Penmort Castle (Ghosts and Reincarnation #1)(54)

“Really? Then why did you pay me after with hundreds of pounds worth of new robes?” she replied acidly.

She hoped to all that was holy that she hid the fear that shot through her when she saw his face darken.

“That wasn’t f**king payment,” Cash growled.

“It seemed like it to me,” Abby retorted, making her awful lie sound real and, as intended, she successfully struck her target.

His darkening face turned thunderous.

“You’re a f**king piece of work,” he snarled, pushing off her and exiting the bed muttering, “unbelievable.”

At that point, Abby should have kept quiet.

She really should have.

But Abby often did stupid things so she didn’t.

Instead, scrambling off the bed, she asked when she’d gained her feet, “It was a simple question, Cash. Why do you sound so surprised?”

His dark eyes speared her and he answered, “Now, that’s a good question, darling, why am I so surprised?”

Abby watched, holding her ground with effort, as he came close, so close he was an inch away.

Then he dealt a deadly verbal blow. “I shouldn’t be surprised. You’ve made it perfectly clear you’re determined to hold onto a dead man so given time to shut down, you f**king took it.”

And that’s when Abby lost her phony cool composure and also lost her temper. Not solely angry at Cash and what he said but also angry at herself because she was so, embarrassingly, transparent.

“I don’t believe you just said that!” she snapped, her voice rising and becoming shrill.

“Believe it, Abby,” he clipped back, his voice rising at the same time it dipped deep.

Her voice was no longer rising, it was loud when she yelled, “You don’t know a thing about me!”

His face moved close to hers and he returned crudely, “I know I can make you forget him when my mouth is between your legs.”

“Oh my God!” Abby screeched, arms straight down, hands balled into fists in an effort not to slap him.

But he carried on. “And I know you’re full of shit. I know this whole act is full of shit. You’re terrified. He died and then you sacrificed yourself to him but you didn’t have the f**king courage to slit your wrists to join him, did you Abby?” She gasped at his cruel question but he didn’t give her time to answer. “Instead you’ve done the next best thing. I don’t know how you’ve managed to so royally f**k up your life to get where you are now. I do know you’re pretty f**king comfortable letting a man pay for your company but you’re scared shitless of giving it away.”

“Don’t think, Mr. Fraser, with all the clever skills at your command, that you can actually read my mind while you f**k me,” she shouted.

“Darling,” he shot back tersely, “I didn’t have to f**k you to read you. You’re an open f**king book.”

“Don’t call me darling,” Abby snapped.

“I paid for you, Abby, I’ll do whatever the f**k I want,” he bit back.

It was at that point Abby realised she was breathing heavily and so was Cash.

She stared at him, heart beating, breath coming fast. He held her glare and returned it until Abby could take no more.

She looked over his shoulder and asked with saccharine sweetness, “If you’re through with me this morning, Mr. Fraser, I’d like to go home.”

She let out a shocked gasp when his hand closed around her neck and he jerked her forward, her body slamming into his and his face coming within a breath of her own.

“I’m through with you Abby, for now. But you better f**king be ready tonight. Six o’clock. I’ll pick you up at your house and if you make me wait, there’ll be consequences.”

“I’ll be ready,” she snapped.

“Wear the f**king bracelet,” he returned, his beautiful voice had turned ugly, “and don’t wear any f**king underwear. You want to know the price of that bracelet? It’s you sitting next to me at dinner and me knowing the whole time there’ll be no obstacles when I f**k you after taking you home.”

And on that successful parting shot, he let her go and strode to the bathroom, the door clicking sharply behind him.

And Abby didn’t hesitate in dressing and slamming out of the house. She ran on her high-heeled shoes to her car and she didn’t allow herself to start crying until she hit the motorway.

Incidentally, Cash didn’t call that day.

Neither did Moira.

Abby went home. Upon seeing his quote, Abby gave the plumber the go ahead to fix the two other bathrooms and also gave the boiler man her approval to replace her two boilers.

And after working herself into a state about the idea that Cash would fire her as well as getting herself worked up in another way about all Cash had said to her, she called James herself. She told him to tell Cash that if he intended to forfeit on the arrangement, he could transfer fifty thousand into her account by the end of the working day and they’d call it even.

James had sounded strangely shocked and then he even more strangely suggested she talk to Cash herself.

When she refused, he stranger than strangely suggested she visit Cash at his office to “chat”.

The idea of Abby popping by Cash’s office to chat after their blow out was so ludicrous, she laughed straight out (not to mention, she didn’t know where he worked).