Abel (5th Street 4)

The tension literally draining from his body as Abel’s heart still pounded wildly was yet another wake-up call. This was so much worse than he’d thought. He explained about San Francisco and his itinerary, and to his relief, she said it sounded doable but that she’d have to double check and get back to him.

Once off the phone, Abel leaned against the lockers with his hand over his chest. His overworked heart was still beating hard. Closing his eyes, he thought about how he’d nearly slipped off the tightrope again. He didn’t even want to think about how he might’ve reacted or what he might’ve said to her if she’d confirmed it was Logan she was still with while giggling and making those noises.

He squeezed his hand into a tight fist just as Gio walked into the locker room. “You ready?”

Abel nodded, placing his phone back in the locker. This was a little too alarming. He was either going to have to get a grip or end this arrangement before stuff like today got the best of him and he snapped with no right to whatsoever. The question now begged to be asked. Was it too late to pull back? As much as he hated to admit it, he had no choice now. The answer to the other alternative was getting pretty obvious. Would he be able to get a grip if he heard about or saw Nellie with someone else? Not a chance in hell.

Chapter 5

The redeye flight they’d been booked on was now understandable. Even just after midnight, Abel and Nellie turned heads in the airport. Nellie could only imagine now if they’d taken a day flight. Abel was all about avoiding the media, and so far they’d succeeded in doing so.

“You know,” Abel began as they took their seats in first class, “if I’d had more time, I would’ve driven in a heartbeat.”

Nellie smiled. “The drive up the coast is beautiful.”

“Yeah, it is,” he said, slipping his hand into hers. “But I hate flying in general, not so much flying but airports. If it were up to Andy, he’d have me fly everywhere and at the busiest times of the day.”

“Why?” she asked curiously.

“He loves the paparazzi. The more they splatter my face and name all over the headlines, the better. He insists I shouldn’t care what they say but that as long as I’m in the headlines I’m golden.”

“What? How about the hurtful things or blatant lies?” She stared at him, trying to hide her distaste for Andy already.

Bianca had mentioned how much she disliked the guy more than once. Back when Bianca had dated Felix, she felt that Andy was actually trying to sabotage their relationship. He’d insisted that Felix’s reputation of a bad-ass womanizer jumping from one famous female’s bed to another was far more exciting and newsworthy than what he was actually doing—trying to settle down with one girl for once. She told Nellie that on a few occasions Andy was actually adding fuel the fire in hopes of vamping up the stories of Felix with other women with absolutely no regard to Bianca’s feelings.

Abel smirked. “As long as it’s not defamation or anything that might hurt my career, he says it’s good. I personally don’t give a shit what they write about me. I just don’t like the cameras in my face and the scenes they tend to make when I’m trying to mind my own business and they’re running alongside me, yelling out my name. That pisses me off.”

Nellie frowned. She’d had a short conversation with Andy already only to go over her duties in San Francisco. He did mention that while Abel was very private Abel didn’t understand the importance of staying relevant and becoming a household name. Andy also said that he usually gave the media freedom to ask pretty much whatever they asked but that Abel always insisted on making sure they knew what topics were off limits beforehand.

“I emailed you the list.” He’d told her with a chuckle. “But between you and me, I sometimes forget to pass it out to the reporters in time. So it’s up to you if you wanna make copies or forget.”

From that moment on, she’d decided she didn’t like the guy, but now that she was beginning to understand just how private Abel really was, it really irked her that his own publicist would ignore his very specific requests.

Abel’s squeezing of her hand and then his leaning over and caressing her face before kissing her softly, surprised Nellie. They’d done plenty of kissing in the car that picked them up and drove them to the airport, but the whole time in the airport he hadn’t so much as pecked her nor held her hand. She got it and it didn’t bother her. He’d actually apologized in advance that her life might get a little annoying after being seen traveling with him because the paparazzi were relentless. So she was certain that keeping any signs of affection that would get tongues wagging was why he’d refrained. But they were technically still in public.

Glancing casually around her surroundings, she could see that first class was half empty and that the only person sitting across the aisle was an older man who was already asleep. But the flight attendant had been just up the aisle when he did this. “Ever been to Oakland?” he asked her curiously, and she was glad they were off the topic of his annoying publicist.

“Yes, I have a few times actually. My ex is kind of a big-time sportscaster. Well he was,” she said. “He got tickets to sporting events everywhere, and we went to a few Giants home games whenever they played the Angels.” She smiled, trying to ease the sudden hardened look on Abel’s face now. “That’s how I know the drive is so beautiful.”

Nellie had no idea how many details of her divorce Abel knew about. If she had to go by his stern expression, he at least knew it’d been bad. It was so bad that the scandal of her ex not only leaving Nellie but getting her own sister pregnant while they were still married pretty much ruined his career. When the word got out, the network he worked for got so much hate mail demanding that such an offensive man be taken off the air or that people would boycott the shows he broadcasted that it sent the network into a tailspin. It wasn’t nearly as big a scandal as say Tiger Woods, because Rick was just a broadcaster, but the show he did was syndicated, so it wasn’t just local. He was quickly given paid leave, and his contract that was supposed to have been renewed later that year, wasn’t.