Frey (28 page)

She opened the closet to store the bag and
stopped when she saw the clothes hanging there. She stepped farther
into the small space, running her hands over each garment. Tags
were still attached, yet none showed the price. The pieces were
casual yet stylish. In the very back of the closet was a black
leather jacket. Shaking her head, she placed the new travel bag in
the back of the closet beside a pair of black riding boots. Ah, his
Harley. Abbi had never ridden on a motorcycle. The thought excited
her. On a hunch, after seeing the new panties he’d brought to the
hospital, she opened the top dresser drawer. There among her plain
white panties was a selection of lacy numbers in an assortment of
colors. The next drawer held matching bras.

Abbi couldn’t wrap her head around the fact
that the mountain of a man sitting downstairs had gone shopping for
her. The clothes were mostly modest, some in a simple, sexy sort of
way. The undergarments were also sexy without being slutty. She
grabbed some of her new clothes and took a quick shower. After she
dressed, she flopped backwards on the bed and stared at the
ceiling. She didn’t know how to feel. When she was near Frey, it
was like an invisible tether connected them, drawing her to him.
Her body hummed, and she constantly wanted to touch him.

When she was away from him, her mind came
back to its senses. She was still a married woman. Granted, she was
going to file for divorce, but still, she was married. She had
known Frey less than a week. Even if he caused a constant throb
between her legs, she had to play it smart. She would accept his
hospitality, the safety of his home, and his friendship with
Matthew. Other than that, she needed to keep her distance. A door
closed downstairs, and her two men’s voices carried up the stairs.
No, not her men. Her brother and her host. She forced herself to
get up and go take care of her brother instead of hiding out from
the one man who made her feel something other than dread after all
these years.

Jasper skipped family day at the manor. He
was in a foul mood, and he didn’t want to spread it around. Someone
else was finally sitting on Troy, even though the man hadn’t moved
in almost twenty-four hours. Jasper had written down the friend’s
tag number and instead of calling, had taken it to Sixx. When Sixx
picked up on Jasper’s unease, Jasper confided in him about
everything that had transpired, from the envelope, to seeing Craig,
to the new photos being delivered to Trevor. Sixx had seen the
envelope in the plastic cover with Julian’s handwritten note beside
it. The note stated that Julian had found one set of prints on the
envelope, and those most likely belonged to whomever had put the
envelope on Jasper’s desk. Since he had gone to Egypt, he hadn’t
had time to investigate further.

While the computer was running the license
plate number of the car parked at Troy’s, Sixx leaned back and
clasped his hands behind his head. “I’m sorry Trevor left. At least
you know he’s coming back in a week. That gives us seven days to
find Craig and make him talk. Find out what the hell he’s up
to.”

“
I really appreciate it.
When I was on the west coast, I didn’t really fit in with the Clan.
It wasn’t anything they did or didn’t do, I just didn’t feel
comfortable with them. Here, I feel like I have a
family.”

“
Speaking of family, I
want you to look at something.” He turned one of the monitors
around so Jasper could see the image that was front and
center.

“
That’s Desmond Rothchild.
I see you looked up your doppelganger.”

Sixx frowned and dropped a bomb on Jasper,
“Not my doppelganger, my son.”

“
Your son? How the hell is
that possible?”

“
I dated a girl about
twenty years ago. Her name is Desirae Rothchild. One night, during
let’s say some pretty wild sex, I phased and bit her. She was so
blissed out, she didn’t realize what I’d done. We dated a while
afterwards until one day she disappeared. Now, there’s a kid out
there with her name who looks just like me. Coincidence? I don’t
think so.”

“
Holy hell, and I thought
my situation was bad. At least now maybe I can score some backstage
passes to their concert,” Jasper joked, trying to lighten the
mood.

Sixx threw a pen at him. “Right... ‘Hey kid,
how about giving your old pop, who doesn’t look much older than
you, some tickets to your show?’ I’ll ask him right after I see his
mom and explain why she still looks twenty-something.”

“
So, you are going to find
them? You know, he’s coming here in a couple of months to do a
concert.” Jasper couldn’t imagine how Sixx was feeling. It was bad
enough Craig had shown up after less than a year.

“
Then I guess I have a
couple of months to think about it. Now, back to you. Let’s figure
out what your ex is doing in New Atlanta and what his agenda
is.”

The longer Jasper sat, the more agitated he
got. “I’m going to head out to the gym. Please let me know if you
find anything.” They had called Sinclair and gotten every bit of
information he could dig up on Craig, which wasn’t much.

Jasper parked beside Frey’s empty spot. Of
course he would be home with Matthew and Abbi. Uri was probably on
duty since Mason had worked all day the day before. When Jasper
didn’t see anyone out front, he strolled back to the office. He
walked in expecting Uri, only he found someone else.

“
Kai? What are you doing
here?” Jasper had been a member of the gym where Kai worked out
west.

“
Jasper, good to see you,
Bro. I’m working here. Had to catch a change of scenery, if you
know what I mean.”

Jasper did know what he meant. He hadn’t
wanted to move, yet now he was glad he had. “Yeah, I sure do. It’s
why I’m on the other side of the States.”

“
Hang on a sec, someone’s
at the counter.” Malakai stood and headed toward the front of the
building. Jasper noticed a bank of monitors that were relaying feed
from security cameras. Each one was located in various areas of the
gym. A couple were located outside. “I wonder…”

“
What do you wonder?”
Urijah asked, entering the office.

By now, most of the Clan knew about Craig
being in town. Jasper still hadn’t shared the fact that pictures of
him and his ex were showing up. “Trevor mentioned Craig was looking
in the window on the side of the building where the parking lot is.
How far back do you keep the security footage?”

“
About a year. Are you
thinking you might find something on the camera?”

“
It’s worth a shot. Look
at Wednesday afternoon.” Jasper sat impatiently while Uri set the
parameters for the search fields. Malakai returned, “Are you still
a fireman?”

“
No, I’m a detective. The
quota for hot, alpha firemen had already been met,” Jasper
joked.

“
What was up with your
fireman friend, what was his name? Chris?”

“
Craig? What do you mean,
what was up?”

“
After you transferred out
here, he came in the gym looking for you. He seemed frantic, too.
Like, you’d stolen something of his. I finally told him you’d left
town, only I didn’t share where you’d gone.”

“
Here we go.” Uri fast
forwarded the feed until it showed Craig looking in the window. He
froze the frame and rewound. When it came to the point where he got
out of his car, Uri stopped it and zoomed in on the tag.

“
Gotcha, you bastard.”
Jasper wrote the tag number down. “Now, let’s pray it isn’t a
rental.”

“
So, what’s the deal with
you and your ex?”

“
He’s a closeted, lying,
conniving sonofabitch. He disappeared on me, not the other way
around. After almost a year, he finds me, and does everything he
can to sabotage my relationship with my mate. So far, he’s
succeeding,” Jasper seethed. “I’m going to call this in to Sixx.
Excuse me.”

Jasper called Sixx and gave him the tag
number. When he returned to the office, he asked, “I don’t suppose
either of you are up for a little sparring, are you?”

Kai grinned. “If Uri doesn’t mind running
the show for a bit, I would love to get in the ring.”

Uri gestured toward the door. “By all
means.”

Malakai clapped his hands together, but he
didn’t realize just how fired up Jasper was at the moment. He was
ready to kick some major ass. Malakai borrowed some shorts from
Urijah, since they were close to the same size. He kicked his
flip-flops off and climbed in the ring. He was used to sparring
barefooted, whereas Jasper was not, but he wasn’t going to let a
little thing like shoes make a difference. Both males bounced
around on their feet, warming up their legs. Kai took first swing,
and they were off. Neither Goyle was holding back, and it felt
great. Jasper didn’t intend to hurt Kai, but he wasn’t going to
worry if he punched a little harder than usual, either. They had
sparred together back on the west coast and were fairly evenly
matched.

The patrons gathered as they always did when
the big guys were fighting. It was a free show, better than
anything they could get on pay-per-view. The men stood in awe,
wishing they could move that way. The women lusted, wishing they
could take the two men home. Neither male paid attention to what
was going on outside the ring. That was until Urijah said just loud
enough for them to hear, “Jasper, Sixx found Craig.”

Chapter
Twenty-Six

Abbi followed the sound of voices into
Matt’s temporary bedroom. Not wanting to interrupt, she went no
farther than the door. Even though her brother was in a tremendous
amount of pain, he was laughing and cutting up with the big man. It
had been a long time since she’d heard the sound coming from Matt.
As if he knew she was there, Frey looked her way, the smile never
leaving his face. Even though it was there because of something
Matt had said, it was still nice to see aimed her way. Too often
she’d been on the receiving end of a scowl.

Her stomach rumbled reminding her they
hadn’t eaten breakfast. Matt had been too groggy to eat at the
hospital, and Abbi had been too nervous thinking about the upcoming
days. Living with the tempting, gorgeous man was going to be a walk
in the park compared to filing for divorce and staying far away
from Troy. She left the two men to do their manly stuff, and she
headed back to the kitchen. Her first order of business was to
start the coffee pot. Once that was taken care of, she opened the
fridge to see what Frey had picked up at the store.

Holy
crap
! Abbi couldn’t remember seeing
that much food, ever. Not even when her parents were alive. She
shook her head and dug around until she came out with all the
ingredients she needed to make biscuits and gravy, eggs, and bacon.
She hadn’t cooked a large breakfast in a while, but she wanted to
do something nice for Frey. It didn’t hurt that biscuits and gravy
were Matthew’s favorite breakfast.

The biscuits were in the oven, and the gravy
was simmering when the men returned from the gym. “Is that bacon my
nose detects?” Matt was practically drooling.

Laughing and pointing at the nearest chair,
Abbi responded, “Yes, it is. If you’re a good brother, there might
just be biscuits in the oven, too.”

Frey moaned, “You’re christening my kitchen,
just so you know.”

“
What do you mean?” Abbi
asked as she stirred the gravy.

“
Nobody’s ever cooked in
here except me, and I have definitely never cooked a breakfast like
this. Thank you.” The look in his eyes spoke louder than his words
could. He liked her in his kitchen.

“
You’re welcome.” She had
to look away. She couldn’t have her teenage brother realizing what
their host was doing to her body. “Matt, do you want
coffee?”

“
Are pigs tasty? Of course
I do.”

“
Here, I’ll get it. You’ve
got your hands full.” Frey grabbed three mugs out of the
cabinet.

There he went again, being nice. There’s no
way it was all an act just to get in her pants. Frey Hartley was
the real deal. He snagged a piece of bacon from the plate, taking a
bite and crunching as he talked, “I wanted to let you both know,
I’m having a little bit of construction done on the west side of
the house. There will be contractors coming and going, but they
will not bother either of you. Rafael Stone will be overseeing the
project, and he only hires people that are one hundred percent
trustworthy.”

“
Rafael, isn’t that Kaya’s
fiancé?” Abbi asked as she pulled the biscuits from the
oven.