Chapter Fifteen
James
“It’s been two hours since Avery headed in to talk to his parents. Something’s wrong.”
“You said he was telling his parents he was breaking up with David, and is gonna ask to move back in with them. That’s not an easy conversation to have, man.
Give the boy some space. Jesus.” Keeping my contempt for his nonchalant attitude to myself, I didn’t respond.
Jack spoke again. “You still haven’t told me what your plan is with the cop. ”
“There’s no plan, Jack. Avery is going to move back in with his parents and break up with him. End of story.”
Jack finally looked up from his phone screen, but only to throw his head back and laugh. “Okay, so your love ugly is delusion. Nice.”
I paused my steps to look at him. “Excuse me? My love ugly?”
Jack nodded. “Yeah. You know… there’s always at least one ugly trait that emerges when someone falls in love.
” He shrugged. “Some people start ignoring their friends and family; some completely let themselves go… it’s perfectly natural.
Your love ugly is that you’re completely fucking cracked because you actually believe that son of bitch who walked in here and threatened to haul us both off to jail just because Avery got an oil change, is going to just let you have him.
Assholes like that don’t just go quietly into the good night, James. ”
“Don’t call me James. You say it like a fucking slur.” My pissy tone had more to do with knowing that, for once, Jack was 100% correct.
Jack snorted, “I didn’t say James, the big homo.” He punctuated the retort by sticking his tongue out at me before burying his attention back into his screen.
I turned around and grabbed my keys before giving my back pocket a pat for wallet confirmation.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
“I’m going to check on him. I have the worst feeling. And, if you’re right about the cop, then Avery might be in trouble.”
Before I could make it through the open roll-up to the back parking lot, the alarm beeped, alerting us that someone had come in through the customer entrance. Jack and I exchanged a glance, and, a second later Avery appeared in the doorway.
His eyes were red, and his cheeks tear-stained. He was breathing heavily, as if he’d been running. He took a deep breath and his lip trembled a second before he spoke, as if completely unsure of himself.
“James?” His voice cracked, and I felt like a knife had been plunged into my gut.
Is it over now? Was he upset because I’d lied to him? Did he think I tricked him on purpose; that I was playing games?
“Yes, baby. It's me.”
Avery’s standoffish stance melted as he released a choked sigh. I took a step forward and Avery slammed against me, throwing his arms around my back. I held him tight, bringing my hand up to cradle the back of his head as he sobbed into my chest.
“It’s okay,” I murmured. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you now.”
I glanced over Avery’s head at my brother who was standing slack-jawed staring at us. Then Avery stiffened again, and I loosened my grip enough for him to take a small step back as he stared up at me.
“Avery, I’m sorry I—”
Avery shook his head. “No, listen. We have to go. David found out about the letters. He knows!”
“What happened to your face?”
The left side of Avery’s face was all puffy, his eye especially. There were black smudges all down the side of his face and upper lip. It looked like the ink marks on the side of my left hand after I'd been writing.
“We have to leave,” he repeated. “He’s going to come here! I can’t let him find me.”
“Okay, let’s go. Let’s get you outta here.” I wrapped an arm around Avery’s shoulders and tucked him into my side as I looked over at Jack. “Move his car into the back storage garage so no one can see it.” I paused. “Are you good with that?”
Avery nodded and fished his keys out of his pocket. Jack collected the keys.
“Do you still have that phone he can track you on?” I asked.
Avery shook his head against my side as I led him out of the roll-down and across the parking lot to my car. The second I got Avery into the passenger’s seat and the door closed, I fired off a text.
ME: Hey, sorry to spring this on you, but I’ve got Avery and we’re headed to the house. His face is messed up and he’s scared.
By the time I got into the driver’s seat and started the car she’d replied.
JENNA: No problem, I’ll see you soon.
Avery remained silent, staring out his window as I navigated the winding side streets towards home.
As my whirlwind of emotions began vying with each other to bubble to the surface first, Avery seemed to pick up on my unease.
Without saying a word, or even looking over, he simply stretched out his arm and rested his palm gently on top of my thigh.
As if by magic, my intrusive thoughts died down, and I felt myself sighing deeply. I took one hand off the wheel and laced my fingers with his; glancing over, I could see the very corner of his mouth curl up in the reflection.
Peace.
I pulled the car up to the curb and killed the engine.
I’d considered driving around a few more minutes, or ‘missing my turn’ just to have another few minutes of Avery’s hand quietly intertwined with mine.
But Avery had been through a lot today already, and I wanted to get him settled.
Settled as best I could before I went and had a nice little chat with the police department.
I already loathed David, for obvious reasons, but seeing Avery come into the shop scared and beaten had me fantasizing about beating the life out of David’s beady little eyes with my bare fists.
Of course, David was a little pussy-ass bitch, and there was no doubt that his first course of action would be to put a bullet in my brain.
So, this was going to have to be handled differently.
“Baby, I need to know exactly what happened. In order to keep you safe, we need to get David out of the picture entirely. We’re going to have to report the abuse and document your injuries. You need to file for a restraining order. We need to talk to your parents.”
Avery’s nose scrunched up as his lip quivered. “I told my mother. She told me that David has a- a tough job and his behavior is basically to be expected. And that I shouldn’t throw my entire life away over a little tiff.”
I thought I was going to spontaneously combust. “A little tiff?!”
Avery flinched and pulled his hand away at the sound of my raised voice. I bit my lip hard enough to taste blood.
“I’m sorry. I didn't mean to shout.”
“S’okay.” But kept his focus on the passenger window, away from me.
We drifted back into silence for a moment before he spoke again.
“When the talk with my mom went south, I headed to David’s house to pack up my clothes.
He was in the middle of his shift, so I thought I had plenty of time.
What I didn't kn-” Avery sniffled and wiped at his eyes with his fingertips.
“What I didn't know was that he’d gotten a hold of the correspondence records from the prison.” Avery scoffed and a choked chuckled escaped.
“He found out who you were before I did.”
Guilt ripped through me like a razor blade, and I stopped myself from reaching across the console to touch him.
“Avery I’m so sorry. I never meant to lie or be deceitful with you.
I swear, I had every intention of telling you who I was the very first time I walked into June’s.
I just saw you, and you… you were more beautiful than I had ever imagined, and I-I got scared, Avery. ”
Avery unbuckled his seat belt, allowing him to turn in his seat to face me, “James, please don’t apologize.
I can’t take it. If one of us should be apologizing for lying, it should be me.
I lied to you for years! I betrayed you.
I promised you I’d wait, and I didn’t. I don’t know why I ever agreed to even go out with David, let alone to marry him.
Look at the mess we’re in now. I was selfish and worried about losing my family, and look what happened. I’m so stupid, James.”
“You did what you thought you had to do to survive. I wasn’t here to protect you. To save you from ever even meeting that fuck!” I did my best to keep my voice low and calm. I was upset, but the last thing I wanted to do was make Avery flinch again. It hurt too much to see it the first time.
I didn’t plant that fear inside of him, but, goddammit, I was gonna extract it, or spend the rest of my life trying.
I slowly reached my hand out and Avery glanced between it and my face before slowly lacing his fingers with mine. I brought his hand up to my mouth and kissed his knuckles. “What matters is that we’re together now, my love. And I won’t let anything separate us ever again.”
“Promise?”
“Pinky swear.”
***
After digging the extra quilt out of the hallway closet, I went back into my room to grab one of the two pillows from the bed.
“I, um… used your toothbrush,” he said. “Sorry, that’s probably gross, but I wasn’t sure what else to do.”
His confession caught me off-guard, rendering me useless to stifle the laugh. “That’s… oddly sexy in a very intimate kind of way, Avery.”
Avery’s blush began with the tips of his ears and then dappled his cheeks in red before blooming deliciously down the sides of his neck. As Avery turned bashful, he dropped his gaze to the floor and shifted his weight from side-to-side.
I dug my teeth into the side of my cheek to keep myself grounded and under control.
Seeing Avery standing in my bedroom looking like that, and wearing my clothes no less, was quickly spiraling into more than my resolve could handle.
He’d just been through a terrible and traumatic day, and the last thing I wanted to do was put any pressure on him for any reason.
“I just gotta grab some shorts, and I’ll get outta your hair and give you some space,” I told him.
“Oh,” he replied, glancing up before lowering his eyes again. “We’re doing that thing now where we’re totally honest, right?”