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“The cabin? Shit, I forgot about that place. Last time I was there, it was falling apart.”
“I’ve fixed it up a little and cleaned it. It’s not too bad now.”
“But why?”
“She’s going to need a place to stay. And like you said, she won’t be welcomed back at Apex.”
“I’m not too sure about that anymore,” I mutter.
“What?”
“Nothing. Anyway, with the way we ended things yesterday, and hell, after how I just spoke to her, you’d have to knock her out and kidnap her to get her there.”
He’s quiet. Too quiet. And he’s only like that when he’s plotting.
“Creed? You’re not kidnapping Avery. Are you sure you’re not the one that’s been drinking?”
“Is it even kidnapping if it’s your wife?”
“Yeah, Creed, I’m pretty sure it’s still a felony even if the woman is married to you.”
“Look, all we need is a little time away from the others to get the answers to the questions we’ve spent four years asking ourselves.”
I wipe my hand down my face and grimace. Am I actually considering it?
“Hypothetically, if we did kidnap her, how would we get it past Oz and Zig? They’ll expect us to be back in rotation.”
“I was thinking about that. With everything that went down with the shooting, I haven’t had a chance to tell them we’ve wrapped up the Duggan case early. As far as they know, we’ve gotta fly back out to Georgia tomorrow.”
“Fuck, Creed. This is a bad idea.”
“I know, but it’s the only idea I’ve got. Something tells me if we don’t do this, she’ll slip through our fingers again, and this time it will be for good. I have to know why she left, Hawk. And it’s eating me alive.”
“Fuck. Fine, but we can’t tell anyone.”
“Agreed. We’ll deal with the fallout later. But if things play out the way I hope, they’ll never know.”
Something tells me that’s not gonna to happen. If I were a betting man, I’d put money on this whole thing blowing up in our faces.
Chapter Five
Avery
I’m grateful for the silence when Greg leaves to get a drink. To say the man was pissed over the way Hawk spoke about me is an understatement. For me, though, I’ll admit a numbness has begun to set in. My brain and body are finally on board with each other. And even in my state of numbness, I know that if I let myself feel the damage Hawk’s words inflicted, I might never recover.
I gaze out the window and wonder when enough is enough. I’m only in my twenties, but I feel old and worn down. I’ve spent so much of my life trying to please others that I’ve run myself into the ground. Like a well, I gave and gave until my reserves ran dry. While I gave everything I had, there was nobody there to give me anything back.
And now, here I am, in another hospital bed in another town, trying to help someone else to the detriment of my own health.
My shoulder throbs, but I ignore it. The pain pump has been removed in favor of oral medications, but I know I’m not due for my next dose for at least another hour. I guess the pain is something I’ll just have to live with.
I turn at the sound of the door opening. “Knock, knock.” Ev pokes his head in and smiles at me, but it falls quickly at whatever expression he sees on my face.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, walking over and taking the chair next to my bed.
“I’m just tired.”
“You’re a shitty liar.”
