Page 12 of Ready, Willing and Abel (Dog Tags #6)
chapter
twelve
Esme
Mia arrives while I’m in the pen with the goats, giving them food and water.
“How are the babies today?” she asks.
“Ornery, as usual.” I narrow my eyes at her. “Wanna tell me why you were already on your way here?”
She winces. “Let’s go inside. I’m just guessing from the fact that you’re not already neck deep in a pint of ice cream that you haven’t been online?”
“No. But clearly I should if you and Abel have mentioned it.”
“Is he here?”
I shake my head. Giving her a brief overview of what happened on our date and after. I chew on my bottom lip while we sit at my kitchen table. Mia’s already making fresh iced tea and has pulled a package of cookies out of my cabinet.
Curiosity gnaws at me, willing me to look. What did he not want me to see?
“I can’t not look,” I tell my sister.
“I understand. Just know that all of those jackasses are mean and deserve speeding tickets and to step in gum.”
“Whoa, both?” I tease.
It doesn’t take me long to find out what’s on the internet that I’m not supposed to see. Pictures from my date with Abel. All of the images are good ones, not weird angles, not me with food hanging out of my mouth.
But it’s the comments that are the problem.
Snakeboi: Dude, why you with a fattie?
RR485_jfk: He lost his weight and she found it.
MelLovesJason: No! He’s too hot for her.
North_Bellamy: Moooove out of the way!
RoundMama: Be nice. She’s beautiful no matter what size.
DethStR88: Abel, what are you doing? You can do so much better.
Jenny2004: I’m here Abel and I’m hot!
There are pages and pages—or rather screens and screens of them. On every site I visit.
“They’re not very creative, are they?”
“They’re barely literate.”
“Still stings. Not gonna lie. And I know we don’t match. I’m not blind. But he thinks I’m sexy. At least that’s what he said.”
“Of course he thinks you’re sexy. You’re a stone cold fox.”
That makes me laugh. “You are ridiculous.”
“Have you seen his accounts?” she asks.
I shake my head and pull them up. One by one. They’ve all gone dark except for a single post: Going Live Soon. Then there’s a countdown.
“What is he going to do?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” Mia says. “But it’s happening in less than two hours. And we’ll be ready no matter what.”
A knock sounds on my front door, startling both of us.
I stand and walk to the door, Mia on my heels. When I open it, I find Marley, the veterinarian.
“Oh my God, did I have an appointment for the goats today?” I ask.
She smiles and shakes her head. “No, Evan and I are here to get you. He got distracted with the goats.”
Then Evan appears. He gives me a friendly grin. “I don’t think we’ve actually met. I’m Evan, Abel’s handsome brother.”
And he is. Very handsome. But he doesn’t have those grey eyes and the sweet smile. Evan is affable, that much is easy to see.
“I’m Mia, the sister.” She reaches around me to shake Evan’s hand. “So where are we going?”
“Over to Dane Whitmore’s. He’s got the best audio and visual set up of anyone I know,” Evan says.
“Oh, is this about the announcement on Abel’s sites?” Mia asks.
My thoughts are ping-ponging through my brain so quickly I can’t catch any of them to focus on. So I just stand there in my doorway wondering what the hell is going on.
Half an hour later we’re stepping into Dane Whitmore’s home. His wife Shelby, whom I’ve met on more than one occasion, comes over to greet us. Then she introduces Mia and me what she calls “the rest of the gang.”
Jack and his wife, Lucy. Flynn and his wife, Temple. Beau has a very pregnant Daisy on his lap. Liam and Wren have their son, Keller.
Shelby looks around. “We’re missing one. Where’s Romeo?” she asks.
“He went on a run over to Beaumont to pick up some shelter dogs that were displaced with that recent hurricane,” Dane says.
“Picked up something else along the way too, from what I understand,” Flynn says with a grin.
“Serves him right after all the crap he gave us about our girls,” Beau says, then drops a kiss on Daisy’s cheek.
“Her brother is likely to kill him when they get back,” Dane says. “She’s young.”
I don’t know who they’re talking about, but suddenly it feels like I shouldn’t be here. I don’t belong with all of these couples. And with Abel’s brother and his pregnant fiancée.
“Stop that. I can see your mind working, and whatever you’re thinking is a big, hairy lie.”
“He just sent me a text and says five minutes,” Evan says loudly.
Shelby helps Mia and me find a seat and then proceeds to lay snacks out on all the tables bookending their living room furniture.
Dane turns on the television, and then Evan is standing over there with him while they get whatever connected. Soon, Abel’s account is up on the big screen and the countdown is nearly done.
The couples seem to all count down with the ticker like it’s New Year’s Eve and we’re watching the ball drop. But my eyes are glued to the television screen.
It goes black, and then there he is, looking straight at the camera.
“He is really hot,” Mia mumbles.
Mine,” I hiss.
“Meow. I didn’t say I wanted him.”
Then the camera pans out and I see that he’s on the set of one of the most successful and long-running podcasts.
What is he doing?