“We did.” Lorie seemed all too happy to turn away from Gio and face Tamryn, so she damn near turned her back to me to do so. “We were roommates freshman year, and let me tell you, Ihatedher at first. I mean, can you imagine this 5’10” beauty striding into the room, forever hereby dubbing you the ‘funny friend.’” Tamryn laughed and a smile came across my face. “And Itriedtoo. I tried so hard to hate her, but she’s the whole package. She’s funny, she’s smart, she’s charismatic, she’s kind. No matter what I tried, I just couldn’t beat her down.”
“I get that,” Gio said, then he looked at me. “She’s got a way of changing how you see the world.”
I could feel my face burning from the compliment. “Um… I didn’t intend for this to be an unearned, boost-my-ego session, you two,” I chuckled.
Tamryn flicked a finger between Lorie and Gio. “Seems like the two of you could bond just fine. Form yourselves a little Avion fan club.”
It was totally innocent, but Gio laughed and reached across me to tap Lorie on the shoulder. “I’d be open to that!” but Lorie jumped out of her chair and skidded backwards so quickly that she snagged some cords and nearly toppled a machine. In his effort to prevent it from falling, Gio lunged forward and grabbed the machine, which only frightened Lorie more, and she completely knocked herself over, only not hitting her head because Tamryn jumped forward to catch her. “S-sorry, Lorie.” He and I exchanged frustrated glances again, and after righting the machine, Gio stood up straight and gave my hand a quick tap. “I’m gonna go … get some coffee.”
Part of me wanted to stop him, but I could also see his brow perspiring and the twitch he got in his left eyebrow when he was angry. He’d been demanding a calm, relaxing environment for me and Lorie was creating the exact opposite. I really wanted the two of them to get to know each other since they both meant so much to me, but Lorie was making it perfectly clear that she wasn’t all that interested in doing that.
Gio opened his mouth to say something to Tamryn as he rushed from the room, but she just waved him off and he left without a word. Tamryn set to work helping Lorie off the floor and onto the couch she’d been sitting on, then she walked over and continued fixing the cords and machine before sitting down in the chair Lorie had been in before.
“Not going as planned?” she murmured to me as she sat.
“I don’t get it,” and I didn’t. “Her father is the chief of police. She came with a SWAT team to snatch me out of Gio’s house, then escape in a helicopter. I’m not sure where this skittishness is coming from all of a sudden.”
There was a sad expression on Lorie’s face when she looked up at me from the other side of the room. “Avion… I’m sorry. I think I’m going to go.”
“Why?” I said. “I was really looking forward to seeing you. Can’t you just stay?”
She shook her head. “I can’t. I’m not… This isn’t… We can’t… I mean you can’t…”
“I can’t what?” I said.
She looked towards the door and then looked back at me, but didn’t finish her thought. Not that she needed to. I could feel the disdain from clear across the room. Maybe she was expecting me to escape from Gio at some point, or maybe she thought I just wanted away from my brothers, but still didn’t want to be with Gio and his family. In all honesty, I didn’t really know what I was doing either, but I knew that things weren’t as black and white with Gio as I first believed them to be. There was quite a lot that I didn’t know, but I did know that I didn’t want to leave Gio just yet. I couldn’t say for sure what our futures held, but he was a part of it, at least for now.
And given that I wanted my best friend to be a part of it too, I needed her to get over whatever this fear was.
“I just don’t think this is a good idea,” Lorie said.
“This vacation in the hospital?” I said. “You know I didn’t pick this.”
“You came back to it,” she whimpered. “You were out.”
“I told you already that--”
Lorie held up her hands. “I know. I know what you said. That the relationship was toxic, but how toxic could it be? I mean could it be more toxic thanthis?”
Though I’d tried to impress upon Lorie the seriousness of the situation, I’d chosen not to tell her that my brothers actually attempted to kill me. Seeing how she was acting now, I was glad I didn’t. She was one of the many hoards of people who still believed my brothers were literally god’s gift from heaven, and even if I wanted to disillusion her some for her own protection, I didn’t want to disillusion her totally.
I looked at Tamryn quickly and saw the brief warning there --don’t say too much. It wasn’t threatening, just a silent push to remember the situation I was in. The reason Lorie was allowed to visit me was because everyone was trusting us both to keep anything she saw or learned from her dad. That, of course, was easiest accomplished by just not telling her more than what she already knew.
“Believe it or not, Lor, yes. Things with my family are incredibly toxic. I’m…” I looked at Tamryn and smiled at her a little. “I’m happy here.”
“Well, I don’t think that I can--”
Before Lorie could finish her statement, there was a series of crashes outside the room followed by the sound of a blaring alarm. The sound of distant voices screaming and dozens of feet running around were enough of a case for concern that Tamryn stood up from her chair. She lifted the back of her jacket and pulled out the gun. The way she crept forward while maintaining a look of confidence on her face was enough of an indicator that we were helpless.
Pointing at Lorie and flicking her towards the corner she said, “Move over there. Stay quiet. Don’t move.” Lorie gave me a pleading look, but I just shook my head. Given her current frustrations, this was incredibly bad timing. Tamryn snuck up to the door and poked her head out, leading with her pistol. I heard her huff, “What’s going on?” but was unsure of who she was talking to.
Backing up into the room, a little more relief filled my stomach as Milli stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. “Good to see you, Tamryn.”
“Zariq. Always a pleasure,” Tamryn replied, but she sounded like she was lying. “What’s happening?”
“Oh, just…” His gaze cast over to Lorie and she cowered even more into the corner. “Hello. Who do we have here?”
“Lorie,” I said. “My best friend. Is there any way you could turn your dark and brooding aura down a few notches? She’s a little freaked out.”
