It felt more and more like Avion’s happiness was my priority with each passing day, so it made me happy to know I’d made her happy. “Of course.”
“Um. If I send you an address, can you meet me? There’s something here you should see.”
“Sure. I’ll come right now. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, I just wanted you to see this for yourself so that you knew I wasn’t lying,” she said. “I’ll send it to you right now.”
“Okay. I’ll leave immediately,” I replied, already standing up.
“Yeah, but Gio?”
“Yes?”
Avion sighed on the other line. “I think it’s best if you come alone.”
Though I didn’t like going anywhere totally alone, trusting Avion was going well so far, so I said, “Okay, I will. See you soon. Bye.”
“Bye.”
I hung up my phone and a few seconds later, I got a text with the address. I looked up at my mom and let out another sigh of relief. “She’s okay, but she wants me to meet her somewhere. She said I should come alone, but if I try to leave this house without Merrick or Milli, they’re gonna blow a stack.”
“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “Let’s go together. If either of them asks, I’ll say I’m taking you out for a drink to distract you.”
As expected, getting out of the house without any complaints was a little challenging. Both Merrick and Milli insisted that they go with as well, saying that if someone saw me out in public and decided to attack me, I’d be in bad shape, but after a tongue-lashing from Tamryn about our abilities to defend ourselves, they had no choice but to relent.
We took my mom’s 4Runner from the garage because she insisted on driving, and we left, bound for the address that Avion had sent. We found ourselves at a ratty hotel about thirty minutes away. In the parking lot, I could see my Audi A8, confirming that she had in fact left on her own, all the information the attendant gave us was true. That mostly just meant he was definitely entitled to a raise.
And after being threatened by two Raines, probably a new pair of pants.
“She wanted me to come alone, so I’ll go find her and let you know what’s happening next,” I said.
She tapped me on the shoulder. “I’m gonna go for a little drive just in case Milli or your father decided to follow. Call me if you need me to come back.”
“Thanks mom.” I leaned across and gave her a kiss on the cheek, then I hopped out of the car.
I had a couple of guns on me just in case, but I trusted that Avion didn’t have me walking into a dangerous situation. Whatever she wanted to show me, I assumed it wasn’t too bad, because she wouldn’t have been so calm on the phone.
The lobby doors slid open as I approached them, and when I walked in I heard, “Gio!” almost immediately. I turned to my right and saw Avion standing off to the side waving me down. It wasn’t my intention to do so, but I found myself sprinting towards her, which was why she immediately said, “I’m okay,” as I reached her.
Before anything else, I threw my arms around her and held her close to me. Part of me wanted to start reprimanding her, but I knew that wouldn’t get either of us anywhere. Shewasallowed to come and go as she wanted, even if I’d been too chickenshit to tell her that up to this point. She had to hear it from the car attendant guy, but all that mattered was that, though she could have run, she didn’t. I’d muster up the courage to have the full conversation with her about it later, for the moment, I just wanted to feel her alive and well in my arms.
“I was so scared,” I admitted.
“I’m sorry,” she whimpered before pulling back and looking up at me. “I was afraid if I told you what I wanted to do that you wouldn’t let me go. This was just something I had to take care of on my own.”
“You don’t need my permission to go,” I said suddenly, and the words came out much easier than I was expecting. “So long as you always come back.”
She smiled and nodded. “Yeah.” She set her hand on my face and a brief look between us had us pulling to one another for a kiss. It wasn’t long or overly amorous, just enough to feel each other. It was like she was breathing some of her life into me, and I was more than glad to take it. “I’ll always come back.”
“Good.” I kissed her forehead. “Now… What did you need to show me?”
“A curveball,” she responded.
Taking my hand in hers, Avion led me over to the elevators, and on them up to the hotel’s seventh floor. We got off and she pulled me down one of the thin, cliche hotel hallways, to a door about halfway down. She brandished a key card and opened the door.
I snickered. “If you wanted to get me in bed, all you had to do was ask.”
She stopped short and turned around and looked at me. “First of all, that’s not true because I got hurt three weeks ago and you’re being a baby about it. Second of all, Iwishthat’s what this was.”
