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“Avathinks. Did you have your phone with you?”
“I can’t fucking remember. It was a bit of a stressful day. She thinks Sarah texted her from my phone?”
“Do you think she would?” I ask, hating that my gut says yes. I don’t want to believe her cruelty could dip to such lows. I also don’t want to consider the repercussions if it turns out she has.
“I don’t know,” John admits.
“Me neither.”
“Have you seen the message?”
“No. I’m wondering if Ava’s got mixed up.” Like John said, the past day has been a blur. Fuck, the whole weekend. And there’s no denying my head’s spinning—seeing things, hearing my brother. “If it turns out it was her, John, that will be the end, you know that, don’t you?” I’ve given that woman the benefit of the doubt too much. Let things slide because of my loyalty to Carmichael. I can’t leave her with the freedom to destroy what I have with Ava.
“I know that,” he admits reluctantly. I don’t know how we always manage to feel sorry for Sarah. She’s a vindictive bitch. She’s also deeply broken. And that’s probably why I’ve put up with her over the years. Because it was me who broke her.
“Okay, I’ve got to go, I’ve got dinner with Ava’s parents.”
“No shit.”
“Yes shit.” I smile, big and wide, though the miserable fucker can’t see it. “I’m taking your advice.”
“What advice?”
“Doing things the right way.”
“You already did the thing.”
“I’m re-doing it.” I go to hang up and quickly put the phone back to my ear when I remember something. “Hey, John, how old are you?”
“Fuck off.” He hangs up and I look at my phone incredulously.
“Charming.” I lower to a stool and try Jay again, and this time he answers. “Anything?”
“The camera’s down,” he says, and I roll my eyes. “I’ve asked the barmen who were on that night if they saw anything untoward.”
“And?”
“Nothing.”
I deflate. “The guy at the bar.”
“In the suit? I assume he’s the problem here. Who is he?”
I laugh. “I haven’t got time to explain.” Just thinking of that snake brings on a murderous sweat. Not tonight.
I’m nearly knocked off my stool when Ava walks into the kitchen looking like a gorgeous, shimmering goddess. Fuck...me.That beauty will soon be my wife. And judging by the way she’s taking me in with delighted eyes, she’ll be absolutely fine about me being her husband once she sees her parents are fine with it.
I invite her onto my lap, her face now curious as she walks over and puts herself between my legs. “So, what can you tell me other than that?” I ignore Ava’s interest and kiss her frown away. “It’s fucking convenient that the other camera’s broken. Have you checked the footage from outside the bar?” Ava stills and scans my face, her look telling me to calm down. I’m calm. Perfectly calm.
“The one camera that’s working is the footage you saw. Maintaining CCTV is expensive. Cameras break all the time. Some have glasses thrown at them. The manager can’t afford to replace them constantly. I’ll keep digging.”
“Fine, let me know what you find.” I cast my phone aside, scowling, thinking, wondering. “It’s a fucking joke.”
“You think it was Mikael in the footage, don’t you?” Ava says quietly.
“Yes, I do.”
“Do you think that Mikael drugged me?”
