A beat of silence has us staring at each other and then one of his dimples flashes as he tries out a small smile.
“Avery, I shouldn’t have…”
I cut him off.
“No, it was my fault. I…I crossed a line.”
He blinks at me in surprise and then his eyes crash closed as his head jerks down for a moment. He starts shaking his head and looks back at me.
“Baby, I was the one who kissed you. I’m the one who crossed the line. You didn’t DO anything wrong.” He scrubs at his face. “Can I come in…to talk? I need to go get Chloe from school soon and I don’t want this hanging over us.”
I back up to let him in while saying, “I can go get her! You don’t have to. I’m sure you have work to do.”
He leads me over to the couch and pulls me down next to him.
“Avery, I’m going to get her. You can come with me if you want but one of us will always pick her up, you know that.”
I nod so he takes my hand in his and gives it a small squeeze.
“You need to know that you didn’t do anything wrong in the pool. It was me, I kissed you, I crossed the line. I’m sorry.” His thumb rubs circles on the back of my hand and I force myself to ignore how that makes me tingle.
“Zack, I…I just don’t want to um, ruin…anything between us.” My eyes drop to my lap as embarrassment fills me but I push on with a whisper. “I know I work for you but…it, it feels like you’re also my…friend.” I peek up at him and the softness I see in his look fills me with warmth making it easier to say, “I really need a friend, Zack. I don’t want to wreck that.”
He brings my hand up to his mouth and kisses my fingers with an understanding smile but there’s something that looks like resignation in his eyes that makes what he says next seem hollow.
“I am your friend and I always will be, Avery. You never have to worry about that changing.” He sighs and sets my hand down, patting it a couple of times. “Let’s just chalk up what happened in the pool as being caught up in the moment of fun. We’re not going to let it change anything between us, promise.”
He pushes to his feet and smiles at me but it’s missing something, it’s dimmer somehow.
“I’m going to go grab the little bug from school. Don’t forget the guys won’t be home for dinner tonight so whatever you want to throw together will be fine.”
I nod as confusion fills me and watch him walk out the door. He said all the right things but now I’m the one who feels hollow.
Easton
Ipull Avery’s car into an empty spot in the parking lot and Ryker’s Bronco pulls in next to me. I pull my holstered handgun from inside my suit jacket and double-check that it is loaded and ready. I don’t foresee needing it but it’s always best to be prepared. We’ve got this loser boxed in from all sides with his embezzlement activities and the threat of turning him in should be enough for him to sign away all his rights to Chloe and Avery. Once that’s done, my contact at the FBI, Bishop, will come in with his team and scoop him up and that will be the last of any threat he poses to the girls.
The only problem that might throw a wrench into the plan is Ryker going beast and tearing the guy apart before we can make it happen. I’d be happy to see this fucker bleed but right now, that’s not the smart play. Seeing Ryker behind bars for killing this fuck won’t make any of us happy, especially Avery. I need him to rein in his inner beast so this doesn’t go sideways.
A large shadow blocks the sun from the window and I turn my head to peer out at him before pushing open the door to Avery’s car and sliding out. I glance over at the building our target works in with a grim expression. We’ve timed this so the guy should be coming out in the next five minutes or so. I toss the keys on the seat and shut the door and then turn to Ryker.
“I need you to hear me on this, man. As much as we’d all like to tear this guy to pieces for what he did to them, we need to stay cool. We need him to sign off on the paperwork. Tell me you will be able to control yourself.”
Ryker growls low in his throat with his lips pressed into a scowl but he gives me a sharp nod so I’ll take that as his agreement. He shoves the large envelope with the legal papers at me and I fish a pen from the inside pocket of my suit so I’m ready to get this over with as soon as the guy shows his face. Zack’s digging gave us a picture of him and the type of make and model of his car so he’ll have to walk past us to get to it from where we parked. Now all we need to do is wait.
Ry leans against his Bronco with his huge arms crossed and I flick through my phone checking emails as we wait. Even though I’m staring at my phone, I don’t see the screen. All I see is the stack of pictures Avery handed over to the lawyers. Each one showing damage done to her over the last four years. The more I think of her creamy sweet skin being covered by the bruises he inflicted, the more my jaw clenches with rage. What kind of man does that? Avery’s all sweetness and light so what kind of monster gets off on breaking that? Ryker stiffens beside me making me glance up and here’s my answer. This, this fucking loser walking toward us is that kind of monster. I push off the car and step towards the trunk, lifting my hand in greeting and it takes everything I have to keep the rage from my expression as I call out to him.
“Excuse me! Hi, is this your car?”
The guy is average in height, with a medium build. There’s nothing special about him, brown hair cut short and slicked back and a pair of grey eyes that look dismissively in my direction. He starts to shake his head but glances down at the car next to me and it causes his steps to freeze. My gaze is zeroed in on him so I see the way his jaw clenches even as his feet turn our way.
“That’s my wife’s car. It was stolen a month ago. Where did you find it?” He barks in a harsh tone.
I wait until he’s only a few steps away before answering him with my own harsh tone.
“Nowhere you will ever know. You can have the car back but you will never see Avery and Chloe again.”
He rears back in a jerk and then steps hard in my direction as fury crosses his face and spits at me, “Did my wife spread her whore legs for you? Is that why she sent you?”
