Chapter 4 #2
“The kind of woman I am is a lesbian. The person I’m marrying is another woman.
Miles is great, but he’s just here to give me support.
I don’t care who he fucks…” She mouthed the word a second time, and I wondered if that was the first time she’d said it in front of her father.
“I don’t care, because what Miles does with his dick has zero to do with me. ”
“You what?” Winters stared at her. “Oh no, you don’t. I told you that sort of thing was not acceptable.”
“Yeah, I was fifteen when you told me that. I tried for a long time to be what you wanted.” Avery shivered, folding her arms with her hands tucked under.
“But I’m not that kid anymore.” I rested a hand on Avery’s back and hoped someone was filming her courage for Rachel to see.
Avery shot me a little smile and said, “I’m a woman in love with another woman, and I’m sick of letting your money and your control keep me from living my life. ”
“Not on my dime. All those artworks you claim are so important?” Winters sounded like a man grasping for leverage. “If you want to keep them, you’ll toe the line, girl.”
“Mr. Winters!” The bodyguard waved his phone in our faces. “Someone’s at the estate, moving things around. The alarm wasn’t triggered, but there’s a big truck on the driveway.”
“There’s what?” Winters grabbed the man’s wrist to look.
“I let them in.” Avery’s giggle verged on hysteria. “That’s my art and my stuff, and I’m taking it with me when I go.”
“The fuck you are!” Winters gave the bodyguard a shove. “Call the cops. What are you waiting for?”
“There’s nothing the cops can do,” Avery told her father. “I wrote a letter of permission. I have the receipts for everything.”
“Paid out of my money.”
“With my name on them.”
Winters’ face purpled. “Well, there’s something I can do. Move it, Muller. Get my driver. Now!” He rushed toward the door, trailing the bodyguard.
Avery eyed me wildly. “Now what?”
“Come on.” I set my glass on the floor, took her hand, and towed her in his wake. “I bet we can beat them home.” I wasn’t about to let Winters bear down on Logan without me there. “Can you run in those shoes?”
Avery whipped them off. “Can now.” She sprinted through the crowd, and I had to do some dodging to stick close behind her.
We burst out the door into the Oregon January chill. Avery didn’t slow down despite her bare feet and sleeveless dress.
“You’re going to freeze,” I shouted.
“Which way?” she threw over her shoulder.
“Here.” I resisted the urge to pick her up and led our dash across the cold pavement to the car. Once inside, I cranked the heat high and pulled out of my parking space.
Avery laughed, sounding truly joyful. “Holy fuck, Miles!”
The tires squealed as I turned out of the lot onto the road. I sped up to the safe limit for not getting pulled over. “You okay?”
“I’m… not sure. Right now, I feel great. Like, I came out to my dad. I told him to go to hell.”
Not in so many words, but yeah, that had been the effect. “You should call Rachel.”
“What time is it there?”
I didn’t have room in my head to do the math, but our evening was their daytime. Anyhow, “Rachel won’t care. Call her.”
“Right.” Avery reached into her tiny purse for her phone.
I focused on driving and not eavesdropping too much, but even without trying, I heard the love and excitement between them as Avery filled Rachel in.
After a moment, Avery said, “Rach wants to be on speaker.” She touched her screen.
“Hey, Miles,” Rachel said. “You there?”
“Yep.” We pulled up to a red light and I reached into the back for the sweatshirt I’d been wearing to move stuff around the studio, tossing it to Avery. She set her phone in the cup holder and pulled the outsized fleece over her dress.
Rachel told me, “You take care of my girl, understand?”
I said, “She’s doing a good fucking job of that herself. You should’ve heard her tell Winters to go fuck off. You’d have loved it.”
“Was he mad?”
“Well, sure. Especially since we did it in front of his golf buddies.”
Rachel laughed. “Wish I’d been there to see her.”
Avery said, “I didn’t want to wait another month.”
“No, baby, it’s okay,” Rachel reassured her. “This has been a long time coming and I’m so glad you went for your freedom.”
“I’d fucked up Miles’s life enough already.” Avery turned an apologetic look on me.
“I’m fine,” I told them both. “I didn’t mind.”
“Sure you did,” Rachel said. “But we’ll make it up to you.”
Avery asked me, “Who’s supervising the movers at Dad’s house? You said a friend?”
“Uh, yeah. About that.” Telling Avery wasn’t a problem, but Rachel was going to give me a hard time. “So a funny thing happened on the way to the party.” I took a corner a little sharper than was ideal, and Avery grabbed the Jesus bar over the door. “Sorry,” I muttered.
“What funny thing?” I could hear suspicion in Rachel’s voice. “You didn’t bring that guy you were fucking to Winter’s house, did you?”
“Not that guy.” I was pissed Rachel thought I’d even talk to Jayden after what he did.
I decided, given how she felt about Logan, I didn’t want to have this argument with her right now.
“Another friend. Anyhow.” I glanced around.
“We’re two minutes out. With luck, we’ve beaten Winters here, but if the truck’s still loading, this could be less than fun. ”
Rachel said, “Good luck! Avery, call me after. No matter what, okay?”
“Okay,” Avery said. “Love you.”
“Love you too.”
I turned in at the open gate to the Winters estate as Avery put her phone away.
Sure enough, a big truck and an SUV still stood in front of the studio, the truck’s loading door up.
I scrambled out and ran over with Avery behind me.
Logan turned my way, and I warned him, “Winters is incoming. How close are you?”
“Just done,” he said.
“Let’s roll out, then.” I turned to the familiar-looking man standing behind the truck, carefully stowing the ramp. I was pretty sure he was the company owner I’d hired. “Thousand-dollar bonus each if everyone’s out the gate within a minute.”
The guy stared at me, then shouted, “Guys, we’re out of time. Close up and let’s go!”
Five men hurried out of the studio and climbed into the SUV. Another headed for the driver’s side of the truck. The man I’d spoken to hauled down the loading door, cranked the latch shut and safety-locked it. “All set.”
“Go! I’ll meet you at the storage facility. Thank you.”
He saluted me and rushed to climb up into the cab. The truck engine rumbled, the SUV headed off down the drive, and the truck followed. As we watched, the SUV passed through the gates and turned onto the road. The truck exited and paused as a dark limo came squealing around the corner.
“Go, go, go!” I shouted, although they couldn’t hear me.
Luckily, the driver decided that leaving the scene was the right choice.
The truck lumbered out of the drive and made the turn, pulling away as the limo approached.
Avery sprinted toward the road in her bare feet, silver dress, and sweatshirt, waving her arms. The limo paused at the driveway, as if debating whether to chase the truck or come her way.
After a few seconds, the driver opted to turn in through the gate.
“Come on,” I called to Logan. “That’s Avery’s dad. We need to back her up.”
As we ran after her, the limo charged up the drive, right past us, and slewed to a stop blocking my SUV.
Winters climbed out of the back in his tux and shiny shoes, and strode toward his daughter. “What was that?” he demanded, poking a finger at her. “What did you do?”
For a second, Avery wilted, glancing over her shoulder as if thinking about running, but then she folded her arms and stood tall. “That was my art and my equipment, in a truck I rented. I’m leaving, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“The hell there’s not.” Winters glared at me as Logan and I backed up Avery, then focused back on her. “You’re a thief.”
“You know what?” Avery took a deep breath. “Fuck off.”
I applauded her loudly and after a second, Logan joined in. The absolute insanity of this moment was doing in my head, but I couldn’t help grinning.