Chapter 1
Three whole months of staring at the same cream colored walls, feeling Abel’s eyes on me even when he wasn’t in the room. Three months of Emma texting me Girl, come outside before you forget what fresh air feels like. And somehow tonight, I did.
The bar was dim, all amber lights and shadows that made everyone look a little softer.
Emma clinked her long acrylic nails against her champagne glass and grinned at me.
“I’m still shocked you made it out,” she said, leaning back in her chair. “With the type of husband you got? Girl, I thought you was on house arrest.”
I gave her a tight smile and wrapped my fingers around my glass.
“I told you. I turned my location off.”
Emma’s eyebrows shot up. “You what?”
“I turned it off,” I repeated, trying to sound braver than I felt.
“He tracks it. I just switched it off for tonight.”
She stared at me for a second, then slowly lifted her glass.
“Well damn, look at you being rebellious.” She smirked. “To freedom, even if it’s just for two hours.”
We clinked glasses.
The champagne fizzed against my tongue, light and cold.
Emma leaned closer. “You nervous?”
“A little,” I admitted, scanning the room without meaning to.
“You gotta relax,” she said, waving her hand. “He ain’t here. And even if he was, what he gonna do? Drag you out over one fucking drink?”
Before I could answer, a shadow fell over our table.
“Evening, ladies.”
I looked up and saw a guy.
He was friendly looking. A little chubby, round cheeks, soft smile. The kind of man who probably apologized when someone bumped into him.
“How you two doing tonight?” he asked.
Emma’s face lit up immediately. “We doing blessed and highly favored,” she said dramatically.
I forced a small smile.
The man’s eyes landed on me. “You okay?” he asked gently.
I hadn’t realized I’d been stiff.
“I’m fine,” I said quickly.
He studied me for half a second, like he wasn’t sure he believed that. Then he smiled again. “Good. Well, I just wanted to say you look beautiful tonight.”
Heat crept up my neck.
He wasn’t being inappropriate. Just kind, casual and normal.
“And I’m gonna send two drinks over to your table,” he added.
“Tab’s on me.”
Emma actually squealed. “Ohhh, see! I told you!” She grabbed my arm. “You got that quiet pretty girl luck.”
I let out a small laugh, though my chest felt tight.
“Maybe,” I said, lifting my glass again.
The man nodded politely and walked away.
Emma leaned across the table. “You still got it, sis. Married and still pulling.”
“Stop,” I whispered, but I couldn’t help the tiny smile forming on my lips.
For a moment, I let myself imagine what it would be like if compliments didn’t feel dangerous.
The new drinks arrived. Something pink and sweet smelling.
Emma grabbed hers immediately.
“To being outside!” she said loudly.
I took a small sip. It tasted like strawberries and something stronger underneath.
Suddenly I heard a loud, violent scrape of metal dragging against wood. The sound cut through the music like a knife and the whole bar seemed to flinch.
Slowly, I looked up and saw Abel.
He was perched on a high bar stool like he’d been there all along, one foot hooked on the rung, one hand gripping the backrest. The stool was tilted slightly from where he’d dragged it across the floor.
His dark eyes were locked on me.
My heart slammed so hard I felt it in my throat.
Emma followed my gaze.
“Oh,” she muttered under her breath. “Oh hell no.”
Abel’s expression wasn’t loud. He wasn’t yelling, He wasn’t storming over, He just sat there still.
His jaw flexed once.
He glanced at the pink drink in my hand, then at the empty champagne glass, then at Emma and then slowly toward the direction the chubby guy had disappeared and back to me.
I couldn’t breathe.
Emma leaned closer to me, whispering fast. “Girl, how he even know you here? You said you turned it off.”
“I did,” I whispered, my fingers trembling against the glass.
Abel tilted his head slightly, like he was examining something that belonged to him.
He slid off the stool slowly and made his way over to our table.
Emma straightened up in her chair, but I felt her grip my thigh under the table.
Abel stopped right beside me.
He didn’t look at Emma, He didn’t look at the drinks, He looked at me.
His voice, when he spoke, was low.
“Having fun, Hailey?”
The way he said my name made my skin prickle.
“I—” My throat felt dry. “I just came out for a bit.”
“For a bit,” he repeated.
His eyes drifted to the pink drink again.
“And who bought that?”
Emma cleared her throat. “Sir, it was just—”
Abel’s gaze snapped to her so fast she shut up immediately. Then his eyes came back to me.
“You turned your location off,” he said quietly.
Ice spread through my veins.
“How did you—”
He leaned closer, just enough for me to smell his cologne.
“You think that stops me?” he murmured.
Abel straightened up and glanced around the room.
“Stand up,” he said.
Emma squeezed my leg again. “Hailey” she whispered.
But I was already rising because I knew that tone and I knew what happened when I didn’t listen. As I stood, Abel’s hand settled on the small of my back.
Emma looked between us, her face a mix of anger and fear.
“Girl, call me,” she muttered under her breath.
I nodded slightly.
Abel guided me away from the table without another word.
As we passed the bar, I caught one last glimpse of the chubby guy watching, confused. Abel noticed him too and the look in my husband’s eyes wasn’t jealousy anymore, It was something colder.
