Jess let out a deep heh as he locked gazes with Abigail. "I really need to get that boy a girlfriend-" He glanced over to where Andy was now stroking the hood. "-or at least laid."
Abigail laughed.
Pushing himself back, Andy hissed at them. "You mock my pain, sir."
"Nah," Jess drawled. "I mock your idiocy."
Andy curled his lip. "Go on. Get in the house. Leave me to my suffering, you insensitive monster. You've done enough damage."
Jess shook his head. "Too bad the Razzie committee can't see this performance. We might actually have a winner if they did."
Hoping the boy would get over it without needing a therapist, he headed toward the house.
Abigail went over to Andy. "I really am sorry about your car. I mean it."
He looked up with a sincere stare that gave Jess hope Andy wasn't completely shot in the head. "It's all right. It's just ... a ... car. I'll get over it eventually." He pushed his bottom lip out to pout like a two-year-old.
In a weird way, it was almost adorable.
Abigail wanted to reach out and soothe poor Andy, even though his reaction was way over the top. Maybe it was ridiculous, but she felt terrible about it.
Because of her past, she tended to bond to objects more than to people, too. Objects could be stolen, but they didn't leave voluntarily. They were always there when you needed them, and they didn't say or do anything to hurt your feelings.
It killed her that she'd damaged something that obviously meant so much to him.
I'm becoming a massive walking disaster area. She was the opposite of Midas. Instead of turning to gold, everything she touched turned to dust.
Even her best friend ...
Her heart caught on that. She still couldn't believe everything that had happened tonight. Her friends were her enemies, and she was depending on her enemy to help save her life. Nothing in the world made sense right now.
Honestly, she just needed a few minutes of peace before the next catastrophe. A moment to ground herself before another storm blew through and swept her over the edge of insanity. But that was a luxury none of them had.
Unwilling to think about what was coming for her next, she followed after Jess, who'd already vanished into the house.
By the time Abigail caught up to him in the kitchen, he was standing with Sasha and a blond man she'd never seen before. Not quite as well muscled as Jess, the newcomer was by no means small. He had short tousled blond hair and tiny braids that fell from one temple. Dressed in jeans and a gray T-shirt, he had arms covered with black Celtic tribal tattoos. There was something about him that screamed ultimate badass.
And he pierced her with a suspicious look the moment he sensed her presence. That look pinned her feet to the floor and kept her from taking another step.
At least until Jess turned around and offered her a kind smile. By the friendly expression on his face, she knew it was safe to approach the other man.
She hoped.
Jess motioned her forward. "Abigail meet Talon. Talon, Abigail."
Relaxing a bit from his tough man stance, Talon inclined his head to her. "Hi."
Well, at least he was friendlier toward her than Zarek had been. Not that that was saying much. They'd probably be a lot friendlier if you hadn't killed their brethren.
In all honesty, she was lucky he wasn't attacking her, and she wouldn't blame him if he did. There was no telling how long he'd known the ones she'd killed. How close they'd been.
I'm so sorry.
Life seriously needed an undo button. The coward in her wanted to turn around and run. But she'd never been craven a day in her life, and she wasn't about to start now when they needed her to stand strong.
Clearing her throat, she forced herself to join them at the stainless steel island. "Are you the one responsible for the rain?"
"Yeah." Talon glanced at Jess and cracked a devilish grin that said there was an inside joke between them.