Sorry for the wait, i've been working like crazy recently. The song belongs to The Cure.
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The consequences of Abby's kidnapping were both surprising and expected. It had been just over four weeks and she was almost back to normal. Of course, as expected, she was still jumpy at night and there were times I had to wake her out of a nightmare that left her with tears streaming down her face and that wild, scared look in her eyes. She also, as Emily and Kim predicted, agreed to move in with me. We had shifted all her things from her apartment into the house a few days ago and life had been perfect since then.
One of the most surprising results was her sudden friendship with Leah. Leah had, for as long as she'd been in the pack, never had many female friends. Actually, I couldn't name a single female friend of Leah's. Kim was well and truly on the 'imprinting' side of the fence and so, in loyalty to Sam and Emily, she rarely spoke to Leah. Abby was completely different. She had spent an hour berating me about the whole thing on Leah's behalf and by the end of her rant I was almost beginning to feel sorry for our resident harpy. The two of them had spent so much time together that I was starting to feel jealous of their closeness although I recognised the fact that Abby needed a friend right now and not just her boyfriend so I kept my mouth shut.
Tonight was the first night Abby was going back to work; to sing. The entire pack, minus the younger wolves, was heading to the bar to see her play and I knew that while she was nervous about singing in front of us all, she was also glad of the protection it afforded her.
I wasn't sure about showing up at the bar tonight. I knew that the minute I set eyes on Alex I would want to kill him. He had been long gone from Emily's when the pack returned the night of the rescue and he hadn't been seen or heard from since then although Mark assured us that, unfortunately, he was still standing. I didn't want Abby to have to see him, knowing the part he played in her capture and I didn't care how guilty he felt, it would never be good enough; it would never make up for the fact that she had spent days in an abandoned warehouse, thinking that she was going to watch me die and then be killed herself. And I knew she felt the betrayal much deeper than she let on. She tried to joke it off every time it came up in conversation, saying she wouldn't have expected anything more from Alex but I knew it hurt her and that made me angry. Really angry. Every time I thought of Alex and what he had done I could feel my control beginning to slip and that wasn't good. Since I had met Abby I hadn't slipped up very often with me control and when I did it was usually because she was hurt or scared and I felt the need to protect her.
"You ready to go?"
Abby had finished straightening her hair in the bathroom and was now standing before me, fully dressed and with a small smile on her face.
"Sure." I told her. "I can't believe you're making me go back to Joe's after the asshole fired me."
Her laugh made me smile as I followed her towards the car.
"You didn't show up for a week straight, what was he supposed to do?"
"Um, keep me on?"
"Wishful thinking buddy, the real world doesn't work like that."
"Well, my world does. Hey, did I mention you're the queen of my world?"
"Really? I don't think I'd make a good queen, you know. Now, a dictator… I would kick ass at being a dictator."
"Maybe you should take over the world then."
"Ooh, politics. Dangerous subject darling." She slid into a southern belle accent towards the end of her sentence and I grinned at her as she slid into the passenger seat.
"Hey, we could be like Pinky and the Brain." I suggested.
"Sure, you be Pinky and I'll be the Brain." She retorted quickly. Her smile was blinding as she looked at me and I couldn't help but return it.
"So if I take over the world, will you be my bodyguard?"
"Sure. The body guard that is secretly your lover, of course."
"Oh of course. I wouldn't have it any other way. You'll be the head of my security then. I'll be unstoppable."
"I'm starting to get scared now." I told her. "I might have to plan a revolt."
"You wouldn't dare. I'd be forced to withhold sex to keep such a thing from happening and then you wouldn't be able to think straight since you'll be so frustrated and I'll parade about in all my lingerie that I knew you like…"
I laughed loudly as she shot me a come hither look but tried to stifle it when I saw her pout.
"How did we go from Pinky and the Brain to you parading about in lingerie? Not that I'm complaining, of course. You could spend the rest of your life parading around in lingerie in front of me. I don't mind."
"Yeah, neither would Embry or Jake or…"
"They know better." I reminded her with an easy chuckle. "I'd rip their eyeballs out."
"But by then the image will already be in their heads and they won't need their eyeballs to see it."
"The image is already ingrained in my head and if you don't stop your teasing I'm going to pull this car over and show you how much I like it."
"Promises, promises." She chuckled breathily and when I looked over at her I saw the glazed look in her eyes as she stared up at me.
"Come on, minx. We're here."
I helped her out of the car and held onto her hand as we pushed past the people by the door. I could feel her tensing up as people turned to look at her and banged into her and I wrapped an arm around her waist, keeping her as close to my side as humanly possible.
"I'm okay." She assured me as we found the table the others were at. I nodded and watched as she took a seat next to Leah and a dark haired girl who looked vaguely familiar and who was being watched closely by Embry. I raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged, shooting me a huge smile.
"You want a drink, baby?" I whispered into Abby's ear. She nodded and I set off towards the bar, wallet in hand. A dark haired bartender shot me a flirty look as she leaned over the counter to take my order. I spoke quickly, ignoring the fact that she kept leaning forward and that she was about two seconds from falling out of her shirt.
"Be right back, sugar." She flounced away and I looked around frantically for Jared. I used to love this type of attention but now, with Abby across the room, I couldn't stomach the sultry smiles and obvious flashing of flesh. I spotted Jared across the bar and motioned for him. He strode past the dark haired girl, getting his own flirty smile.
"What's up? Did Kim drive up here with you guys?"
"No, she said she'd be up with Emily and Sam later. Can you keep her away from me please?"
"Who, Ruby? I know. She's new and despite my numerous telling her I have a girlfriend, she hasn't given up. She determined to show me 'what a real woman can do'."
I couldn't help but chuckle as she approached us again, carrying a drink in each hand. She set them in front of me with a wink and another smile.
"So, Jared, introduce me to your friend." She reached a hand out and pretended to pull a stray thread off my shirt and I forced myself not to over react and jump backwards, away from the invasion of my personal space. Her hand lingered for longer than was comfortable or polite, her fingers playing with the buttons. I took a step back and stared in horror at Jared who was trying to stifle his laughter as he looked over my shoulder.
"If you don't get your hands off my boyfriend the only thing you'll be introduced to is my fist." Abby was suddenly beside me, an eyebrow raised as she coolly gazed the girl up and down.
"Who are you?"
"I would have thought the fact that I said 'my boyfriend' would have given it away but since you're obviously too dense to pick it up from that statement, I'm his girlfriend. And the singer of the band that's playing tonight so why don't you run off like a good little girl and tell Joe we're here."
If looks could kill, Abby would be lying on the floor as Ruby stalked away. I shot Abby an amused look and she shrugged with a smirk.
"Right, because if it had been me up here, flirting with a bartender you wouldn't have stalked over and staked your claim?"
"I wasn't complaining." I held my hands up in surrender before dropping a kiss on her lips. "In fact I should thank you. If she'd touched me again I might have had to push her away and I hate hurting people's feelings."
"That is such a crock of bull." Abby laughed. "Come on, Mark and all have arrived."
After lifting our drinks and saying goodbye to Jared, I followed Abby towards the back of the bar, where the staff room was. Mark and Alex and their other band mate were inside, talking loudly. Or rather, Mark and the guy I didn't know were talking while Alex sat on an amp and stared at the wall sullenly. They looked up when Abby pushed open the door and Mark was beside her in seconds, lifting her up and spinning her around.
"Damn honey, you look smokin'." He grinned at her and I reminded myself that he was her best friend and I owed him more than I could ever repay him so in no way should I punch him for touching my girl.
"Why thank you." She turned to the other guy and wrapped an arm around his neck in a casual hug. "Hey, Dave. How have you been?"
"Not bad. Nelly's pregnant."
"Wow, congratulations daddy." She hugged him again as he chuckled.
"You're looking good, Abby." He told her before slipping out of the room.
Alex had stood up and was shuffling from foot to foot, looking at Abby as if she was an apparition rather than a real, live person. Two quick steps and I was between them, allowing Alex to only see a little bit of her. I felt her hands fisting in my shirt at the back and I could practically feel the rage and hurt and fear pouring out of her in waves.
"Abby." If he took one more step towards her I was going to rip his arms off and beat him with them. He stopped a few feet away, his gaze flicking from the ground to Abby and back again.
"How could you do it?" Her voice was soft and sad and I wanted to hurt him for breaking the good mood she had been in for days.
"I'm so sorry, I had no idea…"
"No, you didn't. You didn't know anything about me or Paul or our relationship. All you cared about was the fact that I was over you. I could have died, Alex. Paul could have died. Did you think that if he'd got hurt I would just come running back to you for comfort?" Her hurt had all but disappeared, leaving her with only anger. "From now on, outside of the band, I want nothing to do with you. Don't call me, don't drop by the café or the apartment… just leave me alone."
"Abby, wait, please. I didn't mean for any of this to happen."
"No, but it happened anyway. And sorry doesn't make up for it." She turned on her heel and strode out of the room, grabbing my hand and pulling me behind her. She was shaking by the time we made it back to the table and I pulled her onto my lap as we sat down, ignoring the questioning looks from Jacob and Sam.
"Paul, this is Alicia." Embry motioned towards the dark haired girl by his side and I smiled at her. I didn't need another imprint to be afraid of me; Seth's girl still couldn't sit in a room with me without casting scared glances at him every few seconds.
"So, Abby, Embry and Leah tell me you're going to be getting up to sing in a few minutes?" Alicia asked with a shy smile and Abby nodded.
"Yeah, as soon as I get some liquid courage into me." She held up her glass and Alicia chuckled and nodded.
"Rather you than me." She mock shivered with fear and Abby chuckled.
"Speaking of, it's time to go." Mark appeared behind us suddenly and held a hand out to Abby. She kissed me softly on the lips before following Mark towards the stage, smiling and waving at the people who called out to her as they passed.
"Dude, you're drooling." Jacob muttered from behind me. I ignored him and kept my eyes on Abby as she climbed easily onto the stage, ignoring Alex when he tried to speak with her and heading straight for the microphone.
She was so enigmatic when she was on stage. She shook her hair out slightly and wrapped her hand around the microphone stand as her eyes scanned the crowd. She found mine and winked quickly, her lips curving up in a smirk. I couldn't help the silly, love struck smile that slid over my mouth as I watched her. I could barely make out what she was saying and before I knew it, her soft, husky, perfect voice was filling the room, sending shivers down my spine and making me smile.
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am home again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am whole again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am young again
Whenever I'm alone with you
You make me feel like I am fun again
However far away, I will always love you
And however long I stay, I will always love you
Whatever words I say, I will always love you
I will always love you
Her eyes met mine during the song and stayed there throughout the rest of the set, capturing my attention and making it impossible for me to think of anything other than the fact that she was up there, singing to me. It was a sensation I didn't think I would ever get used to and I wasn't sure I wanted to; whenever she sang to me my stomach began clenching and unclenching, my breathing slowed and I felt as if I lived in a cocoon, just me and Abby. That wasn't something I wanted to change anytime soon, or ever.