My brother scoffed. “Just leave it with the doorman.”
“Cesario is a he, and he is very important to Avery. I can’t just abandon him with the doorman.”
“Holy smokes, Blade, we warned you,” Greg said.
“Warned me about what?”
“When you told us about your crackpot fake marriage scheme,” Hunter said. “We told you under no uncertain terms were you to fall in love with this girl. You need to be ruthless. If you have to make a choice between winning that contract and Avery, you have to choose the contract.”
“I am. I will. I’m not in love with her,” I scoffed.
“You’re taking care of her rabbit. You’re skipping family time so that you can spend all day Sunday alone with her. You are falling in love with her, and you better about face and kill those feelings,” Greg warned. “Look at what happened to Hunter. He fell in love with Meg, and it blew up his whole life. He’s never recovered. Now he’s just a glorified nanny.”
“Fuck you, Greg!” Hunter snarled. There were sounds of arguing, then the line went dead.
My phone rang again. This time it was Archer.
“Look,” I said, annoyance clear in my voice, “I promise I will come home next weekend.”
“Dude,” he said, voice urgent. “You need to come now. Avery is in the hospital. Her face was mauled by a giant mechanical dildo. Hazel says she’s in the emergency room, probably has a concussion. You better be the first thing she sees when she wakes up.”
I hung up, grabbed my keys, and ran downstairs, giving a passing message to the doorman to look after the rabbit. I was anxious as I flew down the highway back to Harrogate.
I should have gone with her. I should have been there. If I’d been in town, I could be there right now.I didn’t want to lose Avery. I didn’t want anything to happen to her.
“I hope you didn’t speed all the way over here,” Hunter said in disapproval when I raced into the hospital. “We can’t have you wrapped around a tree.”
I glared at him. “Where is Avery?”
“You have to check in,” Hunter informed me.
“I’m here to see Avery Broughton,” I said to the receptionist.
“Relation?”
“I’m her fiancé.”
She signed me in and handed me a name tag. I forewent the elevator in favor of the stairs, sprinting up them two at a time. I knew which room was Avery’s because there was a crowd loitering outside. Many of the women were wearing themed outfits that seemed to have penises all over them, but maybe the stress was making me hallucinate, because surely that could not be.
All thoughts of the crazy clothing flew out of my head when I saw Avery propped up on pillows. I pushed my way to her.
“Honestly, I’m fine,” she was saying. “Oh my god!” She jumped when I appeared in front of her. She was holding an ice pack to her face, and there was blood on her shirt.
“How long was she out?”
“She only stayed on three seconds,” Ida proclaimed. “But she’s had a few to drink.” She mimed downing a glass.
I turned back to Avery. “Archer said you were in a coma and had a concussion.”
“Seriously?” Hazel, his fiancée, complained. “He is such a liar.”
“I’m fine.” Avery’s voice sounded a little nasal. “I just bumped my nose. It’s not broken.”
I gently stroked her hair.
“Honestly,” she said with a self-conscious laugh, “I can’t believe you drove all the way over here. You were going to have a relaxing weekend.”
“What else am I supposed to do if you’re hurt?” I said.
