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“I’m sorry about Fritz.”
I shake my head. “You shouldn’t be. I deserve it.”
“Why would you say that?”
“If I would have believed you, this wouldn’t have happened.”
She frowns as she stands. I rush over to help, as she is still a little unsteady. I try not to pay attention when she slips out of the hospital gown, but it’s difficult. And it makes me feel even worse. She would have never been in this situation if I had stayed home. The guy would have left at some point.
“Need to rest for a sec.”
I nod as she leans against the bed. I’ll do anything to make up for not protecting her when I should have.
“What is going on in your head?”
“What?”
“I can see something working in there. You look really pissed off.”
“I’m just mad at myself.”
“Why? What did you do?”
I sigh. “I should have trusted you. This would have never happened.”
Avery says nothing for a long beat. The silence is deafening. “Come here.”
She takes my hand and tugs me closer. She takes my face into her hands. As she studies me, my whole world quiets.
“You are not at fault. Norman/Chet is at fault. He would have found another time to come after me.”
“I got the call about him changing his name when I was at Estella’s. I could have kept you safe if I had been at the house instead of pouting.”
“Well, that’s stupid.”
“Excuse me?”
“I love that snippy voice. It gets me hot.” She smiles, wincing, I’m sure because of her split lip.
I roll my eyes. “Maybe you need to stay here for observation.”
She rolls her eyes in turn. “Please. You can take care of me.”
“There will be no sex tonight.”
She chuckles. “I have to agree with that.”
“Let’s get going.”
“No. I need to say something before we leave.”
If she’s going to throw me to the curb, I would rather not do it in a hospital room. But she isn’t letting go of my hand, and I don’t have a choice.
“Jon, you’re not at fault. If we had discovered his name sooner, we would have been prepared, but he had completely lost it. He blamed me for everything, and he wasn’t giving up. I’m more to blame than anyone else.”
“What the fuck?”
“I should have known who he was. I didn’t. Here was this guy I had dated. He was my first real boyfriend, and I didn’t recognize him. I mean, I’d slept with the guy!” She draws in a shuddering breath. “But ultimately, this is all Chet/Norman’s fault. He did the up-skirt videos. He’s the one who cheated on me. This is one last bad choice of his in a long string of them. People like him think they’re entitled to the good life, and he blames everyone else when it doesn’t happen.”
