The Love We Hate

CHAPTER 3

The sunshine filtering into his bedroom through the open curtains he had forgotten to shut last night, told Trey that it was already morning and not butt s**t early morning but slept the morning away morning. He closed his eyes and growled into his pillow.

It was a good thing he owned his own restaurants and didn’t have to answer to anyone, per se. Otherwise, oversleeping in the middle of the week would have gotten any other regular person surely fired, he mused tiredly with his eyes still closed.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how he chose to look at it, it wasn’t really his fault that he overslept. No. He definitely wouldn’t allow guilt to swallow him for his sudden, somewhat lazy behavior. Trey could lay that blame firmly on the woman that had possessed every cell in his brain. If he was a believer in supernatural entities, he would have suspected Danielle Marvick was a succubus, a demon hell-bent on seducing him in his dreams, or just confusing the hell out of him. Or perhaps she was, at the very least, a witch.

He couldn’t understand why five minutes with the woman in the forest, while they threatened to kill each other, would result in him being unable to forget her and just move on.

At this point, Trey knew he would qualify to be called a creepy stalker, or just a creep. He reached for his phone on the nightstand and brought up the picture of Danielle Marvick he had stolen from Trick’s laptop a few days ago.

Yep. Definitely a creep.

He stared at the picture for a moment, his mind wandering. Information on the woman was disappointingly limited. She had no social media presence whatsoever. He had thoroughly checked. If Trey wanted to really dig into her life, he needed the help of Trick. That was not an avenue he wanted to explore. Just a thought of all the questions such a request would bring made him cringe.

With a frustrated groan, he locked the phone and threw it on the bed. He didn’t need to see her face this morning. Trey had already seen it in his dreams all night. He just couldn’t shake her from his mind. And a large part of him really didn’t want to. This was ridiculous and pure madness.

Dressed in only a pair of tight, black trunks that did nothing to hide the outline of his morning wood, Trey got out of bed and strolled down the short hallway to the kitchen.

He rubbed at his face to wipe out the last of the sleep still in his eyes. His stride took him straight to the fridge with only one thing in mind, something cool to calm his body. Trey went to grab a bottle of water when a voice suddenly spoke behind him.

“Now, that’s one hell of a view.”

Startled, Trey nearly jumped out of his skin before he spun around sharply, almost losing his footing on the cold tiles. “f**k! Abigail! What the hell?” he shouted when he realized who was standing behind him. Belatedly he remembered his state of undress and brought the bottle of water and his hands in front of him.

Abigail didn’t seem the least bothered. She let out a snort and walked out of his pantry with a tray of eggs balanced in her hands. Casually, she walked to the marble island, where Trey realized several things were already laid out and waiting for her. What the hell?

“Oh, don’t be like that. It’s nice to see nice hot things in the morning,” Abigail said, oblivious to his growing shock.

“And what nice hot things might that be?” Lorenzo’s voice asked from where he stood in the doorway.

His wife turned and gave him a sweet, innocent smile. “The view from Trey’s kitchen window. You know how beautiful the park looks from here in the morning. Especially with such warm sunlight.”

“Huh-uh?” Lorenzo walked over to his wife and claimed her lips in a rather dirty kiss that ended with a bite of her bottom lip. “Nice save.”

Trey couldn’t look away, even though he probably should have, seeing how intimate the moment the two shared looked. He watched as his friend stared at his wife, as though still wondering how such an amazing woman could love and accept him.

Even when Lorenzo had tried to let go of her, Abigail had still hunted his ass down and stormed right back into all their lives and refused to leave.

Trey could still remember her showing up in his restaurant with a dog demanding to see Lorenzo. Now the two were married with a son. Trey couldn’t deny he was a little jealous, even though he was thrilled for them.

Just then, Lorenzo turned to Trey and looked at him up and down. Considering Trey was still standing at the fridge with only a pair of tight trunks on, stupidly holding his hands and the bottle of water in front of his body like a shield, Lorenzo’s furrowed brows made perfect sense. Luckily enough, the shock of seeing his friends and the cold temperature of the bottle he held had made sure he no longer had an erection. It was a small blessing. They were close, but no one ever wanted to see that.

As though to echo his thoughts, Lorenzo drawled, “Trey, throw on some clothes, will you? I’m seeing way too much for my comfort.”

Trey blinked. “It’s my house!” he defended immediately. “What are you two doing here, anyway?”

He looked around, as though expecting the rest of the gang to waltz into the kitchen as well. It wouldn’t be hard to do since they all currently live in the same building and on the same floor.

“I ran out of salt,” Abigail explained casually as she started cracking some eggs into a bowl like everything was perfectly normal.

Trey didn’t buy that for a second. “Really? And I suppose Edward didn’t have any either?” It was a totally legit question since Edward’s and Talia’s penthouse was right next to Lorenzo’s.

“It’s not polite to barge into people’s homes unannounced,” Abigail said with a mock shudder. “Those two are like rabbits in heat. Almost found them doing it on the kitchen floor last time.”

Right. And the saying goes, birds of the same feather flock together, he mused. A smile crept onto Trey’s lips. Lorenzo and Abigail were just as bad, if not worse.

Just then, movement at the door caught his attention. He turned just in time to see a clearly still sleepy Trick, dressed in only pajama pants, walk in with a very active Arlo in his arms, held safely against his bare chest. The baby was very focused, trying to grab the necklace around his neck. Trick paused and glared at Lorenzo.

“I was still sleeping, man,” he grumbled.

Lorenzo shrugged nonchalantly. He stole a piece of sausage off the chopping board and earned himself a swat from his wife. He glared at her, then looked at Trick. “Arlo wanted to say hi.”

Trick rolled his eyes. He grabbed Arlo’s hand before the boy snapped his chain and kissed the little fist to distract the child. Taking in what was happening in the kitchen, his eyes landed on Trey. His brows immediately flew up.

“Why are you naked?”

Trey huffed with irritation. “I’m not naked. I just woke up and made the mistake of assuming I had privacy in my own space.”

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Go get dressed, breakfast is almost ready. You will feel much better after you eat,” Abigail said as she chopped some spring onions for an omelet.

Trick scoffed. “I doubt even your food will lift his mood, Abigail. He’s been like this for days.”

Trey bit his tongue as both Abigail and Lorenzo suddenly looked at him. Lorenzo’s gaze was particularly unnerving as it resembled the look a parent gave a child when they were trying to figure out what was wrong without actually asking. Trey would have strangled Trick.

A quick escape was needed; before Lorenzo and Abigail started asking questions he could practically see brewing in their eyes. Trey turned. “I’ll just go throw on some clothes.” Then he was gone and back in his room.

Trey put on some sweats and a t-shirt but didn’t immediately return to the others. He sat at the small table in his room and opened his laptop. He should have known he couldn’t stay away for long.

His email page had barely finished loading when there was a tap on his door and Abigail entered.

“Are you decent?” she asked when she was already in the room.

Trey chuckled and shook his head. “And if I wasn’t?”

“I would cover my eyes. Anyway, it’s not like I haven’t seen everything before.”

A sad smile settled on her face before she brushed it away. Trey knew exactly what she was thinking. His last injuries had been so severe he nearly lost his life. Gabriel and Abigail had nursed him back to health and, for that, he would always be grateful.

They shared a quiet moment, one filled with emotions and silent vows to always be there for one another. Then Abigail cleared her throat and made herself comfortable on the edge of his messy bed. The vibe in the room changed. She gave him a look that said she wasn’t in the mood to play chicken. Trey silently cursed because he knew what was coming.

“What’s going on with you?”

His eyes went back to the laptop. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb with me,” she warned, all presence of humor gone from her voice.

Trey sighed because he knew if there was one person they all dreaded taking the reins of an interrogation, it was Abigail. The woman was more stubborn than a mule when she was determined to fix something.

Still, he tried. “Just been busy with the preparation for the new restaurant.”

Abigail slowly leaned forward. For a woman who was younger than him and barely reached his shoulder when they stood together, she had a way of making him feel like he was a little boy caught with his mouth full of sticky candy and he couldn’t deny he hadn’t taken any.

“What did I say about playing dumb?” she asked him quietly.

The question was met with silence and it stretched until, finally, Trey shut his laptop and looked at her. “It’s nothing. Really. Just this once… Let it go.”

“It’s kind of hard to do that when you have everyone worried about you. Especially Lorenzo. And when Lorenzo is worried, he has this…” She waved her hand in the air like she was searching for the right words. “This other side of him that isn’t very pleasant.” Her face pinched in displeasure.

He arched an amused brow. “Is he holding back on s*x?”

Abigail scoffed. “Nothing would make Lorenzo hold back s*x, regardless of his mood. It just gets a little wild when he’s agitated.”

Trey raised a hand to stop her. “Too much information, Abigail.” He knew he started the joke to distract her, but he didn’t need details.

An amused chuckle broke from her lips. “You are not a saint, Trey.”

“Doesn’t mean I want to know the details of your s*x life with Lorenzo.”

She c****d her head and a mischievous gleam shined in her eyes. “Don’t know… Maybe you need a few pointers on how to really get a good lay and it might get you out of this gloomy funk you are in.”

Yep, Trey thought. Abigail always loved to fix things. And her methods or suggestions weren’t always sane or safe for public consumption.

“As tempting as that sounds…”

Abigail stood up. All the humor was gone once again. It was almost disorienting how she kept switching.

Her eyes held his as she said, “Something obviously crawled up your ass and is eating at you. I get you don’t want to talk about it…”

Trey pressed his lips together. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk. He just wasn’t sure what to say.

She gave him a nod, like she somehow understood. “I will let you be for now.” She paused and frowned. “Either get laid and shake it off… or I will be back and I won’t leave you alone until I know everything.”

She studied him for a beat, as though making sure he heard her and knew she was serious. Oh, she didn’t have to worry. Trey knew how serious she was.

Once she was satisfied he got the message, she walked to the door and threw over her shoulder, “Now come eat, I didn’t cook for nothing.”

Trey chuckled and shook his head, but he stood and followed. He had to know how to pick his battles. Refusing to talk and refusing to eat Abigail’s food all in one breath could quickly turn his morning into a crazy circus.

And he wasn’t ready for that.