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“Abe, please, stop.” He looked over at her, and a small, warm smile touched his lips.
“That’s right, bro. Listen to that bitch of yours.”
Sophia closed her eyes and shook her head. Of course Oxford had to open his damn mouth. When she opened her eyes, she saw how tense Abe was. His jaw worked under his tan, square jaw, and he looked ready to explode.
“First off, I’m not your bro.” Abe took a step forward. “Secondly, don’t you ever speak about my Sophia like that.” It only took a millisecond for Abe to swing his fist out and crack the loudmouth in the head. He stumbled back, and Abe took another step forward, following him. If she didn’t stop it now, it was going to get a lot uglier and a lot bloodier. Stepping right in front of Abe, Sophia placed her hands on his chest and lifted onto her toes.
“Please, Abe.” It took a long minute for him to take his murderous stare off Oxford, and when he finally did, she exhaled in relief. “Let’s get out of here. He isn’t worth it, not by a long shot.” Abe’s chest was hard beneath her palms, and she could feel the steady beat of his heart. After what seemed like forever, his body relaxed slightly, and he nodded.
He turned and grabbed the one full shot left, downed it, then grabbed his half-full beer and finished that as well. The crowd that gathered to watch the almost fight seemed disappointed there would be no bloodshed for their entertainment.
Once outside, the cool air whipped by them, and she hoped it helped to sober him up. Sophia led a very wobbly Abe over to her car. “You walk here?”
“Nah, got my bike on the side.” He sounded totally trashed and was only getting worse with each passing minute.
“Well, obviously you aren’t going to be going home on it, so I’ll send a text to Hunter, and he’ll put it in the garage out back.” She helped him into her car and shut the door before jogging around to the other side and climbing in.
After sending a quick text to Hunter about the bike, she started the car, pulled onto the street, and headed toward Abe’s home.6Getting Abe into the house had been a bitch, but he was now on his bed. His right leg and arm hung off the mattress. Sophia breathed out heavily, trying to catch her breath, because Abe was one big guy.
His chest rose and fell evenly in his passed-out stupor. She got to work on his feet first, taking off his big black boots and then getting his socks off.
For a moment, she stared at his feet. That had never been a particularly attractive part on the body for her, but looking at Abe’s had her insides doing funny things.
Keep it together, girl.
Sophia had done this too many times to count, so when she took off his belt and then unzipped his jeans, she didn’t think much of it. At least she tried not to. His pants were now unbuttoned and unzipped, but she didn’t attempt to remove them. That would take quite a bit of strength and energy on her part, and she was still breathing heavily from getting him in the house.
Her traitorous fingers started to shake when she went to work on the buttons of his shirt. With each one that popped free to reveal the hard, inked skin of his torso, she had to work on looking at him simply as a friend. It was so hard, though, so very hard. Her love for him was so strong, so fierce, that tears threatened to make an appearance.
Pursing her lips, she breathed out and freed the last button. After pushing the material open, she kept her eyes averted as she worked his arms free of the sleeves and tossed the shirt aside. In all honesty, she could have just left him fully dressed, but she told herself any good friend would do this. Yeah, right. This had nothing to do with being a good friend and everything to do with wanting to see more of the man she loved.
In his sleep, he looked relaxed, like he didn’t have a care in the world. The lines of worry were smoothed, and he looked like the young boy she followed around like a puppy. Her eyes moved back to his chest, and she followed the dark lines of ink.
Bringing the tip of her index finger over his right pec, Sophia traced the swirling pattern of ink around his nipple and down the hard ridges of his six-pack. She trailed her finger up the opposite side and rested her palm over his heart, letting the strong, steady beat calm her own racing heart.
She closed her eyes and felt her breathing finally slow, but when she opened them and looked at Abe’s face, her breath hitched. He watched her intently, his gaze clear.
