章 11: Chapter 11

The sounds of birds chirping would be a magical way to wake up to a new day. The beautiful August sun glaring through the window panes was both pleasant and blinding. Abigail could hear her brother packing as he and Claire walked back and forth around the servant's quarters. She could also hear him as he knocked on her door and announced his departure. But she didn't answer.

After what happened last night, she could not bring herself to sleep. The fear of Lucas pressing his knees on her bed, drawing the blanket down, and burying his face in her neck was too overwhelming for her to close her eyes.

She rolled over to her other side. The scene last night flashed in her head for the hundredth time. She rubbed a thumb over her lips.

Abigail's first kiss had been with Lucas Barrington, the last person she could ever imagine it would be. She never knew the touch of another person's lips could be so soft and enticing, but it was completely with the wrong person.

It's half past ten and she still hadn't gotten up yet. Her Father had neither come for her nor woke her up like how he usually would if she slept in. She figured John had probably said something to make him stay away. Duties are important, but he respected his children's health and space when appropriate.

If Abigail had a choice, she would sleep in all day and lose herself with the thoughts in her head. She was in no mood to see anyone today. But she had something more important to do.

After the wedding, Claire had left Abigail's blue notebook in Susan's car, which the girl had driven home and was unaware of it.

Claire apologized after the wedding and tried to call her friend but she didn't pick up. In the end, she gave Susan's number for her to call.

Abigail reached for her phone on the nightstand and dialed the number saved the night before. The other end picked up right away, but the person sounded hasty and moody.

"H--hi. Is this Susan?"

"Who is this?"

"It's Abigail. John's sister--"

"I know who you are."

Abigail didn't know why she was so snappy and rude. No one had yelled at her for no reason before and she was a shy girl who wouldn't know how to handle situations like this. She swallowed nervously.

The voice came again from the other end, demanding what she wanted when she didn't say anything.

"I think Claire left my notebook in your car. It's blue. She said she sent you a message."

There was a moment of silence where Abigail didn't hear anything. She was expecting some shuffling noise as the girl looked through her things but there was nothing. After a minute or so, Susan finally replied.

"I'm busy. Meet me tonight. I'll send you the address."

~~~~~~~~~

The music blared through the air while bright flashing lights of colors flickered and hot bodies groove alongside each other. Amongst the crowd, a tall man with broad shoulders and a handsome face was making his way through it all. As he passed by, women couldn't help but get caught in his breathtakingly attractive person and turn heads.

Lucas was aware his masculinity tended to have such an effect on the opposite sex. But there was only one woman in his head right now. A girl. And what in the bloody hell was she doing in a place like this?

Thank god he spotted her from across the club as soon as he walked in. And thank god for his tall stature too. He saw her by the bar counter immediately. I mean, who wouldn't when you come into a place like this in jeans and a buttoned-down sweater in a ponytail? She stood out like a sore thumb amongst the mini skirts and cleavage-revealing dresses.

Lucas didn't come here to enjoy himself, exactly. He followed Abigail after he discovered she had gone out. He would've left it at that, but then he tracked her phone and realized she had gone to a relatively popular club called The Hive.

Oh, yea. He's got a tracker on her and that's how he was able to save her life tonight. The day she forgot her phone in his closet, he had gone through her entire device, downloaded all her pictures and videos, accounts and logins, and implanted a tracking program into one of her apps. It was easily installed but nearly impossible to notice.

Lucas couldn't blame himself as he wasn't the one who started this whole freak stalking idea. Asher had done it to him and now he's a very special person in Asher's life. He only wish he could figure out which app the son-of-a-bitch installed the program to, but the little fucker was hard to find, and going through each application's coding would take months.

Abigail was acting weird from this angle. She was around a small group of girls who were dressed entirely different, like they belong in The Hive while she belonged in a cafe. He had seen one of the girls with dark hair give her something in a cup, and now she was tipsy, swaying back and forth, grabbing onto the counter for support.

Dammit, Abigail! Shouldn't she know never to drink anything from an open cup?

She fell back but caught herself. Her body had gone flimsy but the other girls only laughed. No one offered to help.

The boiling rage inside of him was something he had never felt before. To see her so fragile in this environment, he was not able to accept it. His lips twitched in pure anger. His hands itched to make contact with human flesh.

He picked up his pace. She could no longer stand. Her palm was on her head and she stumbled backward. He reached out a hand, all the while shoving people out of the way with no regard for anyone. She continued to stagger a few more times before finally, she collapsed right into his arms.

She was so small in front of him. So delicate and frail that she weighed less than a feather when he scooped her up into his arms.

Almost immediately, the girls stopped giggling when they saw him. The bloodshot eyes he gave them held so much fury and rage, the girls froze in fear.

Lucas glared into the brown eyes of their leader.

Susan's cackle got caught in her throat as soon as she saw Lucas Barrington. She did not know a person could hold so much animosity and violence in his eyes. She thought he was going to launch at her at one point, but instead, he lifted the pathetic girl into his arms and walked away.

The unexpected arrival of the man simmered the lively moods of her girlfriends. They asked her who the guy was and what he was doing here. She shoved all their questions down with "I don't know. Shut up!" and decided to end the night like that. It was already ruined the minute that feeble little girl showed up.

Susan returned home to her small one-bedroom apartment. She took a quick shower and then went to bed. Each night, she would do something different to distract her from coming home to see the jar of ash that sat by her wall. Tonight, she allowed herself to be washed away by her guilt and self-disgust. Every part of her body was resented, every breath was killing her, and her days were filled with so much pain.

She would've swallowed the pills away into self-destruction long ago, but Claire had saved her from it, and she would never let herself go back that far again.

She wasn't tired so she laid in bed like that, just thinking and thinking and hating and hating until the sun rose through the horizon and into her windows. She grunted as she sat up, her hair a mess somehow, and went to the small kitchen to make coffee.

Her hand was in the middle of pouring a cup when a loud pounding came from her front door and she immediately snapped her head. She was not expecting company.

She ran to the bedroom to put on some pants. When she got back to the door, the knocking came again. She peered through the peephole and saw the man from last night standing right outside.

What the hell was he doing here? How did he know where she lived?

Susan opened the door just a notch for him to see her. She combed her hair with a hand to tame it down a bit.

"What do you want--"

Before she could finish her question, Lucas Barrington broke down the door and barged in. She became even more alarmed when a group of men in similar suits started to follow him into her place.

"Find it!" Lucas commanded.

The men fanned out and began going through her stuff, recklessly overturning things and throwing them to the floor.

"Stop! Stop it. What the hell is going on?" She screamed at the alpha. The men were raiding her privacy and trashing her place. "If you don't stop, I"m going to call the police."

She suddenly tried to remember where her phone could be, then recalled that it was on the kitchen counter.

"Before you can say 'breaking and entering' to the cops, I shall have you charged for theft." His icy cold voice caused her to halt. None of this was making any sense.

"Theft? But I didn't steal anyth--"

"Got it!"

Susan turned her head to a man making his way from her bedroom and handed something into Lucas's palm. It was a blue notebook.

Lucas flipped through the pages quickly before waving a finger to someone behind him.

The next man looked different from the rest. While the others wore cheap suits, this one wore a grey one and stood behind Lucas the whole time until he was summoned.

"Ms. Reel, Mr. Barrington is charging you for misconduct and attempted rape. I would advise you to find a lawyer as soon as possible."

He handed her a thin manila envelope.

Susan felt like her whole world had stopped spinning. He's joking, right? This isn't real. She stood there, frozen, looking at the book in his hand. The situation had escalated so quickly, she hadn't had time to think.

"Abigail did this, didn't she? She asked you to do this? What the fuck does she want? Her notebook? Take it. But the charges? I didn't drag her to The Hive and force her to drink. She's a slut, so if she wants to be a slutty whore and can't control herself, how is that my fault? You just don't know her. She wanted you, and men. She loved all the men's attention--"

A loud crisp clap silenced the room and it took Susan a moment to realize she was just slapped. After the sound, she felt a sharp pain shooting throughout her face. She cupped her red, stinging cheek with a hand and gasped.

Susan shot daggers at him. Tears of pain were coming down her face. How was it that he was able to get away with this? Was this the kind of power he had? He had made her feel so small this entire time and now he had squashed the ant that she was.

"Add verbal abuse and slandering to the charges," Lucas spat with disgust. "That slap was self-defense, no?"

"Absolutely, sir."