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Unable to take it anyain, only to see ain just in time to hear the coar

"Well, I don’t know if cougar is the right nicknaars tend to stick to strictly younger guys McKinley is actually older than she is How ’bout ‘heavyweight punching bag’? They all get a jab at her Eh? Eh?"

Nellie turned the television off, trying desperately to co down her face This was a disaster Now she knehy her phone was still silent and Abel’s was probably as well No one wanted to alert them of the stories Abel had proe, and they were probably all praying he hadn’t heard anything about it Roni may even be upset with her

How the hell could she have been so clueless about Saht slammed into her violently Abel may not have known before he left today, but as with her, it was just a matter of time before he did Would he possibly believe that she’d known all along who Sam was? That she’d purposely set out to humiliate hi to the bedrooet to Abel--had to explain it to him before it was too late The timelines on those photos with her and Saeles were all screwed up The captions suggested she’d spent the entire day with hiht when, in fact, they’d stayed out late because of the trip to the erip on her breathing now, but she was still wheezing She had to stay calm With this much drama all at once, her inhaler would be useless if she really lost it

She’d packed an elegant cocktail dress, and for such a huge occasion, she would’ve preferred to spendready There was no time, so she did her face quickly and put her hair up in a twist It would have to do With her heart still pounding harder than it had been all rabbed her clutch and ran out

The elevator door opened, and she nearly ran into a grave-faced Andy, who stood right in front of the doors "Andy, I have to get to Abel," she said as she stepped out of the elevator

"Do you now?" he asked, his face still harder than she’d ever seen it "Haven’t you done enough?"

"But I didn’t know If I had known--"

"Look, the da nuts over all this, but we think he still has a chance at the fight if he could just get his onna help"

"But I have to explain," she said, barely able to catch her breath, and she began digging in her purse for her inhaler

"Let me be honest with you, Nellie" Andy stared at her coldly "He sent et you He’s furious about this, but I don’t think you going down there now is a good idea at all Neither do any of the guys I saw the way they all looked atI don’t find you"

"But he wantsAbel was furious with her now overwhel her

"Not for the reasons he may’ve earlier" Andy snapped back "He wants to let you have it now I’ve never seen hi the warm tears fill her eyes, she shook her head "I had no idea and I can explain it all"

"Explain all you want after," Andy stared at her, not even atte to hide his utter contempt for her "If you care for hiht You’ll have plenty of ti into it with you just before the fight and getting hiood idea?" He lifted his brow "He doesn’t really want you there, Nellie He’s just too worked up to listen to reason He’s so pissed off that he thinks telling you off will so a hit from her inhaler, which at this point was pretty useless, she stared at him as she felt the warm stream of tears pour down her cheeks and continued to wheeze "Tell him I’m so sorry I really had no idea" She stopped to inhale a slow trickle of air that flowed through that fa in her chest "Tell hiet back in the elevator, but it didn’t feel right, not any for hi Andy had just told her?

"Just wait for hi the button for the elevator

"No," she shook her head, still struggling to breathe and wheezed loudly "I can’t Tell him to call an to walk away "This way You’ll gether out the back door, the one she and Abel had arrived in that first day, he quickly hailed her a cab She slid into the back seat, clutching her purse "Tell hi the door She had no idea where she was headed All she kneas she had to get away Andy stuck his head in the frontand said so to the driver, but she couldn’t hear what he said over her wheezing From the look on the driver’s face when he turned to look at her wide-eyed, Andy had told him who she was