Chapter 16 #2
“Hmm, how about the library? No one will kill us in the library, right?”
Ava lifted a shoulder. “Sure. Plenty of places to hide.”
Alex tugged his lips into a grimace. “Avs, I don’t like the sound of this.”
“Well, I don’t trust her but…I don’t think they’re trying to take you out.”
“How do you figure that?”
“I think it’s me they’re trying to get rid of to make it easier to get to you,” she answered.
He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close. “Well, that’s not going to happen.” He typed with one hand, sending the message to Miranda about the meeting spot.
They waited in tense silence for only seconds until she responded with an affirmative. “We have a meeting place. Let’s go,” Alex said.
Ava scrambled off the bed, heading for the mirror.
“Avs, you look beautiful as always.”
“Ugh, I’ve just been in the hospital. Beautiful is not how I’d describe my current look.”
“Beautiful is always how I’d describe your look. Come on.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the door.
She tugged back against him. “Wait, wait, I should change.”
“Ava, this isn’t a fashion show, it’s a quest for answers. Besides, you look great. That’s a designer track suit you’re wearing.”
“It’s a quest with a woman who wants to steal my husband. I should look like I’m at least trying to hang on to him.”
“Whoa,” Alex said, his eyebrows shooting up.
“What?” she asked.
“Trying to hang on to him? With what? Your looks? Ava, changing your clothes suggests that you feel threatened, and you shouldn’t. Plus, it makes me seem like all I care about are your looks.”
“Isn’t that why you married me?” She held back an amused smile, though the corners of her lips twisted upward.
“No, it was the money, remember?”
“Oh, yeah, that’s right.” She giggled as she let him pull her toward the door. “Sorry, I just…she gets under my skin.”
“Clearly,” he answered, “but I’m not sure this is all stemming from Miranda.”
She glanced at him as they descended the stairs. Before she could ask the door slammed shut in front of them, drawing her attention.
“Something wrong?” Chris asked. “Are you sick again?”
“No, we’re tracking a lead,” Ava answered.
“Tracking a…” Chris slid his eyes closed as he shook his head. “No. Go back upstairs. You’re not going anywhere.”
“I’m fine,” she argued.
“You just got out of the hospital. I’m pretty sure Alex is an adult and can deal with this himself.”
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “I’m not letting him go alone.”
“Well, you’re not going with him. Ava, this is ridiculous. You just got out of the hospital after a car accident.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“What is this lead?” Chris asked.
Ava shifted her weight, glancing up at Alex. “It’s Miranda.”
“Oh, what’s the matter, pal? Can’t visit your side piece without Ava?”
“She’s not my side piece,” Alex said through clenched teeth.
“Stop, stop,” Ava said with a shake of her head. “Stop arguing. You know Miranda is part of The Board. She has the tattoo. We need to follow up on this.”
“Ava…”
Ava pushed past him to the door. “Oh, save it, Chris. Like you were so concerned when it took you over four hours to pack your stuff and get back here. I could have been dead for all you knew.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Chris said. “Obviously, you were here resting. Alex was watching you. It was fine.”
Alex stepped around him, grabbing his keys. “And Alex will be watching her when we’re following up on this lead. Still fine.”
“Ava, don’t walk out that door…”
“Go unpack, Chris. I’ll be back as soon as we deal with Miranda.”
“Ava!” he called as they stepped outside and slammed the door behind them
Alex helped her into the car before he hurried to climb behind the wheel. “Beam Buddy was kind of mad.”
Ava sucked in a breath, her mind going over the conversation. “Yeah, well…so am I.”
Alex fired the engine. “Really?”
“Yeah. I mean… he’s gone for hours, then comes back in demanding I go back to bed. I could have been running all over the state for all he knew.”
“Not gonna lie, Avs, I kind of feel about him the way you feel about Miranda.”
Ava snapped her gaze to him, the words unsurprising but still cutting. “But…”
She let her head thud against the headrest.
“Hey,” he said, reaching out to take her hand. “We don’t need to discuss it now. I just…Avs, I really think…”
“What?” she prompted as his voice trailed off.
He stared at the road ahead. “I don’t like the way he treats you, Ava.”
She slouched in her seat. Chris’s behavior hadn’t been wonderful while he’d been here, but things were stressful. “Well, I think that you’re not really seeing–”
“The real him? I understand he doesn’t like me or this situation, but Ava, does he always make rude comments about how you look?”
“He doesn’t…” Ava tried to contradict his statement, but couldn’t.
“He doesn’t? Because I’ve counted a lot of them so far. Your hair, your track suits, the pink business suit. And that’s just some of it.”
“Alex, please,” she said, her temples suddenly throbbing.
“Okay, sorry. I just…I’ll drop it.”
His opinion crushed her. The stark contrast with how he treated her and how Chris treated her had been growing more and more obvious by the day.
While Alex had stayed by her side in the hospital, didn’t care how she wore her hair, and didn’t mind when she was a hot mess, Chris liked her pulled together.
He didn’t like life’s messiness. But Alex didn’t mind because he was just her friend. It was when feelings got involved that things got complicated, right?
If Alex loved her, things may be very different. He’d probably prefer that she didn’t wear the track suit.
“Hey,” he said, squeezing her hand. “Please don’t be upset.”
“I’m not upset–”
“Ahh,” Alex warned.
“Okay,” she said with deep inhale. “I’m not upset with you.”
“Ava, if he upsets you, why are you with him?”
She stared down at her lap, tracing the white piping on the light pink velvet track suit. “Can we please talk about this another time?”
He flicked his gaze to her, his fingers tightening around hers. “Of course, Avs.”
Her mind twisted in a thousand directions as she tried to piece together everything with The Board while also sorting out the answer to Alex’s question.
She thought she loved Chris, but she wasn’t certain of anything anymore.
“Thanks, Ace,” she whispered.
“It’s okay. It’ll be okay. Let’s just focus on Miranda.”
“Right. Neither of us likes her, so that makes it easy.”
Alex swung into the parking lot near the library and killed the engine. “You ready?”
“Yeah,” she said, raising her chin. “Let’s do this.”
He nodded and grinned at her before he slipped out of the car. He met her on the passenger side, taking her hand to help her from the car. He intertwined his fingers with hers. “We’re a team. United front, right?”
“Right.”
They strode hand-in-hand toward the library, pushing into the cool, quiet space. Alex slid his hand from hers, and slipped his arm around her waist, guiding her toward the Thriller section.
They rounded a corner, spotting Miranda pacing the floor between two stacks.
She twisted as they approached her, the smile when she focused on Alex slipping as her eyes flicked to Ava.
With a knitted brow, she shot her gaze back to Alex. “You brought Ava?”
Alex pulled Ava closer. “Of course, I brought Ava. She’s my wife. And what you’re doing needs to stop.”
Miranda huffed out a breath, her eyes going sideways as she shook her head. “Yeah. She’s your wife. In name only.” With a scoff, she stared at him. “I know, Alex. I know all about how this marriage is fake.”
Ava’s heart skipped a beat as her eyes widened. Her chest constricted, her ribs aching as she struggled to breathe. How had Miranda gotten hold of this information? And what would she do with it?