Chapter 16 #2
She snapped her gaze to him. Was he serious? She’d promised to marry this man two days ago. If she had thought losing him was okay, she wouldn’t have said yes. Would she?
He grabbed her shoulders and eased her onto the edge of the bed, squatting in front of her. “Ava, I’m serious. He doesn’t sound…he’s not…”
She stared at him, her features pinched as she tried to understand what he was saying.
“Come on, Avs, you don’t seem like you can be your true self with him.”
“That’s not true,” she said with a shake of her head.
“Isn’t it? He doesn’t like ‘messes.’”
“And what?” she snapped. “I’m a mess?”
“No,” he said, rubbing a thumb along her cheek. “No, Ava, you’re not a mess. But you are…real. You cry, and you get sick, and you have real emotions. It doesn’t seem like Chris can handle that. He doesn’t want a real woman, he wants a doll.”
“No,” she said, her voice still thick with tears.
“Yes.”
“He’s upset because I didn’t tell him this. And honestly, I can’t blame him. I mean, put yourself in his position. He finds out his fiancé has been married for seventeen years to someone else.”
Alex didn’t answer.
“Anyone would be upset.”
“Okay, but he didn’t know any of this when he refused to take care of you when you were sick, or when you don’t want to go out and he gets annoyed.”
Ava gnawed on her lip as she shook her head and leapt from her seat, pushing him aside to resume her pacing. “No. No.”
He rose and stopped her. “Yes.”
“No, you’re not…being fair, Alex. You’re not. You don’t…know him. And this is the worst circumstance for you two to meet because of that. He’s not…a bad guy. He’s not.”
“I’m not saying he is, Ava,” Alex said softly as he cupped her cheek. “But maybe he’s a bad guy for you.”
She stared up at him, drawing in a shaky breath as she instinctively started to shake her head, the tears reforming in her eyes.
“Okay, forget it,” Alex said. “Let’s not…we don’t need to…we don’t need to sort through anything tonight. Let him have his time, and see what happens, okay?”
She wrapped her arms around her midriff as she nodded.
“Now,” he said as he rubbed her shoulder, “how about you come kick my butt in Mario?”
She offered him a half-smile. “I think maybe I’m just going to go to bed.”
“Really? Afraid you’re going to lose?”
She chuckled. “No, just tired.”
“And upset?”
“I’m okay.”
He rubbed her cheek again. “You’re not. And I don’t want you crying yourself to sleep. Come downstairs, let your mind relax.”
She eyed him, finding comfort in his presence as she always had. He was correct. If she crawled between her sheets now, she’d cry herself to sleep. Her mind would spin out of control, and she’d created scenarios that she didn’t want to face.
If she went downstairs, she didn’t have to face it. She could shove it all away and slip into the safety of her past and the mind-numbing comfort of a ridiculous game while she sat next to her best friend.
She wanted desperately to forget everything. But she worried the distraction was a mistake.
“I could just pick you up and carry you.”
“And I could take you down before you even lay a hand on me,” she answered, the lighthearted response already making her feel better. “But I won’t. Let’s go downstairs.”
He smiled at her as he wrapped an arm around her and led her back down the stairs. With a sniffle, she settled onto a cushion, took a sip of her soda, and grabbed her controller. A click of a button sent her back into the video game world.
She flipped onto her stomach, letting her mind and her muscles relax as she played through until she missed a jump, sending her character spiraling into a pit.
With another sip of soda, she settled her chin onto the cushion as she watched Alex play the game. Her sore eyes wanted to close, and she let them slide shut for a second, feeling her breathing turn heavy.
When she opened them again, she immediately snapped them closed to avoid the bright light. After a few seconds, she fluttered them, confusion setting in as she studied the blue sky and the sun already high in it.
A blanket covered both her and Alex, who still slept soundly next to her on the makeshift bed created from couch cushions the night before.
She must have dozed off while they’d been gaming. She thought she’d only closed her eyes for a second, but she must have fallen asleep.
Memories of the night before flashed through her mind, unsettling her more than she hoped. With a frown, she rolled onto her side, her eyes trained on Alex.
As always, when she’d been a mess, he’d picked up the pieces. But she couldn’t keep dodging reality. They didn’t have a life together, not anymore. Their marriage was a lie.
They had a lie together, not a life.
She swallowed hard, settling onto her back to stare at the ceiling when a buzzing noise drew her attention. She angled her neck to find her phone lying on the floor above her.
Did she even want to see what was on it this morning? Maybe she could hide in the cocoon Alex had made her for a little while longer.
She couldn’t ignore it forever, though, she decided as she reached overhead for the device before rolling onto her stomach.
Before she could toggle the display on, a lock of her hair shifted and a warm hand rubbed her shoulder. She twisted to find Alex eyeing her with a smile.
“Hey, you.”
“Sorry, I fell asleep.”
“I noticed,” he answered. “It’s okay. You needed it. And you didn’t cry yourself to sleep.”
She offered him a tight-lipped smile. “No, I didn’t.”
“How are you feeling today?” he asked.
The grin faded from her lips as she stared at her darkened device. “I don’t know.”
“Avs, whatever happens, it’ll be okay.”
She didn’t respond. Would it be? She supposed whatever happened, she’d live through it. It wasn’t the end of the world. But it may hurt…a lot.
Her finger tapped the button on the phone’s side as she considered turning it on to check for calls or messages. Did she want to see if Chris had sent anything?
Before she could decide, Alex slid the phone from her fingers. “You don’t need to hop onto this just yet.”
He tossed it away, and it landed with a soft thud on the fluffy blanket near their feet.
“Says the king of technology. Don’t let your investors hear that.”
He snorted a laugh as he climbed to his feet. “You don’t have to dive into your messages right away. It’s the weekend. How about some coffee first?”
She glanced over her shoulder at the phone. If Chris had sent a message, she wasn’t sure she wanted to see it. His anger last night, most of which was likely justified, probably meant their relationship was coming to a close. Was she willing to face that?
If it led to another heart-bending discussion, she wasn’t certain she was ready to face it this early and without coffee.
She flicked her gaze back to Alex, sliding her hand into his and allowing him to tug her up to stand. He wrapped an arm around her as he led her to the kitchen.
“You know,” he said as he grabbed the already-made pot of coffee, “I probably should have booked that massage for you. You could use it.”
She plopped on the stool and waited for her coffee delivery, her sore eyes reminding her every second of what had happened last night. “I’m okay.”
He slid the coffee toward her before he poured himself a cup and joined her at the counter, sliding into the seat next to her.
He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “You sure?”
“Yeah,” she said with a shrug, not entirely convinced but not willing to admit it. “It was just a fight. Not our first, and it’s probably not going to be our last.”
“Was this your worst one?”
She shifted on the stool as she took another long sip of coffee. “Probably.”
“I think his behavior was a little over the top, and you should take whatever time you need away from him, too.”
“That’s not fair,” she answered with a shake of her head.
“How is it not fair, Avs? I heard the conversation. I’m not going to pretend I didn’t. The barrage of questions, the threat of needing time.”
“It wasn’t a threat, he just…Ace, I just dumped a huge terrible secret on him. Of course, he’s upset.”
Alex wrinkled his nose. “Sorry to be your terrible secret.”
“That’s not…” She shook her head before she let it collapse into her hands. “Please, Alex, I don’t have the strength to fight with you, too.”
He rubbed her shoulders. “We’re not fighting. That’s the thing. We’re talking. And no matter what, I wouldn’t ever do to you what he just did. I’d never cut you off because we were having an argument.”
“You can’t say that,” she answered.
“Why?”
“Because we’re not involved.”
“Ahh, last time I checked, we were married.” He offered her a tentative grin.
She clicked her tongue. “We’re not romantically involved. Maybe then it would be different. Emotions run so much higher then.”
“Or maybe emotions just run higher with Crossbeam Chris.”
Her eyebrows pinched together as she sorted through his statement before she stared into the dark liquid in her coffee cup.
“Let’s drop it, okay? I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. If you want to talk about it, let me know.”
“Thanks,” she said, her eyes still focused on her coffee.
“You want to game some more? Or how about that massage?”
The corners of her lips twisted up at his attempts to cheer her up. “Actually, I should look at those other people now that Jordan Haynes was a bust.”
“You can do that anytime. I didn’t ask for your help so you can be stuck working for me.”
“No, I’ll do it now. It’ll distract me.”
“Okay,” he agreed with a nod. “As long as you don’t mind your terrible secret tagging along.”
She rose from her seat with a sigh. “I didn’t call you a terrible secret. That’s not what I meant.”
He wrapped an arm around her as they made their way upstairs to the office. “I know. I’m just teasing you.”
Within minutes, she’d dove back into the private employee files. Alex hovered over her shoulder as she poured over the information, checking for complaints or histories that would suggest they may have had something to do with the missing money.
As she perused the last file, her hopes deflating quickly, she stumbled upon a set of dates that looked familiar. Her fingers tapped her keyboard as she tried to recall where she’d seen them before.
She clicked back to the folder and pulled up Jordan Haynes’s employee record.
“You’re not back to him, are you?” Alex asked.
“No, but…in the last folder, the dates of absences looked familiar.” She poked her finger at the screen at the unauthorized access complaints filed against Jordan. “Look at the dates, March 15, April 9, April 22…”
She shifted back to the file of the other employee. “And these…”
“They match,” Alex said.
“They do. Which is kind of odd, right? This person…Marianne Wells is off every time one of these occurs?”
“Which makes it seem like maybe she was trying to deflect guilt,” Alex answered.
“Exactly,” Ava answered. “We should follow up on this.”
“Can’t do it today. No one’s in the office.”
“Well, we do have her home address,” she said as she scrolled up to the top of the record.
“I’ll drive,” Alex answered as he rose and kissed the top of her head.
As Ava hurried from the office to change into clothes, she wondered if they’d finally made progress on the case. Maybe now things would settle, and she’d be able to get back to normal life. Though her mind lingered over one question: what did that look like?