20. Chapter 20
Chapter 20
Grey
"Elsher is going to be no match for me," I insist proudly. "I think he was close to throwing his coffee mug at my head."
Avery shakes her head in disbelief. "You willingly went to a session with him? You must love torture."
"Only the best kind of torture," I say with a wink.
My eyes glance over to Deadman, his bored expression masking whatever is running through his head. There's a sharp flash in his eyes before he gives a quick nod, confirming that he's provided Avery with the cell.
To be fair, I thought I was going to have to persuade Christopher to help. It's disappointing that he was a willing volunteer—I would love to grace my knuckles with his face again.
"Ashwood better get his ass into gear," Damon grumbles. "It will be lunch time soon and we need to get things underway."
"I'm sure he's not far off," I humor him, jumping up to sit on the table next to Avery. She immediately wiggles closer to me when my arm snakes around her waist, dropping her head to rest it against my shoulder. "What did you think of your present?"
She tilts her head up to look at me. "It's great," she answers. "I feel better knowing I'll have a way to contact you all."
"Make sure you send me plenty of selfies when you're in your room—preferably undressed."
I laugh when she straightens up to smack my arm, cheeks tinging pink. "It's a work cell," she argues playfully. "The last thing we need is you draining the battery by sending pictures all night long."
"You know what else is long?" I tease. "It also gets longer if you send some pictures."
"You disgust me," Damon interjects, groaning. "Knowing my luck you'll accidentally send it to me."
Avery snorts with amusement. "Then you'll really be traumatized."
"Hey!" I gape at her, feigning offense. "I didn't hear you complaining yesterday."
The amusement drops from her face as her eyes flash in alarm. "Grey…" she warns.
I swish my hand around coolly. "Deadman doesn't care. I think we're past that."
If anything, his jawline twitched a little when I suggested Avery sending nude photos. Not in a negative way—almost like he's intrigued.
Seeing them together, relaxed for once, eases the built-in baggage I carry around. Maybe I've been looking at this the wrong way. They have both come far, and if I can trust Theo to look after her, then I should, logically, be able to trust my best friend. But we've reached that critical point where I realize how much of a cockblock I have been.
If there is something there between them, neither of them will act upon it now—or ever. Damon will shut down any emotion that he perceives as weakness, entering a state of tunnel vision to focus on the task at hand. While he's not one to listen to threats, I know he respects me enough that he won't touch Avery again because I told him not to. And Avery… she'll be stuck in a carousel of people pleasing tendencies, afraid to lose me.
And that's not a good enough reason anymore.
She's not going to lose me.
But it will always be in the back of her mind that I could abandon her—like I did before.
Regardless of her feelings toward Damon, she won't accept them fully until I do. She needs a push… well, a fucking shove, to take the step. It can't come from Theo—he's already open about our dynamic that it doesn't hold as much personal weight as my opinion.
She'd listen to him, agreeing and feeling relief that her emotions are validated. Knowing she's not a bad person will always comfort that mentality she has for herself. But it still won't be enough.
I'm holding her back.
And for what? So I can prove that I'm not like my fucking father. To inflict my trauma onto the person I love? That's no way to live, and Avery doesn't deserve that burden. She's always so focused on wanting to fix people, as if she's trying to prove that if she can do it, then she's fixable too.
She's not fucking broken.
Avery is perfect the way she is.
Then there's Damon. My unhinged best friend who has the most to lose. Yet, he doesn't focus on that—he puts everyone else first. People may not believe it, but he's a protector in his own ways.
At the end of the day, he deserves better too.
My life improved tenfold when Avery came into it. She's the light in my darkness, healing the ugly parts of me that I learned to accept. The only other person who ever accepted me just the way I am… is Damon.
I'm doing both of them a disservice by standing in the way. I think it was just a shock. No one could have predicted that they would get under each other's skin in this way. It was just assumed that they might kill each other.
The library door swings open and the three of us snap our attention to Theo as he stalks in casually. Hands wedged in his pockets, he looks completely at ease as he approaches.
As if on instinct, I find myself turning my attention to Avery. You know when you go to a wedding and the music starts, and all the guests turn to look at the bride? I was the weird teenager who used to watch the groom. That was one of the truest and most underrated displays of emotion. To be fair, it was only two weddings—both distant cousins on my mother's side who got married seven months apart. But I loved the idea of studying that level of body language—the pure, untainted raw emotion.
On cue, Avery's face lights up—not just her sweet lips, tilting up into a huge smile, but her eyes too. The gray sparkles as she soaks in Theo's presence, body relaxing as that sense of safety wraps around her.
"You're late," Damon growls.
Theo shrugs. "You'll survive. I doubt I missed much."
I cover a laugh with my hand as Damon reaches into his pocket, flinging a cell at him. Theo catches it easily, turning it over in between his fingers.
"A cell?"
"Obviously," Damon scoffs. "We need to be able to communicate at all times. The other numbers are pre-saved into the contact list. I've also saved our three numbers to speed dial. Avery is on one, me on two, and Grey on three."
Theo nods, shoving the cell into his pocket. "Have you told her yet?" he asks, giving Avery a smile.
A wave of confusion crosses her face. "Told me what?"
"No, I haven't," Damon answers. "You can do the honors."
Avery stiffens beside me, attention on Theo. "What is it?"
Without breaking eye contact with her, he smiles, trying to put her at ease before he drops the bombshell. "I went for a walk downstairs—to the lab."
"You what?" Avery yelps. "When?"
"Yesterday," Theo replies casually. "We needed to see if there was any evidence left behind. It looks like they have taken it all."
Avery narrows her eyes at him. "That was a really stupid thing to do. What if anyone had seen you?"
It's hard to miss the smirk that threatens to form on his face. "They did. But I took care of them."
"Of course you did," she grumbles.
"Does the name Dr. West mean anything to you?" Theo asks.
The change in atmosphere is immediate. Avery pauses, her nails digging into the table. The air feels thinner and charged with electricity as she slowly slides off the table toward him.
"Dr. West?" she repeats. "What do you know about him?"
My eyes shift to Damon, a frown appearing on his face as he looks back at me. She hasn't mentioned names to us, but it's obvious by her body language that he was involved in what happened to her.
"He was downstairs, trying to save equipment," Theo answers easily. I resist the urge to snort in amusement because he makes it sound so casual. But I'm willing to bet it's anything more than a fleeting encounter.
"What did you do?" Avery asks confidently. It's not an accusation nor does she seem angry—but it's something else.
"I merely showed him what it feels like to be a patient," he responds. "My finger may have slipped on the machine."
Avery frowns, nodding slightly as she takes in this information. "He's dead, isn't he?"
Theo's gaze snaps over to Damon, then me, before resting back on her.
"Yes."
There's no elaboration, just silence as we all watch Avery carefully. When she realizes, she looks around at all of us, shrugging.
"I don't feel anything. He deserved it."
"Was he the one who tortured you?" I ask gently.
Avery nods once. "There was another doctor too—a female. But she wasn't as cruel and heartless as him."
My hands curl into fists. Theo did the right thing—he did exactly what I would have done.
"I saw the machines," Theo says, filling the silence. "And he mentioned some of the experiments."
She peers up at him, face blank. "Thank you," she mutters. "It's nice knowing he won't come after me again…" She trails off, but some of the tension disappears from her body.
"We should anticipate some backlash," Damon informs us. "I suspect they would have found him by now."
"That's why it's a good idea to keep the cells on us," I finish. "Just make sure the guards don't see."
Everyone mutters in agreement as the bell signalling the beginning of lunch echoes outside the library door. The four of us wait a few minutes until we hear the sounds of footsteps from incoming groups of people.
"Call a meeting tonight," Damon mutters to me as we walk into the hall behind a small group. "We need to set things into motion while we have the chance."
I nod. "On it. What are we going to do about Arthur?"
Damon's eyes hover on Avery's back as her and Theo venture ahead, sitting down at our usual table. "I'll pay him a visit. It will help us get an idea on what could be coming next."
Following his line of vision, I reach for his shoulder, halting him in his tracks. He looks at me with curiosity as I pull my attention away from Avery.
"Don't hurt her," I mutter quietly so only he can hear.
"What are you talking about now?" he replies, annoyed.
"I mean it," I grumble. "I'm not going to stop you from going after her if that's what you both want. But if you hurt her, you and I will not only be done, but I'll end you too."
Damon's eyebrows shoot up at my words. I wait for some snarky response about how he doesn't care for her, that there's nothing between them—but he just looks at me for a few seconds longer before turning away and walking over to the table.
I don't make an effort to follow him, instead sneaking back out of the hall to loiter outside the door. When the coast is clear, I whip my cell out of my pocket, writing a quick text.
As soon as I hit send, I shove it back into my pocket, heading back inside the hall. Up ahead, I watch as Avery stiffens with confusion, before she recognizes where the vibration came from. Her chin dips toward her chest, and I know she's glancing under the table at my message.
Suddenly she looks back up, eyes scanning the hall to find me. When our eyes meet, I give her a quick nod, heading to join the queue of people for food.
I replay my own words over and over, tossing up between feeling uncomfortable and feeling accomplished. But this is the right thing to do, I know it.
Little Killer – You are my absolute everything. Everyone deserves the chance to love you too. So, if your heart belongs to three people, then that's okay. I'm not going anywhere, no matter what happens.