Frey (34 page)

Lorenzo appeared a few minutes later. “Need
some help?” He grabbed the instructions and started reading over
them.

“
Yeah, thanks. How’s
Matt?” Frey asked, walking back from the garage with the tools he
needed.

“
Okay, I guess. He’s still
in pain, but that’ll go away with time. Hand me the wrench. Abbi
looked upset…”

“
I screwed up. One of her
student’s mother saw us in the store together. And when I say
together, I was swinging her around making her laugh. The worst
part is the woman has obviously been after Quinn since high school.
Do you have section C?”

They talked while working, and in no time,
they had the frame and goal put together. Lorenzo rolled it over to
the side of the garage facing the house while Frey retrieved the
new ball out of Deacon’s truck. “Oh, shit. I forgot about the food.
Here, give me a hand.” They got the food out of the back seat and
took it in the house. Abbi was nowhere to be seen. Frey stuck his
head in the gym and checked on Matt who was still asleep. Once the
food was put away, the men headed back outside.

It had been a few years since Frey had
played basketball, but it didn’t take long to get into a rhythm. He
and Lor were pretty evenly matched. After a while, the sound of two
bikes rumbled down the driveway. Deacon and Mason rolled up to the
garage and parked. “When did you get this?” Deacon asked, sliding
off the Harley.

“
Today. I bought it for
Matt,” Frey said, throwing the ball to Mason. “You’re on my team,”
Frey told the young Goyle. Dressed in jeans and leather boots, the
four of them played and laughed, basically forgetting their worries
for a while.

“
Hey, when did you get
that?” Matt was slowly making his way toward them. All four of the
Goyles walked to Matt so he didn’t have to exert
himself.

“
I picked it up on the way
home. I know you’re hurting now, but soon you’ll be out here
showing us how to play.”

“
Yeah, right. The four of
you are fast. Crazy fast. And good. Even if I wasn’t injured,
there’s no way I’d get in there with you guys.”

Frey laughed, but he thought back to the
game. Had Matt seen them use their shifter speed? When they were
home, they didn’t worry about holding back. It was possible they’d
gotten caught up in the moment and forgot they had humans around.
Frey reached out for Abbi, sensing where she was inside. Like a
beacon, her body called to his, alerting him to her staring out the
window. He looked up, and their eyes met. Her elbow was on the
window sill, and her chin rested on her hand. She appeared
comfortable, like she’d been there a while. Had she seen something
he would need to explain? Returning his attention to her brother,
he asked, “Are you hungry? We brought food back from my cousin’s
house.”

“
Starving. I think I need
a new babysitter. This one didn’t feed me,” Matt said pointing at
Lorenzo. “As a matter of fact, I think he snored the whole time you
were gone.”

Lorenzo mussed his hair. “You better be glad
you’re injured.”

The four men laughed and Matt smiled. “Abbi
was right; all your friends are Amazons.”

“
What’s the plan for
tomorrow? Are we still training?” Deacon asked Frey.

“
Yes, Mason can cover the
gym while Uri is at Dante’s. Jas needs to lay low. He can stay here
with Matt.”

“
Sounds good, Brother.
Matt, take it easy, and we’ll see you soon.” Deacon, Mason, and
Lorenzo took turns giving Frey man hugs and gently bumping fists
with Matt. Deacon climbed in his truck while Mason and Lorenzo
straddled their bikes. When they were out of sight, Matthew said,
“You’re not human. What are you?”

Troy called George every fifteen minutes for
an update. The unmarked car was still sitting down from his house.
Did they think he was stupid? That he didn’t know what a fucking
stakeout looked like? He was listening to the scanner, and there
was still no mention of him. Good, the kid kept his fucking mouth
shut. George was getting antsy, because he was supposed to go see
Debbie again. The last time Troy called, George told him he was
going to take his truck and go get laid.

While he was trying to figure out how to get
another vehicle, his phone rang. He frowned when he saw who it was.
“Grady, I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

“
I just thought you might
wanna know that the queer is in trouble. Seems him and his
boyfriend had a little lover’s quarrel.”

“
So what if they
fought?”

“
His fag friend is dead. I
was the first one on the scene, and I found a video camera under
the seat. Showed Jenkins pushing the other guy, really fucking
hard. Practically threw him across the parking lot. Didn’t know
pansies were that fucking strong. Anyway, just thought you might
like to hear about it before your shift tomorrow.”

“
Yeah, thanks. Hey, while
I got you on the line, I need a favor…”

Chapter
Thirty-One

Abbi was ashamed of herself for running from
Frey, running from her feelings. She’d passed Lorenzo on her way in
the house and stopped to ask how Matt was. She then shut herself in
her room to work on the festival, only her pad was downstairs. Frey
and Lorenzo brought the food in from the truck. She waited until
they were back outside before she tiptoed downstairs to grab her
notebook. Matt was still asleep, so she went back upstairs and
attempted to put some dance steps down on paper.

Her attempt to concentrate
was futile knowing Frey was outside working on something he’d
bought for Matthew. Her mind was on the man and not dancing. She
lay down across the bed and closed her eyes. She hummed the tune
to
The Sugarplum Fairy
while
envisioning the steps the
little kids could do. Her mind floated back a few days to the
community center when Frey saw her dancing. The tears in his eyes
had been real. If he could feel something from watching her dance,
it was possible he could feel something more. She wanted him to
feel more. Wanted his words to be the truth.

The sound of motorcycles had Abbi walking
down the hall to the bedroom that looked out over the driveway.
Frey had the basketball goal mounted on the stand, and he and
Lorenzo were playing. Deacon had brought Frey’s bike back to him,
and Mason was with him. They talked and laughed for a bit before
the four of them began playing. Abbi propped up on her hand and sat
mesmerized at the four huge men. She had never seen so much
testosterone in one place. These Amazons were all dressed like
bikers, yet they were playing ball like professionals.

Abbi drank in the gorgeous
men. All four of them were built with muscles rippling everywhere.
Mason wasn’t as developed as the other three, but he was no slouch.
The speed with which they moved was astounding. At one point, Mason
leapt from several feet away, dunking the ball. Abbi gasped.
How is that possible?

The game went on until Matthew headed their
way. The men included Matt in their circle, laughing and joking
with him. The smile on her brother’s face warmed her heart. It had
been too long since he’d had any type of positive reinforcement
from a man in his life. Frey had promised he would be that man for
Matt. As if he knew she was thinking about him, Frey’s eyes found
Abbi’s. She returned his gaze hoping to convey a little of what her
heart was feeling. When he looked away, she decided to heat up the
food Priscilla sent home with them. Home. Abbi had to stop thinking
of Frey’s house as home. By the time she reached the first floor,
the motorcycles had started up and were rumbling down the driveway.
Abbi reached the window in time to see Deacon’s taillights
fading.

Abbi took the food out of the refrigerator
and set about heating it up. When Matt and Frey didn’t immediately
come in the house, she went to check on them. Neither one of them
looked happy, but Abbi knew whatever it was needed to be handled
between the two of them.

At first, Frey thought Matthew was kidding.
When Matthew put his hands on his hips and asked, “Well?” Frey
realized the teen had seen them using their shifter speed. “There’s
no way someone can leap flatfooted from that far off and dunk a
ball.”

“
Matt, you’re on pain
medicine. He didn’t jump that far.”

Matt threw his hands in the air and hissed
from the pain. “You know what? Fucking forget it. I’ve been lied to
my whole life. Why should now be any different?”

Godsdamnit!
This was all on Frey. Why hadn’t he remembered
there were humans around? Fuck! “Matt, stop. What do you want me to
say? That the guys and I are these shapeshifters with superpowers?
That what you saw was real? Would you actually believe something as
crazy as that?”

“
If it’s the truth, yes.
I’ve read about the Unholy. They teach us about ‘em in Biology and
warn us to stay away from them. If some crazy man can build an army
of hybrids who are bad, why can’t there be hybrids who are
good?”

“
They teach about the
Unholy?” Frey needed to talk to Abbi about that, find out what
exactly was being said.

“
Yeah, they do. So, is
Abbi right about you being an Amazon?”

Frey ran his hands through his short hair
and sighed. Rafael was going to kill him.

“
No, I’m not an
Amazon.”

“
Fine. Forget it.” Matt
turned toward the house.

“
I didn’t say I’m not
different, I just said I’m not an Amazon. That’s not even a real
thing. It’s something Abbi made up.”

“
Then what exactly are
you?” Matt had his hands on his hips, waiting for the
truth.

“
Let’s just say I’m part
of a secret society that was put here to protect humans. We…”
Frey’s phone rang interrupting.

“
Jasper, what’s up?” Frey
listened while watching Matthew’s face for any sign of disbelief or
disgust. “I’m sure Matt would love to play video games. I think Lor
was kind of boring. Come on when you’re ready.” Frey put his phone
in his pocket. “Jasper wants to spend the night. I hope you don’t
mind. He’s going through a tough time and doesn’t want to be
alone.”

“
I know how he feels. Now,
you were saying?”

“
Supper’s ready,” Abbi
yelled out the back door.

“
Coming,” Frey responded,
hoping to table this conversation for later.

“
So, what you’re saying is
you are protecting me because it’s your duty?”

“
No. I’m protecting you
because I lo…care about you. A lot.”

“
Okay, but if you aren’t
human, what are you?”

“
It will be easier to show
you than to tell you, but not tonight. I need to talk to someone
first. When I get the go ahead, I’ll show you. I promise. Just
please, Son, don’t say anything.”

“
If you promise then I
promise.”

“
I do. Now, let’s not keep
your sister waiting.”