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“Okay, so we lost, but good things can come from it—negative and positive.”
Glenn Hoddle, former England manager
“Muma, Muma, wake up! The circus is here!”
“What the hell?” Flynn mumbled into the pillow.
Abby shot upright in bed, throwing off Flynn’s arm, which was wrapped tight around her waist holding her down like an anchor.
“Muma, the door is stuck. Open the door.”
There was thumping at the door and the full horror of the situation slammed into Abby. She was in bed. Naked. With Flynn. And Katy was at the door.
“Get up,” she snapped at the man who was sprawled on his stomach beside her. He was on the edge, one foot and one arm dangling to the floor.
“Muma! Open the door!” There was more pounding.
“Make it stop,” Flynn grumbled.
“Get up, right now.” Abby put her hands on Flynn’s side and pushed. Hard. There was a grunt, some cursing and a loud thud as he tumbled and hit the floor.
“What the hell?” Flynn shouted.
“Muma?” Katy shouted. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Abby called. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
“What’s going on, honey?” another voice said in the hallway—Jena.
“Muma’s stuck in her bedroom and the circus is here,” Katy said.
“I know, I saw it, that’s why I came over.” Jena made no sense at all.
“Why did you shove me out of bed?” Flynn complained as he stood up.
He stretched his arms above his head, showing off every inch of his lean, muscled frame. Flashes of the night before popped into her mind. Of crying in his arms, of mind-blowing sex, of him waking her later to make love to her slowly. A wave of need swept over her, making her freeze in place.
A gentle knock jarred her back to reality. “Abby, honey, you okay in there?” Jena sounded worried.
“Why is my cousin’s wife in your house?” Flynn said.
“Flynn? Are you in there?” Matt boomed from the hallway.
Abby groaned as she stared up at Flynn.
“Why is Matt in your house?” He scratched his stomach.
“Where’s Abby?” Victoria’s voice snapped through the air. “Has she seen what her neighbour is doing? I knew his behaviour these past few days was an act.”
Flynn shook his head in disbelief. “Did you even bother to lock the front door? Is the whole of Invertary in your house?”
“Damn it, Flynn, you are in there. I’m going to rip your head off,” Matt said.
“Why’s Flynn in Muma’s room?” Katy said. “Were they having a sleepover?”
“They better not have been,” Matt said.
“The footballer is in there? With Abby?” Victoria almost screeched.
“Calm down,” Lawrence said. “I’m sure this all has a reasonable explanation. Why don’t we go downstairs and make some tea while Abby gets ready.”
Abby jumped up at the sound of yet one more person outside her bedroom door. She grabbed Flynn’s jeans from the floor and thrust them at him. “Jump out the window,” she said. She should have known better than to think anything she did could remain a secret in this town.
For a second he seemed too distracted by her swaying breasts to register the order. He reached for one and she batted his hand away with a growl. “Out. Out the window now. Jump and run for it. I’ll tell them they were hearing things. This will all be okay.”
He looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “We’re on the second floor. Do you want me to trash what’s left of my leg? There would be no running away if I jumped. There would just be writhing in agony.”
“Then sit on the ledge until they’re all gone. I’ll get rid of them. Somehow. Once I do, you can come back in and leave through the front door.”
“Sit on the ledge? Have you lost your mind? There isn’t enough ledge to sit on. Look.” He threw back the curtains to show her what he meant. “What the hell?” he bellowed. “What’s with all the people at my place? What are those trucks doing there? Somebody get those morons out of there, they’re scaring the donkeys!”
“Shh!” Abby held up her hands. “They’ll hear you.” She turned to the door. “It’s just the TV,” she called.
“You don’t have a TV in your room,” Jena called back.
“Radio?” Abby said.
Flynn pulled on his jeans. “Get dressed. I need to find out why there are trucks and strangers all over my place. That bloody weasel has been up to something. I’m going to wring his neck.”
“I knew there was more going on between those two than neighbourly good manners,” Victoria said.
“And what if there is?” Lawrence said. “They’re adults. It’s none of your business.”
“This is just what Mother feared. Look at this mess. It’s no environment for a child.”
Abby wanted to rip her hair out.
“The child is fine,” Flynn shouted. “The child is made of bloody Teflon. She wasn’t in the room. If you lot hadn’t broken into Abby’s house, she wouldn’t even have known I was here.”
“I’m going to kill him,” Matt shouted. “Take Katy downstairs, Jena. Lawrence, take Victoria. I’ll deal with this. Couldn’t keep it in his pants for one bloody week.”
“Are they kissing in there?” Katy asked. “Do they have to get married now? I can’t get a sister until Muma gets married. I told her it’s okay if she marries Flynn. I can’t think of anybody else for her to marry anyway.”
Flynn stared at the door. “What the hell? I’m a last resort?”
“Come on,” Jena said. “Let’s go make breakfast. Your aunty Victoria looks like she could use a cup of tea.” There was a pause. “Is it too early to add vodka?” There was silence. “Okay, no vodka. Let’s go, kid.”
There were protests as Jena led Katy downstairs.
“You too,” Lawrence said. “You achieve nothing by standing guard outside Abby’s bedroom door.”
“What am I going to tell Mother?” Victoria sounded genuinely distressed.
“We’ll talk about it downstairs,” Lawrence said softly.
“Matt,” Flynn called. “There’s no way I’m coming out if you’re waiting there to punch me.”
“Damn straight I’m waiting here to hit you. Somebody needs to knock some sense into you. I knew the intervention was a waste of time. I should have just taken you to the gym and pummelled you until you understood things had to change.”
“Oh yeah, I really want to come out of the room now.” Flynn hunted around for his shirt while Abby pulled on underwear.
“There.” She pointed to the shirt poking out from under the bed.
“Thanks, sugar.” He shrugged it on.
“What am I going to do? I don’t know how to fix this,” Abby muttered as she pulled a plain navy dress from her closet.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be okay,” Flynn said gently.
“How?” she screeched.
Flynn scanned the area around her.
“Stop looking for weapons. I’m not going to turn homicidal.”
“I believe you.” Although his tone made it clear he didn’t.
“It’s okay, Abby,” Matt said. “I’ll hit him for you.”
“Shouldn’t you be outside dealing with the trespassers setting up home on my property?”
There was a snort. “Absolutely, your highness. Watch me run off to do your bidding.”
“Poor bloody excuse for a cop. I’m not coming out until you go downstairs.” Flynn folded his arms and stared at the door. “Do you think I’m stupid enough to walk into a fist? I stopped falling for that crap when I was twelve. You never did fight fair, you big bastard.”
“And you never grew up,” Matt shouted. “Get out here.”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake.” Abby pushed her way to the door. “Matt, get downstairs. We need to get out of this room to deal with things.”
“Fine.” Heavy footsteps faded away.
Abby stared up at Flynn. Her stomach was on spin cycle. He put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her against him. His heat soaked into her and calmed her slightly. He felt familiar now. He felt like he was hers. She blinked the thought away. It was just as insane as the million other thoughts rushing around in her head.
“It’s going to be okay.” Flynn kissed her hair. He gave her one last squeeze before reaching behind her to open the door. Abby frowned when he moved her out of the way. “In case he faked us out,” he said.
“You’re both children,” Abby snapped.
Flynn turned the lock, opened the door and a fist hit him square on the jaw. Abby screamed.
“Bloody faker,” Flynn shouted at his older cousin. Then he launched at him.
“Sissy boy,” Matt shouted as he hit back.
Abby watched as the men fell to a tangle on the hall floor. They wrestled and grabbed, trying to get each other into a stranglehold. She blinked several times, unsure whether she was watching reality or a three-dimensional delusion brought on by an overstressed brain. As they tumbled away from her door, Abby stepped around them and headed down the stairs, leaving the idiots to duke it out on her landing.
With as much dignity as she could muster, Abby entered the kitchen. Four sets of eyes shot to her.
“Good morning.” She gave them what she hoped was a calm smile.
Before she could say anything else, Jena had her by the arm.
“I’m just gonna take your mom into the living room for a minute. Why don’t you tell your aunt all about the circus?” Jena hauled her out of the room.
As soon as they were in the living room, with the door firmly closed behind them, Jena spun on Abby. “You slept with Flynn?”
“I can’t think about that right now.” Abby sat on the couch. “I’ll schedule it for Tuesday.”
As though reminding her there were other more pressing issues, loud music started in the direction of Flynn’s place.
“What the hell?” Flynn shouted upstairs, which was followed by a loud thud.
“There are two grown men fighting in my house,” Abby said. “My mother wants to take my daughter. A camera crew is hounding me. I’m trying to start a new business. My daughter wants me to marry someone, anyone, so she can have a father. I just had sex for the first time in four and a half years. And instead of it being a private affair, I wake up to half of Invertary outside my bedroom door.”
“Yeah, when you put it like that, things don’t sound so great.” Jena gave her a sympathetic smile. “On the plus side, you had sex for the first time in four and a half years.” She grinned. “So you were busted by your family. It’s still a win. Go you!” She held up her hand for a high five.
Abby looked at the hand, looked at her friend’s smiling face and burst out laughing.
The two women held on to each other as they laughed hard.
As Abby wiped tears from her face, gasping for air, she caught sight of the open doorway. Bruised and bloody, Matt and Flynn stood glaring at the women. The sight of the men set the two of them off again. As the women clung to each other, Katy pushed her way between the men.
“Are they hysterigiggle?” Katy asked Flynn.
“I think your mother may have lost her mind,” Flynn said.
Katy shrugged. “That happens all the time. Want some Coco Pops? I need to talk to you about a sister. I’ve decided you can marry my Muma, but only if I get a sister. You have to promise me or the deal is off.”
Katy grabbed Flynn’s hand and dragged the scowling man towards the kitchen.
Matt pointed at Jena. “Five minutes to calm down,” he ordered before disappearing.
“Does that work for him?” Abby asked through giggles.
“The ordering around thing?”
Abby nodded.
“No.”
They both started laughing again.