There was a huffing sound from the secondary blonde, but Melissa Paul just rolled her eyes and focused on Sam. "Can we go somewhere and...talk? Leslie here can keep Jack company. She doesn"t mind at all, do you, Leslie?"
The other blonde was slightly unsteady as she took a step toward Jack. "I don"t. He looks hot. I don"t think he"s scary at all. Lissa 115.
thinks you"re too kinky for her, but that don"t scare me none." She reached out and put a hand on Jack"s chest.
That was a little too much. Abby"s hand shot out and forcibly removed the hand that desperately needed a manicure. "Hands off, honey. This one is mine."
"Maybe he should decide." The blonde was now paying attention to Abby.
Jack was stumbling all over himself to get the words out of his mouth. "Oh, I am one hundred percent hers. Yup, all hers. We"re getting married on Thursday." Abby heard Christa laugh and barely managed to contain her own, because Jack looked positively terrified at the idea of having to deal with the h.o.r.n.y chick.
Melissa Paul looked infinitely pleased. "So old Jack is marrying the village wh.o.r.e. Good for him. I always knew he didn"t mind used goods."
Sam suddenly wasn"t cowering anymore. He stood straight up, and Jack was out of his barstool, too. Leslie had the good sense to look afraid, but Melissa didn"t have the Darwinian instincts to know she was in trouble. She was still looking coyly at her prey. Abigail realized that if she wanted to defuse the situation, she would have to take it in hand. She laughed because it was really a silly thing.
Her throaty gut laugh got everyone"s attention. Sam, Jack, and Christa all looked at her like she"d gone the tiniest bit crazy. Abby gestured toward the blonde. She couldn"t stop laughing. It was making her cry a little.
"Look at her. She just called me a wh.o.r.e. Seriously? Honey, I can see your nipples. Don"t be ridiculous." Abby took a deep breath.
"Now, turn around, little girl, before you make a complete idiot of yourself."
Melissa Paul"s head bobbed in outrage. "I"m not the one making a fool of myself. You"re some old cougar trying to get her hands on a man who could be her son."
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Abby"s hands went up in disgust. "What? Did I have him when I was five? I am not that much older than him. What have you done, Sam? Have you slept with every twenty-something blonde in the county?"
Sam looked at her with wide eyes. Abby was beginning to think of it as his kicked puppy look. "Not every single one. I"m sure there are some I missed, and now I promise my blonde-banging days are over. I swear I haven"t slept with a single other person since I met you. I am all about the redhead now."
Abby sent a questioning look back at Jack.
He smiled angelically. "I don"t even like blondes. You"ll find I"ve practically been a saint compared to Sam."
"I believe that," Abby said flatly, shaking her head the whole time. She turned back to her younger rival. "Now, you"re scaring Sam. Please go away."
Melissa looked between the two men and Abigail, a revelation slowly dawning. "It"s true, isn"t it? I thought that was just some ugly rumor. You two perverts like to share women. Well, h.e.l.l, Sam, if that"s all you need, I can do Jack, I suppose. You don"t have to settle for some old chick. I can be kinky, too. Me and Leslie will even do a four-way if you like."
"But I"m the wh.o.r.e." Abby looked to Christa, who had the same look of disgust on her face. Abby realized this could get bad. Christa winked, letting her know she had Abby"s back. A strange sense of excitement thrilled through Abby. Her life had been relatively calm for the last couple of years. Christa had been right. This was the time to reclaim a little of her crazy youth, and it was definitely time to put the young girls in their place. "Keep your hands off my man, little girl. This one"s mine, too. I don"t know what he did to make you think he wants you, but he doesn"t. He"s very sorry to have led you on..."
"I didn"t..." Sam started, and then smartly shut his mouth at the look on Abby"s face.
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"...but he is very committed to our relationship," Abby explained firmly. "There will no more drunken hook-ups with bottle blondes.
He"s going to curb his drinking so he can make more appropriate choices in the future. Sam is limited to three beers from now on."
"What?" Sam looked around for help from some corner. There was none forthcoming. "d.a.m.n it."
"So go find some other man to bother." Abby dismissed the woman with a curt nod of her head.
Melissa Paul obviously wasn"t used to being dismissed. She leaned over and shoved a hand into Abby"s chest. "Listen here, b.i.t.c.h.
I am not letting some old cougar push me around. You can have Jack.
I think he"s a pervert, anyway, and I"m going to tell everyone in town that he"s forcing Sam to sleep with you. Everyone knows Sam depends on Jack for money. I"m going to ruin all of you if I don"t get Sam."
Christa gasped beside her at the threats of the younger woman.
Abby had had far more than enough. Her hand curled into a fist. "You forgot one thing about us cougars, little kitten. We have claws." Abby reared her fist back and punched the younger woman straight in the face.
"What the h.e.l.l are we supposed to do, Jack?" Sam couldn"t keep his eyes off the two women. Abby got Melissa in a chokehold. Leslie had tried to jump into the fray to help her friend, but Christa had given a loud rebel yell and leapt on the smaller woman. They were wrestling on the floor of the bar. This had caused a chain reaction as many of the women in the bar seemed to think a taboo had been broken. Three other girl fights had broken out, and it was hair-pulling, nail-scratching chaos.
"Nothing," Jack took a long drink. "Abby"s winning. Our little honey is downright mean, Sam. You had best follow that three-beer 118 dictate of hers, or she"ll pile drive you. Where the h.e.l.l did she learn that move?"
Melissa pulled out of the hold and reached out to s.n.a.t.c.h at Abby"s hair. Abby yelped, but then kicked out perfectly with her heel and Melissa went flying.
Sam watched his future wife pull another female up by her hair. A warmth flooded him. She was really pretty when she was fighting.
"And think about it, Sam," Jack continued. He was watching Abby with a content grin. "She"s doing all it with a plug up her a.s.s."
Sam"s breath caught. Jack was right. "She is one h.e.l.l of a woman."
"And she"s all ours," Jack said with a satisfaction Sam couldn"t mistake. He felt the same.
In the distance, Sam heard a familiar noise. Sam quickly calculated the distance and figured they didn"t have long.
Jack hopped off his barstool. He looked back at David Sandberg, who had a look of complete shock on his face. The Barn had seen its share of bar fights, but nothing like this, Sam knew.
"Tally up the damage and send me the bill, Dave," Jack said with a wink. "The cops are coming. I"ll collect Abby. You tell Mike he needs to get Christa out of here, or we"ll be posting bail."
Jack walked over to Abigail and tossed an arm around her waist, hauling her off her screaming blonde opponent.
"Hey, I wasn"t done with her!" Abby yelled as she was carted out like a piece of luggage.
Jack laughed. "You"re done for now, warrior princess. Sam"s honor has been avenged. It"s time to call it a night."
Sam ran ahead. He helped Mike pull his wife off a crying Leslie.
Christa laughed when Jack caught up to them. Even though they hustled, Sam noticed Abby and Christa seemed satisfied with the chaos they had wrought.
"Abby Moore"s back." Christa made the p.r.o.nouncement with a hearty fist pump.
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Sam laughed. He opened the door. Even from her position over Jack"s shoulder, she replied with an arrogant grin. "You tell this town they ain"t seen nothing yet!"
Sam couldn"t wait to see what she"d come up with next.
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Chapter Nine.
Abby sat up in the backseat of the Jeep as Jack turned onto the two lane highway where her mother"s trailer was located. Abby hadn"t been swayed by Jack"s arguments. Try as he might, he hadn"t been able to convince Abby to come home with them. She had been determined to get back to her mother and had promised they would work out the details tomorrow. All of this was decided in between Sam attempting to seduce her in the back of the Jeep. He didn"t seem to be following the conversation she was having with Jack. He was intently concentrating on rubbing her nipples and nibbling on her ear.
"You"re putting off the inevitable," Jack claimed.
Abby sighed when Sam kissed a very sensitive spot behind her earlobe. "I can"t just leave her alone, Jack, and I can"t uproot her without any warning. Let me talk to her. She was very clear that she approved of the two of you, so it might not be as hard as I think to convince her to move."
Even in the dark she could see the smoke pouring out from somewhere up ahead. Abby rolled the window down and was a.s.saulted by the acrid smell of burning wood and plastic. Up ahead, she could see a police barricade across the road. The fog of the smoke made the red and blue lights appear eerie, and Jack slowed down the car. Abby got a horrible feeling in her gut.
"Stop, Sam. Something"s wrong." Abby pushed him away. The minute the Jeep rolled to a stop in front of the barricade, she opened the door.
She heard Sam call out behind her, but she was running towards the lights. The rest of her neighbors were out of their homes, 121.
clutching robes around their necks and pa.s.sing coffee around. Abby ran past them because it was obvious now where the fire was.
Abby hit the police line just in time to watch the volunteer fire department putting out the last of her mother"s smoldering home. Fire had gutted the small trailer, and there was almost nothing left. A cry came from her mouth. It hadn"t been much, but she had grown up in that trailer. She looked around wildly for her mother. Had she been in the trailer?
Sam"s firm hands came around her, holding her. He pointed to a spot a few feet away. "Abigail, your mother is right there, talking to the fire chief."
Abby felt a real physical relief flood her body when she caught sight of her mother shakily talking to the fire chief. Abby could see her mother"s eyes were swollen from crying, and even as Abby made her way over, she could see the strain on her mother"s face. Her mom looked up and held out her arms as she saw Abby walking toward her.
Sam let Abby go, and she ran the last few feet into her mother"s arms.
"What happened?" Abby hugged her frail mother. It struck her just how much her recent illness had taken out of her mom.
"I don"t know." Her mom"s voice was shaky. "It was already on fire when I got here. Juan and his wife kindly took me out for a late cup of coffee at the cafe. Oh, Abby, if they hadn"t..."
The fire chief, who Abby remembered was named Eric Thompson, looked on the women with compa.s.sion. "h.e.l.lo, Abigail.
I"m sorry about this. It"s a total loss. Mrs. Moore, do you have insurance?"
Abby heard her mother"s quiet no. She felt tears start to fall.
Everything her mother had was in that trailer. It was all gone now.
She shook at the thought of having to start all over again at her mother"s age.
"The Red Cross has a shelter in Tyler that can take you in," Eric said.
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"Don"t worry about the Moore women." Jack strode up. Abby looked at him. He was a big, rea.s.suring presence. "I"ll take care of them. You want to explain to me what happened here?"
The fire chief looked relieved at having an unemotional man to talk to. While Jack dealt with the realities of the situation, Abby felt Sam"s presence at her back. His hands found their way around her waist.
"It"s going to be all right, Abby," Sam promised. "Jack will take care of the formalities. Just let him take care of you. It"s what he does.
Don"t worry about a thing. It"s just moves up our plans."
Her mother looked up at Sam. "What plans?"
Sam smiled down. He released Abby"s waist and reached out to take her mother"s hands in his. Abby was grateful for his abundance of charm. Sam was able to calm her mother down. "Abby agreed to marry Jack tonight. She"s moving in with us, and we"re moving you into the guest house. You"ll have everything you need, Mrs. Moore.
We"re going to make sure of it. I know we can"t replace pictures or memories, but don"t you worry a bit that you won"t have a roof over your head. You have a home with your daughter. We will always take care of her and the people she loves."
"You"re a good man, Sam Fleetwood." Her mother sniffled into a tissue. "I would be very proud to stay in the guest house."
Jack walked back over, his expression grim. "They think it was faulty wiring. We won"t know for certain until the report is finished.
It could be a week or so." Jack cupped Abby"s face in his hands. "Are you all right, sweetheart?"
Abby nodded and threw her arms around Jack"s waist, loving his quiet strength. She would always be able to depend on him. "I"m fine.
Can we go home, now?"
He kissed the top of her head, and Sam began to help her mom toward the Jeep. "Yes, there"s nothing we can do here. Let"s get you home and get your mama settled in. It"s going to be all right, Abigail."
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She nodded, even though she wasn"t so sure of that. Faulty wiring seemed too coincidental. She had a feeling there was nothing accidental about her mother"s home burning to the ground.
She allowed Jack to slowly walk her toward the car, hoping all along that she was wrong.
The next morning dawned and with it a quiet sense that, even though something terrible had happened, all was finally right with her world. Jack had done his thing and, before Sam had even gotten them all home, had made arrangements for a nurse to join Diane fulltime until she was completely done with therapy. Abby had been able to go to sleep knowing her mother was safe and well taken care of. She had fallen asleep with her head on Jack"s chest and Sam pressed against her back. Sometime in the night, she came to the conclusion that she was being crazy. No one would go so far as to torch her childhood home. That would be the work of an insane person. It had to be coincidence. Or maybe, she thought as she woke up cuddled between two gorgeous men, it was just fate.
After hopping over to check in on her mom, Abby joined her fiances for breakfast in the dining room. There was a small breakfast table in the kitchen, but Jack had been explicit in his instructions.
They would use the large dining room. Abby wasn"t sure why they went so formal for breakfast when she was dressed in one of Sam"s shirts and his robe, but she went with it.
"How is your mom?" Jack asked as she walked in.
Abby walked over and kissed him soundly. "She"s great, thanks to you." She walked around the table to Sam. "And you." After giving him a kiss, she took her seat and a small, older woman walked in carrying a pot of coffee. She smiled readily.
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"Abigail," Jack began, "this is our housekeeper, Benita Wells.
You would have met her earlier if you hadn"t stolen my truck and run away."