Page 104 of Live for Me

She’d been within his reach until the cowboy showed up.

The man’s hand balled into a fist as he eyed the message he'd carved into the wood of her coffee table just days ago, and before he could stop himself, he drew back and slammed it down ontothe glass center. Pain radiated through his hand, but he didn’t care. All he could see was the blond cowboy.

The one with the nice smile.

The tall one.

The one who knew Abbie in a way the man wanted to know her.

The cowboy knew her body.

Beau Marks needed to die. That was the only solution. Once he was out of the way, Abbie and the man could finally be together.

On that thought, the man rose back up and, with a roar, he slammed his fist down onto the glass again, shattering it. The sound echoed throughout the house he was going to spend the rest of his life in with Abbie, the shards falling onto the rug below like a short rainstorm in the middle of summer. The man’s chest heaved, and spots dotted his vision.

He couldn’t lose Abbie.

Not again.

With another growl, he fished out his flip phone from his jacket pocket and pressed the number three button before putting it to his ear.

A woman answered on the second ring.

“How’s my favorite son-in-law doing?” Sheri asked, her smoke-damaged voice doing its best to sound sweet.

The man couldn’t help but smile as another beep sounded in the foyer.

It was time to go. He turned, leaving the mess for now, and headed to the back door. “I’m good, Sheri. How are you?”

The old woman sighed. “Oh, you know. I’m making it. How’s everything at home? Is Abbie doing okay?”

The man didn’t answer until he was out of the house, his eyes on the security camera he’d hacked into days ago. He knew he couldn’t have hacked into all of them without Red Snake Investigations knowing, so he hacked into this one and onlyused the back door to get in and out of the house. “She’s good,” the man answered, pride filling his voice. “She just had another article featured on the front page of the paper again.”

Abbie’s mother hummed. “That’s really good, Son.”

The man’s chest twinged. He didn’t know if he liked the idea of Sheri calling him that. Maybe it was because he and Abbie weren’t officially married yet. Maybe it was something else entirely.

The man didn’t have time to analyze it.

“Listen,” he began once he was on the sidewalk, heading two streets over to where he’d parked his car. “I know Abbie won’t be able to make it, but it’s the end of the month, and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind a visit from me tomorrow.”

Sheri’s voice filled with excited as she squealed his name. “I would love that! What time can I expect you?”

The man looked up to full moon, smiling. “I’ll be in Hayden in the morning, Sheri.”

“Great! See you then!”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Abbie

The smell of lemon and blueberries filled my nose as I stepped into the main house, Beau coming in right behind me.

Unsure of what to do, I looked over into the kitchen, finding Mags, Harmony, and Valerie deep in conversation. Actually, from the looks of it, Harmony and Valerie were the only ones actually engaging in said conversation. Mags was leaning against the wall, his mind somewhere else.

Beau’s heat was against my back then. “You know,” he drawled, “part of coming into a person’s home means actually stepping into it, not hanging out in the foyer.”

I rolled my eyes, huffing a laugh. “You get on my nerves.”

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