Chapter 4

Vince sat there for hours, trying to get his head around what Abby had told him. Someone on the team, a member of his own family, was betraying him and working for the FBI. He'd never felt so full of rage in his entire life, and he was completely helpless. There was nothing he could say or do about this as he didn't know who he could trust. He'd spent his entire life secure in the knowledge that he could trust his family and now a total stranger was telling him that wasn't true.

He was still trying to accept what Abby had told him when he heard Mia clattering around in the kitchen preparing breakfast.

"Come on girl, it's time to get up." As much as he didn't want to face the team Vince knew that he couldn't put it off forever.

"Abby, it's time to get up – Mia's getting breakfast ready." Now that Vince had made the decision to go downstairs to face the team he wanted to get it over and done with but first he had to wake Abby up.

"Why didn't you just say so instead of trying to shake me to death?" If there was one thing Abby hated it was being abruptly woken, she'd had enough of that when she worked for the DEA and it had taken a long time for her to adjust to sleeping normally. Now that she was used to waking up slowly, being woken up suddenly scared the crap out of her.

"God, I need a shower before I go anywhere, I can't believe you let me sleep in my leather trousers."

"Like you would have let me take them off? You threatened to shoot me if I interrupted you so I wasn't gonna chance taking your clothes off.!" Vince had fully intended on waking Abby up so she could get undressed but he'd been so caught up in his thoughts he hadn't realised he'd been awake all night until he'd heard Mia getting breakfast.

Abby knew that she wasn't going to win this argument, so she grabbed a clean tank top and boxers from the pile next to Vince's bed and headed into his ensuite bathroom for a much needed shower.

Breakfast was a very strained affair; Mia kept shooting death glares at Abby and Vince couldn't look any of his team mates in the eye. Letty was nursing a hangover while Dom and Leon were staring at Abby trying to work out why Vince had let her stay all night. Normally when he had 'company' he threw them out before the end of the party, occasionally he'd sneak them out first thing in the morning but he'd never invited someone to join them for breakfast before.

The silence was broken when Jesse raced into the kitchen and skidded to a halt when he saw Abby sitting in his chair.

"Errrm, sorry, but that's my chair."

"Oh, I'm sorry sweetie, I didn't realise and V didn't tell me." Abby glared at Vince as she stood up to let Jesse sit down at the table.

"Sorry, Abby I guess I'm still a bit tired after last night." Vince caught the look of surprise on his team mates faces when he used Abby's name and decided to add to their confusion. He never called his 'dates' by their names, it was easier to call them all 'babe' than try to remember who they actually were.

"Come, sit – eat." He grabbed Abby's wrist and pulled her down onto his lap and gave her a pancake from the huge pile on his plate. Mia's eyes nearly fell out of her head at this point – not only had Vince bought a stranger to their breakfast table but he was sharing his food with her. Vince was almost predatory over his food and he and Leon had gotten into numerous fights over the years when Lee had stolen a French fry or a piece of popcorn.

"So, Abby – how do you know V?" Dom was just as curious as the others to know why Abby was sitting at his breakfast table, only he wasn't as subtle as the others – if he wanted to know something he'd come right out and ask.

"Well after he'd beaten my car up with his head, I saved his ass from the cops last night and he invited me in for a drink." Abby knew what Dom was getting at but she wasn't going to give up the info that easily. If Dom wanted to know more about her he'd have to try again.

"What Dom means is 'why are you still here?' normally when V has women in his room they're gone before the party ends." Mia knew that she was being bitchy but she couldn't help herself. She'd gotten so used to Vince following her around and even though she didn't want him she couldn't stand the fact that he might have moved on to someone else.

Abby smiled as sweetly as she could at Mia before she answered her – she'd heard the teams gasps of surprise and had felt Vince stiffen at Mia's comment but she wasn't going to give her the pleasure of knowing she'd gotten to her.

"Because we weren't finished when the party ended – in fact it was only the smell of your delicious breakfast that convinced us to take a break for a while."

Vince nearly burst out laughing at Abby's sweeter than sweet tone, she definitely wasn't the same girl who's threatened to shoot him the previous night.

"And on that note, I won't be in work today Dom, Abby and I are gonna finish things off at her place." Vince was finding it more and more difficult to keep his temper, every time he felt himself relaxing and enjoying his breakfast he'd remember what Abby had told him about the team. He couldn't stand it any longer and knew that if he didn't leave soon he was gonna grab the next person that spoke and beat the truth out of them.

Dom was still trying to think up a good reason why Vince had to go into work when he heard the front door slam shut and the roars of Vince's Maxima and what he presumed to be Abby's motorbike.

"What do we know about her? Does anyone know what her last name is? God damnit, what the hell is Vince thinking?" Dom was beyond pissed, he was furious. Now was not the time to be bringing a stranger round the team – especially not when they were only a couple of weeks off hitting the motherload, just one more heist and they'd be set for life.

"All I know is her name's Abby and she was at the diner yesterday." Mia wasn't impressed – Vince was supposed to be chasing her around, not some red head he'd picked up at the races.

"We need to find out more about her, we can't afford to have strangers hanging around at the moment. Jesse, I want you to call Hector, see if he knows anything about her. As soon as we get a surname for her I want a full internet search done, I need to know if she's a cop or if she's gonna cause us any problems, ok?" Dom wasn't prepared to take any chances – Abby showing up like this was just too timely to be a coincidence, first Brian then Abby – two complete strangers hanging around the team in a matter of weeks, something was going down, he just wasn't sure what.

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Back at Abby's house Vince was making himself comfortable on her leather couch whilst she got changed. It had been horrible putting her leather pants back on but after wearing them all night but there was no way she was riding her bike home without them.

"Are you hungry V? You didn't eat much for breakfast?" Abby and Vince had left pretty much straight away after Vince had told Dom he wasn't going to the garage and Vince had left most of his breakfast uneaten.

"Yeah, I am – do you wanna go out and grab some food?" Vince hadn't been able to eat back at the fort, he kept remembering that one of the team was betraying him and he couldn't relax long enough to swallow his food.

"Nah, it's alright, I've got a house full of food so we can eat here." Abby had appeared in the lounge doorway whilst she was talking and was watching Vince – she knew that her news from the previous night was weighing heavily on his mind and she couldn't help but feel guilty.

"Come on Coyote, you can help me." Abby ruffled Vince's hair as she walked past him into the kitchen and couldn't help giggling at the way he instantly ran his hands through his hair to try to tidy it up.

An hour later Abby and Vince were sitting at her kitchen table enjoying freshly made orange muffins and the hot chocolate fudge cake that Abby had got Vince to help her make. He'd objected all the way until she'd told him he could lick the bowl out if he helped her – Mia had never let him do that, she said it was childish so when Abby said he could he jumped at the chance.

"So what do ya wanna do? I mean we can sit here all day and eat chocolate cake or you could tell me some more about the team." As much as Abby was hoping Vince would opt for eating chocolate cake she had a head full of questions about the team that only he had the answers to.

"There is a third alternative you know." Vince had been watching Abby all morning, she'd looked amazing in his tank top and boxers sitting at the table back at the fort. He'd almost cheered when she'd moved out of Jesse's chair and sat on his lap – he wasn't really one for touchy feely crap but feeling her leaning back against him, his hand on her warm tanned thigh had felt right. He couldn't explain it but at that moment he'd forgotten all about the rest of the team, it had just been him and Abby.

When they gotten back to her house he'd watched Abby as she'd headed into her bedroom to get changed. Her leather covered ass had been calling his name but his head was still spinning from what she'd told him about his family.

"And what would that be?" Abby knew exactly what Vince was getting at but if he wanted her, he'd have to ask. She didn't jump into bed with just anyone and she wanted him to at least make an effort.

"This." Vince reached out, grabbed hold of Abby's hand and pulled her into her bedroom, slamming the door shut with his foot as they crossed the threshold.

"And what makes you think I want this?" Abby wasn't exactly frightened but she was a little un-nerved by Vince's actions. She'd read his police file and knew just how violent he was and he was standing between her and her gun.

"If you don't want me, just say so and I'll leave but if you do want me shut up and kiss me." Vince knew he looked a scary bastard, hell he prided himself on that but he didn't want to scare Abby. A lot of the women he'd been with had wanted him to be the bad boy in bed but he'd never, ever slept with anyone who was genuinely scared of him.

"Just kiss you huh, what like this?" Abby pulled her hand out of Vince's grip and wrapped her arms around his neck. Pulling him down towards her, she pressed her lips gently against his. All of her plans of teasing him with soft, light kisses went out the window when she felt his hands on her ass – he was squeezing and kneading the flesh igniting the fire that had been building deep inside her ever since she'd sat on his lap at breakfast.

Vince heard Abby moan and he knew that she was as willing a participant in all this as he was. Walking her backwards towards her bed he pushed her down on the comforter and climbed up next to her.