This whole chapter is a flashback, so I didn't bother italicizing it since that makes it a little harder to read. Next chapter will be back to present time.

flashback

"Abbie?" Michael asked, rubbing his eyes. "What brings you here at-" he checked his watch, "Two in the morning?" He asked when he opened the door.

I lowered my eyes to the floor, to embarrassed to say anything. "It's… it's nothing. Just forget it." I sobbed, turning to walk away.

"Hey!" He said, grabbing my arm. "Stop, Abbie! What's wrong?"

"I didn't want to stay at home. Can I crash here for awhile?" I asked nervously.

He frowned, "What happened? Did Lincoln do something?"

"No, no! Look, can I explain it. Just let me come inside. Please?"

"Of course you can stay here. You know you don't have to ask. Come in." He said, grabbing my hand. He led me to his couch, pulling me down beside him. "Now, are you going to tell me about it or do I have to call Lincoln and threaten it out of him?"

My eyes widened and I shook my head at him, "No! Please don't call him, he's not even home. He'll get angry and come home, then Freeman will get angry at me, and Lincoln will do something stupid and-"

He cut me off mid-ramble, "Wait, Freeman? Who is he?" I looked away and he tightened his grip on my hand, "What happened?"

I looked down again, not wanting to look him in the eyes, "Lincoln had to go downtown for… business… His friend, Freeman, came over after he left. I told him Lincoln wouldn't be back for awhile and that I'd tell him he stopped by. He told me he would just wait for him and pushed me away from the door." I looked up at him and he was sitting and staring at me with an expressionless face. "Freeman just got out of prison…" I hesitated.

"For what?" His jaw was clenched.

"For rape." I cautiously looked up into his eyes.

He closed his eyes and his jaw ticked, "Did he…?" He asked in a strangled voice.

"He pushed me up against the wall and tried to kiss me. I kept pushing him away, but he just kept coming back." I closed my eyes. "He… he put his hand down my underwear." Michael hissed softly under his breath. "He told me he would give me an ounce of coke to let him finish and I told him that I didn't do favors like that anymore, but he didn't believe me. I finally got a good knee shot into him and I took off."

He put his arms around me and pulled me closer. "This is the only place I feel safe." I mumbled into his shoulder.

Laying his cheek on my head, he said, "I'll always keep you safe, Abbie."

"You won't tell Linc what happened, will you? He'd kill him."

He pushed himself away from me, "Does he not DESERVE it?" He asked, angrily.

"Does Lincoln deserve to go to jail for it?" I yelled back, just as angry.

At that, he hesitated. "No." He finally answered. "But that guy still deserves something. I've half a mind to go kill him myself." He muttered, settling back down.

I laughed quietly, imagining gentle, sweet Michael ever raising his hand to anybody.

He put his fingers under my chin, raising my face up to look at him, "Something humorous?"

"Just imagining you actually getting physical with someone. You have to admit, it is a little humorous." I answered, giving him a wink before standing up to head to the kitchen.

I heard him jump up behind me and in the next instant, he grabbed my hand and turned me around, pinning me against the wall. My arm was twisted behind my back.
"Care to rephrase that?" he murmured into my ear.

"Why Michael. I never knew you were so… kinky…" I stealthily raised my other hand to push him away. "It might have been more effective if you hadn't forgot one small-" In one fluid movement, he had captured my errant hand and pressed it to the wall above our heads.

"Anything else I'm forgetting?" He smirked at me.

I narrowed my eyes at him. No way was he winning this battle. I tried to pull my arms out of his grasp, but he held tight to them. I could halfway lift my legs, but that only made him press his body tighter against me. As a last resort, I tried wiggling my hips to see if I could slide down.

I heard his breath catch in his throat when I jerked my body against his. I raised my eyebrow at him, "Well, well, well. It seems we have found the weak link in your chain, Mr. Scofield."

He shot me a warning look, "Don't even think about it, Abbie." He said, letting go of the arm behind my back and trying to back away from me.

I gave him my best innocent smile, wrapped my newly free hand around his neck, and pulled him in close again. "What's wrong, Michael? It's ok for you to tease me, but I can't tease back?"

He smiled at me, warily, "I've known you for years. I know your penchant for taking things to far."

I pulled his head in closer to mine, "And what exactly would constitute us taking this to far?"

"I think if one of us was uncomfortable, that would be a good enough reason." His breath was getting shorter, but I wasn't sure if it was maybe because he was getting annoyed.

Or something else.

I tilted my head, "And what exactly am I doing that is making you so uncomfortable, Michael?"

I felt his body shift underneath me before he answered, "Just not sure you were aware of how close in proximity the… um… lower half of our bodies are." He looked away, blushing.

Oh, trust me, I knew exactly how close our bodies were. I just never knew Michael would get so flustered being so close to me. He had not had a serious girlfriend in years, but he always treated me like a little sister so I didn't think us joking around would affect him this way.

Biting my lip, I let go of his neck, "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to make you upset. I was only playing." I shrugged away from him and headed back to the living room.

I heard him walking behind me and then I felt his arms around my waist. "Oh, Abbie. You know you could never make me mad." He said, leaning down to kiss my shoulder.

The feel of his soft lips on my bare skin made me shudder involuntarily. We've kissed on the cheek plenty of times, but it was always in a hello or goodbye way. This felt different. This felt more intimate.

I could feel the smile on him when he felt my body's response. He jerked my body to him and I felt myself molded against his body.

Was he doing what I think he was doing? I wasn't sure if I wanted this to happen. I mean, I cared deeply about Michael, but I'd been seeing Lincoln since I was sixteen. Sure, I always felt more comfortable with Mike and I knew how much he cared about me, but this was a game changer. For both of us.

If I let him continue we could never go back to what we had before.

While I pondered this, Michael took my silence as permission to continue. He slowly ran his lips from my shoulder to my neck. I closed my eyes and tried not to give away what I was feeling. Still as a statue, I didn't move when his hand found the hem of my shirt. I didn't move when I felt him press his hand to my skin, even though it took every ounce of my self-control not to sigh. I didn't even move while he kissed his way up to my ear. When he bit down roughly on my earlobe, I lost all of my bearings. I managed to get my hand over my mouth before I let out a moan.

"Sounds like the ice queen has finally started to melt." He whispered, his mouth in my hair.

I ripped his arms off me and turned around. "Excuse me?" I yelled, poking him in the chest with my finger. "What did you just-" Before I could finish my sentence, he grabbed my waist and in our struggle, we fell down to the couch, him pinning me down.

"Once again, Abigail. Care to rephrase that?" He smirked again before he lowered his lips back to my neck. This time his kisses were not so gentle. His hand once again found the bottom of my shirt and he grabbed at the skin on my hip.

I could hardly breathe, let alone talk. "Why… why are you doing this?"

"What you can tease me, but I can't tease you?" He mimicked.

I grabbed his shirt in my fists and narrowed my eyes at him, "So this is payback?"

"In a sense." He chuckled lightly, never removing his lips from my skin.

"So trying to seduce your brothers girlfriend is your version of a good time?" God, he is so infuriating.

"Well, to be fair, I don't think there's much trying involved." He said, lifting his head with a smile.

I jutted out my chin in annoyance, "What's that supposed to mean?" Surely he sensed my body heating to his touch, but his external reaction to our situation was a little more… obvious.

"I think you're wanting this just as much as I am." He answered, hooking his fingers over my skirts waistband. I jerked against his touch as his fingers brushed across my lower belly. His smile became wider. "And I know you appreciated this-" He said, leaning forward to scrape his teeth across my earlobe again. "Tell me to stop and I will." His voice was like velvet in my ear.

At that second, I knew. All the time he had let me into his life with no questions asked, all the 2 am phone calls when he was worried about me, the pained looks he'd give me when I'd go home to Lincoln.

He loved me. And he would stop, I knew he would in an instant. My feelings were more important to him than what he was feeling. He would stop and he would never bring it up again if that was what I wanted.

My eyes closed, involuntarily and I answered without any second thoughts.

"Don't stop."