Page 9 of Abigail
The group of men Abi has been checking-in move as one in the blink of an eye. They round the desk before she has time to realize they have moved. The blond who’d had caught her attention earlier comes toward her while the others go into the back office. He is seriously handsome and his nearness has her body responding like never before. His light blond hair is cut in a standard military cut. He is tall around 6’3” and has broad shoulders. His biceps are pressing against his polo shirt like they could burst out any moment. He frowns at her in concern.
“Are you all right?” His rumbling baritone voice sends shivers down her spine to rest in her core. She has goosebumps popping out on her skin and she can’t seem to take a decent breath to save her life. She is staring at the man in disbelief.Why is he asking her if she’s all right? Why would he even care that her boss has thrown her around like a rag doll?
He moves into her personal space, reaching out and running his hand across her forehead. It’s like he wants to smooth away the knot that is forming where she bumped her head.
“Areyouokay?” the man asks again softly. The concern on his face and his actions are unsettling. No one in all her thirty years on this earth has been concerned about her well-being. At least not since she was a very small girl- when Robbie, a boy she’d been fortunate enough to spend a few days with before her mother’s death, had held her through the police raid. She shivers, unable to control the reaction. She isn’t sure if it’s from the memory of that night or the man standing in front of her.
Abigail realizes she has been staring at the handsome man and hasn’t answered his question. She opens and closes her mouth a couple of times as she attempts to answer. Her mouth is suddenly dry as cotton. She licks her lips. His eyes drop to her lips and she sees his pupils dilate in response. His eyes flick back to hers. She still hasn’t found her voice, so she elects to nod her head.
“Does he do that often?” he inquires as he jerks his head toward the back office. Still unable to speak, she just shrugs her shoulders. It isn’t like there’s anything she can do about it anyway. He isn’t that bad, not worth losing her job over filing by a complaint against him. Brent’s behavior is mild compared to the real abuse she’s suffered over the years.
“Let me introduce myself,” the man begins as another shiver racks her body. His closeness coupled with his rumbling voice is just too much. She can’t control it. “I’m Robert Ford. We will make sure he doesn’t treat you like that anymore.” The fear of losing her job helps her to find her voice.
“No! Really, it’s fine. Please don’t make a scene,” she implores as she again scans the lobby. “I can’t lose this job.” Her eyes come back to his as she pleads with him to understand. The feeling that she somehow knows the man in front of her washes over her once more, but it is lost as a commotion from the back office catches her attention.
A yelp followed by some scuffling noises draw her attention from the man in front of her. Brent tiptoes out the door with several large men at his back. Mr. Jackson, Hawk, has Brent’s arm bent behind him at an odd angle. Abigail’s eyes widen in surprise. She glances toward the man in front of her, but his eyes are no longer on her. He is looking at Brent in abhorrence. Abigail realizes this is getting way out of hand. These men, while trying to help her, are making a scene. Having attention drawn to her is the last thing she wants or needs right now. She quickly looks toward the bar and quickly peruses the lobby, but still doesn’t see the man from her nightmares. There is no sign of him. Maybe she had been mistaken, and she hadn’t really seen him.
“Apologize to the lady,” Hawk demands. Brent is whimpering like a child. He looks at Abigail, and his anger overcomes his fear. His demeanor changes. He glares at her. With a jerk on his arm he reluctantly says, “I’m sorry.”
Abigail bobs her head in acceptance. The alpha men don’t seem to be very happy with Brent’s half-hearted apology. Hawk again jerks on Brent’s arm causing him to yelp again. “Say. It. Like. You. Mean. It.” He enunciates every word while simultaneously tugging on Brent’s arm to accentuate his meaning. Abi begins to worry for Brent’s safety as the men before her look seriously pissed. Anyone of them could single handedly snap Brent in half.
Brent looks toward Abigail and forces a gentle expression before he says, “I’m very sorry Abigail. I should not have been so rough with you.” Seeming satisfied with his apology, Hawk releases him. Brent jerks his arm away and begins to rub his upper arm and shoulder. With a final glare at Abi, he stomps off toward the back office. However, he is stopped before he can make his escape.
“If I find out you so much as raise your voice at her in anger again, it will not end well for you. Understand?” Robert growls at Brent. Brent pales visibly. He eagerly nods in agreement.
“Are you all right, ma’am? Did he hurt you?” Hawk asks Abigail has he comes to her side.
“No, I’m fine. Thank you for your concern, but it’s really not necessary,” Abigail smiles at the men to placate them. “Brent’s an asshole, but he wouldn’t ever really hurt me. He’s just pissed that I was trying to leave early. He shoved a little too hard and I stumbled.”
“He should never shove you no matter how angry he gets,” Robert declares. He has come back to her side. Hawk and the other men begin leaving the confined space behind the counter. “A man should never lay hands on a woman in anger.” Robert’s vehemence is shocking.
Abigail looks at him like he has three heads. He looks like he really believes what he just said. She cocks her head to the right as she stares at him.Can this man be serious?Every man she has ever had in her life has hit, kicked, or punched her. It’s the reason she doesn’t date anymore. They only want to use and abuse you. Todd had been the absolute worst. Growing up she’d thought her father was as ruthless as anyone could be. He’d relentlessly beaten her and her poor mother. That is until he used her mother as a human shield during a drug raid.
Abigail had finally managed to escaped her father when she was sixteen, but that was to move in with a twenty-five-year-old looser. Unfortunately he wasn’t much better than her father. Same ol’ thing. Drugs, alcohol, and using her as a punching bag. She’d managed to get out of that bad relationship and get a place of her own a couple of months before she met Todd. After she’d gotten with him, she’d have taken her father back over the mess she’d gotten in with Todd, but then she wouldn’t have her precious Ellie. It had been worth the pain and suffering she’d endured to have the little girl. She is Abigail’s world. Abigail has learned to take care of herself and Ellie. She doesn’t need a man.
“Whatever. I can handle Brent,” Abigail replies to the man’s statement. “Trust me, I have dealt with much worse. I am very sorry for the inconvenience this has caused. Now let me finish getting your room keys so you all can get settled.” Abigail gives them her work-face smile and moves to go around Robert. As she passes, he reaches out and grasps her upper arm gently to stop her. She raises her eyes to look at him. The look of intensity on his face causes her to suck in a startled breath.
“I am quite sure you can defend yourself, but you shouldn’t have to,” he declares angrily, staring into her eyes intently. Shocking her further, he gently places his hand on her cheek and caresses her with his thumb. The act so intimate she’s lost in him for several moments. There’s something so familiar about his eyes, so intense, boring into her. “I don’t like it that you have dealt with worse than that,” he says softly as if they are the only two people in the world, ignoring his friends waiting patiently a few feet away on the other side of the counter. He looks so sincere. Abigail is shocked he would even care. She is also annoyed at her body’s response to the man in front of her. She can feel her heart racing, her breaths are coming short and shallow, and she has goosebumps on her skin. A throbbing has set up an uncomfortable demanding rhythm between her legs. She shivers, closes her eyes, and attempts to take a deep calming breath. Mistake major. His woodsy masculine scent fills her nostrils and intensifies her over reaction to his nearness.
In self-preservation mode, Abigail manages to nod at him and step away. He releases her, but holds her gaze for several moments. She forces herself to break eye contact. She moves to the card machine on auto-piolet and finishes making the room keys. Shakily she fits the cards into the envelops for each room. She labels them with the room number and Wi-Fi password. The men had moved back around the desk and are talking quietly among themselves.
Once she has the room keys ready, Abigail walks back to the counter and hands them over. She runs through the check-in speech about wi-fi, cable, room service, and how to contact the front desk for any needs that come up. She can’t believe her voice is steady as she continues her well-rehearsed speech. She informs them about the hours for the bar, pool, and in-house restaurant. All the while, an awkward silence has descended on the group. When she’s finally finished, she looks up to see them all watching her intently.
“Are you sure you’re, okay?” A woman standing with, Hawk, the man who had roughed up Brent asks her. The woman is strikingly beautiful. Abigail guesses the woman is in her late 40’s. She is holding a small girl on her hip while a boy of about three is clinging to her leg. His twin is holding on to Hawk. “That asshat won’t do anything to you once we go upstairs will he?” The woman looks at Abigail with genuine concern. Abi shakes her head and smiles.
“No, I will be fine. I’m sorry you all witnessed Brent’s outburst.” Abigail gives her warmest smile. She is thankful for the group’s concern, but she doesn’t want the attention that it is drawing to her. “It wasn’t that big of a deal. Please don’t let it cross your mind again. I hope you all enjoy your stay. Please call down if you need something. The desk is manned 24 hours a day.” Abigail holds her best fake smile in hopes the group will let it go and walk away.
They stare at her for a long moment and she begins to feel uncomfortable, but eventually, after a nod of acknowledgement, they turn to head toward the elevators. She watches the group move away. Before they reach the elevators at the far end of the lobby, Robert turns and walks back to the desk.
“Can I help you with something, Mr. Ford?” Abigail asks uncertainly. His nearness is again causing her body to misbehave itself.
“Call me Straw or Robert,” he says. Abi’s face scrunches up and her nose wrinkles as if that was the most confusing thing she’d ever heard. “It’s my nickname,” he clarifies. “It’s what my friends call me. I just wanted to tell you, if that jerk gives you anymore trouble or if you need help with anything at all. And I mean, anything, please, give me a call.”
And with that he hands her a slip of paper with his name and number. He turns swiftly on his heel and walks back toward his friends. Abigail is shocked. She wants to do as he has asked, but she made a promise years ago- No more military men. They are just trouble. She stares at the slip of paper for a moment then tucks it into the front right pocket of her uniform jacket. Why she doesn’t just trash it is something to wonder about that later, but for now she puts it out of her mind to get back to the job at hand.
Abigail manages to get through the rest of her shift without any more drama. She worries about the close encounter with the nightmare from her past, though. Was she just being paranoid? Did she really even see the man at the bar? Was it him or just someone who looked like him? It’s not something she is willing to gamble with though. If her past catches up to her, she could lose everything. She considers packing them up and leaving town, but she doesn’t want to disrupt the comfortable life Ellie has gotten used to over the last year they have lived here. Ellie is thriving in pre-school. She’s always been such a happy child even when they were moving every couple of months. After hours of agonizing over what to do, Abi decides to take the risk of staying. She just can’t uproot Ellie again.
CHAPTERNINE
