Page 62 of Abel

Night.

Long.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ivy

August 2023

Stirring in the middle of the night is not something I normally do, but since I’m getting bigger… It’s unavoidable.

The fact that Lola has her massive body pressed against mine, while Garfield is purring sweetly next to my ear doesn’t seem to help. Usually I wouldn’t mind, but right now… I just want to get comfortable. Shooing them out of bed, they find their own spots and fall back to sleep.

It doesn’t take me long to find a comfortable position that’ll have me drifting back off , but as soon as I close my eyes, I hear Abel’s voice.

“What do you mean it was broken into? By fucking who?” He shouts, sounding more pissed off with each second that passes by.

“Have the others meet us there, I’m on my fucking way.” He ends the call when I feel the bed shift under his weight. “Marrone Dolce?” He says when he turns and faces me.

“Abel, what’s wrong?”

“Something’s going on at one of my establishments, and I need to tend to it.”

“Okay, do you want me to go, I can have Cam come and get me.” Confusion settles on his handsome face.

“Go? Go where? I don’t want you to go anywhere, ever.” His voice sounds sincere. “I didn’t want you to leave then. That night, that night was a rough one for me. I’m not going to go into the gory details, but you made it all worth it.”

Staring into his face, searching for something that was there all along. I watch this rugged man bare his soul to me. He’s got me under his spell. I’ve been there since the night we hooked up. “Abel, I-” his phone rings again, cutting me off mid-sentence. He looks to me, asking for permission to answer. “Oh, no, go ahead. It could be important.”

Pressing a kiss to my lips, he answers the call on speaker. “What’s up, Knuckles?”

“He’s here, and he’s asking for you.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll be there when I’m there.” I say, not giving a shit if he can hear me or not.

“Abel, you need to get here… Now!” Santiago yells.

“You should definitely go.” I say, turning away from him.

“I promise, I’ll be back before you know it. Get some rest.” He helps tuck me back in, kissing me on the forehead before he walks out the door.

Any other time, I’d go exploring, but since I stay a little on the tired side these days, I let sleep take me when I feel Lola and Garfield come snuggle up beside me. What better way to drift off to sleep?

I'm on cloud nine, dreaming of my favorite person who teaches the less fortunate how to strut their shit in heels, when I hear shouting. Fully opening my eyes and sitting up, I swing my legs over the side of the bed and stretch. “Oh, I needed that rest.” As my feet touch the floor, more shouting followed by the sound of something smashing to the ground.

Now, I’m not nosey, but I wanna know what’s going on. So, I get up and let my feet guide me downstairs toward the voices.

“I don’t give a fuck who they are! They aren’t gonna get away with this, and I’ll fucking kill them all if I have to.” Abel sounds.

“Calmati, amico mio.” Someone says something in Italian, and I have no idea what it means, but that’s not what has me shook… It’s that voice.

“Don’t tell me to calm down, and we are far from friends. We’re business associates.”

Business associates?

I listen more because there’s no way my ears are hearing correctly.

“All I’m saying is that we can use this to benefit us. Counterfeit money isn’t a bad enterprise to take on. Money washing is a tale as old as time and an easy way to generate more revenue.” That’s it. I come around the corner, at a snail’s pace mind you, making myself known.

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