Tempting the Crown (The Crown 1)

She had never expected them to take on her problems. As she stepped in the shower she wondered if knights in armor were a real thing. Were Cole and Deacon her knights? It didn’t seem possible they could forgive her after what she had done.

But they had rushed off to fix everything.

The water ran over her shoulders and down her back. On top of everything, she had shared something with them this morning she never imagined she could experience. They had both been inside her at the same time. She wrapped her arms around her body trying to hold on to that feeling.

What it felt like to be totally possessed. To be filled beyond her dreams.

Cal couldn’t take that away from her. Cal didn’t control her destiny anymore. She turned off the water, watching the last bubbles slide down the drain and disappear.

Abby reached for a towel. She loved Deacon and Cole for what they wanted to do, but this was her mess. She had to clean it up.

She got dressed and grabbed her keys.

***

Abby squared her shoulders as she faced the Mantelli compound. She had prayed she would never set foot inside this place again, but she couldn’t run from her problems. And she couldn’t send her knights in to rectify something she had done.

She took each of the stone steps with confidence. This wasn’t like the last time she was here. No one would ever drag her out and stuff her in a trunk again.

Deacon’s sports car was parked in front. She could hear their loud voices from the other side of the door.

Abby burst inside. Their eyes darted toward her.

“What are you doing here?” Deacon asked. His face was stern. Cole was as determined as his friend.

“Abby, you don’t need to be here.”

She stepped forward, locking eyes with her cousin. “Yes, I do. Cal has no right to do any of this.”

Her cousin laughed. “So you sent your men to take care of your little fuck up, but you don’t trust them enough to take care of it?” he mocked. “This little arrangement the three of you has is fucked up.”

Her eyes narrowed. She could claw at his face. She could kick him in the balls. She could spit on his cheek. But she held her ground. She didn’t want him to know how much she hated him.

Deacon stepped in front of her, but she didn’t want him to protect her this time.

“I can do this, Deac.” She pressed a hand to his elbow.

She stared at Cal. “You’re not going to the media.”

He rolled his eyes. “You sound like these two. I’m happy to keep your escapades to myself if you hand over a hundred thousand to start.”

She didn’t let her eyes bulge or her jaw drop. She had to stay steady.

“You aren’t getting the money and you aren’t releasing the story.”

Cole was behind her. She felt the warmth of his body as he laid a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, trying to convince him she could do this.

Cal sat on the couch, crossing a leg over his knee. “See, what you don’t get is that I have dirt on you.”

“What you don’t get, is that I have way more on you,” she hissed.

He raised his arms in the air. “My hands are clean. I had nothing to do with your internet heist. You can’t trace that to me. Not even the accounts. You know they are ghost accounts.”

Abby reached in her pocket and held up a thumb drive. “But I have every other piece of dirt on you I could find.” She slammed the drive on the coffee table. “

And that is just one of many, many copies.” She tilted her head in his direction.

Cal reached for it, but Deacon cut him off. “Don’t touch it,” he snarled, knocking Cal back on the couch.