“Kept Safe”

“Dwayne, you can’t be serious!” Abby exclaimed. “You can’t just keep me here and expect me to...to... what? What is it you want from me, Dwayne? Huh?”

“I want what I’ve always wanted, darlin’,” Dwayne grinned at her from across the room. “I want us to be a family. You my lovin’ wife and me, your devoted husband.”

She was at her wits end with him, had been since he’d brought her here to this humongous estate he’d bought for her here in The Glen a week earlier. They’d had a wonderful time at Andy and Lucy’s wedding together, and afterwards Dwayne said he had a surprise for her and this is where she’d been forced to stay ever since. He’d let her collect her things from the boarding house a few days earlier, but now he was refusing to let her off the property, or out of the house, for that matter. She was a virtual prisoner there and she wasn’t happy.

“Dwayne, how can you expect me to be a loving wife to you if you keep me prisoner here?”

“Oh now, Abby darlin’, you’re not a prisoner here,” he told her, as he sat down on the couch next to her, slipping his arm around her shoulders. “I’m just trying to keep you safe is all. Don’t want that O’Brien fellow gettin’ his hooks back into you. Nope, best keep you here with me ‘til he moves on to some other gal.”

“Dwayne, are you...mental? Didn’t you see him at the wedding with that...that... girl... hanging all over him? And afterwards – at Andy’s restaurant – they might as well had just done it right there in the booth! I think he made it perfectly clear he’s moved on.”

“Yeah? Well, I saw the looks he was givin’ you when you weren’t lookin’. He was just trying to make you jealous is all. That’s why he was there with that trollop. Nope, you’re stayin’ right here with me where I can keep an eye on you, darlin’. At least for the time being.”

“And if I don’t want to stay here?” she asked.

“Now Abby, I thought you said you loved me and wanted to be my bride again? Why wouldn’t you want to stay right here with me? Just think of this as our second honeymoon, that’s all.”

Abby bit her lip. She’d play along, for now, until he let his guard down again. Then, she’d run... fast and far away. “A second honeymoon sounds... lovely, Dwayne. Just lovely. Maybe we should take a trip somewhere instead though? I need to check in with my boss, too, make sure it’s okay that I take this time off. He wasn’t too pleased that I got that Ross guy to fill in for me at the last moment like that. Libby’s doing her best to fill in now, but that can’t possibly last. I need to make an appearance there or people might think something is wrong.”

“You just let me handle that, darlin’,” he told her, smoothly, as he kissed his way down her long neck. “As the Aussie’s here say, no worries.”

TBC...