Frey (7 page)

When she was looking over the form Matthew
had filled out, she noticed all the different classes offered at
the gym. Matthew had checked the box for men’s self-defense. Right
below that was a women’s self-defense class. Abbi thought briefly
about signing up for the class, but right now she didn’t have time.
Even if she did, there was no way Troy would let her take a class
like that. It would probably just give her a false sense of
security anyway. She knew she was no match for someone Troy’s
size.

Abbi showered, letting the hot water ease
the tension in her shoulders. She mindlessly dried off and dressed
as she did every morning. While she was choosing her clothes, she
wondered what Frey thought about the way she dressed. He called her
beautiful, but there’s no way he could really think so. He was one
of the most stunning men she’d ever seen in her life, in person or
on television. Geoffrey Hartley could have any woman he wanted.
Maybe that was his deal- he seduced every woman he came across with
his beautiful smile, his ripped body. Abbi didn’t know the human
body had that many muscles in it. Troy was fit, but he couldn’t
hold a candle to the gym owner.

As she was pouring coffee into a travel mug,
Matt bounded down the hall. If he ever heard the noises coming from
her bedroom while she and Troy were having sex, he never let on.
The times Abbi had looked in on her brother, he’d been wearing
headphones. Abbi wasn’t loud during sex, quite the opposite. She
didn’t say a word, didn’t make any noises unless Troy got so rough
she couldn’t help but yelp.

“
Good morning, you look
chipper,” she said, handing the mug of coffee to her brother. He
didn’t need the caffeine, but he’d been drinking the stuff since he
was six. Granted, back then it was mostly milk, but they both loved
their joe.

“
Guess what?” Matt asked
as he grabbed the bread to make toast.

Abbi hadn’t seen her brother this animated
in a long time. His demeanor was different this morning. “You’ve
met a girl.”

“
Ew, no. Mr. Hartley
offered me a job.” Matt drummed his hands on the counter as he
waited on the toaster to pop up.

“
You have a job. How are
you going to work two jobs and go to school?” Abbi was afraid he
was getting in over his head.

“
Not two jobs, I’ll quit
the diner and only work at the gym. That way I’ll already be there
when it’s time to work out. I can’t believe how nice he is. He
reminds me a lot of dad.”

Abbi sucked in a breath. They never spoke of
their parents. The memories were too painful for Abbi. She
shouldn’t have been so selfish, though. Matty had been young when
they died, but he wasn’t too young not to remember. Blinking back
the tears, she asked, “Yeah? In what way?” Knowing she was going to
be rushing to get to the school on time, she still wanted to give
her brother this opportunity to talk about their dad.

“
He’s just so gentle, but
in a stern way. It’s hard to explain, really. He is smart and
tough, but he doesn’t bully or yell to get his point across. I
watched him interact with the other people last night, and he was
genuinely interested in what every one of them had to say. He knows
everyone by name, asks about their kids, their jobs. He’s just…
nice.” Matt spread butter on the toast and took a big
bite.

“
I’m glad you like him.
Honestly, I was worried when I met him. He’s just so big. All those
muscles, he could really hurt you. But he promised me he’d take
care of you.” Abbi felt one hundred percent better about Matt
working out with Frey. If Matt thought he was nice, maybe he really
was.

“
I need to get to school.
I have bus duty.” Abbi grabbed her own to-go cup of coffee. “Matty,
if you ever want to talk about them, it’s okay. Okay?”

A sad smile crossed her brother’s face.
“Yeah, okay.”

She ruffled his already messy brown hair as
she walked by. “I love you.”

“
Love you, too.” Matt
turned away, but she didn’t miss the tears in his eyes before he
did.

As soon as Mason arrived at the gym, Frey
left to go see Kaya. He wanted to talk to her before he headed over
to Dante’s for sword training. The last time Frey had been to the
precinct was when they set up the ruse to get Tamian St. Claire
arrested so he could go undercover in the Pen. Tessa’s cloned
brother had all but disappeared once his sister recovered from her
horrific car crash.

Frey knew where Kaya’s office was, but he
couldn’t just barge in there and start talking to his Queen. He had
to pretend he was there as a citizen. He entered the building
behind a cop. The jerk didn’t bother holding the door open even
though Frey was right behind him. He did stop to talk to the
dispatcher, leaning his ass against her desk. “Good morning, Kim.
You’re looking as pretty as ever.”

Kim, not missing a beat, told the cop, “Not
gonna happen, Troy.” Noticing Frey, her scowl turned into a
seductive smile. “Good morning, sir. How may I help you?”

The cop stood and turned toward Frey. His
shitty demeanor at being rejected quickly fell from his face as he
got a good look at Frey. Troy wasn’t a small man, but Frey was
intimidating, even when he wasn’t trying to be. Frey ignored the
cop and told the dispatcher, “Good morning. I’m here to see Chief
Kane.”

With her smiled glued to her face, Kim
asked, “May I tell her your name?”

“
Frey,” he said, noticing
the cop hadn’t moved. Frey took the time to study the man. He
looked like most other cops with the pressed uniform and the short
haircut. This
Troy
was fit, evident when he crossed his arms over his chest. A
gold wedding band was on his left hand. So, the douche was married
and hitting on the dispatcher.

“
Fray, that’s an unusual
name.” Kim obviously didn’t like having his attention on the other
man and not her.

“
Frey is short for
Geoffrey. Now, if you would please, tell the chief I’m
here.”

“
Do you have an
appointment?” Troy asked. He obviously didn’t feel the need to get
to work.

“
I don’t need one,” Frey
said, crossing his arms over his chest, mimicking the cop’s stance.
Kim sucked in a breath, and Troy scowled.

“
Frey, what are you doing
here?” Jasper asked from behind. Thank the gods for a friendly
face. He turned and was pulled into a quick embrace with a slap to
the back. Frey didn’t miss the bigoted remark that rolled off
Troy’s tongue.

“
I need to talk to the
chief, but I can’t seem to get any service around here,” Frey poked
at the two people staring with their mouths open. Kim finally
picked up the phone to call Kaya, and Troy stormed off.

“
Come on. I’ll take you to
her,” Jasper said, not caring that Kim was following protocol. They
reached Kaya’s office just as she was hanging up her phone. Not
bothering to stand, she motioned them both into the small
room.

“
Rafael said you wanted to
talk to me. What can I do for you?” Kaya asked, her face glowing.
Something was up, because she looked like she had hit the
lottery.

“
I’ll leave you two
alone.” Jasper turned to go, but Frey stopped him.

“
No, Jas, this involves
you, too.” As soon as the newest member of their clan was fully in
the room, Frey closed the door. “I have a problem, and it involves
one of your officers.”

Kaya leaned forward and asked, “Which one,
and what kind of problem?”

“
I had a kid come into the
gym; his face was all bruised up. Said his brother-in-law did it.
When I asked why his sister hadn’t gone to the cops, the kid said
the man is a cop. I haven’t been able to spend much time with him
yet, but I did meet the sister. She had no visible signs of
physical abuse, but her demeanor was that of an abused woman. She’s
beautiful, yet she wears baggy clothes and little makeup. She’s
very skittish. When she thought I was mad at her, she backed up
like I was going to hit her. The kid didn’t come out and say the
cop’s abusing his sister, but he stated he wants to train so he can
protect her. He’s a wiry seventeen year old who can’t even protect
himself, yet he’s worried about her. I wanted to ask you if you’ve
had any complaints filed against him.”

“
What’s his name?” Kaya
asked, frowning.

“
I don’t know his first
name, but his last name’s Quinn.”

“
Motherfucker,” Jasper
swore. “You’ve already met him, standing out front.”

“
That’s
Abbi’s husband?” Frey asked incredulously. “Of
course he is. The bastard was hitting on the dispatcher when I
walked in. She wasn’t taking the bait, but he was still
trying.”

Kaya let out a loud sigh and leaned back in
her chair. “I had trouble with him when I first made Chief. He
didn’t like taking orders from a skirt. He’s always been a hothead.
I had a couple of complaints filed against him, but before I could
do anything about it, the complaints were withdrawn. What do you
want me to do? I can’t take any action without the brother or the
wife pressing charges.”

“
As far as Quinn goes, I’d
like you to put him on second shift. I know that’s asking a lot,
but if he’s on second, that’s less time he has to spend at home
with Abbi. Also, I was hoping Dane or Jasper could come down to the
gym and talk to Matthew. If we can get him to file a complaint,
maybe we can get the sister to see reason.”

“
Does she want away from
Quinn? I mean, a lot of women refuse to leave even if they are
abused. I’ve witnessed too many domestic violence cases over the
years. I can’t understand staying with someone who would
intentionally hurt you.”

“
I don’t know. I would
hope so. But that’s not the worst of it.”

“
How could it get any
worse?” Jasper asked.

Frey sighed and told them, “She’s my
mate.”

Chapter Seven

Frey couldn’t believe the douchebag Troy was
Abbi’s husband. It took all of his control not to walk out of
Kaya’s office, find the asswipe, and pummel him until he looked
worse than Matthew did. If he did that, Abbi would probably be more
scared of Frey than she was her husband. He had to be smart and
hope that Matthew would press charges, or at least give them
ammunition to go after Troy. Frey would not stop until Abbi was
free from her abuser.

Training went by quickly. For a few hours,
Frey had been able to think about something other than his
beautiful mate and her predicament. Now, he was back at the gym,
waiting on Matthew to show up. He had the day off from his diner
job, so he was supposed to come in right after school. With that
thought, the bell rang as the front door opened. Matthew was keyed
up as usual. Frey was looking forward to teaching the teen
meditation, showing him how to subdue his energy.

“
Hello, Matthew. How was
school?” After a lengthy chat the night before, Frey knew Matthew’s
favorite subject as well as what he disliked. Matt spoke freely
about school and about Abbi being a teacher, but became closed off
when Frey asked about his past. Matthew mentioned his parents’
deaths, but he refused to talk about anything that came after it.
Ten years ago, the teen’s life irrevocably changed. Now, it didn’t
seem to be getting any better. Had he been abused for ten years?
After they parted ways the night before, Frey had gone home and
fired up his computer. Rarely did he do any of his own research;
that he left to Julian. When it came to Abbi and Matt, he didn’t
want to get his brother involved if he could keep from
it.

Frey found newspaper articles regarding the
wreck. Abbi had been seventeen, a senior at New Atlanta High
School, and a promising ballet dancer with a bright future ahead of
her. Matthew had been seven. What the article didn’t provide was
what happened to them afterwards. When he couldn’t find the
information he sought on his on, Frey called on Julian to do his
thing. He wanted any and all information his brother could find on
Abigail Swanson Quinn.

“
Same as most days, only
now we’re cracking down for the SAT’s.” Matthew was worried about
his math score.

“
If you need help, my
brother is really good in math. He’d be glad to tutor you, if you
want,” Frey offered up Julian’s assistance without asking. Julian
loved teaching, loved sharing his knowledge, even if it was high
school level subjects.

Matthew frowned and stopped moving. He
cocked his head to one side, studying Frey. “Why would he do that?
He doesn’t even know me.”