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was closing in on me. I hated the way he continued to scan my body with his gaze.
    I jumped when my phone rang, and R.J. chuckled. “Excuse me,” I said in a rush as I reached inside my purse for it. A quick swipe of my finger and I lifted it to my ear. “Hello.”
    “Gabby?” It was Audrey.
    “Yeah, hey, hi.” I closed my eyes tight and took in a deep breath. “Hi,” I said once again, trying to calm my nerves.
    “Are you okay?” I could sense the concern in her voice. “You sound funny.”
    “I’m good, Audrey, I’m just showing a property to a client.” I looked back over my shoulder to find that R.J. was still watching me closely. “What are you up to?” I suddenly no longer wanted this conversation to end. I felt the need to keep her talking, keep her as a lifeline.
    “Well, tonight I was hoping you and Brook were free. I was gonna come camp out.” Audrey had sold her flat in Boston and moved back in with my parents. I wasn’t sure what her reasons were, I just knew she also had no intentions of going back to that city.
    “What’s wrong? The endless home-cooked dinners and clean sheets too much to handle?” I smiled when she groaned.
    “I am entirely too old to live at home, which is why I want you to help me find my own place. But in the meantime,” she went on, sounding a little less annoyed, “I’m staying at your place a few nights, because I am dying at Mom and Dad’s.”
    “Okay,” I replied. I love my parents more than words can say, but my father was a control freak and my mother was a hoverer. I hadn’t expected Audrey to last this long.
    “I’ll be at your place by five,” she added.
    “I’ll be done here soon.” Looking over at R.J. once more, I saw that he still watched me closely. “I’m showing a penthouse at the Ritz-Carlton, in Battery Park.” I made it a point to give my sister my exact location. “We shouldn’t be more than fifteen minutes before I head back to the city.”
    “Sounds great. I’ll bring the drinks since you can’t have the good stuff,” she added with a laugh as she ended the call.
    I had every intention of being downstairs and climbing back inside my car within the next ten minutes, actually. R.J. had just made an awkward situation even more uncomfortable.
     
    ***
     
    “He sounds like a freak,” Audrey slurred drunkenly, yet her eyes were wide and alert. She was being overly dramatic, and I couldn’t help but find the current state of both of my sisters comical. Brook’s eyes appeared unfocused as she looked between Audrey and me.
    “Honestly, Gab, you need to pass him off to that walking boner Conrad. Let them sit around and swap dick-jerking stories.” Brook snorted in laughter.
    “The commission is good, yeah, but is it worth feeling as if he’s undressing you with his eyes every time you’re alone?” Audrey grew suddenly serious. “It’s just that men like that, men that get off on making women feel uncomfortable, they’re dangerous, Gab.” Deep in thought, she looked down at her hands as she gripped her glass tighter.
    Audrey never talked about the time she was undercover with the DEA pretending to be the lover of a drug-smuggling asshole. The only thing we know is that it was a horrific experience that she’s in counseling for to this day. She pretends she’s tough and unaffected, but at times like this I know she’s struggling with the way that man treated her.
    “Okay, okay.” Brook waved her hand in front of her as she tried to sit up. She was so smashed that she slouched back in the recliner, hanging half off it. Audrey and I looked over at her as she struggled to figure out how to get the footrest back down so she could climb out of the La-Z-Boy without dumping her oversized glass of vodka and pineapple juice.
    I bit my lip to hide my laughter as she pressed her feet down and grunted as the footrest inched downward. “What the hell is wrong with this thing?”
    Audrey cocked an eyebrow as she stared at our