LOGINABIGEALTHE NEXT morning over breakfast, Heather got a call. Her eyes immediately flicked to mine with a tiny smirk and then she reached for her phone with a curious look.“Who could possibly be calling me this early in the morning?” She wondered out loud.“We have a no phones at the table policy here.” Gabriela said with a small frown.Heather shot her an apologetic smile. “I'm sorry. I don't mean to offend. It'll only be a minute.” So saying she pushed her chair back and got up to leave the table.My eyes followed her until she went out the back porch and closed the sliding door behind her.Whatever came out of that phone conversation couldn't be good.Dolores sighed. “Isn't she the sweetest?”Blaine chuckled. “You're just saying that because of your slip-up yesterday.”“No I'm not, and that incident would have been avoided if you'd spoken quicker. She really is sweet, though. Pretty too.” Dolores eyed him appraisingly.Blaine took one look at her and immediately shook his head. “I
ABIGEALI TIGHTENED my grip on my fork for the umpteenth time and let myself relish the thought of stabbing Heather Green to death with it. As her high laugh floated to my ears again, I imagined her blood splashed across my face and the look of shock that would be evident in her eyes just before they film over in death.Why such violent thoughts, you may ask?“Oh my God, do you remember?” Giggle. “Do you remember that time in seventh grade when Andrew…” Giggle. “Andrew with the surname that's hard to pronounce? That Andrew? When he put that whoopee cushion on Mr. Davies’ seat and he sat on it and got so embarrassed that he actually peed himself?”Blaine's aunts seemed to have done a good job of raising their kids, as the children exchanged horrified glances when she said that.“That's horrible. Why would he do that to a teacher?” Juan asked?Under Gabriela's disapproving stare, Heather immediately sobered up.“The question you should be asking is why would anyone do that to anyone, an
ABIGEALAT THE end of the workday, Blaine and I stood facing each other with our eyes narrowed. The silence was all-encompassing and tension hung thick in the air.“Ready?” He asked.I scoffed. “I was born ready.”“Let's go, then.”We raised our right fists at the same time, then smacked them onto our open left palms three times. “Rock, paper, scissors, shoot.” Blaine presented a rock. I looked at my scissors and sighed.“I win,” he smirked.I wasn't going to concede defeat that easily. “Best of three?”“Just let me enjoy my win, girl.” He shook his head with a smile.“Alright. Wonder what would happen when people find out you were afraid of losing to a woman.” I said casually, folding my arms.He laughed. “I'm not afraid of losing to a woman if she beat me fair and square, but fine, we'll do it your way.”We played two more times and I held back a groan while he smirked triumphantly, holding out his hand. “It appears I win again.”“I'm just having an off day.” I replied as I dropped
ABIGEAL“WON’T YOU come give your old mother a kiss?” The woman said.Jordan merely looked at her. “You didn’t have to come here. I could have booked you a hotel room.” He said.She laughed like the idea was absurd. “Book me a hotel room? When my son has a big ass house in the city?”Her eyes left Jordan and landed on Jasmine who had stopped grinning.“I don’t appreciate being dragged all the way here because of you, young lady. The next time you decide to evade the bodyguards and bribe your way through an airport, I won’t be there to do damage control.” She reprimanded coolly.Jasmine lifted her chin. “I asked if we could come see Jordan, you said no. I asked if I could come see Jordan, you said no. What else did you want me to do?’Jordan turned cool eyes to his mother. “She asked to see me and you declined? What were the terms of our agreement?”She rolled hers. “Yes, believe everything she says, because mummy is the only one capable of telling lies because she’s so bad.”“Um.” I f
ABIGEALI STARED straight ahead as Blaine drove in the direction of the headquarters, arms folded and staying silent. Out of the corner of my eye I caught him throwing me glances until he finally sighed.“Above, I can hear your angst from all the way over there. Spit it out.”I turned towards the window and debated staying stubbornly silent or speaking. “Nothing.” I said eventually.“No, nope. We're not doing this.” He replied instantly. “There's clearly something on your mind. I want to know what it is.”I cast my eyes to the roof of the car. I was reluctant to speak because I'd be tempted to murder him if I told him and he laughed at me.“Okay. You fired me last night for saying things how they were- and you can't say I was wrong- yet this morning Anna sweet talked you through it and now you're taking me back to work without an apology or a reinstatement or anything. Looks like an abuse of power from where I'm standing.” I said on one long breath.“Abigeal.” Blaine said my name like
ABIGEALTHE FIRST thing I noticed was the pounding headache. The next thing I noticed was the presence of something or someone else in my bed.I rolled out of the sheets, slipping a hand under my pillow to grab the dagger I always kept there, but my hand came up empty.“Looking for this?” I whipped my head up at the familiar voice, feeling my eyes widen in shock when Blaine Daniels dangled my dagger in the air with his eyes still closed.“Yeah, I thought you might. I didn't particularly feel like getting stabbed, so I took it.” He threw it in my direction and I caught it by the hilt.“You can have it back now.” He turned on his side and fell silent.But I wasn't done with him yet. “What are you doing here? And why the fuck are you in my bed?”He let out a long sigh. “It appears that I have just won a bet against myself. Or lost one, depending on your point of view.”“Answer the question before I do something we won't be able to come back from.” I threatened, keeping my grip on the bla







