“She’s living with him,” Kent replied.
Only a few seconds ticked by this time. “Fuck, Abby, you got to warn me if I’m on speaker. Who else is fucking there?” His voice got squeaky high.
“Nobody else is here. It’s just me and Abby,” Kent said quietly. “Where are you?”
“Why? So you can send the fucking cops after me?”
“Might be the only thing that saves your life.”
“Not happening, asshole. I need cash, that will get me out of this mess. You’re rich.”
“Kent is not giving you money, Max.”
“He will if he wants me to keep quiet about his weirdo fucking lifestyle. Think all your fancy clients will stick with you if they find out you’re a freak?”
“I think that nobody is going to believe a drugged-up idiot who bullies and abuses his own sister,” Kent replied sharply.
“Don’t talk to me about my sister, pervert,” Max shot back.
“Stop,” Abby begged. “Max, what do they want from you? Can’t you give it back?”
“No, I fucking can’t. Look, I took some information. Put it on a flash drive then I lost the damn thing when I had to run. But they won’t fucking believe I lost it. You got to send me cash.”
“I can’t, Max. I’m sorry.” Tears dripped down her cheeks. “Please, just tell me where you—”
Before she could finish the sentence, there was a dial tone then nothing. She looked at Kent in shock. “What happened?”
He shook his head, picked up her phone and tried to dial back the number. No answer.
“I don’t know, baby.”
“He’s in so much trouble. Why would he steal from such bad people? I know I shouldn’t care, he doesn’t care about me, but I can’t help it.”
“Of course, you can’t, Abby-girl. Because you have a big heart.” Kent came around the counter and pulled her into his arms, rocking her. “It’s going to be all right. I’ve let Ed know he called. He wants us to come in so you can look at mugshots and give him an update. We can’t do anything more. If you send him money, he’ll just get into more and more trouble.”
“I know,” she whispered. She tightened her arms around him. “I’m sorry I’ve brought such trouble down on you. I can’t believe he threatened you like that.”
“Hey,” he told her, pulling back to stare down at her. “This isn’t your fault. And I don’t want you to think for one moment that it is. We’re going to sort this. Together.”
“I CAN’T GO INTO THE police station with a butt plug in my ass,” she wailed as he pulled up outside the police station.
Before coming into the sheriff’s office, after Max’s call, Kent had made her strip off her panties so he could push another anal plug deep inside her.
“Of course, you can,” he said reasonably as though it was something a person did every day.
“They’re gonna know.”
“How will they know?” He undid his seatbelt then turned and undid hers. “Hmm?”
“I don’t know, what if they have x-ray machines you have to walk through?”
“Baby, this is Wishingbone, there aren’t any scanners at the police station. And even if there were, the plug isn’t metal so you have nothing to worry about.”
She thought she had plenty to worry about. She chewed on her thumbnail. He pulled her thumb free. “You’re going to wear the plug because every time you move, it will remind you that I am with you, that you’re not alone.”
“A normal boyfriend would just hold my hand.”
He chuckled. “I can do that too. Wait there. I’ll come get you.”