fiancée downstairs?” Gabe glanced at me. “And put your shirt back on, man.”
“It’s all wet,” Rex said, his voice echoing oddly from under the sink.
“Are you guys almost done?” Donny asked, looking a little sheepish. He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “It’s just Blair’s getting a little impatient.”
Gabe looked like he wanted to ask some uncomfortable questions, so I shoved my brother inside the bathroom and said, “Nearly there. Give us a sec.” Then I closed the door and locked the three of us inside.
My brother looked unimpressed, but he put the toilet cover down and sat on it. Rex grunted, his back muscles shifting as he did whatever he had to do under the sink, and I spun around and stared at the wall.
“You guys going to tell me what’s going on?”
There was a gush of water against the plastic walls of a bucket, and Rex pulled his head out from under the sink. “Looks like Abigail’s hair caused a blockage. I’ll clear it out and put everything back together, and it should work fine.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Gabe said.
I glanced at Rex, who glanced right back at me. In his eyes, I saw the man who’d propped himself above me and made me want dark and dirty things.
He stood up, his chest still glistening with moisture, and I decided to stare at the wall some more.
“Abigail’s doing me a favor,” Rex finally said.
Gabe was quiet for a moment. “Okay. Care to elaborate?”
Rex shifted, and I saw him rubbing the back of his neck in my peripheral vision. “She’s my date to Donny’s wedding.”
I shifted to look at Gabe, whose frown had deepened. He chewed on Rex’s words, then said, “Date, as in…”
“Not a real date, obviously,” Rex rushed to answer. “It’s just for the wedding. Just pretend.”
Gabe let out a breath, clearly relieved, and I stood very still. Why did that hurt so much when it was the plain truth?
It was fake. We weren’t actually dating. Hearing Rex say it out loud shouldn’t have affected me at all.
But my stupid, oversensitive feelings were hurt. Was it because we’d flirted this morning? Because maybe for a moment, I felt like Rex thought I was actually worthy of him?
I almost snorted at myself. Little Abigail the screwup, dating Rex the pillar of the community? Fat chance.
“Abigail?” my brother said, drawing my attention.
“Huh?”
“Why did you agree to this?”
I shrugged. “I’m trying this new thing where I’m nice to people.”
“So just to be clear,” Gabe said, “you’re not actually dating.”
“Definitely not,” Rex said emphatically, and I shifted toward the door to hide my wince. “She just owed me a favor.”
“A favor?” Gabe’s eyes narrowed, and I was almost sure Rex was about to spill the beans. “Must’ve been a pretty big favor.”
Rex cleared his throat. “Yeah, you know…real estate.” He nodded. “I introduced her to a big client.”
I shot Rex a look. That wasn’t a terrible lie, but it irritated me. My work was mine, and I didn’t need Gabe thinking I couldn’t handle that , either.
Gabe blew out a breath. He turned to me. “You sure you’re up for this, Abigail?”
I frowned and faced him again. “What, being someone’s wedding date?”
Gabe shrugged, grinning good-naturedly. “I just don’t want you to find yourself in any trouble, that’s all.”
I knew I was a troublemaker, but ouch. I gritted out my best smile and said, “I think I can manage hanging on Rex’s arm for a couple of days.”
“I’m just saying,” Gabe said, and looked at Rex for a laugh. Rex, to his credit, smiled but didn’t join in the fun of tearing me down.
Gabe thought so little of me that he didn’t even think I could manage being someone’s date. And sure, I didn’t own a basin wrench (whatever that was), and my sink had been clogged for a while, but come on! I was a successful realtor. I owned my own home. I’d bounced back from my divorce and was totally kicking life’s ass. Most of the time. Sort of.
Gabe didn’t see that. He leaned back against the toilet tank and said, “You guys scared me for a minute. I thought you were going to tell me you were actually dating.”
“Nah,” Rex said. “You wanna help me clean out this U-bend and we can put this thing back together? ”
“Sure. You still coming to Sullivan’s to watch the game?”
Rex grunted in agreement, and I slipped out the door. I ducked into my bedroom, and a little ball of black-and-white fur followed me inside. Winston slinked around, inspecting this new area of his domain, and hissed at Rex’s bag.
“I know, right?” I said, wiping at the moisture in my eyes. I was being ridiculous. I knew it, and I was annoyed with myself because of it. But the cat batted at Rex’s duffel, and it made me feel a little better.
Not wanting to face my brother or Rex when I was feeling tender and off-balance, I put on some running gear and ducked out of my house to go for a jog, leaving Winston to explore my room at his leisure.