Free Frey by Faith Gibson

unapologetically.
    Abbi couldn’t stop the tears from rolling
down her cheeks. Her precious brother never spoke of their parents,
their past, but now he’d laid it all out to a stranger just to
protect her. She pulled him into a back-breaking hug. What if they
could help her? What if there was a way to finally be free from her
prison? Abbi wouldn’t let herself get her hopes up. Not yet. Hope
was the enemy.
    Wiping the tears from her face, she said,
“Come on, let’s eat.” Abbi didn’t agree to anything. She couldn’t
let her brother put any thoughts into her head that may or may not
pan out. She heated up both their plates and placed them on the
table. She pushed her paper and pencil aside.
    “ What are you working on?”
Matt asked, truly interested in what his sister was involved in. He
really was a good kid.
    “ The fall festival. The
committee chose The Nutcracker as the theme, and they put me in
charge.”
    “ Abs! That’s… Are you
going to dance? You should totally dance.” Matthew’s eyes lit up
with excitement. When he was little, he would watch Abbi practice.
Sometimes he would mimic her moves, spinning and twirling. Once,
she even caught him in her toe shoes. That memory of a tiny little
boy trying to walk in her ballet shoes, flopping like he had duck
feet brought a laugh from her throat. Surprised, she glanced at her
brother whose mouth was open. God, had it been that long since he’d
heard her laugh?
    Just as quickly as the happy memory formed,
a bolt of sadness pierced her heart. “You know I don’t dance
anymore.”
    “ Well, you should. You
were the best dancer ever, and you should really think about doing
it again. If we could…”
    “ Hush. Just hush, Matty.”
Abbi stood and dumped her uneaten food in the garbage. She quickly
put the leftovers in plastic containers and shoved the pans in the
dishwasher. “I’m going to turn in. Oh, I almost forgot. Troy is
going to second shift starting tomorrow, so please be as quiet as
possible in the morning.”
    Abbi didn’t miss the grin
that quirked the side of his mouth. “I’ll be quiet. Love you, Abs.”
Matt stood and kissed her on the cheek before heading to his own
bedroom. He grinned. He flipping grinned. Matt knew about Troy
going to second shift. Thinking back to Troy’s words, the detective and the Neanderthal, it was starting to make sense. Geoffrey Hartley.
He knew about Troy, and he had called in his cousin. Abbi didn’t
know what to make of that. Could there really be a way? Could Frey
and his detective cousin help her? And what about his brother
tutoring Matty? Why was this man getting so involved in their
lives?
    Abbi got ready for bed in the hall bathroom.
When she entered her bedroom, Troy was snoring loudly, something he
did when he was drunk. Still, as quietly as possible, Abbi eased
onto her side of the bed. Once she was under the covers, she didn’t
dare move. Abbi lay still, staring at the ceiling, allowing her
mind to drift to the gym owner. Was he responsible for Troy going
to second shift? Closing her eyes, a scene played out somewhere in
the recesses of her mind. Abbi was dressed in her ballet tights-
stretching, jumping, and pirouetting. She ran across the wooden
floor, leaping, landing in the arms of Geoffrey Hartley.
    When Abbi woke the next morning, Troy’s side
of the bed was empty. Abbi listened for any sign of her husband in
another part of the house. When she heard nothing, she got out of
bed and headed for the shower. Normally she would grab a cup of
coffee and take it into the bathroom with her. She didn’t want to
chance running into Troy, so she skipped that part of her
routine.
    With the shower running, Abbi didn’t hear
the bathroom door open. Her hair was full of shampoo suds, her
hands massaging her scalp, her eyes closed. Cold air skimmed across
her back, and she knew. She knew Troy was going to take her right
there in the shower. She leaned her head under the spray of water
to rinse the