Page 6 of Guilty As Charged
“What?” Her eyes go wide, bracing for the blow.
“We’re going to have to call someone who specializes in hoarders to clean this place up. There’s no way around it.”
Abbie rolls her eyes, but I see a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. It’s so fucking cute. “Ha. Ha. Ha.”
“I’m not sure how we’re going to make it through this without professionals.” I shake my head solemnly as she walks past me, fully grinning now.
“Listen, I know I’m messy, but there’s a method to the madness.”
“Spoken like a true hoarder. You know, admitting the problem is the first step.” I’m smiling back at her as she goes over to a pile of stuff on the coffee table. She picks up a notebook, and directly under it is her laptop.
“See?” She holds it out to me in triumph, and I take it from her.
“Abbie, come on. This is nothing.” Her cheeks flush a little, and I’m noticing that happens when I say her name. Interesting. “You made it sound like I was walking into a frat house after rush week.”
I send Taylor a quick text telling him I’ve got her laptop and to meet me here to get it before I take Abbie to my place. Once I’ve done that, I put my phone away and give her my full attention.
“It’s not that I think it’s that bad, it’s just that people have said it to me. A lot.” She shrugs like it’s not a big deal, but clearly it is. She was afraid to let me see this, so someone has made her feel like shit about it.
“People, or a person?” Why do I get the feeling this Geoff guy was doing everything he could to take her down emotionally and financially?
“Umm, more recently? Yeah, I guess just one person.”
“That’s what I thought.” I put the laptop by the front door and go over to where she’s standing. My heart aches for how broken her spirit is, and before I know what I’m doing, I’m taking her hand in mine. “He was intentionally breaking your spirit so you would come to him for everything. Money, praise, support. All of it. It’s not your fault, and you didn’t do anything wrong. You might think you’re messy, but from what I see, your home is yours. It’s lived in, but it’s clean, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Why are you being so nice to me?” She looks like she might cry again as she tilts her head back to meet my eyes. “Scout said you’d help me pursue legal action, but this feels like above and beyond for a client.”
My chest rises and falls as I look down at Abbie, trying to explain what I’m feeling. It’s probably not the best idea to confess to all the ways I’ve gotten off to her cosplay videos, so I’ll stick with the safer route.
“When I was little?—”
She huffs a laugh, and it breaks some of the tension. “Now I know you’re lying. Little? You?”
“Believe it or not, I was pretty scrawny until I graduated high school. I grew almost two feet in four years. It sucked. I felt like a baby deer learning to walk.” That makes her smile, so I take her other hand and give them both a squeeze. “But I didn’t have a lot of friends until I met Landon and Gideon. Until then, I had comic books to keep me company. I got bullied most of my childhood for it, and I remember the way people made me feel like shit about something I loved. Nobody deserves that.”
“Yeah, I got that a lot too,” she admits and squeezes my hands back.
“As I got older, I found a community within the comic book world and met people that liked what I liked. It felt like getting a second chance at my childhood, and I can’t imagine someone trying to make me feel like shit for it now.”
“I can’t see anyone thinking they could intimidate you.” She looks me up and down, and if I was the type of man to blush, I probably would.
“This is important to me because people should be free to be who they are. They don’t deserve to get bullied into a corner because someone was able to take advantage of their kindness. It’s the reason I became a lawyer, but your story sits heavy on my heart. The more I hear, the more I know it could have happened to me when I was young and lonely. Well, maybe not the drawing part because stick men give me trouble.”
We laugh a little together at that, and she takes a deep breath. It seems to shake off some of the worry from earlier.
“Plus, you’re Delphine. I owe you after everything you’ve given me.” The words are out of my mouth before I realize what I’ve said. My body goes rigid as I try and think of a cover story that doesn’t include me jerking myself off every night to the videos of her in cosplay.
“What do you mean?” Abbie looks confused, but she smiles at me like she suspects exactly what I’m not saying.
“Um, it’s…um…nothing. I just meant that um, your costumes are a fantasy. Shit, I mean, the character is a fantasy. Wait, you’re beautiful, obviously. I got to watch you. But not like that?—”
There’s a knock on the door, and I almost fall to the floor with relief that Taylor is here for the laptop. The hole I was digging was getting deeper and deeper, and I probably would have blurted out way too much if he hadn’t stopped me.
“That’s the security guy,” I tell Abbie when she looks alarmed. “He’s here to grab your laptop.”
“Oh, okay.” She relaxes again before I release her and go to the door.
Only when I swing it open, it’s not Taylor on the other side.
