“Oh, Mr. McAllister,” the woman suddenly said, her eyes widened as soon as she seemed to recognize his face. “Yes, uh... your wife?”
I quickly let go of his hand while he gave her a warm looking smile. “Yes. She needs a copy of her medical records and any tests that were performed here at the clinic. For our insurance. Did you need my license?”
Keeping it short and simple. I had to hand it to him, he was still quite the smooth talker.
She nodded, her eyes darting down to her screen. “You’ll need to go to the records department. They’ll ask for your ID down there and verification that you’re on her HIPAA. But once that’s all set, they can print you off some copies.”
“Thanks. This way?” He gestured to the door on the opposite side of the office.
She shook her head, standing from her chair in order to lean her torso out of the little window to point with her pen at the door next to it. “Go through that one and follow the signs down. I’ll let Patty know you’re on your way.”
Avery grabbed my arm while turning from the counter. “Thanks so much.”
Without wasting any more time, and in an effort not to look any more suspicious than I already felt we did, we headed over to the door and slipped on through, letting it slam behind us. The hallway was poorly lit, and thankfully empty, giving us time to pause and collect ourselves.
Breathing out slowly while simultaneously trying tonotfreak out and blow our cover, I leaned back against the wall. Funny that something like this was making me feel like we were trying to bust out of jail when in reality at any point, we could walk away from this cleanly and without anyone knowing.
Avery and I had never been delinquents of any kind, choosing to keep to ourselves while the rest of our peers were off partying and doing whatever they could to pass the time before we all graduated and went our separate ways.
Yet, here we were at the precipice of something way worse than stealing my mom’s liquor and sneaking off into the woods to have a small bonfire and down it between the two of us.
This was a damn felony in the making.
“Hey.” A hand cupped my face. “We’ve got this.”
Looking up into Avery’s deep blue eyes, I had the instinct to argue with him but... couldn’t. Not when he brought me peace the second he dragged his thumb across my cheek, settling all of my nervousness instantly. He’d always had that way about him—calming the raging storm inside of me no matter what was going on around us.
I trusted him intrinsically. More than my siblings and my parents combined.
Still, I asked, “What if we get arrested?”
He shook his head. “I won’t let that happen. I’d get us bailed out before your ass can warm that bench.”
Despite my nerves, I laughed. “What a promise.”
“One I intend to keep.”
I believed him.
Avery wouldn’t make statements like that if he didn’t have full confidence in what he was saying. Not to mention if we were going to go down for doing something reckless and stupid like this, at least we’d be doing so together.
What more could I ask for?
Grabbing his hand again, I squeezed it. “All right, let’s go commit a crime, then.”
Avery laughed.
As it turned out,the price for a record keeper’s silence, and for a freshly printed copy of a former Russian model’s medical records, was about five thousand dollars wired to a local credit union and an old twenty-five dollar gift card I’d had stuffed in my wallet for a local fast food joint.
I never wanted to get to the point where I thought something like that was getting off easy, but... well...
Not to mention how hot it was watching Avery work his charm on the record keeper.
Picturing him doing the same thing but in a boardroom setting with a bunch of old men with too much money burning in their pockets, and a shotgun cocked to fire the word ‘no’ at any suggestion brought up that could possibly threaten their bottom line, was hot enough to make my pants grow tight the moment the papers were being passed over to Avery, fresh off the printer.
He always impressed me with how he could navigate a tense situation. In control, confident, and ten steps ahead. His mother would be proud of the man he turned out to be. I know I certainly was.
Once we were safely back in the car and the doors locked behind us, my entire body flopped back against the seat, sagging with relief that we were in the clear.
