Abigail felt flayed open like a frog on a dissection table as Chris took in her words. His hands fisted into balls with white knuckles. She slid her hands up to his chest, her fingers barely brushing against his scars. His throat worked up and down, hard, like it took all of his control to not slap her hands away. Maybe it did, but it spoke volumes that he let her do it.
“My scars are on the outside.” He paused. “Mostly. Maybe there are more inside me, more that I’ve yet to find.” He lifted his hand, lightly brushing over the faded scar across her temple. Phantom pain from when it was inflicted on her shuddered through her body. “You’ve got them too, maybe more than what I have. I’d take them all away if I could.”
“Maybe what we need isn’t to brush them away, but to face them together.” She sounded like a cheesy Hallmark movie. But he didn’t laugh or even smile as he gently caressed her cheek. His eyes were a hundred miles away, lost in thought.
“For you, I would,” he whispered.
She wanted to say more, but the words weren’t coming, and then there was a loud knock at the door. Chris was on his feet in a second, with a gun she didn’t even realize he’d had. Where had that been while they were talking? He gently clicked the safety off as he approached the door and motioned for her to leave the room. She positioned herself behind a partition instead. He glared at her, but he turned back to the door.
“Who is it?” he asked.
“Dumbass, open the door. It’s me.” A distinctly feminine voice filtered through the closed door.
Chris turned white, pale white, like sickly white. He looked like he might fall over. He closed his eyes, regaining his composure, and slid the safety back into place. He tucked it into his waistband at the small of his back and unlocked the door.
Abigail stared at the young woman and the man on the other side. The man was about Chris’s height, but instead of Chris’s stormy grays, he had icy blue eyes that looked like they could have melted the polar ice caps. Dark hair was cropped close to his head, fading shorter as it got closer to his ears. The black t-shirt he wore stretched across his chest like a canvas, and the blue jeans had no extra material but had plenty of give.
The girl was a different story. Familiar gray eyes stared at the two of them. Matching blonde hair adorned her head, brushing over her shoulders as her gaze went from Chris to her and back to Chris again. She wore a soft blue blouse with white buttons and white jeans that flared at the ankles to cover the white sandals on her delicate feet.
“No fucking hello for your sister, you asshole?” The girl’s face turned into an angry frown.
“Hi, Addison,” he said weakly, the surprise still holding him frozen. He blinked and then he woke up. He crushed his sister into a giant hug, one that lasted as long as they needed. The dark-haired man’s gaze flicked over them to Abigail, curiosity coloring him as Chris let go of his sister and let Murphy pull him into a quick one-armed half-hug-half-clap-on-the-back. “Hey, Murph.”
He let them into the apartment, quickly glancing outside the apartment before he shut the door. “What are you guys doing here?”
“I was worried,” Addison said. “Do you know how long it took us to find this stupid town?”
“I’ve been busy,” he said. “Y’all should have called.”
Addison glared at him. “And let you talk me out of a visit again?” She glanced around the room, her gray eyes finally landing on Abigail. “Who’s your friend?” She grinned knowingly at Chris. Chris looked completely overwhelmed. Then Abigail remembered what he’d told her. He wasn’t supposed to have contact with his family. He was panicking that they were here.
She held out her hand to his sister. “Hi, I’m Abigail.”
Chris took that moment while she shook his sister’s hand to grab a t-shirt and wrench it back over his chest, covering flesh Abigail would have rather touched and licked.
“Addison Hardy. This is Eamon Murphy, my fiancé.”
“Murphy grew up with us,” Chris explained. Abigail didn’t reply but nodded at least. Something reminded her of what Chris had said earlier.
I bled out on the floor of a train while he took the two people most important in my life.
Two people. She already knew one was his sister. Could this Murphy guy be the other one? She smiled and shook hands with Murphy when he held out his hand.
~*~*~
“What are you doing here?” Chris asked them. Hearing Addison’s voice on the other side of the door nearly floored him. Now his family was sitting in his living room. God, Nathan was going to bury him. They were due to leave for France in a few hours.
“I could ask the same,” Murphy said. He glanced over Chris. “You’re looking surprisingly… well.”
Fuck. His best friend was entirely too perceptive. He’d sat through his own send-off party with a cane he actually hadn’t needed. He’d lied to them both, to his old team, to everyone who’d ever meant anything.
“I’m actually on my way out of town today,” Chris said.
“Not now, you’re not,” Addison replied, sitting on the couch. “So, Abigail, how do you know Chris?”
“Um, he’s helping me, actually,” Abigail interjected. He shot her a what-the-fuck look but she ignored it. “My car had some problems, and Chris was kind enough to offer to help me out. We were just about to leave this morning to head back to Dallas.”
The lie fell so easily from her lips, or that was how it looked to him. She flashed an embarrassed grin, somehow implying that they were here for more than rest and relaxation. Shit. In another life, she’d have made it as a spy for sure. How did she learn to lie like that? From her father, the politician?
Addison’s face lit up. “Oh. Oh. Okay. Um, right. Sorry, it’s just I haven’t seen my brother in over a year and he’s never mentioned a…uh, girl, before.”
“We just reconnected recently. We really met some time ago. He pulled me out of a tough spot,” she finished. Shit. He glanced at Murphy, who was studiously staring at Abigail. Did he remember her? It had been Murphy’s mission too. He’d been right beside him when they’d stormed the bedroom. Chris might not have recognized her originally if Nathan hadn’t told him exactly where she was. But now she was standing there with no makeup, her naturally curly hair, and his clothes.
“It was my lucky day when I stumbled into him after my car problems.”
He focused back on the conversation as Abigail finished.
“So, what brings you guys here?” Chris asked.
Addison gave him a dubious stare, but Murphy was the one who answered. “We just needed a little down time.”
He’d kept tabs on his sister. They’d been traveling around with his old team, shutting down old Giroux operations. She’d changed after facing Alex Giroux, and god, he wished that he could have been there, that maybe he could have saved who she was.
Addison crossed her arms as Murphy set their bags down. She wasn’t happy, and she made no secret of it. He supposed he didn’t blame her. He was a son of a bitch in her eyes, for not even trying to contact her over the last year or so. And now she was standing in front of him. Nathan was going to dump him in the deepest fucking hole he could find.
That was if he survived Addison.
“Is this where you’ve been all this time?” she asked. Abigail studiously made herself busy in the bedroom, as if she magically realized she was hanging out in her underwear.
“Not exactly,” he admitted. “Addy, I can’t…” He sighed.
“Are you working with the SEALs again?” She asked. “Murphy didn’t say that—”
“No. I’m not.”
“You’re being awfully squirrelly,” she said.
Murphy scooped his fiancée into his arms and nuzzled against her neck as Abigail came back out, now wearing a pair of his boxers. His eyes landed on me, but he moved to kiss the top of Addy’s head. “Why don’t you and Abigail get something to drink, babe?”
Subtle, Murphy. Subtle.
Addy nodded and bared her teeth in an angry smile. “Of course.” The smile faded as she glared at her brother, but she let Abigail hook her arm with hers and pull her into the kitchen.
Murphy glared at him as the two vanished into the kitchen. When he spoke, he was quiet, careful not to raise his voice where curious Addy would hear. “Your bags are packed.”
“I said we were leaving this morning.”
“Dallas is two hours away. You’re packed for several days.”
Shit.
Murphy’s eyes drifted to the open bedroom door. He had a clear view of most of the room from where he stood. “There’s no girl clothes in the closet. Just one set of hers on the dresser. So, she doesn’t stay here.” Murphy’s eyes narrowed, and Chris resisted the urge to step back. “Doesn’t look like you just… happened to see each other. In a town of four hundred people.”
“What are you trying to say, Murph?” I asked, crossing my arms.
“I’m trying to figure out exactly what it is you’re into.”
“I’m not into anything.”
“Remember how you felt when you found out Addy had this whole life you knew nothing about?”
“Yeah,” he said. He’d been angry, that she’d lied, that she’d cut him from her life.
“Well, it seems like you’re doing the same thing.” Murphy shook his head. “You know, I tried to use our team’s resources to see what you were doing, because you didn’t call, didn’t visit. She’s been worried as hell for months about you. Couldn’t get a break anywhere. No leads. Nothing. Like you vanished from the face of the earth.” He sighed, his eyes spearing him. “You know what leaves no trail?”
“I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“Spies.” Murphy spat the word out like it was dirt in his mouth.
“You think I’m a spy?” It wasn’t too far from the truth, but the reality was he was so much more than just a spy. He scoffed and stepped out of Murphy’s reach.
“You’re not even limping. Was the injury an act too?”
“No,” he said. “I can’t have this conversation, Murph.”
“Suit yourself.” He glared at me and then glanced back toward the kitchen, the faint sound of glasses and feminine voices drifted towards them. “You owe Addy that conversation, Chris.”
Chris swallowed, wanting to shrink back into his bedroom with Abigail and never come out. Murphy didn’t understand. Their presence was dangerous enough. Nathan was going to drop him straight into a deep, dark hole. Who knew what he’d do to his family after that?
The thing was… Murphy was right. He did owe his sister that conversation. He was just too much of a coward to have it.
~*~*~
Abigail searched through some of the cupboards until she found glasses. Abigail grabbed some iced tea from his fridge. Chris had talked about his sister like they’d been close, but if Addy’s reaction was any indication, their relationship was strained. Of course, she’d barely found out Chris had a sister at all.
“So,” Addison said as she filled the glasses with ice and poured the tea into them. “You and my brother?”
Abigail swallowed a long pull of ice tea. How did she answer that when she didn’t even know the answer? “Um, yeah.”
The blonde woman stared her down with the same intense stare Chris had given her a dozen times when he was trying to figure her out. “Hmm. Chris and I are twins, fraternal, obviously. We are fifteen minutes apart but somehow managed to have different birthdays. He’s always tried to play big brother with me. I used to hate it. But I figure I owe him the same courtesy.”
“He’s a good man,” Abigail finally managed out.
His sister nodded. “Yes, he is. But he’s human, despite his best attempts not to be. He gets hurt. He is hurt.” She took a sip of her water and smiled. “I know who you are. I’d be stupid not to know.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Abigail Lewis. Senator Daniel Lewis’s daughter. Your face is sort of… unforgettable.”
Abigail’s heart thudded against her chest. “What do you want?”
“I want to protect my brother. He’s gone through a lot.”
“All he’s ever done is protect me,” Abigail replied.
“Don’t you travel with private security?” His sister asked.
Abigail drew a breath. “Sometimes. Not right now.” She could hear the uncertainty in her own voice, so she knew she wasn’t fooling Addison. Addison’s eyes didn’t storm like Chris’s. They smoldered and burned like a forest fire.
“Listen, I almost lost my brother once. I really don’t want to lose him again. Whatever you’re into, whatever you’re going through, leave him out of it.”
“I can’t…” Abigail sighed. “There’s a lot going on right now. Chris is helping me through it.”
“And when it ends? Will he be collateral damage?”
“You’re a lot more cynical than Chris said.”
“Funny, because I haven’t seen him in over a year. I can’t see that he’d know shit about me anymore.”
“I’m sure he was trying to protect you.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she replied. Addison sighed, shaking her head. “Chris has never turned anyone away that came to him for help. Not in the lifetime that I’ve known him.”
“But you want me away from him?” She asked, but she didn’t really phrase it as a question.
“I just don’t see this ending well for him,” she replied. “I don’t trust you with him.”
“He’s a big boy. He can make his own decisions.”
Addison shook her head. “Not where it concerns you. You were his first mission. Murphy says you never forget your first mission.”
Abigail took a breath. This was not how she wanted the conversation to go, but Addison was pretty set in her view. How would she feel if she found out that Abigail wasn’t just a senator’s daughter? That she was really the daughter of a monster that nearly killed her brother?
“It was Murphy’s first mission too, actually,” she continued. “He remembered you. I could see it in his eyes when we walked in. He didn’t say a word to me about it, because that’s how he is. That’s how he is. I’m not here to diminish what happened to you. But that kind of experience breaks a person. And you might be a nice enough girl, I don’t know. But my brother is broken enough. He doesn’t need someone to shatter him to pieces.” Her eyes teared up, and she took a shaky breath.
Abigail’s heart leaped into her throat, trying to break free of the confines of her body. Apparently protecting each other was a Hardy family trait. She’d never had siblings. She had no idea what that was like. Her whole world had been Daniel Lewis for so many years. Then South America happened, and she’d worked hard to accept that what had been done to her wasn’t her fault. She was most definitely as broken as Addison thought she was, but now, as she found out more about her origins and her birth family, she wondered if that would be what shattered her to pieces.