I call her,but again, she lets the call go to voicemail. Grimacing, I blow out a frustrated breath.
Shane:it was from first day. swear I was gonna delete it.
Avery:but you didn’t. u delete things every day. but u kept that over n over n OVER.
Shit.I stop walking and shake my head.
How does she know I delete my logs and threads regularly? That’s a habit of mine in case my phone is ever compromised.
I back out to the main page of my messages. Obviously, she could tell I clear things away because there’s almost nothing there. I erased old threads last night. The only things left are the video of Bardoratch from my neighbor and my last texts with Declan.
Oh, fuck. Another landmine.
There’s that text about the party at the Dark Knights club where Dec talks about condoms. If she read it, she must be wondering why the hell I need a stack of condoms for a party I haven’t mentioned.
Rubbing my forehead, I grimace. I was never going to fuck any random girls in the DK club, even if Avery wasn’t in the picture. Running train is not my thing.
I check the thread to see what I said in response.
Yeah, fuck, nothing to get myself off the hook. That’s the problem with playing my cards close to the vest in emails and text messages. If I’d texted that my condom brand wasn’t relevant, she’d have been clued in to the truth.
I head into the guest room and open the closet. A lot of Avery’s stuff is gone. Probably as much as she could carry. I’ve gotta figure out where she went. No matter how pissed she is, she’s too smart to have taken a bus back to campus in the dark.
It’s still early as hell, but Ethan’s sometimes up at four or five in the morning, working. I open my contacts to call him.
He answers immediately. “Morning, son.”
“Hey, Dad. Where are you?”
“In my car.”
“Headed here?”
“No.”
“Have you already been here?”
“Yes.”
Shit. He came and took her, and I fucking slept through it.
The silence stretches between us as I wonder what she told him.
“Is Avery with you?”
“Yes. Do you want to talk to her?” His tone is neutral, which likely means she didn’t tell him much.
I want to talk to her more than anything in the goddamned world, but we can’t have the conversation we need to have while she’s sitting next to Ethan. “No, I’ll talk to her later.”
“Okay.” There’s a beat. “Is there something else on your mind, Shane?”
“No,” I lie.
I don’t like that Avery went running home to them instead of staying to work things out with me. I don’t like that she broke into my phone. But more than anything, I don’t like that she found that video and left me because of it.
I should’ve deleted it sooner. Or better yet, never downloaded it to my phone in the first place.
* * *
